A team of scientists within the nonprofit SETI Institute are looking for extraterrestrial intelligence and traveled to Alaska late last year to spend quality time out at sea with whales.
They made friends with one humpback and named him - or her - Twain and tried to have a nice conversation with their new friend. They played a loud greeting for Twain on an underwater speaker!
And... Eureka! Twain answered back!
So, if you had the chance for a deep dive with the whales, to get personal, or to ask a whale a question... what would you ask? USC students tell us. Here’s NGOs and Social Change freshman Kate Mischer.
Kate Mischer: I would ask how the ocean is and how climate change is impacting their day to day.
Senior Philosophy major Sam Huntsman observes...
Sam Huntsman: If any - if they notice any like, you know, detrimental aspects of humans. involvement into the ocean.
Legal studies freshman Ava Tristan is curious....
Ava Tristan: I think I would like to know if the whale has a love interest currently.
Junior in Electrical engineering, Samuel Belzer would ask...
Samuel Belzer: Are there oceanic wars where species of whale fight other species of whale or are all whales automatically on the same team?
Biological Studies junior Raina Paeper wants to know...
Raina Paeper: What’s your favorite food? Because I feel like they eat a lot of things. But no one ever asked them what’s their favorite?
Huntsman, ever the Philosophy student, understands that whales’ minds are complex too.
Huntsman: Hey, I hope you’re okay. I hope that everything’s good. I love you. They’re very smart creatures. So probably if they recognize that I’m a friend, not a foe, they may be friendly.
Friend making is a skill, and so is speaking in whale. The USC students began warming up their vocal cords to practice making underwater friends.
Who knows? Maybe some of these impressions will bring in Twain and friends, who must be just itching to have a conversation!
For Annenberg Media, I’m Sophie Ignon