This week on the channel +1.5M views this week

PBS Eons finds pumpkins' unlikely survival partners: us

Kallie Moore traces bitter ancestral gourds from mastodon meals to human domestication in the channel's only new upload.

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PBS Eons Story of October 31, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? The channel's weekly summary: what went up this week, what is drawing views now, and where the channel stands among similar channels.

Pumpkins Shouldn't Exist

Things we can learn from the video

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0:46Ancestral cucurbits relied on large herbivores to spread their seeds.
2:13Bitter cucurbitacins deterred small mammals but were tolerated by large herbivores.
3:36Fossilized dung helps connect ancient gourds with their megafauna seed dispersers.
6:43Megafauna extinction left cucurbits without their former seed-spreading partners.
8:22Humans preserved gourds through non-food uses before breeding sweeter, edible forms.

Mastodons eating bitter gourds in prehistoric Florida might seem a long way from pumpkin pie. Kallie Moore connects the two in "Pumpkins Shouldn't Exist," PBS Eons' new explanation of a plant partnership that outlasted its original partners.

The episode opens with an animated feeding scene, then explains the arrangement: large herbivores could eat ancestral cucurbits and disperse their seeds, while bitter compounds discouraged smaller mammals. When the megafauna disappeared, those plants lost an important means of getting around. Humans offered another route to survival, finding non-food uses for gourds before breeding sweeter, edible forms. The title's apparent impossibility is really a story about domestication.

That single upload has reached roughly 673,000 views. In the comments, viewers are making jokes about humanity's determination to find uses for unpromising things, especially containers. Others bring Minecraft into the discussion, imagining an early practical application for wearing a pumpkin on your head.

The pumpkin episode carries the most momentum on the channel, followed by "The Biggest Extinction You've Never Heard Of." That earlier investigation into Europe's disappearing mammals has now passed a million views, adding a substantial second draw alongside the new release.

Across PBS Eons, daily viewing is about twice its usual level, although the subscriber audience stayed unchanged over the week. Among nearby science channels, Technology Connections is also drawing more than twice its typical daily views, while MinuteEarth is running a little below its usual pace. For Eons, the week's fresh contribution was just one episode, with an entire evolutionary rescue story tucked inside an ordinary pumpkin.

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Where next?

Also in Science and experimentsA video worth knowingHank Green tests RFK Jr.'s measles explanation against vaccination trendsHis commentary contrasts Kennedy's account of pandemic disruption with falling MMR coverage and the demands of containing a highly infectious disease.Channel: Hank Green · Story of October 31, 2026

A different discovery todayVideo taking off 47x its usual first dayDiane Sawyer's Patrick Stewart interview closes World News TonightThe October 29 edition also covers Alaska's Senate probes and a Pentagon firing, but its comment section belongs largely to the actor.Channel: ABC News · Story of October 31, 2026

What viewers say

Humans: “I can fix them.”
@kimberlyterasaki4843See it on YouTube
Humans truly developed the “don’t throw that container out I can find a use for it!” urge pretty early on 😂
@rougesunsetSee it on YouTube
Early humans probably also realized they were useful to wear on your head so you don't get attacked by the Endermen
@LuigiG145See it on YouTube

4 more comments

"It's the Great Pumpkin, PBS Eons!"
@primrosevale1995See it on YouTube
Let’s all take a moment to thank indigenous food scientists for giving us the pumpkin and squash.
@cpbrownxyzSee it on YouTube
Pumpkins: "I didn't hear no bell!"
@MiguelPerez-zx2wgSee it on YouTube
Anybody else notice those animals tearing into pumpkins, they look like they're having a bunch of fun?! Pumpkin smashing has to be something universally enjoyable.
@bones37See it on YouTube

Public comments from the video's page on YouTube

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The videos drawing views on PBS Eons right now

The Biggest Extinction You’ve Never Heard Of1,032,890 views

Did the Ozone Collapse 252 Million Years Ago?578,074 views

The facts

Channel: PBS Eons
Subscribers: 3,220,000
Channel views, last 7 days: 1,532,918
Videos published this week: 1
Video published: October 27, 2026
Video views so far: 672,523
Views on its first day: 352,539

The numbers

Here is how PBS Eons' week looks in views and subscribers.

views gained this week: this channel and similar channels

7,025,764

4,903,650

3,586,445

2,648,993

1,532,918

1,442,980

1,306,794

Technology Connections

1,139,441

MinuteEarth

1,007,786

subscribers

3,220,000

no significant change in the last 7 days

total views

787,330,669

views per day

364,353

typical day: 180,021

first-day views of each video posted this week

Pumpkins Shouldn't Exist

352,539

subscribers: this channel and similar channels

3,550,000

3,540,000

3,530,000

3,340,000

3,220,000

Technology Connections

3,220,000

Hank Green

3,200,000

CrunchLabs

3,200,000

AstroKobi

3,200,000

As of October 31, 2026 · Data source: Trari Social News, Trari Traffic Trends and Ranking Platform, Google YouTube

Subscriber, view, like and comment counts are YouTube's. Rates, usual days, rankings, comparisons and categories are Trari's own calculations.

💡 Test your knowledge

Which bitter compounds feature in PBS Eons' explanation of ancestral gourds?