MinuteEarth

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We've worked as a team - remotely - for seven years, and we're sharing some of our favorite tips for making it work.

Thanks also to our Patreon patrons https://www.patreon.com/MinuteEarth and our YouTube members.
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Subscribe to MinuteEarth on YouTube: http://goo.gl/EpIDGd
Support us on Patreon: https://goo.gl/ZVgLQZ
And visit our website: https://www.minuteearth.com/

Say hello on Facebook: http://goo.gl/FpAvo6
And Twitter: http://goo.gl/Y1aWVC

And download our videos on itunes: https://goo.gl/sfwS6n
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Credits (and Twitter handles):
Video Writer, Director, Narrator: Kate Yoshida
Video Illustrator: Sarah Berman (@sarahjberman)
With Contributions From: Henry Reich, Alex Reich, Ever Salazar, Peter Reich, David Goldenberg, Julián Gómez, Arcadi Garcia Rius
Music by: Nathaniel Schroeder: http://www.soundcloud.com/drschroeder
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References:

We surveyed our team members and put together our favorite specific tools and tips for working from home:

Video Conference Tips:
-During meetings, mute yourself when you’re not speaking, especially if you’re not using headphones. The noise in the room you’re in or the feedback caused by your speakers audio can make the communication less effective.
-Learn how to mute other people in meetings (and don’t take offense when you do get muted).
-Figure out tech workarounds for when your wifi inevitably goes on the fritz (call people in, turn off video to reduce wifi strain, etc).

File Management Tips:
-Establish a naming convention with your team, so that all your shared files are consistent, searchable and organized. All of our projects have two-word codenames and numbers that make it easy to identify them regardless of the final title of the video. When making recordings or video files, we use incremental numbering (e.g. “Audio 1”, “Audio 2”, etc). NEVER use the word “final” or “last” for naming a file!
-If everybody is working with a file syncing app like Dropbox, make sure to set appropriate editing rights to your files. You want at least a shared folder that anyone on your team can edit and add stuff to, but some files need to be managed by fewer people to avoid unwanted deletions. For example, we have a folder in which everyone can add/modify/delete files, but only one person is in charge of deleting and cleaning up after everything important has been archived.
-If there’s a particular task that is repetitive and can be done by different people, make sure to write down the steps in detail so that nothing is missed or forgotten.

Tools For Giving Feedback
-Screenshots: In OSX, use command-shift-4 to take a screenshot. On Windows 10, you can use the Windows Ink Workspace right in the task bar, which lets you crop and annotate your screenshot.
-CloudApp(www.getcloudapp.com): Captures and shares screenshots (and more) via shareable links
-Jing (www.techsmith.com/jing-tool.html): Lets you create screenshots and auto-generates a shareable link for each one.
-Epic Pen (epic-pen.com): Great free tool for PCs for drawing on your screen (esp when sharing that screen with someone else)

Other Work From Home Tips:
-Add things like “time to eat lunch” on your calendar if you need it, or you may end up eating lunch at 3pm.
-Keep track of your time! If you don’t keep track of the amount of time you spend working, you might overwork yourself (bad) and still feel like you’re not doing enough (worse). Toggl (www.toggl.com) is a great tool for that.
-Consider coworking with a group of (nonwork) friends over Skype or Discord. It can help you get into “work mode” and make you feel a little less lonely while working.

Direct download: How_to_Work_From_Home_as_a_Team.mp4
Category:general -- posted at: 6:50pm EDT

To start using Tab for a Cause, go to: http://tabforacause.org/minuteearth2

We’ve changed - and standardized - the way diseases get named because the old way was often stigmatizing and confusing.

Thanks also to our Patreon patrons https://www.patreon.com/MinuteEarth and our YouTube members.
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To learn more, start your googling with these keywords:
Coronaviruses (CoV): a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as COVID-19.
Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): an infectious disease caused by a new strain of coronavirus that was discovered in 2019 and named a pandemic in 2020.
2009 H1N1 Flu: a pandemic disease that emerged in 2009 caused by the H1N1)pdm09 virus, which was different from any other influenza strain circulating at the time.
World Health Organization (WHO): an organization that directs and coordinates international health within the United Nations system.
1918 Flu: often referred to as the “Spanish flu,” the 1918 influenza pandemic was the most severe pandemic in recent history and caused by an H1N1 virus. There are competing theories for its place of origin, but public health experts agree it did not actually originate in Spain.
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS): a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). It was first named “gay-related immunodeficiency disease (GRID),” despite the fact anyone, regardless of sexuality, is susceptible.
Stigma: a mark of disgrace associated with a particular circumstance, quality, or person.
Pandemic: the worldwide spread of a new disease.
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If you liked this week’s video, you might also like:
Learn more about social stigma associated with COVID-19: https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/covid19-stigma-guide.pdf
_________________________________________
Subscribe to MinuteEarth on YouTube: http://goo.gl/EpIDGd
Support us on Patreon: https://goo.gl/ZVgLQZ
And visit our website: https://www.minuteearth.com/

Say hello on Facebook: http://goo.gl/FpAvo6
And Twitter: http://goo.gl/Y1aWVC

And download our videos on itunes: https://goo.gl/sfwS6n
___________________________________________
Credits (and Twitter handles):
Video Writer and Narrator: Julián Gustavo Gómez (@ittakesii)
Script Editor: Kate Yoshida and David Goldenberg
Video Illustrator and Director: Ever Salazar (@eversalazar)
With Contributions From: Henry Reich, Alex Reich, Peter Reich, Sarah Berman, Arcadi Garcia Rius
Music by: Nathaniel Schroeder: http://www.soundcloud.com/drschroeder


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References:

Ballantyne, C. "Will Egypt’s plans to kill pigs protect it from swine—sorry, H1N1 flu." Sci Am News Blog https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/news-blog/will-egypts-plans-to-kill-pigs-prot-2009-05-01/ (2009).

World Health Organization. "World now at the start of 2009 influenza pandemic." http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/statements/2009/h1n1_pandemic_phase6_20090611/en/index.html (2009).

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "The 2009 H1N1 pandemic: summary highlights, April 2009-April 2010." Official Online Article Published by the Centers for Disease Control 4 https://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/cdcresponse.htm (2010).

Selyukh, A. "Pork industry still reeling from swine flu.” ABC News https://abcnews.go.com/Business/pork-industry-reeling-swine-flu/story?id=8840004 (2009).

World Health Organization. "Naming the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and the virus that causes it" https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/technical-guidance/naming-the-coronavirus-disease-(covid-2019)-and-the-virus-that-causes-it (2020).

World Health Organization. "World Health Organization Best Practices for the Naming of New Human Infectious Diseases" https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/163636/WHO_HSE_FOS_15.1_eng.pdf?sequence=1 (2015).

Direct download: How_To_Name_A_Disease_Like_COVID-19.mp4
Category:general -- posted at: 11:34am EDT

Thanks to OIST for sponsoring this video. To learn more, visit https://admissions.oist.jp/

Wood is abundant and full of energy, but outside of some insects, almost no animals eat it because the stuff it's made of is hard to break down.

Thanks also to our Patreon patrons https://www.patreon.com/MinuteEarth and our YouTube members.
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To learn more, start your googling with these keywords:
Xylophagy: the eating of wood
Lignin: a class of complex organic polymers that form key structural materials in the support tissues of vascular plants and help make wood rigid.
Cellulose: a polysaccharide consisting of chains of glucose monomers, which is the main constituent of plant cell walls.
Lignin oxidation: a depolymerization method to break bonds in lignin molecules such as ether or carbon–carbon bonds by applying an oxidant such as oxygen.
Depolymerization: the process of breaking down a polymer, such as lignin, into simpler monomers
Trichonympha agilis: a specialized protist that lives in the hindguts of many termite species that breaks down the cellulose in the wood they eat and may contribute to the lignin oxidation process.
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If you liked this week’s video, you might also like:
Learn about the fungi that first unlocked the secrets of breaking down lignin: https://www.energy.gov/science/articles/behind-scenes-how-fungi-make-nutrients-available-world
_________________________________________
Subscribe to MinuteEarth on YouTube: http://goo.gl/EpIDGd
Support us on Patreon: https://goo.gl/ZVgLQZ
And visit our website: https://www.minuteearth.com/

Say hello on Facebook: http://goo.gl/FpAvo6
And Twitter: http://goo.gl/Y1aWVC

And download our videos on itunes: https://goo.gl/sfwS6n
___________________________________________
Credits (and Twitter handles):
Writer, Director, and Narrator: Julián Gustavo Gómez (@ittakesii)
Video Illustrator: Ever Salazar (@eversalazar)
With Contributions From: Henry Reich, Alex Reich, Kate Yoshida, Peter Reich, David Goldenberg, Sarah Berman, Arcadi Garcia Rius
Music by: Nathaniel Schroeder: http://www.soundcloud.com/drschroeder
___________________________________________

References:

Bourguignon, Thomas, et al. "Rampant host switching shaped the termite gut microbiome." Current biology 28.4 (2018): 649-654.

Martin, Michael M. "Cellulose digestion in insects." Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part A: Physiology 75.3 (1983): 313-324.Mathews, Stephanie L., et al. "Public questions spur the discovery of new bacterial species associated with lignin bioconversion of industrial waste." Royal Society open science 6.3 (2019): 180748.

Chaney, William Reynolds. Why Do Animals Eat the Bark and Wood of Trees and Shrubs?. Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service, 2003.

de Gonzalo, Gonzalo, et al. "Bacterial enzymes involved in lignin degradation." Journal of Biotechnology 236 (2016): 110-119.

Hosokawa, Takahiro, et al. "Strict host-symbiont cospeciation and reductive genome evolution in insect gut bacteria." PLoS biology 4.10 (2006).

Novaes, Evandro, et al. "Lignin and biomass: a negative correlation for wood formation and lignin content in trees." Plant Physiology 154.2 (2010): 555-561.

Vega, Fernando E., and Richard W. Hofstetter, eds. Bark beetles: biology and ecology of native and invasive species. Academic Press, 2014.

McNab, Brian Keith. The physiological ecology of vertebrates: a view from energetics. Cornell University Press, 2002.

Bourguignon, Thomas, et al. "The evolutionary history of termites as inferred from 66 mitochondrial genomes." Molecular Biology and Evolution 32.2 (2014): 406-421.

Morgenstern, I., Klopman, S., & Hibbett, D. S. (2008). Molecular Evolution and Diversity of Lignin Degrading Heme Peroxidases in the Agaricomycetes. Journal of Molecular Evolution, 66(3), 243–257.

Suman, S. K., Dhawaria, M., Tripathi, D., Raturi, V., Adhikari, D. K., & Kanaujia, P. K. (2016). Investigation of lignin biodegradation by Trabulsiella sp. isolated from termite gut. International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation, 112, 12–17.

Janusz, G., Pawlik, A., Sulej, J., Świderska-Burek, U., Jarosz-Wilkołazka, A., & Paszczyński, A. (2017). Lignin degradation: microorganisms, enzymes involved, genomes analysis and evolution. FEMS Microbiology Reviews, 41(6), 941–962.

Ayuso-Fernández, Iván, Francisco J. Ruiz-Dueñas, and Angel T. Martínez. "Evolutionary convergence in lignin-degrading enzymes." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 115.25 (2018): 6428-6433.

Ruiz-Dueñas, F. J., & Martínez, Á. T. (2009). Microbial degradation of lignin: how a bulky recalcitrant polymer is efficiently recycled in nature and how we can take advantage of this. Microbial Biotechnology, 2(2), 164–177.

Hibbing, Michael E., et al. "Bacterial competition: surviving and thriving in the microbial jungle." Nature Reviews Microbiology 8.1 (2010): 15-25.

Direct download: Why_Dont_More_Animals_Eat_Wood.mp4
Category:general -- posted at: 11:29am EDT

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