TED Talks
Hendrik Poinar: Bring back the woolly mammoth!
It’s the dream of kids all around the world to see giant beasts walk the Earth again. Could -- and should -- that dream be realized? Hendrik Poinar talks about the next big thing: the quest to engineer a creature that looks very much...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: A simple way to tell insects apart - Anika Hazra
There are nearly a million known insect species in the world, but most have one of just five common types of mouthparts. Why is this information useful to scientists? Anika Hazra explains how the features of an insect's mouthparts can...
SciShow
6 "Vegetarian" Animals that Will Give You Nightmares
Some of the animals you think of as just cute grass-eating creatures might actually be more interested in chomping on your meaty bones.
TED-Ed
TED-ED: Should we eat bugs? - Emma Bryce
What's tasty, abundant and high in protein? Bugs! Although less common outside the tropics, entomophagy, the practice of eating bugs, was once extremely widespread throughout cultures. You may feel icky about munching on insects, but...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: How polarity makes water behave strangely - Christina Kleinberg
Water is both essential and unique. Many of its particular qualities stem from the fact that it consists of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen, therefore creating an unequal sharing of electrons. From fish in frozen lakes to ice floating...
TED Talks
TED: The global movement to restore nature's biodiversity | Thomas Crowther
Biodiversity is the key to life on Earth and reviving our damaged planet, says ecologist Thomas Crowther. Sharing the inside story of his headline-making research on reforestation, which led to the UN's viral Trillion Trees Campaign,...
SciShow
The 10 Oldest Fossils, and What They Say About Evolution
Wouldn’t it be cool to be able to point at a fossil and know that it’s the first, say, plant? Well... yeah! But it's not that easy! Scientists are always making new discoveries that throw all our old assumptions into question, but we've...
TED Talks
Shimon Steinberg: Natural pest control ... using bugs!
What's the difference between a pest and a bug? Shimon Steinberg makes the case for using good bugs to fight bad bugs, avoiding chemicals in our quest for perfect produce.
SciShow
What If We Killed All the Wasps?
Unlike their friendly, flower-pollinating cousin, the bee, wasps are best known for stinging people, ruining picnics, and generally being jerks... so should we just totally get rid of them?
TED-Ed
The world's most painful insect sting | Justin Schmidt
One of these three creatures is thought to possess the world's most painful insect sting: there's an ant that forages in rainforest canopies, a bee that protects a hive of delectable honey, and a wasp that paralyzes tarantulas. So which...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: The weird and wonderful metamorphosis of the butterfly - Franziska Bauer
In order to become a butterfly, a caterpillar's body dissolves almost completely and is rebuilt from its own juices. Butterflies are just a few of the 800,000 insect species that transition from larvae to adults through complete...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The sexual deception of orchids - Anne Gaskett
Check out the fascinating ways orchids trick insects into pollinating, using sexual deception, pheromones and mimicking the shapes of other plants. -- Nearly 28,000 species of orchid grow all around the world, bearing every imaginable...
Crash Course Kids
Living Things Change
Have you ever heard of the Peppered Moth? It's a great example of how living things can change because their environment has changed. And it's not just them! There used to be giant insects roaming the world, but they got smaller through...
SciShow
Why Aren't There Giant Insects
Hank and physiologist Jon Harrison discuss the question of insect size and major theories that attempt to explain why there is a limit to how large insects can get with current conditions on Earth.
TED-Ed
TED-ED: Do we really need pesticides? - Fernan Perez-Galvez
Annually, we shower over 5 billion pounds of pesticides across the Earth to control insects, unwanted weeds, funguses, rodents, and bacteria that may threaten our food supply. But is it worth it, knowing what we do about the associated...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Kenny Coogan: The wild world of carnivorous plants
Around the world there are more than 600 plant species that supplement a regular diet of sunlight, water and soil with insects, frogs and even rats. Flies, tadpoles and beetles fall prey to the remarkable, predatory antics of carnivorous...
SciShow
Dangerous Soaps: How Animals Use Surfactants
When you think of surfactants, you might think of soaps, detergents and other man-made chemicals. But it turns out that some other animals utilize their own versions of these sudsy molecules.
SciShow
How Do Insects Survive the Winter?
Birds fly south, humans bundle up, but what do insects do to survive the winter? From creating antifreeze-like alcohols to burrowing in the ground, bugs have a few solutions to carry on.
TED-Ed
TED-ED: The amazing ways plants defend themselves - Valentin Hammoudi
Plants are constantly under attack. They face threats ranging from microscopic fungi to small herbivores like caterpillars, up to large herbivores like elephants. But plants are ready, with a whole series of internal and external...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: How one scientist took on the chemical industry
In 1958, after receiving a letter describing the deaths of songbirds due to the pesticide known as DDT, Rachel Carson began an investigation into the misuse of chemicals and their toll on nature. In 1962, she published her findings in...
Crash Course
Complex Animals: Annelids & Arthropods - CrashCourse Biology
Hank continues our exploration of animal phyla with the more complexly organized annelida and arthropoda, and a biolography on insects.
Bozeman Science
Coevolution
Paul Andersen explains the concept of coevolution. He begins with an analogy comparing the relationship of humans to technology with those of coevolving species. He then discriminates between coevolution and convergent evolution. He...
SciShow
6 Weird Mushrooms (And Other Fungi)
Mushrooms can be pretty weird! Some have the power to trick animals into caring for them, appear to bleed, or even clean up radiation!
Chapters
SCLEROTIA Credit: Tocekas
0:59
EGG-MIMICKING FUNGUS
2:05
HYPHAE
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