Crash Course
Yu the Engineer and Flood Stories from China: Crash Course World Mythology
New ReviewOn this Crash Course in World Mythology, Mike Rugnetta is teaching you about floods and deluges, specifically in China. In Chinese myth, flood stories pretty much all revolve around a guy named Yu the Great, or Yu the Engineer. In the...
Crash Course
Social Orders and Creation Stories: Crash Course World Mythology
New ReviewIn which Mike Rugnetta sits you down for a little talk about myth as a way to construct or reinforce social orders. Specifically, we're going to look today at stories from around the world that establish or amplify the idea that the...
Crash Course
Galahad, Perceval, and the Holy Grail: Crash Course World Mythology
New ReviewIn which Mike Rugnetta quests for knowledge of the Holy Grail of Mythology. Which is the actual, literal Holy Grail! The cup of Christ! Legends about the Holy Grail are often connected to the British legends of King Arthur, and this...
Crash Course
What Biologists Do: Crash Course Biology #3
New ReviewA biologist’s natural habitat is anywhere questions about life are being asked—whether the subject is a nematode or a narwhal, a single cell, or a whole ecosystem. In this episode of Crash Course Biology, we’re flipping the microscope...
Crash Course
The Scientific Method: Crash Course Biology #2
New ReviewScience offers a way of discovering and understanding the world around us, driven by questions and tested with evidence. And it’s a twisty-turny team effort— you won’t find many lone geniuses out there, or straight lines from hypothesis...
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Introduction to Biology: Crash Course Biology #1
New ReviewBiology is the study of life—a four-letter word that connects you to 4 billion years worth of family tree. The word “life” can be tricky to define, but a shared set of characteristics helps biologists identify living things. In this...
Crash Course
Biology and You: The Dr. Sammy Show: Crash Course Biology #50
New ReviewBiology connects all of life—all of YOUR life. In the final episode of Crash Course Biology, Dr. Sammy is taking your questions. No matter how big, small, or personal, biology is in them all! He’ll show us how biology can help us solve...
Crash Course
Animal Behavior: Why This Toad Is Bad at Jumping: Crash Course Biology #49
New ReviewWhy 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...
Crash Course
Sexual & Asexual Reproduction: How Animals Do It: Crash Course Biology #47
New ReviewWhen it comes to animal reproduction, there’s no one-size-fits-all strategy. Some animals need a mate, others don’t, and for some, it depends! In this episode, we’ll learn about sexual and asexual reproduction, internal and external...
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Nervous & Endocrine Systems: What Really Happens When You Step on a Lego: Crash Course Biology #46
New ReviewIf cells and organs never talked to each other, an animal would fall apart faster than a boy band after the popular one goes solo. Thankfully, that’s where the nervous and endocrine systems come in! In this episode of Crash Course...
Crash Course
Animal Defense Systems: How Skin, Snot, and Cells Keep Us Healthy: Crash Course Biology #45
New ReviewThe world is full of microbes and viruses that can get us sick, but we’ve got an Avengers-style defense system ready to take them on. In this episode of Crash Course Biology, we’ll learn about an animal’s immune system, from their skin...
Crash Course
Animal Infrastructure: Why You’re More Than Goo: Crash Course Biology #44
New ReviewWhen you think about the body’s infrastructure, you probably think of bones. But what about the heart, the blood vessels, and the lymphatic system? In this episode of Crash Course Biology, we’ll tour the cardiovascular, lymphatic, and...
Crash Course
How Animals Turn Resources Into Waste: The Poop Episode: Crash Course Biology #43
New ReviewYep, this is the poop episode. Getting resources and getting rid of waste is so important, we have three whole systems dedicated to it! In this episode, we’ll learn how the respiratory system, digestive system, and urinary system work,...
Crash Course
Plant Anatomy & Physiology: Plants Are Hardcore: Crash Course Biology #42
New ReviewPlants 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...
Crash Course
Multicellular Function: Why We Aren’t Just One Big Cell: Crash Course Biology #41
New ReviewThere are countless types of plants and animals on Earth, but how do they work? In this episode of Crash Course Biology, we’ll take a bird’s eye view of how multicellular life functions, including how it’s organized, how it regulates...
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Bioinformatics: How Data Saves Lives: Crash Course Biology #40
New ReviewOn 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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Viruses & Vaccines: How Do Vaccines Work?: Crash Course Biology 39
New ReviewFrom the flu to COVID-19, viruses are a major threat in our everyday lives. In today’s episode of Crash Course Biology, we’ll learn why viruses are like genes in a box, and how they invade and spread between cells. We’ll also discover...
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Bacterial DNA & Genetics: Crash Course Biology #38
New ReviewBacteria often get a bad rap, but they’re some of our best partners in science and medicine! In this episode, we’ll explore what bacteria are doing with their DNA — including how they can trade it around. We’ll learn about chromosomes...
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Genetic Mutations: Is Drinking Milk a Super Power?: Crash Course Biology #37
New ReviewScience fiction is full of superpowered mutants, but in reality, mutations are much more diverse and complex. Sometimes, they can change someone’s entire body, and other times, we don’t notice them at all! In this episode, we’ll unpack...
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How Genes Express Themselves: Crash Course Biology #36
New ReviewIf nearly all your cells have the same DNA, why are muscle cells so different from skin cells? In this episode, we’ll learn how gene expression is regulated in eukaryotes, and how methylating DNA, modifying histones, and messing with...
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Translation: How RNA Gets Translated into Protein Power: Crash Course Biology #35
New ReviewHow does the information from mRNA turn into a protein? It all comes down to translation, where nucleotides are translated into a chain of amino acids. In this episode of Crash Course Biology, we’ll cover codon-reading ribosomes, tRNA...
Crash Course
Transcription: How mRNA Helped Save Lives: Crash Course Biology #34
New ReviewYou’ve probably heard of mRNA, thanks to the COVID-19 vaccine. But what is mRNA exactly? In this episode of Crash Course Biology, we learn about the role of messenger RNA in living things and how it decodes our DNA instruction manual...
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DNA Structure & Replication: Our Instruction Manual for Existing: Crash Course Biology #33
New ReviewYour 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...
Crash Course
Genetic Traits: Nature? Nurture? Not That Simple: Crash Course Biology #32
New ReviewIt’s not nature versus nurture—it’s both! In this episode of Crash Course Biology, we’ll explore how complex interactions between genes and the environment shape all sorts of traits, from human skin color to honeybees’ “royal jelly.”