Some of these aren't single celled, like the tardigrades for certain. Some single cell organisms are visible with the naked eye, some multicellular organisms aren't. Super weird, I know.
That may be unlikely, sunlight is many times brighter and have much more energy than the light from a microscope. And also they may not even register the same spectrum of light that we are shining at them in order to see them.
@@ShapeDoppelganger I am guessing that when I use that mirror to reflect sunlight in order to use my microscope; it would still be less invasive than direct sunlight.
I wouldn't say extremely low. We can feel the heat of sunlight that was emitted millions of miles away on such a tiny area of space, such as our arms. The energy levels of all the frequencies of the electromagnetic spectrum varies greatly (from radio/weak to gamma/intense), but the visible light part, which is what we're talking about, still contains plenty of energy.
This episode was so visually stunning. I was completely glued to the screen. Its amazing seeing the diversity that exists in the world when it comes to different ways of sensing and reacting to light. Endlessly fascinating.
Right, there's only an apparent one, in our privileged, biased hindsight. Evolution has no long-term "goals". That said, it's still possible to think of "ancient"/"primitive" (more technically called conservative or basal) traits in modern species as proxies for the ancestral states of homologous equivalents in the human body/cells. This is especially true when comparing single-celled life to macroscopic multicellular organisms, since in the former these homologous traits have usually changed much less (functionally, structurally and genetically) and, unlike our ancestors, have had relatively unchanged selective pressures for many millions of years.
Wait. Does this mean Stentor coeruleus, my favorite denizen of the microcosmos, is tortured by light during the shooting? Oh I'm so sorry, pretty Stentor...
What a brilliant video bringing light to an often overlooked idea. That’s what I love about this channel, you present lesser known micro-organisms in a fascinating light! Would you be interested in doing a collaboration with me?
This channel just keeps getting better. The new microscope and the images you get now are endlessly interesting, and humbling. Even the tiniest single-celled being has a vast complexity driven by the same spark of life as us. Quite remarkable.
Everytime when i see a video on this channel, i'm aware that these little organisms have no brains and no awareness. But they live without knowing that they live. That's crazy!
Perhaps a single celled organism's nucleus isn't as powerful or complex as a brain, but surely they must have some form of awareness or another. Otherwise predation and escape from predators likely wouldn't be possible.
@@Dragrath1 I think it's accurate to say they have rudimentary awareness and nothing more. I gave this example before. A mirror was put in the jungle and most of the animals couldn't tell it was their reflection. So yeah I don't think it's a stretch to say microbes lack a ton of awareness other than the most basic.
@@johndor7793 While the general hypothesis is a fairly plausible one I had been trying to point out that we don't really understand exactly how our sense of awareness arises thus we should be careful to jump to conclusions. While I personally doubt they will be highly capable of cognitive feats on their own there is evidence that biofilms and slime molds can demonstrate fairly complex problem solving skills despite lacking a brain. As a related note there have been a number of lines of evidence being raised against the mirror test for instance. Rather than general intelligence for humans the mirror test experiments really just seem to measure facial recognition capabilities given how people with damage to the parts of the brain related to that function fail to recognize themselves in the mirror largely in part to them completely losing the ability to recognize faces. An interesting comparison demonstrating the difficulty in reading the mirror tests results is new Caledonian crows which are well known for their problem solving skills and their ability to visualize and plan actions in multiple steps enabling them to manufacture tools from objects in their environment (as opposed to all other tool using animals which can use existing objects but not make new tools from non tool materials). At face value experiments show they appear to "fail" to recognize themselves in the reflection however experiments show it isn't that simple as they can readily figure out how to use a mirror to solve puzzles or explore their environment so it isn't like they don't understand how to use a mirror. Basically intelligence doesn't seem to be all or nothing and the way an organism processes information from their environment will play a role in that process.
This channel makes me think a lot about how evolution continues on. We act like we left behind our single celled relatives, but no. We evolved to do it one way, they've also continuously evolved to do it a billion other ways. Multicelled isn't the result, its a result.
I pulled the old "Ahh I seeee...." bit, and my daughter just paused the video and looked me dead in the eye with a look of disdain and said "See this? My big bright smile? No? Think about that." , then she turned back to the screen and pressed play again.
I know it is probably because they're rare and hard to get video of but you guys should check out Warnowiids, singled celled dinoflagellates with an eye with a lens and a retina of sort. Paper out of UBC in 2015 describes them in great detail!
This channel and everyone involved are miraculous. I truly have no words to described how much you make me geek out when I see a new video has been released. Thank you for taking the leap in creating this channel and giving us the privilege of going on this journey into the microcosmos! ^_^
I am an avid follower of the journey to the microcosms. I learn from their videos a lot. Chromatic adaptation is a term I have never heard before. Thank you very much.
The part discussing the energetic cost of sight reminds me of a hypothesised difference between anatomically modern humans and Neanderthals; our cousins apparently had larger eyes and it's thought a larger area of their brain dedicated to visual processing, whereas our optic centres are smaller and we may have instead dedicated more grey matter to developing our social aquities. Neanderthal communties were very small in comparison to human ones, reflecting less social abilities.
Hank, I love listening to the way you speak in these videos. Combined with the music, they are VERY relaxing. Not to mention informative as well. Thank you
So....Sybille Stentor's name in Skyrim is apparently a VERY niche joke/reference. (Get it...vampire? Hates sun) Ok Bethesda, who's the microbe nerd on the team?
can you release some high-res stills of the Oscillatoria at the 3:00?. I've had Jupiter's arse as my desktop background for a few years, but that shits fucking gorgeous.
So we’ve evolved such sophisticated sensory organs because humans need them for our survival within our environment. I’m not sure if that’s an insult or not
I may be colourblind (Deuteranopia), but I always feel compelled to watch more of this channel's content. Sure I can't see all the colours you probably can, but that doesn't matter. Every video is interesting, even to me in my dull, drab, and depressingly coloured world.
I first experienced the idea of the entire world having evolved alongside humans, rather than a human centered point of view with the thought that the other great apes have continued to evolve from our common ancestor for as long as we have. We didn't come from chimpanzees or bonobos, they've evolved alongside us, as our cousins. This video connected the dots for me that this concept applies to all of creation (who or what did or did not create is fuel for engagement metrics!)
Double tap to say, thanks for the slower pace of narration in this series. Hank, you've got a lovely voice, I like it when you let it linger a bit for us, rather than the crash course rapid fact beat (which also has its appropriate application).
bro you are so good at explaining so many things, and you say it with so much enthusiasm! you arent like a boring science teacher that always speaks in a low monotone voice! you are cool!❤
So has anyone else noticed how some of these microscopic organisms remind you of an octopus. Octopi and mollusk being the macro evolution of microorganisms?
That's flagellum - part of their movement appararatus. What you described as "dancing" is, in fact, drilling into water with rotary motion these things produce.
Ever since learning some microbes had a light sensing structure which literally just propels as flagella in response to light, I now think that all human behaviour, especially consciousness, is likely just a complicated interplay of basic reactions like this, just evolved. No funny mind-body problem, consciousness issues etc, just cells responding to stimuli in an extended network.
The problem with this channel is now every time I eat, shower, brush my teeth, void my bowels or eat cheese, I can’t stop thinking about microbes 🦠 wriggling and pooping everywhere. Help
As we underestimate their capabilities to "aware" that there's a star who give them light, and the star is just a tiny little dot from one of hundreds billion stars in our galaxy, and this galaxy is only a very tiny dot in the cosmic-web... The Higher level creature above us is being underestimate our ability to "aware" something beyond our imagination
So, if they can react to light with an organ, can move around etc, they must have a central command type unit if not a brain. The rudiments of thought, seeing as they are not randomly reacting with their environment, but interacting with self preservation at hand. It must have some memory capability.
me who has compelx photoreceptors, pigment cells, lenses, optical cells and nerve cells just using it to get information instead of using it to run or hide or fight or hunt or alot of stuff