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.
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.
When a sea turtle hatches, it skedaddles — it gets off the beach and into the water as fast as its little flippers will carry it. After that, it’s a life at sea. Females return to shore only to lay their eggs, while males may never return at all — unless something goes wrong.
Every year, something does go wrong for thousands of turtles along the Atlantic and Gulf coastlines of the United States — they wash up on the shore or float quite close to it, unable to return to sea.
Measuring the average depth of the world’s oceans seems like a straightforward problem. Drop a line over the side of a ship, measure how much line spools out, and repeat at locations across the globe. And in fact, oceanographer John Murray did just that in the late 19th century. He came up with an average of 12,457 feet. And it was a remarkably good result — it varies from the most recent measurement by just three percent.
A new fad may be sweeping through Shark Bay, off the coast of Western Australia: conching. Researchers have seen bottlenose dolphins there bring conch shells to the surface and dump out fish. And the behavior seems to be getting more common.
The dolphins in Shark Bay use some pretty crafty strategies to stir up a meal. One is called “kerplunking” — the dolphin slaps its tail on the surface above a seagrass bed to scare out the fish. Another is called “sponging” — the dolphin uses a sponge to protect its beak as it pokes around the bay floor.
If people are keeping their distance from you, looking away, or discreetly placing a hand over their noses, it might be time to check your breath. The aroma of that shrimp with garlic sauce you had for lunch just might be keeping other people away.
Odors play an important role in the way fish congregate, too. If a fish is particularly smelly, others may keep away from it. And one way for a fish to pick up a bad smell is to swim through pollution.
It’s important to check out the neighbors before you move into a new place — are they loud, are they tidy, and, especially, is there an odor of death wafting around their digs?
The answer to that last question seems to play a role in where young damselfish settle on a coral reef: The odor of a predator keeps them away.
Damselfish hatch near the surface, and spend their first few days drifting or swimming with the currents. After that, they pick out a nearby reef as a permanent home.
The bays and wetlands around the American coastline are constantly changing. Some of the changes are natural, but some are caused by people. A network of instruments around the country is helping scientists understand these changes, while providing critical information to those who help manage coastal development.
We’ve all seen video of large schools of fish moving as one — all of its members seeming to turn, dart, or flow much like a single organism. Marine biologists are still trying to understand how that works — how hundreds or thousands of fish can move together so easily. In other words, they’re trying to work out the rules of the road.
One recent study found that the rules may be much like those that human drivers are supposed to follow on the highways: keep your eyes on the car ahead of you, and don’t follow too closely.
