The Microscopic Insect Smaller Than a Single Cell

Turns out fairies DO exist-on a microscopic level. Well, sort of...meet the fairyfly: the smallest insect on Earth! Learn all about this tiny creature in a new episode of SciShow, hosted by Hank Green!
SciShow has a spinoff podcast! It's called SciShow Tangents. Check it out at www.scishowtang...
----------
Support SciShow by becoming a patron on Patreon: / scishow
----------
Huge thanks go to the following Patreon supporters for helping us keep SciShow free for everyone forever:
Silas Emrys, Charles Copley, Drew Hart, Jeffrey Mckishen, James Knight, Christoph Schwanke, Jacob, Matt Curls, Christopher R Boucher, Eric Jensen, Lehel Kovacs, Adam Brainard, Greg, GrowingViolet, Ash, Laura Sanborn, Sam Lutfi, Piya Shedden, KatieMarie Magnone, Scott Satovsky Jr, charles george, Alex Hackman, Chris Peters, Kevin Bealer
----------
Looking for SciShow elsewhere on the internet?
Facebook: / scishow
Twitter: / scishow
Tumblr: / scishow
Instagram: / thescishow
----------
Sources:
doi.org/10.389...
pubmed.ncbi.nl...
pubmed.ncbi.nl...
www.ncbi.nlm.n...
www.nhm.ac.uk/...
doi.org/10.389...
eol.org/pages/715
Image Sources:
wellcomecollec...
commons.wikime...
www.eurekalert...
commons.wikime...
commons.wikime...
commons.wikime...
commons.wikime...
commons.wikime...
commons.wikime...
zookeys.pensof...
commons.wikime...
gzqy6stetidccb...
commons.wikime...
www.ars.usda.g...
www.istockphot...
www.istockphot...
www.istockphot...

[@TheGreatCalsby]

"Sir, we've thrown out every possible body part to be as small as possible. We can't throw out anymo-" "Ditch the nuclei." "But sir, I-" "DITCH. THE. NUCLEI."

[@SciShow]

+++

[@sortofsmarter]

The ultimate captain Kirk move..lol

[@houghwhite411]

Who needs protein synthesis anyways

[@ecks1337]

Hahahaha 🤣😂

[@zcarp8642]

@@houghwhite411 SCREW THAT! WE DONT NEED THAT IF WE ALREADY BROKE THE LIMITS!

[@Kitty_Cosmic]

I just imagine the people who discovered these was looking at plant / animal cells and one of these just came flying past.

[@lespyguy]

“Is that a insect next to the blood cell”

[@ashurad_fox5991]

"What do you mean there's an inse- Oh my- GET THE MICROSCOPE'S CAMERA READY!!!"

[@randomcitizen6610]

@@lespyguy Scientist: Ooh, What's this? Wait! Is that... An Insect? Right next to a blood cell? What is it doing in there??! FairyFly: Uh, Uh... Well, You know... *GEORGE!! THEY'RE ON TO US!!!*

[@Abdega]

@@randomcitizen6610 A paramecium then comes in with a saddle and they ride off into the sunset 🌅

[@cristianestrada5381]

More like "rowing" by lol

[@fjolliff6308]

The April Fools joke is that we were waiting for it the whole time. April Fools! There is no joke.

[@Zeed_316]

Maybe the real April Fools joke was the friends we made along the way.

[@lurking_silhouette5802]

Americans...

[@tauceti8060]

But isn't that in itself a joke?

[@tay012]

I can’t stand April Fools, it makes me doubt everything all day.

[@manguy01]

What, this wasn't a joke? Now I feel foolish for feeling foolish at having believed it until the end...

[@abhisheksoni2980]

Genie: you got one wish. Human: I .. want a million ..*mosquito bites human* Human: you know what? Make annoying little insects for insects. Genie: say no more

[@AbsoluteHuman]

That's smart!

[@davidbarnett342]

I got a good chuckle out of this clever joke.

[@antarctica1341]

revenge of humans

[@jedinxf7]

AHAHAHHA

[@vibaj16]

Genie: you got one wish. Human: I .. want a million ..*mosquito bites human* Genie: ok, have a million mosquito bites

[@BurnedSoap]

"Wasps" Well, at least their weird thing is being super tiny and not pa- "Parasitoid" Aaand there it is.

[@joshuahunt3032]

On the bright side, they seem to at least primarily (if not exclusively) target other insects, and only the eusocial ones could possibly be intelligent enough to care.

[@StarryxNight5]

Why are wasps just the absolute worst insects ever?

[@shadowthehedgehog3113]

@@joshuahunt3032 I mean-they don't need to be intelligent to care that they're getting Alien'd.

[@legrandliseurtri7495]

@@joshuahunt3032 I'm not sure eusocial insects are actually more intelligent. The interactions between individuals are extremely simple, and in return they don't have to, say, stalk their preys.

[@feralbluee]

that’s funny - really :} 😛

[@Rubrickety]

2022: Scientists discover a species of fairyfly smaller than its _own_ cells; universe collapses.

[@pocket3216]

They must have *L O N G* antenna

[@Menefreghista]

WHYYY??????

[@icecream6256]

Do they have any legs ?

[@pocket3216]

@@icecream6256 how would they be able to move

[@icecream6256]

@@pocket3216 if they're small, a lot of things can make them move anyway It's not like you can change the flow of air if you're that small

[@Xenunnaki]

The egg laying thing actually reminds me of Changelings, in which fairies steal infants and replace them with sick or dying fairies. This serves as a historical explanation for unexpected deaths of children, seems today it explains the unexpected deaths of insect eggs

[@EllpaFox47]

It also might have been used to explain autism before it was a diagnosable condition

[@EyeSeeThruYou]

​@@EllpaFox47any medical condition, actually.

[@zealousdoggo]

​​@@EllpaFox47ngl secretly Being a changeling sounds a lot cooler than "somethingy something disorder". As long as I'm not burned at the stake for it, that wouldn't be as cool

[@EllpaFox47]

@@zealousdoggo ye I much prefer saying “im a kitsune” or “i have a fox soul” over “I have ADHD”

[@jake-rg3fd]

​@@zealousdoggowell, it did mean you were socially outcast (and for your whole life everyone would believe you couldn't go to heaven, including you)

[@blackpurple9163]

The smaller you go, the more Alien everything feels

[@thatman8562]

There is a narrow band of size where everything feels normal. Go too small, things get weird. Go too big, things get weird. That narrow band of size itself is only normal by comparison.

[@depurasangre86]

Yea man....you into quantum physics? How a photon of light can be in two states at the same time? (Super positioning). Also they seem to be on both states at the same time.....until they are measured. Which then collapses the possibility to only one of the two states. Weird....the act of observing seems to give reality concreteness. Without something to measure....everything is in a sort of fuzzy state. Being everything and nothing at the same time. Truly bizarre stuff. And that is only one phenomenon of quantum physics. There is also quantum entanglement and quantum tunnelling.

[@blackpurple9163]

@@thatman8562 that narrow line is what we can see and comprehend normally, anything below and above that is entirely new, different, beyond our understanding of the nature itself

[@thatman8562]

@@blackpurple9163; We can understand things beyond the Newtonian band. These things work by rules, even if those rules are strange. It takes a lot of math, but it can be understood.

[@samhg3658]

Dwarf people be like

[@matheussanthiago9685]

the titles of sci-show are the definition of "I don't need to sleep, I need answers "

[@CallMeMimi27]

the title look clickbaity but they are not.

[@dutchdykefinger]

either that, of the definition of "right... enough internet for today"

[@SilverAura]

What's super bizarre though.. I'm generally pretty sensitive to click baity titles... yet none of their titles ever give me that 'being manipulated' feeling. Not sure how they do it but kee pup the great work!

[@Inugirl582]

@@SilverAura I always got that same vibe from jenna marbles. I think it comes from actually getting what you came for lol

[@unknownrandomcomment8453]

Wait

[@thepowersaw6245]

1:19 This feels like the tricks that game developers use to make low-poly models of characters.

[@whyamiatree4177]

people who fear wasps: Just gotta stay indoors they can't get inside if I never leave. Fairyflies:

[@Mochi_Kiti]

AH

[@brunobucciaratiswife]

It’s okay, unless you’re a bug egg, you’re safe!

[@StormTheSquid]

I hate you.

[@doplop]

no but you see the big ones can get inside too. like i have no idea how but one day i was like 11 and i was just watching some haha funny reddit videos and i guess it crawled in past the air conditioner inside the window or something?? then i hid under my blanket for like 10 minutes screaming MOMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! after i saw it and ever since then wasps have been the biggest reason i never go outside

[@swampdonkey1567]

@@doplop just get a cup lol

[@BesugoTheFirst]

Scientist: “It would seem they have no nuclei.” Fairy Fly: “Turns out, you don’t need any. Totally overrated!”

[@jamesdub5308]

I feel like this is a reference but I can’t remember what

[@BesugoTheFirst]

@@jamesdub5308 Dreamworks’ Monsters vs Aliens

[@l.-..l.l.--l.l]

@@jamesdub5308 Blob from Monsters vs Aliens

[@adarshkamoda9183]

"I understood that reference."

[@Dubanx]

“Turns out, you don’t need any. Totally overrated!” Tell me that in a week.

[@valerieerwin2606]

I've seen fairy flies before! The ones I saw looked like down feathers, but I noticed they weren't feathers when I saw them move on their own. When I looked them up I saw they were fairy flies! There were hundreds of them at the home I grew up in, and it always seemed magical when I would see a lot of them floating in the air like a light snow flurry in the summer ^•^

[@morganbailey89]

What role do they play in the environment besides being food for other insects

[@MinuteEarth]

Pretty fly for a slight guy.

[@electronresonator8882]

Uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, cinco, seis

[@nathanhyde2946]

When he said they were used by humans to combat pest I got flashbacks to watching your ep of this fly If I’m not wrong

[@ragdolltrucking]

*wasp

[@munchiemanager2985]

@@ragdolltrucking fly*

[@DakotaofRaptors]

Give it to me baby!

[@caspian8650]

Okay actually it's so freaking cool that farmers use fairies to help their crops. This is some Stardew Valley level stuff.

[@AnonymousFreakYT]

Farmers have been using insects to defeat other insects for millennia. See ladybugs to take care of aphids.

[@strangelic4234]

Not only farmers. A couple of years ago I had a moth problem in my flat. Those little wasps solved it for me without any need for fumigation, Sabaton-style: undetected, stealth perfected

[@Psillytripper]

if adapted on a mass scale you would need to study the effects of the fairyflies on the surrounding ecosystems bugs before thinking it only targets the pests. It sounds like a great idea til we find out its wiping out species X Y and Z too im just saying there should be studies done on long term consequences not that its bad idea

[@theabirde]

@@Psillytripper don't know anything about fairy flies(never heard of 'em 'til today), but a lot of organisms are evolved to target very specific things but yeah definitely make sure that they won't negatively impact other species

[@maythesciencebewithyou]

Parasitic wasps are usually specialized to a single host, e.g. there is a wasp that only lays their eggs inside the body of ticks, but don't konw if that's also the case for fairy flies. Eitehr way, you have to consider that what you call a pest is food for another species, which is also basically the case here. If you were to breed bunch of foxes and release them to the wild, they might get rid of all the pray and then starve to death. Even if they were to target a single pest, that single pest, could be the main food source of some other species. Agriculture, is one of the main reasons bird populations have drastically dropped. Contrary to belief, most birds don't really go for seeds, but prefer to eat insects. Heavy pesiticide usage has already reduced insect populations dramatically. Thus birds don't find that much food anymore. If you are older than 25, you'd remember how your windshield would be full of insects after driving, nowadays, you barely hit any insects. Depending on how specific these fairy flies are, you could target specific pests better, which would reduce pesticide usage.

[@olegoleg258]

Damn. This was surprisingly well made! Often people describe useless things in their documentaries when it can be summarized easily or where the info is just straight out not needed, but everything here was short, sweet and still enough to make me understand everything. Good job!

[@jbark678]

Yeah I'll just forgo a heart, who needs it? -Fairy flies, probably

[@molybdaen11]

When you are so small, contraction of the blood vessels is enough.

[@biggiec8933]

If you are small enough you don't even need blood vessels.

[@kylestanley7843]

@@molybdaen11 You don't even need blood vessels, or blood. Those little bastards work solely off diffusion at that size.

[@jamesmeppler6375]

Many insects don't require hearts, take grasshoppers, no heart or blood vessels. The brain pumps the blood down open channels and gets sucked back from the bottom of the body back to the brain...you don't know much about insects do you, this is all BASIC info

[@elweewutroone]

Ok boomer

[@nealwoods3482]

Can you imagine looking at cell samples under a microscope and suddenly a fly crawls into view. You'd be all like "Oh no my sample is contaminated.... wait what?"

[@conquestanddeath4406]

Gotta burn the whole lab down now.

[@imjonathan6745]

"Fly" "contaminated" breakingbad reference? *breakingbad theme plays..*

[@schnoz2372]

@@imjonathan6745lol

[@anli2541]

Ostrich egg is also a single cell. By that standard, most insects are smaller than a single cell. Haha. But yeah, Fairyflies are awesome!!!

[@John_the_Paul]

Most?

[@fitlentagreelin2301]

There are also algae that can grow 6-12in while only being single celled! The cellular outliers can be fantastical! :D

[@owensthethird]

When that fairyfly decided not to eat because it would die soon anyway, I felt that.

[@ridanann]

When you wrote that comment I felt that

[@sammysammyson]

@@ridanann When I read your comment I felt that

[@asquri5959]

@@sammysammyson When i read your comment about his comment, i felt that.

[@BubblewrapHighway]

@@asquri5959 When you felt that, I wrote this comment.

[@jayt4832]

This is concerning

[@marcuscarana9240]

Amazing how they're so tiny but at the same time parameciums are also an amazing specimen because of how big they are for a single cell animal.

[@spacemeter3001]

Everyone: Oh they're so small and cute! Me: How many of these insects did we breathe in? 😳

[@dustmybroom288]

I did not need to read that

[@the24thcolossusjustchillin39]

A lot

[@xenorac]

Oh that's disturbing, I really did not need to be thinking about that!

[@isokehatfield201]

I was thinking the same thing!

[@mrjoe332]

I was just about to ask, "how many live inside of us?"

[@BluishGreenPro]

This reminds of an exercise to create the smallest possible program that would still compile

[@rohansampat1995]

why not just compile an empty file

[@Muykle]

I was thinking of Alpine linux, but sure a bianary program that prints "hello world" in Morse code is even smaller.

[@HayTatsuko]

I've said it before and I will say it again here: The Complexly group of channels have some masterful copywriters who come up with these titles. They sometimes seem immensely clickbaity, but when you come on in, you find they are not only scrupulously accurate almost every time -- they become immensely satisfying in their resolution.

[@DarthBiomech]

"print 'hello world!'"? or "print 'h'

[@DFX2KX]

there's a video about programming an entire game in the space of a Floopy Disc boot sector....

[@hallows2729]

The moment you said that they don't eat I was gonna ask how they could reproduce efficiently (The energy needed for that would obviously not carry through every generation). Then you mentioned the egg detail and that cleared it up immediately XD. That's an interesting species.

[@swayback7375]

There’s a remarkable amount of insects that only eat in their larval stages but CANT eat as a mature adult morph. Cicada are one of my favorites, they can live for decades underground sucking on roots but in their final molt their mouth BECOMES an ovipositor and they no longer have a way to feed. Pretty wild

[@CGaboL]

After the first few seconds, I started to think this was a joke. But then I googled it and it's actually for real. Fairyflies are a thing.

[@raideurng2508]

Insects get incredibly weird.

[@Amghannam]

Me too, lol.

[@MetrixGD]

In my time zone this was uploaded on the 2nd of April

[@astick5249]

@@trippykay Aren't insects wonderful?

[@yummygoy5138]

They were added in the new update

[@danielrusso8187]

I’m convinced that SciShow started the myth about fairy flies existing in 1901 just so he can pull an epic April Fools prank 120 years later

[@davidbrisbane7206]

Yes. It's called the long con.

[@ValeriePallaoro]

Yes; that would explain Hanks 'eternal youth' He's riffing off Dorian Gray .... good catch

[@xenorac]

Kinda hoping that is the case!

[@MadScientist267]

Too bad it's not a joke 🤣

[@thenonfurry]

*a.k.a 2021*

[@Papa_Klink]

I absolutely love how your text descriptions are in randomly sized fonts, it really adds to the whole crazy science vibe of this video.

[@the7thage576]

They always skip over the real questions we have like, “how TF did we discover these things?”

[@petergray2712]

Probably a baited trap, in this case.

[@GenusOfficial]

@@petergray2712 wouldnt we have to know they exist to bait for them? Also who puts bait for something that small to begin with if they dont know it exists?

[@gudadada]

@@GenusOfficial No, there’s dozens of traps that catch anything that’s flying. It’s always inevitable to find new things you weren’t looking for.

[@Notsoshady4891]

Dust. We found its corpse in dust. The scientists that found it casual named it a fairy fly, didn't expect it to be interesting and moved on look through dust for the thing they where actually looking for. Some specialists found data on an insect that was extremely small and wanted to know how extreme it's adaption. *Entomologists*. Granted this probably happened a hundred times. Hundreds of scientists found fairy flys in dust, before it had a name that stuck and hundreds of people have studied it to find out it's properties.

[@michaelizquierdo6907]

@@Notsoshady4891 Happens way more than it should. Same happened to giant viruses, people saw them all the time paid them no mind, until someone stopped and said whats that. There was also a new species. There have also been a previously undiscovered fossil species found in a drawer in the smithsonian that had been there for like 40 years.

[@cuckoophendula8211]

While they're the smallest insects, would they also be the smallest arthropods? Looking this up now to compare them to the size of a dust mite. EDIT: WHOA! It's neither an insect or an arachnid (i.e. dust mites). There's a crustacean that's less than 0.1mm long called Stygotantulus stocki

[@swiftfated]

Such an intense name for such a tiny dude! It sounds like Stygian+tantalus. Looks like it was discovered in a lava pool so it seems fitting.

[@RubelliteFae]

There's another called _Tantulacus dieteri_ which is ~85 micrometres long. "The tantulocarid life cycle is unique. It does not follow the usual moulting cycle of all crustaceans; instead, the mature adult actually develops within an attached parasitic tantulus larva."-Wikipedia 😲

[@thebadger9302]

Cooooooool

[@BLOODKINGbro]

Idk. Mites have stomachs hearts and mouths these guys are gone basically bare bones of just flying sperm

[@DanielPereira-ey9nt]

@@swiftfated meanwhile "Gorila Gorila Gorila" is an actual scientific name

[@nicolesteigerwald6977]

I study parasitoid wasps, have caught these guys before (a LOT), and have always been fascinated by them!! Thanks so much for sharing!

[@BruceVieiraLopes_is_awesome]

Kinda reminds me of that childhood fear of invisible insects crawling onto you.

[@katherinebaker8088]

my body keeps itching in random places after watching this

[@jasonryan2727]

@@katherinebaker8088 same

[@emit3338]

Crackhead fear*

[@jooot_6850]

@@emit3338 there are spiders under my skin

[@CsabaGamings]

I felt as a kid that some bugs went into My eyes i though. Now i know why

[@riccfire]

"So next time someone says they don't believe in fairies, let them know that they've been around fairies their whole life. They've just overlooked them. Because they've been laying their eggs inside other insect eggs."

[@Wingedmagician]

The delivery on that line was beyond perfection

[@KP3droflxp]

I too, have been watching the video

[@vinny9868]

I was certain that for a second there, he was going to say 'they've been laying their eggs inside your eyes'.

[@sakamotosan1887]

@@Wingedmagician I burst out laughing when I heard; it I love it

[@IrizarryBrandon]

@@vinny9868 right, or something like, "inside _us_"

[@idontwantahandlethough]

Oh my god.. can you imagine you're a little insect, you lay your eggs, you wait patiently for them to hatch... unbeknownst to you, those aren't even your eggs anymore. Finally, one of your little bb's begins to hatch.... AND DOZENS OF LITTLE FAIRY FLIES EMERGE FROM THE EGG INSTEAD! That would be straight up horrifying.

[@Edited6]

Click bait titles from the gods/players controlling our simulated universe: "How small of an insect we can make??? (Lets Play Earth - episode 34)" "Completing a DPS class playthrough with NO COMBAT?!" "How to get the RARE oar-shaped wings trait!" "The Meta is a perfectly balanced game with no exploits - effectively invisible wasps"

[@nopenope4502]

Ahh, a Spiffing Brit fan. Hello.

[@comradecockatoo3558]

TierZoo be like:

[@Lukiel666]

I actually thought it was going to be an April Fools joke. When I saw the title I immediately thought of an Ostrich egg. Which is a single cell weighing about three pounds.

[@fuckinantipope5511]

An egg is technically not a cell per definition. But there are big cells out there. The algea caulerpa is one big, singular cell

[@jedinxf7]

I was thinking it would be an eggbait too

[@Dexuz]

Eggs aren't cells, they're sacks of protein enveloping a cell(s), the embryo.

[@GrammeStudio]

are you serious? an egg with eggshell is not an ovum egg cell. -___- the video still hasn't explain how a fairyfly is smaller than any cell. the biggest cell i.e. ovum is still smaller than a fairyfly.

[@Egerit100]

@@GrammeStudio there's a type of Amoeba that is multiple inches in diameter. So the biggest cells are over an inch. Although I do agree with the fact that eggs aren't single cells

[@Tr0lliPop]

"Ok so this is kinda worrying since it literally means we could be breathing insects and shi-" "They help farmers bc they kill pests by using their eggs as their own" "Well thats nice"

[@peterdarr383]

So - somewhere there's a lab where they raise and feed farm pest insects so the breeding-stock fairy-flies can lay their eggs, then these infected eggs are sold to farmers, then scattered in the fields?? Must be tough going "Organic".

[@lordzamasuvegetablackfusio9773]

They used the good old reverse card on pests.

[@HayTatsuko]

I've said it before and I will say it again here: The Complexly group of channels have some masterful copywriters who come up with these titles. They sometimes seem immensely clickbaity, but when you come on in, you find they are not only scrupulously accurate every time -- they become immensely satisfying in their resolution. (There, now this comment is in its proper place!)

[@t-bonejones3576]

Scrupulously accurate? Ostrich eggs are single cells. Therefore all insects are smaller than a single cell. So maybe not that accurate?

[@thecarnivore3799]

Hope we get to see this on micro cosmos

[@CaedmonOS]

OMG yes

[@andreiiimiguel]

Love your dp

[@arizwe3983]

it's all fun and games until scientists discover a mosquitoes fairyfly which can still suck your blood and you can't slap it because it's too small.

[@AlysticalYT]

Gelp

[@sumerbc7409]

@2:15 "Because if you live just a few days, ya don't need to eat." lol

[@mrnice4434]

Imagine living your life without ever eating ice cream. :(

[@joshuahunt3032]

@@mrnice4434 Well, most organisms I know of that can get ahold of ice cream are either scavengers in cities or tourist attractions, humans, or pets. And pets get very specialized ice cream.

[@xjunkxyrdxdog89]

African newborns be like

[@yagosski8179]

Thank you Sci-Show for filling our bitter quarantine lives with joy and knowledge! I love your work!

[@darthvitiate393]

I'm no longer in quarantine

[@davidsalazar13]

I’ve been having a great quarantine 😇

[@guillermoelnino]

remember: china brought the ccp flu to your country, but your local government is the one using it as an excuae to lock you in your homes.

[@militantpacifist4087]

Me an introvert and an asocial person: We’re in a quarantine?

[@andrewlalis]

@@guillermoelnino show some actual evidence for your fear mongering claims.

[@Tictacpanter]

I found a fairyfly and submitted as part of my Entomology insect collection. I was so scared of losing it that I just kept it in a epindorph and prayed the professor found it for the final submission.

[@MakkaP]

That's just so insane you'd think it was an April fools joke..

[@ShadowebEB]

Yeah, I wasn't sure until the end, I had to fact check it, and it was true, they really chose the perfect subject to mess up with us.

[@bins1]

I already knew this since i was a kid so it's no surprise to me. I'm just curious if we could've inhaled them 👁️👄👁️

[@rafaelmartinez9259]

@@bins1 o h h e l l n o

[@mightyxt]

True

[@cheeseycheezy]

@@bins1 ... why

[@Zoalde]

"They just overlooked them. Because they've been laying their eggs inside other insects' eggs" that line sent me lmao

[@Harleyite]

Scientists: "Here's how cells work" Fairyflies: "Hold my nuclei"

[@dannyhussain5489]

What I find most fascinating is the potential in biomimicry. At least when looking for solutions to problems, the fairyfly has so many unique and peculiar solutions I believe looking at nature may help guide us in finding our solutions

[@senatorjosephmccarthy2720]

Agreed. That's why the Almighty Creator Yehovah created so many varieties of living species; so many can learn from them. And has.

[@miketacos9034]

TierZoo: "These players are clearly hacking."

[@shadowcreationsmc2335]

Yeah thanks for letting me know about those lil guys. Now I never have to feel alone knowing I’ve got tiny friends all around me

[@nonchip]

"smaller than a single cell" _looks at an ostrich egg_ well yeah so's my cat.

[@theneoreformationist]

LOL

[@jedinxf7]

lol what I was thinking

[@violetlight1548]

I'd love to see an episode of "Journey to the Microcosmos" that shows footage of fairy flies, if that's at all possible. I assume they'd be rather difficult to get onto a microscope slide. Would still be cool though.

[@artypyrec4186]

"The offsprings mooche the nutrients and eat the embryo" yep a dose of nature just being a horror movie. "They eject nuclei from their neurons" yep sounds about right for this video.

[@NGC-7635]

Evolution: “Look at what I can do!” Me: “...yes, but why?” Evolution: “ 🤷‍♂️ “

[@КрасныйОрёл-л9х]

@@johnnyaxon_ err... what does Bubble Nebula have to do with gods and evolution?

[@snakewithapen5489]

Humans: But... you did this for what? Nature: why not? Humans: why Nature: why not? Humans: but why though

[@feralbluee]

~~ ROTFL~~. and i laughed for half a minute. i don’t know why, but that was really funny. :} 😋

[@laststand6420]

God: Facepalm. "What would I have to build to impress these people?"

[@galli0]

When you just wait ever y second for the april fools joke... and then there isnt one 👀

[@hello7533]

April fools is over so you have a 364ish day wait.

[@wyattwilliams2457]

@@hello7533 are you in Europe or Asia or Africa

[@Bbonno]

The title is the joke and will probably be changed at some point, as the video is indeed entirely serious, well, except for the pink shirt :) (video title are the time of writing: These Insects are Smaller than a Single Cell...How?!)

[@Critical-N]

@@Bbonno wait are they not smaller than a cell?

[@rayhandevishkar3127]

@@Critical-N If you compare it to paramecium's cell. Then, it's smaller

[@privatemale27]

Big question I had throughout the video, was "What are the drivers behind it's continued miniaturization?" It's interesting to speculate and would be great to know what the researchers think.

[@littleblacksubmarie]

being small enough for the air to feel like a liquid is sooo cuuute

[@isaakyhsialf4369]

air is a fluid

[@sleepingbag2424]

@@isaakyhsialf4369 IT AINT A LIQUID FOOL ❗❗

[@Minish4rk360]

@@sleepingbag2424 its not a liquid but it is fluid like

[@littleblacksubmarie]

@@isaakyhsialf4369 isn't it a gas my love?

[@littleblacksubmarie]

@@isaakyhsialf4369 and really, doesn't it really just matter how fast you are moving? I'm prob wrong...

[@1995DylanJ]

5:59 "That's very weird, they eject the nuclei from their neurons" Yes Hank, wish you went into that a little more during the video, feel like you kinda glossed over it

[@kvd1]

Many other species of fairy flies can even be double hyper parasites(hyper parasites of hyper parasites(parasites that infect other parasites)),hyper parasites are a very confusing topic. The binary hyper parasitic species lay their eggs in the eggs of other hyper parasitoids, the infected eggs get inserted into the parasitoids of traditional parasitoids, The larvae first eat the embryo of the hyper parasitoids, and then the traditional (non hyper) parasitoid in the process of trying to escape, to infect new hyper parasites, and the life cycle repeats. This process can be very helpful if parasitoids have began to harm other helpful insects(such as bees).

[@waleedkhalid7486]

This is perfectly timed. I’m about to teach my college bio 201 class (fundamentals of bio) about Arthropoda later this week. While the vid isn’t going to feature prominently in my lesson, i will link my students to it so they too can appreciate how...weird ... biology can be sometimes.

[@Bill-lt5qf]

if this turns out to be an april fools, ima be pissed.

[@ChaosRecession]

Nope, he's right. Fairy flies are totally real.

[@solar0wind]

Yeah, they were shortly mentioned in a lecture last year. And that lecture was in May or June, not on April Fool's Day😅

[@jozenne0018]

But they cited sources!

[@VaxzaLimeIsCool]

Check the description it shows sources, never known until I checked today lol

[@jameswiggle]

nope...all real.

[@LeanneGodfried-jp5uh]

Sounds like the Perfect Blue Print application for Nanobots and other related technology.

[@SirCharles12357]

Nature never ceases to amaze. Once again I have to realign all my assumptions about the world. I love it!

[@moodist1er]

These look like the little bees that exist just to hold onto my raft so they can sting me when I don't see them before they drown in my pool.

[@glizzyboi7558]

Ah so I’ve found the source of the feeling of having bugs crawl on my skin but none being there

[@gabrieleporru4443]

Going to make my house into a completely sealed aseptic blank chamber, after this, thank you

[@hdckighfkvhvgmk]

Welcome to white space.

[@riverbandit2138]

Fairy fly: *is a millimeter long * God: Now your the smallest insect. fairy fly: SMALLER

[@kalanivernon7273]

the smallest species of fairyfly is 0.15mm (150μm). The largest human cell (ovum) is slightly smaller at 100μm (just large enough to see with the naked eye). The largest known unicellular lifeform (Valonia ventricosa) is between 1 and 4cm in size (with rare specimens over 5cm), but it pales against the largest single cell - the ostrich egg (15-18cm).

[@theabirde]

@@kalanivernon7273 what is that letter?? It looks like a p and a u mixed together

[@thekainobori2587]

@@theabirde μ is a letter from the Greek alphabet, but we use it as micro in the metric system. so μm = micrometer.

[@kalanivernon7273]

@@theabirde that is the greek letter μ (Mu). It is used for the micrometer symbol (also called a micron), since 'mm' was already taken for millimeter. After that you get to nm, pm, fm, am, zm, and ym. After yoctometers I believe it skips straight to planck lengths.

[@theabirde]

Ok, thank you to both of you

[@Vaprous]

4:46 - ...And they are parasitoids. Me: you already said Wasps, I just sort of assumed they were already.

[@SlimThrull]

2:53 So, they're not flying through the air; They're swimming through it.

[@commoncommentatingcommento8683]

5:47 I was expecting “Laying their eggs in your eyes”

[@RoadFai]

Love Hank's presentation

[@carsonrush3352]

Just remember, everyone, that there are over a thousand different kinds of wasps that are invisibly small. Have fun sleeping tonight with wasps everywhere and nowhere.

[@amaccoy]

Schrodingers wasp

[@JohnDrummondPhoto]

Videos like this are why I'm proud to be a lifelong learner.

[@RobertoDTavares]

I live in downtown Natal, Rio Grande do Norte. Here, in the backyard, we used to cultivate because my grandfather would bring them from the countryside when we migrated to the capital. This specific species produces a slightly sour honey, and the term we use here in Rio Grande do Norte is 'Mosquito de Mel,' which translates to 'Honey Mosquito' for Jataí Bees (Tetragonisca angustula).

[@lisakassandra4222]

As someone with intense apiphobia, this is knowledge I maybe shouldn't have seeked.

[@rudysmith1445]

Ah, but they're not bees. And they don't have any sting-y or buzzy bits.

[@iloveamerica606]

They are just like cells

[@mantidream8179]

Simply amazing showcase. The adaptations these organisms show to their unusual environment is just as cool as their fantastically small size, and it really shows just how ruthlessly efficient evolution can be when you need to run such a tight ship, so to speak.

[@senatorjosephmccarthy2720]

It is Impossible anything popped itself into existence; gravity, quarks, centrifugal force, light, carbon, water and all. It is impossible those began their own existence, and close enough in time and space to cooperate in modifying themselves to higher states. And without consciousness.

[@dkeefe4068]

This was the most fantastic video I've seen in a while. Thanks for that. I wish you put a date on it, though.

[@TheLonelyBrit]

The whole time I was wondering where the wasp-iness went, then you mentioned they lay their eggs inside other eggs... Ah yes, there's the Bastard Gene.

[@calebdonaldson8770]

Hank Green: "They literally cannot get any smaller!" :O Fairyfly: "Who said I need legs?" ;)

[@bassrecord6139]

the parasite of my parasite is my symbiont

[@TriteHexagon]

I had to watch the entire video and check the references to be sure this wasn't an April Fools' joke.

[@papabird4425]

If only everyone did that before developing an opinion.

[@Niinkai]

With this and the nucleus video, you've recently breathed life into some of my favourite wikipedia articles. Deeply appreciated!

[@AidanDaGreat]

Wasp you say? *Primes flamethrower* and yes, these are legal in Pennsylvania!

[@nmrubeck]

i call “minimalist insect” for the name of my new band

[@jaymz6473]

Scishow and PBS Eons are goldmines for band names.

[@estebanmn6620]

Sounds savage somehow

[@papabird4425]

It's the latest NIN album. Sorry man.

[@vitalspark6288]

Pretty sure some amoebae are about grapefruit-sized, so depending on the cell you pick, even fairly big insects can be smaller.

[@samhaines8228]

ostrich egg

[@joeandjoe2]

Whale eggs ?

[@lithobreak3812]

@@samhaines8228 single cells from multicellular organisms don't count! The video compares the insect to single celled organisms

[@vitalspark6288]

@@joeandjoe2 Pretty much all mammalian eggs (except monotremes) are about the same size. A whale egg isn't much different in size to a human egg.

[@joeandjoe2]

Busted. Whales are mammals and give birth to live young. Feeding them through what's known as the mammalian glands. This being the very definition of what defines a mammal. Reiterate Whales do not lay eggs.

[@attenonmj3708]

1:05 - SCP Foundation, we might have something here!

[@gjpokey]

When he said "the air feels thicker. More like a fluid." I thought to myself, "But air IS a fluid." That may be one of the nerdiest thoughts I've ever hard and now writing this down is one of the nerdiest actions I've ever taken.

[@casanovajones3262]

Nice. I had no idea these little critters even existed.

[@myperspective5091]

Seeing a side by side comparison to some other smell creatures would have made this video way better.

[@maxim9470]

"So basically, I am smol"

[@cumulus1869]

Just the way he said that last part gives my spine shivers, "Because they've been laying their eggs inside other insect eggs."

[@amandachan696]

Thanks for all the great content. I watch your videos daily and always learn something new and fascinating ❤

[@MikefromTexas1]

This brings up a question I've had since childhood: Do different sized animals have different sized cells? Are an elephants cells bigger than a mouses? Or do bigger creatures just have *more* cells?

[@rstriker21]

Probably both

[@kantalot3797]

For the most part i believe that bigger creatures simply have more cells, not larger cells, which is why whales contract cancer so often and is also ironically why cancer doesnt pose as much of an issue for larger creatures.

[@jeremyjosh5910]

Different cells are different in size, across species, and within species as well. In fact, there's cells of different size inside you too! For example your fat cells would be much larger than other cells you have

[@marinex65]

@@kantalot3797 You’re wrong. Whales have one of the lowest rates of cancer of any mammal. Size does not necessarily mean they contract cancer easier, it’s much more complicated than that.

[@kantalot3797]

@@marinex65 Apologies, i was mistaken. you would think that an animal with more cells would contract cancer more often but that is surprisingly not the case, although i forget the reasons why.

[@somerandomguybody6514]

Ok.... but why did they evolve? What pushes you to become so small, taking these drastic measures is worth it?

[@aprinnyonbreak1290]

Well, my best hypothesis puts it at energy conservation. Many insects already possess "nonviable" adult forms who must live off of the energy gained from their adolescent forms, whose only purpose is to breed and die. When they got on the small, parasitic wasp bandwagon, it became a priority for the creatures to require as little energy as possible, so that as many offspring as possible could propagate in a single egg. Thus, the things that are necessary for long life started being jettisoned, dwarfism took a major frontline, and something of a feedback loop occured where getting smaller in X way allowed them to save energy by bypassing Y system, which eliminated the need for Z, until you have the animal of today, that has hot some arbitrary limit that has stopped it from getting any smaller, that being key proteins and neurons it needs to remain a living animal not functioning properly if squeezed any smaller. At least until it comes up with a way around that limitation.

[@swampdonkey1567]

Maybe it's like from those things from the horrifyingly scifi where it forces humans to evolve.

[@pedrobernardo5887]

Allright... I got my new go to Animal Form when I play as a Druid next time.

[@sth.777]

Speaking of pest control, maybe you could do an episode about the effects of music on plants; the garden centre Wisli in Bassersdorf, Switzerland, has been experimenting with music's effects on plants' health and resistance to pests, with interesting results!

[@aprinnyonbreak1290]

If my memory serves, plants like Metal the most.

[@clydeballthepython]

Why do I feel like this is an April Fools joke? 😅

[@Golden_Flower_1]

nope they are real

[@clydeballthepython]

Cool

[@matthewcox7985]

Because Nature gets the last laugh. Reality is stranger than fiction, because fiction has to make sense!

[@imperialguard451]

god i love clicking one of these because i always forget who it is and get to go “oh! hi hank!!”

[@akumaking1]

I’m so early vertebrae haven’t evolved yet.

[@ricsons5912]

Fairyfly: "aight gotta get into this cyclers eye now"

[@mayasabiniano178]

i just love that this small and cute insects are in our side

[@hogarthheathan]

Nature is amazing and beautiful. I wonder how many of these I breath in on a daily.

[@killaved4262]

no stop pls this is harrasment