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.
Methylmercury is a nasty compound. It can damage the immune and nervous systems, and can cause severe birth defects. Fortunately, it’s rare -- we seldom come across it in our daily diets. In fact, almost all of the methylmercury in American food supplies is found in marine fish and shellfish.
On summer days here in Texas, the TV weather folks often tell us that the mercury once again topped a hundred degrees -- a reference to the days when many thermometers were glass tubes filled with liquid mercury.
The metal has been phased out of thermometers and many other products, though, because it’s toxic. But it’s still all around us -- in the soil, the air, the water, and even in many of the big marine fish we eat.
Scientists aren’t yet sure just how the mercury gets into the fish. But they suspect that bacteria in the water play a key role.
Their shells look like rocks, and are just as hard. Their innards look like...well, innards. Yet oysters are a popular seafood, their meat grilled, added to soups and stews, or slurped down raw. In fact, oysters are too popular for their own good. Overfishing has decimated oyster beds around the country -- a loss not just for the oysters, but for entire marine habitats.
Almost 2400 years ago, the Greek philosopher Aristotle noted that whales sometimes did something odd: They ran aground without, he noted, any apparent reason.
Whales still run aground -- thousands of them “strand” themselves every year, sometimes in groups of dozens or even hundreds. And scientists are still trying to fully understand the reasons.
Louisiana is disappearing. Over the last century, it’s lost about 2,000 square miles of its beaches and coastal wetlands -- an area as big as Delaware. Today, the loss averages about 25 square miles a year -- although in some years it’s much more. In 2005, hurricanes Katrina and Rita washed away more than 200 square miles in just a few days.
That’s not just a problem for mapmakers. The loss destroys habitat for fish, birds, and other wildlife. It damages tourism and other businesses. And it makes the coast more vulnerable to big storms, costing lives.
Motion in the ocean is all about shakin’ your booty -- if you’re a fish, that is.
A fish swims by contracting a complex network of muscles along the sides of its body, known as myomeres. The contractions “bend” the fish’s body, creating a wave that pushes against the water. The wave also moves the fish’s tail fin back and forth, which pushes against the water like an oar, generating most of the forward push.
But not every fish pushes in the same way. Swimming speed, agility, and endurance depend on the shape of the fish and its tail.
The orange elephant ear sponge is one of the gaudiest denizens of the oceans. It looks like a bumpy traffic cone, with the same brilliant orange color. And like a traffic cone, it may someday offer us protection against an unseen danger.
The orange elephant ear is found in the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, and other tropical waters around the world.
Basketball Hall-of-Famer Julius Erving was known for his long-range dunks. He could jump from near the foul line and still jam the ball in the basket 15 feet away — a bit more than twice his body length. But to beat the jumping ability of some tiny marine organisms, a player would have to soar not just from the foul line, or even from the opposite end of the court — but across the length of a football field.
The brightly colored flamingo gives credence to the old saying, “you are what you eat.” In the flamingo’s case, though, there’s a slight change: you are the color of what you eat.
Flamingoes are found along tropical coastlines in much of the world. Depending on the species, they can grow up to four or five feet tall, and live for 20 years. They usually live in colonies of hundreds or even thousands of birds.
In the Greek myth of Jason and the golden fleece, Jason becomes the first sailor to safely journey from the Mediterranean Sea into the Black Sea. And during years of adventures, Jason’s ship, the Argo, and its gallant crew survive monsters, storms, and vengeful goddesses all along the Black Sea coast.
The Argo ended its adventure with a safe return to a Greek island. But many real ships weren’t so lucky — they wound up on the bottom of the Black Sea. And many of them are still there — almost perfectly preserved by a sea floor environment unlike any other.
