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.

We are pleased to present our first pamphlet – an illustrated guide to the lifecyles of some fascinating organisms. These lifecycles were selected and illustrated by Manvir Singh, a student in Casey Dunn’s Invertebrate Zoology course at Brown. Manvir is also the author of The Evolutionist’s Doodlebook.

Lifecycles is released under a creative commons license, and available for download at archive.org. If you’re interested in purchasing a printed tabloid version of this pamphlet (11.25″ by 15″), contact manvir_singh@brown.edu.

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.

Male kangaroos kick at each other. Male elephant seals gore each other with their large canine teeth. Male Giant Australian cuttlefish also undergo intense competition for females, but besides physically grabbing and biting each other, they also showcase a brilliant pattern on their skin.

Dr. Roger Hanlon who studies cephalopod camouflage at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA  describes the mesmerizing “passing cloud” pattern and the purpose behind this agonistic display.

Animation and Audio Editing by Natividad Chen and Kimberly Ulmer. This podcast is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 license.

Our friend Steve Haddock at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute has posted a video called “There’s no such thing as a jellyfish.” It surveys a broad diversity of animals that are clear and squishy, and explains why there is no one group called “jellyfish”. Many different groups of animals, from stinging cnidarians to swimming snails, have independently become free swimming, gelatinous, and transparent.