Why does the internet love watching videos of kids doing science experiments and unboxing toys?

Bill Nye, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and other pop science icons better watch out, for there is a new kid (literally) on the block. Here's five-year-old Oliver, who "wanted to make science videos" ever since he learnt to speak, teaching the world how to make tornadoes inside a jar.

Be careful while attempting the experiment yourselves, because its "'wheally' dangerous". The video was uploaded on Wednesday and had nearly 800,000 views by Monday morning. You have to watch it to know those numbers will shoot up.

He's not the only kid inventing things and doing experiments and making adults everywhere feel inadequate. There's Oyon Ganguli, who won an award for his invention. And Tanishq Abraham, who's got three college degrees though he won't be legally able to drive for many years to come.

Here's a kid making the most popular science project in the world: a volcano.

The most popular of the lot is Ryan, whose YouTube channel has close to three million subscribers, and over four billion views. In March 2016, views for his videos were second only to Justin Bieber.

It's not just science that's making kids popular on YouTube. Most of Ryan's videos are reviews of toys and "toy unboxings".

Toy unboxings are a rage in themselves. Here's a channel with over a million subscribers. Only if YouTube had been there for the millennials when they were kids, with so much money to be made just by playing with toys and removing them from boxes.

There's also the case of how much these videos, especially the science ones, are manipulated by the parents. In Oliver's video, there are multiple instances where the kid seems to run away from the screen. These attempts always do not end well, though.

In 2009, two parents told news channels in the US that their six-year-old son was inside a ballon flying over the skies reaching altitudes upto 7,000 feet. After the hour-long flight across three counties took place, the balloon finally landed near Denver, Colorado airport. Authorities were sent to the location and they did not find a boy. He was discovered in an attic in his home. It was uncovered as a hoax and the parents did jail time.

Here's a video of the liftoff.