Crash Course
Changing the Blueprints of Life - Genetic Engineering: Crash Course Engineering #38
A presentation of how engineering based in making something better led to engineering genetics. Scholars learn that genetic engineering began by selectively breeding plants that had specific characteristics to improve them. The video...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
mRNA Splicing
Edit, copy, and paste are not just for word processing! Learn how a gene transcribes into mRNA and then translates into a protein. Editing is the first step and is the focus of the animation as it demonstrates how special enzymes remove...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Measuring Circadian Activity in Drosophila
How many hours should be in a day? One species of drosophila naturally prefers a 24.5 hour day, while another strongly prefers a 19-hour day. An animation and graph share data from each of these species when exposed to the typical light...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
The Mammalian Molecular Clock Model
Animals don't read clocks, so how do they know when it is time for eating, sleeping, and other cyclical needs? Viewers watch an animation of the genes and the molecular clocks inside most mammals. They compare the difference in wild...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Paintbrush Gene
Drosophila includes more than 1,500 species and often find themselves studied by geneticists. A scientist presents a lecture on one example of these studies on the paintbrush gene. The gene determines the amount and color of pigment on...
Veritasium
Why Are Mosquitoes Attracted to You?!
Small but mighty. Scientists study what makes mosquitoes attracted to people, how to fight mosquitoes, and the inheritability of related genes. As part of a larger science playlist, the video shares personal DNA markers, lab experiments,...
Veritasium
The Fungus on Your Head
Dinosaurs had dandruff? Check out a short video that follows scientists at a lab as they research the flakey problem that affects more than half the human population and affected many dinosaurs as well. The researchers take scalp...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
The Lux Operon Controls Light Production
Bioluminescence, once considered rare, exists in around 90% of fish in the ocean. Understanding how genes communicate to produce light opens up a world of understanding for viewers. From being in the right setting to transcription to...
Be Smart
20 Million Year Old Spider! Unweaving Spider Silk
Talk about a sticky situation! What is spider silk, anyway? Scholars scope out the science behind one of the world's strongest substances through a video from an intriguing science series. A leading spider scientist discusses the types...
Be Smart
Why Do You Love Your Family?
Is that warm, fuzzy family feeling a product of evolution? Explore altruism through a video from an engaging science series. The narrator discusses parental instincts, evolutionary fitness, and an organism's drive to ensure it passes its...
Be Smart
Could You Be Immune to Everything?
Could super immunity be the next big super power? Discover the amazing inner workings of the immune system through an engaging video from an interesting science playlist. Animated antibodies take on a variety of pathogenic invaders while...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Autism and the Structure and Function of Synapses
Take autism awareness in your class to a whole new level. Scholars watch a short video to discover how autism affects the brain. The narrator discusses the effects of altered proteins on neural synapses and the role the nucleus plays in...
TED-Ed
How Does Hibernation Work?
Did you know animals hibernate all around the world, even in the deserts and tropical rain forests? How do these animals reach extreme body temperatures and undergo a decreased heart rate that would be deadly to non-hibernating animals?...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Stickleback Film with Quiz: Evolving Switches, Evolving Bodies
The pelvic bone's connected to the...nothing in the stickleback fish, because it doesn't have one. Young biologists watch a video about the evolution of the stickleback fish living in Alaskan lakes. It turns out that they lost their...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Natural Selection and Adaptation
It's not every day that you end up rooting for a mouse. A breathtaking video takes scholars to the American Southwest to learn about the rock pocket mouse. It describes how mice with black fur had an evolutionary advantage in the dark...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
The Birth and Death of Genes
Notothenioids are not your average fish—they contain antifreeze! An interesting video introduces the icefish, a scaleless fish with colorless blood that lives in the oceans around Antarctica. It explains how gene duplication and...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Popped Secret Film with Quiz: The Mysterious Origin of Corn
Where does corn come from? Corn cobs? Scholars watch an interesting video to learn that the ancestor of maize is the teosinte plant. The video goes on to explain how both geneticists and archaeologists have evidence that humans were...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Skin Color Interactive Video: The Biology of Skin Color
It's all just skin deep. An anthropologist explains in a video how she used UV radiation data from NASA to come up with a theory on how human skin color has evolved over time. The skin has to be dark enough to block harmful UV radiation,...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Got Lactase? The Co-Evolution of Genes and Culture
Only one-third of human adults can digest milk. If you're one of the lucky few, you have gene-culture co-evolution to thank. Scholars watch a video to learn how the enzyme lactase is necessary to break down lactose in milk. The gene...
Amoeba Sisters
Alleles and Genes
How do organisms end up with such a wide variety of traits? It's in their genes! Kick off your inherited traits lesson using a brief video that covers alleles and genes. The narrator describes heterozygous and homozygous genotypes, how...
Amoeba Sisters
Protein Synthesis
Can your class visualize how proteins synthesize? Take a tour of the all-important process of protein synthesis to discover why our bodies depend on it. A video from an animated biology playlist covers transcription and translation, as...
Amoeba Sisters
DNA, Chromosomes, Genes, and Traits: An Intro to Heredity
Chromosomes, genes, traits ... how are they all related? A short video introduces the many factors involved in heredity. Junior geneticists explore the transfer of chromosomes from parents to offspring, the proteins created by base pair...
TED-Ed
The Strange Case of the Cyclops Sheep
Did you know the cyclops sheep got its name from the cyclopamine molecule found in wild corn lilies? But wht else is there to know about the cyclops sheep? Watch a video that explains the strange yet amazing discovery of the cyclopomine...
American Chemical Society
Why Does Your Hair Turn Gray? – Speaking of Chemistry
You can't escape your genes. Young scientists learn about recent revelations about how and why hair turns gray. The video in the ACS Reactions playlist highlights certain genes that play a role in this process.