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A whale can live 50-75 years. Its afterlife is equally long and spectacular
After a whale dies, it begins to sink. As it drifts slowly downward, its body provides sustenance for an incredibly diverse community of organisms. In Whale Fall (After Life of a Whale), the stages of consumption are illustrated by paper puppets of the fish, crustaceans and microscopic bacteria that feed upon the whale for decades after its death. A musical puppet-play and an educational science piece, the film is an amusing and informative look at the life cycles of the organisms – some familiar, some spectacularly alien – that inhabit the ocean’s depths.
Directors: Sharon Shattuck, Flora Lichtman
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Ecology and environmental sciences
GPS tracking reveals stunning insights into the patterns of migratory birds
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Space exploration
The rarely told story of the fruit flies, primates and canines that preceded us in space
12 minutes
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Neuroscience
This intricate map of a fruit fly brain could signal a revolution in neuroscience
2 minutes
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Computing and artificial intelligence
The ‘cloud’ requires heaps of energy to stay aloft. Could synthetic DNA be the answer?
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Biology
Brilliant dots of colour form exquisite patterns in this close-up of butterfly wings
3 minutes
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Genetics
Why it took a century to work out that humans interbred with Neanderthals
22 minutes
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Evolution
How – and how not – to think about the role randomness plays in evolution
60 minutes
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Physics
The rhythms of a star system inspire a pianist’s transfixing performance
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Art
Watch as Japan’s surplus trees are transformed into forest-tinted crayons
4 minutes