Jellyfish

Episode notes

Alex Schmidt is joined by comedy writer/podcaster Katie Goldin (‘Creature Feature’ podcast, @ProBirdRights) for a look at why jellyfish are secretly incredibly fascinating.

Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week’s bonus episode.

LINKS FOR THE GUESTS:

• Katie Goldin on Twitter
• @ProBirdRights
• ‘Creature Feature’ podcast (iHeartRadio)
• When Is a Bird a ‘Birb’? An Extremely Important Guide (Audubon)

RESOURCES USED TO INFORM THE EPISODE’S LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:

• native-land.ca
• U.S. Department Of Arts And Culture
• Museum of Durham History

RESEARCH SOURCES:

• Spineless: The Science of Jellyfish and the Art of Growing a Backbone by Juli Berwald
• Jellyfish: The Next King of the Sea (Smithsonian)
• Nonindigenous Aquatic Species: Craspedacusta sowerbyi (USGS) — one of many examples of freshwater jellyfish.
• Portuguese Man-of-War (National Geographic)
• The origin of mitochondria and chloroplasts (“Scitable” by Nature Education)
• What are jellyfish made of? (NOAA National Ocean Service)
• How Jellyfish Rule the Seas Without a Brain (National Geographic)
• The Water in You: Water and the Human Body (USGS)
• Extreme Jellyfish (Smithsonian Ocean)
• ‘Creature Feature’ podcast: “Don’t Judge A Book By Its Terrible Jaws”
• The Smallest and Deadliest Kingslayer in the World (Scientific American)
• Why we don’t know if Irukandji jellyfish are moving south (The Conversation)
• Irukandji jellyfish: Everything you need to know (Australian Geographic)
• Box jellyfish show a keen eye (Nature)
• What Scallops’ Many Eyes Can Teach Us About the Evolution of Vision (Smithsonian Magazine)
• No Brain? For Jellyfish, No Problem (PBS)
• The Outlaw Ocean: Journeys Across The Last Untamed Frontier by Ian Urbina
• Palau’s Jellyfish Lake reopens as thousands of jellyfish return (CNN)
• Jellyfish Lifecycle and Reproduction (Smithsonian Ocean)
• Life Cycle of Jellyfish (Virginia Institute of Marine Science)
• The Immortal Jellyfish (American Museum of Natural History) — this digs into Turritopsis dohrnii, the jellyfish Alex describes.
• ‘Invisibila’ podcast: “The Reluctant Immortalist” — this digs into the hydra animal Katie describes. A whole different form of “immortality” in nature!
• Tunicates: Not So Spineless Invertebrates (Smithsonian Ocean)
• Speed read: Illuminating Biology (The Nobel Prize website page, about the 2008 Prize in Chemistry)