streaming videos
grrlscientist | October 15, 2009tags: North Pacific Gyre, plastics, pollution, Pacific Ocean, streaming video
The center of the North Pacific Gyre is a relatively stationary region of the Pacific Ocean (the area it occupies is often referred to as the horse latitudes). The circular rotation around it draws waste material in and has led to the accumulation of flotsam and other debris. While historically this debris has biodegraded, the gyre is now accumulating vast quantities of plastic and marine debris. Rather than biodegrading, plastic photodegrades, disintegrating in the ocean into smaller and smaller pieces. These…
grrlscientist | October 14, 2009tags: animals, hummingbirds, insects, biology, streaming video
This is a lesson in observation. This is a North American animal. I know what this is (and I knew as soon as I saw the still image on the video) but I am asking you: what is this; hummingbird or insect? And for a bonus, can you tell me the species?
This is a Common Clearwing, also known as the Hummingbird Clearwing Moth, Hemaris thysbe.
grrlscientist | October 13, 2009tags: honeybee life cycle, natural history, insects, biology, streaming video
The life cycle of a honey bee is presented in this video as an example of complete metamorphosis, the development of an insect from egg to larva, then pupa, then adult. Moths, butterflies and wasps also develop with complete metamorphosis. Some aspects of beekeeping are also discussed in this video.
grrlscientist | October 13, 2009tags: hummingbird, physics, science, surface tension, Keith Johnson, streaming video
A flying hummingbird flaps its wings up to 70 times per second (its heart rate can reach 1,260 beats per minute). This video slows down a flying hummingbird so we can watch how it flies and hovers in front of a hummingbird feeder.
Here's what hummingbirds look like when not slowed down;
This was filmed in British Columbia, Canada. Soundtrack is 'The Orient' by Alex Yiannaras.
grrlscientist | October 12, 2009tags: soap bubble science, physics, science, surface tension, Keith Johnson, streaming video
This is a really interesting video about soap bubbles -- how they work and what we can do with them. The slow motion footage of a bursting bubble is especially interesting to watch.
grrlscientist | October 12, 2009tags: marriage, love, relationships, sex, commitment, Chris Brickler, How Will We Love?, Chris Brickler, streaming video
Chris Brickler made a documentary about love and marriage. In this video, How Will We Love?, he starts by interviewing his grandparents who have been married for 68 years and builds on that interview and finds that more than 50% of marriages end in divorce even though many of us still cling to the hope of a happily-ever-after, life-long romance.
Brickler also interviews experts in the field of marriage, relationships, sexuality, and communication, as well as sharing…
grrlscientist | October 11, 2009tags: garbage patch, Pacific Ocean, environment, science, Scripps Institute, streaming video
Scripps scientist Miriam Goldstein talks about the SEAPLEX expedition to the North Pacific Gyre and how shocked she was to find the amount of plastic on the ocean's surface when floating around in a skiff.
grrlscientist | October 11, 2009tags: atheist life, godlessness, Imagine, streaming video
This video is a list of famous people who are atheists, put together for a school project and using John Lennon's song "Imagine" as the background music.
grrlscientist | October 10, 2009tags: atheist life, godlessness, streaming video
Being an atheist, you believe that this is the only life, and live it to the fullest. Atheists and skeptics lack proof and evidence of certain deities and spiritual beliefs. So there is no intent for us to harshly bash other religions and forms, for we humbly have our own perspectives in life.
If you however think that atheists are a threat to the general community, first take a look at the mirror. Millions of people have died just because of religion, "religious" wars, and rejection due to contradictory beliefs.
"Skeptic does not mean him who…
grrlscientist | October 10, 2009tags: art, humor, satire, The Big Snit, Canadian cartoon, streaming video
Here's another peculiar yet amusing Canadian cartoon that I only just saw for the first time: The Big Snit by Richard Conde.
grrlscientist | October 9, 2009tags: Obama family, miserable Americans, comedy, humor, satire, funny, ONN, Onion News Network, streaming video
This daring news interview with the nations' top thinkers comes right out and says what we've all mumbled under our breath to ourselves in the privacy of the unemployment line: the Obamas are too damned happy! They're so happy that it's downright unAmerican!
grrlscientist | October 7, 2009tags: Intelligent Alien Design, Discovery Institute, Gordon J. Glover, Casey Luskin, humor, parody, satire, Canadian cartoon, streaming video
This video is a hypothetical dialogue between Gordon J. Glover and the official spokesperson of the Intelligent Alien Intervention Institute on Science NEWS. They discuss the Academic Freedom legislation that recently became law in Louisiana and how it might also help various theories of Paleo-Contact to be taught alongside mainstream archaeology in the public science classroom.
Hint to the humor-impaired: this video is a parody mocking Intelligent…
grrlscientist | October 6, 2009tags: comedy, humor, satire, funny, ONN, Onion News Network, streaming video
Here's the latest development in the anti-smoking campaign aimed at teens: television ads that claim smokers are gay (and of course, no one wants to be gay, right?)
grrlscientist | October 5, 2009tags: Tree of Life, conservation, biodiversity, ecology, evolution, biology, statistics, teaching, streaming video
This video presents a very brief glimpse into what I do as a professional researcher studying "my birds" -- the parrots of the South Pacific Ocean (during those rare and beautiful times when I actually have a job!!). To say the least, it fills me with intense longing to reclaim my long lost life.
grrlscientist | October 5, 2009tags: kakapo, Strigops habroptilus, conservation, endangered species, humor, Stephen Fry, Mark Carwardine, Last Chance to See, streaming video
Stephen Fry and zoologist Mark Carwardine head to the ends of the earth in search of animals on the edge of extinction.
In New Zealand the travellers make their way through one of the most dramatic landscapes in the world. They are on a journey to find the last remaining kakapo, Strigops habroptilus, a fat, flightless parrot which, when threatened with attack, adopts a strategy of standing very still indeed.
This behavior is not uncommon among birds…
grrlscientist | October 4, 2009tags: Tree of Life, conservation, biodiversity, ecology, evolution, biology, statistics, teaching, streaming video
This video presents a very brief glimpse into what I do as a professional researcher studying "my birds" -- the parrots of the South Pacific Ocean (during those rare and beautiful times when I actually have a job!!). It features interviews with one of the scientists whom I worked with when I was in grad school at the University of Washington: Scott Edwards, who now is at Harvard University. To say the least, this video fills me with intense longing to reclaim my long lost life…
grrlscientist | October 4, 2009tags: religion, fundamentalism, amputees, god, atheism, streaming video
Theists who try to respond to the question, Why doesn't God heal amputees? end up avoiding the question altogether and lecturing the questioner about a bunch of unasked questions. Could it be that they have no good answer for why their god refuses to heal amputees every single time, so they try to explain why they're god allows bad things to happen instead and hope we don't notice? This video discusses this observation and the reason why the question itself is important.
grrlscientist | October 3, 2009tags: religion, advertising, satire, humor, atheism, streaming video
Get Religion Today! Funny satirical ad which hits the nail on the head with modern organized religion.
grrlscientist | October 3, 2009tags: superhero, humor, satire, Who is Captain Legend?, Chicken Hollow Productions, streaming video
I loved this video and I think it is really well-done! Better, it reminds me of one of my dreams: to be a superhero crimefighter, although it does remind me (uncomfortably) of the realities involved with such a lifestyle. I guess I should stick with being a scientist, instead.
grrlscientist | October 2, 2009tags: art, humor, satire, But the Cat Came Back, Canadian cartoon, streaming video
I've never seen this cartoon before today, but it's a classic Canadian cartoon that my spouse watched when he was a kid. So he introduced it to me.