Plankton Chronicles
August 4, 2012 7:18 PM Subscribe
That is an amazing site! Thank you for posting it!
posted by LobsterMitten at 8:10 PM on August 4, 2012
posted by LobsterMitten at 8:10 PM on August 4, 2012
I'm not terribly impressed. The imagery is wonderful, but in going through the first two videos, I don't feel like I actually learned much. The diatom video is especially bad... it's titled "living in glass houses", but then they barely talk about the glass at all. They just say that it's a defense against getting eaten, and that it doesn't work. And that's all. No mention of the actual mechanics in building their shells, or how predators eat them anyway, or much of anything about what happens when they die, and no mention of the uses we have for diatomaceous earth.
The siphonophores video was slightly better, but just when it was starting to get to the good stuff, it was suddenly over. They talk about lots of different sub-bodies in one of these organisms, but only touch lightly on what they do. And then they talk about the egg and how it hatches the first body, and I wanted to know what its function would be, and what bodies it would add, and in what order. But the video ended there.
Assuming that the remaining videos follow the pattern of the first two, this site is really just a bunch of pretty pictures, with only the most cursory and trivial of overviews in the audio track.
posted by Malor at 8:20 PM on August 4, 2012
The siphonophores video was slightly better, but just when it was starting to get to the good stuff, it was suddenly over. They talk about lots of different sub-bodies in one of these organisms, but only touch lightly on what they do. And then they talk about the egg and how it hatches the first body, and I wanted to know what its function would be, and what bodies it would add, and in what order. But the video ended there.
Assuming that the remaining videos follow the pattern of the first two, this site is really just a bunch of pretty pictures, with only the most cursory and trivial of overviews in the audio track.
posted by Malor at 8:20 PM on August 4, 2012
The videos are extremely neat, though, and they do make one want to understand more what's going on with these little guys. I think with invertebrates and other unglamorous organisms, a big part of the fight is getting people to be interested. These videos do make them look charismatic.
posted by LobsterMitten at 8:31 PM on August 4, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by LobsterMitten at 8:31 PM on August 4, 2012 [1 favorite]
Yeah- very neat but I found myself wanting more. I watched Larvaceans and found myself annoyed the narrator didn't say what they were; a crustascean, worm, what?! 5-6 minutes would be better.
posted by [insert clever name here] at 10:14 PM on August 4, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by [insert clever name here] at 10:14 PM on August 4, 2012 [1 favorite]
Omg, this is an astonishing site, a treasure of extraordinary visuals, fascinating science, mesmerizing videos! Thanks Egg Shen for the great post.
posted by nickyskye at 10:40 PM on August 4, 2012
posted by nickyskye at 10:40 PM on August 4, 2012
Beautiful. Thank you.
posted by biochemicle at 4:13 AM on August 5, 2012
posted by biochemicle at 4:13 AM on August 5, 2012
Malor, I know what you mean, but consider the alternative!
posted by sneebler at 6:53 AM on August 5, 2012
posted by sneebler at 6:53 AM on August 5, 2012
I found myself wanting more
For that, you'll need to subscribe to the premium service: Plankton Pro.
posted by Egg Shen at 7:17 AM on August 5, 2012 [1 favorite]
For that, you'll need to subscribe to the premium service: Plankton Pro.
posted by Egg Shen at 7:17 AM on August 5, 2012 [1 favorite]
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posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:35 PM on August 4, 2012