Turtle Voices, a Pandemic Retrospective and a Nose-Picking Primate

BBC Inside Science

BBC

Technology, Science

4.5 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 24 November 2022

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

New recordings featuring the voices of 53 species of turtle, caecilian and tuatara previously thought to be silent have illuminated the evolutionary origins of vocal communication. Gabriel Jorgevich-Cohen a PhD student at the University of Zurich has travelled the world collecting recordings and summarised his findings in Nature Communications this week. He spoke to BBC science correspondent Georgina Rannard who explains his findings, what they mean, and shows us some of her favourite turtle sounds. What was it like to advise the government during the height of the pandemic? How soon did experts realise the colossal impact Covid would have? Were mistakes made? The latest in our series of interviews with those shortlisted for the Royal Society Insight Investment Book prize, Vic sat down with co-authors Sir Jeremy Farrar and Anjana Ahuja to talk about their book Spike: the Virus vs the People. Anne-Claire Fabre Assistant Professor at the University of Bern and Curator of mammals, Natural History Museum Bern turns her scientific curiosity toward a surprising and perhaps perturbing behaviour in one of her research animals as she spoke to us about her paper published in the Journal of Zoology this week. Whilst investigating the Aye Aye, a nocturnal primate with two long thin fingers Anne-Claire witnessed the creature putting them to good use picking its nose and went on to uncover a big gap in our understanding of this icky behaviour. Presenter Victoria Gill Producer Emily Bird

Transcript

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0:00.0	Before you listen to this BBC podcast, I'd like to introduce myself.
0:03.7	My name's Stevie Middleton and I'm a BBC Commissioner for a Load of Sport Podcasts.
0:08.4	I'm lucky to do that at the BBC because I get to work with a leading journalist, experienced
0:12.2	pundits and the biggest sport stars.
0:14.3	Together we bring you untold stories and fascinating insights straight from the players'
0:18.5	mouths.
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0:28.8	dedicated sports fans across the UK.
0:31.2	So if you like this podcast, head over to BBC Sounds where you'll find plenty more.
0:40.4	Hello, you lovely curious minded people.
0:42.5	This is the podcast edition of BBC Insights Science, originally broadcast on the 27th of October
0:48.0	2022. I'm Victoria Gill. This week we're reliving a world-changing pandemic with a raw first-hand
0:55.5	account from a scientist who was on the front line of the UK response to the Covid outbreak,
1:00.5	and we're picking at the evolutionary roots of a truly revolting habit.
1:05.0	But first, do you know what this sound is?
1:13.9	You're unlikely too because it's something that very few people have heard,
1:17.2	and in fact we think it's the first time it's been recorded.
1:19.7	It's a snapping turtle, a vocalisation of a snapping turtle.
1:23.3	They were previously thought to be non-vocal, and there really couldn't be anything more
1:26.6	fundamental to our science audio show than the very basis of vocal communication and audio
1:32.4	itself. And there's a new study out this week that suggests that communicating using sound
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