Why these beaches near Chicago almost disappeared

[@galaxa13]

Wow, it blew my mind when you said you've lived in Chicago for over ten years. I remember back when you worked at the Montana museum and gave Hank Green a tour. Then he helped set you up with your own channel and then you moved out to Chicago. Man, how does time fly. Edit: And then you inserted a clip from those very early days!

[@thebrainscoop]

@@galaxa13 That first visit was in 2012, where has the time gone?! We all got old 😭

[@jeffwigle9154]

​@@thebrainscoopit's all t time gone the first time I pos that made sense

[@Racnenn]

Very upset that YT didn't tell me you'd come back until today. I missed this channel so much

[@thebrainscoop]

better late than never! hey there 👋🏻

[@aaronbegg3827]

Same! Excited to see you, hi Emily!

[@beticocr1234]

I really appreciate the quality of the subtitles in this video. Thanks for putting the effort of moving them away from text and graphics and according to the speaker.

[@thebrainscoop]

Thank you, I’m glad you like them! We partner with a professional Captioning & Described Audio service www.DCMP.org who provide all of our captions & DA! We’ve worked together for years and I really appreciate what they do for us.

[@psychesempra]

As a Northwest Indiana native, this is super cool to see! :) Thanks for spending time with our little chunk of beauty.

[@thebrainscoop]

Kicking myself that it took so long to make it over to y'all 😅

[@elmono558]

"The Region"

[@ambulocetusnatans]

Ypu should visit in the winter, it's so beautiful. The lake forms icebergs and mini-glaciers, while the wind blows horizontal icicles from the trees and dead grass carves graceful arcs in the snow, like the wings of snow-angels.

[@fredthebarber]

I love the passion and devotion that these park scientists/rangers have. Such great people doing amazing work. Thank you all.

[@thecheshirecat5564]

I absolutely love the reboot of the brain scoop ❤

[@thebrainscoop]

Strong agree

[@MsKnitsAlot]

I just moved to NW IN and I’ve already been to the dunes a few times! They actually just posted today on their social media that they are looking for volunteers this Saturday to help remove the invasive cattails. I’m thinking about going, any other Brain Scoop fans going to be there?

[@aloofblubird]

It’s cool to see how similar the Indiana dunes are to my local Saugatuck dunes! I remember going on a field trip and identifying a bunch of native and non-native plants for a systemic botany course in college.

[@thebrainscoop]

@@aloofblubird That’s cool!! I think my favorite thing I learned in this video is how the plants and ecosystems change as you go deeper into the dunes from the shore. Like idk why I’m so excited by that but I AM

[@mm-ez6xn]

Warren dunes a bit more southerly are pretty beautiful too.

[@jennalewein9480]

It’s wonderful to know that all the those native plants weren’t totally gone, they were just waiting to be given a chance to grow again.

[@thebrainscoop]

RIGHT?! 😭 We didn't include it in this video, but they do collect seeds from native plants and propagate / reintroduce them. They literally put pantyhose over the dried flower buds to catch seeds lmaooo

[@klezbot44]

love to see the conversations. you do such a good job interviewing people about the work they do. it's beautiful 💚

[@thebrainscoop]

It's really a privilege to be invited in to share people's work. It means a lot when they take time out of their day and let us follow them around with a crew all while asking personal questions 😅

[@NewMessage]

I'd be walking without rhythm... just in case.

[@ambulocetusnatans]

Haven't seen you around in a while, Mr Message.

[@lisawallace1741]

😂😂

[@alveolate]

the spice must flow

[@OysterOfDoom]

Colorado resident here. Took decades before I visited our dunes. Insane how much geography, anthropology, etc can change in a relatively short range.

[@ayden605]

amazing!!!! theres a really cute game i love on steam called kamaeru where you help start a frog sanctuary and restore wetlands, although interestingly in the game you're planting cattails to restore the wetlands lol

[@thebrainscoop]

@@ayden605 oh I wanna play that!! A scientifically accurate version would slap though

[@ayden605]

@@thebrainscoop it totally would! I highly recommend it (maybe you could even stream playing it? I would love to see that personally) you can breed the frogs to get rare types too :) looking forward to the next video!

[@sovsauce]

so glad you unprivated/trip loaded this! excited for this watch!

[@thebrainscoop]

Just a lil' hiccup 😅 so happy it's out there now!

[@kdasberg]

Oh man I grew up around here! Thanks for sharing more about one of my most nostalgic places!

[@ezraclark7904]

My friend Karter just moved to Chicago to do ecology stuff with fish (most of what I have heard is about talking to hobby fishermen). He's the expert, not me, but this stuff is neat.

[@krezzybot]

I'd gone to the Dunes National Lakeshore as a kid as our beach for years and never really thought of it as a "park" like I did the forest preserves we also went to growing up. Next time I go, I'll have to make sure to check out the trails, too! Great video ❤

[@karleybioanthro]

I love the Dunes! As a native NWI and rock hounder. Lol plus you talked to my professor too 😂😂

[@thebrainscoop]

Oh that's so funny! Which one??

[@OctopusOwl]

Dune Doctor is a sweet title tbh

[@thebrainscoop]

it gives Dr. Who vibes✨

[@Terigena]

​@@thebrainscoopOr "Dune" vibes.

[@willmendoza8498]

Awesome! Always glad to see new stuff from the Brain Scoop, and the Dunes are a fond memory from my childhood

[@bradfordreed6175]

Thank you, Emily. Keep going. You'll only get glimpses of how much joy and enthusiasm you've brought to the world. I would love to listen to you geek out with the EV Nautilus crowd; you could do each other (and the rest of us) a lot of good. May you continue to find fun and enrichment in what you do.

[@michaelgrauvogl689]

This video is once again a high light. Great story and pictures. I like that the care of nature is combined with likeable, cheerful people/personalities. I enjoyed that.

[@gleann_cuilinn]

I gotta visit next time i go to chicago! and i'll definitely clean my boots thoroughly before walking....

[@dendroleon]

the indiana dunes state park nature center has two amaaaaaazing antlion sculptures on display that are not to be missed!

[@thebrainscoop]

YES!! I've got an image of the big wooden one fully burned into my brain forever. So rad

[@clarekrmiller]

It’s so heartening to see how they were able to restore biodiversity so successfully.

[@Pottery4Life]

Excellent episode, Emily. I really like that style of show. Thank you!!

[@EileenMeehan-q4g]

Plant blindness was a new phrase for me. But it rang true with what I believe about introducing little children to the natural world: if you teach a child the name of a plant or animal it becomes theirs to reference forever. Tell the kids the names! Label everything around them from birth. You never know when they will take it in and own it.

[@LeighMontano]

Heck yeah! Part of my job is to help manage mitigations sites up there! We loves our unique little piece of nature!!!

[@thebrainscoop]

Oh that's so cool! I loved learning more about all of the work that goes into that sort of thing. Truly a team effort!

[@Steveofthejungle8]

Amazing video about a truly unique corner of my home state! Indiana gets hated on for a lot of reasons, including its "boring" landscape and nature, but thank you for highlighting how unique and diverse of a place the Indiana Dunes are!

[@JulianaBlewett]

I've lived in LaPorte county my entire life and we love it here. The weather is pretty good most of the time and we don't have to worry about hurricanes or floods generally. Plus we are an hour from Chicago. We are 3 hours from Indianapolis. We are 6 hours from St. Louis and 6 hours from Cincinnati. It's a great place to live.

[@katehill7462]

I wish I knew Laura in real life, what a wonderful, smart, inspiring woman! Her quote brought tears to my eyes. I live in Wisconsin and have never even heard of this park! I'll be visiting it soon!! Thanks Emily

[@AnotherWriter815]

Leslie Knope is proud of all of you dope ass women.

[@thebrainscoop]

If I could have dinner with ANYONE ... let it be Leslie Knope

[@Sylvicolus]

Thanks Emily for a great visit to the Indiana Dunes. It is also home to more than 600 species of wild mushrooms and macrofungi, with collections going back 130 years. People were using the South Shore Line trains to get to the dunes from Chicago before there were cars.

[@tauntingeveryone7208]

I love the dunes. I used to bike there whenever I had a free day at college.

[@thebrainscoop]

Oh wow! Can I ask, what was the route you took? I wanna do that 😅

[@ScienceIRL]

I love this so much 😭 magical plants and plant people! And a model for successful habitat restoration -- dreamy!

[@thebrainscoop]

I want to put you and Laura together and just watch magic happen lol

[@ScienceIRL]

@thebrainscoop omg yesss

[@IndianaDunes]

@@ScienceIRL Sounds like a good plan to us!

[@ScienceIRL]

@@IndianaDunes @thebrainscoop let's do it!!

[@ObsidianxAlice]

A couple of years ago my partner and I stumbled across the Indiana Dunes on a roadtrip we did camping across the US. As someone not from the area, it was wild to find that environment, and was really beautiful. We did a sunrise hike across from our campsite to the shore, and it was absolutely breathtaking. Both in aesthetics and in breathing. Climbing those dunes is no joke, the sand really wants you to fail haha

[@abandoninplace2751]

This is also part of the park systems where some types of prairie were rescued and/or reestablished.

[@brizzelsprout]

I love that your making videos again!

[@MikiMizumiChan6]

Glad to see us OG brain scoop fans getting out there!

[@mysteriousdruid4947]

Always a great time! Thanks for the video!

[@wesleygoncalvesdasilva9209]

Emily is baaack 😁😁😁😁

[@thebrainscoop]

💃 HEY 🕺🏼 HEY 👯‍♀️ HEY 🪩

[@wesleygoncalvesdasilva9209]

@@thebrainscoop (👉ﾟヮﾟ)👉(👉ﾟヮﾟ)👉 We missed youuu 🥹🥹

[@JessieCarty]

Definitely have to put this on my list the next time in Chicago!

[@Lowkeyhi]

I have been there dozens of times. It's one of my favorite places to camp. I really like digging holes and the sand there is the best for it and building sand castles too.

[@thebrainscoop]

Just made me think they should start hosting some competitive sand castle sculpture competitions

[@IndianaDunes]

@@thebrainscoop The state park holds one every summer!

[@thebrainscoop]

😲😲😲 WHERE HAVE I BEEN ?!?!

[@silverharloe]

I have a dumb question: if that purple plant isn't native to the area, then it seems like the beetle that specifically targets it wouldn't be native. Do they have a plan for keeping the beetle from becoming an invasive species? Sure, it might die off if it kills all the purple plants, but it might just adapt to also enjoying a native plant, maybe?

[@thebrainscoop]

Not a dumb question at all! I looked it up, and the beetle was initially introduced in 1992 as part of a 5-15 year study. But surely those researchers didn't expect all the beetles would report back to the lab after that time 😝 Seems like they did testing of ~50 plant species in Europe before they were brought over to test that sort of thing. web.archive.org/web/20120402004204/www.biocontrol.entomology.cornell.edu/weedfeed/Galerucella.html

[@pg2826]

I have the same question. Because we have seen this happen in historical cases.

[@eryginger246]

I'm from here! This video is so cool and I learned so much about this place where I grew up and still live.

[@KerryHallPhD]

Lovely! I've visited those dunes a few times, but not that woods. I'll check that out the next time I'm up there. Really cool place.

[@adnanilyas6368]

The Indiana Dunes is low-key such an awesome area. In just a two-hour hike, you can pass through like 5 different biomes and see really very different plants and animals all along the way, at least if you are looking closely.

[@Astra_the_dragon_uwu]

I have also been watching since Hank's first video! the renaissance is magical :)

[@darcelknowles8665]

My favorite spot in the world! Next show should be on the continental divide which is also close to Chicago. The Valpariso maraine.

[@gannon401]

Emily, as always, very informative. The two of you opened my eyes to, sand! Great video and landscape. You are amazing!

[@mr.b3168]

Makes me sad that I remember your move to Chicago. I moved away recently after being born and raised there. Miss it...

[@thequietpart_]

Holy Cow This Video Is Full Of Heart

[@mikerinn6187]

Excellent video. I had no idea about these dunes. Soil vs Dirt; I ride a dirt bike and it’d be a tough sell for us to call them a soil bike. Cheers

[@thebrainscoop]

Hahaha “Whassup kids and welcome to the first-annual soil bike races!!! Get ready to leave some skid marks!!” I’m dead

[@vonlicktenbuttz8417]

The Sandberg quote gave me a lump in my throat

[@JonathanBlack]

I would have loved to have worked outdoors in the park service when I was younger, but I'm severely allergic to poison ivy. ; _ ;

[@thebrainscoop]

Ok, so PSA: I should NOT have worn that skort b/c I knew I'd need to wear the same outfit for both filming days. Both times, when I got home I scrubbed w/ dish soap and thought I did a good job -- but a week later I was in Washington, D.C. to give a talk at the National Institutes of Health and all I packed was a knee-length dress and I had the WORST poison ivy rash of my life. So while I was touring the NIH I had this oozing rash on my shin that I tried to ignore all day 😭 I had to go on steroids b/c I almost got infected DON'T DO WHAT I DID

[@iwanabana]

We'd be happy with stories preserving a few species but 1,100 species of plants alone?! That's insane!

[@IndianaDunes]

We may not have giant sequoias, waterfalls, or geothermal springs, but we have the biodiversity angle covered! As of the last Bioblitz count, we had only five fewer species than Yosemite.

[@thebrainscoop]

... now I'm mad I forgot to include this tidbit in the VO somewhere 😅

[@amandanf5775]

Such a great episode!! Thank you!

[@LikelyToBeEatenByAGrue]

I love dunes landscapes. We have a few of them here in Wisconsin on the West shore of lake Michigan. I go whenever I can, but I'll have to check it the Indy dunes too.

[@jeffmcdonald101]

Great video Emily!!

[@ScamLikely9327]

Come to Kankakee. The state park is beautiful and so are the Indian Caves. It used to be the nature getaway for people in Chicago way back in the day. It’s still one of the only towns in Illinois I’ve ever been to that feels surrounded by nature. Granted I’m biased.

[@_andrewvia]

Emily! It's always good to see you. Thank you for another post full of important information.

[@_andrewvia]

Also, I love your skirt - it has pockets!

[@jordang7479]

I live across the bay from San Francisco, golden gate park used to be a giant sand dune. I always though it sounded cooler than the park. I like golden gate park but just wish built it somewhere else so we could have both.

[@zentouro]

wow, so cool to learn about this place!

[@jeffstramdless5024]

Glad to see you. Great video.

[@aosidh]

Fun!! Public transit to wilderness areas 😻😻😻

[@PaulFlude]

I discovered native swamp loosestrife this year in my area, but the purple loosestrife is ever present as well.

[@NinaDmytraczenko]

1:11 DUNE DOCTOR?? Excited to find out if she has a doctorate in dunes, if she helps dunes get healthy, or both!

[@xliquidflames]

3:51 Does she have _turtles_ on her hat band? That is awesome. Also, I was going to make a joke about living the dream and becoming a national park ranger hoping you get to be in somewhere awesome like Yosemite or the Grand Canyon and they send you to ...here. ...to a beach. But then she said she went to school for this kind of stuff and now that joke doesn't seem so funny. She actually is living the dream. That's awesome. I guess it's hard for a Floridian like me to get excited about dunes and a beach.

[@IndianaDunes]

She worked at a local university and was brought over to the dark side as a park ranger! The park is *so* incredibly lucky to have her.

[@rickseiden1]

I've been watching since before Emily went to Chicago, myself. Not quite OG, but close. I wonder if Emily stays in touch with Hank.

[@thebrainscoop]

@@rickseiden1 I do! Well, here and there. He likes my stuff on Instagram sometimes

[@NoNameForNone]

As someone from (original, not new) Zealand this all rings a bell 😅

[@UniqueUserName123]

Another great video!

[@FlamerOHR]

crazy to imagine that the place almost got destroyed for glass

[@IndianaDunes]

We lost the biggest dune to glass. Thankfully, so many individuals and groups fought to protect both the state park and national park land here before it was all lost.

[@dgblitwin]

What's the chance we get this for other underappreciated landscapes around the country? The sandhills in Nebraska? Konza prairie in Kansas?

[@Triairius]

You do such a good job of finding great, passionate people and letting them shine. I loved everyone in this, and I think that's something special.

[@thebrainscoop]

I had a lot of help with this one! My criteria for appearing on the show is: "do you wanna be on it? Like, REALLY want to help get people pumped about your work?? great you're hired"

[@Triairius]

@@thebrainscoop I love that! I think it really works, too!

[@CorinneDemyanovich]

We’re so lucky to have these dunes close by!

[@itsgreenandblue1033]

i never had any idea that the dunes were a thing!!

[@floydriebe4755]

so, those are some large dunes! amazing what glacial climates can create. here in NW Montana, Flathead valley, we have some good sized dunes, also....created as the glaciers receded but still drew most of the moisture, making desert-like conditions downstream from the ice. out-wash plain, basically. said out-wash was full of the ground up rock, sand, which settled out of the run-off.....wind did the rest. pretty cool what ole Ma Nature can do. anyhoo, very interesting....the fact that the dunes are so close to Chicago is cool.....city folk need readily accessible natural landscapes to wander thru.....i'd go crazy if i couldn't walk thru the woods whenever i wanted. so, my dear Emily, whatcha got up your sleeve for the next one? whatever, i'm sure it will be very interesting. til then, i'm so happy to have you back on Brain Scoop😊 "it still has brains on it!"😅

[@emaglott]

What a great video!

[@Anti-AntiAintI]

Bad luck at the dunes. Every time I go, I lose something. From Pokemon cards to iPod Nanos. Just bad luck.

[@kennethtaylor3147]

The dunes are my favorite. Thank you for filming this. I hate dunes pavilion owned by Luke oil. They sell styrofoam coolers right on the beach

[@crains8087]

So interesting to learn the connection between the dunes and ecology.

[@isacami25]

that place is so cool!! i love it when grass grows on sand.

[@DanielSolis]

Has it really been ten years?? 😮

[@thebrainscoop]

The first Brain Scoop video was published in 2012 💀

[@jordanhamann9123]

13:25 it's a pity that the majority of the dunes were destroyed before any preservation actions were taken.

[@agargamer6759]

I got chills from that quote too!

[@marlymarlmarl]

Great video!

[@pg2826]

I noticed that there were a lot of women working at this park which is not typical. I am happy to see those passionate experts.

[@DrChadd13]

Love the video and reading all the comments from my fellow Region Rats!!

[@Maj7]

Emily is a true original.

[@EayuProuxm]

7:25 Laura Brennan, aka the most passionate plant person I've ever met Coming from Emily Graslie, that's a big statement.

[@AveryShazz]

Love you Emily!

[@LăngKínhĐộngVật-vietnamese]

Đó là một trong những địa điểm cắm trại yêu thích của tôi. Tôi rất thích đào hố, và cát ở đó là tuyệt vời nhất để làm điều đó và cả xây lâu đài cát nữa

[@sethlogee]

Does Erin like the movie Dune 😂

[@ItsMeToryD]

Dunes, dunes, dunes!!

[@curiousfirely]

Duunneesss!!! ❤✈️🎮

[@awesome0733]

DUNES DUNES DUNES DUNES DUNES DUNES DUNES DUNES

[@Gilgwathir]

Dune science? Where are the stillsuites and ornithopters? Wait... wrong dune.

[@TheGreenLing]

Poor patrons got less than a second at the end of a 18 minute video

[@thebrainscoop]

d'oh 🤦🏼‍♀️ I was so focused on including all the names I didn't realize I'd been pausing it every time I reviewed it!! I'll change this for next time

[@HerbertErpaderp]

Baby dune doo doo doo doo doo doo

[@amistry605]

🐻⬇️

[@goghtube1890]

👏🏻