Back to Show
Deep Look
Springtails Do Their Own Stunts
Season 10
Episode 8
Step right up to see tiny springtails spin through the air with the greatest of ease! In ponds and streams, they skyrocket out of the reach of hungry insects like water striders by slapping a tail-like appendage against the water. And you won’t believe how they stick the landing.
Support Provided By
4:36
Corals create an underwater "snowstorm" by sending tiny white spheres up the water column.
3:58
Ever wonder how those tiny, jumpy flies got onto your bathroom wall?
4:38
Jellyfish clone themselves by morphing into a stack of squirming jellyfish pancakes.
4:28
As temperatures rise, the brown dog tick is more likely to feast on you.
5:46
This fuzzy acorn weevil uses her snout to drill through an acorn's shell.
6:41
Beekeepers and scientists are helping honeybees fight off varroa mites.
5:14
Ladybugs may be the cutest insects around, but they don't start off that way.
3:57
Do cockroaches -- daring, disgusting disease vectors -- have anything at all to offer us?
5:42
Covered in a shiny bubble, the alkali fly scuba dives in California's Mono Lake.
4:58
A “bee fly” is a freeloader that takes advantage of a bindweed turret bee’s hard work.
4:05
The scaled wormsnail cements its shell to a rock and snags its meals using mucus!
3:44
Geckos navigate nearly any surface with an electron dance at the atomic scale.