Journey to the Microcosmos
How Do Microorganisms Poop Without a Butthole?
Everybody poops, but how does one poop when one does not have a butthole?
Journey to the Microcosmos
Death in the Microcosmos
Death is inevitable and mysterious, even in the microcosmos. Stentors, heliozoans, and yes, even tardigrades, experience death in many different ways.
Mazz Media
Prepare and Observe a Microscope Slide
In this live-action program viewers will learn how to prepare a microscope slide properly. Students will come to understand that when making scientific observations, your methods and observations must be clear to other scientists, so it...
Journey to the Microcosmos
The Spatula-Shaped Ciliate Family
The family Spathidiidae is made up of around 20 genera, which encompass around 250 known species. And there’s a lot of variety in the Spathidiid family to sort through.
Professor Dave Explains
Cladistics Part 2: Monophyly, Paraphyly, and Polyphyly
Now that we know how to construct cladograms, we have to learn some new terminology. These are the terms monophyly, paraphyly, and polyphyly, and they help us distinguish between any old taxon and true clades. Let's learn more about...
Journey to the Microcosmos
What Humans and Stentors Have in Common
This week, we're diving back into the world of Stentors to find out what humans and Stentors have in common!
Journey to the Microcosmos
Stentors Single-Celled Giants
It's time to meet a single-celled organism that is bigger than a tardigrade! We'll learn how Stentors reproduce, why they look like trumpets, and why some of them are just SO BLUE!
Journey to the Microcosmos
Trying to Make Sense of This Overwhelming World
The goal of phylogenetic trees is to track the organisms we know of through their place in evolution.
Journey to the Microcosmos
How We Got The DNA From This Extremely Rare Ciliate
To study organisms at the genetic level, we need their DNA. Which means that we need to be able to wade through all the bits and pieces lying within their tiny bodies to pick out something even tinier—something we can’t just dig out with...
Mazz Media
Biosphere
This live-action video program is about the word biosphere. The program is designed to reinforce and support a student's comprehension and retention of the word biosphere through use of video footage, photographs, diagrams and colorful,...
Curated Video
The Cycling of Life: Understanding the Carbon, Water, and Organic Material Cycles in Ecosystems
This video discusses the importance of material recycling in ecosystems, specifically focusing on the carbon and water cycles and the process of decomposition. It explains how plants play a crucial role in the carbon cycle by removing...
Curated Video
Anaerobe
This live-action video program is about the word anaerobe. The program is designed to reinforce and support a student's comprehension and retention of the word anaerobe through use of video footage, photographs, diagrams and colorful,...
Journey to the Microcosmos
How to Identify Microbes
When there are over one trillion species, it can be hard to determine what you're looking at on your microscope. Thankfully we've got some helpful tips for you!
Journey to the Microcosmos
We Finally Found the Elusive Bristle Worm!
We’ve spent most of our journey through the microcosmos seeking out the organisms that are too small to see with just the human eye. The bacteria, the ciliates, the tardigrades. Part of what makes them so exciting to find is that they...
Journey to the Microcosmos
Giant Microscopic Cannibals
Every experiment has to start somewhere. This one began with a container full of dying microbes, and the five cute, pink ciliates called blepharisma that James, our master of microscopes, accidentally turned into a group of cannibals.
Journey to the Microcosmos
The Moss Animals That Are Defined by Their Butts
At first glance, they seem a bit more like plants or a series of flowers with thin, elegant petals. But no, they are indeed an animal. One that has the dubious honor of being defined largely by its anus.
Journey to the Microcosmos
The Illuminating Reason Perenema Curl Up Into a Ball
Watching this Peranema feels a bit like watching a cat waffling back and forth between whether or not it wants to take a nap. Sometimes the Peranema stretches, its body undulating into an elongated, indescribable geometry as its flagella...
msvgo
Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide
It explains that air is present in water and soil. It also talks about the interdependence of plants and animals for oxygen and carbon dioxide.
Visual Learning Systems
Fungi: Lichens
From making bread to decomposing things in the environment, fungi play a very important role in our lives. Vivid video footage, accompanied by colorful animations, illustrates the fascinating origin, diversity, and characteristics of...
Journey to the Microcosmos
These Squishy Dots Move So Fast You Might Miss Them
From our vantage point, as relatively large organisms, it can be easy to overlook the microcosmos, because it’s simply too small to see. It floats in front of our eyes at all times, and yet we cannot make out details until we turn to...
Journey to the Microcosmos
These Walking Ciliates Are Frustrating
The ciliates we’re going to talk about today are kind of…frustrating. At this point in our journey, we’ve gotten used to the fact that the microcosmos is an indecipherable mess at times, filled with organisms that look like each other,...
The Guardian
Plants before pandas: the young botanist tackling extinction in his own backyard
Almost as rare as the plants he protects, 24-year-old Josh Styles is not your average botanist. In 2017 he founded the North West Rare Plant Initiative, a conservation project in his local region. His aim is to resurrect 44 plant species...
Curated Video
I WONDER - Is Blood Always Red?
This video is answering the question of is blood always red.