About this season
Take a dive into the tiny, unseen world that surrounds us! With music by Andrew Huang, footage from James Weiss, and narration by Hank Green, we want to take you on a fascinating, reflective journey through the microcosmos.
Episodes (25)
1. Can Algae Fuel Our Cars?
Aired 22 February 2021 • 10 min
As the search for alternative energy sources continues, scientists are looking to the microcosmos and wondering: Can we use algae oil to power our cars, our airplanes, and maybe even our spaceships?
2. How Do Microorganisms Pee?
Aired 1 March 2021 • 10 min
3. Becoming Your Own Baby Through Conjugation
Aired 8 March 2021 • 10 min
4. Getting to Know Our Single-Celled Ancestors
Aired 15 March 2021 • 10 min
5. Your Screen Is Covered In Human Blood
Aired 22 March 2021 • 10 min
6. Heliozoa: Round, Sticky, and Covered in Spikes
Aired 29 March 2021 • 10 min
7. How Diatoms Build Their Beautiful Shells
Aired 5 April 2021 • 10 min
8. Leeuwenhoek: The First Master of Microscopes
Aired 12 April 2021 • 10 min
9. The Fantastic Feet of the Microcosmos
Aired 19 April 2021 • 10 min
10. The Chaotic Life of Seashore Ciliates
Aired 26 April 2021 • 10 min
11. We Found a Super Rare Microbe!
Aired 3 May 2021 • 10 min
After over three years of searching for it, our Master of Microscopes has found a Spirostomum semivirescens!
12. Bursaria: Giant Gravity-Sensing Vacuums
Aired 11 May 2021 • 10 min
The big Roomba of the microcosmos is fascinating to watch as it lives its sink or swim life.
13. The Diversity of Shapes in the Microcosmos
Aired 17 May 2021 • 10 min
From trumpets and spirals to floral arrangements, single cell organisms take on many strange and unique shapes. But they don't look like that just for fun, their shapes can help them with movement, hunting, and even defending themselves.
14. Looking at Tardigrade Sperm and Other Reproducing Swimmers
Aired 31 May 2021 • 10 min
Original Title: Tardigrade Sperm and Other Reproducing Swimmers Not all hypotheses need to be good. In fact, many of them are terrible. It’s just that when you’re trying to understand the world, you might find yourself believing that there are tiny humans living inside the heads of sperm, and we're here to tell you, that's not how it works.
15. Flinching Saves Lives in the Microcosmos
Aired 7 June 2021 • 10 min
16. Some Eggs Don't Need Sperm to Make Babies
Aired 14 June 2021 • 10 min
17. We Upgraded Our Microscope... Again!
Aired 21 June 2021 • 10 min
18. Unsolved Mysteries of the Microcosmos
Aired 28 June 2021 • 10 min
Sometimes we come across microbes that we just can't learn much about, or that don't fit into a larger story. So, this week we're sharing a few of those mysterious microbes with you.
19. The Beautiful, Brutal Tentacles of Hydra
Aired 5 July 2021 • 10 min
20. We Dipped Our Lens in Oil to See More Detail
Aired 13 July 2021 • 10 min
Oil immersion is an interesting and complex microscopy tool.
21. The Secret Things Living In Your Drains
Aired 19 July 2021 • 10 min
22. Revealing the Hidden Colors of the Microcosmos
Aired 26 July 2021 • 10 min
23. These Algae Curl Up Into a Ball When They Get Stressed Out
Aired 2 August 2021 • 10 min
24. Where Is This Anemone Really From?
Aired 10 August 2021 • 10 min
25. The Gruesome Tale of the Hitchhiking Parasite
Aired 16 August 2021 • 10 min