When ocean life dies, it sometimes sinks to the sea floor where scavengers play clean-up crew. What happens when bodies of three alligators (named Stumpy, Frankie Three-Toes, and Lucky) make it to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico? Guess who’s coming to dinner.

Click above to listen to part 1 of Into the Deep, featuring Craig McClain, deep-sea and evolutionary biologist and ecologist, Executive Director of the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium.

Into the Deep:
Part 1: Craig McClain / Alligator Fall
Part 2: Steve Haddock / Deep Sea Mining
Part 3: Emily Hall / Green Banana Sinkhole
Part 4: Chong Chen / Sounds of the Deep Sea

Podcast also available on PocketCasts, SoundCloud, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, and RSS.

2026 Webby Award Nominee
for our three part series on the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina

Big Picture Science is an immersive radio show and podcast that reveals the unexpected connections in science.

Our Skeptic Check episodes take a critical look at extraordinary science claims and pseudoscience.

Don’t settle for a science snapshot. Get the big picture. 

Hosted By

Molly Bentley Executive Producer and Co-Host, Big Picture Science  

Seth Shostak Producer and Co-Host, Big Picture Science
Senior Astronomer, SETI Institute

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