Home » 2020 » August

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  Decoding COVID-19 – Sara Holt | NOVA / PBS (2020)

  August 17, 2020 at 8:46 pm / Nova Documentaries, PBS Nature, Video

  Center for Disease Control (CDC) has been one of the most effective institutions in fight against emerging diseases. Yet, strikingly, the US has become the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic. Elimination of the immensely important the Global Health Security and Biodefense unit — responsible for pandemic preparedness — established in 2015 is now deemed one of the biggest political mistakes of our time. Unfortunately political interference continued to render experts of this most cutting edge organization largely ineffective and left […]

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  Human Bot Fly – Piotr Naskrecki (2015)

  August 5, 2020 at 12:10 am / Human Nature, Natural history, Video, Wildlife Documentaries

  Piotr Naskrecki achieved what many tropical biologists (including the author of this post) tried but failed multiple times: raising a tropical Human bot fly (Dermatobia hominis). This parasite is frequently covered by major TV channels since it is quite gruesome to the unititiated and most certainly attracts viewers. In my opinion this is the best bot fly documentary ever. In the video Dr. Naskrecki outlines the life cycle very well with the calmness of an entomologist without drama. You can […]

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  A Window into the Twilight Zone – Jennifer L. Berglund / WHOI (2020)

  August 2, 2020 at 12:51 pm / Ecological Documentaries, Video

  The Ocean Twilight Zone is the largest habitat on Earth. It is a vast ecosystem that does not depend on sunlight directly. This is the place where organisms have evolved seemingly bizarre adaptations such as bioluminescence and reproduction modes such as the Angler Fish with a parasitic male. The clues for chemical origins for how life may have started could be there in thermal vents. The discovery of diel vertical migration of fish and zooplankton forming the deep sound scattering […]

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