Videos

Chris Martine has been generating educational YouTube content since 2008, most of it as part of the “Plants are Cool, Too!” (PACT) project co-produced with Paul Frederick and Tim Kramer. The first PACT episode was posted in 2011 thanks to funding from the Botanical Society of America, with subsequent episodes funded through grants and by the institutions of the scientists featured in the videos. The goal has been the same from the beginning: to put a spotlight on awesome plants and the cool people who study them. The videos have been viewed on YouTube more than 200,000 times; and PACT has been used in hundreds of classrooms (both K-12 and at colleges/universities) as well as in museums and other science-based educational settings. Interested in using them for teaching? We’ve indexed them by subject below.

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  • Plants Are Cool Too! "The Pale Pitcher Plant" Episode 1: Sarracenia alata

    Plants Are Cool Too! "The Pale Pitcher Plant" Episode 1: Sarracenia alata

    How pitcher plants lure, trap, and digest insect prey… with the help of millions of mystery microbes. Focus on the habitat, life cycle, morphology and internal ecosystem of Sarracenia alata.

  • Legend of the Predator-proof Fence

    Legend of the Predator-proof Fence

    The first predator-proof management fence installed in the US is helping to prevent species extinction in Hawaii. 

  • Rappelling Scientists Find Rare Species Hiding for 100+ Years

    Rappelling Scientists Find Rare Species Hiding for 100+ Years

    A team of biologists drops off a cliff to learn more about one rare plant, but ends up discovering something completely unexpected with the help of science Twitter: white alumroot (Heuchera alba). 

  • Botany Student Protects Rare Plant with Genetics and Kayaks

    Botany Student Protects Rare Plant with Genetics and Kayaks

    Even plants we use in gardens can be rare in nature – and student Cheyenne Moore is doing her best to help protect one of the most popular perennial wildflowers in its native habitat in Pennsylvania. Join her on a kayak trip on the Allegheny River as she assesses the status of the blue false indigo (Baptisia australis) in unusual formations called scour prairies.

  • National Tropical Botanical Garden and rare plant protection

    National Tropical Botanical Garden and rare plant protection

    Behind-the-scenes view of the plant conservation pipeline at the National Tropical Botanical Garden on Kaua’i, where plant people are working every day to protect the plants of Hawai’i and the rest of the global tropics. Special focus on the importance of conservation horticulture.

  • Team Schiedea (How to save a species from going EXTINCT)

    Team Schiedea (How to save a species from going EXTINCT)

    Highlighting one of the coolest and most ambitious projects in the history of rare species conservation, this episode takes us to Kaua’i, Hawai’i, where a group of passionate plant people are working to save some of the rarest plants on the archipelago — and tell us why we need a new generation of biodiversity lovers to help battle the extinction crisis.

  • How One Aboriginal Community is Making Things Better for an Important Plant

    How One Aboriginal Community is Making Things Better for an Important Plant

    Highlights one of the most important wild food plants to the Martu people of Australia's Western Desert, Wamula (Solanum diversiflorum) -- and a research project showing how Martu traditional practices are benefitting this species and the habitats it grows in.