HUMAN ELEMENTS (2022)
Spanning 3 seasons, Human Elements is an episodic series that explores not just the facts and figures in the world of science, but the people behind those scientific explorations. The show aims to answer the question not of how science is done, but why?
For Season 2 of this show, I was brought on to edit seven of the 10 episodes. Here are a few of my favorites.
For more information:
https://www.pbs.org/show/human-elements/
CREDITS
Director/Photography – Sarah Hoffman
Executive Producer – Sarah Menzies
Narrator – Ted Alvarez
Editor – David Wulzen
Second Unit – Resti Bagcal, Beatriz Costa Lima
Art Director – Greg Cohen
Graphic Design – Madeleine Pisaneschi
The Hidden Worlds In Our Treetops (6:21)
Korena Mafune’s curiosity in fungal networks stems from trying to understand the hidden world that lies beneath our feet. Mafune’s recent study explores the rich diversity of canopy soils, the soils located on the tops of old growth forests in the Olympic rainforest. These hidden reservoirs act as a nutritional “snack” for trees and give us answers to the resilience of some of our oldest forests.
The Water Between Land and Sea (5:50)
As an aquatic and estuary ecologist, Emily Howe is drawn to the messiness of the food web. Howe works to catalog plant species to determine how to restore these rich ecosystems, which serve as a transition from land to sea.
Orcas, Better Versions Of Us (6:11)
Dr. Deborah Giles sees killer whales as better versions of us. The orca researcher has spent decades learning about this highly endangered southern resident population of whales. Alongside her research partner, her rescue dog Eba, Giles searches for whale poop, which can give clues to the health of the whales and save this ancient species.
The Plastic In Everything (6:07)
When Dr. Lyda Harris looks at the water, she can see something that’s invisible to most: microplastics. These pieces of plastic, less than five millimeters and more than one micron in size, are everywhere. As a microplastics fellow at the Seattle Aquarium, she gets an up-close look at how these tiny particles affect the waters around us and the creatures that inhabit them.