News Items

News Items

Share this post

News Items
News Items
News Items, Part 2.
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More

News Items, Part 2.

Stable alliances.

John Ellis
Aug 31, 2022
∙ Paid
7

Share this post

News Items
News Items
News Items, Part 2.
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More
Share

Share News Items

1. One of the most remarkable things about our species is how fast human culture can change. New words can spread from continent to continent, while technologies such as cellphones and drones change the way people live around the world. It turns out that humpback whales have their own long-range, high-speed cultural evolution, and they don’t need the internet or satellites to keep it running. In a study published on Tuesday, scientists found that humpback songs easily spread from one population to another across the Pacific Ocean. It can take just a couple of years for a song to move several thousand miles. Ellen Garland, a marine biologist at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland and an author of the study, said she was shocked to find whales in Australia passing their songs to others in French Polynesia, which in turn gave songs to whales in Ecuador. “Half the globe is now vocally connected for whales,” she said. (Source: nytimes.com)

Keep reading with a 7-day free trial

Subscribe to News Items to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in
© 2025 John Ellis
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start writingGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture

Share

Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More