Category: Episodes
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The Ocean Deserves a Break
The ocean provides food for billions of people. But even those who don’t touch seafood and never set foot on a beach are connected to the ocean. The ocean is so integral to our climate that declining ocean health will fuck with every single person on this planet in some way. Most of the ocean…
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The Public and Marine-Protected Areas
Marine protected areas affect the lives of countless people. I could even argue, as MPA affect the global climate, they influence everyone. Marine protection, just like the creation of national parks and reserves on land, is often a trade-off between the income of those benefiting from exploitation and the benefits of protection. One of the…
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Coastal Ecosystems
Colorful fish swimming over just as colorful coral or hiding between the roots of mangrove forests. The coastal ecosystems have long fascinated humans. They are the part of the ocean most people stand a chance to interact with, to see, to explore. They are also among the most productive, biodiverse, and vulnerable ecosystems on this…
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Benefits and criticisms of Marine-Protected Areas
If I told you there was a simple way to increase human well-being, alleviate poverty, lower inequality, facilitate adaption against climate change, increase catch for fishers, and grow larger fish that reproduce a lot, you’d probably call me a dreamer. And, I definitely am a dreamer, but I am also a scientist. And the thing…
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Rays
Gently gliding through the waters, rays look peaceful and calming. As close relatives of the sharks, this shows how arbitrarily humans prescribe characteristics to animals. Rays are calm and majestic, sharks are dangerous killers. And then, the very first topic I find during my research is shark abortions. Yes, shark abortions. But let’s start at…
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Life at the ocean surface
From humpback whales feeding on tiny life to crabs living on plastic islands, there is a lot of life on and near the ocean surface. Today, we’ll talk about the upper layer of the ocean: the Sunlight Zone, with all the life it has to offer. Chapter 1: Sunlight We’ve talked a lot about dark…
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The State of Marine Protection
Scientists and activists have been yelling to protect the ocean. There is even a rise in demand for action from the general public. Politicians keep signing pledges. Clearly, ocean protection is a big deal. But what’s the state of things? Where are we and where do we need to go? What are MPA? Marine protected…
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Slime and teeth: Lampreys and hagfish
There are two groups of jawless fishes, and I can’t even decide which one is creepier: the lampreys or hagfishes? The short version is that lampreys are fish with mouths that don’t have a jaw but rings and rings of teeth. They feed on blood and tissues, which probably loses them quite a few sympathy…
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What lives in the deep sea?
The ocean is huge. The open ocean is a pretty vast space with a whole lot of what feels like nothing. But there’s a lot more life there than you think–and, don’t worry, I’m not talking about plankton. 70% of Earth’s surface is open ocean. Pelagic ecosystems really are the most common ecosystems out there!…