Chapter 1: How are drones used to study whale breaths?
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Hi, I'm excited to be here. And I hear that we're talking about drones collecting whale breaths.
Yes, and how swearing may make you physically stronger. Plus, how bird beaks may have rapidly evolved during the COVID pandemic.
Ooh, good mix this time around.
Holiday gifts for you, all on this episode of Shortwave, the science podcast from NPR.
All right, so let's start off with these whale breaths. But first, I need some information. How does a whale breathe?
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Chapter 2: What health insights can scientists gain from whale exhalations?
We are moving on to bird beaks. Which birds are we talking about here?
Dark-eyed juncos, these adorable sparrows with almost perfectly round bodies and tiny little feet. Evolutionary biologist Pam Yeh studies these birds at the University of California, Los Angeles, or UCLA.
They weigh about 15 to 20 grams, so it's not much at all. and they just pop along the ground, I know, and they hop around, and they're usually together. They usually hop with somebody else.
But not all of these birds look the same. Junkos in the wildlands outside L.A. have longer, more slender beaks, whereas the junkos within Los Angeles, including the birds on the UCLA campus, have shorter, stubbier beaks. But the shapes of the city bird beaks changed during COVID.
How have they changed?
Yeah, we spoke to Ellie Diamant, an author on this study with PAM. She says the birds that hatched at UCLA in 2021 and 2022 had longer, more slender beaks, much like the local wildland juncos.
And her team thinks it has to do with campus closures. When campus is full of people, the trash cans are, you know, full of food waste and stubbier beaks could be good for foraging in that environment.
But when the campus was emptier during COVID lockdown, those food resources changed. So the longer wild-type beaks may have been more advantageous.
Wait, help me understand this. Can evolution happen that quickly?
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Chapter 3: What diseases can affect whales and how do researchers monitor them?
This episode was produced by Rachel Carlson and Kai McNamee. It was edited by Patrick Jaron-Wantanonan.
Tyler Jones, Check the Facts, Maggie Luthar, and Peter Elena were the audio engineers. I'm Birdley McCoy.
And I'm Emily Kwong. Thank you for listening to Shortwave, the science podcast from NPR.