Mammal Origins

 

MAMMAL ORIGINS at TPT

Uncover the surprising ancient origins of mammals, a story that began long before the dinosaurs' reign. Surveying Earth's tumultuous past reveals how some of our earliest ancestors, the therapsids—creatures that looked like reptiles but were starting to develop mammalian traits—survived multiple global catastrophes. Through remarkable adaptations like burrowing and the emergence of warm-bloodedness, they forged a lineage that persevered against all odds. Fascinating fossil clues and cutting-edge science reveal how a small, resilient group of animals faced extinction events, outlived giants, and ultimately gave rise to the diverse world of mammals we know today, including us.

Asteroids: Spark of Life?

ASTEROIDS: SPARK OF LIFE at TPT

Imagine a time when Earth was a molten, volcanic wasteland, heavily bombarded by colossal asteroids. We’ve long feared these cosmic impacts as destroyers of life, but what if they were the key to our very existence? Explore a revolutionary theory suggesting that these violent collisions provided the essential ingredients – water, minerals, and energy – needed for life to ignite on our planet. Discover how scientists are unearthing evidence from lunar rocks and ancient impact craters, revealing that the very objects known for extinguishing life might have actually sparked it.

Human

 

It seems that each season, NOVA airs an in-depth series co-produced (created by?) the BBC. For Season 52, it's the five-part series, Human.

HUMAN at TPT

Around 300,000 years ago, Homo sapiens emerged in Africa—one of at least seven human species alive at the time. Now, we are the only remaining human line, and our impact on the planet is undeniable. In this stunningly cinematic five-part series, paleoanthropologist Ella Al-Shamahi traces the surprising story of human origins. Remarkable new fossil evidence, modern DNA sequencing, and other cutting-edge scientific tools are shedding new light on the lives and journeys of long-vanished human species, and how our encounters with them helped make us who we are today.

Critical Condition: Health in Black America

 

Black Americans are nearly twice as likely to have high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease than White Americans, and their life expectancy is about five years shorter. Why? 

In this special feature-length documentary, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Stanley Nelson investigates the dramatic health disparities in the US, even as scientists confirm that there are no meaningful genetic differences between races. 

From the deep history of pseudoscientific beliefs about race that still permeate modern medicine, to the latest research on how experiencing discrimination can directly damage human cells, Critical Condition explores the factors behind the health crisis facing Black Americans.

CRITICAL CONDITION: HEALTH IN BLACK AMERICA at TPT

Secrets of the Forest

Can forests help cool the planet? Follow scientists working in spectacular forest landscapes in Costa Rica, Brazil, Australia, and beyond as they try to untangle complex networks of trees, fungi, and creatures large and small—all in a quest to tackle the twin threats of climate change and species extinction.

Sections:

• Photosynthesis
• Trees
• Fungi
• Soil
• Insects
• Animals
• Humans

SECRETS OF THE FOREST at TPT

AI Protein Folding

How the protein folding frontier was conquered, as told by Veritasium's Derek Muller. It's perhaps the most important story in modern biology. And science communicator, Derek Muller—as usual—dives deeper into the topic than most popular science journalists dare to venture.

But Veritasium manages to tell the tale in 24 minutes. It's a dense 24 minutes. I crafted 37 questions to accompany the video, because if I were showing this to students, I would not let them look away for a moment. There's a lot of good information in The Most Useful Thing AI Has Ever Done.

Cowboy biochemistry, Turd of the Century, and evoformers will be discussed. Veritasium has answers, and I have questions.

THE MOST USEFUL THING AI HAS EVER DONE at TPT

Crosswords that work in college prep courses

Crossword puzzles are amusements appropriate for elementary school students. Middle school at tops. They sit at the base of Bloom's taxonomy, and have no place in a rigorous high school college prep course,

Or so I thought.

I don't even remember what my impetus was for creating a series of crossword puzzles for my college prep physic course, but create I did. Computer software meant I could load a list of words and the computer would craft a puzzle grid. Then I could add words to flesh out the puzzle and fill the page.

What I didn't expect was student enthusiasm for the puzzles. That enthusiasm acted as a catalyst, and I worked out an implementation scheme.

The Invisible Shield

This 4-part PBS series tells the story of public health and epidemiology through the lens of the pandemic.

THE INVISIBLE SHIELD at TPT

The Invisible Shield, a four-part documentary series, reveals a little-known truth: that public health saved your life today and you probably don’t even know it. But while public health makes modern life possible, the work itself is often underfunded, undervalued, and misunderstood.

1. THE OLD PLAYBOOK at TPT

History repeats itself. It’s not the first time the world has had to deal with a pandemic, and the push highlights how the public health sector had to go back to work.

2. FOLLOW THE DATA at TPT

Data has been an essential public health tool since at least the seventeenth century. Helping the world understand and mitigate the spread of disease, data has helped us make sense of the threats to our collective health.

3. INOCULATION & INEQUITY at TPT

Public health officials face disinformation, skepticism of science, and distrust in government as they begin vaccinating the public against COVID. Historical injustices and inequities lead to apprehension, forcing public health to refine its approach.

4. THE NEW PLAYBOOK at TPT

With all the challenges the public health sector faces, and life expectancy declining, how will a committed next generation of public health workers going overcome these obstacles?

Hunt for the Oldest DNA

Sometimes the inspiration for a scientific breakthrough is an apple falling from a tree. Sometimes it's a race between a train and a light wave. And sometimes ...

Sometimes it's a dog pooping in the rain.

Sequencing DNA that's more than a million years old was thought to be impossible. And it was. Until it wasn't. Breaking that barrier is a story of scientific perseverance laced with frustration, anti-bullying vibes, and real consequences of failing to solve an as-yet insoluble problem. Success was never guaranteed, and it came at a price.

But what a story it is! Watch the program. If it's something that works with your curriculum, consider using the question set with students. It's written with them in mind: to keep them actively engaged without ever boring them. (And welcome to NOVA's 51st season!)

HUNT FOR THE OLDEST DNA at TPT

For decades, scientists have tried to unlock the secrets of ancient DNA. But life’s genetic blueprint is incredibly fragile, and researchers have struggled to find DNA in fossils that could survive millions of years. Then, one maverick scientist had the controversial idea to look for DNA not in fossils or frozen ancient tissue – but in dirt. Join the hunt as scientists decipher the oldest DNA ever found, and reveal for the first time the genes of long-extinct creatures that once thrived in a warm, lush Arctic.

Participants include Tom Gilbert, Ross Macphee, Mikkel Pedersen, Maanasa Raghavan, Maureen Raymo, Alexandra Rouillard, Natalia Rybczynski, Astrid Schmidt, Beth Shapiro, Niobe Thompson, and Eske Willerslev.

For more DNA content, see:

Human Nature

Secrets in our DNA

Biology Crossword Puzzles [OpenStax-aligned]

With Conceptual and AP Physics crosswords covered, I moved on to Chemistry. Physics vocabulary is fairly pedestrian. We do our intimidation in the form of mathematics. Chemistry vocabulary wanders deeper into the esoteric: stoichiometry right off the bat. Pnictogen? Chemistry's got some words. 

Now that Chemistry's covered, it was time to move on to Biology. Intro Biology has very little math, so it brings the words. So many words that live their best lives within the confines of the study of life sciences. Endoplasmic reticulum arrives early and it's got plenty of friends.

Like the Chemistry puzzles, the Biology puzzles are aligned with an OpenStax online textbook. I chose Concepts of Biology this time. While nature may abhor a vacuum, I abhor crossword puzzles with yawning gaps and empty spaces. This time, some gaps were filled with terms from "100 Words Middle School Students Should Know" from vocabulary.com. Others were filled with terms from science, mathematics, geography, pop culture, and randomness. Students will be amused and surprised to see some of the terms that show up in these puzzles.

1. Introduction to Biology at TPT [Free]

Word Count: 108 · Puzzle Score (word crosses): 170

Core terms: Applied, Atom, Based, Basic, Biology, Biosphere, Cell, Community, Control, Deductive, Descriptive, Ecosystem, Eukaryote, Evolution, Falsifiable, Homeostasis, Hypothesis, Inductive, Law, Life, Macromolecule, Method, Molecule, Natural, Organ, Organelle, Organism, Peer, Phylogenetic, Physical, Population, Prokaryote, Science, System, Theory, Tissue, Variable

Selected additional terms: Acronyms, Adversary, AI, Air, Amber, Animal, Cheetah, Civic, Contortion, Cpu, Density, Divide, Earth, Elephant, Emu, Exodus, Eye, Gem, Hasten, Jupiter, Jut, Leopard, Lion, Mercury, Meter, Muscle, Navel, Neon, Neptune, Onion, Orion, Paris, Physics, Pluto, Quotient, Recluse, Slope, Twitch, Typhoons, URL, USB, xy

I posted this one online so you can see how the online version plays. Here's the link:

https://phyz.org/crosswords/01-Intro2Bio

2. Chemistry of Life at TPT

Words: 107 · Puzzle Score: 172

The Lessons of Phyz Advantages - Crosswords

CROSSWORD PUZZLES EDITION · [video question sets edition here]

Crossword puzzles in an academic core or AP lab class? Yes!

Crossword puzzles are a simple exercise in matching clues to words. Except the word, itself, is not given. The number of letters is given. And as the grid is filled in, letters of the words become apparent. By the time students ere sitting in the high school science class, they know how to work crossword puzzles without any instruction.

Does the puzzle engage students in the highest reaches of Bloom's taxonomy? No. But that's okay. Lower level retrieval has a place in the curriculum, too. And sometimes, spelling could benefit from this kind of reenforcement. In any case, students are involved in academic vocabulary.

My AP students would tear into crossword puzzles with no promise of a reward. They couldn't resist the challenge. Among grade-level Physics students, the ones who seemed most engaged in the crossword puzzles tended to be the students who were otherwise least engaged in the course as a whole. Compared to challenging conceptual questions or mathematical problems, knocking out answers on the crossword seemed much more manageable. 

And then there were the words that were not on the chapter's vocabulary list. For my original Physics crossword series, I leaned into a list of "100 Words Every High School Graduate Should Know" I found on the Internet. My English-teaching colleagues always appreciated this. Some even offered a few terms that weren't on the Internet's list.

For subsequent series (AP Physics, Chemistry, etc.), I loosened up a bit. Taylor Swift references? K-pop? Star Wars? Why not? Each puzzle's description on TPT includes the complete word list. There you can see that I did work Metallica, Megadeth, and Judas Priest into the chemistry crossword about metals. Because of course I did. Meco snuck into that puzzle, too. But that's a story of other galactic funk.

Filling the grid in The Age of Search

I use a crossword creator program (Puzzle Maker for Mac by Hokua Software LLC) to produce a puzzle grid that includes all (or virtually all) the core terms I'm hoping to get into a puzzle. The program builds several grids and allows me to choose. Computers are good at constructing a grid with lots of crossed words. Still though, it spends a few minutes concocting the options. That initial puzzle, with about 50 terms on a 28 x 28 grid, has too much empty space for my liking.

I'm no Will Shortz. (There's only one Will Shortz and he's a national treasure.) But I do feel a compulsion to fill in that grid with additional words. With an initial puzzle already built, the words I add have to fit specific places on the grid. Second letter E and fifth letter L, and so on.

There are web pages designed to find words that match the criteria. Sometimes the criteria are too tough: no matches. Sometimes they're too easy: 672 matches. This is the process that consumes the bulk of the puzzle-building time.

I usually begin scoping out the puzzle to see if I can add planet names. Or terms from previous chapters. Or math. When the going gets tough (near the end) and only two-letter "words" will do, state abbreviations and chemical symbols come in handy. As do Roman numerals, to be honest.

Sometimes a three-letter term is needed to bridge a gap. Government agencies are useful there. And some of the word-clue combos are essentially giveaways: three-letter term for Universal Serial Bus. Is it still instructive? Not everybody knows what USB or URL stands for. So there's that. Initialism are handy. Acronyms are nice, too: SCUBA and LASER come to mind. (Not everybody knows initialisms and acronyms are different things.)

In the end, I usually and up with a puzzle that has more than a hundred words that cross in over 150 places. Compare that to all the other puzzles you see for use in the classroom. Honestly: any of them! They might have two dozen words that cross in three dozen places. But they'll nearly always have enough open space to grow crops in. That was understandable in the 1970s. But now we have computers and the Internet. Machines are great at coming up with busy grids and words that will fill the spaces.

Would AI come up with a better puzzle? Maybe. I'm sure it could fill more of the 28 x 28 grid than I do. But would the words be appropriate for high school science students? Would those gap-filler words be matched to the intended audience? I haven't tried any AI crossword puzzle generators.

I design puzzles that take time to solve completely. Collaboration may be helpful. The Internet knows the answer to each individual clue (I think). But it's going to take a while, no matter how you solve it.

Fun use case: give a puzzle to students with no Internet access and see how it goes. Let them collaborate. I'm confident that a room full of high school science students could solve any of my puzzles. Eventually.

More standard use case: give the next unit's puzzle to students as they turn in unit tests with time to spare. My unit tests tended to be short enough that average students would have time left in the hour. They had to work quietly on something. My crosswords were a nice way to spend this minutes. And even though they weren't yet familiar with the next unit's academic vocabulary, half the terms in the crossword were terms they might already know. And the exercise gave them a preview of the new words to be learned soon.

Print or Online: Whatever Works for You

I used crossword puzzles in class in The Before Times, so I printed and photocopied them. When lockdowns hit, the importance of online options became apparent. The Before Times aren't coming back, so my crossword puzzles are printable and uploadable for use online. To implement the online option, you need to upload the HTML folder to your server space, then share the resulting web address (URL) with students. I uploaded a few to my own server space so you can see how they play online. They work well on laptops and tablets; not so well on phones.

Word List And Partially Solved Options

Each puzzle includes a Word List text file and PDF that can be printed and photocopied or shared electronically. Additionally, I included PDFs of "partially solved" puzzles. Grade-level puzzles include student documents with 10% and 20% of the letters filled in in advance. For AP Physics, the pre-solves are 5% and 10%.

Me? I didn't give students the word list or partially solved puzzles. But the options are there for you. Your students; your call!

Crossword puzzles at The Lessons of Phyz

The Battle to Beat Malaria

As good as we've been at developing and improving vaccines for the past century, an inoculation against malaria has eluded us. There are reasons that 142 potential malaria vaccines have failed. Malaria is not a virus or a bacteria, it's a parasite. And a pernicious one at that.

In recent years, two vaccines have proven successful. This is the story of R21. And it's as "ripped from the headlines"/"hot off the press" as an episode of NOVA can be. Some of the principal footage was shot in October, 2023.

This one packs a bit of hard-to-watch footage as a population of mosquitoes are "blood fed" on the arm of a researcher. I winced. It also shows a fairly powerful emotional moment when a researcher learns the results of a clinical trial. I confess that I go along for the ride such vignettes take us on.

The picture for a malaria vaccine is improving. I won't miss it if we can relegate it to the history books. The photo I used for the cover really is from Africa—I shot it in Botswana in 2014.

The Battle to Beat Malaria at TPT

Malaria is one of humanity’s oldest and most devastating plagues. In many parts of the world, it remains an ever-present scourge that sickens or kills millions of people each year. What if it could finally be defeated? Now, scientists may be on the verge of a breakthrough with a promising vaccine in the final stages of testing and approval. Follow researchers on a quest to deliver humankind from one of the world’s deadliest diseases. 

Human Nature

Human Nature is a Wonder Collaborative documentary that was picked up by PBS NOVA. And I have questions.

It's the story of CRISPR: the challenges that were insurmountable prior to CRISPR, how CRISPR was discovered, how it's been implemented (so far), and what the future might hold. There are ethical concerns; they are explored. And this production was produced as a feature film. The production values are high, the soundtrack is not always subtle, and emotional punches are not always pulled. It's exceptionally well done.

After the introductory material (Preface), the film is divided into six chapters: Needle in a Haystack, CRISPR, The Gene Machine, Brave New World, Good Genes, and Playing God.

This is a 94-minute film, and I wrote 83 questions to accompany the viewing. That might seem like a lot of questions, but it is not. The questions maintain attention, but do not require reflection or analysis. And the question formats vary to prevent any potential fatigue. 

Human Nature at TPT

Ending HIV in America

This is the story of the AIDS epidemic, from the early 1980s to the early 2020s. From when it was referred to as GRID (Gay-Related Immune Deficiency) to clinical studies of the most effective contemporary medicines.

It's the story of tireless caregivers and relentless researchers who have persevered across four decades: where we've been, where we are, and what we dare to hope for in the future. 

Ending HIV in America at TPT

Almost 40 years after the discovery of HIV, could we be on the verge of ending the AIDS epidemic in America? As of 2019, in the US, there were only 34,000 new cases of the disease—a feat that once seemed near-impossible to achieve. How did scientists and the public health community tackle one of the most elusive deadly viruses to ever infect humans?

Can Psychedelics Cure?

I was half expecting a Michael Pollan How to Change Your Mind psychonaut or microdosing storyline here. That's not what this is. This episode delves into research into the careful use of psychedelics to treat alcoholism, depression, and PTSD.

These are not happy topics, and this episode of PBS's NOVA gets a content warning. It has a few rough moments, but it's working with treatments for difficult diagnoses. 

As an educator, I was part of a culture that cast anything that could be considered a recreational drug as public enemy number one. Just as Richard Nixon labeled them when he was president. The closest I've come to illicit drug use has been breathing the air at rock concerts, where the air can grow thick with marijuana smoke.

In any case, Can Psychedelics Cure? presents anecdotes and data suggesting that psychedelics have curative properties when administered appropriately. The FDA will have the final say. Here's where the FDA stood as of June, 2023.

Can Psychedelics Cure? at TPT

The Brain

Neuroscientist David Eagleman explores the human brain in an epic series that reveals the ultimate story of us, why we feel and think the things we do. This ambitious project blends science with innovative visual effects and compelling personal stories, and addresses some big questions. By understanding the human brain, we can come close to understanding humanity.

The Brain at TPT

Our Planet II

Our Planet (2019) represented something new in the well-traveled wildlife documentary genre. It included stunning photography and footage acquired at considerable expense and difficulty; that's the price of admission. But David Attenborough's script did not shy away from revealing the less appealing facts of habitat and species decline. The realities of human impact were documented. Not heavy-handidly. But not ignored, either.

This follow-up miniseries centers on migrations and seasons. Well, months more than seasons as it trots the globe's northern and southern hemispheres throughout one calendar year. It's perhaps a bit gentler regarding the message of anthropogenic climate change, because that science is very settled. Our Planet II was designed with bingers in mind. Each of the first three episodes ends in a cliffhanger.

Our Planet II at TPT

Secrets in Our DNA

When the direct-to-consumer DNA tests were splashing onto the scene a few years ago, I noticed that some of my colleagues at school were getting their 23AndMe or AncestryDNA tests done. None of them were science teachers.

My immediate take was that the more you knew about DNA, the less likely you were to buy into these tests.

I haven't purchased a test, myself. But I might get one someday. There seems to be some entertainment value and some medical value. But it's important not to set expectations very high.

That said, there is a story here. A story with several compelling threads. And this episode of NOVA gets at this story.

Secrets of Our DNA at TPT

Your Brain: Perception Deception + Who's In Control?

It seems there was a moment a few years ago when our collective senses of reality were universally called into question. I am speaking, of course, about The Dress. Was it blue and black or white and gold? [Disclosure: I was on Team White and Gold in the moment.] And then ... was it Yanny or Laurel? [I only hear Yanny.] 

And one that I seem to have repressed: "Brainstorm" or "Green Needle"? That one added a new dimension of terror as your own brain could be flipped from Brainstorm to Green Needle by mere suggestion. The audio didn't change; your brain's interpretation changed. [Update: you can also roll with "Brain Needle" or "Green Storm" if you ... put your mind to it.]

Our faith in the fidelity of the realities our minds create around us turns out to be somewhat misplaced. This two-part series investigates that and more.

Nearly a hundred of the Exploratorium's Science Snacks involve perception. [Snacks can be sorted by subject; one of those subjects is "perception".]

Your Brain: Perception Deception at TPT

Your Brain: Who's in Control? at TPT

YOUR BRAIN: PERCEPTION DECEPTION 

Is what you see real? Join neuroscientist Heather Berlin on a quest to understand how your brain shapes your reality, and why you can’t always trust what you perceive. In the first hour of this two-part series, learn what the latest research shows about how your brain processes and shapes the world around you, and discover the surprising tricks and shortcuts your brain takes to help you survive.

WHO'S IN CONTROL?

Are you in control, or is your brain controlling you? Dive into the latest research on the subconscious with neuroscientist Heather Berlin. Sleepwalking, anesthesia, game theory, and more reveal surprising insights in this eye-opening journey to discover what’s really driving the decisions you make.

Bonus NOVA content: What Illusions Tell Us About Our Brains

If you have ever encountered an utterly bewildering illusion, you know the powerful effect such images have on the mind. If we can't trust what we see, then what is reality? In this virtual field trip, Professors. Susana Martinez-Conde and Stephen Macknik will present a smorgasbord of mystifying illusions selected from their Best Illusion of the Year Contest. Martinez-Conde and Macknik, who study the intersection of neuroscience, illusions, and stage magic, will explain just why we think we see the things we see.

Human: The World Within

The Lessons of Phyz materials I've posted to TPT started in the realm of physics. That's been my primary teaching assignment since 1986. So it's what I know the best. But I have also taught earth science, and I've always loved astronomy. So I have video question sets in that realm, too. Once I retired from the classroom, I dipped a toe into chemistry, and found some groovy documentaries there, too. More recently, I've come across two video telecourse series and have posted question sets for them. 

But biology. Biology is the most heavily enrolled high school science course there is. But if there's a 13-part, 26-part, or (like The Mechanical Universe) 28-part or 52-part telecourse covering high school or introductory college biology, it eludes me.

I recently discovered this miniseries, though. And it seems to cover many of the basics through a contemporary lens. It's hosted by Jad Abumrad of Radiolab fame. So I ran with it. Some vignettes chaffed against my skeptical sensibilities, but I decided the judges will allow it. Each of the six episodes runs 53 minutes. As is sometimes the case in documentaries produced by one network then acquired by another, the PBS sequence and the Netflix sequence do not align. Which is to say the episodes stand on their own well enough.

HUMAN: THE WORLD WITHIN at TPT

Take a deep-dive into the universe that’s inside each and every one of us, by exploring a shared biology that we often don't take the time to appreciate, or understand. Heart, brain, eyes, blood, tears; "Human" uncovers not only the science behind how our bodies work, but how what's inside powers every moment of what we do out in the world. Personal profiles of people from around the globe become entry points into deeper stories about how the body's many systems function.