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Researchers just published details of a massive undersea graveyard of whales deep in the Indian Ocean. Spanning about 1,200 kilometers (745 miles), it contains whale remains dating back more than 5 million years—and at least five active whale fall sites still teeming with life. Fossil whale expert Nick Pyenson joins Host Flora Lichtman to discuss these findings.
Then, marine biologists Rachel Sipler and Sara Jobson join Ira Flatow to describe an unusual discovery in certain species of sea cucumbers: If a foot or tentacle becomes detached, the parts don’t wither up and rot away. Even without a stomach, these parts appear to directly extract nutrients from the surrounding seawater. “Zombie” sea cucumber parts have been observed surviving for more than three years.
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Segment Guests
Nick Pyenson
Nick Pyenson is author of Spying on Whales: The Past, Present, and Future of Earth’s Most Awesome Creatures (Viking, 2018), and curator of Fossil Marine Mammals at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C..
Rachel Sipler
Dr. Rachel Sipler is a senior research scientist in the Bigelow Laboratory in East Boothbay, Maine.
Sara Jobson
Sara Jobson a PhD student at the Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. Johns, Canada.
Segment Transcript
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Meet the Producers and Host
About Flora Lichtman
Flora Lichtman is a host of Science Friday. In a previous life, she lived on a research ship where apertivi were served on the top deck, hoisted there via pulley by the ship’s chef.
About Charles Bergquist
As Science Friday’s director and senior producer, Charles Bergquist channels the chaos of a live production studio into something sounding like a radio program. Favorite topics include planetary sciences, chemistry, materials, and shiny things with blinking lights.