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.
In the oceans, one organism’s trash may be another’s treasure. Bits of plastic that wash into the sea can choke or entangle birds, turtles, and other large creatures. But they may also be perfect homes for microscopic creatures, who can turn a plastic chip into a thriving colony — an ecological niche known as the plastisphere.
Millions of tons of plastic trash float atop the oceans. Although plastic doesn’t degrade very easily, it does break up into smaller pieces, which can float for decades.
Grand Cayman Island is a popular spot for divers. The small Caribbean island offers clear waters, and it’s surrounded on all sides by sheer walls — rock faces that drop hundreds of feet.
We’re surrounded by alarm clocks these days. They’re on our bedside tables, our computers, and our phones — electronic reminders to get up and get going. But perhaps our most important clock is a biological one — an internal system that regulates how our bodies work, tied to the 24-hour rhythm of night and day.
The creatures that live along the shore appear to have two internal clocks. One is linked to the cycle of night and day, but the other is linked to the tides — a cycle that lasts about 12-and-a-half hours.
An oyster shell is like a time capsule — it holds information about the world in which it was created. And finding the key to that capsule may help scientists learn more about our planet’s changing climate.
A recent study, for example, looked at oysters in bays along part of the Texas coast. This region sees both prolonged droughts and big floods. But reliable climate records go back only about a hundred years. Scientists would like to know more about earlier times to better understand how conditions are changing as Earth warms up.
Life in the oceans is packin’ up and movin’ out — looking for a new place that’s a lot like the old one. Marine life is also starting families a little earlier, and letting those summer vacations linger a little longer.
All of these changes appear to be the result of changes in Earth’s climate. As the planet gets warmer, many organisms are finding ways to adapt. That keeps their species alive, but it alters everything from feeding grounds to breeding seasons.
The sand that squishes between your toes or works its way into uncomfortable places in your swimsuit is a little different for every beach. That’s because it comes from different sources — everything from coral reefs to mountain ranges.
Coastal residents have always relied on the bounty of the sea to help sustain them — even if that bounty didn’t always look especially appetizing. About 600 years ago, for example, residents of Carragheen County in Ireland tried a scraggly looking red seaweed, known as rock moss. They found that not only was it a good addition to some of their foods, it made a good medicine and fertilizer, too.
Not long after Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast, a local fisherman found an especially good fishing spot off the coast of Alabama. Suspecting that something unusual was going on, he brought out a diver, who found an underwater enchanted forest — giant logs and stumps from an ancient stand of bald cypress. Today, scientists are scrambling to study the forest before it’s destroyed by wood-eating creatures and the Gulf waters.
Like the icemaker in your fridge, the cold waters of the Arctic are constantly making chunks of ice. Most of them simply circle around the Arctic before they run aground. But a few survive to reach the North Atlantic shipping lanes.
When Spanish explorers first landed on a group of islands off the Pacific coast of South America, they were amazed to find the islands packed with giant tortoises — tens of thousands of them. The explorers called the islands the Galapagos — from the Spanish word for tortoise.
It’s been a tough road for the tortoises ever since. But one group is making a comeback. In 2013, conservationists introduced more than 100 juveniles to tiny Pinzón Island.
