Seaweed is piling up on beaches. This robot might be its match

Short Wave

NPR

Daily News, Nature, Life Sciences, Astronomy, Science, News

4.7 • 6K Ratings

🗓️ 2 October 2023

⏱️ 14 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

A new robot is designed to sink sargassum before the stinky seaweed comes ashore. Blooms of sargassum, a leafy brown seaweed, have increased in size and number over the past decade. As the blooms have grown, so too has their impact on coastal communities. The stinky seaweed can wreck local economies and ecosystems — and even threaten human health, some research suggests. But the creators of the AlgaRay say that their robot might do more than halt this damage. It could also fight climate change.

This week NPR is doing something new — dedicating an entire week to stories and conversations about the search for climate solutions. Head to npr.org/climateweek for more stories of solutions.

Have a science query? Email us at [email protected] — we'd love to know!

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	You're listening to Shortwave from NPR.
0:06.5	Heather Shortwave is Aaron Scott here and this week NPR is doing something new.
0:12.1	We're dedicating an entire week to stories and conversations about the search for climate
0:16.8	solutions.
0:17.8	And we're kicking the week off with our colleague reporter Emily Olsen.
0:21.3	Hey there, Emily.
0:22.3	Hey Aaron.
0:23.3	So what do you have for us today?
0:24.8	I want to take you to a laboratory.
0:27.6	It's on the outskirts of Glasgow, Scotland.
0:31.2	It's a rainy September morning and there's a few engineers standing around and above
0:35.9	grounds swimming pool.
0:38.0	You know, like the hard plastic kind you might find in someone's backyard.
0:42.3	All along the top of the water are rubber duckies.
0:46.3	You mean like the bath toys?
0:47.8	Yeah, absolutely.
0:48.8	They're an important part of what's about to happen.
0:51.7	See the team is testing out an aquatic robot.
0:56.1	The algorithm is all submersible and it's designed to be a fully independent glider.
1:02.1	That's Paddy Estridge.
1:03.3	She's the CEO of seaweed generation and the woman who had the idea to create the sink.
1:08.1	Right now, the algorithm is just a wire-framed metal box, but one day it'll have wings
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.