Randall Ryder

Wow, what happened to bench science? To the scientific method? f Or even what has happened to communicating the power, the revelations, the grandeur or the notion of robust science? This was a sophomoric attempt to present what should have been some very rigorous and interesting research on a topic that grabs most of us in our inner orbit. Instead, we have one group of scientists who seem more attentive to cutting hair and discussing their social life at home than why the heck they are exploring some interesting issues relative to the communication of whales. And speaking of that, just what were their hypotheses? Many years of preparation for the "research", obviously costly, but to what end? Ok, so we place speakers in the water and broadcast the sounds that whales make in their natural habitat. Guess what? They replied...just like they do hundreds of times each day. There was no communication with humans, just with other whales. So how does that scientific experiment inform us about the communication of whales? Oh, and what did they conclude from a scientific perspective? I would say little. On the positive side, the photography was beautiful. I wish I could have learned something more about whales. And I wish I could have viewed a better example of rigorous scientific inquiry.