Eliza Cohen, from Erika Edwards’ Plant Diversity course at Brown University (Biol 0430), talks about the history of ginkos.

Music by bitbasic. The animations were photographed at the Brown University Science Center. Thanks also to the Granoff Center for the Creative Arts.

Arisa Lohmeier, from Erika Edwards’ Plant Diversity course at Brown University (Biol 0430), describes our co-dependent relationship with corn.

Pathikrit Bhattacharyya (aka Po), from Casey Dunn’s Invertebrate Zoology (Biol 0410) course at Brown University, tells the story of how the lancet liver fluke gets through life.

The hand-drawn animations were photographed at the Brown University Science Center. Thanks also to the Granoff Center for the Creative Arts.

The songs Staccato and Spooky are by Alastair Cameron.

Karen Connolly, from Casey Dunn’s Invertebrate Zoology (Biol 0410) course at Brown University, tells the story of how echinoderms (starfish, sea urchins, and their relatives) can change the stiffness of their skin at will.

Music by Scott Joplin.

Stephanie Yin, from Casey Dunn’s Invertebrate Zoology (Biol 0410) course at Brown University, tells the story of a parasitic barnacle with a fascinating lifecycle.

The hand-drawn animations were photographed at the Brown University Science Center. Thanks also to the Granoff Center for the Creative Arts.

Music by King Vitamin, Lino del Vecchio, and Val.

Amber Harris, from Casey Dunn’s Invertebrate Zoology (Biol 0410) course at Brown University, tells the story of jumping spider courtship.

For more information on the mating rituals of jumping spiders visit the Elias Lab.

The hand-drawn animations were photographed at the Brown University Science Center. Thanks also to the Granoff Center for the Creative Arts. Music by scottaltham and Weston Wyse.

Lara Crystal, from Casey Dunn’s Invertebrate Zoology (Biol 0410) course at Brown University, tells the story of how anglerfish find, and keep, a mate.

The hand-drawn animations were photographed at the Brown University Science Center. Audio was recorded at the Granoff Center for the Creative Arts. Music used by permission of North America.

Katherine Hadley and Jonathan Leibovic, from Casey Dunn’s Invertebrate Zoology (Biol 0410) course at Brown University, sing a song about tardigrades. They composed the song, performed it with friends, and made the animation.

The hand-drawn animations were photographed at the Brown University Science Center (http://brown.edu/academics/science-center/). This video is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 license.

Rebecca Haumann describes how some plants deal with drought by completely drying out.

This is the first in a series of episodes made as final projects in classes at Brown University in the fall of 2011. The classes were Plant Diversity (Biology 0430), taught by Erika Edwards, and Invertebrate Zoology (Biology 0410), taught by me.

This episode was made by Rebecca Haumann in Erika Edwards’ Plant Diversity course. The hand-drawn animations were photographed at the Brown University Science Center (http://brown.edu/academics/science-center/). It is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 license.

Symbion pandora is a microscopic animal that lives exclusively on the mouth-parts of lobsters. When we think of a life-cycle, we usually think of a baby growing into an adult, a female mating with a male, and then the female giving birth to a baby. But as Symbion pandora demonstrates, this isn’t always the case. Symbion pandora undergoes both asexual and sexual reproduction. Its life cycle is especially interesting because the timing of its sexual reproduction matches the moulting of its lobster host. This allows Symbion pandora to move from the lobster’s old shell to its new one, a remarkable solution to the problem of a temporary home. First described in 1995 by Peter Funch and Reinhardt Kristensen, Symbion pandora’s life-cycle provides insight on the incredible diversity and range in the ways organisms grow and reproduce.

Video and narration by Natividad Chen. The background music is a compilation of Bach’s Cello Suite 1 Prelude and Bach’s Flute Sonata 2, both played by Felipe Sarro.  This podcast is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.