Paul Andersen explains how organisms respond to the external environment. He begins with a discussion of behavioral responses like hibernation and migration. He ends with a discussion of physiological responses like shivering and...

Hank explains why NASA and the European Space Agency are in love with tardigrades and how these extremophiles are helping us study the panspermia hypothesis.

Rising carbon levels in the atmosphere can make plants grow faster, but there's another hidden consequence: they rob plants of the nutrients and vitamins we need to survive. In a talk about global food security, epidemiologist Kristie...

Paul Andersen starts with a brief description of asexual and sexual reproduction. He explains how meiosis ensures variation in the next generation. He describes the important structures in the male and female reproductive system. He...

Composting becomes more widespread and accessible all the time, keeping millions of tons of food waste from ending up in landfills every year. But there is one quirk of some composting programs that can be a little annoying: they don't...

Hundreds of meters below the surface of the ocean, Laura Robinson probes the steep slopes of massive undersea mountains. She's on the hunt for thousand-year-old corals that she can test in a nuclear reactor to discover how the ocean...

Learning a new language as an adult is harder than doing so as a child because adults usually aren’t as invested and often use the wrong strategies.

Springtime means the arrival of green grass, bright flowers, and buzzing bees. But for many of us, it's also about sneezing, watery red eyes, and a runny nose, thanks to allergies. In this week's video, you'll learn why we get allergies,...

The same chemistry that makes plastic tough, light and flexible also makes it nearly impossible to get rid of, because it’s hard to break those resilient chemical bonds.

In a deeply moving letter to her grandmother, Xiye Bastida reflects on what led her to become a leading voice for global climate activism -- from mobilizing school climate strikes to speaking at the United Nations Climate Summit...

In this video Paul Andersen explains how economic models, like supply and demand, can be applied to environmental systems. The market forces will not protect environmental services until proper valuation and externalities are...

We don't know which living thing was the very first to arrive at the totally revolutionary process that is sexual reproduction but we can follow the history of how (and why) sex became a thing.

In this video Paul Andersen explains how ecosystems respond to disruptions. Disruptions can cause changes in the number and variety of organisms. It can also lead to migration, extinction or even speciation. Ecosystems that have a...

Este video es una traducción de "The Hottest Place on Earth"

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MinutoDeLaTierra proporciona una visión energética y entretenida de las t
endencias
en el medio ambiente terrestre -- ¡en...

You wanna be the very best? Like no one ever was? Travel across your neighborhood with us and learn about some of the tech behind the phenomenon that is Pokémon GO.

Using robotics, laser rangefinders, GPS and smart feedback tools, Dennis Hong is building a car for drivers who are blind. It's not a "self-driving" car, he's careful to note, but a car in which a non-sighted driver can determine speed,...

How would you prefer to spend the last years of your life: in a sterile, hospital-like institution or in a village with a supermarket, pub, theater and park within easy walking distance? The answer seems obvious now, but when Yvonne van...

Not all hardwood trees have hard wood and softwoods soft wood, because these terms denote their taxonomic ancestry, not the wood's actual hardness.

With wisdom and wit, Anupam Mishra talks about the amazing feats of engineering built centuries ago by the people of India's Golden Desert to harvest water. These ancient aqueducts and stepwells are still used today -- and are often...

You've filled up your cart and made it to the front of the grocery line when you're confronted with yet another choice: what kind of bag should you use? It might seem obvious that plastic is bad for the environment, and that a paper bag...

Jane Goodall is an amazing scientist and conservationist who has dedicated her life to learning about and protecting chimpanzees! Thanks to her, we've learned that, sometimes, people and animals aren't so different! Learn more about her...

Because of the way genetic reprogramming works, it’s hard to make one clone based on an adult cell, and it’s almost impossible to make a second-generation one.

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...

Paul Andersen explains how disruptions in homeostasis can affect biological systems at all levels. He uses the example of dehydration in animals to explain how disruptions at the cellular level can affect an organism. He also uses the...