HOST Damond Benningfield
DISCUSSION
Sea birds face all kinds of threats these days: a warmer climate, decreasing food supplies, attacks by invasive species, and others. One of the most basic is rising sea level, […]
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
The Chengjiang formation in China is one of the world’s most important fossil sites. It’s not that big—it covers a couple of square miles in Yunnan province, in the southwestern […]
HOST Damond Benningfield
DISCUSSION
Blue crabs live their entire lives in the water. That’s where they eat, breed, and even breathe. So, some marine scientists were a bit astonished when they saw blue crabs […]
HOST Damond Benningfield
DISCUSSION
Marine scientists need all the help they can get. Exploring the oceans is hard and expensive. In recent years, though, they’ve gotten help from some special research assistants: marine mammals. […]
HOST Damond Benningfield
DISCUSSION
Like an attic that hasn’t been explored in decades, the deep ocean is a big mystery. It’s inhabited by many species of life that we’ve never seen—perhaps millions of them. […]
HOST Damond Benningfield
DISCUSSION
Oceanographers are getting ready to go deep. They’re deploying a network of sensors to explore the deepest parts of the oceans. The readings will help us understand more about our […]
HOST Damond Benningfield
DISCUSSION
The Suez Canal is an easy path for invaders. It’s brought hundreds of species of fish, crabs, and other non-native critters into the Mediterranean Sea. And they’re causing all kinds […]
HOST Damond Benningfield
DISCUSSION
A single fish that’s only two and a half inches long doesn’t usually generate much excitement. But a juvenile chum salmon found off the northern coast of Alaska created some […]
HOST Damond Benningfield
DISCUSSION
Lots of people would like to experience what appears to be happening on the ocean floor: a slowdown in the rate of spreading out. A recent study suggests that rifts […]
HOST Damond Benningfield
DISCUSSION
The chambered nautilus comes from a long line of survivors. Its earliest ancestors appeared more than 500 million years ago. Its family tree has persisted through five global extinctions, including […]