Reef Resilience
What is resilience? How do we destroy it in ecosystems? How can we restore it? Steve takes you to coral reefs in Samoa to teach science by example: what resilience is and how entire ecosystems, such as coral reefs, depend on it for survival. |
What is Coral?
What is a coral? The basic ideas from the birth of some of the simplest creatures on earth to the development of living structures so large they are visible from space. Watch Steve create an entire coral reef using only two cups and a flower. This episode of Short Attention Span Science Theater finds us on Ofu Island, where Steve demonstrates the beautiful simplicity and complexity behind an organism that is tiny and giant at the same time. Meet the paradox that is a coral reef. |
The Sea is Green
Why is this reef green? The answer is simple – virtually all the plant eaters are gone.. Steve examines why a reef once teeming with life has now become overrun with green algae. Discover how overfishing can destroy an entire undersea community. “The sea is green right now because people are too good at being predators.” |
Ground Truthing
Satellites can show us many things on Earth from their vantage point in space, but they’ve never been able to accurately detail what the world is like BENEATH the water’s surface… until now. Join a crack team of researchers as they ‘ground truth’ the innovative use of satellite imagery and underwater videography to produce and new and groundbreaking tool. |
Marine Parks
Why establish a marine park? Steve looks for the answers to this question at the source, a struggling coral reef in the Bahamas. This episode looks at the concept of a marine park, and how it might benefit an environment such as a coral reef and various islands in the Bahamas. |
Life Cycle of the Conch
There’s more to a conch than just a hard shell. In one take, Steve reveals secrets behind the amazing design and development of this snail from a microscopic larva to one of nature’s most incredible architects of beauty. |
The Secret Lives of Whales
The amazing world of whales. So much of what we know has come from whalers themselves-until the technology explosion of the last 50 years. Steve looks at four stories of how recent advances in technology give us a much better feel for how whales have lived their lives, how they live them now and what they future is likely to be like. From Sonograms to DNA analysis to skin samples detailing worldwide pollution, join Steve on a journey through four stories of how cutting-edge technology is revealing untold mysteries about whales. |
Urban Marine Biology
Very few people know where to find sharks anymore. Join Steve and his undergraduate class on the streets of San Francisco as they search for sharks in an unlikely place. The untold history of who are the sharks in your soup. |
Cooking with DNA
Did you know that when you buy "Pacific Red Snapper" it often isn't Red Snapper at all? Pacific Red Snapper actually isn't a species at all, it describes a number of different species, usually of Rockfish which are sold under that name. Steve shows Lynne Rosetto Kaspar (of NPR's "The Splendid Table") how to extract and sequence DNA from supermarket fillets to tell what kind of fish they really are. |
City vs. Village
For generations Fijians have lived in small villages
and survived on fish from the sea. As more and more people move into large
cities, the population density is taking a toll on local fish populations.
Join Steve as he explores the problem and some possible solutions. |
The Marine Protected Area
Around Fiji, and the South Pacific, local people are taking |
The Solar-Powered Clam
Steve introduces us to the Giant Clams of Fiji, who have come
up with a remarkable answer to the question, "What's for dinner?" |
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: microdocumentary short film content hosted and presented by Garthwait & Griffin Films, Inc.
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