The birds, the bees and the robots
BBC Earth Podcast
Jenkins Laura
4.6 • 611 Ratings
🗓️ 18 April 2019
⏱️ 26 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week we turn our attention to the technology that enables us to soar above the clouds to and zoom in close to our natural world. We meet Sacha, who conquered a debilitating fear of flying to fly alongside and study the decline of swans. Prepare to be amazed by the complex world of bio-inspired robotics and the intelligent engineers behind them. These robots go where humans can’t, places that are inaccessible or dangerous, collecting samples, making measurements and deliveries to aid human innovation. And for all the wonders of the world drones have enabled us to see, sometimes their very presence can pose a threat to the animals they are hoping to film. How can we get in close while keeping our distance at the same time? We know, we can almost hear the cogs turning in your brain too.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is a podcast from BBC Studios. |
| 0:04.0 | A commercial subsidiary of the BBC. |
| 0:10.0 | Maybe 20 years ago in Panama that ended up in a small plane that ended up in a thunderstorm. |
| 0:25.6 | We were thrown around all over the place, hit by hail, lightning, |
| 0:31.6 | desperately trying to find this small runway above 3,000 little islands, |
| 0:35.6 | and so for 40 minutes the pilot was pale, desperately |
| 0:39.7 | trying to find this landing strip. And it left me with a pretty debilitating fear of any turbulence |
| 0:46.7 | in flight. I found myself one day grabbing this lady on next to me that I didn't know, |
| 0:52.3 | gripping her arm so tightly, I made fingernail marks in her arm, just saying, oh my God, talk to me, talk to me. And I just thought, who are you? I don't recognise you. Like, I am someone who writes a motorcycle and I free dive and I do stuff. Why on earth am I so scared of flying? I have to get over this. Welcome to the BBC Earth podcast, the podcast that's taking a trip up above the clouds. I'm Emily Knight. |
| 1:13.1 | So I just started paragliding to try and understand air. I realized that was a thing I needed to |
| 1:17.6 | rationalize my way out of a fear of flying. And I hated it for two years. And then one day I |
| 1:24.1 | saw somebody flying a paramotor. And I like oh my god with that you would basically end up |
| 1:29.9 | with an aircraft you can have in the back of your car you could fly any time you like and you don't |
| 1:34.4 | have to fly when the air is turbulent because the motor can take you around so you can fly in calm air |
| 1:38.4 | and in the morning light and from above the world looks beautiful. |
| 1:48.9 | In this episode, we're spreading our wings and taking to the skies, |
| 1:51.9 | getting a bird's eye view of everyone else down below. |
| 1:54.6 | And we're starting with the story of a bird. |
| 1:58.1 | A large white bird called a Buick Swan and the woman who flew alongside them. |
| 2:03.8 | Let me introduce you to Sasha Dench. |
| 2:11.0 | My name is Sasha Dench. I was once a biologist, I'm a conservationist, and I'm primarily now known as the human swan. In 2015, Sasha was a conservationist working at the Buick Swans' winter home, |
| 2:17.9 | a wetland called Slimbridge in Gloucestershire in the west of England. |
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