Home School Heartbeat Radio Program

Mike Farris:
Sherri, I really appreciate you joining us this week. It’s been interesting to learn about marine biology. The best way of learning is often by doing—can you suggest a practical marine biology project that families can do at home?

Sherri Seligson:
Well Mike, one of my favorite projects has to do with ocean seaweeds, a type of marine algae. Not usually something families think about, but an excellent way to learn about an important aspect of marine biology. Aside from sushi, most people don't realize that we eat algae in many foods.

A great project would be to take a trip to the local grocery store on an algae hunt, looking for the ingredients “algin” or “carrageenan” on food labels. These extracts come directly from macroalgae such as kelp. They behave as binding agents, making things stay together than would normally want to separate, like Italian salad dressing. Dressing brands that have algae don’t have to be shaken up. You can also find algae in instant pudding, ice cream, condiments, lunch meat, even in toothpaste!

A great lab would be to make two batches of pudding: one from the old-fashioned cooked mix, and the other from the instant mix that has algae, to see the difference. Do some research on its nutritional value for humans, too. Macroalgae is full of nutrients, and since some species can grow up to two feet per day, it’s considered to be an exciting potential crop for marine farming efforts.

Mike:
Sherri, that sounds like a lot of fun! Thanks for joining us today! I’m Mike Farris.