TeacherFlix | Free Classroom Videos & Ready-to-Use Lesson Resources

The Strange Evolutionary Story of the Thylacine

Sat, 15 Nov 2025 11:42:57 +0000

Special thanks to Vanessa from BrainCraft for help with this video!
Check out her channel: https://www.youtube.com/braincraft
↓↓↓ More info and sources below ↓↓↓

Until the early 20th century, Tasmania was home to a very weird wolf-like creature. Except that it wasn’t a wolf. Even though it looked like a wolf. How did that happen? Here’s the science of convergent evolution!

Want to see more of my interview with Rob? Click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsek8JxUS7M

Special thanks to:
Rob Voss - American Museum of Natural History, New York City
Vanessa Hill from BrainCraft!

References:

Quammen, D. (2012). The song of the dodo: island biogeography in an age of extinctions. Random House.

Feigin, C. Y., Newton, A. H., Doronina, L., Schmitz, J., Hipsley, C. A., Mitchell, K. J., ... & Menzies, B. R. (2018). Genome of the Tasmanian tiger provides insights into the evolution and demography of an extinct marsupial carnivore. Nature ecology & evolution, 2(1), 182.

Newton, A. H., Spoutil, F., Prochazka, J., Black, J. R., Medlock, K., Paddle, R. N., ... & Pask, A. J. (2018). Letting the ‘cat’out of the bag: pouch young development of the extinct Tasmanian tiger revealed by X-ray computed tomography. Royal Society open science, 5(2), 171914.

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It’s Okay To Be Smart is hosted by Joe Hanson, Ph.D.
Director: Joe Nicolosi
Writer: Stephanie Keep
Creative Director: David Schulte
Editor/animator: Karl Boettcher and Derek Borsheim
Producers: Stephanie Noone and Amanda Fox

Produced by PBS Digital Studios
Music via APM
Stock images from Shutterstock http://www.shutterstock.com

Exoplanets: Are There Other Earths?

Sat, 15 Nov 2025 11:42:57 +0000

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Is Earth the only living needle in this haystack of planets?

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Are there exoplanets like Earth? We live in one of a hundred billion of galaxies, each with hundreds of billions of stars. And now, thanks to modern astronomy, we know that the Milky Way is home to perhaps a hundred billion planets! In the past two decades, these exoplanet discoveries have spawned new questions about our universe, and if there might be another Earth, or other life, somewhere out there.

In part 1 of our two-part series on exoplanets, we'll look at how astronomers find exoplanets, and what it means to call them Earth-like. We'll trace the history of planetary science back three thousand years and examine Earth's changing status in the cosmos. We were once the center of the universe, and now Earth is just another rock in the sky. What does that mean for us?

Check out "Five Billion Years of Solitude" by Lee Billings: http://amzn.to/18Tzv59

This week's t-shirt comes from Wowch: http://www.wowch.com/puppyplanet

More reading:

There are five billion Earth-like planets in the Milky Way: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11..../05/science/cosmic-c

The exoplanet catalog: http://phl.upr.edu/projects/ha....bitable-exoplanets-c

Methods of detecting exoplanets: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M....ethods_of_detecting_

Interactive catalog of Kepler's exoplanet discoveries: http://www.nytimes.com/interac....tive/science/space/k

A philosophical and historical look at the exoplanet revolution: http://www.aeonmagazine.com/na....ture-and-cosmos/the-

The Kepler telescope and the "adjacent possible": http://nautil.us/blog/clever-a....pes-a-busted-telesco

How the Kepler telescope scanned the sky: http://www.itsokaytobesmart.co....m/post/62343351213/k

An ode to the late Kepler telescope: http://www.theatlantic.com/tec....hnology/archive/2013

Joe Hanson - Host and writer
Joe Nicolosi - Director
Amanda Fox - Producer
Katie Graham - Director of Photography
Andrew Matthews - Editor and Motion Graphics
Kate Eads - Production Manager

Filmed at Onion Creek Productions in Austin, TX

Produced by PBS Digital Studios: http://www.youtube.com/user/pbsdigitalstudios

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What Is Fire?

Sat, 15 Nov 2025 11:42:56 +0000

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Why does fire burn? What's the chemistry and physics of a flame? This week, learn about the beautiful science happening inside a flame!

Michael Faraday's Christmas lectures on candle chemistry:
http://blogs.scientificamerica....n.com/cocktail-party
http://www.bartleby.com/30/7.html

Flames in space:
http://science.nasa.gov/scienc....e-news/science-at-na

Richard Feynman talking about fire:
http://www.itsokaytobesmart.co....m/post/27299255757/f

Have an idea for an episode or an amazing science question you want answered? Leave a comment or check us out at the links below!
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It's Okay To Be Smart is written and hosted by Joe Hanson, Ph.DFollow me on Twitter: @jtotheizzoe
Email me: itsokaytobesmart AT gmail DOT com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/itsokaytobesmart
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For more awesome science, check out: http://www.itsokaytobesmart.com
Produced by PBS Digital Studios: http://www.youtube.com/user/pbsdigitalstudios

Joe Hanson - Creator/Host/Writer
Joe Nicolosi - Director
Amanda Fox - Producer, Spotzen IncKate Eads - Producer
Andrew Matthews - Editing/Motion Graphics/Animation
Katie Graham - Camera
John Knudsen - Gaffer

Theme music: "Ouroboros" by Kevin MacLeod

Other music via APM
Stock images from Shutterstock, stock footage from Videoblocks

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More videos:
Why Does February Have 28 Days? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgKaHTh-_Gs
Why Vaccines Work https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aNhzLUL2ys
Why Are Some People Left-Handed? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPvMUpcxPSA
Where Does the Smell of Rain Come From? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGcE5x8s0B8

Everything You Learned About Genetics Is Wrong

Sat, 15 Nov 2025 11:42:56 +0000

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Think traits like eye color or tongue-rolling are simple genetics? Think again. From Mendel’s peas to modern DNA science, let’s talk about why most human traits aren’t just “dominant” or “recessive.” Eye color, red hair, earlobes, even cilantro—genetics is way messier (and cooler) than you learned in school.

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Mars Used to Be Blue... Then Something Happened

Sat, 15 Nov 2025 11:42:56 +0000

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Why is the Martian sky red by day… but blue at sunset? And how did it used to look more like Earth? The strange story of Mars’ skies can reveal a lot about the Red Planet's past, and the surprising ways it is more like Earth than you may know.

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Why Jumping Spiders Have the Coolest (and DEADLIEST) Eyes in Nature

Sat, 15 Nov 2025 11:42:56 +0000

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Why do spiders have 8 eyes? It’s a seemingly simple question with a surprisingly complex answer. We’ll be hanging out with some jumping spiders (the cutest of all spiders) and some jumping spider researchers to investigate how a thumbnail-sized creature with a poppy seed-sized brain ended up evolving some of the most advanced eyes in the animal kingdom, overcoming a few limitations of physics in the process. We’ll watch as scientists study these spiders in a special eye tracking machine and learn how having 8 eyes instead of two gives these elite predators almost 360˚ vision and almost hawk-level depth perception and resolution.

References: https://sites.google.com/view/....how-jumping-spiders-

Big thanks to:
Dr. Beth Jakob and Alex Winsor - UMass Amherst http://ejakob.popslice.com/
Dr. Nathan Morehouse and lab - University of Cincinnati https://homepages.uc.edu/~morehonn/

Additional footage credits:
Spider retinal movements - Daniel Zurek
Spider courtship videos - Daniel Zurek, Sebastian Echeverri, and Nathan Morehouse (Morehouse Lab, University of Cincinnati)

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What animal lives the shortest life?

Sat, 15 Nov 2025 11:42:54 +0000

Another YouTube #shorts from Dr. Joe! Subscribe for more fun science stories.

Some animals' entire life spans flash by in a matter of hours or days. These guys live short but remarkable lives.

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We made a whole physics video about falling toast

Sat, 15 Nov 2025 11:42:54 +0000

Why does toast always land butter side down? Let's overthink the physics!

Another YouTube #shorts from Dr. Joe! Subscribe for more fun science stories.

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Can YOU See the Blackest Animal on Earth?

Sat, 15 Nov 2025 11:42:53 +0000

Another YouTube #shorts from Dr. Joe! Subscribe for more fun science stories.

Learn about the cool microscopic nano-structures and melanin pigment granules that make the darkest animals in the world, so dark.

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Bombs Away! Egg Drop Experiment