The Next Big Thing

NPR's nationally-syndicated radio show The Next Big Thing, produced by WNYC in New York, sometimes takes its title literally. That was the case this past weekend, when the show opened with a tribute to Bubba the Lobster, RIP. (Click here and look for the segment called "The Life Aquatic.") Host Dean Olsher interviewed Alan Marshall, aquarium curator at the Pittsburgh Zoo, Bubba's first (and, sadly, last) stop on the crustacean underground railroad that was spiriting him, if not to freedom, at least to safety, before the old fellow accidentally expired. Olsher also interviewed me on the show, and asked me to describe the largest lobster I'd ever seen. That brought back memories of a particularly frightening day of dives by the Johnson Sea-Link manned submersible in the chilly waters of the North Atlantic, which I observed from a perch aboard the sub's 170-foot mother ship, the R/V Seward Johnson II. You can listen to The Next Big Thing segment on Bubba online, if you have RealPlayer, by clicking here.