Xander (Ph.D., Psychology) runs a YouTube channel called ARTexplains—the ART standing for his initials, Alexander R. Toftness—where he uploads scientific videos and occasionally scientific-but-humorous videos because he has this problem where he thinks he’s funny. His topics are weird stories and science from the realms of psychology, futurism, and medicine, as well as general science and history.
Xander belongs to the group known as WeCreateEDU, a collection of YouTube channels that make educational content. He has attended EduCon and Vidcon, where he met lots of people he only knew from the internet, which was cool and weird.
Xander has collaborated with some top names in science along the way. He earned his PhD in (cognitive) psychology where he studied individual differences in sensation & perception, brain damage, learning in college, and how people learn from videos.
His passion for science communication has driven him to make content for the Internet since 2014, making his dream of creating non-fiction... non-fiction. Besides videos, he has a bunch of academic and not-so-academic publications that you can find links to around this website. Other highlights include:
Writing a whole dang neuropsychology book.
Accidentally getting a ligament of the human body named after him (the Xander Ligament).
Winning a jury award in the 2019 American Psychological Association’s PsycShort Video Contest with his video on Akinetopsia.
Running an organ donor pledge drive as part of his video on the history of organ transplantation.
Working with world-renowned researchers on his video about Munchausen and Malingering.
Creating a comprehensive documentary about Dr. Cotton’s focal sepsis theory, in which he believed removing teeth cured insanity, with footage from the original insane asylum courtesy of Abandoned New Jersey.
If you are so inclined (or just really hate some particular dollars currently hanging out in your bank account) you can support him through paypal at: PayPal.Me/ARToftness or through his Patreon page.
Xander can be reached at alexander.toftness@gmail.com for business inquiries (or biz inks, as they are called by no one).