Acid Mine Drainage and Precipitates

In this video, environmental scientists measure the pH of water to detect acid mine drainage from an abandoned coal mine and then demonstrate how metals present in acid drainage fall out of solution as precipitates when a basic substance is added to the water.

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Controlling Water Run-off

This video shows how the environmentally friendly design of the Visitor Center at Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest near Louisville slows down water run-off and helps to control non-point-source water pollution, conserve water, and prevent soil erosion

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Environmental Impact of Acid Mine Drainage

This video shows how acid mine drainage from an abandoned coal mine has affected Wildcat Branch in Kentucky's Daniel Boone National Forest. Because the creek has a very acidic pH of 2.9, most organisms cannot survive there, and Wildcat Branch is essentially dead.

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Reusing Wastewater

This video demonstrates how peat filtration beds at Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest near Louisville, Kentucky purify and conserve wastewater and eliminate one cause of non-point-source water pollution.

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The Geology of Coal

In this video, a geologist describes how coal, a sedimentary rock, was formed when organic materials piled up in swamps millions of years ago. Over time, heat and pressure transformed the buried materials into forms of coal that cause acid mine drainage when exposed to oxygen.

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Recycling and Restoration

This video explains how Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest near Louisville, Kentucky used recycled cypress from pickle vats to build its visitor center and then “paid back” nature by creating a cypress-tupelo swamp at one end of a lake on the park grounds.

High-Sulfur Coal and Acidic Water

In this video, a geologist measures the pH of water after high-sulfur coal from a Kentucky coal mine has been added to it. This test demonstrates that the sulfate salts found on the coal’s surface cause the water to become much more acidic.

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Rain Gardens

This video shows how a rain garden at Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest near Louisville, Kentucky slows down the flow of water from the forest’s parking lot and helps prevent soil erosion.

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Mycoremediation

This video explores the process of mycoremediation: planting fungi such as oyster mushrooms to mitigate non-point-source water pollution caused by oil, gasoline, and other toxic substances.

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Restoring Lower Rock Creek

This brief video describes how Lower Rock Creek’s location between two National Wild and Scenic Rivers caused Kentucky environmentalists to choose the creek as a target for acid mine drainage remediation.

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Acid Mine Drainage Remediation

In this video, an environmental technologist visits an abandoned coal mine in Kentucky to talk about how a remediation system (a series of settling ponds and treatment cells) is neutralizing the acid drainage flowing from the mine and keeping it from damaging a creek downstream.

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Applying the Scientific Method

This video provides a real-life example of the scientific method: testing hypotheses about which plants will grow most successfully on a green roof in Kentucky.

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Results of Acid Mine Drainage Remediation

In this video, a biologist visits Rock Creek in Pulaski County, Kentucky to show how acid mine drainage remediation has increased the stream’s pH from acidic levels to almost neutral. Although the ecosystem has not been completely restored, many species have returned to Rock Creek.

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Stream Restoration

This video explores how Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest near Louisville, Kentucky has restored a channelized or straightened stream to its original meandering path, thereby improving the stream’s water quality and creating a better habitat for wildlife.

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Aquatic Insects

In this brief video, a biologist talks about the macroinvertebrates (typically aquatic insects) that form the basis of food webs in healthy Kentucky streams.

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Detached Wetlands

This video depicts a detached wetland, a small pool that forms beside a shallow meandering stream when it overflows its banks. These wetlands are important breeding grounds for the invertebrates that live in and beside streams

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About the Seasons

Children learn how seasonal weather changes affect everything, from the behavior of animals to the way we dress and play.

Adopting Sustainable Food Practices

Hear about how respect for Earth can help us attain a more sustainable lifestyle in the face of climate change in this video segment adapted from United Tribes Technical College.

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Agricultural Runoff and the Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone

This video segment adapted from Big River: A King Corn Companion shows how agricultural chemicals from the Midwest that travel downstream in water runoff create a vast marine "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico.

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Alaska Native Teens Help Researchers

In this video adapted from KUAC-TV and the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Alaska Native students contribute to research on how their environment is changing as a result of global warming.

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All in the Family

This video from the series Faces of America details the process of documenting family history and tracing lineage back through maternal and paternal lines.

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Amphibian Research

This short video segment from IdahoPTV's D4K explains how frogs help biologists study problems in the environment.

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Amphibians

This video segment from IdahoPTV's D4K points out what it means to be cold-blooded. A frog's life cycle is revealed as well as why it croaks, why it hibernates, and how it catches its prey.

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An Alaska Native Community Helps Seals

This video from First Alaskans Institute spotlights the Alaska Native community of St. Paul and its hands-on commitment to care for the land and animals on which it depends.

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An Ancient Legend Teaches Climate Change Adaptation

Today’s unsustainable use of natural resources is compared to the legend of the giant Uab, in this video adapted from the Secretariat of the Pacific Community.

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Anglerfish

This video segment from NOVA: "Animal Imposters" shows the lightning-fast strike of the anglerfish.

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Animal Families

How long does a baby elephant stay with her mother? What do you call a baby goat? Young children learn some interesting facts about the lives of baby animals in this original video from KET.

Arctic Summer

See the many birds that spend their summer in the Arctic in this video segment from Nature.

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As the Crow Flies

In this video from Nature researchers from the University of Washington conduct a long-term experiment to see if crows can pass information down from one generation to the next.

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Atrazine Affects the Water Supply

In this video segment featuring live-action animation, adapted from Big River: A King Corn Companion, see how the agricultural pesticide atrazine impacts both crops and human health.

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Backyard Birdfeeders

This video from WPSU’s series Outside suggests how to feed birds in winter, a hobby that can foster awareness, care, and respect for birds.

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Backyard Turtles

In this video from the WPSU’s series Outside, learn about backyard turtle habitats, their favorite foods, and why they don’t make good pets.

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Backyard Wildlife

Squirrels and chipmunks are just two of the animals you might see. Backyard Wildlife, an original KET video, encourages children to explore the world outside their back door.

Basic Instincts

This video from Nature: "My Life as a Turkey" explores the knowledge wild turkeys have about the world around them.

Bats of the Southwest

This video segment from the Nevada Department of Wildlife looks at various species of bats and how they impact the environment.

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Bear Necessities

This Nature video segment focuses on the four foods most important to the grizzly bears' survival, and it describes the threats to the supply of each of them.

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Bear Research

In this video segment from IdahoPTV's D4K tag along with two biological researchers as they conduct their research project about bear movements.

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Bears

This video segment from IdahoPTV's D4K shows bears' adaptations for eating.

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Bears' Lunch Counter

This Nature video segment explores how the relationship between humans and grizzly bears has changed over the course of American History, and it describes the closing of the Yellowstone National Park garbage dumps in the 1970s.

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Bears Don't Recognize Boundaries

In this video segment from Nature, learn about the problems bears are creating on ranch land surrounding Yellowstone National Park.

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Bears in the Schoolyard

Learn about the precautions humans must take in the face of a growing grizzly bear population in this video from Nature.

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Beavers

This video segment explores the world of the beaver, including the biology of the species and, more importantly, its ability to transform an ecosystem for its own benefit.

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Bee Navigation

This video segment from NOVA: "The Mystery of Animal Pathfinders" explores honeybee communication and navigation.

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Beneath the Waters of Cocos Island

The nutrient-rich waters surrounding Cocos Island set the stage for astounding predator-prey interactions, as seen in this video segment from NOVA: "Island of Sharks."

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Beyond the Present

This video from The Human Spark provides a look at humans' unique ability to reflect upon events that have happened in the past and think about things that could possibly happen in the future.

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Bighorn Sheep

This video segment from Outdoor Nevada explores the adaptations that help desert bighorn sheep survive in their habitat.

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Bioengineering Body Parts

In this video segment adapted from NOVA scienceNOW, scientists discuss their attempts to grow human body parts in a jar.

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Bird Migration

This video segment from IdahoPTV's D4K discusses the purpose of migration and shows researchers and students working together to study bird migration at the Idaho Bird Observatory.

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Birds of Kundha Kulam

In this Nature video, learn about the extraordinary impact that birds have on the agriculture of a small Indian community.

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Birds of Prey

This video segment from IdahoPTV's D4K defines birds of prey and explains what characteristics they have that identify them as a raptor and help them catch their prey.

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Blood Vessels Help Tumors Grow

In this video segment, adapted from NOVA, Dr. Judah Folkman uses the scientific method to discover how cancer cells induce the formation of new blood vessels, which in turn nourish those cancer cells.

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Body Waste that Protects You

This video segment from IdahoPTV's D4K covers the body wastes that protect you: earwax, mucus, tears, sweat and vomit.

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The Brain

This video segment from IdahoPTV's D4K explores the anatomy of the brain and how your brain interacts with the rest of your body.

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The Brain in Action

This video segment from The Human Spark observes the brains responses to a series of cognitive tests.

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Brain Trauma

Find out how serious head concussions can be in this video segment adapted from NOVA scienceNOW.

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Bubonic Plague

In this video segment adapted from A Science Odyssey, learn about bubonic plague and how city officials in San Francisco tried to contain its spread in the early 1900s.

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Building the Alaska Oil Pipeline

This video segment adapted from AMERICAN EXPERIENCE tells the story of how environmentalists, Alaska Native peoples, and engineers concerned about the effects of permafrost challenged plans for the Alaska oil pipeline.

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Burrowing Owl

In this video segment from Outdoor Nevada, learn about burrowing owls, yearlong residents of open, dry grassland and desert habitats, and the only owls that nest underground and are active both day and night.

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Butterflies

This video from Vegas PBS features colorful insects known as butterflies, and looks at the coloration, species, life cycle, and migration habits within their habitat.

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Can We Slow Aging?

In this video segment adapted from NOVA scienceNOW, scientists discuss a family of genes called FOXO that can significantly extend life span in worms—and in humans.

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Carnivorous Plants of Texas

In this video adapted from Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, learn about carnivorous plants that act as both producers and consumers in an ecosystem. See sundews and blatterworts capture and digest insects.

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Carnivorous Plants of Cartwheel Bay

In this video segment from NatureScene, explore Cartwheel Bay, a wetland in South Carolina, and learn about the variety of carnivorous plants native to this unique landform.

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Caves: Extreme Conditions for Life

This video segment adapted from NOVA raises the provocative idea that if life can exist in the most extreme environments on Earth — such as in dark, toxic caves — then perhaps living things can also survive in harsh environments on other planets.

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Cell Differentiation

In this video segment from The Secret of Life school video, "Sex and the Single Gene" follow as a single fertilized egg cell divides, differentiates, and assembles into the tissues and organs of a new organism.

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Challenges of Incubation

This video segment from Nature examines American Eagles along the Upper Mississippi River and their struggle to protect their eggs from predators as well as from the cold, extreme weather.

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Changing Arctic Landscape

In this video adapted from the Arctic Athabaskan Council, learn how warmer temperatures in the Arctic are transforming the landscape, triggering a host of effects such as permafrost thawing and insect infestations.

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Chemical Risks to a Fetus

Learn about the risks environmental contaminants pose for a developing fetus, in this video adapted from Contaminated Without Consent.

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Chemist and Biologist Catherine Drennan

In this video produced for Teachers' Domain, learn about MIT professor Cathy Drennan's research into microorganisms that remove carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, from the atmosphere.

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Chicken Waste and Water Pollution

In this video segment adapted from FRONTLINE: “Poisoned Waters,” learn how unregulated waste from large-scale chicken farms contributes to water pollution.

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Chimp Politics

In this video from the PBS series The Human Spark, host Alan Alda and scientist Franz de Waal observe and compare two alpha-male chimpanzees’ different approaches to sharing at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center in Atlanta.

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Choosing Foods for Your Health

This resource includes two video segments adapted from Living With MyType2 and features diabetic teenagers Misty and Tim explaining how they carefully choose the foods they eat.

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Climate and Human Evolution

In this video segment adapted from NOVA: "Becoming Human," learn how the analysis of rock layers and ocean sediments supports the theory that rapid climate change may have jump-started human evolution two million years ago.

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Climate Change Threatens Pacific Paradise

Learn how climate change has impacted food and freshwater resources on the Carteret Islands of Papua New Guinea, in these two videos adapted from UNU-IAS Traditional Knowledge Initiative and Pacific Black Box, Inc.

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Collapse of Sharks

This video segment from Nature shows the destructiveness of the shark fin and shark cartilage industries.

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Comets Bombard the Early Earth

Visualize how comets carrying chemicals necessary for life could have made their way to Earth billions of years ago in this video segment adapted from NOVA.

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Comets Deliver Amino Acids to Earth

Amino acids, essential ingredients for life, may have been delivered to Earth by comets billions of years ago, as visualized in this video segment adapted from NOVA.

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The Common Genetic Code

Paul Nurse describes his research that showed that humans share some genes with organisms as different from us as simple brewer's yeast. Footage from Secret of Life: "Immortal Thread."

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Conserving a Unique Ecosystem in Micronesia

Learn about the steps that the people of Kosrae, Micronesia, are taking to protect their natural resources, in this video adapted from the Micronesia Conservation Trust.

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Contaminants in the Arctic Food Chain

The levels of contaminants found in particular animals vary widely depending on where they fit into the Arctic food chain, as described in this video segment adapted from LOKE Films and the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme.

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Contaminants in the Arctic Human Population

In this video segment adapted from LOKE Films and the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme, learn how human populations in the Arctic are affected by industrial contaminants in the food chain.

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Contaminating the Rockies

Learn how abandoned mines have been contaminating water supplies in the Rocky Mountains for decades in this video segment adapted from NOVA: "Poison in the Rockies."

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Converting to Biodiesel

Meet a college student whose class project to turn cooking grease into diesel fuel resulted in converting bus fleets to biodiesel, in this video from Earth Island Institute's New Leaders Initiative.

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Cooperation Over Competition

In this video from The Human Spark, scientists discuss what may be the uniquely “human spark” which separates us from animals: our ability to communicate, cooperate, and collaborate with others.

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Coral Kid

In this video segment, ZOOM guest Cassie takes us on a tour of the coral reef near her home in Key Largo, Florida, and points out some of its unique features.

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Coral Reefs

This video segment from Nature explores the unique status of Cuba’s coral reefs.

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The Costs and Benefits of Treating Gene Defects

In this video excerpt from NOVA, find out how whole genome sequencing saved the life of Alexis, a fraternal twin who was originally diagnosed with cerebral palsy but, in fact, had an even rarer genetic condition.

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A Cow’s Digestive System

Learn how a cow eats and digests food in this video segment from Nature.

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Crime Scene Investigation

This video segment from IdahoPTV's D4K explores the tools and forensic science that crime scene investigators use to collect evidence to help solve crimes, and study animals, archaeology and paleontology.

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A Day in the Life of a Neanderthal

In this video segment from The Human Spark, host Alan Alda looks at some of the similarities and differences between the Neanderthal way of life and that of modern humans.

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Decision-Maker Bees and the Human Brain

Learn about the similarity between the pattern of communication within a bee colony and neural networks in the human brain, in this video adapted from NOVA scienceNOW.

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Dengue Virus Invades a Cell

In this visualization adapted from the University of Massachusetts Medical School, discover the role that dengue viral proteins play in a human cell as the virus prepares to replicate.

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Desert Biome

This video segment from NOVA: "A Desert Place" describes the physical characteristics and organisms that define the desert biome.

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Desert Habitat

This video segment from IdahoPTV's D4K defines warm and cold (high) deserts, and describes some of the plants and animals found there as well as their adaptations for living in each type of desert.

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Desert Tortoise

This video segment from Outdoor Nevada examines threats to the desert tortoise population.

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Desirable Breeding Traits in Cattle

This video from Nature offers a description of desirable traits in beef and dairy cattle.

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Destructive Forces

In this video segment from Nature, scientists question how animals mysteriously survive natural disasters.

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The Developing Brain

This video from The Human Spark illustrates the difference between the brain growth of man’s early ancestors and today’s modern infant.

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Different Breeds of Cattle

In this video segment from Nature, learn about six different breeds of cattle.

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Dinosaurs

This video segment from IdahoPTV's D4K shows us what paleontologists think dinosaurs looked like, what they ate, and why they might have disappeared. We see paleontologists at work studying dinosaurs fossils.

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The Discovery of Penicillin

This video segment adapted from A Science Odyssey tells the story of researcher Sir Alexander Fleming, whose luck and scientific reasoning led to the groundbreaking discovery of penicillin.

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