MinuteEarth

MinuteEarth

@minuteearth · 3.3M subscribers · 530 videos · English

Science and stories about our awesome planet! Our staff: Lizah van der Aart, Sarah Berman, Cameron Duke, Arcadi Garcia, David Goldenberg, Melissa Hayes, Alex Reich, Henry Reich, Peter Reich, Ever Salazar, Leonardo Souza, Kate Yoshida and Jasper Palfree. MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC

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5:23

Which Animal Has The Most Holes?

11K views · today · 5:23

In order to do the things an animal needs to do – eat, drink, breathe, make babies – stuff needs to come into our bodies, and other stuff needs to leave. That’s why we animals have holes. But exactly how many holes those jobs require – and which jobs each hole does – turns out to be wildly different from one animal to the next.

📄 Mentioned papers: Female Genital Configuration in the Classification of Lepidoptera. · Acoel Development Indicates the Independent Evolution of the Bilaterian Mouth and Anus. · doi:10.1111/ivb.12009 · Position of the Larynx in Odontoceti (Toothed Whales).

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7:56

Why Do We Even Need A Clock This Accurate?

282K views · 8d ago · 7:56

50x50: Science Across America is a national series uncovering exceptional science in all 50 states. It is a production of the Independent Media Initiative in collaboration with HHMI Tangled Bank Studios, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and the Winn Family Foundation. See all the states at

📄 Mentioned papers: doi:10.1038/s41586-021-03253-4 · doi:10.1088/1681-7575/adc7bd · doi:10.33012/2023.18691 · doi:10.1103/hb3c-dk28

📰 Mentioned news: Article on theconversation.com · Rowlatt, J. (2014, October 3). Caesium: A brief history of timekeeping. BBC News

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3:56

The Sea Turtle Cheat Code

409K views · 1mo ago · 3:56

Over the past few decades, the number of green sea turtles has risen so much that the species has gone from being listed as “endangered” to a species of “least concern.” Sea turtles have become a poster child for conservation – and it seems like we could use what we’ve learned from saving them to save a bunch of other species too...but it turns out it’s not that simple.

▶️ Mentioned videos: Video on youtube.com

📄 Mentioned papers: ShellBank: Traceability Toolkit and Global Database of Marine Turtle DNA. · Mitigating the Effect of By-Catch on Endangered Marine Life. · Updated Global Conservation Status and Priorities for Marine Turtles.

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2:43

Why Don't Birds Cause MORE Crashes?

434K views · 1mo ago · 2:43

Way back at the dawn of aviation, during a public flight exhibition of all things, a gull jammed a plane’s controls, crashing the plane and killing the pilot. Today, there are thousands of commercial airliners – and billions of birds – in the sky at any given time, so it seems like they should run into each other all the time. So why don’t birds cause more plane crashes?

📄 Mentioned papers: Paper on sciencedirect.com · Paper on pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov · Paper on besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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3:05

Why The Black Plague Isn't Over

286K views · 2mo ago · 3:05

The black plague is one of the deadliest diseases humans have ever faced; it killed as many as 50 million people – including about a third of the population of Europe – in the 14th century alone, in an outbreak known as the Black Death. In modern days, though, you hardly ever hear about people getting the plague, which might make you think we've wiped it out. But the black plague is still around and still infecting people – and we aren't even trying to eradicate it.

📄 Mentioned papers: Dennis, D.T. & Mead, P.S. (2009). Plague. Tropical Infectious Diseases, 471 · doi:10.1073/pnas.1817339116 · doi:10.1111/1749-4877.12511 · doi:10.1016/j.ijidoh.2025.100088

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3:13

Why Are Some People Mosquito Magnets?

3.1M views · 2mo ago · 3:13

Some people just seem to be mosquito magnets; in one scientific study, 20 percent of the people ended up with 95 percent of the mosquito bites! So if you’ve ever thought mosquitoes had it out for you specifically, you might be right. And now, we know why.

📄 Mentioned papers: doi:10.1038/s41467-022-28195-x · doi:10.1016/j.cell.2022.09.034 · doi:10.1016/j.crpvbd.2021.100058 · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0122716

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4:12

The Heaviest Part of a Forest Is NOT What You Think

127K views · 3mo ago · 4:12

In the 1850s, German scientists were trying to figure out how to weigh a forest – but they weren’t particularly interested in the trees. Because as it turns out, forests are much more than trees, and trees aren't the heaviest – or even the second heaviest – part of a forest.

📄 Mentioned papers: doi:10.1073/pnas.1712381114 · doi:10.1093/forestry/cpq032 · doi:10.3389/ffgc.2024.1397142 · doi:10.1038/s41561-023-01125-2

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2:27

What actually kills us when we die?

176K views · 3mo ago · 2:27

There are a ton of ways to interfere with the ATP production pathway – that’s why there are so many so-called “causes of death”. But no matter where – or how – the pathway fails, the ultimate result is the same: your body can’t produce enough energy to carry out the processes needed to actually maintain life.

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3:54

What's The Fewest People That Could Repopulate Earth?

724K views · 3mo ago · 3:54

If nuclear blasts, asteroids, or alien lasers killed off almost all humans on Earth, how many people would be needed to rebuild a genetically sustainable human population? LEARN MORE To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords Gene Pool: The total collection of different genes within a population. A larger gene pool means more genetic diversity. Genetic Diversity: Having a wide variety of different genes within a population.

📄 Mentioned papers: doi:10.1111/cobi.13414 · doi:10.1046/j.1523-1739.2002.00553.x · doi:10.1126/science.abq7487 · doi:10.3126/on.v1i1.297

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29:36

MinuteEarth Explains: Microbes

146K views · 4mo ago · 29:36

Find out the surprising ways microbes, fungi, plankton and other tiny organisms shape our planet and our lives in this collection of MinuteEarth videos. EPISODES IN THIS COMPILATION LEARN MORE If you liked this week’s video, you might also like 4 Great Science Stories | MinuteEarth Directors' Picks MinuteEarth Explains: Solar Eclipses

Topics: Why Do We Eat Spoiled Food? · Is Soil Alive? · Mushroom Wars · How Mushrooms Make It Rain · Where Do Our Drugs Come From? · The Bacteria That Made Life Possible Are Now Killing Us

▶️ Mentioned videos: 4 Great Science Stories MinuteEarth Directors' Picks · MinuteEarth Explains: Solar Eclipses

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