It may not look like it at first glance, but YouTube has proven itself time and time again to be quite a useful resource for easily digestible and top-quality science content. This is made all the more apparent by the deluge of content creators out there that try their best to create legitimately well-researched videos for their subscribers and followers. One such channel is PBS Eons, a channel created back in 2017 that caters to viewers who like learning about the past.
Of course, I don’t mean “past” as historical events some 50-70 years ago or whatnot; the timescales involved in this channel are far, far larger than what our history books cover. The channel focuses its content on prehistory—geology, paleontology, evolutionary biology, you name it. If it’s about the Earth’s ancient past, chances are PBS Eons has made a video or two about it.
Now, we here at Modern Sciences appreciate their content all the same; it’s perhaps one of the most direct representations of “modern” sciences, after all. And if you need a little help with catching up to what they’ve been up to, here are some of our previous features about PBS Eons:
All About Megalodon (And All Its Ancient Shark Relatives)
I’m sure some of you have at least heard of the almost mythical sea creature: the megalodon, known as the largest shark that had ever swum Earth’s oceans. Some argue, however, that we shouldn’t be talking about this giant shark in the past tense. So… should we, or is there a lot of (really old) shark misinformation swimming around?
The Story of Dogs (And How Humans Got Their Help)
If you live with or near a four-footed bundle of fur and woof, then you have thousands of years of both evolution and natural cooperation to thank. As it turns out, “man’s best friend” has been its best friend for many a millennium, and each side of the friendship has guided the evolution and adaptation of the other through the generations of both humans and dogs working together and cohabiting. Maybe thank your dog by giving them a treat or two?
The Story of Cats (And How We Figure Into It)
It’s often said that humans didn’t actually domesticate cats and that cats instead domesticated us. In a sense, it’s actually not that far from the truth; cats may definitely seem less “tame” compared to their more canine counterparts in a family home. What’s often omitted in this passage, however, is the fact that cats too have been around humans for thousands of years—so much so that ancient cultures often revered them in some shape or form.
Nature Just Can’t Get Enough of Its “Crab” Design, Apparently
The shape of a crab is pretty much unmistakable: a central body, several pairs of legs on each side, with some grabbing arms on the front. What’s odd is that nature seems to really like this design—so much so that it has basically reused the crab design several times over the course of natural history. Why does it seem to always go back to such a unique design?
How Teeth Changed the Evolution Game (And Why Some Animals Lost Them Anyway)
Smile! What most of you have inside that mouth is an array of teeth that you use in various functions, from speech to mastication and even in facial expressions. Teeth seem like such a permanent fixture in a vast majority of the animal kingdom that it seems almost odd to think that we didn’t always have them. How and when did teeth come about?
