The latest in the series, Deep Look, takes a close up peek at the fur of sea otters and why it is so good at keeping them warm in cold water.
“Sea otters aren’t just cute — they’re a vivid example of life on the edge. Unlike whales and other ocean mammals, sea otters have no blubber. Yet their body temperatures are twice as warm as the water they swim in. The secret to their survival? A fur coat like none other.”
I wrote about this new series a few months back at Scientific American.
KQED Science, the science arm of the PBS member television station based in San Francisco has created a new series being aired on PBS Digital called Deep Look, where they allow us to explore the big mysteries of the universe by going very small. All videos are presented in ultra-HD (4K) for amazing clarity.
Check out their first three episodes:
Plenty of animals build their homes in oak trees. But some very teeny, tricky wasps make the tree do all the work. “What nerve!” you might say. What… gall! And you’d be right. They’re called gall-inducers. And each miniature mansion the trees build for the wasps’ larvae is weirder and more flamboyant than the next.
There’s a story in every grain of sand: tales of life and death, fire and water. If you scooped up a handful of sand from every beach, you’d have a history of the world sifting through your fingers. From mountain boulders to the shells of tiny ocean creatures, follow the journey that sand takes through thousands of years across entire continents to wind up stuck between your toes.
Tiny and delicate, pygmy seahorses survive by attaching to vibrant corals where they become nearly invisible to both predators and researchers. Now, biologists at the California Academy of Sciences have successfully bred them in captivity for the first time. Finally, they’re able to study the seahorses’ amazing act of camouflage up close.
A new episode will be aired every two weeks. You can subscribe to them on youtube so you don’t miss a single one!
The Fantastic Fur of Sea Otters
The latest in the series, Deep Look, takes a close up peek at the fur of sea otters and why it is so good at keeping them warm in cold water.
“Sea otters aren’t just cute — they’re a vivid example of life on the edge. Unlike whales and other ocean mammals, sea otters have no blubber. Yet their body temperatures are twice as warm as the water they swim in. The secret to their survival? A fur coat like none other.”
I wrote about this new series a few months back at Scientific American.
The following post originally appeared at my Scientific American blog.
Check out their first three episodes:
Plenty of animals build their homes in oak trees. But some very teeny, tricky wasps make the tree do all the work. “What nerve!” you might say. What… gall! And you’d be right. They’re called gall-inducers. And each miniature mansion the trees build for the wasps’ larvae is weirder and more flamboyant than the next.
There’s a story in every grain of sand: tales of life and death, fire and water. If you scooped up a handful of sand from every beach, you’d have a history of the world sifting through your fingers. From mountain boulders to the shells of tiny ocean creatures, follow the journey that sand takes through thousands of years across entire continents to wind up stuck between your toes.
Tiny and delicate, pygmy seahorses survive by attaching to vibrant corals where they become nearly invisible to both predators and researchers. Now, biologists at the California Academy of Sciences have successfully bred them in captivity for the first time. Finally, they’re able to study the seahorses’ amazing act of camouflage up close.
A new episode will be aired every two weeks. You can subscribe to them on youtube so you don’t miss a single one!
9 years ago animals, More Science, otters, psivid, Video • Tags: KQED Science, otter fur, PBS Digital Studios, sea otters, videography