Gulfcast: Dispatches From The Gulf

While it may seem like a contradictory idea, failure can often better prepare scientists for discovery and success. Scientists Raffaele Montuoro, Piers Chapman, and Steve DiMarco acknowledge the importance of failure and how much is to be learned from it. Their message to young scientists: “It is okay to fail.” |||||||||||||||||||| NOTE: Science is continually evolving. To see the latest research updates on this topic, please visit the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI) web site at gulfresearchinitiative.org.

Tracy Harvey has always been fascinated by marine and fresh water ecosystems. She brings that passion to her graduate studies at the University of Texas at Austin’s Department of Marine Science. |||||||||||||||||||| NOTE: Science is continually evolving. To see the latest research updates on this topic, please visit the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI) web site at gulfresearchinitiative.org.

In 1989, 11 million gallons of crude leaked from the Exxon Valdez oil tanker into Prince William Sound, Alaska — devastating everything in its path and causing fishery collapses in the years that followed. For oceanographers studying the impact of the Deepwater Horizon disaster on Gulf of Mexico fisheries, the Valdez spill provides important parallels and lessons. NOTE: Science is continually evolving. To see the latest research updates on this topic, please visit the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI) web site at gulfresearchinitiative.org.

Dr. Mandy Joye (University of Georgia) is a microbial geochemist. Part of her work includes studies on microbial oceanic “worker bees” that carry out critical processes and keep the ocean healthy. She shares how they are reacting in the years after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. |||||||||||||||||||| NOTE: Science is continually evolving. To see the latest research updates on this topic, please visit the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI) web site at gulfresearchinitiative.org.

Science is a full contact sport and it’s not for the faint of heart. On a daily basis you have “eureka” moments and you have profound “what did I just do?” moments. Dr. Steve DiMarco shares how a potential Nobel Prize-winning experiment plunged into failure. |||||||||||||||||||| NOTE: Science is continually evolving. To see the latest research updates on this topic, please visit the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI) web site at gulfresearchinitiative.org.

Dr. Tamara Frank shares why getting a job as an aspiring female scientist was very challenging. But first she talks about her current research – the nocturnal life of small ocean animals living at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico. |||||||||||||||||||| NOTE: Science is continually evolving. To see the latest research updates on this topic, please visit the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI) web site at gulfresearchinitiative.org.

The United Houma Nation depends upon the bounty provided by the coastal waters and bayous of Louisiana. Their principal chief, Thomas Dardar, Jr., shares the struggles the tribe has faced to preserve their ancestral way of life after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Dr. Patterson has a truly amazing story to tell us – it’s about the invasion of alien predators that has reached epic proportions in the Gulf of Mexico: LIONFISH. |||||||||||||||||||| NOTE: Science is continually evolving. To see the latest research updates on this topic, please visit the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI) web site at gulfresearchinitiative.org.

Dr. Chris Reddy, senior scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, describes what it was like to be an eyewitness to the largest oil spill in U.S. history. Chris also explains why he’s such a big fan of Star Trek hero Mr. Spock. But first he talks about a relative who inspired him to become a scientist. |||||||||||||||||||| NOTE: Science is continually evolving. To see the latest research updates on this topic, please visit the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI) web site at gulfresearchinitiative.org.

Gulfcast: Introduction to the “Dispatches from the Gulf” Project