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Marine Science / What do you think of Naked Oceans? (Tell us & win a signed copy of Helen's book)

« on: 11/05/2011 17:54:54 »

Naked Oceans is coming to the end of its first series - and we've just heard that there's going to be a second season thanks to the continued support of the Save Our Seas Foundation.

Before we get cracking with making the new series we want to hear what you think of the show so far.

Which bits do you love? Which are you not fussed about? And which do you hate?  [?]  [?]

Let us know either by posting a message here, or by filling in the NAKED OCEANS SURVEY. www.thenakedscientists.com/oceansurvey.

It's short & sweet, so won't take long. And if you fill it in before June 20th 2011 you could win one of 3 signed copies of my book, Poseidon's Steed, the story of seahorses from myth to reality... that's gotta be worth a few minutes?

Thanks!!
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Radio Show & Podcast Feedback / Discuss: Alternatives to Overfishing

« on: 11/01/2011 20:54:56 »

The link is live now.

There are so many issues involved here, we've picked out a few of them including consumer choice, ecotourism as an alternative, and setting up marine reserves to help support fished populations.

Have a listen and let us know what you think!

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Marine Science / How rapidly do barnacles colonise a surface?

« on: 24/11/2010 22:57:01 »

It probably depends on a range of factors including whether there happens to be a cloud of barnacle larvae wafting past and if the surface has any anti fouling chemicals on it to keep larvae away - and a big factor is whether or not barnacles are already present...

The weirdest fact about barnacles is that they have the longest penis (relative to body size) of any animal - yup - a vital tool since adults stick themselves firmly in place and need to reach across to other individuals to mate successfully.

So... having a long penis is all very well, but it means that barnacle larvae still need to settle down fairly close to other barnacles (no point being a lone barnacle all on your own - there's only so far your penis can stretch). And a few years ago, researchers at the Universities of Plymouth and Newcastle figured that barnacle larvae detect a specific chemical in the exoskeleton of adult barnacles that guides them to settle close where there are other barnacles.

But, the question is, how does the first barnacle decide to colonise a new surface when there aren't already adults there?

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Marine Science / Why do sea shells all spiral in the same direction?

« on: 24/11/2010 22:40:39 »

Just like humans, molluscs are mostly right handed. Left handed shells are far rarer at the moment - but looking back through time, the fossil record reveals periods when shells have flipped from right handed to left handed and back, through the eras. I don't think we have a good idea yet, why that might be!

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Marine Science / How do polar bears' eyes survive in the Arctic sea?

« on: 19/11/2010 14:03:58 »

I'm not aware of any polar animals - including polar bears - that have antifreeze in their eyes (but nice idea!). and I agree with Chris that probably their blood supply would help keep them thawed out.

Seawater can drop to minus 2 degrees C, which is pretty cold, but temperatures get far lower out of water with cold air plus wind chill factor - so really, any polar animals (including human visitors) risk getting much nipper out of the sea than in.

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Marine Science / Did we reach the target for protecting 10% of the oceans by 2010?

« on: 13/11/2010 14:26:41 »

well... maybe not. But how close did we get, and how much of the seas currently lie within marine protected areas?

All is revealed in the latest episode of Naked Oceans - listen in and find out more at our website by clicking here.

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Marine Science / what makes some kind of bivalves relatively resistant to pollutants?

« on: 08/11/2010 19:23:42 »

yuck! That's why I steer clear of eating mussels that have grown near sewage outlets!

But other than feasting on nutrient goodies in sewage effluent, mussels can resist other marine pollutants, essentially by spitting them out using something called a Multi-Drug Resistance pump, or MDR pump. These are proteins imbedded in some cells walls that act as an inbuilt self-defense mechanism.

These were first discovered in cancer cells, but have been found in mussels, which explains why they can tolerate some pollutants. And it also means we may have been underestimating how polluted the seas are: mussels have been used as bio-indicators for gauging levels of pollution. Since they filter sea water it was assumed you could measure the levels of toxins in the water by measuring the amount absorbed into mussel tissues. But if they are selectively getting rid of some nasties using their MDR pumps, then the picture isn't nearly as straight forward.

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Marine Science / Re: Are corals evolutionarily recent or ancient organisms?

« on: 08/11/2010 19:08:41 »

Sure –several different groups of major reef-builders have come and gone, and there have been times when reefs waxed and waned.

Tabulate corals were all over the place in the Ordovician and Silurian periods, but they went extinct at the end of the Permian, during that mother of all mass extinctions around 250 million years ago.

Many rugose corals went extinct then too – these included solitary “horn corals” (you can guess why they got that name) that could grow over a metre long, and other species that built reefs.

It was probably the relatively empty ecological niche left behind by the tabulate and rugose corals after the Permian extinction that let the modern reef builders - the scleractinian corals - take over. These appeared first in the Triassic and may have evolved from rugose corals.

There’s a great book on reef evolution by Cambridge scientist Rachel Wood if you want to find out more about the comings and goings of reefs.

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Marine Science / Re: What is the census of marine life?

« on: 08/11/2010 18:45:25 »

Absolutely!  [] The census was an amazing project - so amazing we decided to record a whole special edition of Naked Oceans all about it!

http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/podcasts/oceans/show/2010.10.14/

We chat with Jesse Ausabel - who co-founded the project - about how it all got started, we get the low down from various folk about what the census found, and Oceans explorer supremo Sylvia Earle gave us a special message about what she hopes will happen next.