Jellyfish expert and Medusologist Dr. Rebecca Helm, standing near the water in a harbor with large ships in the background. She is smiling, and likely thinking of jellies.

What even *is* a jellyfish?! How do they eat? What are they made of? Can we eat them? Your new favorite Medusologist, Dr. Rebecca Helm, is a ray of human sunshine in the depths of the deep sea. Truly one of the finest biology conversations you may ever hear. Get ready for PacMan ghosts, pet jellyfish, the biggest and smallest jellies, new band names, live medusas, secret formulas to incite jellyfish puberty, and the lengths that she will go to to see a jelly bloom. And next week, your ears will fill with Toxinology as we explore jellyfish VENOM. Duck into the Polyp Parlor; this is a duo not to be missed.

Listen to the episode via Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get podcasts.

transcript

Dr. Rebecca Helm’s Jellyfish Blog and website: https://jellybiologist.com/

Follow her at Twitter.com/rebeccarhelm or twitter.com/rebeccarhelm

A donation went to The Vancouver Aquarium: www.vanaqua.org

Look at their Jelly Cam! https://www.vanaqua.org/visit/live-cams-jelly-cam

Sponsor links: kiwico.com/ologies

More links you may enjoy:

Dr. Helm’s paper: “Indoles induce metamorphosis in a broad diversity of jellyfish, but not in a crown jelly (Coronatae)”

Rebecca’s big discovery: How to grow jellyfish in captivity!

Millions of jellyfish ascend to feed

The sounds of millions of ascending jellyfish