What are whales saying to each other? Scientists are a step closer to finding out

What are whales saying to each other? Scientists are a step closer to finding out

The Current16:06Decoding the sperm whale’s alphabet Scientists have examined thousands of hours of sperm whale calls — bursts of clicks known as codas — and discovered a kind of phonetic alphabet that the animals use to communicate. “What we’ve done here is really sort of expand … the library of potential codas that these animals … Read more

Geologist says she knows the Mona Lisa’s setting. But not everyone is convinced

Geologist says she knows the Mona Lisa’s setting. But not everyone is convinced

As It Happens7:16This geologist says she found the Mona Lisa’s setting While many art historians have focused on the woman in Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, Ann Pizzorusso has a different obsession — the mountain ridges in the background. Pizzorusso, a geologist and Italian Renaissance scholar, says she combined her two fields of expertise to pinpoint … Read more

New $25M facility allows Canada’s ocean scientists, military to share research

New M facility allows Canada’s ocean scientists, military to share research

A new $25-million marine research centre opened Monday in Dartmouth, N.S., to co-ordinate the sophisticated underwater platforms used by Canada to gather ocean data. The Facility for Intelligent Marine Systems brings together researchers from Fisheries and Oceans, Natural Resources Canada and Defence Research and Development Canada into one place. “These researchers will be leading the way … Read more

Waters off Scotian Shelf are cooling, but scientists can’t say for how long

Waters off Scotian Shelf are cooling, but scientists can’t say for how long

The latest survey of Atlantic Ocean conditions off Nova Scotia show after a decade of warming, temperatures on the Scotian Shelf are cooling. The slight climate reversal has scientists asking if this is the beginning of a return to previous norms — or a blip. “What remains unknown is whether this is a longer term trend … Read more

Rejected From More Than 500 Internships To Raising $7.2M To Build Flying Boats: Meet Sampriti Bhattacharyya

Rejected From More Than 500 Internships To Raising .2M To Build Flying Boats: Meet Sampriti Bhattacharyya

“I grew up in a very chaotic family,” said Sampriti Bhattacharyya, the leader of maritime tech company Navier. “I did not grow up close to my parents, so I became very introverted in many ways.” Growing up in Kolkata, India, at just 12 years old, Bhattacharyya became fascinated by space.“Watching the Apollo Mission to the … Read more

Dubai deluge likely made worse by warming world, scientists find

Dubai deluge likely made worse by warming world, scientists find

A powerful rainstorm that wreaked havoc on the desert nation of the United Arab Emirates last week was likely made more intense because of climate change, a team of international scientists has found. The World Weather Attribution (WWA) group, composed of researchers from around the globe, said rain storms like the one that struck last … Read more

Meet the Inuit throat singers revitalizing the tradition and engaging new audiences

Meet the Inuit throat singers revitalizing the tradition and engaging new audiences

Unreserved45:38Reclaiming Inuit Throat Singing Sisters Tiffany Ayalik and Inuksuk McKay were children when they first learned the Inuit cultural practice of throat singing.   “If you ask a kid when they first learn to do ABC’s, they probably wouldn’t be able to tell you exactly when. It was just a normal part of childhood for us,” … Read more

Chief says rescue effort for stranded orca calf four, five days away as plans ramp up

Chief says rescue effort for stranded orca calf four, five days away as plans ramp up

Plans are settling into place for an attempt to rescue a young killer whale calf stranded in a tidal lagoon near the Vancouver Island village of Zeballos within four or five days, says the area’s First Nation chief. Ehattesaht Chief Simon John has previously said the plan to remove the female orca calf from the … Read more

Eleanor Catton among 3 Canadian authors shortlisted for $204K Carol Shields Prize

Eleanor Catton among 3 Canadian authors shortlisted for 4K Carol Shields Prize

Eleanor Catton is among the five North American authors shortlisted for the second iteration of the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction.  The $150,000 USD ($203,971.50 Cdn) prize recognizes the best fiction book by a woman or non-binary writer from the U.S. and Canada. It is presently the largest international literary prize for women writers. Each of the four remaining finalists will … Read more

Helicopter to airlift stranded orca out of B.C. lagoon

Chief says rescue effort for stranded orca calf four, five days away as plans ramp up

Plans are now underway to airlift a stranded killer whale calf out of a remote tidal lagoon off northern Vancouver Island in an effort to reunite the young orca with its extended family. Fisheries Department and First Nations officials say the plans involve placing the two-year-old calf into a sling, lifting it out of the … Read more