Science at UM [S02-ep06]: From Carbon Sequestration by Whales to the Glassblowing Workshop

[Podcast] - Published on November 10, 2022 in Science and Society

This week on *A l’UM la science*, Anaëlle Durfort, a doctoral student at the Marbec laboratory, talks to us about the sequestration of CO2 contained in the carcasses of whales that have washed up on the ocean floor. In the second half of the program, Paolo Spano gives us a tour of the scientific glassworks. Finally, we present issue 18 of *Lum* magazine, released this week and dedicated to the oceans.

For street lighting, cooking, machine lubrication, and the manufacture of candles, belts, umbrellas, and corsets—as well as a key ingredient in soaps, perfumes, and other cosmetics—whales have been hunted by humans for centuries for their meat, blubber, and bones.

Starting in the 19th century, technological advances transformed this so-called traditional fishing into a fully-fledged industrial practice. While it is estimated that approximately 1,500 whales were killed in 1890, this figure rose to 15,000 or 20,000 on the eve of World War I and reached as high as 50,000 in the early 1930s, according to a study by Antoine Delmas and Jacques Guillaume, researchers at the Universities of Poitiers and Nantes.

In the face of this phenomenon, Moby Dicks are sadly few and far between, and populations of fin whales, sperm whales, and especially right whales have reached critical levels, prompting some fifteen nations to sign the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling in 1946. Today, only a few countries, including Norway, Iceland, and Japan, still practice this form of hunting, but the populations remain, of course, fragile and severely threatened by ongoing climate change. This tragedy affects more than just cetaceans, as recent studies highlight the consequences of these massacres on the entire marine ecosystem.

Our guest today, Anaëlle Durfort, a researcher at the Marbec laboratory, took this a step further by demonstrating the impact of this overfishing on the ocean carbon cycle—specifically on the carbon sequestered by whale carcasses that sink to the ocean floor after the animals die of natural causes. This research was published in the scientific journal *Proceedings B* on November 2.

In the second half of the program, we head to the Triolet campus—specifically to the chemistry department—to visitthe scientific glassworks. This is the domain of Paolo Spano, a scientific glassblower, who explains how he can craft flasks, test tubes, condensers, and micro-distillation apparatus from simple Pyrex tubes, much to the delight of chemists.

Finally, we’ll give you a sneak peek at the contents of the new issue of LUM magazine, which came out this week. And we’re staying on theme, since this 18th issue is entirely devoted to the oceans.

At UM Science, you’ve got the program—let’s get started!

Co-production: Divergence FM / University of Montpellier
Host: Lucie Lecherbonnier
Interview: Aline Périault / Lucie Lecherbonnier
Reporting and editing: Aline Périault
Director: Bruno Bertrand

Tune in to the show “A l’UM la science” on Divergence FM 93.9

Keywords: Science at UM, Research, Science, Company