California Academy of Science
The Climate is Changing but How's the Weather?
Do meteorologists and climate scientists use the same tools? The final lesson in a 13-part series on Exploring Energy compares and contrasts climate and weather. It describes the scientists who study each, the tools they use, their...
California Academy of Science
The Chemistry of Clothes
Synthetic materials increase in popularity every year. Exploring Energy takes on the chemistry behind synthetic materials, including polyester. The resource opens with a video explaining the difference between natural and synthetic...
California Academy of Science
Your Digital Footprint: Data and Energy Use
Understanding energy usage requires knowing more than how much energy it takes to charge your cell phone. Scholars learn each text sent uses energy as does each video, game, and phone call. They observe the larger grid of data transfers...
California Academy of Science
Renewable Energy: Powered by Poop
A single cow produces more than 100 pounds of manure every day. Meet a farmer using cow manure to provide energy to his farm, electric car, and the larger electric grid. He explains the process and benefits of the renewable energy source.
California Academy of Science
Renewable Energy: Clean Tech Solutions
Renewable energy originally found application more than 790,000 years ago. A relevant and engaging lesson explains some of the current options for renewable energy. Technology changes quickly and many different options provide hope for...
California Academy of Science
What's the Deal With Fossil Fuels?
Plastic bags, laptops, and even toothpaste all contain petroleum. A lesson explains how to define fossil fuels, including petroleum, and the many uses for fossil fuels in our everyday lives. It also details why new sources need to...
PBS
When Fish Wore Armor
Today very few animals exist with both an endoskeleton and exoskeleton. Yet, in the Devonian period, a large number of fish species lived with both. Scientists debate if they were for protection or mineral storage, because none of them...
PBS
Killer Landslides | Monitoring and Predicting Landslides
Landslides kill between 25 and 50 people every year in the United States alone. This is why predicting a landslide literally saves lives. A scientist applied new technology to a mountain and accurately predicted a landslide. Thanks to...
Crash Course
Earth Science: Crash Course History of Science #20
How old is Earth and how do scientists know the answer? Throughout history, many researchers, scholars, and leaders answered this question with varying degrees of accuracy. The 20th episode of Crash Course History of Science introduces...
PBS
The Rise and Fall of the Bone-Crushing Dogs
Fun fact: giant, bear-sized dogs with teeth that crush bones existed in North America. Learn about the three species of dogs and their ultimate fates as cats moved into the area. An informative video describes the rise of all three...
PBS
How a Supervolcano Made the Cenozoic’s Coolest Fossils
Volcanoes cause mass extinctions, climate change, and physical alterations of our planet. They also create great fossil records, time markers in layers of Earth, and an interesting way to study geology. A video describes how one...
PBS
When Birds Had Teeth
Scientists believe confuciusornis developed a beak and lost teeth as a key step in the evolutionary process. Learn more about confuciusornis and other birds, dinosaurs, and animals that evolved into the birds of today. PBS Eons walks...
PBS
When Insects First Flew
Insects developed wings and the ability to fly earlier than any other animal—when exactly did that happen? Scientists know this fact but struggle to explain when insect wings developed and how this entirely new structure appeared. PBS...
PBS
FAQs From Our First Year
After a year of PBS Eons videos, viewers raised some excellent points and questions. The hosts highlight the most common including classification of animals, when a new eon starts, how to pronounce scientific terms, and many other...
PBS
How the T-Rex Lost Its Arms
The Tyrannosaurs Rex grew up to 20 feet tall, yet their front arms were roughly the size of human arms—hardly proportional! Viewers see how the front limbs became smaller over the course of millions of years. PBS Eons goes on to explain...
California Academy of Science
Buses and Biofuels: Sustainable Transportation
One-third of all carbon emissions comes from transportation in the United States. The third lesson in a 13-part series on Exploring Energy offers ideas on how to reduce emissions from cars, airplanes, large trucks, and more.
PBS
How Horses Took Over North America (Twice)
Should horses be considered native to North America? PBS Eons presents the fossil record to answer this question. the video starts with the evolution of animals that eventually led to the family scientists now know includes horses. Then,...
PBS
The Mystery of the Eocene’s Lethal Lake
One lake in Germany killed everything that swam in it, drank from it, or flew over it providing scientists with an incredible fossil record and a huge mystery. PBS Eons explains the rarity of the fossil finds including turtles in the...
PBS
When Fish First Breathed Air
Many species find breathing a convenient way to survive. The PBS Eons series explains how fish learned to breathe air. It details what scientists know about evolutionary history as well as many species that developed this skill...
PBS
Arthropod Animation: Scorpion Book Gills
Gills extract oxygen from water and send it to the blood stream while removing carbon dioxide and sending it back to the water through these feather-like features. View an animation of scorpion gills, called book gills, by first peeling...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Lactose Digestion in Infants
Milk meets every single nutritional need for a baby in the first six months of life. Observe how an infant's small intestine breaks milk lactose down into a usable form of nutrition. With the help of an animation, viewers see the process...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Gleevec Inhibits Cancer-Causing Kinase BCR-ABL
Less than 30 percent of those diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia live for five years. One researcher shares a breakthrough in treatment for this specific type of cancer. He explains how it spreads and how the medication prevents the...
PBS
Sponge Animation: Wild Ride Through a Sponge
Sponges filter many times their body volumes in water every hour with no breaks. Viewers find themselves being swept inside a sponge to observe the filtering process from the inside. They view the canals, the feeding cells, the spicules,...
PBS
Sponge Animation: Spicules
Many people think of sponges as being soft, but that's not the case in the ocean. Viewers learn about the sponge skeleton made of hard crystal material. They observe the many unique shapes and understand how scientists use these shapes...