Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio. Hey
Speaker 1: brain Stuff Lauren Vogelbaum here. One of Earth's unsung heroes,
Speaker 1: is also among its tiniest. Plankton, a single celled algae.
Speaker 1: It's barely visible to the eye, but it contributes to
Speaker 1: some of the world's most important resources. It's essential to
Speaker 1: the food chain. It's a main supplier of oxygen, and
Speaker 1: it's the fuel that keeps our cars running and our
Speaker 1: homes heated. These organisms, no bigger than a human hair,
Speaker 1: float in the sunny upper parts of the ocean. The
Speaker 1: two main types of plankton, phytoplankton and zooplankton, support one another.
Speaker 1: Phytoplankton and organisms so small that millions can fit in
Speaker 1: one drop of water, produces its own energy through photosynthesis.
Speaker 1: It accounts for nearly half of all photosynthesis on the planet. Zoloplankton,
Speaker 1: which are tiny animals and crustaceans like copa pods, along
Speaker 1: with other small fish and marine creatures, eat phytoplankton, then
Speaker 1: become food for bigger fish and so on up the
Speaker 1: food chain, from seals to dolphins. Virtually every creature in
Speaker 1: the ocean eats either plankton or an organism that depends
Speaker 1: on plankton in a David versus Goliath like battle. Filter
Speaker 1: feeding Baleen whales like the humpback rely on tiny organisms
Speaker 1: such as plankton and krill. Like a filter, these whales
Speaker 1: take in huge gulps of water, then use their tongues
Speaker 1: to push out liquid so food like krill and plankton
Speaker 1: remain right. Whales also swim open mouthed through plankton filled waters.
Speaker 1: They trapped the plankton, and their tongue pushes the organisms
Speaker 1: down their throat. But plankton's role in the food chain
Speaker 1: doesn't stop in the ocean. Polar bears and seabirds rely
Speaker 1: on plankton fueled meals like seals and fish. Even humans
Speaker 1: count on fish and therefore plankton to survive. Americans alone
Speaker 1: eat around fifteen and a half pounds or about seven
Speaker 1: kilos of fish and shellfish per purse in per year.
Speaker 1: That's a whole out of plankton. Plankton itself is even
Speaker 1: making its way toward dinner tables. It's not common in
Speaker 1: restaurants yet, but algel Leon and new Mendez, both chefs
Speaker 1: of Michelin starred restaurants in Britain, added plankton to a
Speaker 1: special event menu in This included delicacies like a plankton
Speaker 1: cocktail and a plankton risotto. Leon told the UK newspaper
Speaker 1: Metro it's velvety and dry before mixing it with liquid.
Speaker 1: Silky ones mixed oily and elegant, pungent on the nose,
Speaker 1: yet subtle and leaves a long finish in the mouth.
Speaker 1: While it's still rare in restaurants, plankton is slowly catching on.
Speaker 1: According to fine dining lovers, Plankton producers like Spanish agriculture
Speaker 1: company Phytoplankton Merino are growing the microalgae for human consumption,
Speaker 1: and one chef even tried his hand at phytoplankton bread.
Speaker 1: Plankton's earthly contributions go beyond the food chain. Marine plants
Speaker 1: like phytoplankton kelp and algil plank din produce of earths oxygen.
Speaker 1: In fact, Prochlorococcus, a type of phytoplankton, produces the oxygen
Speaker 1: for one out of every five breaths a human takes,
Speaker 1: and Phytoplankton's superpowers don't stop there. Not only do they
Speaker 1: help produce oxygen through photosynthesis, phytoplankton also take carbon from
Speaker 1: the atmosphere during the process of living and store it
Speaker 1: deep in the ocean when they die, which ultimately helps
Speaker 1: curb climate change. This is similar to the processed trees
Speaker 1: used to store carbon in leaves, and since photosynthesis consumes
Speaker 1: carbon dioxide, the carbon is basically stored in each plankton.
Speaker 1: One group of scientists found that phytoplankton incorporate up to
Speaker 1: forty five to fifty billion tons of inorganic carbon into
Speaker 1: their cells, and that petroleum we use to fuel our cars.
Speaker 1: It's made through a process that dates back to ancient seas,
Speaker 1: and it also involves that tiny superhero of an organism, plankton.
Speaker 1: When plankton dye, they sink to the bottom of the oceans. Here,
Speaker 1: debris settles on top of them, and chemical reactions transform
Speaker 1: the materials into waxy carrogen and bitumen, a black tar
Speaker 1: that's one of the main ingredients of petroleum. The carriagin
Speaker 1: also undergoes further changes as it heats and it becomes
Speaker 1: what's known as crude oil, or if temperatures are even hotter,
Speaker 1: natural gas. Plankton may be essential, but this small organism
Speaker 1: is also a little bit tricksy. Scientists have long struggle
Speaker 1: to accurately predict phytoplankton numbers and growth rates, but that
Speaker 1: changed in two thousand five thanks to NASA's satellite observations.
Speaker 1: VANASA reported that scientists can figure out phytoplankton numbers based
Speaker 1: on how green water is. When phytoplankton't get stressed by
Speaker 1: cold water, they become less green. Phytoplankton rich waters become
Speaker 1: greener as conditions and growth rates improve. Oh And by night,
Speaker 1: plankton filled water can glow through the organ s's bioluminescence
Speaker 1: electric blue, green, red, or orange. Researchers estimate phytoplankton makes
Speaker 1: up one percent of all of Earth's biomass. That's the
Speaker 1: total mass of organisms, but that number is dwindling. A
Speaker 1: study published in the journal Nature in July showed that
Speaker 1: gradually warming ocean waters have destroyed some of Earth's phytoplankton
Speaker 1: since ninety Whether we know it or not, all humans
Speaker 1: rely on this microalgae. That's why a decrease or more
Speaker 1: is worrisome. Today's episode was written by Stephanie Vermillion and
Speaker 1: produced by Tyler Clay. For more on this and lots
Speaker 1: of other supergreen topics visit how stuff works dot com.
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