Created in 2008, the Manual do Mundo YouTube channel has over 16 million subscribers and has won a series of awards — including two Guinness World Book records. The channel is a major Brazilian name in science and technology content and was created by Iberê Thenório and Mari Fulfaro. Check out the conversation between junior reporter Gabriela B., age 10, a former member of Clube do Joca, and Iberê.

When did the idea of creating the Manual do Mundo channel come about?

It came up in 2008. Mari and I are from the countryside, from Piedade (in São Paulo state), a town near Sorocaba. When we lived in the countryside, we did everything ourselves: everything we needed to fi x and repair, we did at home. And then, when we arrive in São Paulo, we realized that people did not know how to do anything in the big city; they always hire someone to help. They didn’t know how to change a tire, and they didn’t know how to paint a wall. So, we decided to create Manual do Mundo to teach people how to do things at home. After a while, we started doing some experiments and realized that people liked them. It was something that was missing from people’s lives, understanding a little science.

What is it like to share your experience with thousands of people and how do you create content for the channel?

It’s quite laborious. I don’t have much experience, so we research a lot to do them. In the beginning, it was things that Mari and I really knew about, that we had already learned when we were young, or when we lived in the countryside. But, nowadays, we have to study a lot to create our content, because we produce quite a bit. We hold a meeting, then decide what will be created, then everyone does research. There are several people working here with us, we have engineers, physicists… Depending on the content, it will be assigned to the person who feels more a_ nity with that content, who understands more, and then I present it later. And our job is to do it in a cool way, so that people watch the video and like what they’re seeing, that it’s not boring. It’s a lot of work, especially when we have to create something we’ve never done before.

What was the coolest experiment you did?

I think the coolest thing we’ve ever done is the submarine. It was a lot of work, because it was a very dangerous thing. The submarine runs the risk of imploding underwater, and the water pressure can crush the submarine with us inside it. So we had to study a lot. It took almost four years to build the submarine, but I think it was the coolest thing we’ve ever done. It was very exciting to dive deep in the ocean with it.

How do you deal with fame?

Oh, I don’t think too much about it . I think that if we think about it a lot, we start to worry, we start feeling bothered. I pretend it doesn’t exist. So, I go out on the street, people want to take a picture with me and that’s okay, I’ll talk to everyone. That’s a really good thing about it: people who watch Manual do Mundo are really nice. Since we never talk badly about anyone, we don’t fi ght on the channel, and we end up bringing together very nice people. So, it’s very enjoyable.

Well, how does it feel to break world records?

We have two Guinness records, one for the largest science and technology channel in Portuguese, and one for the largest elephant toothpaste in the world. It’s really cool, because when you do that, you’re pretty sure it’s the biggest thing in the world. So, it gives you a really good feeling of victory, because you’ve worked hard to do something di_ cult and you’ve managed to make the biggest thing in the world.

How did you discover your passion for chemistry and physics?

When I was a child, I was already very curious, but I started to really like it in my preparatory course, when I was studying to enter college. Those were the subjects I found most di_ cult: chemistry, physics, and mathematics. I didn’t pass the fi rst year I tried, and I was studying alone for a long time. And then I started to enjoy it, because I started to understand that it made sense and that it was cool. But when Manual do Mundo started, I didn’t know all that much. I took a lot of private physics classes. Nowadays, there are a lot of people here in Manual who know much more than I do. So, I spend the whole day clearing up doubts with them.

Questions

1) What were the first things Iberê and Mari did on the channel?

a) Experiments in advanced physics

b) Experiments in advanced chemistry

c) Things they had already learned when they were children

d) The first ideas for the submarine

2) Do you like to carry out scientific experiments? Why?

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