Shells – Love/Science

ambience: Seashore

Collecting seashells is a favorite summertime activity along the shore, but the man that we’re about to meet is surely unique among the seashell collectors of the world. I’m Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet, presented by DuPont.

“I think it’s a wonderful and inspiring thing to pick up shells and think of them as aesthetic objects.”

“I have many, many, many favorites.”

Geerat Vermeij of the University of California, in Davis, has been studying shells for about 40 years, and he still find them fascinating.

“For example, there’s a, a thing called a drupa morem from, uh, the tropical Pacific and Indian Oceans. It’s an incredibly thick shell that has virtually no insides. The animal living in it is very, very small and makes this enormous fortress, enormous for it’s size. But it’s just a marvel of super-armored architecture. There are others, of course, that have such thin and delicate spines as to be nearly unbelievable that these things could actually go around in nature and not be completely crushed.”

Geerat Vermeij is one of the world’s leading authorities on shells. He also happens to be blind.

“I have a fairly long history of finding characters on shells that other people have missed. And I wouldn’t say that I can see things that other people can’t,. What I would say is that I’m more apt to notice certain things that other people might overlook. It’s all a question of how carefully do you examine specimens. And I also use, um, small needles to poke into the openings of shells if they’re very small so I can count, um, the little denticles on the sides, or little folds, and other little protuberances.”

Please visit our website at nationalgeographic.com. Pulse of the Planet is presented by DuPont, bringing you the miracles of science, with additional support provided by the National Science Foundation.

Shells - Love/Science

One of the world's leading experts on seashells is blind, and he manages to find things on shells that other people miss.
Air Date:07/10/2000
Scientist:
Transcript:

ambience: Seashore

Collecting seashells is a favorite summertime activity along the shore, but the man that we're about to meet is surely unique among the seashell collectors of the world. I'm Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet, presented by DuPont.

"I think it's a wonderful and inspiring thing to pick up shells and think of them as aesthetic objects."

"I have many, many, many favorites."

Geerat Vermeij of the University of California, in Davis, has been studying shells for about 40 years, and he still find them fascinating.

"For example, there's a, a thing called a drupa morem from, uh, the tropical Pacific and Indian Oceans. It's an incredibly thick shell that has virtually no insides. The animal living in it is very, very small and makes this enormous fortress, enormous for it's size. But it's just a marvel of super-armored architecture. There are others, of course, that have such thin and delicate spines as to be nearly unbelievable that these things could actually go around in nature and not be completely crushed."

Geerat Vermeij is one of the world's leading authorities on shells. He also happens to be blind.

"I have a fairly long history of finding characters on shells that other people have missed. And I wouldn't say that I can see things that other people can't,. What I would say is that I'm more apt to notice certain things that other people might overlook. It's all a question of how carefully do you examine specimens. And I also use, um, small needles to poke into the openings of shells if they're very small so I can count, um, the little denticles on the sides, or little folds, and other little protuberances."

Please visit our website at nationalgeographic.com. Pulse of the Planet is presented by DuPont, bringing you the miracles of science, with additional support provided by the National Science Foundation.