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Termites Digest Wood Thanks To Microbes

Season 1 Episode 1 | 7m 12s

In this episode, Ed Yong explores the secrets behind termites’ power to digest an abundant source of food: wood. The key is microbes in their gut. Ed checks in with Princeton scientist Xinning Zhang to learn how termites evolved into wood-eating specialists about 150 million years ago, and how they use a unique social behavior to pass along the microbes.

Aired: 01/24/18
Extras
We can’t talk to the dead, but in their own way, the dead can speak to us.
Do you remember your first birthday present? No? Good, because it’s gross.
To scientists like Mark Smith, poop is more than just waste – it’s medicine.
Let's put plants in the spotlight and focus on their best microbial partner: Fungi.
A world without microbes seems at first like a utopia, but let’s take a deeper look.
An unlikely alliance with bacteria gives this squid an amazing superpower: Invisibility.
At the bottom of the ocean, a bacterial discovery reshaped our view of life on earth.
Antibiotics have a key role in medicine, but using them is not a decision made lightly.
Science is inching closer to an unlikely solution to Dengue fever. Bacteria.
You don’t want to be a honeybee when the beewolf is on the prowl.
Latest Episodes
We can’t talk to the dead, but in their own way, the dead can speak to us.
Do you remember your first birthday present? No? Good, because it’s gross.
To scientists like Mark Smith, poop is more than just waste – it’s medicine.
Let's put plants in the spotlight and focus on their best microbial partner: Fungi.
A world without microbes seems at first like a utopia, but let’s take a deeper look.
An unlikely alliance with bacteria gives this squid an amazing superpower: Invisibility.
At the bottom of the ocean, a bacterial discovery reshaped our view of life on earth.
Antibiotics have a key role in medicine, but using them is not a decision made lightly.
Science is inching closer to an unlikely solution to Dengue fever. Bacteria.
You don’t want to be a honeybee when the beewolf is on the prowl.