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- [00:00]
Marc Maron
Hey, it's Marc Maron from WTF here to let you know that this podcast is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. And I'm sure the reason you're listening to this podcast right now is because you chose it well. Choose progressives. Name your price tool and you could find insurance options that fit your budget so you can pick the best one for your situation. Who doesn't like choice? Try it@progressive.com and now some legal info. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates price and coverage match limited by state law. Not available in all states.
- [00:37]
Dr. Samantha Yamin
The term ocean literacy means understanding how we as humans affect the ocean and how the ocean in turn affects us. Pretty simple concept, right? Well, not quite the ocean simple as if. Fortunately, there are plenty of people out there who are committed to making sure we protect the ocean by understanding its power and its nuance. And we have a few of those experts joining us today. I'm Dr. Samantha Yveen, and welcome to Curiosity Weekly from Discovery. There are a lot of breadcrumbs spread around the ocean, leading us to one main message. Things are changing. So I wanted to learn about bioluminescence to uncover what it can teach us about the chemical processes behind some of our favorite sea creatures. I'll talk about that first. Then Teresa from our team speaks with Dr. Gabby Amadia from the World Wildlife Fund about her work as a conservation scientist. And finally, you cannot talk about the ocean without mentioning its main characteristic, salt. Or I guess you could, but we would never. We'll dig into the science behind the world's favorite seasoning. And while we don't just love it, we actually need it. Let's get started. One of my favorite parts about working in a lab was getting to make different parts of a cell light up under the microscope. Picture a firework blooming across the dark sky or. Or a fluorescent web with thousands of strands. That's what some of my favorite cells looked like through the lens. But fluorescent microscopy doesn't just make for pretty pictures. It helps us label tiny proteins in cells so we can see biology in action. Like a biker wearing a reflective vest to stand out at night. That kind of real time view can help scientists pinpoint problems and potential treatments. Fluorescent proteins were an incidental finding from a simple curiosity about bioluminescence. Think glow worms, fireflies. A bluish glow of plankton on the water's edge. Like when the ocean lights up in Life of Pie or Moana. Yes, it's real. The ocean really does glow with different organisms. Most important to this story, jellyfish, bioluminescence is when living things naturally produce their own light from a chemical reaction. Organisms usually glow to warn or evade predators, maybe to lure or detect prey, and even for communication amongst one another. But no matter the purpose, boy oh boy, is it a sight to behold. University of Oxford PhD student Ariane Wynn Herbert was on a 47 day expedition sailing from Rio de Janeiro to Namibia when she got to witness it for the first time.
- [03:09]
Dr. Gabby Amadia
So it's like 12 o' clock in.
- [03:11]
Dr. Samantha Yamin
The morning and we're sat on the.
- [03:13]
Dr. Gabby Amadia
Back of the back deck and we're.
- [03:14]
Dr. Samantha Yamin
Like, oh my goodness, what is that? There are thousands of them, tiny pinpricks of light that kind of come to the surface and blink out and I.
- [03:23]
Dr. Gabby Amadia
Mean the whole water is lit up.
- [03:25]
Dr. Samantha Yamin
This is classic bioluminescence, a natural chemical reaction using different molecules to emit light. Often an enzyme called luciferase is involved and it uses molecules and oxygen and energy to create light. Like in fireflies. Bacteria have their own chemical reaction. And in jellyfish, a protein called aquarin interacts with calcium in seawater, giving the blue glow. But some jellyfish are extra fun because they aren't just blue and they can have a greenish glow too. Which it turns out is caused by a completely separate second phenomenon triggered by the blue bioluminescence. Scientists made this big discovery that the blue light from bioluminescence would excite a different protein nearby. One that doesn't need a chemical reaction, just that blue light as input. And when it gets it, it shines a tremendously bright green. Scientists quickly used that aequorin blue light producing system to study the flow of calcium in different organism. It was actually one of the earlier examples of how this type of light labeling could be useful for research. But that second part, the green glowing protein, for almost 30 years it just sat there, mostly ignored. Then in 1992, researchers had the idea to try putting that glowing protein into other organisms. Bacteria and a transparent worm. They took the DNA instructions jellyfish used to make the fluorescent protein and inserted it into the DNA of the transparent worm, specifically in a part of the gene that makes the worm's protein based skeleton. That meant every time the worm cells made that skeleton protein, it also made a little bit of glowing protein alongside it, lighting up the skeleton of these transparent worms, just like those glow in the dark skeleton onesies at Halloween. This discovery in jellyfish and how to use it for research ended up winning a Nobel Prize in 2008. And today I dare you to try to find a molecular biology paper that doesn't mention A fluorescent protein. And they all have the jellyfish to thank.
- [05:29]
Marc Maron
This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever think about switching insurance companies to see if you could save some cash? Progressive makes it easy to see if you could save when you bundle your home and auto policies. Try it@progressive.com Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states.
- [05:52]
Dr. Samantha Yamin
Our oceans are facing unprecedented challenges, from climate change and overfishing to pollution and habitat loss. But amidst these threats, there's a growing movement to protect and restore our blue planet using cutting edge science and conservation strategies. So we're going to talk about what it takes to safeguard these vital ecosystems, exploring the latest research and the power of community driven solutions. Dr. Gabby Amadia is joining us from the World Wildlife Fund where she's the vice president of area based conservation for their Oceans program. She's had an incredible career advocating for community conservation practices when it comes to coastal and marine systems around the world. She speaks with our supervising producer, Teresa Carey.
- [06:36]
Teresa Carey
Thanks, Gabby. I'm excited to talk to you about the ocean.
- [06:38]
Dr. Gabby Amadia
Yeah, me too. For sure. My favorite topic, other than my kid, of course.
- [06:43]
Teresa Carey
I understand that. Well, let's talk about marine protected areas, or MPAs. They now cover about 8% of the world's oceans, but studies show that many are what are called paper parks, meaning they have little real impact because of perhaps poor enforcement or lack of community support. And you've led some of World Wildlife Fund's conservation work, particularly focusing on design and evaluation of MPAs. And I've read that your approach emphasizes both ecological effectiveness and social equity. So from your perspective, from your experience, what are the most critical ingredients that make a marine protected area successful for both biodiversity and for the surrounding communities?
- [07:28]
Dr. Gabby Amadia
Yeah, marine conservation has really gone through this transformation. We've really evolved to focus on that connections between people and nature and knowing that healthy communities and healthy ecosystems are really intertwined. And there are a lot of things that you need to get right to make MPAs really successful. So at the heart of it is making sure you have local community engagement. They're involved in decision making. They are helping to inform where we're protecting, how we're protecting it. That's really the core of these MPAs working is having that buy in from communities. You also have to have, you know, government support. You need to have rules and regulations in place. And I would say the last piece is funding. So many of these marine protected areas have very little funding and are just basically using scraps to do patrolling. So they're often underfunded. And this is probably one of the biggest pieces we're focusing on right now in the conservation community, is bringing different forms of finance to actually provide what's needed to protect these areas.
- [08:37]
Teresa Carey
And I know up here in Maine, we have a big lobster fishery up here in Maine, where I'm at. And that had some declines and some problems, but it really came back when the fishing community got together and said, here, let's regulate it, like you're talking about. The community comes together to protect what's close to home.
- [08:53]
Dr. Gabby Amadia
And they often know what's right.
- [08:56]
Teresa Carey
They do. They're out on the water.
- [08:57]
Dr. Gabby Amadia
They're out on the water. They know their fish need to be protected. But it's so much of his managing conflict, right? Because there's so many people going after, basically, an open resource, trying to find those solutions between industrial fishers, local fishers, so that everybody wins, basically. Which isn't easy. Right? This is why conservation is hard. It's managing conflict between all these different resource users to find solutions that probably make everybody a little bit unhappy. But those are usually the best solutions.
- [09:26]
Teresa Carey
So I want to talk about mangroves for a second, because I know that you've worked with mangroves, and I feel like mangroves are underappreciated. From a distance, they just kind of look like a bushy tree. But when you paddle through a mangrove or kayak through the mangrove forest, it's so cool. It's like a whole new world. All the fish that live there, it looks amazing. And you've been closely involved in mangrove restoration projects with local communities in Indonesia and Madagascar. And what have you learned about the role mangroves play not just for biodiversity and climate, but for supporting the livelihoods and resilience of coastal communities?
- [10:06]
Dr. Gabby Amadia
Yeah, mangroves are, you know, this unsung hero. Right. They're a really big part of climate mitigation, climate adaptation. And again, they get, you know, not the best reputation. They can be a little bit buggy, a little bit muddy. You know, I feel like I've been in my, like up to my waist almost in mangrove mud. You step in the wrong spot, all of a sudden you're deep in mangroves. But they're so important for flooding and coastal erosion. They keep nursery habitats for baby fish. They're really important for little fish to hide underneath all those little roots that go into the ocean. Mangroves, you can actually restore them, and they grow pretty quick. And let's say one of my favorite mangrove restoration projects I've seen was in Madagascar. What's so cool about this mangrove restoration project is everything looks super healthy and beautiful and vibrant and green. And you could just tell that the mangroves were thriving. You know, I think they were about as tall as me. I'm five' five. So they were kind of, you know, in that medium growth stage. But you knew these mangroves were gonna do well. But I would say in this one mangrove community, they had like designated mangrove planting day. So it was like a day where I think, you know, fishing was not great big waves. And so like the community all came together and like did all the mangrove planting together. The men and the women. Madagascar is really vulnerable to storms and coastal erosion and flooding. And we see it. I mean, some of these villages lo access to other places, Madagascar, the roads get flooded, the bridges get flooded. But we know mangroves can play a really critical role in helping protect a lot of those coastal villages from flooding, erosion, or at least mitigate some of those, some of these bigger, more frequent storms that we're seeing.
- [11:50]
Teresa Carey
There is a growing recognition that local and indigenous knowledge is really important for effective conservation. In fact, recent research has shown that indigenous managed lands have equal or higher biodiversity than protected areas managed by just governments. Your research and fieldwork often highlight the importance of integrating this knowledge into conservation planning. And in several of your publications you've shown that community driven solutions can outperform top down approaches. Can you walk us through a specific example where local leadership transformed the outcome of a conservation project?
- [12:30]
Dr. Gabby Amadia
Local leadership is so important for conservation. There's so many traditional practices, cultural practices that these communities have done for generations that are leading to really sustainable outcomes. But right now we start to see the encroachment of other fishers coming in close to development. And sometimes these local communities don't always have the tools or the rights or the legal framework to help manage those resources. They're fishing grounds now. They're starting to see other groups coming in, or perhaps there's aquaculture development coming in and those often have more money, there's more power, and so they lose that ability to manage and protect what they have. But for example, I just went to Indonesia, we visited one of the fishing communities and sometimes you see local communities don't as have trust with some of these bigger groups coming in, trying to tell them what to do, trying to tell them to conserve, trying to tell them how to fish. But in this case, the fishing group really saw the advantage of partnering with groups like WBF and other NGOs and working with the government to get legal recognition of their coastal area. So what they were doing was they were trying to make sure all their fishers were trained with proper sustainable fishing techniques. They were starting to really log, you know, all the fish that were coming in, making sure they were a certain size. They're very proud to show me the ruler and showing that the fish they were catching were bigger than a certain size. And so they were taking all these steps for recognition of their fishing grounds and their broader ecosystems. And so what we were doing was trying to help work with the government to get that legal recognition. So I think that's a really great example where you see local community initiative to actually get much more formal government recognition, which is great. We don't have.
- [14:26]
Teresa Carey
That is a great example. You've often said in some of your work that I've read that conservation really takes root only after the basic community needs are met. So this might be an example of that about how addressing the local fisher's needs maybe then could have more lasting conservation outcomes.
- [14:46]
Dr. Gabby Amadia
Absolutely. Places like Madagascar, this helps create an entry point into the community. It helps build trust. They're able to maybe focus that energy on something else when they can actually pay for their kids education. I mean, I even think about that in the U.S. right? Like solar panels are awesome, but you're not getting solar panels if you can't pay for groceries. And so these are some of the things we need to do when we work in these communities, is build trust and focus on their wants and this is how we are able to form this path together.
- [15:17]
Teresa Carey
Yeah, that's a good example too. Your story brings up an interesting point that I want to ask you about. The scientific community is becoming more aware and you've touched on this a little bit of the impacts of parachute science, of researchers from outside the region coming in to conduct studies maybe without meaningful local involvement. And so it's all about scientific quality, but also local trust. I read some of your recent talks and writings and you've been really outspoken about the pitfalls of this and really advocate for more equitable local LED research. And so what steps can organizations and researchers take, what should be top of mind to ensure that their work really does empower local scientists and communities rather than sidelining them.
- [16:07]
Dr. Gabby Amadia
There's a few key fundamental things that I think need to be done. I mean, first is just basic awareness. I had no idea. When I was a grad student what I was doing was parachute science. I worked all across the Pacific. I wasn't rude to the local folks. I made friends and I met with families at dinner, at People's houses. But what I didn't do was really engage them in a scientific perspective. That was something I didn't know that was the norm. I think part of this is shifting the culture and research institutions about how you engage with global source. Global now there should almost be a class on it or a seminar. If you're going to do research from Global North, Global south, you need to acknowledge power dynamics and these are all the things you can do. And I think it's being taught in some places and often it depends on maybe an individual professor, but we're still seeing it. I have had to help broker some of these relationships between some research institutions and some of our local groups. And we often have tough conversations like this is what it needs to look like. This is not you coming in with your research questionnaire. This has to be co designed. It just needs to be, how do you do this in partnership and work together? And so there's leadership on both ends.
- [17:25]
Teresa Carey
So we talked about mangroves, which are the unsung heroes of the coast. But I want to ask you more about coral reefs because I know you've done a lot of work with reefs too. We all know they're beautiful. You don't have to go snorkeling to know that they're beautiful and that they're under a huge threat with this, with mass bleaching events, ocean acidification, rising temperatures. You've published a lot of work on coral reefs, mainly focusing on reef monitoring and the effectiveness of marine management strategies. And I noticed that your work often blends science with real world application. So from your perspective, what are some of the most exciting new tools or methodologies out there? Maybe EDNA or remote sensing or artificial intelligence? What is out there that excites you? That's helping us better monitor and protect coral reefs in the face of climate change.
- [18:22]
Dr. Gabby Amadia
One of the most difficult things of data is like people really like to go out and collect the data. It's really cool. But we've never really been good at like the day storage and putting out. We've done surveys where we're like, how long does it take to get that information to the hands of decision makers from data collection to actually a report informing some kind of decision. And it's like two to three years. That is not fast enough. One of the things we developed initially with our partner WCS Wildlife Conservation Society, who's actually now taking the lead on this is Mermaid. And this is just a simple tool, but helping pull together data in one place, allowing for different forms of data to be collected and stored. And now it can actually punch out data, really quick and quick data visualizations to basically able to go in the water, collect your data, come back to the boat or land, wherever you're doing your surveys, punch in your data and then you can start getting real time results. And I often compare this to like, are we investing our Money based on 2 year old data in the stock market? No, we're getting real time information and making decisions about it. Like, we were basically making decisions about coral reefs with like really old data.
- [19:34]
Teresa Carey
Let's talk about ocean literacy. Ocean literacy is still a global challenge. There's been surveys that show a lot of people, especially those living inland, they underestimate the ocean's role in climate change and food security and biodiversity. And I know you're passionate about making ocean science accessible and relevant to everybody. And I also know that you're not living near an ocean right now. What strategies or messages have you found most effective in connecting inland communities to ocean conservation? Why does that connection even matter?
- [20:08]
Dr. Gabby Amadia
Yeah, I think about this a lot, especially living in Michigan. You're right. Where there's often a disconnect, right? People think about Florida. People like to drive down from Florida, right? And they think about the ocean and they're like, ooh, warm water drinks on the beach. But they're not making that connection with like this fact that the ocean is this like huge economic engine, you know, I think it's valued at about $2.5 trillion each year for all the goods and services that are provided from the oceans. Over 3 billion people around the world depend on seafood. Like, those are big numbers, but it's often in infinite places, just associated with palm trees, drinks, vacation. One of the things I've been trying to do is this is, you know, one day I was like, maybe I'll write a book on. This is Gabby's rides with Uber Drivers. I feel like this is where I test out my communication a lot, especially going back and forth to the airport.
- [21:02]
Teresa Carey
I love this already. I would read this book already.
- [21:05]
Dr. Gabby Amadia
I have so many interesting stories in history because you get to just all different types of people. But it's a good way to test out like communication and if people are understanding. And one of the things that you often talk about is seafood, but people don't often make that connection. And they think seafood's just endless. And I'm like, it is not an endless resources. And they don't even know where most of our seafood's coming from. I mean, we explore so much seafood, like Ecuador and they don't know that we actually have all these groups working in Ecuador to protect these fisheries so that you can have that beautiful mahi mahi on your plate. But that connection's not always there. It's a very small minority of the populations that's thinking about where their seafood's coming and at the health of the ocean is going to provide your seafood. But if we don't keep those oceans healthy, that seafood is going to be a lot more expensive, a lot harder to come by.
- [21:56]
Teresa Carey
Yeah, Shark Week's coming up for Discovery Channel and we're doing a segment on seafood for the Shark Week specials. So when we talk about climate change, there is certainly a lot of doom and gloom. The impacts are accelerating, there's overfishing, there's plastic pollution. It's so easy to get discouraged about the future of our oceans. So I want to talk about hope too, because on the other hand, there's been some really great success stories, like the recovery of some whale populations, humpback whales for example, after international protections, or sea otter populations along the Pacific coast. And then also the Pacific island nations recently united to protect over 1 billion hectares of ocean with their program Unlocking Blue Pacific Prosperity. With these examples in mind and all the challenges, how do you stay optimistic? What are some recent developments or successes that give you hope for the ocean?
- [22:55]
Dr. Gabby Amadia
The hope for the ocean really comes from the people I get to work with every day. I work with so many brilliant people that come from so many different sectors, from these local communities to scientists and even how the private sector is really engaging in a lot of different new ways. So we are starting to see this shift happening where we are starting to see a lot more diverse, creative big solutions coming together to really make move the needle on conservation. So I think that's what helps keep me positive every day. Even talking to people like you who are really seem super interested, keen. Your job is spreading the message and helping communicate to a wider audience. There's so many people that are working towards a more healthy world, not just oceans, land, conservation and making those connections. So I feel like that is really what keeps me going. And then of course, there are a lot of really good success stories. When we do protect the ocean, it can't bounce back. Like it is really resilient, like we can do it, but we have to give the ocean time to breathe. It takes time, it's hard. But if we can do this, address some of the trade offs, address the conflict, bring real finance to the table, like this can work.
- [24:12]
Teresa Carey
How does your background come into this, like your multicultural background, your upbringing in Hawaii, perhaps that has perhaps influenced your perspective on conservation and community. How do your personal experiences shape your work?
- [24:24]
Dr. Gabby Amadia
I remember when I was little, there was no turtles. There's no turtles in the water. This beach we used to go to, no turtles. Now you go there, there's. I swear it feels like there's hundreds of turtles and they're like popping their little heads up, and that's just from protecting their nest. So I think seeing those things like, oh, you can actually do things like, I want to help the turtles. I think it comes from that to, you know, bigger, much more complex problems. I think once you grow up, you're like, oh, this is a lot harder. I think the nesting beaches. So I think it's like that upbringing and maybe curiosity of the world from, you know, having an immigrant father growing up in a place that was so connected to the ocean. I think it's given a really interesting perspective on the world.
- [25:08]
Teresa Carey
It sounds like a wonderful upbringing.
- [25:10]
Dr. Gabby Amadia
It was a great upbringing. I feel really lucky.
- [25:14]
Dr. Samantha Yamin
Yeah.
- [25:14]
Teresa Carey
And in your view, we've seen recently, like, a surge in ocean based climate solutions, blue carbon initiatives, mango restoration, seaweed farming. In your view, what? Ocean based climate solutions have the greatest potential for mitigating climate change and supporting these coastal communities that you work with?
- [25:34]
Dr. Gabby Amadia
I mean, I think one of the easiest solutions is blue carbon and protecting our blue carbon ecosystems and restoring them where we can. Seagrasses, kelp, mangroves, these are not only important for climate mitigation, but climate adaptation. So I really like focusing on those solutions that are right in front of us. I know there's a lot of tech things happening out there, and I think that has to happen. But at the end of the day, let's focus on these things right in front of us, make sure we're protecting.
- [26:04]
Teresa Carey
Those ecosystems, and then we protect those coastal ecosystems and young Gabby has a place to play and see sea turtles and grow up and protect more ecosystems.
- [26:14]
Dr. Gabby Amadia
Absolutely.
- [26:17]
Teresa Carey
Thank you, Gabby, so much for talking with me about the ocean today. One of my favorite topics.
- [26:21]
Dr. Gabby Amadia
Oh, great. I'm glad it's one of your favorite topics too.
- [26:29]
Dr. Samantha Yamin
For something so ubiquitous and seemingly ordinary, salt has a pretty wild backstory. It helped early humans keep food from spoiling, which meant they didn't have to rely on eating whatever was in season at the time. Wars were fought and cities were built because of salt. It's one of the most widely used seasonings in the world and remains highly important today, not just in history or cooking, but in science. Too. Let's take a trip back to high school chemistry. Just for a minute, I promise. Think of table salt, the kind you might have in a shaker in your pantry. It's the type that we can eat, and chemically, it's known as sodium chloride. It's created when sodium ions come together with chloride ions, but that sodium is just under half of sodium chloride, or table salt, by mass. Now, I say this because sodium is an essential nutrient in the body. It's very tightly monitored by our kidneys, plays a huge role in maintaining our blood pressure. It helps our cells keep their shape in volume, and it's a key ion that helps our muscles and nerve cells fire. Like, literally for a brain cell to fire. So you can understand what I'm saying right now, you need sodium. So it's really important for our bodily processes that we eat the right amount of sodium. If the concentration of sodium drops too low in our bodies, you get something called hyponatremia, which can lead to serious things like confusion, seizures, and even death in extreme cases. Luckily, this isn't super common unless you're on certain medications or running a marathon without replenishing your electrolytes. In fact, most people have way too much salt in their diet because our bodies really only need about 1500 milligrams of sodium per day, which is equivalent to about two thirds a teaspoon of table salt. Now, before you go reaching for the shaker, keep in mind that more than 70% of that is added to your food in processing or is existing in your food already. You don't need to be adding a teaspoon of salt to your food every single day. And anyway, most of us are eating way more than that. The American Heart association recommends eating less than that recommended amount to avoid issues like high blood pressure. So, like anything, it's all about balance. But before salt ends up in your body, it's gotta come from somewhere. Not all salt is made the same way, but it all comes from the same salt water. That might mean the ocean, or it could be an ancient sea that dried up millions of years ago, leaving salt deposits underground. There are two ways we typically process. We either mine it from underground, or we harvest it through evaporation. And actually, a lot of the salt around the world comes from underground salt mines. Take the Kura salt mine in Pakistan. It's the most famous salt mine in the world and located in the only region that produces the iconic Himalayan pink salt. Sea salt, on the other hand, is made by letting seawater slowly evaporate in shallow pools until all that's left are salt crystals. Which brings me to the different types of salt and their uses. The truth is, the only real differences between every single type of salt on the market are how they're made and very small amounts of soil, sediments, sulfates, minerals, algae, and bacteria. Unless they're specialty salts infused with different flavors. Fine. Because these are such small differences, the taste difference between, say, table salt and our friend Himalayan pink salt are pretty subtle. Most of the taste differences that are actually noticeable are because of texture and surface area. Not to mention that a teaspoon of table salt is way more dense and so more salty tasting than a teaspoon of chunky kosher salt. So the main thing to consider when cooking with salt isn't the flavor, it's actually the shape. For example, a lot of professional cooks prefer kosher salt because the grains are flatter and take up more surface area, so they tend to melt into food better. Bakers, on the other hand, tend to prefer table salt because the crystals are smaller and more uniform. That means they'll dissolve more easily and will stay more evenly distributed. So the next time you reach for the salt shaker, take a second to think about what's in your hand. Salt doesn't just add flavor. It built cities, preserved food for our ancestors, and it literally keeps your body running behind the scenes. Whether it comes from underground or a salty patch of ocean, salt's been a part of human life forever. Not bad for something we usually don't think twice about. For Warner Bros. Discovery, Curiosity Weekly is produced by the team at Wheelhouse DNA. The senior producer and editorial correspondent is Theresa Carey. Our producer is Chiara Noni. Our audio engineer is Nick Karisimi. And head of Production for Wheelhouse DNA is Cassie Berman. And I'm Dr. Samantha Yamin. Thanks for listening. Seals sleep with half their brain at a time when they're in the water.
- [31:11]
Teresa Carey
Like one eye at a time. She literally havesies asleep.
- [31:14]
Dr. Samantha Yamin
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And some dolphins do that too.
- [31:16]
Dr. Gabby Amadia
Cassie's anti seal, she revealed to me recently. Very pro otter.
- [31:21]
Dr. Samantha Yamin
That is true. No, otters are my favorite animal. And I did recently Google, like, what's the difference between an otter, a seal, and a sea lion? Yeah, do share.
- [31:30]
Dr. Gabby Amadia
Sea lions are way bigger.
- [31:32]
Dr. Samantha Yamin
They're way louder. And then seals, they have tiny little ears. Sea lions have the big mustache, right? Elephant, whatever.
- [31:43]
Teresa Carey
The otters are the ones that are cute and they float around in rafts.
- [31:46]
Dr. Samantha Yamin
They sleep holding hands. Hands.
- [31:48]
Dr. Gabby Amadia
Yeah.
- [31:48]
Teresa Carey
It's cute. And they have a favorite rock that they keep with them that they tuck into their belly pouch.
- [31:53]
Dr. Samantha Yamin
They're furry too. I'm gonna tell this scientist we would like to talk about seals. I can do a really good seal share with the class. Put that in the best part.
- [32:12]
Dr. Gabby Amadia
It's pretty good.
- [32:13]
Teresa Carey
You know Cassie never wanted her voice on the show and now I'm glad.
- [32:17]
Dr. Samantha Yamin
We'Re talking about the really hard hitting science today.
- [32:26]
Marc Maron
Hey, it's Marc Maron from WTF here to let you know that this podcast is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. And I'm sure the reason you're listening to this podcast right now is because you chose it well. Choose Progressive's name your price tool and you could find insurance options that fit your budget so you can pick the best one for your situation. Who doesn't like choice? Try it@progressive.com and now some legal info. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates price and coverage match limited by state law not available in all states.