Crash Course
Cellular Respiration: Do Cells Breathe?: Crash Course Biology #27
You know ‘em, you love ‘em. They’re the powerhouse of the cell: mitochondria. They produce the ATP molecules that we use to do everything from talk to our friends to run a marathon. In this episode of Crash Course Biology, we’re taking a...
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Chemical Reactions in Biology: Crash Course Biology #26
Cells need energy to power the chemical reactions that keep their microscopic cities running, and most of that energy comes from a chemical called ATP. In this episode of Crash Course Biology, we’ll learn how our cells use energy, what...
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Why Do Cells Need to Communicate?: Crash Course Biology #25
Even though it might seem like our bodies are on autopilot, there is a whole lot happening inside us to keep things moving. In this episode of Crash Course Biology, we’ll learn that our cells are in constant communication, reminding each...
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A Tour of the Cell: Crash Course Biology #23
The cell is the basic unit of life, and our understanding of it has advanced as science, and the tools available to scientists, has advanced. In this episode of Crash Course Biology, we’ll take a look at the difference between...
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Conservation Biology: Sixth Mass Extinction?: Crash Course Biology #10
Some scientists believe we are in the middle of Earth’s sixth mass extinction: a big, precarious game of Jenga that involves every ecosystem on the planet. In this episode of Crash Course Biology, we’ll see how conservation biology aims...
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Microscopes: How We See What We Can't See: Crash Course Biology #22
There’s an immense world of tiny stuff within us and around us—but how do we know about it? In this episode of Crash Course Biology, we’ll discover how we see what we can’t see, thanks to the help of centuries-old tools and more recent...
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Carbon & Biological Molecules: What is Life Made Of?: Crash Course Biology #20
Despite the diverse appearance and characteristics of organisms on Earth, the chemicals that make up living things are remarkably similar, often identical. In this episode of Crash Course Biology, we’ll look at the building blocks of the...
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Population Ecology: How We Saved the Bald Eagle: Crash Course Biology #7
When the Bald Eagle population started to decline in the mid-20th century, scientists began to ask why. Population ecology, the study of organisms of the same species, played a big role in answering that question. In this episode of...
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Community Ecology: Interspecies Interactions: Crash Course Biology #6
Community ecology is the study of interactions between different species of living things, and lets ecologists examine the effects of predator-prey relationships, parasites, and mutually beneficial interactions. In this episode of Crash...
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How Life is Organized: Crash Course Biology #4
Here on Earth, life is dizzyingly diverse—but it’s also surprisingly organized. A sense of order structures life and its processes, from the tiniest cell to the total sum of every living thing. In this episode of Crash Course Biology,...
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Human Evolution: We Didn't Evolve From Chimps: Crash Course Biology #19
What’s a human? And how did we become humans, anyway? In this episode of Crash Course Biology, we’ll meet some of our closest relatives and trace how we evolved into the brainy, inventive, complex species we are today.
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Biological Diversity, Butts, and the Tree of Life: Crash Course Biology #18
Everywhere you look on Earth, you’ll find wonderful and diverse living things, from tiny tardigrades to soaring sequoias. And incredibly, everything alive today, and everything that’s ever lived, is related. In this episode of Crash...
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Population Genetics: Why do we have different skin colors?: Crash Course Biology #14
In this episode of Crash Course Biology, we’ll learn about the ways population genetics reveals how groups of living things evolve—by comparing genetic similarities and differences. We’ll discover the most genetically diverse species of...
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Intro to Evolution: What We Can Learn From a Giraffe's Neck: Crash Course Biology #11
From a single-celled common ancestor, evolution has brought us all of Life’s Greatest Hits — including butterflies, beetles, bacteria, and human beings. In this episode of Crash Course Biology, we’ll learn how evolution explains life’s...
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Phylogeny: How We're All Related: Crash Course Biology #17
Crocodiles, and birds, and dinosaurs—oh my! While classifying organisms is nothing new, phylogeny— or, grouping organisms by their evolutionary relationships—is helping us see life in a whole new light. In this episode of Crash Course...
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Evolutionary History: The Timeline of Life: Crash Course Biology #16
Humans may have been around for a long time, but life has existed for way longer. In this episode of Crash Course Biology, we’ll journey through deep time to uncover the history of life on Earth. We’ll explore the big, game-changing...
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Speciation: Where Do Species Come From?: Crash Course Biology #15
How can you tell two species apart? It’s not always simple. In this episode of Crash Course Biology, we’ll learn about speciation—a process that can happen over millions of years, or within a single generation. Along the way, we’ll...
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Natural Selection: Life's Way of Stayin' Alive: Crash Course Biology #13
There are lots of ways that evolution happens, and natural selection is just one of them. In this episode of Crash Course Biology, we’ll find out how this process works and shapes traits in all living things —from ginkgo trees to howler...
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Microevolution: What's An Allele Got to Do With It?: Crash Course Biology #12
Whether we’re talking about tigers, trees, or tarantulas, evolution happens at the level of the population. In this episode of Crash Course Biology, we’ll find out how natural selection, gene flow, genetic drift, and other processes...
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The Effects of Climate Change: Crash Course Biology #9
Climate change shakes up all of Earth’s systems, including the living ones. In this episode of Crash Course Biology, we’ll see how climate change’s effects rattle the entire chain of life. Changes felt in one population ripple out to...
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Bioinformatics: How Data Saves Lives: Crash Course Biology #40
On its own, a huge DNA sequence is a meaningless pile of data — so, how do biologists figure out what it means? They turn to the power of bioinformatics! In this episode, we’ll learn what bioinformatics is, how it works, and how...
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DNA Structure & Replication: Our Instruction Manual for Existing: Crash Course Biology #33
Your DNA contains all the instructions your body needs to function. In this episode of Crash Course Biology, we’ll figure out what this giant instruction manual looks like and how this three-billion-letter code gets copied into your...
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Animal Behavior: Why This Toad Is Bad at Jumping: Crash Course Biology #49
Why do animals do what they do? It’s a huge question, and in this episode, we’ll learn how scientists break it down. We’ll talk about the proximate and ultimate studies they use to understand animal behavior, and some of what they’ve...
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Plant Anatomy & Physiology: Plants Are Hardcore: Crash Course Biology #42
Plants may not seem like they’re doing much, but if you look closer, you’ll find a whole world just lurking beyond the surface. We’re talking chemical defenses, highways, and even ways to change the weather. In this episode, we’ll learn...