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The eerie otherworldliness of slow undersea life sped up to a human pace

Corals, and the echinoderms and funguses that frequently inhabit them, are characterised by their brilliant colours and slow, creeping movements. Set to a pulsing original score by Maurizio Morganti, Meanwhile… speeds up this undersea ecosystem to something resembling a human pace. The result is uncanny, making these familiar lifeforms appear as if born of another planet.

Director: Sandro Bocci

Website: Julia Set Collection

18 April 2017
Split image showing two types of coral, a hard coral on the left and a soft coral with tentacles on the right, both in deep blue light.

videoBiotechnology

It’s our responsibility to engineer corals that can weather the world we’ve created

11 minutes

A small orange seahorse blending in with coral of a similar colour, detailed texture and a blurred background.

videoEvolution

Pygmy seahorses survive by disappearing into the world around them

2 minutes

Close-up photo of two translucent, pink comb jellies with visible cilia and internal structures, set against a dark background.

videoEvolution

Take a shimmering, surreal swim with what might be the Earth’s oldest animals

7 minutes

Numerous birds flying in formation against a light sky above power lines and poles, creating a rhythmic pattern in the air.

videoArt

The inadvertent art of tiny bodies – stunning, hidden patterns of animal movement

10 minutes

Bioluminescent microscopic organisms glowing in a dark background, photograph showing various shapes and patterns in blue light.

videoEcology and environmental sciences

How beautiful bioluminescent bacteria can expose invisible water pollution

3 minutes

Underwater photo of an octopus on the ocean floor with a mix of reddish-brown and white colours; the background is blue-green water.

videoEvolution

The wily and merciless veined octopus stalks an unsuspecting rock crab

5 minutes

Close-up photo of butterfly wing scales in shades of orange, pink, white and black arranged in a mosaic-like pattern.

videoBiology

Brilliant dots of colour form exquisite patterns in this close-up of butterfly wings

3 minutes

Abstract painting with bright pink, turquoise and dark blue colours forming intricate patterns and clusters across the canvas.

videoBiology

A transfixing audiovisual dive into varieties of emergence

4 minutes

Close-up of a chameleon’s green, textured scales and eye taken among plants.

videoBiology

Can a city cockroach cheat fate in this hallucinatory, eat-or-be-eaten jungle?

7 minutes