Nerdologia
Inducted in 2026
Why it is in the collection
Nerdologia has solved a problem many raise and few actually address: how to enter through the door of popular culture without leaving rigour on the mat. Games, film and television work here as access rather than alibi, and what waits on the other side is genuine historical research.
It is in the collection for the Paraguayan War series as much as for the interviews. Devoting whole episodes to how soldiers lived, or to the art and fashion of those years, is a historian's decision: look where the standard narrative does not, because that is where the conflict becomes intelligible.
We also recognise its service on one particular front. Asking who gets pictured as a scientist, or discussing science in the middle of a disinformation age, is no decorative gesture for a channel of this kind: it is accepting that explaining well also means caring about who can recognise themselves in the explanation.
About this channel
Nerdologia is a Brazilian channel that examines popular culture through science and history. Presentation and research are handled by Filipe Figueiredo, also behind Xadrez Verbal, and the channel keeps a fixed weekly publishing rhythm. The premise is simple and has proved fertile: take seriously what the audience already loves, and use it as a doorway into rigorous knowledge.
The archive combines two formats. There are episodes of historical research, notably an extended series on the Paraguayan War approaching it from uncommon angles: the daily life of soldiers, the naval campaign, the art and fashion of the period. Alongside these sit essays on cultural phenomena such as the history of video games or the design of cities. The other format is conversation with guests from widely different fields: Neville Page, creature designer for Avatar and Star Trek; researcher Altay de Souza on how the mind works; Reinaldo José Lopes on science journalism and Tolkien; Lu Haddad on medicine and sport; Emilio and Mila of BlaBlaLogia on doing science in an age of disinformation; Ian SBF on moving from comedy to horror; and an episode on artificial intelligence with Caio Gomes.
The tone is colloquial without being careless. Claims are sourced, the documented is distinguished from the disputed, and what is unknown is admitted. Visitors will find a channel that treats its audience as capable of understanding complex things when they are well explained, and that feels no need to lower its standards to stay engaging. An episode built around never having seen a scientist points to an underlying concern of the project: who gets pictured as a producer of knowledge.