Ep 064: Cephstravaganza with Prof. Kat Bolstad

064: Cephstravaganza with Prof. Kat Bolstad

Photo credit to Peter Morse @PeterAndTheOctopus

December 5th, 2025

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Welcome back to the Deep-Sea Podcast, your punk take on all things deep sea!

This Month...

The Professor is still down under, organizing conferences and recuperating from Old Mate’s Classic Aussie Sausage Sizzle, a robust event filled with friends of the podcast and still felt 24 hours later.

Thom is back on land recovering after an early morning spent at sea with Kat Bolstad, William, and Richie of W McWilliam Fishing- huge thanks for the outing!

Thom had exactly the same small boat experience he usually does, which is to say he is happy to be back on dry non moving land, and is definitely dehydrated.

Richie has an Instagram account you can follow too!

Breathe | Mauri Ora | Te PapaBreathe | Mauri Ora illuminates the hidden forces surrounding us, revealing the sublime through sensory journeys beyond our everyday perception. This exhibition features major digital artworks on an awe-inspiring scale from London-based collective Marshmallow Laser Feast (MLF). Through guided meditation, large-scale video works, and interactive experiences, you evolve from droplets of water to plants, cells, and stars, becoming part of the cycle of life and the cosmos.

Thom is also curating an exhibition a the Te Papa Natural history museum, it will include video installations and 360º audiovisual world from London based artist Marshmallow Laser Feast.

First Breath: Opening Party | Te PapaBe among the first to explore Breathe | Mauri Ora at a special opening party that includes late-night exhibition access and live entertainment.

You're Invited!

We are hosting a Holiday party over zoom this year, and the Discord Patreon is invited!

On December 12th UK time and 13th New Zealand time, Alan and Thom are hosting a holiday party for the Patreon discord community.

Join us for an interactive party, with movie watching, ranty narration from Alan, and all the friendly patreon faces live and in person- or as in person as we can get!

If you’re keen to come make sure to sign up as a Patreon pledger, not only will you be helping to support the podcast but you will also get to attend the coolest party of the year.

What's happening in our Deep-Sea Discord Community:

Voting on the Holiday Party movie
Started a long overdue ART channel, and a new Pets channel
Photo tours of submersibles and Okinawa
Early Holiday celebrations by one of our hosts- you don't have to guess which one>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Great feedback and conversation on our last episode.

Will we make Alan watch an Octonauts episode?

We might just do that!

if you want to cast a vote and attend the party then make sure to head over to Patreon and support the show by signing up.

Become a Patron and join our Chats!

Our Guests This Month:

This month our roving reporter Professor Kat Bolstad is bringing us 12 amazing guests direct from the Cephalopod International Advisory Council Meeting 2025 that took place in Okinawa Japan.

Our all-star cast of guests includes

Sarah McAnulty
Meg Mindlin
Fernando Fernandez-Alvarez
Sam Arnold
Austin Horenkamp
Ben Shirey
Kristina Fleetwood
Marina Maranzana
Mike Navarro
Toni Sanchez-Marquez
Connor Wallace
Sam Clough

It's truly a CEPHSTRAVAGANZA!

Cephalopod International Advisory Council 2025 in Okinawa (CIAC2025)OIST Workshop | Website | Conference Chair Ryuta Nakajima and Dan Rokhsar | OIST members are welcome to attend all scientific sessions. Meals are closed sessions for registered participants only.

Our roving reporter Kat Bolstad- Now officially Professor Kat Bolstad- Congratulations Kat!!

See the CIAC book of Abstracts here

Research posters created by some of our guests this month.

Global biodiversity of the genus Ommastrephes (Ommastrephidae: Cephalopoda): an allopatric cryptic species complexAbstract. Cryptic speciation among morphologically homogeneous species is a phenomenon increasingly reported in cosmopolitan marine invertebrates. This sit

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Deep Sea Science + Art Collaborations

The Unseen Ocean Collective

We hear from the Unseen Ocean Collective again this month, with Meghan Jones, giving an update about what the collective is getting ready for the children of Alaska in February.

Unseen Ocean Collective. Explore the Unseen Ocean The deep ocean is Earth’s largest and least explored ecosystem. Hidden gardens - home to a vast diversity of animals, including corals and sponges- support life, store carbon, and sustain fisheries. Yet these ecosystems remain largely out of sight and are threatened by

www.unseenoceancollective.com

@unseenoceancollective

@unseenoceancollective.bsky.social

There is a new Deep Sea Art and Science Feed on Blue Sky

What is a FEED? Feeds are kind of like a subject dedicated channel on a television and allow creators to curate content. This one deals specifically with posts that have Deep- Sea Science and Art content.