
MinuteEarth
514 episodes — Page 4 of 11

When Was The Worst Time In History To Die?
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: Comorbidity: the simultaneous presence of two or more diseases or medical conditions in a patient. Schistosomiasis: a disease caused by liver flukes that has affected humans for more than 100,000 years. Meta-analysis: an examination of data from a number of independent studies of the same subject, in order to determine overall trends. Prehistory: the period between when modern humans first appeared and the dawn of agriculture. Columbian exchange: the process by which plants, animals, diseases, people, and ideas were introduced from Europe, Asia, and Africa to North and South America and vice versa. Zoonosis: a disease which can be transmitted to humans from animals. MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info If you like what we do, you can help us! - Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth - Buy our merch: http://dftba.com/minuteearth - Buy our book: https://minuteearth.com/books - Sign up to our newsletter: http://news.minuteearth.com - Share with your friends and family - Leave us a comment (we read them!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The 3 Reasons This Tree Has Lived 5000 Years
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: Great basin bristlecone pine tree: a species of pine tree that includes many of the longest-lived individual trees on Earth. Bark beetles: the common name for a subfamily of beetles that has destroyed millions of acres of forest across the Western United States. Terpenes: waxy chemicals that increase wood density in certain pine trees. Bark morphology: a trait of certain bristlecones in which strips of exposed wood extend up and down the tree, allowing them to pass nutrients even when other parts of the trunk have died. Dolomite: a type of rock high in magnesium and calcium that turns into extremely alkaline soils. Extremophile: an organism that is tolerant to environmental extremes. MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info If you like what we do, you can help us! - Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth - Buy our merch: http://dftba.com/minuteearth - Buy our book: https://minuteearth.com/books - Sign up to our newsletter: http://news.minuteearth.com - Share with your friends and family - Leave us a comment (we read them!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why It's Impossible To Win a Nuclear War
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: Black carbon: groups of linked carbon atoms. Fallout: radioactive particles that are carried into the atmosphere after a nuclear explosion or accident and gradually fall back as dust or in precipitation. Jet stream: a narrow variable band of very strong predominantly westerly air currents encircling the globe several miles above the earth. Radiation: the emission of energy as electromagnetic waves or as moving subatomic particles, especially high-energy particles which cause ionization. Weapon yield: the amount of energy released when that particular nuclear weapon is detonated, usually expressed as a TNT equivalent. MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info If you like what we do, you can help us! - Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth - Buy our merch: http://dftba.com/minuteearth - Buy our book: https://minuteearth.com/books - Sign up to our newsletter: http://news.minuteearth.com - Share with your friends and family - Leave us a comment (we read them!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Tree Planting Goes Wrong
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: Afforestation: the process of introducing trees and tree seedlings to an area that has previously not been forested. Carbon sequestration: a process by which carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere and held in solid or liquid form. Ecological restoration: the process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged, or destroyed. Moor: wet, upland habitats characterized by low-growing shrubs, grasses, bog-mosses, and damp, peaty soils. MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info If you like what we do, you can help us! - Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth - Buy our merch: http://dftba.com/minuteearth - Buy our book: https://minuteearth.com/books - Sign up to our newsletter: http://news.minuteearth.com - Share with your friends and family - Leave us a comment (we read them!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Which Is Worse: Underpopulation Or Overpopulation?
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: Overpopulation: a situation in which there are too many people for the amount of food, materials, and space available. Underpopulation: a situation in which there are too few people to realize the economic potential of an area or support its population's standard of living. Exponential growth: a pattern of data that shows greater increases with passing time, creating the curve of an exponential function. Extreme poverty: an income below the international poverty line of ~$2/day Total fertility rate: the average number of children born to each woman over her lifetime. Population bomb: a theory that the human population would grow faster than available food supplies. MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info If you like what we do, you can help us! - Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth - Buy our merch: http://dftba.com/minuteearth - Buy our book: https://minuteearth.com/books - Sign up to our newsletter: http://news.minuteearth.com - Share with your friends and family - Leave us a comment (we read them!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Balsa Hardwood
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Dog Years
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What if We Replaced Nuclear With Potatoes
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: Calorie: the energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water through 1°C (now usually defined as 4.1868 joules). Energy: power derived from the utilization of physical or chemical resources, especially to provide light and heat or to work machines. Joule: the SI unit of work or energy, equal to the work done by a force of one newton when its point of application moves one meter in the direction of action of the force, equivalent to one 3600th of a watt-hour. Watt: the SI unit of power, equivalent to one joule per second, corresponding to the power in an electric circuit in which the potential difference is one volt and the current one ampere. Watt-hour: a measure of electrical energy equivalent to a power consumption of one watt for one hour. MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info If you like what we do, you can help us! - Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth - Buy our merch: http://dftba.com/minuteearth - Buy our book: https://minuteearth.com/books - Sign up to our newsletter: http://news.minuteearth.com - Share with your friends and family - Leave us a comment (we read them!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How We Learned That Water Isn't An Element
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: Chemical element: is a species of atoms that have a given number of protons in their nuclei. Chemical elements cannot be broken down into simpler substances by any chemical reaction. Atom: is the smallest unit of ordinary matter that forms a chemical element. Molecule: is a group of two or more atoms held together by attractive forces known as chemical bonds. Inflammable air: an old name for hydrogen. Hydrogen: is the most abundant chemical substance in the universe. Early chemists identified hydrogen gas because it was colorless, odorless and highly combustible. Hydrogen means "maker of water" in Greek. Dephlogisticated air: an old name for oxygen. Oxygen: is Earth's most abundant element. Early chemists identified oxygen gas because it was colorless, odorless and was essential for respiration and combustion. Diatomic molecules: are molecules composed of only two atoms, of the same or different chemical elements. At standard conditions, both hydrogen and oxygen are gasses of diatomic molecules (H2 and O2, respectively). Water: is an inorganic, transparent, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms. It is vital for all known forms of life. Its chemical formula, H2O, indicates that each of its molecules contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms. Combustion (or burning): is a chemical reaction between a fuel and an oxidizing agent (like oxygen gas), that produces oxidized, often gaseous products, in a mixture termed as smoke. Electrolysis: is a technique that uses direct electric current to drive an otherwise non-spontaneous chemical reaction. Avogadro's Law (sometimes referred to as Avogadro's hypothesis): is an experimental gas law that states that equal volumes of all gases, at the same temperature and pressure, have the same number of molecules. MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info If you like what we do, you can help us! - Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth - Buy our merch: http://dftba.com/minuteearth - Buy our book: https://minuteearth.com/books - Sign up to our newsletter: http://news.minuteearth.com - Share with your friends and family - Leave us a comment (we read them!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There’s No Such Thing As “Warm-” Or “Cold-” Blooded
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: Thermoregulation: the strategy through which the body maintains its internal temperature. Endotherm: an animal that generates most of its heat internally. Ectotherm: an animal that relies on environmental heat sources. Mesotherm: an animal with an intermediate heat generating strategy. Poikilotherm: an animal whose internal temperature varies considerably. Heterotherm: an animal that sometimes keeps its body temperature the same and sometimes lets it vary. Homeotherm: an animal whose internal temperature does not change much. MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info If you like what we do, you can help us! - Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth - Buy our merch: http://dftba.com/minuteearth - Buy our book: https://minuteearth.com/books - Sign up to our newsletter: http://news.minuteearth.com - Share with your friends and family - Leave us a comment (we read them!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mushroom Wars
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: Fungi: Members of a eukaryotic kingdom that have chitin in their cell walls and do not photosynthesize. Ectomycorrhizal Fungi: Fungi that form a symbiotic relationship with the roots of certain trees. Symbiosis: A close and long-term relationship between two unlike organisms. Saprotrophic Fungi: Fungi that decompose the remains of other biological entities. Gadgil Effect: The phenomenon that occurs when saprotrophic and mycorrhizal fungi compete in forest soils. Volatile Organic Compounds: Organic compounds that easily evaporate at room temperature. MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info If you like what we do, you can help us! - Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth - Buy our merch: http://dftba.com/minuteearth - Buy our book: https://minuteearth.com/books - Sign up to our newsletter: http://news.minuteearth.com - Share with your friends and family - Leave us a comment (we read them!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Couch Candy Protocol
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: Species accumulation curve: a graph recording the cumulative number of species recorded as a function of the cumulative effort expended searching for them. MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info If you like what we do, you can help us! - Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth - Buy our merch: http://dftba.com/minuteearth - Buy our book: https://minuteearth.com/books - Sign up to our newsletter: http://news.minuteearth.com - Share with your friends and family - Leave us a comment (we read them!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Different Thunders
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Thunder Shockwave
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The Plant You Don’t Have To Water
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: Epiphyte: a plant that grows on another plant but does not feed from it MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info If you like what we do, you can help us! - Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth - Buy our merch: http://dftba.com/minuteearth - Buy our book: https://minuteearth.com/books - Sign up to our newsletter: http://news.minuteearth.com - Share with your friends and family - Leave us a comment (we read them!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We Have No Idea Why
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: Bioluminescence: the biochemical emission of light by living organisms such as fireflies and deep-sea fishes. Biofluorescence: The emission of previously absorbed light by fluorescent proteins in a living organism. Luciferin: an organic substance, present in luminescent organisms such as fireflies, that produces light when oxidized by the action of the enzyme luciferase. MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info If you like what we do, you can help us! - Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth - Buy our merch: http://dftba.com/minuteearth - Buy our book: https://minuteearth.com/books - Sign up to our newsletter: http://news.minuteearth.com - Share with your friends and family - Leave us a comment (we read them!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When 90dB is LOUDER than 120dB
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: Decibels (dB): a unit used to measure changes in pressure or power. Loudness: the intensity with which a sound is perceived. Weighted decibels (dBA): decibels that try to take into account our sensitivity for different frequencies to better approximate loudness. Frequency: the rate at which something occurs. In the context of sound it usually means 'sound waves per second'. Audible: perceptible for the human ear. High sound: a sound that has a high (fast) frequency Low sound: a sound that has a low (slow) frequency Resonance: When multiple things have a similar frequency they will tend to move together and amplify each other. Echolocation: Using sound to "see". Bats use this to hunt in the dark. Equal loudness contours: Curves that show the sensitivity of the human ear along the frequency spectrum. MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info If you like what we do, you can help us! - Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth - Buy our merch: http://dftba.com/minuteearth - Buy our book: https://minuteearth.com/books - Sign up to our newsletter: http://news.minuteearth.com - Share with your friends and family - Leave us a comment (we read them!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why Weather Forecasts Suck
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: Front: a boundary separating air masses of different characteristics, such as air density, wind, temperature, and humidity Frontal rainfall: occurs when a warm air mass comes in contact with a colder air mass Convectional rainfall: occurs when the sun's energy heats the surface of the Earth, causing water to evaporate to form water vapour Nowcasting: weather forecasting limited to periods less than a few hours MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info If you like what we do, you can help us! - Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth - Buy our merch: http://dftba.com/minuteearth - Buy our book: https://minuteearth.com/books - Sign up to our newsletter: http://news.minuteearth.com - Share with your friends and family - Leave us a comment (we read them!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What Happens When A Volcano Meets a Glacier?
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: Decompression Melting: Mantle melting that involves the upward movement of Earth's mostly-solid mantle. Flux Melting: Melting that occurs when water and other volatile components are introduced to hot solid rock. Glaciation: the process, condition, or result of being covered by glaciers or ice sheets. Magma: Hot fluid or semifluid material below or within the earth's crust from which lava and other igneous rock is formed on cooling. MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info If you like what we do, you can help us! - Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth - Buy our merch: http://dftba.com/minuteearth - Buy our book: https://minuteearth.com/books - Sign up to our newsletter: http://news.minuteearth.com - Share with your friends and family - Leave us a comment (we read them!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Shock wave
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What’s Thunder
MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info If you like what we do, you can help us! - Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth - Buy our merch: http://dftba.com/minuteearth - Buy our book: https://minuteearth.com/books - Sign up to our newsletter: http://news.minuteearth.com - Share with your friends and family - Leave us a comment (we read them!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How Do Abortion Pills Work?
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: Medication abortion/pill-based abortion: an abortion that uses pills, rather than surgical intervention Self-managed abortion: a pill-based abortion done by an individual without medical guidance Progesterone: a hormone made by the body that plays a role in the menstrual cycle and pregnancy Cervix: the narrow passage forming the lower end of the uterus Contraction: a shortening of the uterine muscles MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info If you like what we do, you can help us! - Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth - Buy our merch: http://dftba.com/minuteearth - Buy our book: https://minuteearth.com/books - Sign up to our newsletter: http://news.minuteearth.com - Share with your friends and family - Leave us a comment (we read them!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why Continents Are High
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: Tectonic plate: Earth’s rigid outer layer is broken up into a bunch of pieces, called tectonic plates. Usually people think of tectonic plates as the Earth’s crust, but the plates are actually made of the crust PLUS the very top of the mantle, which is cool enough to be rigid and hard and stuck to the crust. The crust and the top of the mantle together are called the “lithosphere.” Underneath that is a part of the mantle called the “asthenosphere,” which is the part that oozes and flows. Subduction Zone: The area where two tectonic plates collide and the denser of the two is forced under and dives down into Earth’s mantle. Mariana Trench: The subduction zone where the Pacific Plate slides under the Philippine Plate. The edge of the Philippine plate is kind of pulled down in the process, creating a deep crevice in Earth’s surface, known as a deep ocean trench. The Mariana Trench is the deepest ocean trench in the world. Granite: A type of igneous rock formed when magma cools slowly underground (creating relatively large crystals). Granite is different from other igneous rocks like basalt because it has a higher percentage of low-density minerals like quartz and feldspar. Oceanic-Continental Convergent Plate Boundary: The boundary between a tectonic plate made of oceanic lithosphere and a tectonic plate made of continental lithosphere. At these “convergent” plate boundaries, the two plates are colliding, and the oceanic plate is forced to subduct, or sink, under the continental plate. Ring of Fire: A long stretch around the Pacific Ocean where plates are colliding. The majority of volcanoes and earthquakes in the world take place along the Ring of Fire. Silicate minerals: These are the low-density minerals like quartz and feldspar. They contain SiO2. Because silicate minerals are thick/viscous when melted, magma with lots of silica in it forms very explosive volcanoes, like Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Tambora. MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info If you like what we do, you can help us! - Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth - Buy our merch: http://dftba.com/minuteearth - Buy our book: https://minuteearth.com/books - Sign up to our newsletter: http://news.minuteearth.com - Share with your friends and family - Leave us a comment (we read them!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our Lungs Have A Fatal Flaw
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: Alveolus: any of the many tiny air sacs of the lungs which allow for rapid gaseous exchange. Bronchiole: any of the minute branches into which a bronchus divides. PM 2.5: tiny particles or droplets in the air that are two and one half microns or less in width. PM 10: inhalable particles, with diameters that are generally 10 micrometers and smaller. Nasopharynx: the upper part of the pharynx, connecting with the nasal cavity above the soft palate. MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info If you like what we do, you can help us! - Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth - Buy our merch: http://dftba.com/minuteearth - Buy our book: https://minuteearth.com/books - Sign up to our newsletter: http://news.minuteearth.com - Share with your friends and family - Leave us a comment (we read them!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Vampire Life is Hard
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: Hematophagy: the practice by some species of feeding on the blood of other animals. Hemoglobin: a protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen. Free radicals: unstable atoms that can damage cells. Anticoagulant: a substance that inhibits the coagulation of the blood. MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info If you like what we do, you can help us! - Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth - Buy our merch: http://dftba.com/minuteearth - Buy our book: https://minuteearth.com/books - Sign up to our newsletter: http://news.minuteearth.com - Share with your friends and family - Leave us a comment (we read them!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Do Other Diseases Have "Long" Versions?
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: Sequelae: Chronic complications of an acute condition. RSV: Respiratory Syncytial Virus infects a majority of children before the age of two. SARS: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome is a coronavirus-caused respiratory disease responsible for an outbreak in 2002-2003. Cytokine Storm: A sudden increase in pro-inflammatory cytokines that causes a severe immune reaction. Fibrosis: Pathological wound healing that leads to the formation of scar tissue. MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info If you like what we do, you can help us! - Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth - Buy our merch: http://dftba.com/minuteearth - Buy our book: https://minuteearth.com/books - Sign up to our newsletter: http://news.minuteearth.com - Share with your friends and family - Leave us a comment (we read them!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Whale Sounds
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Stable Stations
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The Actual Reason Men Die First
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: Chromosome: a threadlike structure of nucleic acids and protein found in the nucleus of most living cells, carrying genetic information in the form of genes. Gene: the basic unit of heredity passed from parent to child. Mutation: the changing of the structure of a gene, resulting in a variant form that may be transmitted to subsequent generations, caused by the alteration of single base units in DNA, or the deletion, insertion, or rearrangement of larger sections of genes or chromosomes. Recessive allele: a type of allele which will not be manifested in an individual unless both of the individual's copies of that gene have that particular genotype. Transposon: a chromosomal segment that can undergo transposition, especially a segment of bacterial DNA that can be translocated as a whole between chromosomal, phage, and plasmid DNA in the absence of a complementary sequence in the host DNA. MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info If you like what we do, you can help us! - Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth - Buy our merch: http://dftba.com/minuteearth - Buy our book: https://minuteearth.com/books - Sign up to our newsletter: http://news.minuteearth.com - Share with your friends and family - Leave us a comment (we read them!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why Is There So Much Land In The North?
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: Continental drift: An early theory of land movement that posited that the continents floated on the ocean bed. Tetrahedral hypothesis: An early theory that attempted to explain the arrangement of Earth’s continents and oceans based on the geometry of a tetrahedron. Plate tectonics: The generally accepted theory that the Earth’s surface is made up of a series of tectonic plates that slowly move around on top of the mantle. Pangea: The most recent supercontinent to form on Earth, during the late Paleozoic era. Great Rift Valley: A series of contiguous geographic trenches between two tectonic plates where humans first evolved. Aurica: A potential future supercontinent predicted to form in about 200 million years. MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info If you like what we do, you can help us! - Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth - Buy our merch: http://dftba.com/minuteearth - Buy our book: https://minuteearth.com/books - Sign up to our newsletter: http://news.minuteearth.com - Share with your friends and family - Leave us a comment (we read them!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Super Secrets of Sewage
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: Microbiome - the microorganisms in a particular environment (including the body or a part of the body). Wastewater - water that has been used in the home, in a business, or as part of an industrial process. Viral shedding - releasing a virus into the environment through sneezing, coughing, or feces. MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info If you like what we do, you can help us! - Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth - Buy our merch: http://dftba.com/minuteearth - Buy our book: https://minuteearth.com/books - Sign up to our newsletter: http://news.minuteearth.com - Share with your friends and family - Leave us a comment (we read them!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

They all do the same, but we still need them
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: Ecological redundancy (also: functional redundancy or functional equivalence): the ecological phenomena that multiple species representing a variety of taxonomic groups can share similar roles in ecosystem functionality Legume: a plant in the Fabaceae family Nitrogen fixation: the chemical process by which atmospheric nitrogen is assimilated into organic compounds MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info If you like what we do, you can help us! - Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth - Buy our merch: http://dftba.com/minuteearth - Buy our book: https://minuteearth.com/books - Sign up to our newsletter: http://news.minuteearth.com - Share with your friends and family - Leave us a comment (we read them!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Where Will The Next Pandemic Come From?
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: Zoonosis: A disease that can be transmitted to humans by animals Hyper reservoirs: Animals that naturally are home to multiple infectious agents. Spillover: Transmission of a zoonosis from an animal reservoir to a human. Life history strategy: An evolutionary strategy that involves tradeoffs among growth, survival, and reproduction. MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info If you like what we do, you can help us! - Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth - Buy our merch: http://dftba.com/minuteearth - Buy our book: https://minuteearth.com/books - Sign up to our newsletter: http://news.minuteearth.com - Share with your friends and family - Leave us a comment (we read them!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bertha Benz
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Favorite Green
MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info If you like what we do, you can help us! - Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth - Buy our merch: http://dftba.com/minuteearth - Buy our book: https://minuteearth.com/books - Sign up to our newsletter: http://news.minuteearth.com - Share with your friends and family - Leave us a comment (we read them!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why Water Dissolves (Almost) Everything
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: solvent: a substance that dissolves a solute solubility: the relative ability of a solute to dissolve into a solvent MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info If you like what we do, you can help us! - Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth - Buy our merch: http://dftba.com/minuteearth - Buy our book: https://minuteearth.com/books - Sign up to our newsletter: http://news.minuteearth.com - Share with your friends and family - Leave us a comment (we read them!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Screens are NOT the reason kids need glasses 👀
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: Lens: A transparent biconvex structure in the eye that can change its shape to change the focal distance. Retina: A layer at the back of the eyeball containing cells that are sensitive to light. Fovea: A small depression in the retina where visual acuity is highest. Myopia: A common vision condition in which distant objects are blurry. Hyperopia: A vision condition in which nearer objects are blurry. Emmetropization: The process by which the eye grows in order to maximize visual acuity. Dopamine: A neurotransmitter in the retina that tells the eyeball to stop growing once it has gotten to the ideal length. Near Work Hypothesis: The theory that the modern myopia epidemic was a result of humans spending more time looking at nearby objects. MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info If you like what we do, you can help us! - Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth - Buy our merch: http://dftba.com/minuteearth - Buy our book: https://minuteearth.com/books - Sign up to our newsletter: http://news.minuteearth.com - Share with your friends and family - Leave us a comment (we read them!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Freshwater Paradox
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: Speciation: The formation of new and distinct species. Sympatric speciation: The evolution of new species from ancestral species while both continue to inhabit the same geographic region. Allopatric speciation: Speciation that occurs when a population becomes separated by a geographic barrier. Adaptive radiation: The diversification of a group of organisms into forms filling different ecological niches. MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info If you like what we do, you can help us! - Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth - Buy our merch: http://dftba.com/minuteearth - Buy our book: https://minuteearth.com/books - Sign up to our newsletter: http://news.minuteearth.com - Share with your friends and family - Leave us a comment (we read them!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why Do Humans Vomit So Much? 🤮
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: Emesis: The act of vomiting Vomiting: The oral eviction of gastrointestinal contents due to contractions in the gut and stomach. Nausea: A diffuse sensation of uneasiness and discomfort often felt as the need to vomit. Vomiting Center: An area in the brain’s medulla oblongata that initiates and controls emesis. Chemoreceptor Trigger Zone: An area in the area postrema of the medulla oblongata that is sensitive to certain toxic chemicals in the blood. Nucleus Tractus Solitarius: A region in the medulla oblongata that receives input from the cardiovascular, respiratory and GI systems. Vagus Nerve: A cranial nerve that regulates internal organ functions, including vomiting. Vestibular System: A Sensory system that provides our brain with information about motion, head position, and spatial positioning for balance. MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info If you like what we do, you can help us! - Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth - Buy our merch: http://dftba.com/minuteearth - Buy our book: https://minuteearth.com/books - Sign up to our newsletter: http://news.minuteearth.com - Share with your friends and family - Leave us a comment (we read them!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is Soil Alive?
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: Soil health: the continued capacity of soil to function as a vital living system, within ecosystem and land-use boundaries, to sustain biological productivity, promote the quality of air and water environments, and maintain plant, animal, and human health Living system: an open self-organizing life form that interacts with its environment Ecosystem services: varied benefits to humans provided by the natural environment and from healthy ecosystems MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info If you like what we do, you can help us! - Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth - Buy our merch: http://dftba.com/minuteearth - Buy our book: https://minuteearth.com/books - Sign up to our newsletter: http://news.minuteearth.com - Share with your friends and family - Leave us a comment (we read them!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Disasters Price
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Cheaper Alternatives
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Bitcoin mining is a lot like reindeer mating 🪙💖🦌
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: Bitcoin: a digital currency known as a cryptocurrency, which uses a proof-of-work consensus to validate transactions and create new units of Bitcoin. Proof-of-work: a decentralized consensus mechanism that requires members of a network to expend effort solving an arbitrary mathematical puzzle to prevent malicious activity Blockchain: a record of transactions made in Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency maintained across several linked computers, which can also be used in non-cryptocurrency applications Mining: the process of validating transactions and creating new Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies Sexual selection: a form of natural selection driven by competition between members of a species of one sex for access to mating partners of another sex that favors certain characteristics MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info If you like what we do, you can help us! - Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth - Buy our merch: http://dftba.com/minuteearth - Buy our book: https://minuteearth.com/books - Sign up to our newsletter: http://news.minuteearth.com - Share with your friends and family - Leave us a comment (we read them!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Cheapest Way To Save A Life
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: Vitamin A: A group of nutrients called retinoids used in several different processes in the human body. Malaria: A serious disease carried by parasites in a certain type of mosquito that feeds on humans. Value of Life: The economic value used to quantify the benefit of avoiding a fatality Upstream interventions: Approaches to healthcare that address root causes rather than symptoms. Night Blindness: An early symptom of Vitamin A deficiency in which the eye is unable to process low levels of light. MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info If you like what we do, you can help us! - Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth - Buy our merch: http://dftba.com/minuteearth - Buy our book: https://minuteearth.com/books - Sign up to our newsletter: http://news.minuteearth.com - Share with your friends and family - Leave us a comment (we read them!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Which is Worse?
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: Aqueous humour: The clear fluid filling the space in the front of the eyeball between the lens and the cornea. Bone remodeling: The continuous process of synthesis and destruction that gives bone its mature structure and maintains normal calcium levels in the body. Ligament: A short band of tough, flexible fibrous connective tissue which connects two bones or cartilages or holds together a joint. Sprain: A stretching or tearing of ligaments. MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info If you like what we do, you can help us! - Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth - Buy our merch: http://dftba.com/minuteearth - Buy our book: https://minuteearth.com/books - Sign up to our newsletter: http://news.minuteearth.com - Share with your friends and family - Leave us a comment (we read them!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why The Ocean Needs Salt
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: Salt: chemical compounds made of positively- and negatively-charged particles called “ions” like sodium and chloride Convection current: the movement of fluid, like water, due to a difference in temperature and/or density Hydrothermal vent: a fissure on the seafloor that takes in dense ocean water and discharges water heated by volcanic activity below the seafloor. MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info If you like what we do, you can help us! - Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth - Buy our merch: http://dftba.com/minuteearth - Buy our book: https://minuteearth.com/books - Sign up to our newsletter: http://news.minuteearth.com - Share with your friends and family - Leave us a comment (we read them!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why The Weather Is Worse At The Mall
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: Evapotranspiration: the return of water to the atmosphere from the ground surface. Troposphere: The lowest region of the Earth’s atmosphere, extending usually to around 10 km above the Earth’s surface. Tropopause: The top-most boundary of the troposphere. Low Pressure System: An area of relatively low pressure that draws air into it, causing converging winds. Micro-climate: The climate of a very small or restricted area. Heat Island: An urban area that has higher average temperatures than its surrounding due to the heat absorption of materials like concrete and asphalt. MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info If you like what we do, you can help us! - Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth - Buy our merch: http://dftba.com/minuteearth - Buy our book: https://minuteearth.com/books - Sign up to our newsletter: http://news.minuteearth.com - Share with your friends and family - Leave us a comment (we read them!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Coal Harm
MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info If you like what we do, you can help us! - Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth - Buy our merch: http://dftba.com/minuteearth - Buy our book: https://minuteearth.com/books - Sign up to our newsletter: http://news.minuteearth.com - Share with your friends and family - Leave us a comment (we read them!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Specific Energy
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How Birds Fooled Military Radar
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: Radar aeroecology - the use of radar to study airborne life, like birds, bats, and bugs Radar ornithology - the use of radar to study birds, especially bird migration Dual-polarization radar - radar that transmits and receives waves in both a horizontal and vertical orientation, giving a better idea of a target’s size, shape, and variety. Doppler effect - a change in a wave’s frequency in relation to whatever is observing it, such as a radar, but also your ears (it’s the reason a sound like an ambulance siren changes as it gets closer or further away from you). MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info If you like what we do, you can help us! - Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth - Buy our merch: http://dftba.com/minuteearth - Buy our book: https://minuteearth.com/books - Sign up to our newsletter: http://news.minuteearth.com - Share with your friends and family - Leave us a comment (we read them!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices