[Petunia speaking] Hey everyone!
This is Petunia, the illustrator for our channel.
Usually you hear my sister on our videos, because I just prefer to just do the illustrations.
But since I was working on a comic for our new Webtoon -which I hope you check out – and
school is starting back up, I thought I’d do a speed draw!
By the way, if you want to know anything about the programs I’m using, check out the video
description.
I’m not a very experienced artist, but if you have any technical questions, I’ll do
my very best to answer them in the comments.
So I know lots of you are starting back to school soon – or maybe you already have – and we
hope you all have a fantastic school year.
One of the questions Pinky got asked a lot as a teacher – and that I actually asked
a lot as a student – is why should I learn or even care about this stuff?
And since we work together to teach biology on our channel, we really wanted to address that question!
So, I’m going to be honest with you all.
When I was in school, it’s not that I hated science or anything, but I just didn’t really
find much reason to study it.
I did it because I had to do it and I wanted to pass my tests.
And I thought biology was “done”---all discovered----finished.
And that I just needed to learn all the biology that was already discovered.
But one thing that I’ve learned from making videos with my sister is that science is far
from done.
There are discoveries happening every single day.
And we NEED that research and discovery.
There are long-standing problems and new ones that we all need to tackle.
Climate change, diseases, resource depletion, species going extinct, bacteria that are becoming
more and more resistant to antibiotics – it’s really important to find solutions to these.
Without advancing biology, there could be a day when simple things we take for granted
- like having somewhere to put your trash or taking an antibiotic when you have a bacterial
infection - is a thing of the past.
When we remind viewers to stay curious, we realize that’s a lot easier said
than done.
You have to care about something to stay curious.
It has to matter.
You have to find a way to make it matter to you.
So here’s my sister for that.
[Pinky speaking] Hi everyone!
Pinky here now.
A quick thanks to you for the well wishes on the last speed draw for my new baby.
We’re both getting some more sleep now, and baby just started crawling two weeks ago!
Exciting!
I want to mention just to bring awareness- I had a tough pregnancy. I developed
the disorder preeclampsia when I was pregnant.
In the United States where we live, the March of Dimes states that it’s the cause of 15%
of premature births.
And what is kind of frustrating is---there’s still not a definite known cause---or causes---of
this disorder.
High blood pressure is typically one of several effects of the disease, and in my case, my
body didn’t respond to most of the medications used to try to lower the blood pressure so
baby had to come early.
Both baby and I are doing okay now ---my symptoms did resolve a few months after the
baby was born.
So why bring this up?
Well, see, it’s one of many human body disorders where there’s not an actual cure or even
full understanding of what causes it.
Yet.
We are confident there will be an improved understanding of preeclampsia and cure someday
- just as there will be for many other disorders out there.
We’re confident there will be solutions out there, because there will be people that
are knowledgeable and care about biology and our planet.
It means we’re going to find more solutions.
We mention in our videos just some fascinating examples like the potential of using algae
as biofuel or using certain types of bacteria to break down plastics or using viruses to
target harmful bacteria.
Biology is full of potential solutions to problems and that makes me excited.
Biology is global and creative.
Finding relevance in biology doesn’t mean that you have to be a biologist.
Studying biology makes us all better at understanding science.
Real science.
Misinformation can spread like wildfire out there on the internet and social media so
we all have to get better about interpreting and communicating science.
Our very recent Nature of Science video talks about the importance of credible sources and
reading science papers critically.
We have some helpful links in the description to explore.
So, if you are going through our biology learning playlist--- discover that relevance in biology,
the study of life.
Well that’s it for the Amoeba Sisters, and we remind you to stay curious!