On Thin Ice: Supercharged Phytoplankton (Part 1)

Science Quickly

Scientific American

Science

4.2 • 639 Ratings

🗓️ 14 June 2024

⏱️ 20 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

All aboard the Nathaniel B. Palmer, a research vessel making its way through the waters of West Antarctica. Journalist Sofia Moutinho is joining a team of chemists trying to find out how glacial melting is changing ocean chemistry—and what those changes might mean for the global climate. The researchers want to know whether a negative feedback loop could take shape in Antarctica’s seas. Carbon dioxide contributes to the rise in warming that is melting the glaciers. As glacial melting releases iron, phytoplankton feast. Phytoplankton in turn remove carbon from the air, potentially causing a cooling effect. Stay tuned for next Friday’s episode, where Moutinho will embark on a hunt for sea ice and hear about the researchers’ special encounter with Adélie penguins. E-mail us at [email protected] if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter. Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Carin Leong, Madison Goldberg and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by journalist Sofia Moutinho. Our show is edited by Elah Feder, Alexa Lim, Madison Goldberg and Anaissa Ruiz Tejada, with fact-checking by Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck. The theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:00.0	Understanding the human body is a team effort. That's where the Yachtel group comes in.
0:05.8	Researchers at Yachtolt have been delving into the secrets of probiotics for 90 years. Yacold also
0:11.5	partners with nature portfolio to advance gut microbiome science through the global grants for
0:16.6	gut health, an investigator-led research program. To learn more about Yachtold, visit yawcult.co.j.j.
0:23.8	That's y-A-K-U-L-T.C-O.J-P.
0:28.3	When it comes to a guide for your gut, count on Yacolt.
0:33.3	Antarctica is the largest, coldest desert on the planet, with snowfall dropping less than six inches of water there each year.
0:43.3	But for such a dry place, Antarctica has an outsized impact on the world's oceans.
0:48.3	The ice sheet that covers much of the continent contains most of Earth's fresh water.
0:53.3	You've probably heard that a lot of that ice is melting because of climate change
0:57.0	and contributing to sea level rise.
0:59.3	But glaciers and ice shelves aren't just made of frozen water.
1:03.5	What else is the melt sending out to sea?
1:06.8	For Scientific American Science Quickly, I'm Rachel Feldman.
1:09.8	You're listening to the first episode of a four-part fascination series on Antarctica.
1:15.5	For the next four Fridays, we'll follow award-winning Brazilian journalist Sophia Motino
1:20.8	as she travels on the Nathaniel B. Palmer, a U.S. icebreaker on a mission to help us understand
1:26.7	how the climate crisis will unfold.
1:29.3	Today, we'll meet her on the ship as she and her fellow passengers encounter the fastest melting glaciers and ice shelves on the continent.
1:41.3	I'm on the bridge of the Latenio B. Palmer, a UN-size-raker that is slowly cruising along
1:49.8	the coast of the Cotus and most remote continent on Earth, Antarctica.
1:58.0	35 international researchers are on board for a 60-day mission.
	...

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