The Incredible Biology Powering Autumn Colors｜Leaf Senescence

🍂 You've probably learned why leaves change color and drop from trees in the fall. But what actually causes these color changes? This is the single grandest and most visible moment of PURE BIOCHEMISTRY we get in this life on Earth. If you examine the chemical details here, you'll find a dramatic race against time. So let's explore why trees drop their leaves. We just need to make sure we don't get caught by the monster that secretly lurks in the foundations of photosynthesis.

📚 Primary Sources Cited:

Updated molecular details of leaf senescence:

A focused timetable on how senescence progresses in one tree species:

Keskitalo J, Bergquist G, Gardeström P, Jansson S. A cellular timetable of autumn senescence. Plant Physiol. 2005 Dec;139(4):1635-48. doi: 10.1104/pp.105.066845. Epub 2005 Nov 18. PMID: 16299183; PMCID: PMC1310548.

🧬 Primary Structures Cited:

Photosystem ii from a Norway Spruce:

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🔧 Sponsorship note:
This video was sponsored by Brilliant.

[PatKellyTeaches]

"Trees are giant straws". Bro. I've never thought about it like that.

[russtuff]

This channel is criminally undersubscribed. If you keep this up, the algorithm is destined to reward you in a huge way.

[gagelucas]

These videos seriously mean more than you can imagine, I am so profoundly interested in biology and I’m starting a molecular biology degree next year. Your videos only feed my hungry passion, and for that I want to thank you!
Nowhere else can you find such intricate and inspiring effort put into biology/biochemistry content. I can’t believe you don’t have millions of views with this kind of content. Keep up your amazing work, people like me look forward to it so much!

[Clockworkbio]

JULY: One video every three years
SEPTEMBER: One video every two months
OCTOBER: TWO VIDEOS IN ONE MONTH (technically!)

Can I get a few 📈 in comments y'all? We're only just starting to ramp up here.

[_biggy_cheese_]

The 3d animation is so much more informative compared to your older 2d style, i love being able to see the physical structure of molecules, keep it up!!

[thaum]

yk the day is gonna be good when you see clockwork upload 🙏

[Michigander]

I was literally just trying to explain this to my son the other day and I struggled to find the right vocabulary... I'll be back soon to watch this video with him! Thanks for your work!

[rampel]

So cool to learn about the anthocyanin radical scavenger duty against the free chlorophyll. Thanks for not dumming down but still making the info understandable

[dj_ak]

im so happy this channel exists, science culture badly needs intuitive mechanical explanations like this

[KB-rjjn]

correction - Anthocyanins do not make tomatoes red, lycopene does. Solanum lycopersicum does not create anthocyanins in the fruits at all.

[isabutchers]

This channel has already joined the ranks of veritasium, cody’s lab and the likes in my personal opinion, I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before your subscriber count starts to represent the quality of these videos

[underlock]

Your channel is one of the reasons I study molecular biology, please keep up the good work. Love the animation style!

[TheUnhousedWanderer]

This video is my first exposure to your content. Your enthusiasm earned a view from beginning to end, a like, this comment, and a subscribe.

I very rarely do that.

[noidea]

Thanks for the video! A comment for the algorithm. It is amazing that you can produce such high-quality videos for our niche!

[rafa_br]

It's insane how much more complex trees (and plants in general) can be, although they might look simple on the surface there's a lot going on behind.

[Clockworkbio]

How do we feel about segments like the impromptu Clockwork Book Club™ included here? We're genuinely in a moment where there's a proliferation of AMAZING biology books out there. The platform where this video is hosted has been VERY LOUDLY telling creators to tag things like books in our videos. Do y'all feel comfortable with that as a recurring segment?

[brique_squadde]

Amazing vid. I grow, ahem, recreational plants, and this opened my eyes to a critical part of the process, and also what may be going on during drying and curing. Thanks friend!

[IrethAmandil]

This answers so many questions I've had since childhood that most sources of information reduce to an unsatisfying degree. No shade to the simple answers, but I've been craving something with this level of visual detail paired with the verbal explanation for a very, very long time. Thank you for this amazing piece of work on such a "simple" process that largely goes unnoticed by many ☘️🍂🍁🍃

[Mulmgott]

All of your videos are masterpieces of visual representation.

[Spectre]

I wish i had these videos when I was studying biology, this is so cleverly explained and show the beauty of nature
10/10