HOST Damond Benningfield
DISCUSSION
About 12 million tons of plastics enter the oceans every year—the equivalent of a full garbage truck every minute. The total includes millions of grocery bags. But restrictions on the […]
Radio Program
Our regular Science and the Sea™ 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 to commercial and public radio stations across the country.
HOST Damond Benningfield
DISCUSSION
Depending on which side of the country you live on, you probably either hate or love sea urchins. Off the coast of California, there are too many of the spiny […]
HOST Damond Benningfield
DISCUSSION
The ocean floor near Los Angeles is the largest graveyard for whales yet seen. Surveys have found evidence of more than 60 whale skeletons there. Scientists have used sonar and […]
HOST Damond Benningfield
DISCUSSION
The image of more than a hundred thousand aircraft carriers floating through the air might sound like a scene from a Doctor Strange movie. But the weight of all those […]
DISCUSSION
When a hurricane or tropical storm rolls through, most birds fly around it, or find refuge in the calm “eye” at its center. But not the Desertas petrel. It can […]
HOST Damond Benningfield
DISCUSSION
The massive fire that engulfed Lahaina, on the Hawaiian island of Maui, killed more than a hundred people, and burned down more than 2200 buildings. And it had a much […]
HOST Damond Benningfield
DISCUSSION
When beluga whales want to communicate with each other, they just use the ol’ melon—a blubber-filled structure on their forehead. Researchers have found that the whales intentionally change the shape […]
HOST Damond Benningfield
DISCUSSION
The most powerful undersea volcano ever recorded had an impact on our entire planet—from pole to pole, and all the way to outer space. And it may continue to impact […]
HOST Damond Benningfield
DISCUSSION
One of the changes that goes along with aging is hair color. Red, blonde, black—regardless of the original color, our hair almost always turns gray or silver. Fish don’t have […]
HOST Damond Benningfield
DISCUSSION
Some of the largest cities in Southeast Asia could be hit by bigger, badder tropical cyclones in the decades ahead. A recent study found that warmer seas and air could […]