minuteearth

Do Mushrooms Benefit from Being Hallucinogenic?

Nobody knows why some mushrooms are psychedelic. I mean, we know that they contain a compound called psilocybin, which messes with the brain chemistry of lots of animals, including humans. But we don’t know we don’t know why being psychedelic would be useful to mushrooms in the first place. Here are three of our best theories.

You can watch this video here on Patreon or on Youtube: 2025-10-17 02:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post

Artificial Intelligence Apocalypse Scenarios

Ok so “misaligned AI” is dangerous. But if it does decide to kill us, what SPECIFICALLY could it do?

You can watch our latest video here on Patreon or on Youtube: https://youtu.be/AxHMvghsXXg

Thanks for your support!

-Ever

How Deep Can Caves Get?

Krubera Cave, one of our planet’s deepest known caves, extends 2200 meters into the earth – that’s a depth of nearly six Empire State Buildings. Or at least, that's as far down as humans have been able to explore; there might be other undiscovered chambers that go down even farther. But the cave can't be that much deeper, because there's a limit – actually, three limits – to how deep ...

Why Grass Grows Better Under Trampolines

If you’ve ever owned a backyard trampoline –or jumped on someone else’s– you might have noticed that the grass underneath it is longer and lusher than the grass in the rest of the yard. It’s not just that that grass isn’t getting mowed… in fact, when it does get mowed, you can see the weird effect even better! Instead there's something else –something shadier– going on here. 2025-09-04 04:42:52 +0000 UTC View Post

How 2000 Weavers Got Us To The Moon

In the 1960s, NASA’s engineers were building the Apollo spacecraft. But they ran into a major problem that almost prevented them from getting to the moon. To solve it, they brought in some unexpected help: expert weavers.

You can watch our latest video here on Patreon or on Youtube: https://youtu.be/prYQlxH6ypA

...

You've Been Misled About The Water Cycle

In school, you probably learned about the water cycle with a diagram. The problem is…it’s wrong – or at the very least, pretty misleading.

You can watch our latest video here on Patreon or on Youtube: https://youtu.be/X74c8qln1JQ

Thanks for your support!

-Ever

We're Counting Storm Deaths The Wrong Way

Disasters don’t just cause deaths right away; they often have long tails of destruction due to all the stress they cause and services they disrupt.

You can watch our latest video here on Patreon or on Youtube: https://youtu.be/2u6IiM5ZT20

Thanks for your support!

-Ever

Meet The Macaques of Monkey Island

Hi there

We’ve got a new video coming out later this week that tells a story about the macaques of Monkey Island off the coast of Puerto Rico. Since that’s where I used to work as a primatologist back in the day - and because I got to go back there a few months ago to make the MinuteEarth video we’re putting out this week - I figured I’d make a special video just for patrons that ...

The Complete Dog Family Tree

The canine family is a hugely diverse group of foxes, wolves, and –yes– doggos that have spread all over the world. In our latest video, we explain who they are and how they’re related.

You can watch this video here on Patreon or on Youtube: https://youtu.be/tuRl8moQbXU

Also, we made a beautiful poster which ...

Why Coyotes Are IMPOSSIBLE To Exterminate

Despite the fact that we've been trying to exterminate coyotes for hundreds of years, the species is thriving because of a special trait that causes their population to grow whenever one gets killed.

You can watch our latest video here on Patreon or on Youtube: https://youtu.be/mCpKMNL3mSI

Thanks for your support &...

Why Do Snake Bites Still Kill People?

Venomous snakes kill nearly 100,000 people a year. Which is weird, because we have a pretty effective treatment for venomous snake bites; it’s actually been around for more than a hundred years. So why are so many people still dying?

You can watch our latest video here on Patreon or on Youtube: https://youtu.be/1nY9fDDAGKw...

This Video Took Us 8 Years To Make

Eight years ago, David thought he had a great idea for a video. He was a fresh-faced new addition to the MinuteEarth team, and he proposed that we make a video explaining “What Is A Species?” But then everyone started laughing at him.

You can watch our latest video here on Patreon or on Youtube: https://youtu.be/Cp5oajt...

Quick Request

Hellllooooo friends

As a small token of our huge appreciation for your incredible support, we're going to be sending you a little something in the mail sometime in the next few weeks. Please update your mailing address in your account so we can make sure it's going to the right place!

Thanks,

David and the rest of the MinuteEarth team

Why These Beetles Hump Bottles

This beetle is trying to mate with a beer bottle. And in fact, he's dedicated enough to the task that he may get so dehydrated that he dies doing it. Which seems like really dumb behavior… but don’t be too quick to judge, because there’s something MUCH deeper going on here.

You can watch our latest video here on Patreon or on Youtube: 2025-05-08 05:48:01 +0000 UTC View Post

Why The Frequency Illusion Is Everywhere Now

This is a story about attention, memory, and headless goat hockey, which is a totally real sport played on horseback with a goat carcass standing in for a ball. It's known by many names throughout central asia, but Cameron first encountered it as "buzkashi". It's wild, and we swear it is relevant.

You can watch our latest video here on Patreon or on Youtube: 2025-05-04 07:59:07 +0000 UTC View Post

Hidden jokes in Planet Quakes!

Hi! I'm Arcadi, one of the illustrators here at MinuteEarth. Here's the thing: I LOVE to sneak in lil secrets in our videos, and my favorite way to do that is using Ithkuil, which is a made-up language that I took up a couple of years ago. Ithkuil was designed by John Quijada in an effort to minimize vagueness and convey the most amount of information in the densest way possible. Does it accomp...

Another Ancestor Paradox

There is a point in human history where everyone alive at the time fits into one of two categories: Either they are the ancestor of nobody alive today, or they are an ancestor of everyone alive today because of how genealogy and genetic lineages work – and it is much more recent than you think.

You can watch our latest video here on Patreon or on Youtube: 2025-04-10 06:12:18 +0000 UTC View Post

What Are Quakes Like On Other Planets?

When Earth’s tectonic plates rub against one another, they create planet-shaking shockwaves that we Earthlings call “earthquakes”. Most other planetary bodies in our Solar System don't have tectonic plates, though, but, somehow?, they DO still have quakes.

You can watch our latest video here on Patreon or on Youtube: 2025-04-01 05:22:04 +0000 UTC View Post

Why Is Soap SO Slippery?

If you’ve ever tried to keep hold of a wet bar of soap – well, you know what happens; soap is really slippery. Except that it also isn’t – a dry bar of soap isn’t slick at all. Why do soap and water create such a slippery situation?

You can watch our latest video here on Patreon or on Youtube: https://youtu.be/KBz...

Pollen Is Not Plant Sperm (It’S MUCH Weirder)

Plant pollen is everywhere in springtime, but because it is so small, you probably don't know that what is making you sneeze is a living, breathing, mobile version of the plant that forms half of the it's entire bizarre life cycle.

You can watch our latest video here on Patreon or on Youtube: https://youtu.be/8o76s9alLeo...

Your Favorite YouTube Channels Might Not Survive This

Hi folks,

The video we’re making this week is a bit of a departure from our usual fare, since it’s about the state of federally funded science research in the US - and the weird and unexpected impact it’s having on science YouTubers like us.

Because we want our videos to be useful for years into the future, w...

How do fish get into isolated mountain lakes?

The various ways new fish get into isolated lakes are a microcosm of the complicated ways that life has spread around the globe.

You can watch our latest video here on Patreon or on Youtube: https://youtu.be/CHTMZiXeB6A

Thanks for your support! <3

-Ever

Could Dragons Actually Fly? (Ft. Miranda Cosgrove)

This is part 1 of Miranda Cosgrove's favorite episodes from Science Minute with MinuteEarth, an illustration segment from her show: Mission Unstoppable.

We've been illustrating this segment for three years now, and it's been great. Hope you like it and thanks for your support <3

-Ever

The Ancestor Paradox

There are several ways to think about ancestry, and all of them suggest you have fewer unique ancestors than you might think.

You can watch our latest video here on Patreon or on Youtube: https://youtu.be/5eMAmRER0y8

Thanks for your support! <3

-Ever

The Weirdest Sounds Inside Your Body

Plug your ears with your thumbs, and make a fist with each hand. Do you hear something that sounds like distant thunder? That’s the sound of your muscles working.

Watch our latest video here on Patreon or on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1j7dQxJxgA

Thanks for your support <3

-...

Why AI Hasn't Taken Over Science (Yet)

AI is evolving so fast that soon it might be able to take over scientific research...but what would that look like?

In our latest video, Kate wonders whether spending all that time in school and the field for her PhD was worth it :)

You can watch our it here on Patreon or on Youtube: https://youtu.be/FiCjb4ripBM 2024-11-27 00:37:18 +0000 UTC View Post

Why Don’t All Rivers Make Canyons?

The Grand Canyon is super-wide and super-deep, which might make you think that the Colorado River, which carved it, is particularly old or powerful. Or at least that's what Cameron thought.

You can watch our latest video here on Patreon or on Youtube at: https://youtu.be/e8DVJwA_n0E

Thanks for your support <3 2024-11-13 03:39:42 +0000 UTC View Post

Can We Kill Cancer By Copying It?

Twenty years ago – thanks to a giant breakthrough – we thought we were about to cure cancer. We were wrong. Now, though, we have a new idea that flips the previous one on its head.

You can watch our latest video here on Patreon or on Youtube: https://youtu.be/-kO8Ou8hffU

Thanks for your support! <3

-Ev...

How This Bacteria Bridged Two Worlds

Most living things on Earth need oxygen to survive, but scientists discovered a species of bacteria that uses oxygen totally differently from every other organism on Earth.

You can watch our latest video here on Patreon or on Youtube: https://youtu.be/83ZietQ1W_s

Thanks for your support <3

-Ever

Newsletter update!

Hey friends!

We recently started putting out some newsletters and we have had more fun with them than we originally expected.

You can subscribe to the free newsletter here: http://news.minuteearth.com/subscribe

One of the reasons we made this newsletter separate from patreon is to not overwhelm ...