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.
A healthy coral reef is a noisy coral reef. Shrimp, fish, and other organisms create a cacophony of sound that attracts other critters. And for damaged reefs that’ve been restored, the noise can reappear in just a year or two.
Researchers from England studied reefs around several islands in Indonesia. Many of the reefs have been damaged or destroyed by “blast fishing,” climate change, and other causes.
In 2016, scientists discovered large fields of sponges atop some volcanic mountains that rise from the bottom of the Arctic Ocean. And that was a big surprise—no one had seen anything like it before.
Corals are in trouble. Higher ocean temperatures and acidity are damaging or killing many reefs. And the problem gets worse by the year. But not all the news is in the “doom-and-gloom” category. Several recent studies have provided a slightly more hopeful outlook.
Studies say our planet’s changing climate is likely to make hurricanes more intense, trigger more outbreaks of the polar vortex, and bring more big thunderstorms and flooding rains to the American heartland. But no one is sure just what will happen to the biggest weather maker of all, El Niño. In fact, a recent study says that natural changes in El Niño make it hard to forecast how it might be altered by human-caused climate change.
If you like oysters, some researchers in Virginia have some good news for you: Restored oyster reefs can return to good health in just a few years.
Thousands of scuba tanks have washed ashore on the beaches of Cornwall, England, in the last quarter-century. So have life jackets, flippers, octopuses, and other nautical items. And they may continue to show up for decades longer. As you might expect, though, there’s a catch: They’re all Lego blocks that were washed off the deck of a ship.
The saga began in February 1997, when the cargo ship Tokio Express was hit by a rogue wave about 20 miles off Cornwall, at the southwestern tip of England.
As a hurricane roars toward the American coastline, residents pay close attention to a single number: the hurricane’s category. Category 1 is dangerous but usually survivable, while category 5 is monstrous—an Armageddon with effects that can last for months.
Parrotfish and surgeonfish are among the many colorful residents of Caribbean coral reefs. They mainly eat algae and a type of bacteria off the reef. But they also nibble on other things, including sponges and the living coral. And one item that may be an important part of their diet is decidedly unappetizing: the poo of other fish.
Researchers studied these fish in the waters around an island near Venezuela, in 2019. They followed nine species of parrotfish and three species of surgeonfish. And they paid careful attention to what the fish ate.
A type of ray has come back from the dead—or at least the mostly dead. The tentacled butterfly ray inhabited the waters along the northern Indian Ocean, from Arabia to India. But it hadn’t been seen since 1986, near Pakistan. So it was listed as critically endangered and possibly extinct.
A “conveyor belt” in the Atlantic Ocean appears to be slowing down. And that could have a big impact on the climate, although it’s not clear just what that impact might be.
