Science and the Sea podcast

By The University of Texas Marine Science Institute

What's Science and the Sea podcast about?

The goal of Science and the Sea is to convey an understanding of the sea and its myriad life forms to everyone, so that they, too, can fully appreciate this amazing resource.

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Science and the Sea podcast episodes:

04.21.2024
Power Naps
Chinstrap penguins may be contenders for the title of “world’s greatest power nappers.” A recent study found that penguins that are watching over their eggs or chicks nod off more than 10,000 times a...
04.14.2024
Deep Snow
It snows in the oceans. Bacteria, the skin cells of fish, fish poop, and bits of sand and dirt all clump together. These “snowflakes” can be up to an inch or two across. Many...
04.07.2024
Ship Killers
Killer whales near the Atlantic coast of Spain and Portugal have been living up to their name. From May 2020 through the end of 2023, they “killed” four boats and attacked hundreds of others....
03.31.2024
Deadly Combo
According to an old saying, a rising tide floats all boats. And in the decades ahead, rising waters will threaten all coastal cities. As our planet gets warmer as the result of human activities,...
03.24.2024
Ancient Giants
In 1983, roadworkers cut a notch in a hillside in Lorraine, a region in northeastern France. Paleontology students examined the exposed layers of rock. They found fossils of an ancient sea creature. Scientists just...
03.17.2024
Weaker Stream
The Gulf Stream plays a big role in the weather and climate on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. A recent study concluded that the Gulf Stream is slowing down. That could have an...
03.10.2024
Attractive Turbines
Many people like to have some “white noise” in the background while they work or sleep. And some fish seem to like it as well. A recent study found that young Atlantic cod were...
03.03.2024
Voyage to the Northeast
One of the great quests of the 16th century was to find a northwest passage—a shortcut from Europe to Asia. Such a route would go through or above the lands of the New World....
02.25.2024
On the Decline
For the eastern North Pacific gray whale, it’s been an up-and-down few decades. The population had been decimated by whaling. Conservation efforts allowed the whales to rebound. But over the past few years, the...
02.18.2024
Whiter Clouds
People are always looking for ways to make things brighter and whiter—from teeth to laundry. They seldom think of brighter, whiter clouds. Yet whiter clouds are just as important as whiter bicuspids or T-shirts....
02.11.2024
‘Fishy’ Teeth
When you bite into a chewy bagel, crunch a crispy taco, or grind up a piece of tough meat, you’re using structures that evolved hundreds of millions of years ago: teeth. There’s no consensus...
02.04.2024
Storm Relocations
Hurricane Ian slammed into southwestern Florida in September 2022. It produced a storm surge up to 15 feet high, and dumped a foot or more of rain across the region. That killed dozens, damaged...
01.28.2024
Ram Tough
The final battle of a war between Rome and Carthage sent many warships to their doom. Scientists have pulled up artifacts from some of those vessels. And at least one of the artifacts became...
01.21.2024
Batfish
There are lots of ways for a fish to attract its prey. The batfish uses two ways. It dangles a lure over its head, which pulls the prey in close. It then squirts a...
01.14.2024
Stormquakes
As if hurricanes aren’t scary enough, they can generate something that sounds just as scary: stormquakes. As a hurricane rumbles across the ocean surface, it can cause the ocean floor to rumble as well....
01.07.2024
Risky Business
Whale sharks are a bit like pop stars: They attract a crowd. Smaller fish swarm around them. That’s probably a better deal for some fish than others. Sometimes, predators can wolf down entire schools...
12.31.2023
Nap Time
When we talk about “falling asleep,” we don’t usually mean it literally. For Northern elephant seals, though, it is literal—they sleep while falling through the ocean. You can’t help but wonder if they dream...
12.24.2023
Scale-Free
The bodies of most fish are scaly. The scales protect them from predators and rough surfaces, improve streamlining, and ward off diseases and parasites. But a few species have different forms of protection: tough...
12.17.2023
Brighter Winters
Life in arctic waters is like a giant see-saw. Some species rise to the surface during the day and sink into the depths at night, while others do just the opposite. And the see-saw...
12.10.2023
Warm-Blooded Fish
The basking shark looks intimidating. It’s the second largest of all fish—it’s 25 feet or longer and can weigh 10,000 pounds. And it can open its jaw a yard wide—wide enough to swallow a...
12.03.2023
Warm Seaweed
Seaweed is useful stuff. Among other things, it provides habitat for fish, turtles, and other creatures. It’s also used in a lot of products in the human realm: food, fertilizers, animal feed, medicines, thickeners...
11.26.2023
Redfish Rebound
Life in Canada’s Gulf of St. Lawrence has been on a seesaw. Some species all but disappeared, allowing others to thrive. Then the seesaw flipped the other way. Some all-but-vanished species tipped up, while...
11.19.2023
Williwaws
In early 1945, as World War II neared its climax, 19-year-old Gore Vidal was the first officer of an Army supply ship in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. The weather was often stormy. Another...
11.12.2023
Bouncing Back
Life always seems to find a way. It inhabits every nook and cranny on Earth, from the upper atmosphere to the rocks below the bottom of the ocean. And even when there’s a disaster,...
11.05.2023
Hidden Eyes
In the human world, having “bright eyes” is considered a good thing. It means you’re alert, curious, or energetic—a bright personality with a bright outlook. But in the marine world, bright eyes can be...
10.29.2023
Whale Spas
Lots of people pay good money for exfoliation treatments—removing their dead skin. But some humpback whales take care of their own treatments. They strip away dead skin and parasites by rolling in the sand...
10.22.2023
Green Storm
A tropical storm doesn’t have to be big to have a big impact. In 2019, for example, a hundred thousand square miles of the Coral Sea, east of Australia, turned green after the passage...
10.15.2023
Vanishing Marshes
Salt marshes are defenders. They protect the coast against erosion and storm surges. They store carbon, which helps limit global warming. And they provide habitat for fish, shellfish, and birds. Yet the marshes could...
10.08.2023
Hunting Snipe
The slender snipe eel doesn’t look like a fish at all. Instead, it looks like a long shoelace attached to the head and beak of a skinny duck. But that shoelace is bony, because...
10.01.2023
Double Trouble
One Hurricane Katrina or Hurricane Harvey is a disaster. But having two such hurricanes hit the same area within a few weeks of each other is catastrophic. Coastal infrastructure is demolished, hundreds of thousands...
09.24.2023
More Whales
For decades, whales in the Pacific Northwest were declining. Year after year, the populations kept getting smaller. In recent years, though, many of the whales have been coming back. Thanks to conservation efforts and...
09.17.2023
Losing Ice
The two largest ice sheets on Earth sit atop Antarctica and Greenland. But they’re both getting smaller in a hurry. They’re contributing to the rise in global sea level—about an inch over the past...
09.10.2023
Shark Nursery
Young sharks of several threatened species are living together in a “nursery” off the western tip of Africa. It’s one of the busiest nurseries in the Atlantic Ocean. From 2016 to 2019, researchers counted...
09.03.2023
Asphalt Volcanoes
Oil and gas bubble up through the ocean floor all the time. They form oil slicks, create tar balls that wash up on shore, and make pillows of methane ice. And in some rare...
08.27.2023
Otters and Wolves
Good news for one species isn’t necessarily good news for all. Consider the wildlife on Pleasant Island, off the coast of southeastern Alaska. Sea otters returned to the island a couple of decades ago....
08.20.2023
Coastal Threats
Millions of residents chased out of their homes. Trillions of dollars in extra damages. A tenth of coastal crops destroyed. That’s what some developing countries could face from coastal flooding by the year 2100,...
08.13.2023
Arms vs. Tentacles
Here’s a pop quiz for you: How many tentacles does an octopus have? If you said “eight,” sorry, but you fail. An octopus does have eight limbs. But technically, they’re known as arms, not...
08.06.2023
Anglerfish
When scientists began pulling anglerfish from the deep ocean, they noticed something odd—all of the specimens were female, and many of them had small parasites attached to their bodies. And when they studied the...
07.30.2023
Moving Out
When neighborhoods start to go downhill, people move away. And today, that’s happening in marine neighborhoods. As the oceans get warmer—a result of our changing climate—fish and other critters are moving out of their...
07.23.2023
Shark Grass
Tiger sharks can boldly go where no diver has gone before—or is likely to go anytime soon. That makes them great research assistants for marine scientists. In fact, they helped confirm the discovery of...
07.16.2023
Atmospheric Rivers
Many Americans have learned a new term in the past few years: atmospheric river. Massive ribbons of water vapor have brought floods and epic snowfalls to the West Coast. And our warming climate could...
07.09.2023
Lyrical Spider
A few years ago, some scientists in Australia got a tip from a city council member in a town in the state of Queensland, on the country’s northeastern coast: Some unusual spiders were appearing...
07.02.2023
Garbage Soup
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch isn’t what you think. It’s often depicted as a big “island” of junk—plastic bottles, fishing nets, sneakers, tires, and other debris. But that’s not the case. In fact, you...
06.25.2023
Raw Power
A hurricane is like a giant power plant. In a single day, a run-of-the mill hurricane can produce 200 times as much energy as all the power plants in the entire world. And a...
06.18.2023
Ear Protection
Nobody likes the booms and cracks of pile drivers and airguns. They’re not only aggravating, but they can cause hearing loss and other health problems. So there are laws and regulations to control how...
06.11.2023
Manta Colony
The giant oceanic manta ray is one of the most graceful fish on Earth—and one of the biggest. Its “wings” can span 20 feet or more. It flaps them gently as it glides through...
06.04.2023
Living in Chimneys
Many species of marine life are spread far and wide—across millions of square miles. But others are concentrated in patches no bigger than your backyard garden. And thousands of species can share the space.Some...
05.28.2023
Swirling Fish
If you’re one of the ocean’s major predators, you go where the food is—even if it might make you a little dizzy. Scientists recently found that tunas, sharks, and other big fish were more...
05.21.2023
Ocean Gyres
Much of the water in the world’s oceans is herded like cattle being driven to market—not by cowboys on horseback, but by strong currents. Known as gyres, they help control global temperatures and the...
05.14.2023
Green Doughnuts
Green doughnuts are typically something you want to avoid. But some giant green doughnuts on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef may actually be good for us. They may store carbon on the ocean floor. That...

What's Science and the Sea podcast about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Science and the Sea podcast episodes:

Power Naps

Deep Snow

Ship Killers

Deadly Combo

Ancient Giants

Weaker Stream

Attractive Turbines

Voyage to the Northeast

On the Decline

Whiter Clouds

‘Fishy’ Teeth

Storm Relocations

Ram Tough

Batfish

Stormquakes

Risky Business

Nap Time

Scale-Free

Brighter Winters

Warm-Blooded Fish

Warm Seaweed

Redfish Rebound

Williwaws

Bouncing Back

Hidden Eyes

Whale Spas

Green Storm

Vanishing Marshes

Hunting Snipe

Double Trouble

More Whales

Losing Ice

Shark Nursery

Asphalt Volcanoes

Otters and Wolves

Coastal Threats

Arms vs. Tentacles

Anglerfish

Moving Out

Shark Grass

Atmospheric Rivers

Lyrical Spider

Garbage Soup

Raw Power

Ear Protection

Manta Colony

Living in Chimneys

Swirling Fish

Ocean Gyres

Green Doughnuts