— In this video, John Green explores how Spain went from being a middling European power to one of the most powerful empires on Earth, thanks to their plunder of the New World in the 16th and 17th centuries. Learn how Spain managed to destroy the two biggest pre-Columbian civilizations, mine a mountain made of…
Chordates – CrashCourse Biology #24
— Hank introduces us to ourselves by taking us on a journey through the fascinatingly diverse phyla known as chordata. And the next time someone asks you who you are, you can give them the facts: you’re a mammalian amniotic tetrapodal sarcopterygian osteichthyen gnathostomal vertebrate cranial chordate. Table of Contents: 1) Chordate Synapomorphies 1:04 2)…
The Atlantic Slave Trade: Crash Course World History #24
— In this video, John Green teaches you about one of the least funny subjects in history: slavery. John investigates when and where slavery originated, how it changed over the centuries, and how Europeans and colonists in the Americas arrived at the idea that people could own other people based on skin color. Slavery has…
Complex Animals: Annelids and Arthropods – Crash Course Biology #23
— Hank continues our exploration of animal phyla with the more complexly organized annelida and arthropoda, and a biolography on insects. Crash Course Biology is now available on DVD! http://dft.ba/-8css — — This post was previously published on YouTube. —
The Columbian Exchange: Crash Course World History #23
— In this video, John Green teaches you about the changes wrought by contact between the Old World and the New. John does this by exploring the totally awesome history book “The Columbian Exchange” by Alfred Cosby, Jr. After Columbus “discovered” the Americas, European conquerors, traders, and settlers brought all manner of changes to the…
Simple Animals: Sponges, Jellies, & Octopuses – Crash Course Biology #22
— Hank introduces us to the “simplest” of the animals, complexity-wise: beginning with sponges (whose very inclusion in the list as “animals” has been called into question because they are so simple) and finishing with the most complex molluscs, octopuses and squid. We differentiate them by the number of tissue layers they have, and by…
The Renaissance: Was it a Thing? Crash Course World History #22
— In this video, John Green teaches you about the European Renaissance. European learning changed the world in the 15th and 16th century, but was it a cultural revolution, or an evolution? We’d argue that any cultural shift that occurs over a couple of hundred years isn’t too overwhelming to the people who live through…
Comparative Anatomy: What Makes Us Animals – Crash Course Biology #21
— Hank introduces us to comparative anatomy, which studies the similarities and differences in animal anatomy to support the theory of evolution and the shared ancestry of living things. Table of Contents: 1) Comparative Anatomy 0:00 2) Locomotion 1:19 3) Heterotophy 1:41 4) Convergent Evolution 2:40 5) Biolography 3:40 6) Tissues 6:00 a) Epithelial Tissue…
Columbus, de Gama, and Zheng He! 15th Century Mariners. Crash Course: World History #21
— In this video, John Green teaches you about the beginning of the so-called Age of Discovery. You’ve probably heard of Christopher Columbus, who “discovered” America in 1492, but what about Vasco da Gama? How about Zheng He? Columbus gets a bad rap from many modern historians, but it turns out he was pretty important…
Evolution: It’s a Thing – Crash Course Biology #20
— Hank gets real with us in a discussion of evolution – it’s a thing, not a debate. Gene distribution changes over time, across successive generations, to give rise to diversity at every level of biological organization. Table of Contents 1) The Theory of Evolution 1:49 2) Fossils 2:42 3) Homologous Structures 4:36 4) Biogeography…
Russia, the Kievan Rus, and the Mongols: Crash Course World History #20
— In which John Green teaches you how Russia evolved from a loose amalgamation of medieval principalities known as the Kievan Rus into the thriving democracy we know today. As you can imagine, there were a few bumps along the road. It turns out, our old friends the Mongols had quite a lot to do…
Taxonomy: Life’s Filing System – Crash Course Biology #19
— Hank tells us the background story and explains the importance of the science of classifying living things, also known as taxonomy. . . Table of Contents 1) Taxonomy 0:00 2) Phylogenetic Tree 1:24 3) Biolography 2:26 4) Analogous/Homoplasic Traits 3:48 5) Homologous Traits 4:03 6) Taxa & Binomial Nomenclature 4:56 7) Domains 5:48 a)…
Venice and the Ottoman Empire: Crash Course World History #19
— In this video, John Green discusses the strange and mutually beneficial relationship between a republic, the city-state of Venice, and an Empire, the Ottomans–and how studying history can help you to be a better boyfriend and/or girlfriend. Together, the Ottoman Empire and Venice grew wealthy by facilitating trade: The Venetians had ships and nautical…
Population Genetics: When Darwin Met Mendel – Crash Course Biology #18
— Hank talks about population genetics, which helps to explain the evolution of populations over time by combing the principles of Mendel and Darwin, and by means of the Hardy-Weinberg equation. Crash Course Biology is now available on DVD! http://dft.ba/-8css References for this episode can be found in the Google document here: http://dft.ba/-2HbN Table of…
Int’l Commerce, Snorkeling Camels, and The Indian Ocean Trade: Crash Course World History #18
— In which John Green teaches you the history of the Indian Ocean Trade. John weaves a tale of swashbuckling adventure, replete with trade in books, ivory, and timber. Along the way, John manages to cover advances in seafaring technology, just how the monsoons work, and there’s even a disembowelment for you Fangoria fans. Crash…
Evolutionary Development: Chicken Teeth – Crash Course Biology #17
— Hank introduces us to the relatively new field of evolutionary developmental biology, which compares the developmental processes of different organisms to determine their ancestral relationship, and to discover how those processes evolved. Also fruit flies with eyes on their legs and chickens with teeth! References for this episode can be found in the Google…