Meet Dr. Vanessa Pirotta, a marine biologist and science communicator, from Sydney Australia, whose most recent research focuses on whale snot -- more specifically, collecting and analyzing the bacteria in whale snot!

In this episode we chat about:

• Her passion for whales and how it inspired the direction of her career (the movie Free Willy may have played a role in all of this)
• Why she decided to research whale snot using drones + the technological challenges she and her team had to overcome to capture whale snot.
• What scientists can learn about a whale's overall health from whale snot (note: whale snot contains biological information such as bacteria, hormones, and DNA).
• The challenges humans pose to marine wildlife (ex: fishing entanglement, ship strikes, acoustic and chemical pollution) and what we are doing to help mitigate some of these issues. 
• Her love of educating and inspiring the next generation
• The importance of following your passion
• And so much more!

This was such a great conversation and I think you’ll really enjoy it! Happy listening!