Catalog Search Results
21) Why Insects Matter: Earth's Most Essential Species: Episode 21,Insects in Art, Literature, and Film
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2022.
Language
English
Description
Throughout our history, we have experienced admiration for insects and their unique abilities, as well as fear and disgust. Explore how those conflicting emotions have been reflected in our arts, from Aesop's fables to Kafka's Metamorphosis, from the films Alien to A Bug's Life, and characters from Jiminy Cricket to Ant Man.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2022.
Language
English
Description
Insects play a crucial role as decomposers of dead organic matter, recycling the chemicals and making them available for other organisms. Explore the feats of one of homeowners' most dreaded pests—termites. These insects not only clear forests of dead wood, but are also stellar engineers.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2022.
Language
English
Description
Discover the properties of insects that distinguish them from mammals and all other animals. They all have exoskeletons for strength and protection, six legs to propel their movements, compound eyes, antennae, and even more attributes in common with one another. But within this framework, their astonishing variability has allowed them to live in almost every ecological niche on the planet.
24) Why Insects Matter: Earth's Most Essential Species: Episode 14,Insects as Parasites and Parasitoids
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2022.
Language
English
Description
While some insects are herbivores and others are predators, a third group gets their energy and nutrients as parasites and parasitoids. Grisly though it might sound to us, you'll discover that some insects inject their eggs into the bodies of insects and other animals, and some even insert their eggs into others' eggs. Sometimes the hosts live through this process, but sometimes they do not.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2022.
Language
English
Description
One of the most profound ways insects have affected people throughout history is by transmitting disease. The worst offender? Definitely the mosquito. Mosquitos can transmit yellow fever, malaria, dengue fever, West Nile virus, Zika virus, and more. Discover the many methods we have used to try to cure this problem, and the many ways in which we've failed. But there is hope on the horizon.
26) Why Insects Matter: Earth's Most Essential Species: Episode 4,Insect Behaviors and Communication
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2022.
Language
English
Description
Reveal what honeybees are really communicating with their waggle dance and why specific dances are used in specific circumstances. From waggle dances to pheromones, insects have developed unique efficiencies in their communication and actions, both at the individual and group level. Scientists have been taking notice—and mimicking the insects wherever possible.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2022.
Language
English
Description
There's a good chance insects have made themselves at home in your home. From the carpet beetles in your living room, to the silverfish in your sock drawer, to the cockroaches in the basement, they're everywhere! What should you do about them? Learn why “nothing” might be both your safest and most effective answer.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2022.
Language
English
Description
So many animals rely on insects for food that most ecosystems would collapse without them. Birds alone consume almost 500 million metric tons of insects every year. Explore the relationship between insectivorous animals and their prey, as well as the 600 species of plants that also get in on the game. Of course, as you'll learn, the insects do not make it easy for them.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2022.
Language
English
Description
Forty million years ago—long before birds, bats, or flying pterosaurs—the skies were dominated by insects. Unlike every other subsequent flying animal, insect wings did not evolve from modified limbs; insects kept all six limbs and added wings. Explore a variety of flying insects and learn the unique physiology that gives them such precise control and maneuverability in the air.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2022.
Language
English
Description
Most insects use sound to call for help and to attract a mate. With a variety of ways to produce sound, insects also have a variety of ways to hear. Consider the significance of sound for crickets, katydids, and cicadas, as well as the expansive and complex “vocabulary” of the bess beetles, with one species that uses 14 sounds to communicate among family members.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2022.
Language
English
Description
Learn everything you need to know about starting an insect collection and making your own observations about your local environment. Discover how to start a collection of preserved insects using materials you probably already have at home. From nets to aspirators to pitfall traps, you'll have everything you need.
32) Plastic Earth
Publisher
Gravitas Ventures
Language
English
Formats
Description
The first documentary feature film of its kind to cover the solutions and technologies being worked on in the world today to combat and eventually solve the plastic crisis that our world is facing.
Publisher
Ocean 8 Films
Pub. Date
2022.
Language
English
Description
As a candidate, Joe Biden called climate change an “existential threat” and promised to make fixing the problem part and parcel of every legislative action undertaken during his Administration. Truth is, that while the Biden team got off to a good start – shutting down the XL Pipeline and rejoining the Paris Agreement on his first day in office – that commitment has wavered ever since, as related environmental ills, from flooding to fires,...
Publisher
TMW Media
Pub. Date
2022.
Language
English
Description
Host Niall McCann talks to Faith Doherty, one of the world's most fearless environmental activists. Over the years she has campaigned against nuclear weapons, the theft of natural resources and more recently against deforestation in south-east Asia.
39) The Depths Below
Publisher
Animalogic
Pub. Date
2021.
Language
English
Description
Thalassophobia is the intense fear of the sea, and for many, the following creatures are the reason for it. Take a deep breath and prepare to enter the strange, beautiful, and sometimes terrifying world of the ocean’s strangest creatures.