The Amazing World of Living Things: A Short Story about Evolution
Ana Mena, Catarina Julio, Ana Godinho, Ana Sanchez (Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciencia)
This animation explores concepts of Evolution, and how the diversity of living beings arose from a common ancestor. This video is a co-production of the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência (IGC) and Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica (ITQB), in Portugal.
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Look Who’s Talking Too: Convergent Evolution of Complex Vocal Communication in Animals
Alexandra de Sousa, Tom Bragg, Vivek Nityananda (Bath Spa University)
Humans have language, but can other animals talk as well? Here we describe evidence for convergent evolution of vocal communication in some other animals.
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Milkweed Vs Monarchs: The Evolutionary Arms Race (2017 EVOLUTION FILM FESTIVAL WINNER)
Sara Dykman (BeyondABook.org)
As milkweed plants evolve new strategies of defense, monarch caterpillars must evolve new strategies of attack. While I follow the monarchs by bicycle on their migration from Mexico to Canada and back, I am having fun seeing the incredible consequences of this constant arms race. http://www.beyondabook.org
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Mismatched Eyes Help Squid Survive the Ocean’s Twilight Zone
Kara Manke, Katie Thomas (Duke University)
By watching cockeyed Histioteuthis heteropsis squids glide and pirouette through over 150 undersea videos, biologists at Duke University and the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) have gathered the first behavioral evidence that the squids’ lopsided eyes evolved to spot two very different sources of light available in the ocean’s “twilight zone.” These observations, combined with visual simulations, indicate that the large eye is specifically adapted for gazing upwards, searching for shadows of fellow sea creatures against the rapidly fading sunlight, while the small eye is specifically adapted for gazing downwards, scanning deeper, darker water for flashes of bioluminescence. Video footage courtesy of MBARI.
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Adaptation in the UCF Arboretum
Olivia Lineberry, Mary Powers (University of Central Florida)
Adaptation as seen in the University of Central Florida Arboretum, in both plants and animals
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Evolution of Plantimals
Erik Mohlhenrich, Rishi Rajendran, George Liu, Eugene Gao, Paddy Liu, Christina Wang, Mary Dai, Anna Ma, Lucia Lu, Angel Xu, Johan Kramer, Jason Li (Princeton International School of Math and Science)
Only in science fiction do we see plants that have animal-like characteristics…but could this become a reality? Is it conceivable that a plant could evolve over billions of years to possess the characteristics that we normally associate with animals?
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The Friar and the Pea – The Life and Legacy of Gregor Mendel (2017 EVOLUTION FILM FESTIVAL RUNNER-UP)
Director/Animator: Eric Power, Writer/Narrator: Alicia Power (PowerUp Animations)
Gregor Mendel is known as the Father of Genetics. Check out a brief glimpse into his life and legacy via stop motion silhouette animation.
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Infomoocial
Rodney Mauricio, Anastasia Levie-Sprick, Madison Rudnick (Univ. of Georgia)
Explore sexual selection through questionable late night television. Udderly horny horn extensions; but wait, there’s more: deer-ly beloved reindeer antlers. Pay attention to the disclaimer at the end.
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Intra-Patient Simian-HIV Drug Resistance Evolution: Does Blood Tell the Whole Story?
Alison Feder, Dmitri Petrov, Pleuni Pennings, Zandrea Ambrose (Stanford University)
Does HIV in the blood evolve the same was as HIV in other tissues? This video abstract for our paper “A spatio-temporal assessment of simian/human immunodeficiency virus (SHIV) evolution reveals a highly dynamic process within the host” attempts to find out!
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Evolution of Anti-Predator Adaptations
Ryan Domitz, Emily Dovydaitis (Univ. of Central Florida)
Predator-prey relationships in an ecosystem in Africa.
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Mimicry
Bradley Allf (Univ. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
How does a harmless snake stay safe in the forest? By pretending to be something that it’s not.
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Between Two Lichens
Talia Moore, Andy Johnson, Kate Furby, Chris Johns (Univ. of Michigan)
The word “symbiosis” was invented to describe how an alga and a fungus live and work together to make up a lichen. An international team of scientists had to fundamentally change their perspective to discover the third symbiotic partner 150 years later.
vimeo.com/220016998/cd2952dcb8
https://vimeo.com/220016998/cd2952dcb8
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Procreation Station
Jeremy Bloom, Mitchell Meads (Univ. of Central Florida)
A brief introduction to a few methods of sexual selection.
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A Myrmecophyte’s Evolution
Tom Le, Annabelle B., Evelin C. (Piner High School, Santa Rosa, CA)
A short stop-motion film showing the relationship between Myrmecophytes (a plant that has mutualistic relationship with a colony of ants) and a colony of ants. The two group of organisms had evolved in a way so that they could help each other.
An Evolution-Themed Film Festival 