Ecogeeks : Untamed Science Video Podcast

What comes to mind when you think of bugs in your home? Most people picture German cockroaches or the wood devouring termites. Yet, you might be surprised at the diversity that actually exists. This week, we accompanied to research excursion of a small group of entomologists from the Nature Research Center in Raleigh. We were able to observe the amazing new study they're doing to examine the arthropods in people's homes. As it turns out, they had some pretty amazing findings. First, it's not uncommon to find 100 species of bugs in any given house. The other major findings were that 1) every house has lice 2) almost every house also has carpet beetles and 3) the most diverse group of organisms in the house are flies! But don't worry, there is nothing to be worried about. The insects living in our homes are actually a good thing. Many of them are there and we don't even know it. The most exciting thing, though, might be the fact that you can find so much biodiversity without ever leaving your home. In fact, this is a great video to show your students, to inspire them to start looking for biodiversity in their own homes. For more information about this project, information about finding bugs in your home, and stories about these field excursions, visit YourWildlife.org.

What is the Flu, and how does the flu virus help us fight off an infection? In this episode, we explore some of the common misconceptions that might arise about the flu vaccine.

On October 14th 2012 millions of people watched Live as Felix Baumgartner broke the speed of sound in free-fall via the Red bull Stratos Mission to the Edge of Space. If you haven't seen it, you should check it out here (redbullstratos.com). When it was all said and done, he reached 834 miles per hour, or Mach 1.24. He also broke the record for the highest jump at nearly 128,000 feet. I edited this up within a few hours of watching the final jump. I used the data the Reb Bull Stratos mission gave out post jump, so I apologize if some of the numbers are not the current record breaking ones.

One of the simplest forms of energy generation is to have a floating buoy on the sea surface. While different companies have come up with different ways to use the up and down motion of the waves to create energy, we'll highlight here the OPT buoys. The up and down movement of these buoys help turn a turbine, which generate electricity. This electricity is then sent to substation underwater, which is the then sent to grid onshore. One benefit is that the buoys can be set out and pulled in with minimal cost. The big news with energy buoys is that they represent the first wave energy devices available for commercial energy manufacture in the united states. In fact, along the coast of Oregon, the government has issued a permit for 10 energy buoys that should be enough to generate electricity for 1,000 homes.

It is really easy to determine a monocot and a dicot. However, first, it is important to understand that monocots and dicots actually represent the two main branches of flowering plants. That means that almost all flowering plants can be divided into one of these two groups. Of course, the key word is almost all. There are some that don't fit into the two groups all that well.

This episode is about lyme disease. Last summer Jonas and Rob both got Lyme disease at different points. If gone untreated, it could cause serious problems. While not about how to identify lyme disease, this video discusses the ecology of the disease.

What is it like to be a field biologist? A lot of students probably wonder what it's like to do biological field research. In fact, most people probably have little idea what biologists do in the field. While field biologists are as diverse a bunch as you might get, Rob and Haley took a trip to the Mpala Research Station in Kenya to get a feel for one study in progress by a diverse crew of biologists. In this ground breaking project on baboons, the researchers are using cutting edge technology (GPS collars), and good old field research (tracking the baboons on a daily basis) to help ask how groups of animals make decisions. To do that, they needed to capture an entire troop of baboons and put these radio collars on them. It's not as easy a task as it might seem. This video should show your students a great glimpse into the world of field biology, which can be both difficult, and entirely thrilling at the same time. For more information about this particular study, Rob and Haley put together a few links and descriptions about the individual researchers at this link (www.untamedscience.com/baboons).

While we know so little about the deep sea, we do know that it is not free from our human impact. This episode explores the problems with deep sea trawling.

Solar energy doesn't always mean energy conversion into electrical energy. Solar energy can also be converted into chemical energy, in the form of hydrogen and oxygen gas. In this episode, we explore just how you might do that on a small scale.

Some of the worst invasive plants, highlighted here include kudzu, water hyacinth, hydrilla, and giant salvinia. How is it that these invasive weeds can take over an area that they're not native to? The answer, has a lot to do with lack of predators. See what other invasive plants are causing problems.

How is it that we're going to mine asteroids? In this short episode, Haley explains how one might actually go about mining a small asteroid and bring it back to Earth.

Once a year a holiday known as Earth Day roles around. For those of us that are in school, it's a time to plant trees, start recycling programs and do other "earthy" things. But what does that mean? It seems that most people treat Earth Day day a bit like Valentines day or Saint Patricks day. Its simply an event on the calendar that doesn't seem to have a lot of meaning anymore. In fact, the role Earth Day plays has changed since it was first concieved. But to understand that we need some history Earth Day History 101 To really understand Earth Day and why it came about you need to understand what was happening in the 1960s, because it was this decade that spawned what we have today. What was happening in the 1960s? During the 1960's the United States was in a war overseas (Vietnam). It was also having countless environmental disasters that started to outrage the public. One Senator, Gaylord Nelson, noticed a disconnect between the environmental policy that local people wanted and what the politicians in the government were willing to make into law. He wanted that to change. The "Father of Earth Day" The Earth Day we have now come to celebrate was first championed by Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in on April 22, 1970. But, to really understand the importance of this first Earth Day it's important to put the event in perspective. In 1963 he convinced president Kennedy to go on an environmental tour The first Earth Day - 1970 Even though there is some debate as to the official first day of Earth Day (some say it was March 22nd of that year). The Earth day we celebrate today came from the event on April 22nd 1970.

Cycling Europe - For three weeks in June, we cycled from Genoa, Italy to Gothenburg, Sweden. In total that amounts to nearly 2100 km. A long trip for sure, but one in which we were able to see a huge portion of Europe. Along the way, we made a few species profiles and updates.

On this historic day, SpaceX became the first private company to dock with the international space station.

A long time ago, along the shores of Italy, there grew a plant that later became what we know as broccoli, kale, brussels sprouts and kohl rabi. Today, we know that farmers took this ancient wild cabbage into cultivation and selected several different varieties. While this wild cabbage can be found in Europe, it is the cultivars that are the most abundant in the agricultural fields, and the goal in this trip.