Posts by Uzay Sezen | Nature Documentaries

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Becoming: Development of a Salamander Embryo – Jan van IJken (2018)

February 10, 2019 at 9:59 pm / Evolution, Natural history, Video

Everyone of us started life from one single cell formed by the fusion of an egg and a sperm. That single cell gave rise to every structure in our bodies. How did that happen? Salamanders especially the axolotl are known to be able to regenerate limbs while frogs and lizards cannot. How and why? The Dutch filmmaker Jan van IJken did a superb job bringing a fresh new artistic look into the fascinating process of vertebrate embryo development. The original […]

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What Good are Introns Anyway? – Nature (2019)

February 6, 2019 at 2:56 pm / Molecular Nature, Video

Molecular Nature Introns are stretches of non-coding regions interspersed with the coding DNA in the genes of eukaryotic organisms. They are widespread, common and sometimes are ridiculously long stressing the economy of the cell. Burden of long introns is not limited to DNA replication which happens only once during cell division but continues to manifest itself at the transcription level where multiple rounds of RNA polymerase II activity consume energy proportional to the longevity of the cell. For instance, the […]

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A Giant Forest Ant (Dinomyrmex gigas) Worker Foraging in Bukit Timah Nature Reserve

January 30, 2019 at 12:24 pm / Natural history, NatureDocumentaries.org, Short Observations, Video

This short observation was filmed on Nov 23rd 2016 in Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, Singapore. Malaysian giant forest ant (Dinomyrmex gigas) is a central place forager. The colony structure is described as polydomous. Workers communicate efficiently and recruit effectively to optimize foraging yield. Large workers have evolved ergonomy to be self-sufficient in most tasks. Its diet is mostly honeydew and excrements but can also prey on insects. These ants have been reported to have up to 14 subterranean nests and […]

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The Origin of Species: Lizards in an Evolutionary Tree – Dan Lewitt / HHMI (2013)

January 30, 2019 at 12:07 pm / Ecological Documentaries, Evolution, Natural history, Video

Anole lizards together with cichlid fishes and Darwin’s finches are one of the star organisms in studying a rapid evolution pattern called adaptive radiation. Jonathan Losos is a veteran field biologist that has studied the traits that enable dozens of anole species to adapt to different niches in the islands of the Caribbean. Differences in limb length, body shape, and toepad size allow different species to be successful on the ground. However on vegetation surfaces such as thin branches, or […]

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Galapagos Finch Evolution – Dan Lewitt – HHMI (2013)

January 28, 2019 at 1:53 pm / Ecological Documentaries, Evolution, Natural history, Video

The Galapagos is home to many iconic species. Each are unique on their own and form a case study in evolutionary biology. Darwin’s finches and mocking birds with their striking beak morphology provided the first clues to Darwin in formulating the mechanism of evolution by natural selection. The Galapagos was the origin of the Origin of the Species. Finches in the island of Daphne Major have been studied for more than 40 years by Princeton University scientists Peter and Rosemary […]

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Virtual Reconstruction of the Antikythera Mechanism – Michael Wright & Mogi Vicentini (2009)

January 24, 2019 at 7:51 pm / Human Nature, Video

Trying to predict future is one of the characteristics of Human nature which ultimately gave us the scientific method. Antikythera Mechanism is one of the best demonstrations of human intellect attempting to understand nature systematically. The contraption is most certainly a very complex device. It is an impressively accurate “analog model” of our then earth-centric universe. The Antikythera Mechanism was built like a clock. Trains of interlocking gearwheels controlled the movements of a minimum of seven pointers perfectly tracking the […]

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Person of the Forest – Melissa Lesh/Tim Laman (2017)

January 18, 2019 at 10:58 pm / Ecological Documentaries, Natural history, Wildlife Documentaries

As an emerging filmmaker Melissa Lesh has joined forces with veteran National Geographic writer and photographer Tim Laman, anthropologist Cheryll Knott and explorer Robert Suro in this informative documentary. The team works in lowland rainforests of Borneo to document and understand the unique cultural behaviors of orangutans in the wild. The work of researchers spans more than 20 years during which they recorded fascinating orangutan behavior including making pillows, fashioning umbrellas and displaying regional greetings. Long term observations of primates […]

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Backstage in the Wild: Yale Insights into Chimpanzee – David Watts (2012)

January 16, 2019 at 9:22 am / Evolution, Natural history, Video, Wildlife Documentaries

This short but densely informative interview is a must-see resource about our closest primate cousins, the chimpanzees. Yale University Anthropologist Dr. David Watts educates us about social interactions and behavior of chimpanzees based on what has been learned from long-term non-Human primate observations. Observation of his and his co-workers at the University of Michigan from the Kibale National Park and Ugandan national park Ngogo formed the basis for feature films such as the Chimpanzee made by the veteran BBC filmmaker […]

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The Last Neanderthal – Pierangelo Pirak (2016)

January 2, 2019 at 2:32 pm / Evolution, Human Nature, Video

Neandertals form a curious part of Human heritage. Fossil and genetic evidence suggest that the two Human populations split sometime between 400,000 to 800,000 years ago. Neandertals went extinct 30,000 years ago. For decades, the general impression about the Neandertals were as brutish, primitive beings. However the more we investigate the more we learn and become intrigued about these master ice age survivors. The director Pierangelo Pirak’s documentary is a concatenation of multiple short episodes exploring issues such as what […]

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Evolution Game – North Star Games (2014)

December 26, 2018 at 1:12 am / Evolution, Video

The concept of evolution is one of the central themes in Nature Documentaries. A review of games designed to teach evolution in Nature Magazine prompted a search for other endeavors. Among the three games reviewed Evolution was evaluated as by far the best. There has been quite a few attempts to introduce evolution in game format. One game called “Life as a Lizard” is adapted as a role play in classroom setting. Another game also explores major tenets of evolutionary […]

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OSIRIS-REx Mission to Asteroid Bennu – NASA (2018)

December 7, 2018 at 6:21 pm / Cosmological, Global Patterns, Video

How did our Sun, the Earth, and the planets form and evolve? Asteroids and comets are the early building blocks of the solar system. They even may hold clues to how life has started on our and perhaps in other planets. The asteroid Bennu contains information going back to four and a half billion years. Visitation and sample collection from asteroid Bennu will be very informative. Here you can watch a concatenation of four videos produced by the NASA Goddard […]

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Photosynthesis Board Game – Blue Orange Games

November 17, 2018 at 11:56 am / Ecological Documentaries, Natural history

Photosynthesis is a fundamental concept in life sciences. It is one of the prerequisites for making sense of our Earth. If the World citizens do not understand how plants grow, then it becomes almost impossible to convey the urgent message that accumulation of carbondiokside in the air leads to global warming and climate change. If the primers are not given in an understandable way almost everything can become esoteric. But, do not despair! The board game Photosynthesis provides such primers […]

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Pygmy Seahorses as Masters of Camouflage – Deep Look – PBS/KQED (2015)

November 13, 2018 at 7:51 pm / Evolution, Molecular Nature, Natural history, Video

Environmental cues can have profound effects on the developmental trajectory of juveniles. When predatory dragonfly nymphs are present, tadpoles develop bigger tails with fast twitch muscles. Similarly the crustacean water fleas (Daphnia) develop helmet structures preventing fish to swallow them easily. Epigenetics is a relatively new branch of genetics but we have learned quite a lot in a few decades. The molecular mechanism of what evolutionary biologists described as phenotypic plasticity – biological ability to generate multiple phenotypes from a […]

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Sinister Cannibals or Nurturing Fathers?

November 11, 2018 at 9:16 pm / Evolution, Natural history, Video

In majority of sexually reproducing species females are the choosy ones. Generally, females invest more in offspring during pregnancy and post-natal care. Males try many tricks (fighting with other males, making elaborate dances, providing nuptial gifts, carrying showy and difficult to maintain body ornaments etc.) to prevent being filtered out in female preferences. Parental investment is a determinant in choosiness. In this post we will take a look at a spectrum of male behavior in parental care. Pipefishes and mudskippers […]

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Let Them Eat Flies! KQED/QUEST (2014)

November 3, 2018 at 10:15 am / Ecological Documentaries, PBS Nature, Video

Insects are a hugely successful group of organisms. Their evolution transformed life on land immensely especially influencing flowering plant evolution. Insects also play a large role as food sources. Here in this KQED documentary we see how a fly farm in Ohio rears a common insect, the black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) to be used as food for fish farms. Some City farms have successfully been growing fish beneath the plants which helps recycling of nutrients reducing fertilizer use. Aquaponics […]

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