yego.me
💡 Stop wasting time. Read Youtube instead of watch. Download Chrome Extension

Filming Glow-in-the-Dark Critters | Best Job Ever


less than 1m read
·Nov 11, 2024

[Music]

Being a wildlife cameraman, it's a whole discovery of technical knowledge. I'm working with Paul Merrick, who is a grantee of the National Geographic Society. Dr. Merrick studies millipedes, and we're headed out to film them in their natural habitat. They actually are quite difficult to find during the day, but at night, they're actually very easy to find.

And this isn't an accident; these millipedes are actually fluorescent, which is what we normally think of as glow-in-the-dark. Their glowing carapace is actually a signal to predators that, "Hey, I'm not good food, don't eat me." The first time I saw one, I did a double take because there isn't supposed to be light on the forest floor in the middle of the night.

It's just a really cool and bizarre phenomenon. In my mind, there was no way to be too close to them, so at times when we were filming, the lens was only an inch or so from the millipedes. One of the cool things about this work is that every assignment has a challenge, and so often, they feel impossible at first.

In this situation, it was learning a lot about spectrums of light and sensitivities of camera sensors, and I had to figure out electrical power for setting up lights in the woods. Basically, you're just trying to solve problems and create solutions to see things that you wouldn't otherwise be able to. When all's going well, all systems go, you just feel like really you're on this Magic Carpet ride through the underworld.

More Articles

View All
The Battle Between Eel and Stonefish Is One-Sided | National Geographic
Today in the ocean, a life-or-death battle between two extremely capable predators. First up is the stonefish, the killer who hides in plain sight, with sharp spines containing enough venom to kill a person. We’ve chosen a shot of it missing its prey. I’…
Debunking 3 myths about air pollution | Nat Geo Explores
(upbeat music) - [Narrator] Ever think of how many breaths of air you take in a day? It’s a lot, like 20 thousand, give or take a few. All day, all night, our bodies are at work bringing in the good (bell dings) and kicking out the bad (buzzer sounds). Bu…
Sun Tzu | The Art of War
If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle. Sun Tzu War is part of life. It’s in the nature of most living organisms to engage in battle, defeat opponents, and to dominate. With humans, we see this happen in war, in bus…
How Elon Musk Spends His Time
How do you spend your days now? Like what do you? My time is mostly split between SpaceX and Tesla. And of course, I try to spend a part of every week at OpenAI. So I spend most—I spend basically half a day at OpenAI most weeks. And then I have some OpenA…
See How NASA Helped An Artist Create Stunning Drawings of Glaciers | Short Film Showcase
[Music] I wear any brand. I wear glasses like wear nostril filters or not breathing. I mean, not when there’s a camera on me. [Music] I’m an artist. I draw large-scale landscape drawings that document Earth’s changing climate. I’m so moved personally by t…
How to sell a $24,000,000 private jet.
He wants a 550 and a 450. He wants to spend the budget total amount for two aircraft, maybe 20 to 25 million range. 550, he said, instead of buying your 450 as a second aircraft, we might end up buying two 550s. Right? He just saw one of your ads. I beli…