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...
Journey to the Microcosmos
The Remarkable Mystery of Land Plants
Somewhere around 470 million years ago, something happened that shouldn’t have been particularly striking. An algae found its way onto land. This algae turned the lands of this earth green, altered the chemistry of our atmosphere, and...
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
The Aquatic Snails That Leave a Path of Destruction
It’s often said that one person’s trash is another person’s treasure. And surely there is no greater proof of that than the home of our master of microscopes, James. All along the windowsills and bookshelves are jars and tanks full of...
Journey to the Microcosmos
We Accidentally Grew Crystals
We'd love to learn more about our Microcosmos community and who's out there watching these videos. So, we've got a short survey for you to fill out where you can let us know more about you and what you'd like to see from Journey to the...
Journey to the Microcosmos
Mouthless Parasites That Make Their Home In Worm Guts
You’ve heard those worm horror stories, right? Stories of painful stomach cramps or diarrhea or nausea that eventually turns out to be caused by some worms that have taken up residence in someone’s intestines. It’s so terrifying and wild...
Journey to the Microcosmos
These Rotifers Glue Themselves Together
As animals, we owe a lot to the single-celled organisms that came before us. These are the organisms that laid the chemical groundwork for how we live, from the DNA and proteins within them to the molecules they released into the...
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
Ghost Fleas: Tiny See Through Cyclopses
Depending on your love of horror stories or your belief in the supernatural, it might be easy to convince you that lakes are full of ghosts. That as you plunge deeper into these lakes’ depths, you’ll come across translucent bodies that...
Journey to the Microcosmos
Sand Is Full of Life and Death
James, our master of microscopes, gets samples of sand from beaches all over the world to help in his quest to learn more about interstitial ciliates—the single-celled organisms that live in the watery pockets that exist between grains...
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
Water Mites: Sticky Dancers with Crystal Poop
The microcosmos might seem like a safe place from a surprise spider attack, but it would be misleading to pretend that it’s completely free of spider-like sightings. Because even at this small scale, you could find yourself subject to an...
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...
Journey to the Microcosmos
Our Tardigrades Got Stuck in a German Post Office
Tardigrades have been through a lot. They’ve been sent to the moon. They’ve had the moisture sapped out of them. At times, they’ve been in extreme heat. And at other times, they’ve had to contend with extreme cold. Well, today, we’ve got...
Journey to the Microcosmos
Aeolosoma: Polka-Dotted Vacuum Worms
Worms, despite their seemingly simple bodies, are a diverse bunch. Which is why we thought that for today, it might be fun to visit with a less famous worm, and like one of those relatives you don’t know very much about, but every time...
Journey to the Microcosmos
Water Is Thicker When You’re Smaller
Water Is Thicker When You’re Smaller
Journey to the Microcosmos
These Algae Curl Up Into a Ball When They Get Stressed Out
These Algae Curl Up Into a Ball When They Get Stressed Out
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,...
Journey to the Microcosmos
The Shared Doom of Microscopic Hitchhikers
Our oceans and lakes are filled with copepods, a myriad of small crustacean species that might float as plankton or infect other creatures1. And as they’re living in whatever manner best suits them, some copepods—like our friend...
Journey to the Microcosmos
Why Are These Single-Celled Organisms So Large?
One day, James—our master of microscopes—was cleaning the marine tanks that some of his organisms live in when he noticed this creature. It was hard to miss given that it was visible to the naked eye, thanks to both its bright red color...
Journey to the Microcosmos
The Collotheca Doesn’t Mind Eating Its Own Babies
Imagine that this is the beginning of the last thing you’ll ever see, an empty landscape with thin lines scratched across it. But those lines suddenly sharpen and gather into a dense mass that spreads from the crown that sits atop a...