Why are some topics “nerdy” and others just intelligent?

[DrunkAss]

They're "cold" topics as I see it and put it crudely. And they require a high prerequisite level of understanding. Subjects like history are at least easy to tailor to a layman audience in ways that will fascinate them. We can strip the complex prerequisites and tell a fascinating story. It's a challenge, if even possible, to make something like fluid dynamics palatable in this sense.