How we can detect pretty much anything - Hélène Morlon and Anna Papadopoulou

Explore how scientists use environmental DNA (eDNA) in a technique called DNA metabarcoding to find and track species.
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Scientists have been staking out a forest in Montana for an animal that’s notoriously tricky to find. Camera traps haven’t offered definitive evidence, and experts can’t identify its tracks with certainty. But within the past decades, researchers have developed methods that can detect even the most elusive species. So how does it work? Hélène Morlon & Anna Papadopoulou dig into DNA metabarcoding.
Lesson by Hélène Morlon and Anna Papadopoulou, directed by Blok Magnaye.
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View full lesson: ed.ted.com/lessons/how-we-can...
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Animator's website: www.blokmagnaye.com
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Thank you so much to our patrons for your support! Without you this video would not be possible! David D, Zuko Gameplays, Jonathan Bates JBZ, Aria Smith, Mac Hyney, Keith Ellison, robin valero walters, Camehira, Lynne Truesdale, Gatsby Dkdc, Matthew Neal, Jayson Gasper Ayson, Jayson Murray, Maxwell Ramsby, Dmitry Yuryev, Kitick, Denis Chon, Julian Oberhofer, Monte Carroll, Eddy, Jay M, Constantino Victor Delgado, Andrea Galvagni, Andrew Tweddle, Laurel-Ann Rice, Fernando A. Endo, Helen Lee, pam morgan, sarim haq, Juan Pablo Rodriguez Morales, ANNE FINE, Gerardo Castro, Siddharth Toshniwal, Michel-Ange Hortegat, Enes Kirimi, Amaury BISIAUX, Aravind C V, ND, Samyogita Hardikar, Vandana Gunwani, LvL042, Abdulmohsin Almadi, Andrew Brodski, AJ Lyon, John van den Berg, Anandha Krishnan, Geoffrey Bultitude, Mi Mi, Thomas Rothert and Christopher McVay.

[@kethzabraha6863]

"DNA neither cares nor knows. DNA just is. And we dance to its music" - The most random quote I've seen so far still these animations are pure gold...

[@grimaffiliations3671]

He’s talking about DNA which is the subject of the video. Not really random is it?

[@azlan194]

@@grimaffiliations3671 I think they meant the quote on itself is kinda random, like what does it mean "we dance to its music"?

[@abhishekchede242]

because you didn't understand it

[@verycoolandimpressivename9802]

I mean that dna sounds like it’s vibin

[@hib1s]

Anya!

[@banummmcfarmerboi3466]

"The world is covered in DNA." *looks around me suspiciously* That's what I was afraid of.

[@nobodyknows3180]

I just flushed some eDNA a minute ago. It should show up at your kitchen faucet in a day or two. 🤣 🤣 🤣

[@nobodyknows3180]

@@YO-hm1no

[@sudhanvakashyap297]

@@YO-hm1no tell him to save Afghanistan people.

[@datcatcatcat]

"The world is covered in DNA" *goes to wash my hands again*

[@anatine_banana_69]

You can run But you can't escape The DNA in the water sticks to your hands as well

[@MinhNguyen-rc8ws]

But every cell in your body have DNAs in it

[@janinepatasaha4435]

run and run but theres a tank following you

[@kawayananazioly]

👀

[@YO-hm1no]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/lauTm2uOmqt0jdk Jesus won’t save you. Allah will

[@shreeyamittal1771]

Love how you explained such a complex topic! As always, dug the animations too!

[@reymundalagos9889]

Thank you for featuring the newly discovered Binburrum zapdos. ❤️

[@neddardle461]

also super cool that there is binburrum moltres and articuno as well!

[@reymundalagos9889]

@@neddardle461 yes! And i think they featured them too at 2:59 lower left, with zapdos at upper right

[@user-hb6wc2js5w]

@@neddardle461 only Lugia left to be discovered :D

[@wingsofliberty9694]

What a beautiful episode . Beautiful animation , sounds and knowledge .

[@intellizebrainfolio9870]

The advancement in science is always fascinating. Thanks for sharing🙂

[@Bless-the-Name]

Ted: We can (now) track anything. Me: Great ... can you find my keys?

[@ronaldfigueroa932]

It’s amazing how you guys dive into this complex informations, but DNA is so huge to include and understand for just one video but it was astonishing

[@thanurirajapakshe3455]

Metabarcoding is vey important to find and track species, what a clear explaination.

[@randallkelley3599]

I thought this was proof for YETI. Dang...

[@LBPskydra94]

This is really cool and intriguing. Very good video.

[@Amr-H]

We appreciate that this channel always brings such interesting facts to us

[@lifeinuniverse2382]

Its so interesting.. Loving the animation. 💕

[@hellogoodbyeandallinbetween]

So interesting, and I love this animation style

[@Brian-np6tx]

This was so cool! Thanks for sharing this

[@sudhanvakashyap297]

@@gvmathematics6316 @spampolice

[@shrinivaspatil299]

Beautiful Animation!

[@xaviermantha63]

Thanks for the video.

[@UtaShirokage]

Beautiful video

[@abdullahak2204]

This is so interesting ! 😊

[@altinmares8363]

Ted Ed please post more videos about -Aristotle teaching Alexander the Great -Tengrism -Presocratic philosophers -Islamic Golden Age (discoveries,achievements) -Plato wisdom and teachings

[@dynamosaurusimperious2718]

Watching TED-Ed make everyday a good day

[@YouAndImpact]

Great video 👍

[@hsaqib8995]

Thank you for sharing :)

[@virendrasahani6871]

This is some real science. Thank you Ted-Ed. Very informative and thought provoking.

[@chandanprakash7789]

Very useful information

[@j_supha8335]

"The world is covered is DNA, on the ground, the bottom of the ocean" Me: Stares at Hotel curtain

[@DoctorX17]

That's enough DNA to spawn an army right there!

[@danielcastillo591]

@Matthew Curry Oh there's _loads_ of stuff in there beyond dust

[@madhavhans2289]

thank you for provide soo good/important videos and educational video for us and with such good animations. Really Thank You.

[@alparslankorkmaz2964]

Nice video.

[@rjn1749]

Imagine, Vsauce, Kurz, Ted, Lemmino, Simple history as your professors.

[@mroffender8886]

Oversimplified

[@science3879]

Veritasium too

[@oopsy444]

And Scishow

[@mujtabahussain1723]

Also it is ok to be smart

[@0GalaxyCat0]

Don't forget Mark Rober!

[@Thoran666]

Neat technology. A faster way to get an idea of what lives where should provide the public and politicians with a great tool to save or improve bio diversity everywhere. Whether we do anything with that information is a completely different question.

[@arrownoir]

Improve? Now you’re high on fantasy.

[@martinmarkov9707]

Politicians improving anything other than their fking wealth is fantasy -_-

[@chlodnia]

OMG that is brilliant

[@Fuzzycap]

This was soooo informative!!!

[@kirbymarchbarcena]

I'm really amazed how far our technology, research and archiving have improved in just a few decades. However, I don't think this will save the environment as long as humans continue destroying it.

[@martinmarkov9707]

Humans, yeah. And corporations teaching consumer habits.

[@romanski5811]

Do you oppose unnecessary violence toward animals or do you buy meat?

[@pradeepangiras3807]

I think we can fill gap between various species and life forms to have a comprehensive view of origin of life and various species of life present at during different ages through eDNA.

[@nayan.9703]

This voice is soo beautiful it calms my heart and calmly asks me to sleep😴

[@martinmarkov9707]

No, it asks for your shed skin so it can clasify what kind of snack you are -_-

[@pratapbhanu1142]

Marvelous

[@iffus_akiyoshi]

This sounds so cool and useful! But somehow a bit scary as well. I guess it still can't be used to detect individuals within a species yet.

[@ADF5VO]

This method is already used by police to find suspects using DNA. However it only works if we already know the genetic sequence of a person. If your DNA (or your family’s) isn’t in a database, they don’t know wether it belongs to you.

[@isislikesyou8605]

Just watching to this day from good riddles to good biology

[@SovietBear.]

These videos are one of the best on the platform keep it up!

[@leocremonezi]

The best part of the video is the linx cub appearing in the end 👏👏😂

[@shannsimms9072]

So cool

[@litfuse293plus3]

fascinating! if this stuff can tell us what mammoths did before the ice age, couldn't it also provide a massive insight to the ecosystem and migration patterns of dinosaurs long ago? we could absolutely get a much bigger picture of the mesozoic era or what the first plants on earth were like and what kind of things they consumed or how the propogated. i bet it'd yield a lot of insight in the field of science and paleontology.

[@lasaylem2622]

While it does expand our insight into the past, this method does still require an undamaged DNA sequence. It's still going to be limited to permafrost samples and the like. Migration patterns of long-dead species will remain inscrutable in any area other than the coldest places on the planet.

[@litfuse293plus3]

@@lasaylem2622 damn, that’s a shame

[@ojaspednekar]

Me: I just want to detect the presence of my phone in my pocket Ted-ED:

[@user-rk4fk9mz8v]

Debería tener al español en la lista de idiomas, sería genial.

[@gamesandspace]

You know that the day is good when ted ed posts

[@benYaakov]

Can we just appreciate the beauty and simplicity animations !

[@thewilltheway]

Haha, one of the projects I’m working on is about using machine learning to preform RNA metabarcodinng.

[@billyfox6368]

I was expecting that opening to be a metaphor for the search for a type of DNA.

[@anonymousdude2550]

Some days ago Siberian Lynx was in news because it was declared extinct in early 21st century

[@sva3187]

Cool

[@holybasilisk2248]

TBH, I thought this video would teach me to 'detect' the ryt answer from options given in any mcq test😅 But this was interesting too!

[@colemirek]

We can finally find reliable traces of bigfoot lol

[@Sr.Estroncio38]

This is awesome, and I didn't know this was possible

[@Nysarak]

Well, could you start for "dismistifying" Sasquatch and Loke Ness Monster, please?? Seems we already have the technology!

[@rochinha10]

Let's not ruin the part of the income of those areas :)

[@martinmarkov9707]

@@rochinha10 a valid point. Let's do it anyways.

[@entity-bl5og]

Anna papadopoulou is a Greek name let's go!

[@advitarawat7357]

These 5 min videos teach me more than school has taught me in the last 10 years😂

[@badaln8544]

Yeah, same here!!!💯

[@RAMBO14001]

This is indeed of utter usefulness. Technology has come a long way!

[@emilykaminsky5110]

i would like to know who made the soundtrack for this video?

[@adityachk2002]

Wow

[@joseeddie1422]

Been playing all these ted ed videos just to steal the beginning quote!😂

[@FooMaster15]

The background music is great. Is it available to listen anywhere?

[@shinliu9700]

In tropical or subtropical areas, will different species’ DNA degrade at different speed causing eDNA technology bias? Or DNA in the same area degrade at almost same speed regardless of what species(the sequence) it was?

[@martinmarkov9707]

Bias. Different cells degrade at different speeds. Proteins holding DNA packed degrade at different speeds, too.

[@Munkingly]

This is going to blow forensic science wide open

[@martinmarkov9707]

That's what she said.

[@fortune_roses]

"We are *stardust* Billion year old carbon. We are *golden* Caught in the devil’s bargain. And we’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden." (Joni Mitchell)

[@YO-hm1no]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/lauTm2uOmqt0jdk Jesus won’t save you. Allah will

[@martinmarkov9707]

@@YO-hm1no not so fast. He may be some other religion. Like hebrew jewish 0-0 or just forgotten.

[@mossy.mp4580]

eDNA sounds like an all new electric version of DNA compared to our old petrol and diesel DNA of the past

[@abraxasjinx5207]

This music is cool.

[@10secondlaughs96]

2:51 Zapdos, wait what?!

[@voodoodoll4960]

Can it us to track human i mean specific people ? Do the dna you let behind is considered as some kind of personal data ?

[@martinmarkov9707]

Yes it can. Now here's the part you get pissy scared. They sample you at birth :0

[@midlanismail416]

Fun fact: 0:28 Binburrum zapdos is named after the pokemon

[@DoctorX17]

Y'all, I think Google stole this animation style for their Google Fi ads

[@TheDreamLeaf]

2:51 Binburrum *zapdos* Me: Gotta catch 'em all!

[@grimaffiliations3671]

Imagine they find Bigfoot dna one day

[@noahway13]

Do you think they will come out with a automated sniffer soon? It can smell the lynx ( and everything else ) by just being exposed to the air.

[@Albert-ym9hx]

No

[@martinmarkov9707]

They come out with sexualities more often than this..

[@Albert-ym9hx]

@@martinmarkov9707 You make it then

[@victorreis8110]

isnt that background music from some online pc game?

[@deathsirwow]

The animator likes Pokemon, the Genus Binburrum beetles are named after the legendary birds.

[@CalebCalixFernandez]

Actually, there are three beetles in that Genus named B. Articuno, B. Zapdos, and B. Moltres. They were discovered last year, 2020.

[@angelrobles7201]

@@CalebCalixFernandez Sure, but the animator could've picked any other newly discovered species. Instead, they showed that Pokémon fans can be found everywhere, be it in parks catching every Skwovet and Wooloo in sight, or discovering new species and naming them as Pokémon.

[@8sourceenergy895]

🤔In time...I have no doubt this will be used...in some way/some how...to track humans...especially humans of interest(to the government...).

[@martinmarkov9707]

No 6_it sherlock. There are genes responsible for certain diseases to help track down unwanted individuals ;-;

[@regular-joe]

The music overpowered the voice way too much, had to mute the video and use CC. Thanks for the CC.

[@chilly6966]

You guys should do an episode about melatonin.

[@hemlock42069]

I really thought this video is an actual tutorial on how to improve your senses. I've been deceived by my own thoughts.

[@AbstraktKardman]

Lmao, u high?

[@martinmarkov9707]

No, he's Satan.

[@user-qn8ot5ij9x]

OMG AS A CHRISTIAN I IMPLORE YOU TO GET RID OF YOUR USERNAME PLESSE

[@giannispapadopoulos8348]

Can they use eDNA for identifying the tracks of people that were lost?

[@easyenglishwithdaisy]

Welcome to check your Level and improve your English listening and understanding skills

[@hamentaschen]

"Brawndo...It's got what plants crave."

[@THIZZZN]

With electrolytes

[@Azozygc]

2:45, who's that pokèmon

[@suryanshrana1413]

It's butterfree

[@kiraeevee4356]

2:51 its zapdos

[@auro1986]

see that this isn't used to detect canada lynx for hunting

[@christophersnedeker2065]

Would probably not be worth it.

[@Stuffthatsfunny1]

How do they separate the dna from the different animals

[@martinmarkov9707]

Soup.. threading.. completing strands.. new species.. / from olden ones.. answer.

[@taylorlockhart57]

EDNA It’s so cool it’s so fascinating

[@minecraftmatthew1393]

Y’all are telling me that Zapdos, the Thunder Bird thing, is also a cricket-looking thing?

[@TunaBear64]

There is even a dinosaur with the name Aerodactylus

[@angelrobles7201]

A beetle, more precisely. Also Articuno and Moltres are, by the way, beetles (Binburrum articuno, Binburrum zapdos and Binburrum moltres).

[@joaobello7179]

It's so amazing that we can undo some of the wrongs we, humans, did with this tecnique, i hope we can fix it rapidly

[@WorkingtobeaDoctor]

Me being early for the first time (sorta): *Finally,I can be at peace*

[@martinmarkov9707]

Finally, i can go to the flame war as a general :D

[@powersurge1003]

could we do this on planets

[@LilyWangLoifavl]

I thought they were about to talk about finding the yeti by the intro lol

[@martinmarkov9707]

No

[@noahway13]

This is going to be the next crime fighting technique. They can tell if you walked in the room even if you left no blood, or spit, or hair, or whatever. I better go ahead and set my plan in motion while I still can. They might catch me on cold case files.

[@Brightifyisthebest]

"The Human Brain Is Super Complex And Advanced'' - The Human Brain

[@MrOmarabdulhadi]

fun fact, that beetle species named Zapdos was accompanied by two other new species named Moltres and Articuno. I'm so glad I googled that hahaha

[@trevorgustavgreen8148]

The camera flashes near the beginning gave me a headache, not cool.

[@vigneshgireeshkumar9033]

Ultimate tracking device INDIAN NEIGHBOURS Also works as cctv

[@classicambo9781]

I laughed too hard at this.

[@antiquesrestoration3874]

How long until this technology can be used in crime scene/evidence processing?

[@martinmarkov9707]

Now.

[@ThatGuyNyan]

Yeah this is one of those videos that I have to watch a couple of times so I really understand it

[@gcm4312]

Gattaca