Well, that attempt at having two postings per month did not last long! I didn’t post in February, so this is really late. It is also another recommendation for a great series on YouTube, especially for those who are interested in science and dinosaurs. If you watch YouTube much, you might have come across some of the shows from PBS Digital Studios. There are a number of them that you can watch, and they are all similar in structure and length. The one I am going to describe today is called Eons, and it is about different points in Earth’s history, from the very beginning of life up until the beginnings of the human era. The one most people might notice first are the episodes on dinosaurs, but there are a lot of other subjects covered, such as all those about species that were around earlier, sometimes much earlier, such as trilobites and crocodilians (yes, that is an actual word for an real group of animals from the Triassic period; I’m not making it up!).
I’ve watched a lot of these episodes, and I do have my favorites. There are a lot of episodes, since the series has been around for about 4 years. There are subjects for most interests, such as the evolution of insects, plants, fungi, the beginning of plate tectonics, the snowball earth, and other strange and interesting things about earth’s past. Each episode is similar – they last from 6 to 15 minutes, there are a lot of illustrations and graphics show about the subject or animals, and the narrator gives both scientific details using the latest research and the debates around that research. One thing you do have to get used to is the pace – it is fast. They actually give a lot of information in that short run time, but the amount of information means that there aren’t any pauses in the flow. So you have to pay attention, or you might be watching the video two or three times to catch everything. There are also a lot of strange words, so trying to memorize any of them calls for either a lot of concentration, or you will be looking up a lot of strange words on Google! One thing that’s provided in the Description section are the links for the research mentioned in each episode, so you can look up those subjects that catch your interest.
The narrators are generally very good, and keep the fast pace of words understandable (I know from experience that takes of a lot of work). They also have enthusiasm for their subjects, and they are usually very enjoyable to listen to. There are about 4 or 5 different hosts, and they rotate for the different episodes. I do have favorite episodes, but that has to do with the subject matter, not the host narrator. I am going to embed a couple of my favorite episodes here, but I am also including the direct link the YouTube channel for PBS Eons so you can find your own favorite!
Link- PBS Digital Studios EONS
This episode is a good introduction to how the show talks about the history of the planet, and will get you used to the different time periods.
This episode is about dinosaurs, but maybe not the ones that most people think about first! It is the story of how we began to realize that dinosaurs are still around – as birds.
This last one is just fun – its about the theory on why humans don’t have fur like most other mammals. Hearing about the ways scientists and researchers went through the process of developing theories of evolution is one of the really great things about these videos. I highly recommend trying them out!
