How corals tell us climate change is supersizing El Niño
Quirks and Quarks

How corals tell us climate change is supersizing El Niño

B2Upper-intermediateSeptember 25, 202654 min
  • Interview
  • Science

The El Niño underway in the Pacific Ocean is a natural climate phenomenon but its warming effects are being boosted by climate change. Researchers recently used corals growing around the Galapagos Islands to create a local temperature record of the ocean going back 1,000 years. Also today: Massive study redraws bat family tree and uncovers genetic odditiesHow the Surinam toad uses star-shaped fingertip lobes to ‘see’ its preyT. rex tooth enamel reveals these dinosaurs were warm-bloodedWhy great white sharks are converging on the East Coast

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Sentence 7 of 12 · 0:59

We don't see anything like that in the pre-industrial era in our Coral days.

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fingers and an unusual way of hunting. You would see them in kind of a funny posture,

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  • B20:59
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  • C116:05
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  • C130:41
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  • C244:57
  • B250:59

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B2 · Upper-intermediate

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A1 27%A2 36%B1 23%B2 12%C1 1%
  • 87% of the words are B1 or easier.
  • 163 words a minute: natural, fairly fast speech.
  • 244 harder words (B2 and up) in the whole episode.

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0:34

Hi, I'm Bob McDonald. Welcome to Quirks and Quarks. On this week's show, Coral Reefs in the Galapagos Islands reveal how climate change is super sizing El Nino.

0:48

What we found is that the strong El Ninos of the last 40 to 50 years are really unusual. We don't see anything like that in the pre-industrial era in our Coral days. in our coral data. And a flat, tongueless and nearly blind toad with super sensitive fingers and an unusual way of hunting. You would see them in kind of a funny posture,

1:11

almost like the goal posts of an American football stadium. Plus, rewriting bat origins, a warm blooded T-Rex and great white sharks gathering on the east coast. All this today on Quirks and Quarks. When it comes to mammals, bats are a bit of an oddball.

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