Welcome back to our weekly behind-the-scenes glimpse at what’s getting our team talking. Tell us what you’ve been reading at [email protected] and we just might feature it here.
When things click
How much do you have in common with a sperm whale? More than it would seem: New research has found that sperm whale communication closely resembles humans, according to a story from the Guardian shared by RTBC Contributing Editor Michaela Haas. Sperm whale vocalizations — clicking sounds known as codas — are “highly complex and represent one of the closest parallels to human phonology of any analyzed animal communication system,” the new study explains.
Michaela says:
A fascinating update from Project CETI (which I wrote about two years ago). I’m fully convinced sperm whales are highly intelligent.
Worth its salt
Some news you might not expect from a West Coast city: San Diego now has so much water that it can share some with its drought-plagued neighbors. That’s thanks to the desalination plant in Carlsbad, the largest in North America. As the Wall Street Journal reports in a story shared by Executive Editor Will Doig, Arizona and Nevada are hoping to swap water access rights with San Diego — meaning that in exchange for funding the water generated by the Carlsbad plant, those states would get to take San Diego’s share of Colorado River water.
Will says:
Desalination has drawbacks (it’s an energy suck, for one, though new technologies are making it more sustainable) but with California facing a parched summer after a very dry winter, this kind of arrangement could help stave off a crisis.