To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: Guano: seabird (or bat) poop. From the indigenous Peruvian word “wanu”, meaning “manure that’s good for fertilizer" Manure: animal poop used as fertilizer (typically cow or pig poop) Fertilizer: a chemical-containing substance added to soil to provide nutrients to plants Nitrate mining: digging up the naturally occurring solid form of the element nitrogen (sodium nitrate) Phosphate mining: digging up the naturally occurring...
Apr 10, 2025•4 min
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Apr 09, 2025•4 min
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: Fecalith: A stony mass of feces inside a person’s intestinal tract. Appendix: A tube-shaped sac at the bottom of a person’s intestinal tract. Appendicitis: A painful inflammation of the appendix. Fiber: Plant-derived dietary material that’s resistant to certain digestive enzymes. Tertiary Food Processing: Commercial production of food that often contains synthetic elements or an overabundance of certain salts and sugars. “W...
Apr 08, 2025•3 min
MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info If you like what we do, you can help us! - Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth - Buy our merch: http://dftba.com/minuteearth - Buy our book: https://minuteearth.com/books - Sign up to our newsletter: http://news.minuteearth.com - Share with your friends and family - Leave us a comment (we read them!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 07, 2025•7 min
MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info If you like what we do, you can help us! - Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth - Buy our merch: http://dftba.com/minuteearth - Buy our book: https://minuteearth.com/books - Sign up to our newsletter: http://news.minuteearth.com - Share with your friends and family - Leave us a comment (we read them!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 06, 2025•1 min
MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info If you like what we do, you can help us! - Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth - Buy our merch: http://dftba.com/minuteearth - Buy our book: https://minuteearth.com/books - Sign up to our newsletter: http://news.minuteearth.com - Share with your friends and family - Leave us a comment (we read them!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 05, 2025•1 min
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: Propolis: a kind of bee glue made up of resins and beeswax, rich in flavonoids and aromatic acids with antibiotic properties Pollination circuit: commercial bee-keepers move their colonies around the country, renting them out to farmers to pollinate almonds, apples, and many other crops. Bee health: term used to indicate concern about a set of issues challenging to health of honey bees, including parasites, pathogens, and p...
Apr 04, 2025•3 min
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: Anthropophily: an organism’s propensity to feed on humans rather than other animals Biogeography: the study of the distribution of species and organisms throughout space and time Malaria Control: the reduction of malaria’s impacts to a locally acceptable level as a result of deliberate efforts. Continued intervention is required to sustain control. Malaria Elimination: the interruption of local transmission (i.e. reducing t...
Apr 03, 2025•3 min
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: Coprophagy: Consuming feces Allocoprophagy: Consuming others’ feces Autocoprophagy: Consuming one’s own feces Fecal microbiota transplant: A treatment for C. diff that involves transplanting feces from a healthy individual into a patient. Cecotropes: Also known as night poops, these are the soft, shiny pellets that rabbits excrete and then consume. Pap: A special substance produced by mother koalas that their babies feed on...
Apr 02, 2025•4 min
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: Net Primary Production (NPP): the amount of primary production that organisms do, minus the amount of carbon they use up to do so (by respiring) Phytoplankton: microscopic green algae that live in water and get energy through photosynthesis. Learn more here: https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/p... Primary Production: the synthesis of organic chemicals from carbon dioxide (mostly happens through photosynthesis) Upwelling: t...
Apr 01, 2025•3 min
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: Hypsometric Curve: Basically, a chart that shows the proportions of surface area at every elevation on a planet. Crust: Earth's outermost layer, made out of two distinct materials – oceanic crust (which is denser) and continental crust (which is less dense). Lithosphere: The rigid outer layer of Earth, including the crust and the hard, un-bending part of the upper mantle. Subduction: The process of an ocean plate crashing i...
Mar 31, 2025•3 min
MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info If you like what we do, you can help us! - Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth - Buy our merch: http://dftba.com/minuteearth - Buy our book: https://minuteearth.com/books - Sign up to our newsletter: http://news.minuteearth.com - Share with your friends and family - Leave us a comment (we read them!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mar 30, 2025•1 min
MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info If you like what we do, you can help us! - Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth - Buy our merch: http://dftba.com/minuteearth - Buy our book: https://minuteearth.com/books - Sign up to our newsletter: http://news.minuteearth.com - Share with your friends and family - Leave us a comment (we read them!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mar 29, 2025•1 min
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: Cladistics: A method of recreating evolutionary trees based on evidence about relationships. Etymology: The study of the origin of words and how they have changed throughout history. Convergent Evolution: A process whereby different species evolve similar traits in order to adapt to similar environments. Polyphyly: A group containing members with multiple ancestral sources. Homoplasy: A trait shared by a group of species th...
Mar 28, 2025•3 min
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: Food Web: the feeding relationships between animals that determine how energy and nutrients are spread throughout an ecosystem. Trophic Level: a hierarchical level in an ecosystem made up of organisms that share the same function in the food web. Apex predator: the animals at the top trophic level that feed on animals and organisms below them. Mesopredator: a member of a mid-ranking trophic level that preys on animals and o...
Mar 27, 2025•5 min
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: Mortality plateau: the leveling out of the mortality rate that is observed at late ages in various species MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info If you like what we do, you can help us! - Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth - Buy our merch: http://dftba.com/minuteearth - Buy our book: https://minuteearth.com/books - Sign up to our newsletter: http://news.minuteearth.com - ...
Mar 26, 2025•4 min
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: Mast Year: A year in which all the plants of a particular species in a region ramp up their seed production. Predator Satiation Hypothesis: The hypothesis that mast seeding is a strategy plants use for controlling the population of squirrels and other seed-eating animals. MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info If you like what we do, you can help us! - Become our patron: https://patreon.c...
Mar 25, 2025•3 min
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: Sunshower: A meteorological phenomenon in which the sunshines while rain is falling. Idiom: A group of words whose meaning is not readily understandable by defining the individual words. Anthropomorphism: The attribution of human characteristics to an animal or god or object. Linguistic Anthropology: A field of study into how language shapes communication around the world. MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC http...
Mar 24, 2025•3 min
MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info If you like what we do, you can help us! - Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth - Buy our merch: http://dftba.com/minuteearth - Buy our book: https://minuteearth.com/books - Sign up to our newsletter: http://news.minuteearth.com - Share with your friends and family - Leave us a comment (we read them!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mar 23, 2025•1 min
MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info If you like what we do, you can help us! - Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth - Buy our merch: http://dftba.com/minuteearth - Buy our book: https://minuteearth.com/books - Sign up to our newsletter: http://news.minuteearth.com - Share with your friends and family - Leave us a comment (we read them!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mar 22, 2025•2 min
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: Mammal: Endothermic vertebrates that nurse their young. Lactation: The secretion of milk by the mammary glands. Mammary Gland: A cluster of alveoli and ducts that secretes milk. Mammary Alveoli: The tiny sacs that are the site of milk production and storage in the mammary gland. Oxytocin: A hormone released by the pituitary gland that - among other things - causes the milk ejection reflex during nursing. Holstein: A large b...
Mar 21, 2025•3 min
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: Polymer: A substance whose molecular structure consists of large numbers of similar units covalently bonded together Covalent bond: A strong type of bond in which adjacent atoms share electrons. Backbone chain: A long series of covalently bonded atoms that create the continuous chain of the molecule. Bioplastic: A type of plastic, usually biodegradable, made from biological substances. Scission: The breakage of a backbone c...
Mar 20, 2025•3 min
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: Food stock: the total amount of any particular food existing at any point in time Strategic reserve: food intentionally kept on reserve to be sold when supplies otherwise become low Stock to use ratio: the amount of stock of any given food at any point in time as a fraction of the total annual consumption of the commodity MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info If you like what we do, you ...
Mar 19, 2025•3 min
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: Personal Genetic Analysis: Direct-to-consumer DNA testing, usually through mail-in saliva samples. Single Nucleotide Polymorphism: A variation at a single spot on the genome that is present in some part of the population. Genotyping chip: A microarray that allows genetic testing companies to test a DNA sample for hundreds of thousands of single nucleotide polymorphisms. Health Care Fraud: A crime that usually involves misre...
Mar 18, 2025•4 min
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: Electroshock therapy: the original name for treating severe depression with a series of brief electrical shocks to the brain Electroconvulsive therapy: the current name for electroshock therapy Deep brain stimulation: a treatment for advanced Parkinson’s that uses pulsed electrical signals to targeted brain regions MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info If you like what we do, you can hel...
Mar 17, 2025•3 min
MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info If you like what we do, you can help us! - Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth - Buy our merch: http://dftba.com/minuteearth - Buy our book: https://minuteearth.com/books - Sign up to our newsletter: http://news.minuteearth.com - Share with your friends and family - Leave us a comment (we read them!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mar 16, 2025•2 min
MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info If you like what we do, you can help us! - Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth - Buy our merch: http://dftba.com/minuteearth - Buy our book: https://minuteearth.com/books - Sign up to our newsletter: http://news.minuteearth.com - Share with your friends and family - Leave us a comment (we read them!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mar 15, 2025•1 min
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: Annual: a plant that typically lives for a year or less Biennial: a plant that typically lives for two years Perennial: a plant that typically lives for multiple years MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info If you like what we do, you can help us! - Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth - Buy our merch: http://dftba.com/minuteearth - Buy our book: https://minuteearth.com/book...
Mar 14, 2025•3 min
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: Direct transmission: occurs when a pathogen is transmitted to a new host by physical or close contact Virulence: the degree of damage a pathogen causes its host MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info If you like what we do, you can help us! - Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth - Buy our merch: http://dftba.com/minuteearth - Buy our book: https://minuteearth.com/books - Sig...
Mar 13, 2025•4 min
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: Migration: The seasonal movement of a population of animals from one area to another. Prevailing winds: Winds in a particular area that blow in a particular direction. Thermal: An upward current of warm air. Lift: A force that counteracts the weight of an object and holds it in the air. Flyway: A route regularly used by lots of migrating birds. MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info If yo...
Mar 12, 2025•3 min
