Life's Little Mysteries

Why is the sea salty? Could Earth’s oceans ever boil away? And just how much whale pee is in the ocean? All these questions (and a whole lot more) are answered by our intrepid science reporters, Jeanna and Mindy. Below you can find links to further reading on the topics discussed in this episode. Mystery #1: Why is the Ocean salty? (https://www.livescience.com/32139-why-are-oceans-salty.html) Oceans on the young Earth were probably only slightly salty (https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/riversnotsalty.html) , but over time the mineral deposits became more concentrated, causing varying degrees of saltiness.  Osmoconformers (https://ci.coastal.edu/~sgilman/778AnimalAdapt.htm) - animal's "environment" on the inside matches its environment on the outside. Osmoregulators (https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/water-h2o-life/life-in-water/surviving-in-salt-water) - have body structures that filter or secrete excess salt.  Mystery #2: Could Earth’s oceans ever boil away? (https://www.livescience.com/64822-could-oceans-boil-away.html) It’s an almost unimaginable amount of water: The US Geological Survey estimated more than 300 million cubic miles of it (https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/wherewater.html) . Guest editor report: Underwater Volcano Creates Bubbles More Than a Quarter-Mile Across (https://www.livescience.com/giant-bubbles-underwater-volcano.html) . Mystery #3: How much of the ocean is whale pee… and worse! (https://www.livescience.com/55189-how-much-of-ocean-is-whale-pee.html) A study published in 2003 found some numbers: the sei whale expels 166 gallons (627 litres) of urine a day.  The fin whale expels 257 gallons (974 litres) a day (https://oceana.org/blog/special-ingredient-ocean-health-animal-pee-and-lots-it) ! Don’t forget to subscribe! You can find more answers to life’s little mysteries at the Live Science website (https://www.livescience.com/) and you can follow us on Twitter (https://twitter.com/LiveScience) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/livescience/) too. Tell us what your life’s little mysteries are at forums.livescience.com (https://forums.livescience.com/) . Music by Chad Crouch - Algorithms Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/)