NPR’s Juana Summers talks with Regina Barber and Berly McCoy of the Brief Wave podcast about stealthy fish, a latest communication hiccup with Voyager 2 and why waves are getting taller in California.
JUANA SUMMERS, BYLINE: It is time now for our science roundup from our buddies at NPR’s Brief Wave podcast. Regina Barber and Berly McCoy are right here. Hey, y’all.
REGINA BARBER, BYLINE: Hey.
BERLY MCCOY, BYLINE: Hi there.
SUMMERS: All proper. So at the moment I perceive you have introduced us three science tales that caught your eye. Are you able to simply give me somewhat preview?
BARBER: OK. How about shouting into interstellar house…
MCCOY: An excellent-sneaky fish.
BARBER: …And larger waves off California due to local weather change?
SUMMERS: OK. Regina, I can undoubtedly determine with this concept of shouting into house plenty of the time, particularly after I’m at dwelling. Let’s begin there.
BARBER: Yeah, me, too. So a pair weeks in the past, NASA misplaced contact with Voyager 2. That is the spacecraft that launched in 1977 and has traveled effectively past our photo voltaic system and continues to be sending again knowledge. And so they have been fearful they’d misplaced contact for good, however they reconnected to it final week by shouting at it throughout 12 billion miles or so.
SUMMERS: OK. And what precisely do you imply by shouting?
BARBER: Yeah. So NASA periodically sends messages to verify Voyager 2 is pointing its receiver in the direction of Earth. And some weeks in the past, there was an error in a code that was despatched out that resulted within the receiver pointing the unsuitable means, simply two levels. And that error was sort of like sending an electronic mail with the unsuitable attachment. And due to that slight shift, they misplaced contact. The workforce was in emergency mode, however they have been ultimately in a position to ship one other message utilizing the strongest sign they might, which was over twice as highly effective as the unique message. Linda Spilker, the Voyager mission scientist I talked to, known as it shouting at Voyager 2.
LINDA SPILKER: And it labored. We shouted at Voyager, waited a day and a half. And Voyager got here again and mentioned, hello. I am effective. Every little thing’s nice.
SUMMERS: Nicely, that feels like a reduction. However wait. There are two Voyager spacecrafts, proper?
BARBER: Yeah. So there’s Voyager 1 and Voyager 2. And so they have been each made to review the planets in our photo voltaic system. And Voyager 2 is definitely the one spacecraft to review Uranus and Neptune. However since every thing was nonetheless working after the preliminary four-year mission, scientists determined to offer them a brand new mission to review interstellar house.
SUMMERS: “Interstellar.” Is not {that a} Matthew McConaughey movie?
BARBER: Sure. However in actual life, we’re speaking concerning the house past our photo voltaic system, between star methods, a spot we’ve not actually explored. And that is the place the Voyager spacecrafts are actually. And this makes them the farthest human-made objects from Earth. Additionally, simply in case they encounter clever life, Voyager 1 and a couple of are carrying Golden Data. And these Golden Data have pictures, music and greetings from all around the world.
SUMMERS: OK. Now for our second science story, we’re leaving house, and we’re diving proper into the ocean. Berly, inform us about these sneaky fish.
MCCOY: Yeah. So this discovery is in trumpet fish, that are these lengthy, stick-like fish. And so they do that factor known as shadowing after they’re searching different fish, which is mainly when one fish follows one other fish intently. And there was some thriller as to why they’d try this. Possibly they do it as a result of it helps them sneak up on their prey, however they might additionally do it as a result of they encounter much less drag after they swim within the shadow of one other fish. Researchers did not actually know.
SUMMERS: OK, so how did the scientists resolve all of it?
MCCOY: So that is the actually enjoyable half. First, the researchers made these 3D-printed fashions of trumpet fish and the fish they have an inclination to cover behind known as parrotfish. Then the lead researcher spent weeks portray them – he mentioned he felt like Bob Ross – after which took them out to a coral reef within the Caribbean the place divers had seen this trumpet fish shadowing habits earlier than. And so two researchers would dive down, discover a colony of trumpet fish prey after which arrange two tripods with a nylon line between them. They connected 3D-printed trumpet fish and parrotfish to that nylon line, sort of like an underwater clothesline. After which they’d placed on this underwater puppet present with the pretend fish swimming throughout the reef and watch how the trumpet fish’s prey responded.
SUMMERS: OK, so what did the prey do? How did they reply to those decoys when it seemed like one fish was hiding behind the opposite fish?
MCCOY: Yeah. So this phantasm that the researchers arrange with the pretend trumpet fish hiding behind the parrotfish – it appeared to trick the prey. The prey did not dart out of the best way as urgently as they did after they encountered the trumpet fish by itself.
SUMMERS: So it appears the scientists obtained nearer to answering the query of why these fish do that then, proper? It appears to assist them get nearer to their prey whereas searching.
MCCOY: Yeah, that is what the researchers concluded, which implies that is the primary time researchers confirmed {that a} predator exterior of people can conceal themselves from their prey by hiding behind one other animal. And since coral reefs are disappearing, there’s much less coral to cover behind. So hiding behind different fish might find yourself being an much more essential technique for trumpet fish sooner or later.
SUMMERS: For our third and last story, we’re staying within the ocean. The waves alongside the California coast are getting larger over time, and that is attributable to international warming.
BARBER: Yeah. So our NPR colleague Nate Rott wrote about this not too long ago for npr.org. Apparently, California’s winter waves have gotten a few foot taller on common since 1969. And the variety of storms that produce waves higher than 13 toes tall have additionally grow to be extra frequent off California’s coasts. So that is from a examine revealed final week within the Journal of Geophysical Analysis Oceans.
SUMMERS: I imply, once you’re speaking a few foot taller waves – I am not one of the best swimmer. That does not sound like excellent news for me. Possibly in case you wish to surf, it is a good factor.
MCCOY: Yeah, I believe for the surfers, it is perhaps a greater factor for the remainder of us. Surfers in California earlier this 12 months mentioned they noticed one of the best swell in a long time.
BARBER: Yeah, however like Juana mentioned, there are many downsides that include large waves, like broken piers, crumbled sea cliffs, flooded coastlines. And once you mix that with rising sea ranges, we’re speaking billions in injury to California’s coast inside the subsequent few a long time.
SUMMERS: OK, that is no good. So how did they work out that California’s waves have been getting larger?
BARBER: Peter Bromirsky, the examine’s writer, used seismic information going again to 1931.
SUMMERS: I imply, I really feel like after I hear the phrase seismic thrown round, I am normally excited about earthquakes, not waves.
MCCOY: Yep, yep, completely. However it’s related. We swear. So mainly, when waves ricochet off the coast, they ship vitality again in the direction of the ocean. And when that vitality hits incoming waves, it pushes vitality downward. That creates a seismic sign that may be detected like earthquakes. So Bromirski was in a position to make use of that info to estimate the scale of the waves.
BARBER: And this half is definitely actually cool. So we now have knowledge on wave top alongside the West Coast from buoys, however they’ve solely been measuring this since 1980. So by utilizing this older seismic knowledge, Bromirski was in a position to return additional in time to exercise patterns again to the Nineteen Thirties.
SUMMERS: OK. And we talked about earlier that these increased waves off California are linked to international warming. What is the connection?
BARBER: Nicely, this new examine provides to analysis suggesting storm exercise within the Northern Pacific Ocean has elevated as human actions have brought on the world’s temperatures to heat. That storm exercise is the primary supply of California’s winter swells.
MCCOY: Plus, we all know that local weather change makes storms extra highly effective and harmful. It makes storm surge and inland flooding extra extreme. So regardless that this examine was centered on a selected area, the priority goes means past the California coast.
SUMMERS: That is Berly McCoy and Regina Barber from NPR’s science podcast Brief Wave, the place you possibly can find out about new discoveries, on a regular basis mysteries and the science behind the headlines. Regina, Berly, thanks.
BARBER: Thanks.
MCCOY: Thanks, Juana.
(SOUNDBITE OF REFUGEE CAMP ALL-STARS SONG, “THE SWEETEST THING”)
Copyright © 2023 NPR. All rights reserved. Go to our web site phrases of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for additional info.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This textual content will not be in its last kind and could also be up to date or revised sooner or later. Accuracy and availability could differ. The authoritative report of NPR’s programming is the audio report.
