Shelf Life Video: The Salamander-Algae Symbiotic Relationship
What happens inside a Salamander egg? How does the embryo interact with its environment? Find out in this video.
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Shelf Life Video: Into the Island of Bats
Learn about the bats that live in Cuba with two researchers who are studying bats and biodiversity in this Caribbean nation
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Six Extinctions in Six Minutes: Shelf Life Video
Learn about six mass) extinctions in 440 million years, all in one video from the American Museum of Natural History
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Green Grow the Salamanders: Shelf Life Video
Many people visit the American Museum of Natural History to view the preserved specimens of dinosaurs and extinct animals, but the Museum also has a collection of about 80 live cultures of microorganisms, including algae. Here is what the Museum has to say about episode 11, “Green Grow the Salamanders,” of their popular Shelf Life series:: This episode of Shelf Life looks at how Museum researchers are currently studying the surprising role single-celled algae play in the life of the spotted salamander—and comes on the heels of the opening of…
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The Tiniest Fossils of All
This episode of the Shelf Life video series explores the fossils of tiny marine organisms known as foraminifera. That name is a mouthful, so even scientists often shorten it to forams. These single-cell organisms still live in Earth’s oceans today. The fossilized shells left behind by their foram forefathers serve as tiny time capsules for climate data from bygone eras. Finding Clues in Fossils Ammonite fossils also contain clues to past climates. Ammonites are a group of ancient mollusks related to modern animals like nautiluses, which most closely resemble squid and…
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Skull of the Olinguito: Shelf Life Episode 4
The Skull of the Olinguito This video, fourth in the Shelf Life series, reveals how scientists in the field found the skull of a new species and identified it as the elusive olinguito. Thousands of new animal species are discovered every year, some living and some extinct. Researchers regularly make expeditions to the far-flung corners of the globe in search of new species, ranging from the single-celled organisms found in pools of volcanic sulfur (or even in your own stomach), to deep-sea organisms and larger animals like monkeys and birds.…
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Fishing for Facts: Studying the Rare Coelacanth
Find out how coelacanth bodies are preserved so you can view them in natural history museums. Video, Shelf Life Episode Three. Meet the Coelacanth Coelacanths (see-la-kanths) are large, ancient fish with arm-like fins and armor-like scales. They can be found in the fossil record through the time of the dinosaurs, but disappear about 70 million years ago. Everyone thought the creature was extinct. Then, in 1938, the coelacanth splashed into the modern world when one was caught in a fishing net off the coast of South Africa. The prehistoric specimen…
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