HOST Damond Benningfield
DISCUSSION
Climate scientists are debating just how much global sea level will rise by the end of the 21st century. Projections range from less than a foot to more than six […]
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
Thanks to El Niño, most of us know that there’s a connection between water temperatures in the Pacific Ocean and weather patterns in North America. Warmer water in the eastern […]
HOST Damond Benningfield
DISCUSSION
As its name might suggest, the lumpsucker isn’t the most attractive fish in the ocean. It’s shaped like a ball, and it has a “sucker” on its stomach that it […]
HOST Damond Benningfield
DISCUSSION
The northern coast of Australia looks like something is missing — as though someone took a giant knife and carved out a square notch. But it wasn’t carved at all. […]
HOST Damond Benningfield
DISCUSSION
Every year, a large “dead zone” develops where the Mississippi River empties into the Gulf of Mexico. It’s caused by a build-up of fertilizers and other nutrients that have washed […]
HOST Damond Benningfield
DISCUSSION
An adult blue whale can reach a length of a hundred feet and weigh up to 200 tons. That makes it the biggest animal on Earth — not only today, […]
HOST Damond Benningfield
DISCUSSION
Ghosts haunt the oceans. They scuttle along the shore, lurk among the corals, and glide through the dark ocean depths. Some of them blend into the shimmering water so completely […]
HOST Damond Benningfield
DISCUSSION
When a wave breaks gently on the shore, it may be completing a journey of many days and hundreds or thousands of miles. Yet the water that comes ashore has […]
HOST Damond Benningfield
DISCUSSION
Modern-day scorpions are small but creepy, and the stingers on their tails pack a painful punch. Some of their ancient relatives were also creepy, but they were big, and their […]
HOST Damond Benningfield
DISCUSSION
A red tide can cause all kinds of problems. Neurotoxins in the microscopic organisms that cause red tides can contaminate oysters and other shellfish. Anyone who eats the shellfish can […]