In this episode, Debbie takes Megan on a deep dive, two and a half miles beneath the Atlantic, to explore how the RMS Titanic is literally disappearing. The famous shipwreck isn’t just rusting, it’s being eaten by a metal-loving bacteria that bears its name. They are living inside bizarre formations. At some point, all scientific credibility is abandoned when Debbie tells Megan the official term for these formations is rusticles, and they absolutely refuse to act mature about it. Debbie will break down the science behind Titanic’s deterioration, from deep-sea pressure and corrosion to iron-metabolizing microbes accelerating the ship’s collapse. And how the Titanic has become an unexpected deep-sea ecosystem. Part maritime history, part microbiology, and part chaotic science comedy, this episode of Lab Libs will explain how one of history’s most famous disasters is slowly being recycled by nature, one rusticle at a time.
Then in this episode rabbit hole, Megan takes Debbie on a surprisingly chaotic tour of animals with jobs. From police-trained seals that absolutely should not have been trusted with guns, to crows in Sweden getting paid in seeds to clean up cigarette butts, Along the way, they spiral into how smart animals really are, and how we somehow taught crows to pick up litter before teaching people not to throw it on the ground.Join Debbie and Megan in this ad-lib riddled science comedy podcast.
Don’t forget to use the Lab Libs, and create your own answers!
Lab Libs:
A year in the early 1900s
A number less than 10
A number between 60-100
A number less than 4
A metal
A microorganism
A number 1-15
A gas
A recent year
A year in the near future
A number less than 10
Sources:
https://www.dal.ca/news/2006/08/08/titanic.html
https://titanicfacts.net/titanic-timeline/
https://www.britannica.com/story/timeline-of-the-titanics-final-hours
Sánchez-Porro C, Kaur B, Mann H, Ventosa A. Halomonas titanicae sp. nov., a halophilic bacterium isolated from the RMS Titanic. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol. 2010 Dec;60(Pt 12):2768-2774. doi: 10.1099/ijs.0.020628-0. Epub 2010 Jan 8. PMID: 20061494.
