Radio Program
Our regular Science and the SeaTM radio program presents marine science topics in an engaging two-minute story format. Our script writers gather ideas for the radio program from the University of Texas Marine Science Institute's researchers and from our very popular college class, Introduction to Oceanography, which we teach to hundreds of non-science majors at The University of Texas at Austin every year. Our radio programs are distributed at to commercial and public radio stations across the country.
How do you make a polar bear float? Mix two scoops of polar bear with a bottle of root beer!
Okay, so that’s basically just another bad joke from the Internet. But it does give us a chance to talk about how polar bears and other creatures manage to stay afloat in the water.
For the polar bear, it’s blubber -- a layer of fat several inches thick. It’s less dense than the water, so it acts as sort of a lifejacket, keeping what’s inside -- the bear -- on the surface.
Marine scientists have been probing conditions in the cold current off the coast of Southern California for more than six decades now. During frequent research cruises, they measure the current’s temperature, speed, salinity, and other conditions. They also sample the organisms in the water. And in recent years, they’ve counted a lot more baby fish in the water at much earlier dates -- a change likely caused by changes in ocean temperature.
A mouthful of sea water tastes salty. That’s because on average, about three-and-a-half percent of sea water consists of dissolved minerals like chlorine and sodium.
In the open ocean, the concentration of those minerals -- known as salinity -- varies little. But even tiny fluctuations can have a major impact on Earth’s climate.
For some pelicans, dinner is a communal affair -- a sit-down activity shared with friends. For others, though, it’s strictly grab-and-go -- an activity for one. Two species of pelican inhabit American coastlines: the brown pelican and the American white pelican. They’re different in more than just color, though. They have different nesting habits, for example, and white pelicans are generally a good bit larger than the brown ones.
One other thing that sets them apart is their feeding habits.
The oceans can be either friend or foe. They provide food and recreation, regulate Earth’s temperature, and improve life in many other ways. But they also bring killer storms and tsunamis.
And one type of formation found on the ocean floor could be friend and foe at the same time -- a type of ice known as methane clathrate.
The longest creature in the oceans is no giant. Although it’s longer than any shark, whale, squid, or other denizen of the marine world, you could step right over it on the beach -- several times, in fact -- without even noticing it. That’s because while it could stretch half the length of a football field, it’s not much thicker than a strand of spaghetti.
The bootlace worm is one of several hundred species of flat worms that belong to a group known as Nemertea. Most inhabit the oceans, while a few live in fresh water .
If you rock back and forth in a full bathtub, the water sloshes from one end of the tub to the other. The depth of the water drops at one end, but increases at the other. This “rocking” motion is a special kind of wave -- a seiche -- from a French word that means “to sway back and forth.”
Seiches form in nature, too -- most commonly in lakes, but also in seas and bays -- any fairly compact body of water that has a “rim” of land around it.
The “tuxedo” pattern that a penguin wears is more than just a snappy style -- it’s a type of camouflage. It doesn’t help on the ice, but in the water the pattern of black and white helps hide the penguin from both prey and predators.
Marine creatures use many techniques to keep from being seen. Some use a combination of texture and color patterns to blend in with the background. Others are virtually transparent. And still others can change color as they move across the ocean floor.
The world’s oceans and seas are like big sponges. They soak up molecules from the atmosphere -- including carbon that’s produced by burning gasoline and other fossil fuels. In fact, the oceans absorb about a quarter of all the carbon that we humans release into the air.
According to a report by the United Nations, human activity added about 11 billion tons of carbon to the atmosphere in 2008 alone, mostly in the form of carbon dioxide. The gas acts like a blanket, trapping the Sun’s heat and making Earth warmer.
The earliest life in the oceans wasn’t a fish or a mammal. It didn’t have a shell or tentacles. And instead of eating the other organisms around it, it made its own food from its environment. Yet without it, the complex life forms of today -- in the oceans and on land -- wouldn’t exist at all.
The record of this early life is preserved in layered rocks known as stromatolites. They were built one tiny layer at a time by microbes -- the first life on Earth.
