Snakes Are Evolutionary Superstars | Whale Song Is All In The Larynx

Science Friday

Science Friday and WNYC Studios

Life Sciences, Wnyc, Science, Earth Sciences, Natural Sciences, Friday

4.5 • 5.5K Ratings

🗓️ 5 March 2024

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In the trees, through the water, and under the dirt: Snakes evolve faster than their lizard relatives, allowing them to occupy diverse niches. Also, researchers are working to understand just how baleen whales are able to produce their haunting songs.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	What's going on in a whale's throat that allows it to sing? It's Tuesday, March 5th.
0:15.0	It's Tuesday, March 5th.
0:17.0	Politics folks call it Super Tuesday, but we say it's Science Friday.
0:28.0	I'm Scifry producer Charles Burgquist. Coming up, we'll talk about research into the larynx of baleen whales
0:32.0	like Humpback and Minky Whales, and how researchers
0:35.8	MacGyver at a device using party balloons and exercise bands to explore its frequencies.
0:41.7	But first, why snakes deserve a recognition as evolutionary
0:45.3	superstars. Here's Ira Flato. Ever since those reported events in the Garden of
0:51.9	Eden, snakes have been given a bad reported events in the Garden of Eden.
0:52.8	Snakes have been given a bad rap.
0:55.9	Love them or hate them.
0:57.4	Turns out that snakes are some of the most evolutionarily
1:00.6	elite creatures on the planet.
1:02.6	And it's not just me who's saying this.
1:05.2	A new study in the journal Science finds that snakes evolve faster
1:10.1	than other groups of lizards.
1:11.9	Yeah, and their ability to adapt to hyper-specific diets and circumstances
1:17.0	make them winners among vertebrates.
1:20.0	So what do you think about snakes now?
1:22.0	Well, joining me to share the science of
1:24.0	serpents is its senior author Daniel Roboski,
1:27.2	Evolutionary biologist and curator at the Museum of Zoology University of Michigan based in Ann Arbor.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Science Friday and WNYC Studios, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Science Friday and WNYC Studios and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.