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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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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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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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What Gall! The Crazy Cribs of Parasitic Wasps – Deep Look – PBS/KQED (2015)

November 2, 2018 at 11:45 am / Evolution, Natural history, PBS Nature, Video

Another fascinating episode from a series produced by PBS/KQED: Deep Look… Gall formations are indeed one of the most interesting examples of plant-animal interactions. Gall-inducing wasps are plant parasites. The larvae hijack the chemical signaling pathways by secreting two plant hormones auxin and cytokinin which induce abnormal cell divisions leading to gall formation. In certain instances anthocyanin production pathways become upregulated and this gives most of the gall tissues their characteristic red color. Larvae also induce sugary secretions and literally […]

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Associates of Eciton burchellii – Carl & Marian Rettenmeyer (2009)

October 28, 2018 at 10:51 am / Ecological Documentaries, Natural history, Video, Wildlife Documentaries

Filmed entirely on location at La Selva Biological Field Station in Costa Rica this film is one of the two part documentary series produced by Rettenmeyers. Both documentaries harbor so much natural history that there’s almost no break during the narration. Over the course of 55 years, Carl Rettenmeyer of the University of Connecticut and his wife Marian enthusiastically studied the army ant (Eciton burchellii) and their associates. Throughout this period Carl Rettenmeyer became the world’s leading expert on army […]

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Astonishing Army Ants – Carl & Marian Rettenmeyer (2009)

October 28, 2018 at 10:50 am / Ecological Documentaries, Natural history, Video, Wildlife Documentaries

Filmed entirely on location at La Selva Biological Field Station in Costa Rica this film is one of the two part documentary series produced by Rettenmeyers. Both documentaries harbor so much natural history that there’s almost no break during the narration. Over the course of 55 years, Carl Rettenmeyer of the University of Connecticut and his wife Marian enthusiastically studied the army ant (Eciton burchellii) and their associates. Throughout this period Carl Rettenmeyer became the world’s leading expert on army […]

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Welcome to the Anthropocene – a Film About the State of the Planet – UN Rio+20 Summit (2012)

October 17, 2018 at 1:03 pm / Ecological Documentaries, Global Patterns, Human Nature, Video

Due to Human activities our planet has now reported to have entered into a “no analog state”. This means our planet has never experienced fast changing present-day conditions in its geological and evolutionary history. The closest geological event to what is happening now is known as (PETM) Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum. PETM took place 56 million years ago. Changes happening now is way too fast, much faster than those in PETM. We are indeed in a no analog state in ecological […]

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Siccar Point: The Birthplace of Modern Geology – British Geological Survey

August 19, 2018 at 8:56 pm / Global Patterns, Video

The World was a rather different place in the late 18th century. A great majority of people in the West believed the Earth was not older than 6,000 years old. Rocks were formed immediately after the Biblical flood of Noah. Fossils were simply the remains of animals that had died in the flood. Scientific facts that are so obvious to us today such as plate tectonics and continental drift were not connected. For instance, a core tenet is the geological […]

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