LIKE, THIS REALLY HAPPENED. Alfred Hitchcock’s classic THE BIRDS is, in part, inspired by a very real phenomenon that occurred in Santa Cruz, California in 1961. One night, inexplicably, thousands of sooty shearwater birds lost their minds, dive-bombing into homes and even biting people. But, for 50 years, no one knew why… That is, until Dr. Sibel Bargu Ates connected dots throughout history through meticulous (and rather imaginative) archive specimen research. This is a Hitchcockian mystery wrapped in a scientific paper—a biological whodunnit.

And, learn how birds flock and move together. In fact, a 1986 computer program helped solve the puzzle of how they actually fly so close without every bird in a flock ricocheting off each other like pinballs.

Said another way, this is a story all about bird brains.

► WATCH! every single episode of WILD LIVES here:

► THIS IS THE MOST INTERESTING LION IN THE WORLD. After all, how many lions have movies and songs made about them because of never before seen animal behavior? Just one lion—Frasier, the Sensuous Lion… I mean, how is fathering 35 cubs when you’re 20 lion years old even possible?!:

► HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED about what makes an animal hibernate? PopSci formed an orchestra of hibernating animals to tell you about their winter’s sleep:

► DID YOU KNOW the first underwater film ever recorded was lost to history until PopSci found it mislabeled in a Dutch archive? It’s a story too strange to be fiction (and, yes, it involves a shark and a horse). Also, it’s the first footage of a shark ever recorded:

► DO YOU LOVE DOGS? WHAT ABOUT SPACE? Watch our video about Laika, our hero:

In their own words. Well, approximately their own words—they are wild animals after all.

CREDITS
Video by: Tom McNamara
Animation: Beth Wexler
Narrator: Elizabeth Ollier
Executive Producer: Amy Schellenbaum
Editor-in-Chief: Corinne Iozzio

Media
1961 Santa Cruz Sentinel bird invasion photos (courtesy Covello & Covello Photography), Archival gut contents image (2012, Nature Geoscience), “Birds of America” (1917, The University Society), Boids program (1986, courtesy Craig Reynolds), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920, Paramount film), Dr. Sibel Bargu Ates, “Gull Island” and “Inishvickillane, Blasket Islands” footage (1942, 1925, Chicago Academy of Sciences), Internet Archives, Mixed zooplankton sample (2019, Adriana Zingone, Domenico D’Alelio, Maria Grazia Mazzocchi, Marina Montresor, Diana Sarno, LTER-MC team), Oral history by Edna Messini (courtesy Capitola Historical Museum, Frank Perry), Pond5, Prelinger Archives, Pseudo-Nitzschia specimen images (NOAA/NWFSC), Santa Cruz Sentinel, “The Birds” (1963, Universal Pictures), “The Vanishing Lady” (1896, Georges Méliès)

Music
APM, Vik Sharma

Thank You
Dr. Sibel Bargu Ates (Louisiana State University, College of the Coast & Environment, Department of Oceanography & Coastal Sciences), Shmuel Thaler (Staff Photographer, Santa Cruz Sentinel), Dr. Cheryl Baduini (Claremont), Frank Perry (Curator, Capitola Historical Museum), Georgia Chronopoulos (Covello & Covello Photography), Wyatt Young (Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History), Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Frank Gravier (Reference Librarian, Special Collections & Archives, McHenry Library, UC Santa Cruz), Erin Chapman, Josh Engel (Red Hill Birding), Jack Furtado

#AlfredHitchcock #TheBirds #SootyShearwaters #science #biology #ornithology #computerscience #computerprogramming #boids #math #naturalhistory #SantaCruz #1961 #movie #moviehistory #hitchcock #birds #mystery #edu #education #educational #sci #popularscience #FrasiertheSensuousLion #animalbehavior #popsci #science #zoo #zoos #curious #wildlives #wildlife #animal #animals #birdvideo #animalvideo #education #learning #edu #educational #biology #naturalhistory #alfred #allabout #birdfacts #craigreynolds #Ardennagrisea #birdflock #flock #starling #Murmuration #geese #whydobirdsflock #Canadagoose #Brantacanadensis #Sturnusvulgaris #frasier #santacruz #california #montereybay #history #californiahistory #moviehistory #bodegabay #birdsattack #kidscience

LION. KING. How a 19 year old lion fathered 35 cubs… in a year and a half. This is the wild story of a lion named Frasier—Frasier the Sensuous Lion—who became a science wonder the world over in 1972. After all, how many lions have movies and songs made about them because of never before seen animal behavior?

You see, Frasier defied what was previously known about lion breeding habits—any animal’s really. Did you say 35 cubs? In just 18 months? And, wait, how old?

► WATCH! every single episode of WILD LIVES here:

► HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED about what makes an animal hibernate? PopSci formed an orchestra of hibernating animals to tell you about their winter’s sleep:

► DID YOU KNOW the first underwater film ever recorded was lost to history until PopSci found it mislabeled in a Dutch archive? It’s a story too strange to be fiction (and, yes, it involves a shark and a horse). Also, it’s the first footage of a shark ever recorded:

► DO YOU LOVE DOGS? WHAT ABOUT SPACE? Watch our video about Laika, our hero:

In their own words. Well, approximately their own words—they are wild animals after all.

CREDITS
Video by: Tom McNamara
Animation: Beth Wexler
Narrator: Dave Pettitt
Group Digital Director: Amy Schellenbaum
Editor-in-Chief: Corinne Iozzio

Media
8mm home video of Lion Country Safari (Scott Stodard), “Frasier the Lovable Lion” (Frasier Productions, Inc., Sandler Films, Inc., Four Star International, Inc.), “Frasier (The Sensuous Lion)” (Sarah Vaughn and The Jimmy Rowles Quintet; 1974 Mainstream Records), Getty, “Here Comes the Circus” (1942), “I Love A Parade” (Looney Tunes, 1932), LIFE Magazine, Los Angeles Times, Orange County Archives, Prelinger Archive, Pixabay, “Who’s Who In The Zoo” (Federal Writers Project, 1937)

Music
APM, Vik Sharma

Thank You
Mary Ellen Amodeo, AZA Reproductive Management Center, Katie Belloff, Jess Boddy, Erin Chapman, Digitize NY, Sonia Epstein, Meg Lampert, Jason Lederman, Lion Center at the University of Minnesota, Lion Country Safari (Palm Beach County, Florida), Steve Oftelie, Dr. Craig Packer, Dr. David Powell, Pat, Donna and Todd Quinn, Saint Louis Zoo, Russ Smith, Scott Stodard, Species360, Zoological Association Of America

#popularscience #FrasiertheSensuousLion #animalbehavior #popsci #science #zoo #zoos #lion #lions #mammal #pantheraleo #Frasier #curious #wildlives #wildlife #sarahvaughan #animal #animals #lionvideo #animalvideo #education #learning #edu #educational #biology #naturalhistory

Caffeine is the most widely used psychoactive drug on the planet. Like all good things in this world, it should be consumed in moderation—but PopSci editors Jess Boddy and Claire Maldarelli were definitely not following that unwritten rule, guzzling between six and ten cups of coffee per day. That put them at risk for disrupted sleep, heart palpitations, unusual nervousness, and more. So they decided to detox. Will their torturous 14-day cut regulate their sleep patterns and teach them to respect caffeine for the powerful drug that it is? Find out on this week’s episode of Test Dummy.

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Video by : Jess Boddy
Senior Producer : Tom McNamara
Online Director : Amy Schellenbaum

Editor-in-Chief : Corinne Iozzio

#Popular Science (Magazine) #PopSci #popularscience #magazine #science #caffeine #coffee #blacktea #endorphins #detox #14daydetox #cleanse #sleep #insomnia #addiction #brainfog #memory #productivity #seltzer #anxiety #depression #neurotransmitters #beverages #wellness #blakelively #naomicampbell #tombrady #psychology #exercise #blackcoffee #yerbamate #kombucha #neuroscience #thebrain #fatigue #theflu #muscleaches #headache #migraine #withdrawal #caffeinewithdrawal #caffeinewithdrawalsymptoms