A Whale's Life
Rare Earth27 Jun 2025

A Whale's Life

A ban on commercial hunting for whales came into force 40 years ago. Tom Heap and Helen Czerski look back on the whaling industry with one of the last of Shetland's whalers and ask if our largest mammals have bounced back from the extinction that so many species were close to reaching.

They're joined by Jayne Pierce of the South Georgia Heritage Trust, the marine biologist and author of Eat, Poop, Die, Joe Roman and by linguist Inbal Arnon. Joe talks about his latest study for Whale and Dolphin Conservation which reveals the importance of whales in moving nutrients around the ocean while Inbal talks about her work comparing how whales and human babies learn to communicate. Jayne discusses this weekend's festival in Dundee which commemorates Scotland's role in the whaling industry and marks the launch of the Whaler's Memory Bank, a project to capture the voices of the last of the men who spent the British winter in the Antarctic capturing and processing the whales that found their way into our margarines and military hardware until the 1960s.

Special thanks to Gibbie Fraser, Helen Balfour and baby Idris.

Producer: Alasdair Cross

Rare Earth is produced in association with the Open University

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(71)

Can lawyers save the planet?

Can lawyers save the planet?

What can the legal system do to protect the environment? Tom Heap and Helen Czerski gather together a panel of legal and environmental experts to discuss their battles for the planet. How much protect...

18 Sep 53min

Tentacular: The Wonderful World of the Octopus

Tentacular: The Wonderful World of the Octopus

Cornish fishermen this summer have had their usual catch of lobster and crab replaced by voracious octopus. Restaurant menus have had to be wiped and rewritten across the south-west, but what else ha...

11 Sep 53min

All In This Together

All In This Together

Helen Czerski and Tom Heap ask if nature is really red in tooth and claw. Is life all about survival of the fittest or are we all working together on a changing planet? They're joined by Rowan Hoope...

4 Sep 52min

Andy's Green In-Tray

Andy's Green In-Tray

How will the environment be changed by an Andy Burnham government? As the new parliamentary session opens, Tom Heap and Helen Czerski leaf through the government in-tray to reveal the big decisions t...

28 Aug 52min

Volcano

Volcano

Helen Czerski and Tom Heap investigate the environmental impact of volcanoes from prehistory to the present day, and find out about their cultural significance in art and literature. On today's panel:...

21 Aug 53min

Drawing Our Future Homes

Drawing Our Future Homes

Who's the hero that will protect us from the impact of extreme heat, rain and whatever else climate change might throw at us in future? Forget someone in a cape, maybe it's the person quietly sketchin...

14 Aug 52min

The Sound of Water

The Sound of Water

Helen Czerski and Tom Heap discover how new technology lets us listen in to the extraordinary sounds of the planet's waterways. From the deepest ocean to the tributaries, rivers and streams, this is ...

27 Jun 52min

Into the Wild

Into the Wild

Is there any true wilderness left on our planet? Tom Heap and Helen Czerski consider the fear and fascination of the wild. They're joined by the writer Cal Flyn who has spent the last few years trav...

19 Jun 53min

Populært innen Vitenskap

fastlegen
romkapsel
liberal-halvtime
jss
tingenes-tilstand
forskningno
tomprat-med-gunnar-tjomlid
rekommandert
sinnsyn
villmarksliv
rss-paradigmepodden
fjellsportpodden
rss-nysgjerrige-norge
rss-kunstig-intelligens-med-elisabeth-maren-og-morten
rss-rekommandert
tidlose-historier
nordnorsk-historie
rss-inn-til-kjernen-med-sunniva-rose
psykopoden
grunnstoffene