Exploding Weed Seeds (28,546 fps Slow Motion)- Smarter Every Day 257

Seeds flying off, made me think of a rotary seed spreader I used to own 🤣Evolution / selection has resulted in some truly amazing designs. What an amazing planet we have the privileged to live on.

Simon Walding

This was absolutely fascinating, thanks so much for being curious and sharing your curiosity with us. Also, great work on the Google search critical thinking piece, if there were more critical thinkers on the Internet it would be a better place.

Paul Edhlund

We have a plant like that up here in the Northwest, it's called bittercress. It is the first thing to bloom in the spring in our yard, and never fails when I am weeding a month or so later to get a seed in my eye, haha! Though it doesn't feel that funny when it happens! I am from Texas and I remember bluebonnets have a similar mechanism for their seeds, it was fun to trigger them!

That was super kool, thank you! 🙂 Nature never ceases to suprise me when you look closer. Truly remarkable!

This was awesome. The moment you were able to get in really close and see the dispersal for the first time left me with my jaw open. Also I love the way you approached this video. I felt like I was exploring with you. It really fueled my curiosity.

Great video of the most annoying weed you can get in your yard! I’ve been trying to get rid of it for the past two years! LOL!! Welcome to the club. But really this was a great video about looking into HOW something works, not just WHAT it does. I am proud to continue supporting such great content!

SqrlLrd

There was a computer game that did this (X-Beyond the Frontier) where the manual pretty much "the fun of this game is figuring it all out yourself, so only read the rest of the manual if you don't want the full experience" and it was a much better game when you were the one figuring it out.

Hey, Destin! Wonderful video. Seed dispersal is a fascinating topic. Plants have evolved hundreds of unique methods for getting their seeds out into the world. I would love to see you take a deeper dive here.

He has a video on that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aO7yzmc3ykw

Mark

How do you make the sound for the slow mo shots? Do you use pre-made ones, or do you actually make them yourself?

When people ask me what my goal is in life I'm just going to respond "Reverse Banana Peel Slap Bracelet" from now on!

Would be cool to see a slow motion of Jewel weed pod exploding. Great video!

Your boundless curiosity continues to impress and amaze! Thanks for a fascinating project and also the information on Google. Keep curious!

I use to walk around the grass looking for these to make them explode growing up. So much fun

william bumgardner

My email said that there was a Patron-only video, but the video on the page is the same one that's on the YouTube channel. Can someone please help me find the Patron-only video? (Or maybe help me understand something that I've misunderstood?) Thanks! :)

Learning about this along with you was great, but I also laughed out loud at the reveal that this was Arabidopsis thaliana. That is -the- model organism for plants, the equivalent of fruit flies or lab mice; there’s thousands of science papers on it. I agree that it’s really cool to figure it out without just looking it up, loved the video!

Destin, your videos are such a joy. Your enthusiasm is just sooooooo palpable. You have literally brought tears to my eyes more than once with your wonder and happiness. Thank you!

Yes THAT Tonya

"Reverse Banana Peel Slap Bracelet". I knew exactly what you meant the second you said it, no further explanation required. ALSO, that would be an excellent T-shirt idea. I would buy that. lol

Daniel Ryan

Thank you so much for what you do, Destin! I'm jealous of all the fun you get to have and simultaneously thankful that you're able to share it.

Mike Swanson

"Actively avoiding information about a subject in order to try to figure it out on my own was VERY refreshing. " Yeah, I remember one video where the object of your research was your poor long suffering wife who was trying to get some sleep in maternity ward. She is an angel! :o)

Dragi Raos

I love your enthusiasm. Until you came into the focus of my adult sons, they thought I was just a crazy person when I get excited by all kinds of different things. Thanks to your explorations I am seeing much more excitement, interest and input from them when I am explaining my latest discovery. I also notice a great increase in their own discoveries. Thank you for your curiosity!

If a large animal is working past it may break the ground surface and leave exposed soil, perfect for a seed. Or it might stick to the fur or hide for a while and fall off in another area.

Also - usually I skip ads. But something made me watch your Google ad, and I'm glad I did. I feel quite strongly that we all need all the help we can get to critically assess the information we seek out and the information we are fed, so that we can make informed decisions about how we conduct ourselves and about how we vote!

I wonder what the advantage of getting triggered by a disturbance is vs just releasing them when ripe… Maybe so the seeds can hang on to animals for even further distribution? Are the seeds sticky? Also I realised that I get irrationally mad a someone calling a non-grass a grass. XD

Lars Sturm

So what is the mechanism of adhesion - is it stickiness or is it velcroness? Or something else? And why do the plants wait for an outside influence before releasing their seed? Is it so the seeds stick to a passing animal, for greater dispersion? Thanks, Destin!

Destin, this video, like a lot of your earlier ones, is really fun to watch. I like it because of the discovery of beauty and complexity and the awe and joy it brings to you. Thanks for sharing these moments of discovery with us. Discovery and exploration are fun. It's what got me hooked so many years ago.

So cool. I loved it.

Super fun! Hey... do you think the Navy would be up for a video about the railgun?

Jordan Tomkinson

Completely agree!

Smarter Every Day

It's incredible!

Smarter Every Day

Watched it before you posted this. It's amazing!

Eddy Gurge

Just watched. If anyone can make grass growing exciting, I knew it would be Destin and his Phantom.

V.E. Griffith