SnotBot! The Real Whale Snot Drone & How Scientists Study Whales

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We are so excited for you to listen and watch our new season of Two What's in a Wow, People Who Wow Edition starting this Friday. So make sure you're subscribed to our podcast feed and our Wow Tube channel on YouTube so you don't miss out. That's Two What's in a Wow, People Who Wow Edition coming this Friday. And now a quick ad break and then we'll get on with the show. So many discoveries that are jumping off the page. Wow and the world. Wow and the world. Wow and the world. Wow and the world. Wow and the world. Wow and the world. Wow and the world. Wow and the world. Wow and the world. We're flying in the deep. Right away, here. Oh, what a voice! Yeah, nice! Oh no! I watched over that! Hold on, we're over! Game over. Aww! Man, Snotbot Ocean Detective is so tough! Yeah, but it's the best game. My turn, my turn, my turn! Alright. Snotbot Ocean Detective. This is the one. We're gonna get it this time, Mindy. I can feel it. Okay, careful, Dennis. Careful. No, no, no, no! Look! I found the blue whale! I found the blue whale! Okay, just make home. Don't make any sudden moves. You got the Snotbot all lined up. I'm so nervous! Steady, Dennis. Steady. Easy does it. Okay, I'm hovering. I'm steady. Uh-huh, thinking. The whale is so close. Oh boy, here it comes! Here it comes! I can't breathe. I feel like a real life ocean detective. Hey, Dennis, you're ready to make your move. And... Ah! What the? Hey Mindy, hey Dennis. I thought I just let myself in, you know, kind of like can you let yourself into my micro house? Ah, guy Ross! I was just stopping by to see what you're up to. Game over. Uh-huh. Uh, you two okay? Do I look okay to you? Oh, we've been up for days trying to catch whale snot. He'll never beat Snotbot Ocean Detective. Never! Uh, I'm sorry. Snotbot? Oh, yeah. Snotbot Ocean Detective is the video game that we've been trying to beat. Okay. It's where you control this super awesome high tech drone called the Snotbot over the ocean searching for whales. And then you wait for the whales to come up for air and blow clues out their blow holes. Only the clues are covered in whale snot. But the clues are super good and hold a lot of juicy information, so it's basically worth it. Okay, and in this game your drone gets covered in whale snot? Yeah. The whale snot isn't like super slimy, gross stuff. It's more like a fine mist. Right. And you have to fly your drone through the misty whale snot in order to catch the juicy clues. Yeah, but you have to act fast because the whales are sneaky little rascals that will dive back under the water faster than you can blink. And who knows if we'll ever get a chance to spot another one. We've been at this for like three days, Gairas. Three days! Yeah, without blinking! Yeah! Wait, you haven't been blinking, Dennis? Well, I thought we weren't supposed to. Anyhoo, I'm getting tired. I'm not sure if I can even play again if I wanted to. What? I want to be an ocean detective! It's okay, Dennis. It's only a video game! Or is it? What? What if I told you there are real live scientists playing out this whale snot-collecting video game right now in real life? In real life? Go on. Well, as you were explaining how this game works, I was reminded of a story I just read. Tell us the story, Gairas! Yeah, Gairas! Come sit down and tell us the story! Okay. Yay! The story begins in 2010. The setting? A pocket of the Atlantic Ocean that sits between the United States, Mexico, and Cuba. And it begins like this. Once upon a time, a giant oil rig exploded in the middle of the ocean. Oh no! Causing one of the biggest ocean oil spills of all time. Gairas! Yes, Dennis? Do you know any better stories? Yeah, like ones with less deadly oil explosions? Yeah, and more superheroes? No. Now, back to the story. Okay, okay, fine. In the aftermath of this oil explosion, a superhero scientist... Yay! Thank you, Gairas! You're welcome. A superhero scientist by the name of Dr. Kerr swept into the area in his superboat to study how this spill had affected the sperm whales living in this part of the ocean. Yay! Whale-y, whale-y, whale-y, whale-y! How's everybody doing out there? Oh wow, there you are. Now, let me get a good look at you. Hold still, whale! Great! Well, I don't leave. How am I supposed to get any information on your health if you won't stick around and let me examine you? All day long, the same thing kept happening. A whale would breach to the surface. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Hot dog! Carry a whale! There we get a good look at you! But before Dr. Kerr could collect any information from the whale... Ah, and it's gone. It was back underwater! Ah, rats! How am I supposed to do this? Oh, this is exactly what kept happening to us in Snobot Ocean Detective! Yeah! Good for nothing, whales! That's what I get for trying to help you with the whale life! Soon, it was nightfall, and just as a tired, frustrated, and almost defeated Dr. Kerr laid down to rest... Ah, can't hear me now. Something incredible happened! What was it, guys? Yeah, what was it? Ah! Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! A giant whale dove in front of Dr. Kerr and covered him in whale mucus. Giddy up, you racist! What in the world was that? Eww! Dr. Kerr is dripping in whale snot! Now this is getting good! As Dr. Kerr cleaned the massive amounts of whale mucus off of his body, he had an idea. Thank goodness! I got close enough to get some whale snot on me, but it's all contaminated on the counter. It's on my coat, and my pants, and my face. Someone needs to invent a drone or something to fly over and catch the snot right out of the air. If only. Wait a minute. I should invent a drone or something to fly over and catch the snot right out of the air. A whale snot collecting drones! That's literally what the snot bot is! Dr. Kerr is an ocean detective! Rally, the snot bot. Wait till I tell my scientist friends back on dry land about this one. I gotta come up with a theme song. Snot bot. Snot bot. Wow. Did Dr. Kerr really write the theme song for the snot bot? The last part might have been a little exaggerated, but you get the point. Dr. Kerr had come up with an idea that if the whale mucus could be collected by flying over the whale, Then an ocean detective could study the snot mucus sample in a dry laboratory and extract all sorts of whaley's secrets. Well, more like studying the mucus for useful information. So what kinds of juicy information could be hidden in whale snot, Gairaz? Oh, all sorts of things. Whale mucus is full of interesting clues. Oh, like the whale's favorite color? Or whether or not the whale has a pet fish? Or what other whales it has a crush on? Uh, no. More like clues about the whale's DNA. Whether it's a boy or a girl, if it might be pregnant with a baby whale, or clues about the tiny microbes living inside its body. Yeah, I guess that's pretty cool. But wait, Gairaz, didn't Dr. Kerr say in the story that he wanted to get a look at the whale's health? Well, if you remember from the beginning of the story, there was an explosion. Oh yeah, what was that about? It was an oil drilling rig that had a huge oil spill. Oh! Scientists like Dr. Kerr went to the area surrounding the spill to check on the health of the whales to explore the ways they might be affected. Wait, are you telling a story again? Yeah, there's more. Yay! More story, more story, more story! So, back in his lab, Dr. Kerr was doing a lot of studying and experimenting. Experimenting, experimenting, experimenting. Aha! There it is! The snot bot! That's the name of our video game! That's right! The snot bot! A drone with six small snot-collecting containers known as Petri dishes attached to the bottom. Are you a scientist sick and tired of being covered in whale snot? Well, so am I! Introducing the snot bot! A high-powered remote control, really cool drone that can fly over whales and stuff and snatch a spray of snot right out of the air! Sperm whales. Blue whales. Even dolphins. The snot bot can catch them all. The snot bot changed my life and believe me when I say, it can change yours too. Order today! Wow! Hooray! Ha ha ha! Good story, guys! So wait, snot bot is real? It's not just a video game? That's right, it's real world technology. Cool! The snot bot provides a way for scientists to get close to whales without the need for a boat that might disturb or disrupt their natural habitat. That is so nice! And I bet it's also safer for the scientists since being on a little boat near giant whales can probably be pretty dangerous. I imagine so. Guy Raz, I have a question. Yes, Dennis? Why drones? Well, what do you mean? Like, couldn't the scientists just use airplanes? Those have been around for a long time now. Well actually, up until the snot bot, airplanes were used to collect a lot of information about whales. Ah! But airplanes are much noisier and disruptive. And airplanes are probably also really expensive, you know, like with their airports and runways to take care of, and land and pilots and crews that need to be on board. Oh right, not to mention all the peanuts and pretzels. Plus, the drones are much more nimble. It's easier to get close to the whales. Easier? I will have you know that snot bot ocean detective is not an easy game, Guy Raz. You know what? Why don't we get back into your game? I want to see for myself how these drones might help scientists learn more about whales. Ugh, I don't know, Guy Raz. My eyeballs are fried. I might need to go outside and... Hey! More video games! Snot bot, ocean detective, powering up. Okay, guess we're going again. Here, Guy Raz, your turn. You take the controller for this one. Me? Why me? I don't even know how to play this game. Okay, all you have to do is watch for whales. And don't get discouraged. Sometimes it can take hours and hours for a whale to show up. Like seriously. Like hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and an- Look, a whale! What!? Wh-!? Right there, underneath the surface of the water. I can see the outline of its body. Oh, oh, oh, and there's another one. And is that a dolphin? Ah, that's not fair. Give me the controller guy. Wait, no dentists, let him play. Okay, Guy-Roz, so remember, the bigger the whale, the more points you get. So press that button there to measure them. Oh, this is just like what the scientists can do with the real snot bot. Really? Look at that, 60 feet. Whoa, that's 20 meters. That's 200 points. Movement and behavior tag unlocked. Movement and behavior tag, I don't know what that is. What do I do? Oh, Guy-Roz, you just unlocked a section cut tag attached to a long pole at the end of your snot bot. Huh? So you're just going to fly over the whale you want? Flying? Flying? Right when you're directly overhead, you're going to press this button to drop it down. Okay, I'm directly over the whale. Okay, now quick, pop it right onto the whale. Right. Which button again? That one. That one, that one, that one. Ah, Guy-Roz, you were so close. What happened? It's OK, Guy-Roz. Yeah, who needs a movement and behavior tag anyway? I do. I want to gather information that'll help protect the whales. That tag could have helped me to gather more whale clues, like the condition its body was in, or any unique features that make it different from the other whales, you know, like strange behaviors. Wait, what's that? What's that whale doing? Huh, it looks like a killer whale grooming another killer whale with a giant piece of seaweeder. Is that kelp? Wow, incredible. You know, I've heard about these drones capturing unique behavior like this in the real world. Huh, looks like their best friend. Oh, oh, and here comes another one. That's three. And 1,000 points for finding podmates. Ha, ha, ha, amazing. This is bonger balls. We would never be able to get this close to a pod of killer whales if we were in a boat. This snot butt is incredible. We've already gathered so many clues, and we haven't even gotten to the snot part yet. Ooh, well, I think that moment has arrived. Oh, look, one of the killer whales is coming to the surface of the water. What do I do? What do I do? Ha, ha, everybody freak out. No, no, no, no, no. Just remain calm, Guy Ross. Slow and steady. Slow and steady. OK, I'm ready. As soon as that whale breaches, I'm going to dive down and. Oh. Uh-uh. What's that sound? The battery on your snot pod is dangerously low. We're never going to make it. I'm out of battery power already. Yeah, to make the game more challenging, the batteries only last less than an hour. Oh, no, that's also just like the real life snot pod. Battery level critical. Ooh. Hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry. Guy Ross, look. The killer whale is coming to the surface. What do I do? Guy, give me the controller. I can do it. Dennis, stop. Guy Ross, go. Go, go, go, go, go. Yeah, right through that cloud of juicy, clue-filled whale snot. You got this, Guy Ross. Whale queens collected. Hi. Look at that. You did it, Guy Ross. I did it. We did it, Guy. We all did it. Guy Ross, you collected all the snot and one snot pod ocean detective. Yeah. Congratulations to all of us. Dennis. Let's play again. I think I've had enough for today. Me too. Let's go outside. Oh, good idea. Let's go outside and fly my drone. Dennis, that's not what I meant. Do you have a drone? Yeah, it's a cute little quadcopter. I named Droney. Come on, Guy Ross. Let's go for a walk. Right behind you, Mindy. I was going to name him Tyrone the drone. All right, Dennis. But then I bought two more quadcopters and so instead I named them the Dronas Brothers. One of the Dronas Brothers I crashed into a tree. Another one I flew into Mother's laundry hanging on the line and she confiscated it. So now all that's left is little Droney. He can be a handful, but I love him to pieces. Wow, in the world, we'll be right back. Grownups, this message is for you. Hey, grownups. The school year is coming to a close. And for homeschool families looking to finish the year strong, IXL has everything your kids need to help reinforce key skills and celebrate their learning progress. IXL is an award-winning online learning platform that fits seamlessly into homeschooling. It offers interactive practice in math, language arts, science, and social studies for grades pre-K through 12th. Here at the TinkerCast offices, we think it's important to celebrate our wins and measure our progress too. We love that IXL learners can receive awards for their hard work and celebrate another successful school year in the books. Make an impact on your child's learning. 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