With severe myopia hindering her vision on land, scientist Mary Power’s love for aquatic life began when she realized she could see much better underwater. The refraction of the water in her snorkeling mask allowed her to see clearly for the very first time.
Features
Clip | Otters & Orcas: An Alaskan Mystery
Clip | Scientist Profile – Jim Estes
Clip | Scientist Profile – Mary Power
Clip | Scientist Profile – John Terborgh
Clip | Scientist Profile – Tony Sinclair
Clip | Scientist Profile – Bob Paine
Educational Resources
Q&A with Dr. Sean B. Carroll, Author, The Serengeti Rules
Clip | How Wildebeest Saved the Serengeti
Clip | How Starfish Changed Modern Ecology
Full Episode | The Serengeti Rules
TRANSCRIPT
(birds cawing) - When I was a child I was severely myopic from who knows what age.
I didn't know that you could see leaves on a tree from the ground.
But something happened before I got glasses and that was that I was let loose with a mask and snorkel.
(water bubbling) For the first time I saw things clearly because of the refraction of the water.
(soft music) You can imagine how beautiful it would be when you see detail that you'd never known you could see.
(soft music) What were pond weeds above the water were forests of stems under the water and in this little forest there would be sunfish.
Then occasionally a big, larger predator like a pickerel or a perch or a bass goes by.
(soft music) (water bubbling) There's a flashbulb moment, as they say, where I just had to be underwater looking at life that way for the rest of my life.
(soft music) (upbeat music)