The sea is filled with giant, super-smart aquatic mammals communicating across vast distances and using the stars to navigate. No jokes in this description! Whales are amazing!

Follow us on Twitter @SciShowTangents, where we’ll tweet out topics for upcoming episodes and you can ask the science couch questions! 

While you're at it, check out the Tangents crew on Twitter: Stefan: @itsmestefanchin Ceri: @ceriley Sam: @slamschultz Hank: @hankgreen

If you want to learn more about any of our main topics, check out SciShowTangnets.org

[Truth or Fail]

Dogs sniffing out poop

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4703337/

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/meet-dogs-sniffing-out-whale-poop-science-180958050/

https://conservationbiology.uw.edu/research-programs/killer-whales/

https://www.biology.washington.edu/news/news/1504634400/tucker-orca-poop-detection-dog-seattlemet

Robots scooping poop

http://dcs.whoi.edu/

https://www.newsdeeply.com/oceans/articles/2018/02/22/whale-of-a-journey-robot-searches-for-elusive-humpbacks-on-high-seas

https://money.cnn.com/2016/09/30/technology/mit-robots-sewers/index.html

Whale litter box

https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/faking-out-whales

[Fact Off]

Whale heartbeat

https://www.pnas.org/content/116/50/25329

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-11/su-rrf112219.php

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/researchers-measure-blue-whales-heart-rate-first-time-180973662/

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/11/diving-blue-whales-heart-beats-very-very-slowly/602557/

Lunge feeding

https://www.nature.com/articles/nature11135

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-05/uobc-gwh042815.php

https://www.americanscientist.org/article/the-ultimate-mouthful-lunge-feeding-in-rorqual-whales

https://www.popsci.com/whale-nerve-cells-can-stretch

https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0960982215002845

[Ask the Science Couch]

Whale navigation

https://www.wired.com/2011/04/humpback-whale-migration/

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsbl.2011.0279

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/solar-storms-might-throw-migrating-whales-course-180974278/

https://meridian.allenpress.com/jcr/article-abstract/doi/10.2112/SI75-111.1/29667/Coastal-Fronts-Utilized-by-Migrating-Humpback?redirectedFrom=PDF

https://www.livescience.com/63791-underwater-volcanoes-tasmania.html

[Butt One More Thing]

Anal syrup

http://whitelab.biology.dal.ca/rwb/kogiastat.pdf

https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/pygmy-sperm-whale

https://www.sciencefocus.com/nature/slimy-saliva-sticky-tongues-and-anal-syrup-3-of-the-slimiest-creatures-in-the-animal-kingdom/