Learn · TED

Talk6 min

How do oysters make pearls?

Rob Ulrich · TED

Watch At TED

About

Despite their iridescent colors and smooth shapes, pearls are actually made of the exact same material as the craggy shell that surrounds them. Pearls, urchin spines, the shells of mussels, snails and clams, even coral— all these structures are made out of the same chemical compound: calcium carbonate. So how does this single ingredient form such a vast array of materials? Rob Ulrich investigates. [Directed by Ivana Bošnjak, narrated by Jack Cutmore-Scott, music by Salil Bhayani, cAMP Studio].

The talk

  1. How do oysters make pearls? 6 min · TED's player

Credits and licence

Institution
TED
Department
TED-Ed
Speaker
Rob Ulrich
Year
2022
Level
For everyone
Language
English
Subjects
Biology, Teaching and learning
Source
TED
Licence
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, as TED states it. Non-commercial use only, and no changed versions. TED's terms
Attribution
TED Talks are licensed by TED under Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 International and are shown here in TED's own player, as TED's usage policy asks.
Who can watch
TED gives no rating. Invisible Network shows it to Tweens profiles and older, judged from what the source says about it. How courses are placed