December 25, 2014

A Sweet Seahorse Tale From Fantastic New Web Series “Deep Look”

Today I have a small biology present for you courtesy of a new series of short videos produced by PBS Digital Studios and KQED San Francisco.

By Jennifer Frazer

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This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American

Today I have a small biology present for you courtesy of a new series of short videos produced by PBS Digital Studios and KQED San Francisco. For those of you who, like me, take pleasure in exploring Earth's more diminutive wonders, this new web series is a treat you should know about.

It's called "Deep Look", and fans of this blog will assuredly find lots to love. This particular episode is about pygmy seahorses' surprising powers of camouflage. With a somewhat startling paternal seahorse nativity scene and painfully adorable tiny baby seahorses, I think it's perfect for the holidays.

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The creators of the new series say they seek to "explore big scientific concepts by going very, very small" through a series of ultra-HD short videos. The series began in October and so far they have released five videos exploring topics like world of sand, the perils of permafrost, and the shimmer of the Morpho butterfly's blue wing. You can subscribe for free to their youtube videos here; they plan to release a new 2-4 minute short every two weeks.

In case you'd like one more taste, here's a chaser about the fascinating natural history of gall-forming wasps and the UFO-style houses the larvae force their unwitting plant hosts to build, any of which look like would make fabulous Christmas-tree ornaments for the bio-nerd in your life. Sci-art people, can you get on this? Season's Greetings!

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