Radiolab - Hello - Archive FM

It's tough to make small talk with a stranger—especially when that stranger doesn't speak your language. (And he has a blowhole.) It's hard to start a conversation with a stranger—especially when that stranger is, well, different. He doesn't share your customs, celebrate your holidays, watch your TV shows, or even speak your language. Plus he has a blowhole. In this episode, which originally aired in the summer of 2014, we try to make contact with some of the strangest strangers on our little planet: dolphins. Producer Lynn Levy eavesdrops on some human-dolphin conversations, from a studio apartment in the Virgin Islands to a research vessel in the Bermuda Triangle. We have some exciting news! In the “Zoozve” episode, Radiolab named its first-ever quasi-moon, and now it's your turn! Radiolab has teamed up with The International Astronomical Union to launch a global naming contest for one of Earth’s quasi-moons. This is your chance to make your mark on the heavens. Vote on your favorites starting in November: https://radiolab.org/moon Support Radiolab by becoming a member of The Lab today. Signup for our newsletter. It includes short essays, recommendations, and details about other ways to interact with the show. Sign up (https://radiolab.org/newsletter)! Radiolab is supported by listeners like you. Support Radiolab by becoming a member of The Lab (https://members.radiolab.org/) today. Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailing [email protected] support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Science Sandbox, a Simons Foundation Initiative, and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Duration: 50m
Broadcast on: 15 Nov 2024
Audio Format: other

It's hard to start a conversation with a stranger—especially when that stranger is, well, different. He doesn't share your customs, celebrate your holidays, watch your TV shows, or even speak your language. Plus he has a blowhole.

In this episode, which originally aired in the summer of 2014, we try to make contact with some of the strangest strangers on our little planet: dolphins. Producer Lynn Levy eavesdrops on some human-dolphin conversations, from a studio apartment in the Virgin Islands to a research vessel in the Bermuda Triangle.

We have some exciting news! In the “Zoozve” episode, Radiolab named its first-ever quasi-moon, and now it's your turn! Radiolab has teamed up with The International Astronomical Union to launch a global naming contest for one of Earth’s quasi-moons. This is your chance to make your mark on the heavens. Vote on your favorites starting in November: https://radiolab.org/moon

Support Radiolab by becoming a member of The Lab today.

Signup for our newsletter. It includes short essays, recommendations, and details about other ways to interact with the show. Sign up (https://radiolab.org/newsletter)!

Radiolab is supported by listeners like you. Support Radiolab by becoming a member of The Lab (https://members.radiolab.org/) today.

Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailing [email protected].

Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Science Sandbox, a Simons Foundation Initiative, and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

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WNYC Studios is supported by WISE. WISE, the smart way to manage the currencies you need around the world. With a WISE account, you can send, spend, and receive in up to 40 currencies with only a few simple taps. Be smart, get WISE. Download the WISE app today. Terms and conditions apply. WNYC Studios is supported by Odo. When you buy business software from lots of vendors, the costs add up and it gets complicated and confusing. Odo solves this. It's a single company that sells a suite of enterprise apps that handles everything from accounting to inventory to sales. Odo is all connected on a single platform in a simple and affordable way. You can save money without missing out on the features you need. Check out Odo at ODOO.com. That's ODOO.com. RadioLab is supported by AT&T. We all love to connect via video, a text, or a group chat that never stops. And right now, AT&T has a deal that will keep the connection going. You can get the new iPhone 18 Pro for $0 with eligible trade-in. It has the Ultimate Pro camera system and a big leap in battery life, so you can turn this deal into a long-lasting connection. Learn how you can trade in your phone for the new iPhone 18 Pro at AT&T. Connecting changes everything. Required trade-in of $230 or more and eligible plan, terms, and restrictions apply subject to change, visit an AT&T store for details. Hey, this is RadioLab. I'm left with Nasser. Over the last year, there has been a cascade of headlines about scientists trying to use AI to translate animal languages into a form we can understand. At this very moment, brilliant scientists and sophisticated algorithms are trying to decipher the snuffles of pigs, the honks of geese, the squeaks of mice, the barks of dogs, the cause of crows, the moose of cows, the clucks of chickens, the chirps of fruit bats, the meows of cats, and the songs of sperm whales. Those are just the ones that have been reported in the last year or so, but turns out, people have been trying to listen and talk across the species divide for way longer than that. Today, we bring you a RadioLab story, originally broadcast in 2014, about what is, I would argue, the greatest and most shocking of these stories, and what's even better is, it's told by a human in the first person, someone who was right there, might not be appropriate for younger kids or more sensitive listeners. But with that warning, here you go. Hello from RadioLab. That's how you say enjoy in Dolfini's, I think. Listening to RadioLab from WNYC. Hello, this is Lynn, someone on the other side of this. So, a couple months ago, our producer, Lynn Levy, did an interview with this woman. Yeah, her name is Margaret Lovett, and this was Margaret's first time doing a radio interview. That magic voice, this is so fun. But this was definitely not her first time talking into a microphone. 1, 2, 3, 4, this is the yellow mic. 1, 2, 3, 4, this is the orange mic. Almost exactly 50 years ago, the following recording was made on November 19, 1964, at 2300 hours. Margaret was at the center of this amazing, weird experiment. Yeah, yeah. Who were you at that time? Like, what were you like? Well, I've always had a bit of, if everybody's going left, I'll go right. She tried college for a while to Lane University for a year, but she dropped out, and I was 20 or 19 or something at that point, and moved to St. Thomas in the Caribbean. I'd never been to an island. Got a job at this hotel, did menus, check people in and out. And one day she hears about the strange research facility on the other side of the island. And I thought, I wonder what that is about. And I asked a few people and they said, "Oh, no, no. They don't like people there or can't go there." I was told not to go there, so I went there.

Hmm. And that's how it all started. And that's how we're going to start the show. I'm Chad Iboomeron.

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