Crash Course
Intro to Ecology: Why Did All These Elephants Die?: Crash Course Biology #5
Ecology is the study of the interactions of living things with each other and their environment. It’s a field that not only lets us explore the interconnections between living things, but also how our environment affects us, and how we...
Crash Course
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,...
Crash Course
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...
Crash Course
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.
Crash Course
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...
Crash Course
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...
Crash Course
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...
Crash Course
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...
Crash Course
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...
Crash Course
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...
Crash Course
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...
Crash Course
What is Climate Change?: Crash Course Biology #8
Life on Earth has weathered boiling-hot oceans and volcanic-ash-darkened skies—but that’s nothing like the climate change we’re experiencing now. In this episode of Crash Course Biology, we’ll talk about the greenhouse effect, learn why...
TED-Ed
Why don’t we get our drinking water from the ocean? | Manish Kumar
Humans have been transforming seawater into potable freshwater for millennia. Today, billions of people can’t access clean drinking water, and 87 different countries are projected to be “water-scarce” by 2050. So, how can we use seawater...
TED-Ed
Can you "see" images in your mind? Some people can't | Adam Zeman
When reading "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," most readers visualize the queen’s croquet game play out in their heads. A few might see the scene in vivid detail. However, a small fraction of readers have a drastically different...
TED-Ed
This is the most common way to get head lice | Nazzy Pakpour
For as long as humans have had lice, we’ve fought hard to get rid of them. Nit combs, the fine-tooth brushes used to remove lice and their sticky eggs, have been found among the ancient remains of cultures across the globe. Today it’s...
TED-Ed
Yes, tiny mites live on your face — but is that a bad thing? | M. Alejandra Perotti
Two species of Demodex mites specifically inhabit human follicles. And not just some people’s— nearly everyone is thought to host mites. One person’s face might harbor hundreds or even thousands of individual mites. On any given day,...
MinuteEarth
Why Don't Electric Eels Shock Themselves?
Electric eels can emit some of the largest shocks in the animal kingdom - but why don't they shock themselves?
MinuteEarth
Why Do Butterflies Bother Being Caterpillars?
It seems wild that some animals basically trade in their bodies for new ones during their lifetime, but it's actually really common – and it makes a lot of sense.
MinuteEarth
All Plants Have Color Vision?
Plants can tell when competitors are nearby because they can see them.
MinuteEarth
Why Did It Take Us So Long?
We've long known that animal pollination is an important way plants reproduce on land, but we're only just finding out animals also pollinate plants underwater.
Amoeba Sisters
Ecology Review: Food Chains & Webs, Relationships, Nitrogen & Carbon Cycles, Effects on Biodiversity
Join the Amoeba Sisters in this longer review video as they review food chains, food webs, how energy flows through trophic levels (including the 10% rule), ecological relationships (including parasitism, mutualism, and commensalism),...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Why animals help each other | Ashley Ward
Charles Darwin introduced the notion of “survival of the fittest,” where the fittest animals are those who can survive long enough to produce healthy offspring. The fittest animal can also be the most stealthy, resourceful, or even the...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Are there any places on Earth with no bugs? | Charles Wallace
Insects are the world’s most numerous and diverse animals. Even where you’d least expect them in some of Earth’s most extreme environments, there they are. From a scalding volcano, parched desert, to a frigid glacier, insects are living...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: What are those colors you see when you rub your eyes? | Paul CJ Taylor
In the 1600s, Isaac Newton conducted a series of experiments to better understand the lights and colors that sometimes appear when your eyes are closed. If you’ve ever sat around an evening campfire or unintentionally glanced at the Sun,...