Ever since the discovery of whale songs almost 60 years ago, scientists have been trying to decipher the lyrics. But sperm whales don’t produce the eerie melodies sung by humpback whales, sounds that became a sensation in the 1960s. Instead, sperm whales rattle off clicks that sound like a cross between Morse code and a creaking door.
Yesterday
The Sunday Daily: We Underestimated the Neanderthal
Pop culture has not been kind to the Neanderthal. In books, movies and even TV commercials, the species is portrayed as rough and mindless, a brutish type that was rightly supplanted by our Homo sapiens ancestors.But even 40,000 years after the last Neanderthals walked the earth, ... Show More
32m 1s
Jan 23
Trump’s Investigator Breaks His Silence
Three years after his appointment as special counsel, Jack Smith finally delivered the legal argument against President Trump on Thursday that he was never allowed to make in court.Glenn Thrush, who reports on the Justice Department, explains what Mr. Smith told Congress and why ... Show More
33m 46s
Jul 2022
The Humpback and the Killer
<p>Killer whales — orcas — eat all sorts of animals, including humpback calves. But one day, biologists saw a group of humpback whales trying to stop some killer whales from eating… a seal. And then it happened again. And again. It turns out, all across the oceans, humpback whale ... Show More
35m 48s
Aug 2021
Whales' Vital Role In Our Oceans
Whales are more than just beautiful creatures — they play a vital role in the ocean's ecosystem. Today, Asha de Vos, marine biologist and pioneer of long-term blue whale research within the Northern Indian Ocean, explains why protecting whales is crucial for protecting the entire ... Show More
13m 37s
Jul 2023
Tom Mustill, "How to Speak Whale: A Voyage into the Future of Animal Communication" (Grand Central Publishing, 2022)
What if animals and humans could speak to one another? Tom Mustill—the nature documentarian who went viral when a thirty‑ton humpback whale breached onto his kayak—asks this question in his thrilling investigation into whale science and animal communication.
“When a whale is in t ... Show More
53m 45s