Michael Stevens (educator)

Early life and education

Stevens was born on January 23, 1986, in Kansas City, Missouri. His mother worked as a teaching assistant, while his father was a chemical engineer. The family relocated to Stilwell, Kansas in 1991. Stevens graduated from Blue Valley High School, where he developed a comedic personality, as well as a passion for knowledge, participating in informative speech and drama club programs. He then graduated from the University of Chicago with a bachelor's degree in psychology and English literature. As an undergraduate, Stevens became interested in video editing, having viewed a re-cut trailer of The Shining.

YouTube video editing and Barely Political (2007–2010)

Under the username pooplicker888, Stevens edited and produced his first video content on YouTube in 2007, with some of his clips being featured by CollegeHumor and Funny or Die. In the same year, as the user CamPain 2008, he began using superimposition and dubbing to produce short comedic films about candidates in the United States presidential election, 2008.

Stevens' online content attracted the interest of Ben Relles, who invited him to become a member of the online comedy group then known as Barely Political. Having moved to New York City in 2008, gaining employment with both Barely Political and Next New Networks, Stevens acted alongside comedians such as Mark Douglas, Todd Womack, Andrea Feczko, and Amber Lee Ettinger, becoming well known for his role as a bearded nun. He also edited content for the channel, and directed a music video parodying Owl City for Douglas' popular The Key of Awesome series.

Early Vsauce (2010–2012)

Stevens launched the Vsauce channel in 2010. Initially, it featured many contributors, with a heavy focus on video game culture. Several distinct series emerged, many of which were hosted by Stevens, including V-LIST (video game-related lists), IMG (featuring viral images), DONG (Do Online Now Guys, showcasing various online games and tools), and LÜT (showing nerdy and interesting products available online). He developed a catchphrase by introducing his videos with "Hey, Vsauce. Michael here".

However, it was Stevens' educational content that attracted the most attention. He claims to have been inspired to create scientific videos by Paul Zaloom's work on Beakman's World. Stevens realised that his most popular content tended to incorporate more serious real-world concepts, often exhibiting interdisciplinarity. Notable examples include: "What is the resolution of the eye?"; "What is the speed of dark?"; “Why is your bottom in the middle?”; and “How much money is there in the world?”.

Later in 2010, Stevens launched two related channels, named Vsauce2 and Vsauce3, which eventually attained the sole hosts/producers Kevin Lieber and Jake Roper, respectively. By 2011–12, most content relating to Internet and video game culture was delegated to these two channels, leaving the original Vsauce channel hosted and produced solely by Stevens, and devoted to educational discussion. Most videos are titled with a question, which Stevens answers or discusses at length, covering relevant tangents from any educational field that appeal to general interest.

I don't want to just create things that are me reading a Wikipedia page, I want them to be a journey – a logic train that makes you go 'oh wow, where are we going today?'

Google, TED talks and science education collaborations (2012–2016)

In 2012, the year after Next New Networks was acquired by Google, Stevens also began working as a content strategist for Google in London. His role focuses on Google's YouTube platform, including meeting with fellow content creators to optimise their videos' effectiveness.

Stevens became an accomplished public speaker. He presented two TED talks in 2013: "How much does a video weigh?" at the official TEDActive, and "Why do we ask questions?" at TEDxVienna. He has also spoken at events for Adweek, VidCon, MIPTV Media Market, the Edinburgh International Television Festival, and for Novo Nordisk as a diabetes educator. In 2015, he appeared at the YouTube Fan Fest in Toronto.

Through his work with Vsauce, Stevens has collaborated with and appeared alongside prominent individuals within the scientific community. These include Bill Nye (on "Why did the chicken cross the road?"), Derek Muller (on quantum randomness), Jack Horner and Chris Pratt (on dinosaur studies and Jurassic World), and David Attenborough (in an interview about Planet Earth II).

Mind Field and Brain Candy Live (2016–present)

In 2016, former MythBusters co-host Adam Savage stated that he will join Stevens on a stage tour in 2017. Later in the year, Stevens published a video to Vsauce announcing that he and Savage will visit forty cities across the United States in early 2017 to present Brain Candy Live. The tour has been described as a live science-based stage show that is "between TED Talks and the Blue Man Group."

Stevens partnered with YouTube Red to create and host Mind Field, which premiered in January 2017 through YouTube's paid streaming service on the Vsauce channel. Each episode of the educational series explores a different aspect of human behavior, by hearing from and conducting experiments on Stevens and guests including Dominic Monaghan.

Personal life

Stevens moved to London, England in 2012. In 2016, he was married to his wife Marnie, moved back to America, and currently resides in Los Angeles, along with Jake Roper, the host of Vsauce3.

In his Field Day documentary, in which prominent filmmakers undertake a project of their choosing, Stevens decided to visit Whittier, Alaska, to investigate the uniqueness of the remote town.