PBS
How Our Deadliest Parasite Turned To The Dark Side
Around 10,000 years ago, somewhere in Africa, a microscopic parasite made a huge leap. With a little help from a mosquito, it left its animal host - probably a gorilla - and found its way to a new host: us.
PBS
How the Smallest Animal Got So Simple
We tend to think that evolution only goes in one direction— toward getting bigger and more advanced. But that’s not always the case. This tiny, simple animal, the Myxozoans, (yes, animal!) evolved from something bigger and more complex.
PBS
Giant Viruses Blur The Line Between Alive and Not
In 2003, microbiologists made a huge discovery. One that would force us to reconsider a lot of what we thought we knew about the evolution of microbial life: giant viruses.
TED Talks
TED: CRISPR's next advance is bigger than you think | Jennifer Doudna
You've probably heard of CRISPR, the revolutionary technology that allows us to edit the DNA in living organisms. Biochemist and 2023 Audacious Project grantee Jennifer Doudna earned the Nobel Prize for her groundbreaking work in this...
SciShow
Microbes Might Survive on Mars | SciShow News
We’re all excited about the Mars rover Perseverance this week, but scientists are also working on some other exciting things!
SciShow
Viroids: Possibly the Smallest Pathogens on Earth
Potato spindle tuber disease wasn't a life-or-death situation, but it led to the discovery of viroids: infectious, replicating bits of RNA
TED Talks
TED: How to harness the ancient partnership between forests and fungi | Colin Averill
If we want to better understand the environment and combat climate change, we need to look deep underground, where diverse microscopic fungal networks mingle with tree roots to form symbiotic partnerships, says microbiologist Colin...
TED Talks
Melissa Garren: The sea we've hardly seen
An average teaspoon of ocean water contains five million bacteria and fifty million viruses -- and yet we are just starting to discover how these "invisible engineers" control our ocean's chemistry. At TEDxMonterey, Melissa Garren sheds...
SciShow
Ancient Lake in Antarctica Reached!
Hank gets to the bottom of an exciting, and kinda weird, announcement from Russian scientists at the Vostok Research Station in Antarctica. Have they reached a 20-million-year old underground lake? Maybe! Is there a hoard of Nazi secrets...
TED Talks
Neri Oxman: Design at the intersection of technology and biology
Designer and architect Neri Oxman is leading the search for ways in which digital fabrication technologies can interact with the biological world. Working at the intersection of computational design, additive manufacturing, materials...
TED Talks
Jessica Green: We're covered in germs. Let's design for that.
Our bodies and homes are covered in microbes -- some good for us, some bad for us. As we learn more about the germs and microbes who share our living spaces, TED Fellow Jessica Green asks: Can we design buildings that encourage happy,...
TED Talks
Jessica Green: Are we filtering the wrong microbes?
Should we keep the outdoors out of hospitals? Ecologist and TED Fellow Jessica Green has found that mechanical ventilation does get rid of many types of microbes, but the wrong kinds: the ones left in the hospital are much more likely to...
TED Talks
TED: How a long-forgotten virus could help us solve the antibiotics crisis | Alexander Belcredi
Viruses have a bad reputation -- but some of them could one day save your life, says biotech entrepreneur Alexander Belcredi. In this fascinating talk, he introduces us to phages, naturally-occurring viruses that hunt and kill harmful...
TED Talks
TED: The tiny creature that secretly powers the planet | Penny Chisholm
Oceanographer Penny Chisholm introduces us to an amazing little being: Prochlorococcus, the most abundant photosynthetic species on the planet. A marine microbe that has existed for millions of years, Prochlorococcus wasn't discovered...
TED Talks
Ellen Jorgensen: Biohacking -- you can do it, too
We have personal computing -- why not personal biotech? That's the question biologist Ellen Jorgensen and her colleagues asked themselves before opening Genspace, a nonprofit DIY bio lab in Brooklyn devoted to citizen science, where...
TED-Ed
Why didn't this 2,000 year old body decompose? | Carolyn Marshall
It may not appear very lively six feet underground, but a single teaspoon of soil contains more organisms than there are human beings on the planet. From bacteria and algae to fungi and protozoa, soils are home to one quarter of Earth's...
TED Talks
Mina Bissell: Experiments that point to a new understanding of cancer
For decades, researcher Mina Bissell pursued a revolutionary idea -- that a cancer cell doesn't automatically become a tumor, but rather, depends on surrounding cells (its microenvironment) for cues on how to develop. She shares the two...
SciShow
Will COVID-19 Go Away in the Summer?
COVID-19 has the potential to ebb and flow with the seasons, but because it's a novel pandemic, that doesn't mean we're off the hook this summer.
TED Talks
TED: A forgotten Space Age technology could change how we grow food | Lisa Dyson
We're heading for a world population of 10 billion people -- but what will we all eat? Lisa Dyson rediscovered an idea developed by NASA in the 1960s for deep-space travel, and it could be a key to reinventing how we grow food.
TED Talks
Nathan Wolfe: What's left to explore?
We've been to the moon, we've mapped the continents, we've even been to the deepest point in the ocean -- twice. What's left for the next generation to explore? Biologist and explorer Nathan Wolfe suggests this answer: Almost everything....
SciShow
Attack of the Super Bugs
Don't panic! But you should really know about antibiotic-resistant bacteria, aka super bugs. They're here, and they're doing very well, thank you. SciShow explains what they are, how they're getting around our best drugs, and what...
TED Talks
Jaap de Roode: How butterflies self-medicate
Just like us, the monarch butterfly sometimes gets sick thanks to a nasty parasite. But biologist Jaap de Roode noticed something interesting about the butterflies he was studying — infected female butterflies would choose to lay their...
TED Talks
Bonnie Bassler: How bacteria "talk"
Bonnie Bassler discovered that bacteria "talk" to each other, using a chemical language that lets them coordinate defense and mount attacks. The find has stunning implications for medicine, industry -- and our understanding of ourselves.
Amoeba Sisters
Specialized Cells: Significance and Examples
Explore some examples of specialized plant and animal cells with the Amoeba Sisters! Video explains how specialized cell structure suits their function. Table of Contents: Intro 00:00 Specialized Cell Defined 0:26 Animal and Plant Cells...