CORALESCENCE

Between the oceanic world of invertebrates and the experience of becoming an aquanaut, I’m joined in conversation with marine ecologist Drew Harvell, Professor Emeritus at Cornell University, research scientist at Friday Harbor Laboratories in Washington and Hopkins Marine Station in California, and an incredible author who has illuminated the hidden lives of marine invertebrates, ocean health, an...

On the East End of Long Island, New York, I meet with Pete Topping, Executive Director of Peconic Baykeeper, whose work spans oyster restoration and water quality monitoring. In this conversation we move into the near planktonic realm of marine life and talk about algae blooms, dinoflagellates, the strange luminous phenomena that sometimes appear in the bays of Long Island, and his work as Baykeep...

At the edge of Miami’s beautiful Virginia Key, I’m joined in this conversation by Dalton Hesley at the Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science, alongside my Miami-based artist collaborator Beatriz Chachamovits.  Together, we talk about corals, symbiosis, and why collaboration matters in the face of the climate crisis. We explore how science and art can learn to work together, h...

Join me in conversation with Melanie Prentice, research associate at the University of British Columbia and the Hakai Institute, and one of the lead researchers who helped unravel the mystery of the Sea Star Wasting Disease. In this conversation we particularly focus on the magnificent sunflower sea star, Pycnopodia. As the wasting disease spread up the pacific coast from California to Canada, mor...

At the Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium,  artist Randi Renate meets with Mitch Carl, the curator of aquatics and Lindsey Condray, senior aquarist and coral husbandry specialist working in conversation and care of the aquarium's many corals and projects. Following an extensive behind the scenes tour of their many scientific investigations in the fields of genetics, reproductive physiology, medici...

Explore the ecology of a small island where the Long Island Sound meets the Atlantic Ocean. These series of conversations produced on Fishers Island in New York State will focus on the island's native ecosphere and the relationships the occupants have have with its coastal landscape, unpacking these vital connections through oyster farming, natural clay harvesting,  and bioluminescent occurre...

In this conversation, the artist Randi Renate speaks with Alannah Vellacott, a marine ecologist, science communicator and ocean advocate. As a Bahamian living in a small community that bordered an expansive mangrove creek system, Alannah grew up with the ocean as the backdrop to her childhood.  This episode's studio visit will explore Alannah's narrative on how she came to be a prominent...

Dive into the conservation work of Coral Vita, an operative Coral Farm based in Grand Bahama that is focusing on coral restoration, growing corals to restore dying reefs through microfragmentation and assisted evolution. In this conversation, the artist Randi Renate will be speaking with three different specialists at the farm: Co-Founder of Coral Vita and chief reef officer Sam Teicher, coral tec...