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What is the biggest single-celled organism? - Murry Gans

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TEDEd Animation

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The elephant is a creature of epic proportions — and yet, it owes its enormity to more than 1,000 trillion microscopic cells. And on the epically small end of things, there are likely millions of unicellular species, yet there are very few we can see with the naked eye. Why is that? Why don’t we get unicellular elephants? Or blue whales? Or brown bears? Murry Gans explains.

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Which of the following are ways that cells can increase the amount of surface area per unit of volume? 1. Be long and skinny 2. Have a folded up the membrane 3. Be coenocytic 4. Be a cube 5. Be smaller

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TED-Ed Animations feature the words and ideas of educators brought to life by professional animators. Are you an educator or animator interested in creating a TED-Ed Animation? Nominate yourself here »

Meet The Creators

  • Educator Murry Gans
  • Script Editor Emma Bryce
  • Producer Zedem Media
  • Director Michael Kalopaidis
  • Animator Andria Pourouti
  • Illustrator Amanda Kafandari
  • Sound Designer Andreas Trachonitis
  • Narrator Addison Anderson

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