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cover of episode Why seals don’t drown, and tracking bird poop as it enters the sea

Why seals don’t drown, and tracking bird poop as it enters the sea

2025/3/20
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Science Magazine Podcast

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The podcast discusses the mating behavior of the venomous blue-lined octopus, highlighting how males use their toxins to avoid being eaten by larger females during mating.
  • Blue-lined octopuses are extremely venomous and use tetrodotoxin.
  • Males are much smaller than females and use venom to paralyze them during mating.
  • This behavior helps males avoid being eaten by females, despite both sexes dying post-reproduction.

Shownotes Transcript

First up this week, Newsletter Editor Christie Wilcox joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss stories from the sea, including why scientists mounted cameras on seabirds, backward and upside-down; newly discovered organisms from the world’s deepest spot, the Mariana Trench; and how extremely venomous, blue-lined octopus males use their toxin on females in order to mate. Read more or subscribe at science.org/scienceadviser).

 

Next on the show, J. Chris McKnight), a senior research fellow in the Sea Mammal Research Unit at the University of St. Andrews, talks about testing free-living seals to see how they respond to different carbon dioxide or oxygen levels in the air. It turns out they don’t respond like other mammals, which go into panic under high carbon dioxide; instead, seals appear to directly detect oxygen), a safer bet when your life is mostly spent diving deep underwater.

 

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy).

 

About the Science Podcast)

 

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Christie Wilcox

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