Why We Owe Our Lives to Phytoplankton

Some of the amazing creatures on the ocean floor have immense power to reshape the planet's atmosphere—and you've likely never even seen them before! These microscopic critters are called phytoplankton, and almost all life, both on land and in the ocean, depends on them. Learn about this world changing little friends in a new episode of SciShow, hosted by Hank Green!

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[skiiman]

When you produce 80% of the world's oxygen but people just want to talk about trees

[levonoganyan]

Hank said "THEY hope" as if he was trying to tell us: "this pun was not my idea".

[Master_Therion]

6:48 "They're here to *kelp* and hope to *sea* you soon."
Ughh, somebody *krill* me.

[Theallesliker]

New tinder bio: I need you like the world needs phytoplankton

[Sciencerely]

Although I'm working in a different field I know a colleague who works on phytoplankton. Intriguingly, they produce secondary metabolites with known antimicrobial properties. These compounds can, for example, reduce the risk in Daphnia of being infected by pathogens. Who knows what kind of medicine we could find if we study phytoplankton closer (would actually love to make a video about that one day!)?

[zebobez]

"Plank-ton" probably isn't a lot, because Plank lengths are the smallest units of measurement possible ...

[bengoodwin]

The Monterey bay aquarium is super cool, I live kinda nearby there

[quantumfoam]

"Mama why is the sky blue?"
"It's the phytoplankton sweetheart."
😶😮

[AuntBibby]

fight, o plankton! fight like all life depends on it!!!

[attaleacornell]

"PlankTON of fun. "
Oh Hank

[JoeNoshow]

Ah, I see the magic school bus was just my introductory course.

[trollfacereturns]

My mum : what have you learn't?








Me : *frezbee covered football*

[SplatterRaptor]

Great vid as always.
Just to add in: Coccoliths have been rock forming and contributed to controlling ocean acidification since at least the mid-Late Jurassic, and have had calcified tests since at least the Rhaetian in the Late Triassic. To me the best example of them regulating oceanic ph and being incredible carbon stores would be the PETM recovery.
~ A micropalaeontologist

[alexbenavidez]

I was literally about to find a scishow vid in my watch later lmao

I actually thought this was an episode of Into the Microverse at first

May as well be tbh

[keybladewizard]

oh, just a note, as a former California resident, I can confirm, the Monterey Bay Aquarium is NOT something you want to miss. They're an amazing experience and I can't wait for the next time I get to go there.

[JustADioWhosAHeroForFun]

One of these Planktons just wants the Krabby Patty secret formula

[zennyblades]

I just love phytoplankton. They're just so helpful and useful. Cool little guys.

[OMGitshimitis]

Imagine if humans were dumb enough to mess with the place where these things live. I don't know by heating it up, filling it with plastic or changing its pH.

[dmdcykey]

While I knew a few basic things about phytoplankton I had no idea of its diversity, importance, and contribution to the formation of the atmosphere that allowed life to flourish. This was very fascinating and yet another example of why this channel is one of my absolute favorites on YT. Many thanks for the thought-provoking content.

[axxnub]

Watching this video was almost like a journey to the micro-cosmos :P