WEBVTT - Short Stuff: Dolphin Detectors 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:08.119 Hey, and welcome to these short stuff. There's Chuck, there's Josh, 0:00:08.240 --> 0:00:11.160 that's me, and there's Jerry over there. Uh, no time 0:00:11.160 --> 0:00:13.480 to talk any further. Let's get started. We're talking about 0:00:13.520 --> 0:00:16.720 dolphins disarming by Are you gonna do that every time 0:00:17.160 --> 0:00:19.240 as long as I get a laugh out of you? Yeah, 0:00:19.480 --> 0:00:21.720 I will laugh every time. Well, then every time it 0:00:21.880 --> 0:00:24.599 is because I'm laughing, because then we do this and 0:00:24.640 --> 0:00:28.720 it takes more time than it does. I hadn't thought 0:00:28.720 --> 0:00:31.680 about that. Yeah, maybe I will stop doing that because 0:00:31.800 --> 0:00:33.800 I really do feel like pressed for time, Like you 0:00:33.800 --> 0:00:37.919 can see him perspiring across the top of my lip. Hey, 0:00:37.960 --> 0:00:41.120 let me try Josh Clark introw. Okay, hey, Josh, have 0:00:41.159 --> 0:00:45.800 you ever seen a dolphin? Yes? I have, Chuck feels 0:00:45.840 --> 0:00:49.680 like it does. It's kind of exhilarating. Yeah, especially when 0:00:49.720 --> 0:00:53.360 you know that that the other person has seen or 0:00:53.479 --> 0:00:56.120 done or whatever. Yeah. Yeah, you're in the club. So 0:00:56.160 --> 0:00:59.320 we've both seen dolphins. We have. Uh, and I knew 0:00:59.320 --> 0:01:02.440 about this. Uh. What we're talking about here is the 0:01:02.480 --> 0:01:07.040 fact that the U. S. Navy uses dolphins to find 0:01:08.080 --> 0:01:13.759 unexploded underwater ocean minds, right, And I knew about this, 0:01:13.840 --> 0:01:16.959 but uh, you know it was kind of cool just 0:01:17.080 --> 0:01:19.960 to see how exactly this works. It was well also 0:01:20.000 --> 0:01:21.800 to think a lot of people have the impression that 0:01:21.800 --> 0:01:24.680 the dolphins are there, like you know, they're sweating themselves, 0:01:24.680 --> 0:01:28.000 they're wiping sweats from their their brows. They're disarming these 0:01:28.040 --> 0:01:31.000 minds right like by like my flipper can't even hold 0:01:31.040 --> 0:01:33.200 these plyers right or was it the green wire or 0:01:33.240 --> 0:01:36.560 the red wire I'm supposed to clip? But that's all right, 0:01:36.920 --> 0:01:39.560 that's not the case at all. They don't actually disarm 0:01:39.640 --> 0:01:41.720 the minds. They don't even really get that close to it. 0:01:41.760 --> 0:01:45.280 What they do is they go find minds for like 0:01:45.319 --> 0:01:46.960 the U. S. Navy. It's not just the U. S. 0:01:47.080 --> 0:01:52.800 Navy that does this. Apparently, um Russia captured Ukraine's dolphin 0:01:52.960 --> 0:01:57.240 patrol in Crimea and the Crimean War. Recently they used 0:01:57.280 --> 0:02:02.520 Dolph Landgren. He can't swim, terrible joke. He sings like 0:02:02.520 --> 0:02:05.840 a stone. He he does. He doesn't like you would 0:02:05.840 --> 0:02:08.880 be a swimmer, does he? He know he's too he's 0:02:08.919 --> 0:02:12.160 got too much like muscle, you know, which I mean 0:02:12.200 --> 0:02:14.600 sounds counterintuitive, but yeah, he does look like he would 0:02:14.600 --> 0:02:17.880 sink for sure. Uh yeah, So what do you say 0:02:17.919 --> 0:02:20.320 Russians use him. I'm sure other people do too. Rite 0:02:20.440 --> 0:02:22.480 a lot of people do. And again it's they're not 0:02:22.560 --> 0:02:24.359 using them to disarm the mind. They're using them to 0:02:24.440 --> 0:02:27.080 find minds. And the reason they use dolphins to find 0:02:27.120 --> 0:02:31.520 minds is because there are um there's no technology that 0:02:31.600 --> 0:02:34.679 we have that comes even close to rivaling a dolphins 0:02:34.720 --> 0:02:39.920 ability to find something in very murky water with a 0:02:39.960 --> 0:02:44.280 lot of loud acoustic noise and um that that may 0:02:44.320 --> 0:02:47.000 be disguised to look like something else. And minds fall 0:02:47.080 --> 0:02:49.640 under all three of those categories. Yeah, so what a 0:02:49.680 --> 0:02:52.320 dolphin does and we'll get to how they do it, 0:02:52.360 --> 0:02:56.320 But they are trained to do this specifically with just 0:02:56.400 --> 0:02:59.119 like they would be at uh at stinky old Sea 0:02:59.120 --> 0:03:01.320 World with like you know, fish is their real board 0:03:01.760 --> 0:03:04.400 to do their little tricks. But they learned to search 0:03:04.440 --> 0:03:07.520 for these mines. Find one and like you said, they 0:03:07.520 --> 0:03:09.720 could be like fifty ft away. It's not like they 0:03:09.720 --> 0:03:11.960 have to go knock on it or anything like that, 0:03:12.639 --> 0:03:16.560 and it probably wouldn't explode anyway. Um. So they go 0:03:16.680 --> 0:03:19.760 find one, they swim back to the boat and ring 0:03:19.800 --> 0:03:22.880 a bell or you know, some sort of signifier that 0:03:22.919 --> 0:03:26.560 they've worked out. They set off a firework, they shoot 0:03:26.560 --> 0:03:30.280 a flare at the captain. Uh. And then the human says, 0:03:30.320 --> 0:03:33.080 all right, good job. Your work is not quite done though, 0:03:33.360 --> 0:03:35.280 because all you're doing is saying there's something down there. 0:03:36.080 --> 0:03:41.400 Now here is a uh, an acoustic transponder, and uh, 0:03:41.640 --> 0:03:44.480 you go take this. He puts it in his little fist, 0:03:45.200 --> 0:03:48.160 and then the dolphins swims back to the mine and 0:03:48.200 --> 0:03:50.640 now they have you know, it's like it's a transponder, 0:03:50.680 --> 0:03:52.600 so they actually know where it is now, right, And 0:03:52.640 --> 0:03:54.600 then they come back and they get the fish, which 0:03:54.600 --> 0:03:56.440 is really what they're they're kind of after. If you 0:03:56.480 --> 0:04:00.400 remember our Star Dogs episode, it's it's kind the thing 0:04:00.440 --> 0:04:02.200 like they're after a fish. They know if they go 0:04:02.280 --> 0:04:05.120 do this, they'll get a fish. And people think dolphins 0:04:05.120 --> 0:04:07.160 are smart. They don't. They're dumb because they don't realize 0:04:07.200 --> 0:04:12.760 there's fish everywhere in that ocean. So, chuck, how how 0:04:12.800 --> 0:04:14.640 would a dolphin do this kind of thing? Why is 0:04:14.640 --> 0:04:19.320 a dolphins so much so, so vastly superior to anything 0:04:19.360 --> 0:04:21.880 that humans can come up with technology wise? Well, humans 0:04:21.880 --> 0:04:25.800 are pretty good at coming up with technology. Frankly, that 0:04:25.920 --> 0:04:29.880 is correct. But um, we use sonar, and they use sonar. 0:04:30.360 --> 0:04:32.680 But they've been using sonar a lot longer than we've 0:04:32.680 --> 0:04:35.200 been using sonar. That's the point of this article. That 0:04:35.240 --> 0:04:37.640 really is sort of it. Like they mean, dolphins have 0:04:37.680 --> 0:04:41.960 been around way longer than we've been using sonar, and 0:04:42.000 --> 0:04:46.279 that's there their chief I mean, I guess it's sort 0:04:46.279 --> 0:04:50.799 of a communication device. Oh yeah, definitely is. They communicate, 0:04:50.839 --> 0:04:53.920 But it's also the way that they see I guess 0:04:53.960 --> 0:04:55.960 it's the best way you could put it. They see 0:04:55.960 --> 0:04:59.360 what they're there, well, they don't have ears. They see 0:04:59.400 --> 0:05:02.480 with we normally, what might think of these things that 0:05:02.520 --> 0:05:05.159 we might hear? Yeah, and that's why it's so tough 0:05:05.200 --> 0:05:07.599 to kind of wrap your head around what they're doing. 0:05:07.640 --> 0:05:09.920 But if you think about it, if if our vision 0:05:10.120 --> 0:05:13.560 is nothing but a bunch of electrical impulses stimulated by 0:05:13.680 --> 0:05:17.480 light that forms like a mental conception of an object 0:05:17.480 --> 0:05:20.400 in our brain, that's exactly what dolphins are doing. But 0:05:20.520 --> 0:05:23.920 they're doing it with sound. They're shooting out like a 0:05:24.240 --> 0:05:26.760 kind of thing, and when it comes back, it tells 0:05:26.800 --> 0:05:29.960 them about that object and it forms an impression in 0:05:30.000 --> 0:05:33.120 their brain just like we do. Visually. They do orally, 0:05:33.560 --> 0:05:37.120 but not through the mouth, I mean orally a a 0:05:37.240 --> 0:05:41.440 really well put uh yeah, and supposedly they are so 0:05:41.480 --> 0:05:44.599 good at this kind of echolocation that they can tell 0:05:44.600 --> 0:05:48.679 the difference from fifty feet away between a BB gun 0:05:48.720 --> 0:05:51.040 pellet being dropped in the water and a kernel of 0:05:51.120 --> 0:05:53.640 corn being dropped in the water. Yeah, which is again, 0:05:53.640 --> 0:05:56.520 now we're starting to reach the point where it's like, Okay, 0:05:56.560 --> 0:05:58.800 now I see why they're so much better than than 0:05:58.800 --> 0:06:01.160 our technology. Like, I can see that. I could if 0:06:01.160 --> 0:06:03.400 you put a baby in a corner of a kernel 0:06:03.440 --> 0:06:05.600 of corn next to each other fifty ft away, I 0:06:05.640 --> 0:06:07.680 can do that. I can see that. But if the 0:06:07.800 --> 0:06:12.400 visibility underwater, sure could, all right, if the visibility underwater 0:06:12.640 --> 0:06:15.240 is like two ft in front of your face, you 0:06:15.240 --> 0:06:17.680 couldn't do that. A dolphin could, which is why they 0:06:17.680 --> 0:06:21.560 come in handy, right. And so we talked about echo 0:06:21.560 --> 0:06:25.039 location with bats before. Uh, and I feel like with 0:06:25.160 --> 0:06:28.279 something else, but definitely with bats. That was one of 0:06:28.279 --> 0:06:32.279 our great long form episodes, probably whales Whales episode, Yeah, 0:06:32.320 --> 0:06:36.320 probably so. But dolphins used the same process. Um, they 0:06:36.440 --> 0:06:38.760 use their nasal passages and they make that little clicking 0:06:38.800 --> 0:06:41.880 sound that you did so well. Uh, they send it 0:06:42.240 --> 0:06:46.040 to the forehead and that focuses the sound into like 0:06:46.080 --> 0:06:50.120 a beam that shoots out into the water. Let's step one. Yeah, 0:06:50.320 --> 0:06:53.400 and then what happens after that, well after that because 0:06:53.400 --> 0:06:55.960 it's echo location, you know, it works just like with 0:06:56.000 --> 0:06:59.600 the bats. Things bounce off and come back to them. Uh. 0:06:59.760 --> 0:07:02.040 In case of bats, it's you know, mosquitoes and things 0:07:02.080 --> 0:07:06.719 like that, or or stupid humans with tennis rackets. Um, 0:07:06.760 --> 0:07:09.720 it bounces back to the dolphin as that echo and 0:07:09.760 --> 0:07:13.680 then they absorb that into their jaw like a tennis racket, 0:07:13.800 --> 0:07:18.560 like it's oh no, poor dolphin, poor dolphin. Uh. And 0:07:18.600 --> 0:07:20.640 this part is kind of gross sounding, but there is 0:07:20.680 --> 0:07:25.000 a um what Jane McGrath referred to as a passage 0:07:25.000 --> 0:07:28.400 of fat in the jaw, and that's just really just 0:07:28.440 --> 0:07:31.400 a conductor that conducts the sound to the inner ear 0:07:31.440 --> 0:07:34.640 of the dolphin, which and then all the nerve impulses 0:07:34.680 --> 0:07:37.520 get going and then the brain starts firing. And like 0:07:37.560 --> 0:07:40.480 you said, just like we see something, they can say, wow, 0:07:40.520 --> 0:07:43.560 that thing is around like a bb or it's shaped 0:07:44.080 --> 0:07:46.960 kernel shaped like a corn kernel, or where they go, hey, 0:07:47.040 --> 0:07:49.160 it's a c mine that things are gonna blow. I better, 0:07:50.240 --> 0:07:51.720 or that's a fish. I don't even need to go 0:07:51.760 --> 0:07:55.840 back to the boat, right, I can eat so chuck, Um, 0:07:56.720 --> 0:07:59.280 let's take an ad break and then we will come 0:07:59.320 --> 0:08:03.559 back and we'll talk about how not everybody's super hip 0:08:03.600 --> 0:08:30.400 with the idea of using dolphins in war. Okay, we're back, 0:08:30.600 --> 0:08:33.120 and like I said, not everybody is really happy that 0:08:33.160 --> 0:08:36.400 the U. S. Navy is using dolphins. And actually, I 0:08:36.440 --> 0:08:39.760 should say, real quick, Chuck, I want to fit this in. Um. Oh, 0:08:39.760 --> 0:08:41.360 I shouldn't have even said I wanted to fit it in. 0:08:41.400 --> 0:08:46.760 That's using up valuable time. So I the Navy started 0:08:46.880 --> 0:08:50.520 using dolphins quite by accident. I guess in nineteen sixty 0:08:50.600 --> 0:08:54.079 there was a study where they started paying attention to dolphins. 0:08:54.160 --> 0:08:57.000 They started to study them, like I just said, and um, 0:08:57.040 --> 0:08:59.160 they were trying to figure out if they could learn 0:08:59.200 --> 0:09:03.560 anything from offense to make torpedoes more I guess aqua 0:09:03.679 --> 0:09:06.440 dynamic so that they could move through the water horse 0:09:06.840 --> 0:09:09.040 you look to a dolphin, right, And they didn't learn 0:09:09.080 --> 0:09:12.160 anything for torpedoes, but they were like, wait, these things 0:09:12.160 --> 0:09:15.320 are super smart and they have amazing echo location. Maybe 0:09:15.360 --> 0:09:17.280 we should figure out something else for him. And they 0:09:17.280 --> 0:09:20.240 put them into use. Um pretty shortly after that they 0:09:20.280 --> 0:09:23.000 started training them. They said, they're pretty smart. But here's 0:09:23.040 --> 0:09:25.640 the hitch. They don't realize they're surrounded by fish in 0:09:25.679 --> 0:09:27.960 the ocean, right, They think they can only get them 0:09:28.080 --> 0:09:30.840 from this stupid bucket on the boat. It's also possibly 0:09:31.000 --> 0:09:34.920 just really lazy. Maybe maybe like if I had, like 0:09:34.960 --> 0:09:36.520 I can go to a grocery store, but if I 0:09:36.520 --> 0:09:37.960 had if I was laying on the couch and someone 0:09:38.040 --> 0:09:40.839 dropped by and dropped food in my mouth, right exactly 0:09:40.880 --> 0:09:44.360 all over it. Yeah, that's a really good analogy. I 0:09:44.360 --> 0:09:47.720 get it now. So um, alright, First of all, we 0:09:47.720 --> 0:09:50.240 we already said that they don't disarm them, and they 0:09:50.240 --> 0:09:53.400 don't even get that close. So you might think that 0:09:53.480 --> 0:09:56.959 even animal rights activists would be like, hey, this is fine. 0:09:56.960 --> 0:09:58.920 They're not getting close even if they did. Like I 0:09:58.960 --> 0:10:02.160 said before, they're not going to explode, because they're meant 0:10:02.160 --> 0:10:04.640 to explode when a ship hits it, not you know, 0:10:04.720 --> 0:10:07.319 any octopus kind of floating by, because that would defeat 0:10:07.320 --> 0:10:10.360 the purpose of putting a mine in the ocean. Right. Uh. 0:10:10.400 --> 0:10:12.520 So you would think like, all right, what's the harm then, 0:10:13.480 --> 0:10:15.360 But it turns out there actually is quite a bit 0:10:15.360 --> 0:10:17.800 of harm that could that could come about. Yeah, because 0:10:17.840 --> 0:10:21.960 if you have a trained team of dolphins that you 0:10:22.000 --> 0:10:24.679 know you're using in one place, say the Atlantic, and 0:10:24.720 --> 0:10:27.240 you suddenly need them over in the Pacific. You gotta 0:10:27.280 --> 0:10:30.280 get them from point A to point B and there's 0:10:30.400 --> 0:10:33.959 there's Dolphins may not be acclimated to the Pacific, especially 0:10:34.000 --> 0:10:37.000 if it's like the Northern Pacific and it's super cold 0:10:37.000 --> 0:10:40.600 and they're used to the Middle Atlantic where it's relatively warm. Right, 0:10:41.280 --> 0:10:45.160 That's one thing. Another thing is transporting them there alone 0:10:45.280 --> 0:10:48.480 is an ordeal for the dolphins. Yeah. I mean, anyone 0:10:48.480 --> 0:10:51.960 who's ever seen a whale or a dolphin or a 0:10:52.000 --> 0:10:57.280 big shark like wrapped up in that that sling being 0:10:57.360 --> 0:10:59.520 like lifted out of the ocean into a plane or 0:10:59.559 --> 0:11:02.560 something to a tank. It's just like it looks awful. 0:11:03.080 --> 0:11:05.720 Nothing about that makes it look like that any of 0:11:05.760 --> 0:11:09.360 those animals are psyched that that's happening. Right. Air travel 0:11:09.480 --> 0:11:13.520 is designed for humans, and it's a nightmare for humans, right, 0:11:13.600 --> 0:11:16.559 Imagine what it's like for a dolphin. Yea, at some 0:11:16.720 --> 0:11:18.960 points a lot of stress on their body and there 0:11:19.000 --> 0:11:22.760 you know, it might sound hippie dippie, but on their 0:11:23.080 --> 0:11:27.360 emotional well being, you know, on their earth spirit and 0:11:27.640 --> 0:11:29.480 well we've talked about zukos. This it's a real thing. 0:11:29.679 --> 0:11:33.240 Oh yeah, for sure, for sure, And I would imagine 0:11:33.280 --> 0:11:35.959 that if you want to drive a dolphin insane, there 0:11:35.720 --> 0:11:38.280 are worse ways to do that than putting it on 0:11:38.320 --> 0:11:41.520 an airplane taking it for a ride about. And there 0:11:41.559 --> 0:11:43.800 were um, there was actually uh, they were going to 0:11:43.960 --> 0:11:48.680 use some dolphins as part of a dolphin sea lion team. 0:11:49.920 --> 0:11:52.000 Sea lion or seal. One of the two. Think we'll 0:11:52.040 --> 0:11:54.280 sea lions do this as well. Then it was a 0:11:54.320 --> 0:11:57.600 dolphins sea lion team. They actually have can There are 0:11:57.720 --> 0:12:00.280 naval teams made up of sea lions and dolphins work 0:12:00.360 --> 0:12:04.200 together that not only discover minds, they're also trained to 0:12:04.240 --> 0:12:08.800 discover like underwater saboteurs, divers swimmers who aren't supposed to 0:12:08.800 --> 0:12:11.000 be there that want to like blow up a military station. 0:12:11.480 --> 0:12:14.240 And the dolphin will go find the guy, go tell 0:12:14.280 --> 0:12:16.760 the sea lion. The sea lion goes and puts an 0:12:16.800 --> 0:12:20.000 ankle cuff on the swimmers shut up, I'm not kidding, 0:12:20.280 --> 0:12:22.360 and they're tethered to a boat now like so the 0:12:22.400 --> 0:12:25.240 sea lion goes and arrests the guy and then they 0:12:25.360 --> 0:12:29.040 both go tell the navy that you got you got 0:12:29.080 --> 0:12:31.480 someone on the line. So the dolphins doing like some 0:12:31.520 --> 0:12:33.720 trick in front of the guy and he's like, wow, 0:12:34.200 --> 0:12:35.960 I mean, I know I'm supposed to plant this bomb, 0:12:36.000 --> 0:12:38.240 but that's pretty neat looking. And then he looks down 0:12:38.760 --> 0:12:43.880 and he's like, oh again dolphins and then the sea 0:12:43.920 --> 0:12:46.240 lion and the dolphin high five. Yeah, but that's so. 0:12:46.280 --> 0:12:48.360 They were going to set up a patrol in the 0:12:48.480 --> 0:12:52.920 in Puget Sound in Washington State. There's an army port there, 0:12:53.440 --> 0:12:56.200 and uh, they were going to set up patrols, and 0:12:56.240 --> 0:12:58.640 the I think some animal rights group said nope, not 0:12:58.760 --> 0:13:01.960 on our watch, and to raise public awareness, they started 0:13:02.000 --> 0:13:05.520 knitting sweaters for the dolphins. We're going to be transported 0:13:05.559 --> 0:13:08.640 to the to the cold water. And it worked for 0:13:08.679 --> 0:13:10.920 a little while. I think that that they have those 0:13:10.920 --> 0:13:14.719 things now, yeah, I'm sure there's a work around. So 0:13:14.760 --> 0:13:18.959 that's that is dolphins disarming minds, which they don't actually do. 0:13:19.640 --> 0:13:23.360 Correct the dolphins find the minds and h and many 0:13:23.360 --> 0:13:27.680 many people are still not too supportive of that, right, yeah, 0:13:27.679 --> 0:13:29.800 because I mean they're innocence and they have no idea 0:13:29.880 --> 0:13:32.680 what the wars, what's going on with the war. You know, 0:13:32.760 --> 0:13:34.440 they don't know what they're being used for. It's just 0:13:34.559 --> 0:13:36.920 it's a moral quandary for sure. Yeah. The one thing 0:13:36.960 --> 0:13:41.240 I couldn't find really quick before we go is what 0:13:41.400 --> 0:13:44.840 minds are disguised as. One thing I saw. The only 0:13:44.880 --> 0:13:48.400 thing I saw was that they can be disguised to 0:13:48.520 --> 0:13:51.320 appear like ripples in the water. And I'm like, how 0:13:51.360 --> 0:13:53.319 would you do that? And then I realized, oh, i'm 0:13:53.400 --> 0:13:56.000 sonar it would look like a ripple in the water. 0:13:56.559 --> 0:13:58.920 So I think they were talking about disguising them. I'm 0:13:58.960 --> 0:14:01.320 sure they do visually as well, but I think mostly 0:14:01.400 --> 0:14:04.760 on sonars how they try to disguise on interesting. Yeah, 0:14:04.920 --> 0:14:06.920 I would love to meet the person who's like, I 0:14:06.960 --> 0:14:12.559 know how to disguise the mind as a ripple in water. Yeah, 0:14:12.640 --> 0:14:14.800 that makes more sense. I was thinking like they would 0:14:15.080 --> 0:14:17.960 make it look like a big floating kelp mass. Yeah, 0:14:18.000 --> 0:14:20.040 so was I at first. And they might, but I 0:14:20.040 --> 0:14:21.960 couldn't find anything like that. I was the only thing 0:14:22.040 --> 0:14:25.160 for him. Very nice. Uh. Well, if you want to 0:14:25.200 --> 0:14:28.280 know more about dolphins disarming sea mines, hang around in 0:14:28.320 --> 0:14:31.600 the sea. See what happens. Uh, And in the meantime, 0:14:31.640 --> 0:14:33.160 get in touch with us. You can send us an 0:14:33.160 --> 0:14:51.640 email to Stuff Podcast at how Stuff works dot com.