A Silky Shark Named Genie Swam 17,000 Miles, a Record-Breaking Migration

This episode delves into the fascinating journey of a silky shark named Genie, who completed a record-breaking migration of over 17,000 miles.

1. Genie's migration is the longest recorded for a silky shark, highlighting her unique journey from the Galapagos to near Hawaii and back.
2. The study of Genie helps scientists understand shark migration patterns, which are crucial for conservation efforts.
3. Neuroscience research discussed in the episode reveals how humans interpret negations in language, impacting communication and perception.
4. The peculiar behavior of woodpeckers pecking on metal instead of wood is explored, showing an adaptation to urban environments.
5. The episode emphasizes the importance of clear communication in science and daily life, particularly when using negations.

1. Introduction to Genie's Journey

A deep dive into the record-breaking migration of Genie, the silky shark. This segment explores the significance of her journey and its scientific implications.

• Regina Barber: "Genie traveled over 17,000 miles in a year and a half, an average of 31 miles per day."

2. The Science of Negation

Exploration of a new study on how negation is processed in human communication, revealing subtle complexities in everyday language.

• Elsa Chang: "Negation... It's this thing we do in linguistics all the time, where we cancel out a word or part of a sentence to change its meaning."

3. Metalhead Woodpeckers

Discussion on why urban woodpeckers choose to peck on metal surfaces, which relates to their natural behaviors amplified in human environments.

• Regina Barber: "Woodpeckers in the cities have learned that metal makes a much louder sound than wood, which is advantageous during mating season."

1. Awareness and Support for Wildlife Conservation: Engage with and support organizations working on marine conservation to help protect species like Genie.
2. Clear Communication: Try to avoid using negations that can complicate understanding in both personal and professional communications.
3. Protecting Urban Wildlife: If you live in an area with urban woodpeckers, consider using non-harmful deterrents to manage their presence without harming them.
4. Educational Outreach: Share information about unique animal behaviors and conservation efforts in community and educational settings to raise awareness.
5. Participation in Citizen Science: Get involved in citizen science projects that track animal behavior and contribute to scientific research.

A silky shark named Genie traveled from the Galapagos Islands out to the open ocean and back – over 17,000 miles – over the course of a year and a half. That's an average of 31 miles per day, making Genie's journey the longest recorded migration for a silky shark.

Marine scientist Pelayo Salinas de León and his team named Genie in honor of the late marine biologist Eugenie Clark – also known as "The Shark Lady." She devoted her life to the study of sharks and to improving their reputation.

People

Pelayo Salinas Steleon, Ariana Zuanazzi, Eugenie Clark

Content Warnings:

None

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Emily Kwong
You're listening to short wave from NPR.

Hey, short wavers. Emily Kwong here with the big sister I never had, Elsa Chang.

Elsa Chang
Aw, that's so sweet.

Emily Kwong
It's true. And my other big sister co host this with the most, Regina Barber.

Regina Barber
Thank you, Em.

Emily Kwong
All right, today, as you both know, we're gonna share three science stories in the news that have caught our attention recently. The first one is a new study on how not to be misunderstood.

Elsa Chang
Okay. And I hear there's also one about some metalhead woodpeckers.

Regina Barber
And a shark named Genie that makes a record migration.

Emily Kwong
All that on this episode of Short Wave, the science podcast from NPR.

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Emily Kwong
All right, Elsa, what topic do you want to start with?

Elsa Chang
Let's first start with a study about how not to be misunderstood, which is, I feel like the story of my life, but how not to be misunderstood, not to be the grammar police, but this is a double negative.

Emily Kwong
Yeah. And I bet you feel totally lost by that.

Elsa Chang
You know, I do not feel terribly found, but yeah.

Emily Kwong
Yeah. Okay. Even that sentence right there, you, elsa chang, just used negation.

Elsa Chang
Negation.

Emily Kwong
It's this thing we do in linguistics all the time, right, where we cancel out a word or part of a sentence to change its meaning. And neuroscientist ariana Zuanazi wanted to figure out how our brains process negation and published a study in the journal plus Biology this week. All about it.

Elsa Chang
Well, as someone who is in the business of communication, this is super fascinating already. How did ariana study this?

Emily Kwong
Yeah, when she was a postdoctoral fellow at NYU, she set up a study where participants sat in front of a computer monitor and read phrases with the words not and really next to adjectives like good, bad, hot, cold, like the.

Regina Barber
Phrase this coffee is not hot. Ariana would measure how participants interpreted that phrase through a computer task and neuroimaging to measure, like, electrical brain activity.

Elsa Chang
Oh, cool. What did they find?

Regina Barber
So, when a phrase with nication came up, participants took several milliseconds longer to interpret it, and their interpretation had this specific pattern to it.

Emily Kwong
So, yeah, the not in this coffee is not hot merely reduced the temperature of the coffee in the minds of the participants. They didn't generally think the coffee's cold. So negation appears to mitigate meaning rather than invert meaning.

Regina Barber
Huh.

Elsa Chang
That is interesting, but, I mean, I feel like linguists have known about this for a long time. Like, I can think of a bunch of people at NPR who would readily point out to you, oh, you just used a double negative.

Emily Kwong
Yeah, for sure. For sure. But, you know, Ariana says this is one of the few negation studies using, like, neuroimaging of this type to maybe provide evidence for it. And that's important research, because negation can be used to deliberately deceive people. Think about legal findings or advertising.

Ariana Zuanazzi
For instance, if you say, oh, this product is not harmful to the environment, what does that mean? Is it safe or is it not safe? So using negation sometimes introduces this level of confusion.

Elsa Chang
Confusion, obfuscation.

Regina Barber
Yeah. Ariana wants this message to reach everyone who cares about language, from AI developers to writers to public speakers.

Emily Kwong
We could all stand to communicate more clearly and maybe try not to use not as much.

Elsa Chang
Deal. Okay, Gina, next up, you have a story about a shark name Genie.

Regina Barber
Yeah. Yes. Not Jeanna. It'd be Genie.

So genie is this six foot long silky shark. And silky sharks are named after their smooth, silky skin. Yeah. And Jeannie was tagged in the Galapagos marine reserve and then traveled halfway to Hawaii twice and circled all over the place in the area in between.

Emily Kwong
Elsa. This journey by our girl Jeannie was epic. It turned out to be the longest silky shark migration on record. Jeannie traveled over 17,000 miles in a year and a half, an average of 31 miles per day. Researchers published the results in the Journal of Fish Biology.

Elsa Chang
Wait, wait, wait, wait. Before we move on. Why is this shark named Genie? Like, can you make a wish with it?

Regina Barber
I actually wish you could make a wish, but no.

But it's a sweet story. The researchers behind this study, including the lead author, Pelayo Salina Steleon, named the shark after the late marine biologist Eugenie Clark. And here's palayo.

Pelayo Salinas Steleon
She was called the shark lady, and we wanted to acknowledge her career and all the great things she did for the field of shark ecology.

Regina Barber
So Eugenie spent her whole life studying sharks and trying to improve their public reputation.

Elsa Chang
Oh, okay. Rehabilitate the public image of sharks.

Emily Kwong
Yes.

Elsa Chang
Okay, so you mentioned that this is the longest silky shark migration on record, which is a really specific record. Yeah. But were scientists surprised that this shark traveled so far?

Regina Barber
Yeah, it actually kind of was a surprise. So Genie was tagged in a marine reserve with, like, lots of food, so why leave? And other sharks that fed there, like tiger sharks, they don't travel that far. Yeah.

Emily Kwong
Researchers have three hypotheses as to what genie might have been up to. It could have been to find better food or to mate or to give birth. We still don't know a lot about how silkies reproduce, but this tracking system could help researchers one day answer that question.

Elsa Chang
Okay, cool. But beyond that, like, why is it important? Important to know where they are going?

Regina Barber
So, yeah, to protect them, we needed to know where they are. Because of a poor public image, the shark fin trade and habitat loss, these sharks are considered a vulnerable species, and they're declining in number.

Pelayo Salinas Steleon
We kind of, as a society, allowed for them to be systematically killed. Another fish.

Emily Kwong
And if silkies are swimming really far and spending most of their time in international waters, nations will have to work with each other to manage these waters and better protect genie and other sharks.

Elsa Chang
Okay, well, from silky sharks to metal head woodpeckers. Now, what are we talking here? Like, head banging birds? Yeah.

Emily Kwong
Elsa, before we proceed, I just want you to listen to a little clip.

Elsa Chang
Oh, my God. What is that? Is that a bird or a construction site?

Regina Barber
So, Elsa, this is the sound of a woodpecker drumming away recently on our NPR colleague Sasha Pfeiffer's metal chimney cap.

Elsa Chang
Oh, my God, Sasha, I'm so sorry. That's terrible.

Regina Barber
It's so frustrating. I've heard it so many times outside of my house in the Pacific Northwest. When I lived there, it sounded like a jackhammer outside my house. Yeah.

Emily Kwong
And Sasha wanted to know, like, why are these woodpeckers packing on metal and not wood?

Elsa Chang
Oh, good point. Seems kind of counterproductive.

Emily Kwong
Yeah. So she spoke to an ornithologist at the Cornell lab of Ornithology, Kevin McGowan. And he said woodpeckers want to make the biggest noise they possibly can when making a home marking territory or when finding a mate. And springtime is mating season for woodpeckers.

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Elsa Chang
Wait, but does banging your head on something really, really hard a bunch of times? I mean, doesn't that hurt them?

Regina Barber
Yeah. So Kevin said woodpeckers are really just trying to drum enough sound to make a big noise, not enough for it to hurt. They adjust how hard they're drumming based on the material. And in fact, he told Sasha that over time, some urban woodpeckers learned that metal like chimney caps on on Sasha's roof make a much louder, more reverberant sound than wood. And woodpeckers in the cities have access to tons of metal. Like think about vent pipes, gutters, traffic signs, metal ladders.

Emily Kwong
It is all prime real estate for woodpeckers looking to claim some territory or couple up.

Elsa Chang
I mean, but it sounds really annoying. So can people do anything who live near these metal surfaces to stop these woodpeckers?

Regina Barber
So woodpeckers are covered by the Migratory Bird Treaty act, so capturing them requires federal permission. But people can scare them off with like, noise deterrents, like recordings of screeching hawks or physical deterrents like balloons or pinwheels.

Elsa Chang
That's incredible. Okay, I guess I'll keep my screeching hawk recordings handy. If I hear any woodpeckers, I'll loan you some. Okay. Thank you.

Emily Kwong
Elsa. Thank you for hanging with us and talking science today.

Elsa Chang
You're so welcome. I love doing this.

Emily Kwong
You can also catch Elsa on Consider this NPR's afternoon news podcast.

Regina Barber
Before we head out, a quick shout out to our short wave listeners. We appreciate you and we thank you for being a supporter. Shortwave helps support our show, and if you're a regular listener, we'd love for you to join so you can enjoy the show without sponsor interruptions. Find out more at plus dot npr.org shortwave.

Emily Kwong
This episode was produced by Michael Leavitt and Rachel Carlson. It was edited by Viet Le and Christopher Intallyata.

Regina Barber
Emily, Rachel and I check the facts. And the audio engineers were Patrick Murray and Carly Strange. I'm Regina Barber.

Emily Kwong
And I'm Emily Kwong.

Regina Barber
Thank you for listening to short wave from NPR.

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