Shape of Life
Shape of Life originated as an eight-hour PBS television series launched in 2001, conceived by a group of visionary scientists and naturalists focused on animal evolution. Nancy Burnett is identified as the founder, having worked on the original series and later explored related fossil discoveries like the Burgess Shale. The project was produced through collaborations involving the Sea Studios Foundation, with support from funders such as The David and Lucile Packard Foundation and the National Science Foundation.shapeoflife+2
https://www.educationworld.com/awards/2002/r1002-08.shtml
Actor Peter Coyote narrates the main series.shapeoflife+4
https://www.shapeoflife.org/mission
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8f4rXNYHm0g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1xbq62LFI0
https://shapeoflife.org/evolution
https://video.lanecc.edu/media/The+Shape+of+Life+Vol.+1+-+Origins/0_e60ikw3c/84523512
https://sharemylesson.com/partner/shape-of-life
https://seastudios.org/shape_of_life_video.php
Main Forms of Life
The series covers the evolution of the animal kingdom, focusing on eight major phyla that comprise 99% of animal species, from simple sponges to complex vertebrates. It explores key body plans including diploblastic (e.g., jellyfish with two germ layers) and triploblastic (e.g., humans with three layers: ectoderm, mesoderm, endoderm). Episodes trace innovations like symmetry (asymmetrical, radial, bilateral), cephalization, and specialized structures across phyla such as arthropods and chordates.fiveable+3
https://www.youtube.com/user/TheShapeofLife
https://www.shapeoflife.org/mission
https://www.shapeoflife.org/scientists
https://www.pbs.org/your-inner-fish/about/about-the-filmmakers/
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0802872/characters/nm0001075/
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0802872/
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wm-biology2/chapter/body-plans/
https://www.nationalacademies.org/read/11630/chapter/3
https://shapeoflife.org/videos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGVgIcTpZkk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8f4rXNYHm0g
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Coyote
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-wmopen-biology1/chapter/the-characteristics-of-life/
https://video.lanecc.edu/media/The+Shape+of+Life+Vol.+1+-+Origins/0_e60ikw3c/84523512
Shape of Life features eight major animal phyla that form the foundation of nearly all animal life, covered across its episodes from origins to complex forms. These phyla highlight evolutionary innovations in body plans, symmetry, and development.shapeoflife
The Eight Phyla
- Porifera (sponges): Simplest animals, asymmetrical, lack true tissues, filter feeders marking the start of multicellular animal life.youtube
- Cnidaria (jellyfish, corals, anemones): Radial symmetry, diploblastic with stinging cells (cnidocytes), polyp and medusa stages.
- Platyhelminthes (flatworms): First triploblastic bilateral animals, no coelom, simple nervous systems with cephalization.
- Nematoda (roundworms): Pseudocoelomates, unsegmented with tough cuticle, widespread in soil and as parasites.
- Annelida (segmented worms): True coelom, segmentation, setae for movement, advanced closed circulatory systems.
- Arthropoda (insects, crustaceans, spiders): Jointed exoskeleton, segmentation, open circulation, vast diversity dominating animal biomass.
- Echinodermata (sea stars, urchins): Deuterostomes, pentaradial adults from bilateral larvae, water vascular system for locomotion.fiveable
- Chordata (vertebrates and relatives): Notochord, pharyngeal slits, dorsal nerve cord, leading to fish, mammals including humans.nationalacademies
- https://www.facebook.com/groups/463203774568720/posts/977758359779923/
- https://www.biologyonline.com/dictionary/phylum
- https://study.com/learn/lesson/animal-phlya-types-characteristics.html
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phylum
- https://bio.libretexts.org/Courses/Monterey_Peninsula_College/Marine_Biology_Laboratory/07:_The_Common_Invertebrate_Phyla
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3y1dTsyfNQ4
- https://byjus.com/biology/animal-kingdom-animalia-subphylum/
- https://paleontology.fandom.com/wiki/Phylum_(biology)
- https://www.shapeoflife.org
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1xbq62LFI0
- https://fiveable.me/general-biology-ii/unit-18/animal-body-plans-development/study-guide/6OJ2retErmr8G8lG
- https://www.nationalacademies.org/read/11630/chapter/3
https://shapeoflife.org/videos
Youtube long video playlist. For shorter videos, look below.
One consistency of life is “jelly” – great video from MBARI, though title a bit misleading
Shorter segments of Shape of Life:
Sponges 15 min
Echinoderms 14 minutes
Chordates 15 min
Molluscs 15 min
Sponges 15 min (Vimeo)
