Recent Videos

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  The Antikythera Mechanism: The Two-Thousand-Year-Old Computer – Mike Beckham (2012)

  March 21, 2015 at 7:51 pm / BBC documentaries, Human Nature, Video

  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. Science gives us prediction power and Antikythera Mechanism is an excellent example for how astronomical observations can be defined mathematically to reconcile lunar and solar calendars and predict eclipses with hourly accuracy using 27 gear pieces. It uses the Metonic Cyle first implemented […]

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  How Chameleons Change Color? (2015)

  March 18, 2015 at 10:11 am / Evolution, Molecular Nature, Natural history, Short Observations, Video

  Long projectile tongue, independently movable eyes and rapid color change. Chameleons are indeed very interesting animals (see the detailed account of Aristotle at the bottom of this post). Main video is a concatenation of all five supplementary materials associated with the a study demonstrating color change in Chameleons. You can view them individually below. The following video by The Economist makes a successful summary based on the same material: Reproductively mature chameleon males rapidly switch on bold threatening colors when […]

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  Crossection of a Dandelion Compound Flower – Rüdiger Hartmann (2015)

  March 8, 2015 at 11:30 am / Natural history, Short Observations, Video, Wildlife Documentaries

  Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) is one of the most ubiquitous plants belonging to the family Asteraceae. The plant is native to Eurasia but has become naturalized to all temperate regions of the World introduced unintentionally by Humans. It’s compound flowers are self-pollinated and seeds are wind dispersed. In this short observation developmental biologist Dr. Rüdiger Hartmann of the University of Freiburg has done a wonderful job of showing the dynamics of the mature compound flowers (inflorescence) using timelapse videography in his […]

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  The Origin of Birds – Dan Lewitt – HHMI (2015)

  March 5, 2015 at 10:52 am / Evolution, Video

  The Great Transitions is a three part documentary covering evolutionary origins of land vertebrates tetrapods, birds and Humans. In this second installment of the series, paleontologist Julia Clarke tells how birds evolved from dinosaurs. When the first Archaeopteryx fossil was discovered in a quarry in Germany in the early 1860s it created a lot of excitement. The discovery came only a few years after the publication of the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin. Since then dozens of Archeopteryx fossils […]

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  Voyage of Darwin’s Beagle – Episode 1: One Small Step For Man (2009)

  February 12, 2015 at 12:39 am / Evolution, Human Nature, Video

  Beagle: In Darwin’s Wake is a commemoration of 150th anniversary of the publication of Darwin’s book “On The Origin of Species”. Almost 180 years after Charles Darwin’s journey circumnavigating the world, a crew of authors, artists, and scientists follow in his footsteps. Journalist and presenter Lex Runderkamp, biologists Dirk Draulans and Sarah Darwin (who is the great-great-granddaughter of Charles Darwin), the artist Anthony Smith and the writer Redmond O’Hanlon are accompanied by a number of invited guests whose backgrounds are […]

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  Voyage of Darwin’s Beagle – Episode 2: Low Life on the Ladder of God (2009)

  February 12, 2015 at 12:37 am / Evolution, Human Nature, Natural history, Video

  When Darwin set foot in Rio de Janerio he witnessed the brutality of slavery. Brazil is a melting pot of genetic diversity. All fossil and genetic evidence points that Africa is the home continent where modern Humans originated about 200 thousand years ago. As Humans spread and colonized new continents genetic diversity eroded gradually proportional to the distance away from Africa. Loss of genetic diversity was because of joint effects of two well understood genetic phenomena known as population bottleneck […]

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  Voyage of Darwin’s Beagle – Episode 3: The Last Frontier (2009)

  February 12, 2015 at 12:34 am / Ecological Documentaries, Evolution, Human Nature, Video

  Fish are cold blooded animals and this property make them very efficient in terms of biomass accumulation. For this reason ecological trophic levels in aquatic systems can be much higher than terrestrial systems. The documentary film The End of the Line by Charles Clover mentioned in this episode draws attention to the problem of overfishing. About 400 million years ago, the Falkland Islands were part of the supercontinent of Gondwana, located between southern Africa and what is now Queen Maud […]

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  Voyage of Darwin’s Beagle – Episode 4: The Final Countdown (2009)

  February 12, 2015 at 12:31 am / Ecological Documentaries, Evolution, Global Patterns, Human Nature, Video

  “In the wake of Beagle” series brings back the adventure/science mix documentary programs reminiscent of those of Cousteau. Expeditions carried out on a ship and underwater filming was a signature in Cousteau’s filmmaking. This episode prepares the audience for the next episode filmed in the Galapagos Islands. Darwin developed his insight towards evolving species in that volcanic archipelago. Galapagos islands are largely affected by long-term seasonal fluctuations that known as El Nino/La Nina cycle. A few events Darwin witnessed in […]

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  Voyage of Darwin’s Beagle – Episode 5: The Paradise of Competition (2009)

  February 12, 2015 at 12:27 am / Ecological Documentaries, Evolution, Global Patterns, Natural history, Video

  The Galapagos islands has been a pivotal single location where everything came together in Darwin’s mind. The geology of the archipelago and almost every species (Tortoises, iguanas, finches) he observed on each island showed significant variation. The Galapagos Islands, which are part of Ecuador are about 1000 km (620 miles) west of South America. As the three craters on the largest island (Isabela Island) suggest, the archipelago was created by volcanic eruptions. Each year roughly 60,000 tourists visit these islands. […]

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  Voyage of Darwin’s Beagle – Episode 6: Toolbox of Survival (2009)

  February 12, 2015 at 12:12 am / Ecological Documentaries, Evolution, Global Patterns, Human Nature, Video

  In Australia the arrival of Europeans profoundly effected the biology of the continent through introduction of non-native species that are reproducing and invading at an unprecedented rate. Australian biologists call it “extinction calamity” since the continent has lost one in ten of its native mammals species in the past 200 years. The effects of climate change is also evident with severe droughts and wild fires. A large fraction of Australian vegetation is serotinous that is adapted to disperse their seeds […]

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  Voyage of Darwin’s Beagle – Episode 7: Adapt or Die! (2009)

  February 12, 2015 at 12:09 am / Evolution, Human Nature, Molecular Nature, Video

  In this leg of the journey in Australia the theme “On the Future of Species” dominates the episode. Darwin absolutely had no clue on how genetic information from parents were transmitted to the offspring and he was perfectly aware of his situation. On the other hand, while he was writing his book battling with hereditary questions, an Augustinian friar with a scientific mind was carrying out his experimental crosses in a monastery which was going to lay the foundations of […]

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  Voyage of Darwin’s Beagle – Episode 8: The Ruins of Progress (2009)

  February 12, 2015 at 12:07 am / Ecological Documentaries, Evolution, Global Patterns, Human Nature, Video

  In this last episode of the series the crew of Stad Amsterdam visits Mauritius island before making a final stop in South Africa where the journey of modern Human ancestors began 200 thousand years ago. San culture in South Africa is the most ancestral Human population finding Like many island ecosystems Mauritius has been impacted by introduced species such as macaques. Species evolved on island systems are more prone to extinction. The flightless bird the Dodo is the icon of […]

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  Great Transitions: The Origin of Humans – Rob Whittlesey – HHMI (2014)

  February 11, 2015 at 11:25 pm / Evolution, Human Nature, Video

  What did the common ancestor of Humans and chimpanzees looked like? This is not something we can triangulate simply by looking at a modern chimpanzee and Human. All the evidence points that Africa is the home continent for primates. Paleontologists are working hard to find the fossils that help us understand the key stages in Human evolution. Molecular genetic analysis of modern Human and chimpanzee revealed a very high degree of similarity. Through DNA hybridization experiments it was estimated that […]

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  Robin L. Chazdon – Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS) interview (2014)

  February 5, 2015 at 9:10 pm / Ecological Documentaries, Global Patterns, Video

  Robin L. Chazdon is a professor of tropical ecology in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department at the University of Connecticut. She has been studying natural regeneration in second-growth tropical forest using long term monitoring plots within the landscape matrix surrounding La Selva Biological Field Station in Heredia province of Northeast Costa Rica. She is a palm specialist and has investigated many aspects of this important plant group including physiology and genetics within the context of forest regeneration. The Bosques Project […]

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  Salmon Confidential – Twyla Roscovich (2013)

  February 2, 2015 at 2:30 pm / Ecological Documentaries, Natural history, Video, Wildlife Documentaries

  Fish are cold-blooded animals and this property make them very efficient in terms of biomass accumulation. For this reason ecological trophic levels in aquatic systems can be more than terrestrial systems. Compared to fish, a warm-blooded cow is a furnace burning 90% of the food intake. Fish is a very valuable food. The global demand for seafood is so large that wild fisheries can’t meet that anymore. How are we going to feed fish to humanity? Two-thirds of the salmon […]

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