Ocean Science Radio

Frances's angry text about the executive order, and how it launched this episode Meet Dr. David Shiffman: shark science, policy, and why he's called Shark Week's biggest critic The story behind "Why Sharks Matter" What Section 7 of the new executive order actually says NOAA already has a depredation strategy, so what's this task force for? Depredation explained: what it means to get "sharked" Why...

In 2019, there was exactly one Black member of the American Elasmobranch Society — the leading U.S. society for shark and ray researchers — out of 500. Then a single tweet during Black Birders Week changed everything. Join us as we sit down with Jasmin Graham, President and CEO of Minorities in Shark Sciences (MISS), the organization she and three other Black women scientists built from a viral tw...

Nearly seven kilometers beneath the Indian Ocean, a team of scientists went looking for hydrothermal vents — and found something else entirely. What they mistook, at first glance, for smoking chimneys turned out to be whale skulls: the opening of a necropolis stretching 1,200 kilometers across the sea floor, holding nearly 500 fossilized whales alongside active whale falls still teeming with life....

Save Ocean Sensors: The Fight Over the Ocean Observatories Initiative A $386 million network of nearly 900 ocean sensors stretching across five sites from Oregon to Alaska to Greenland was being quietly dismantled, with no warning to Congress and no explanation to the public. In this episode, we trace the fight to save the Ocean Observatories Initiative: what this network actually does, why it mat...

Featuring Alex Rose, Science Editor, Ocean Geographic Magazine & Co-Founder, Sea Americas Alex Rose has been part of the Ocean Science Radio family for nearly a decade — you may remember her reporting live from MACNA, the Marine Aquarium Conference of North America, back in 2016. Today she's back, this time in the guest chair, with something considerably bigger on the horizon. Alex is the Science...

Guest: Oliver Gunasekara, CEO & Co-Founder, Impossible Metals Website: impossiblemetals.com Eureka Collection System animation: https://impossiblemetals.com/blog/next-generation-eureka-collection-system-animation-now-available/ Context & Further Reading: ISA (International Seabed Authority): isa.int DISCOL experiment — long-term seafloor disturbance study: https://www.discol.de/index.html IEA Crit...

Episode Description Making babies is expensive. For pretty much every species on the planet, reproduction is supposed to be the ultimate metabolic investment—a massive energy drain that can make organisms vulnerable to stress, predators, and environmental change. Except there's a small shark walking around the Great Barrier Reef that apparently didn't get the memo. In this episode of our Ocean Lov...

90% of seafood consumed on the Oregon coast is imported, while most Oregon-caught seafood gets exported. This week, we explore how that's changing. We talk with Suzie O'Neill, Kaitlyn Rich, and Jon Bonkoski from Ecotrust, who just launched "Tending the Tides," a podcast about mariculture on the Oregon coast. Learn how oyster farmers became climate sentinels in 2007 when ocean acidification killed...

What happens when an entire industry rushes forward before science can catch up? In this episode of Ocean Science Radio, we sit down with Dr. Andrew Thaler, deep-sea ecologist and CEO of Blackbeard Biologic, to explore his groundbreaking report for the Convention on Migratory Species that reveals exactly how much we don't know about deep-sea mining's impacts on whales, dolphins, sharks, turtles, a...

After nearly two decades of negotiations, the world has finally agreed on a framework to protect the high seas - that vast expanse of ocean beyond any nation's control that covers nearly half our planet's surface. On January 17th, 2026, the BBNJ Agreement (Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction), commonly known as the High Seas Treaty, officially enters into force, becoming international law. J...

Episode Description What happens when you combine marine biology expertise with immersive art? You get the world's only cartoon aquarium—and it's right here in Portland. Join us as we explore the Portland Aquarium, an innovative art installation that's reimagining ocean education. Artist Mike Bennett and marine biologist Chanel Hason have created an experience featuring over 100 hand-painted marin...

What happens after you flush? Most of us don't think about it—but maybe we should. In this eye-opening episode, we dive into one of the ocean's biggest but least discussed threats: wastewater pollution. Join us as we talk with Jos Hill, Program Director for The Nature Conservancy's Wastewater Pollution Program and creator of the groundbreaking podcast "waste(d)water." Jos reveals the shocking scal...

Dive into the freshwater frontier of ocean exploration as we explore how a revolutionary compact ROV is transforming underwater archaeology in the Great Lakes. Join us for the incredible story of the first comprehensive survey of shipwrecks in Lake Ontario National Marine Sanctuary, where cutting-edge technology meets centuries-old maritime history. Discover how RHODY - a nimble, acrobatic underwa...

Forget everything you think you know about viruses. In the ocean, there are viral giants so large they were mistaken for bacteria for decades – and they're rewriting the rules of marine ecology. Join us as we explore the fascinating world of giant viruses with Benjamin Minch, a PhD student at the University of Miami who has discovered over 230 previously unknown viral genomes using a revolutionary...

Andrew Kornblatt sits down with deep-sea ecologist and science communicator Andrew Thaler and dedicated ocean advocate and Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, Angelo Villagomez for a panel discussion on the recent actions of the Trump Administration around NOAA, Ocean Monuments, and Conservation. Come for the Ocean Politics, stay for the Pauly Shore references.

Join us as we explore the cutting-edge world of underwater technology with Liz Taylor, President of DOER Marine Operations. Discover how this innovative company has been transforming ocean exploration since 1992, from developing human-occupied submersibles to creating mobile science labs from shipping containers. In this fascinating conversation, Liz shares the story behind the Honu project - a gr...

It is February, so it is time for another OCEAN-LOVING episode. In this episode, we will discuss some of the coolest and weirdest reproduction strategies in the Ocean. In this episode, we cover the mysterious gentle giants, the WHALE SHARK, and a recent accidental behavior observation in the wild with PhD candidate with the Australian Institute of Marine Science and the Harry Butler Institute at M...

In this episode, we are highlighting the work of one marine biologist in particular whose research gives us a better understanding of how fish evolved through their bone structure. Specifically Dr. Kory Evans of Rice University, a Doctor who has spent a LOT of time looking at fish bones and went viral a few years ago after sharing a scan of a surprising interaction between two species.      

For the last episode of 2024, we at Ocean Science Radio wanted to end things on a high note, something that could act as an inspiration for the going into the next year and beyond. Today's episode is on the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary, the first-ever Indigenous-nominated and Indigenous-co-managed marine sanctuary in the United States. Join us as we speak with Violet Sage Walker, the...

The team sits down with Brian Connon, VP of Ocean Mapping for the ocean science technology firm Saildrone to talk about what the company does, why their tech is so interesting and versatile, and some of the cool projects the company has worked on.

Project 2025, otherwise known as the 2025 Presidential Transition Project. The Project aims to promote conservative and right-wing policies to reshape the United States federal government and consolidate executive power, under the premise that Donald Trump wins the 2024 presidential election. If you haven’t read it, we don’t blame you, it is literally 900 pages written in the most mind-numbing leg...

The Ocean Science Radio team chats with "Deep Sea" Dawn Wright, a geographer and oceanographer and Chief Scientist at ESRI (The Environmental Systems Research Institute) - one of the world's leading suppliers of GIS software, web GIS and geodatabase management applications. We cover why mapping the bottom of the ocean is important, some cool ocean mapping history, and her recently released book "M...

Complex compositions made up of groans, moans, sighs, roars, and high-pitched squeals that can last for hours - The songs of whales are both beautiful and haunting. Humans have had a particular fascination with the sounds of cetaceans and the possible meanings behind it since Roger Payne, a marine biologist, first noticed the complex sonic arrangement of humpback whale sounds during a research exp...

A new paper just dropped on incorporating environmental factors when determining conservation baselines for sharks on coral reefs by our very own Frances! (That's right, it is a META episode!)

In honor of the untimely passing of Ocean advocate, Turtle biologist, and author of the book "Blue Mind," Dr. Wallace J. Nichols, we are re-releasing our episode with him featuring the topic of "Blue Mind" and the benefits of being close to the ocean and other bodies of water.