How Do You Science | Meet a Marine Biologist

05/02/24 • 16 min

Welcome back, young scientists. I’m Dr. Universe. If you’re anything like me, you’ve got lots of big questions about our world.
Today we're talking about birds with Wes Dowd, a marine biologist and environmental physiologist at Washington State University.

Learn about tiny crustaceans called copepods, which are a type of plankton— and rock out to this song about zooplankton
Check out ocean mussels and their freshwater cousins
Discover how to explore tide pools gently

Resources You Can Use

Spend some time on the American Museum of Natural History's marine biology page
Learn more about ocean plankton with Black in Marine Science

As always, submit burning questions at askdruniverse.wsu.edu. Who knows where your questions will take us next.

Send us a text

Learn about tiny crustaceans called copepods, which are a type of plankton— and rock out to this song about zooplankton
Check out ocean mussels and their freshwater cousins
Discover how to explore tide pools gently

Resources You Can Use

Spend some time on the American Museum of Natural History's marine biology page
Learn more about ocean plankton with Black in Marine Science

As always, submit burning questions at askdruniverse.wsu.edu. Who knows where your questions will take us next.

Previous Episode

How Do You Science | Meet an Ecologist (for the birds!)

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Welcome back, young scientists. I’m Dr. Universe. If you’re anything like me, you’ve got lots of big questions about our world.
Today we're talking about birds with Jennifer Phillips, an ecologist at Washington State University.

Learn about sensory pollution and the difference between a phenotype and a genotype
Find out how birds get tagged and measured—and how it's a little bit like an alien abduction
Hear Dr. Phillips' journey to be a scientist, her favorite bird fact and how being a scientist is like being a spy

Resources You Can Use

Check out this video that shows how a cardinal's syrinx makes two sounds at once
Did you know there's a poisonous bird? Meet the Pitohui
Learn all about birds with Audubon for Kids
Enjoy these spy activities from the Spy Museum

As always, submit burning questions at askdruniverse.wsu.edu. Who knows where your questions will take us next.

Next Episode

How Do You Science | Meet a Nurse Practitioner

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Welcome back, young scientists. I’m Dr. Universe. If you’re anything like me, you’ve got lots of big questions about our world. Today we're talking to nurse practitioner Bevan Briggs.
Warning! This episode very briefly mentions intestines, body fluids, shots, stitches, broken bones, surgery, kids putting on pretend wounds (with intestines!) to help EMTs train, and the fact animals are butchered for food in some homes. If that doesn't sound like something you'd like to hear, I'll catch you on the next one. If you're not sure, ask your grownup to preview the audio or transcript. (I used italics in the transcript for anything that might be a little bit gross so it's easier to scan.) =^..^=

Learn what a nurse practitioner does
Hear about seeing surgery for the first time and wearing pretend wounds to help train EMTs on ambulances when he was a kid
Discover what nursing school and nurse practitioner school are like

Resources You Can Use

Do this body parts word search or labeling game
Check out weird body stuff: how dogs detect things in your breath, why gross stuff makes us squeamish, and how scientists study viruses

As always, submit burning questions at askdruniverse.wsu.edu. Who knows where your questions will take us next.

Ask Dr. Universe - How Do You Science | Meet a Marine Biologist

Transcript

Dr. Universe

Welcome back, young scientists. I'm Dr. Universe, and if you're anything like me, you've got lots of big questions about our world.

When I was a kitten, I loved playing in the ocean. That's why I was excited to talk about marine biology with Wes Dowd of Washington State University. We talked about copepods, mussels, and even giant sea spiders he saw in Antarctica. Check the show notes to learn more about those animals. And let's get started.

So, can we first t