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.

June 21, 2006

The largest creature ever to live on Earth wasn’t a mammoth, or even a dinosaur. It lives today, gliding through the depths of the oceans: the blue whale. It’s twice as long as a city bus and weighs as much as an airliner. And every day during peak feeding season, it can eat several tons of plankton - some of the smallest organisms on Earth.

The blue whale and its diet illustrate the great diversity of life in the oceans.

June 21, 2006

The horrific images remain vivid long after the Asian tsunami of 2004: An unstoppable wall of water surging inland, flattening buildings, tossing around cars like bathtub toys, sweeping adults and children out to sea. It killed more than a quarter of a million people - all because the ocean floor moved.

A tsunami is one of the most powerful and destructive natural forces. And almost every coastline is at risk. Yet with the right equipment, scientists can predict where a tsunami will hit up to several hours in advance.

June 21, 2006

Ocean creatures use a lot of methods to catch their next meal. Some just swim up and grab it. Others hide in the rocks and wait for it to swim by.

One of the most interesting methods belongs to a homely little shrimp. Although it’s no bigger than your finger, it stuns or kills its prey with an exploding bubble.

June 21, 2006

Most maps and globes show the landmasses of our planet Earth in great detail. But most of the surface is a blank field of blue: the oceans.

Yet beneath that featureless layer is an exotic world of its own.

Giant mountains and canyons contour the ocean floor; water currents circle the globe; and an array of life from single-celled creatures to the largest animal in history moves through the depths.

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