The Effort To Save Thousands Of Donor Kidneys | Ocean Liner Will Become An Artificial Reef

Science Friday

Science Friday and WNYC Studios

Life Sciences, Wnyc, Science, Earth Sciences, Natural Sciences, Friday

4.5 • 5.5K Ratings

🗓️ 6 March 2025

⏱️ 19 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Last year, 9,000 deceased donor kidneys were discarded due to storage and time limitations. A kidney “life support” machine could change that. Also, the SS United States will join Florida’s 4,300 artificial reefs—human-made places for fish and other marine life to live. How do these reefs work?

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Listener supported WNYC Studios.
0:11.9	This is Science Friday.
0:13.7	I'm Flor Lichten.
0:15.1	Today in the podcast, we're diving into artificial reefs.
0:19.0	Some of the first artificial reefs were shipwrecks, and so shipwrecks kind of gave a little clue that we might be able to put down these materials on purpose.
0:31.6	Last week, after a notable career, the SS United States, a 1950s ocean liner, took her sunset cruise.
0:40.3	Like many retirees, the ship headed south, from Philadelphia to Florida, where she'll be reinventing herself.
0:46.6	In this new chapter, the SS United States won't be a ship at all.
0:50.2	She's taking up a new vocation at the bottom of the sea.
0:53.9	The ship will be sunk and turned into an artificial reef, hopefully providing a new home for marine life.
1:01.1	So how do these artificial reefs work? Are ships good candidates for them? What are the risks?
1:07.4	Joining me now to dive into the science of artificial reefs is Scott Jackson.
1:12.1	Scott has served Northwest Florida with the University of Florida Sea Grant Extension since 2000.
1:17.6	As Bay County Extension Director and as a regional specialized agent, he focuses on artificial reefs, fisheries, and coastal resiliency.
1:25.6	Scott, welcome to Science Friday.
1:27.1	It's great to be here.
1:28.4	Thank you for having me.
1:29.8	What is an artificial reef?
1:31.4	Artificial reefs are man-made materials that we place in the ocean to create hard substrate.
1:37.2	They mimic some of the natural things that we find like a northwest Florida limestone,
1:41.6	but as you go further south, some of the coral reefs, those
1:44.3	will be some good things that we're trying to mimic. What is their purpose? The purpose is to
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

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

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