HOST Damond Benningfield
DISCUSSION
Storms on the Sun can have both beautiful and annoying results. They create widespread displays of auroras—the northern and southern lights. But they can damage satellites, disrupt radio communications, and […]
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 female blanket octopus glides through the ocean like a winged phantom. When she’s threatened, she extends some of her arms. That spreads the webbing between the arms, like a […]
HOST Damond Benningfield
DISCUSSION
The mangrove tunicate is a mild-looking little creature. It’s a type of sea squirt. It’s only about an inch long, and it feeds by pumping seawater through its body and […]
HOST Damond Benningfield
DISCUSSION
Marine scientists can’t be everywhere at once. To really understand what’s happening below the waves, though, they need a lot of observations—from many places at many times. So they’re getting […]
HOST Damond Benningfield
DISCUSSION
Hotter oceans are bad for just about everyone. They can destroy coral reefs, cause fish to move to new ranges, and rev up monster hurricanes. There are problems for octopuses […]
HOST Damond Benningfield
DISCUSSION
The ocean floor is turning into a dumping ground. A recent study found that millions of tons of plastic litter the bottom of the world’s oceans and seas. About half […]
HOST Damond Benningfield
DISCUSSION
Some strange holes pockmark the bottom of the North Sea. They can be anywhere from a few feet to hundreds of feet wide. But all of them are about four […]
HOST Damond Benningfield
DISCUSSION
If you live near the coast, few words are scarier than these: Category Five. That’s the classification for the most powerful hurricanes. The storms have maximum sustained winds of at […]
HOST Damond Benningfield
DISCUSSION
Scientists in Australia are trying to paint the sea floor red. They’re giving a helping hand to the red handfish—one of the most endangered fish on the planet. The fish […]
HOST Damond Benningfield
DISCUSSION
A massive hailstorm blasted northeastern Spain a couple of years ago. It lasted only 10 minutes or so. But it produced the largest hailstones ever recorded in the country—the size […]