Why whales matter

Why whales matter

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The founder making cutlery out of palm leaves

We speak to the Emirati entrepreneur who set up a business making biodegradable cutlery made from discarded date palm trees, driven by the goal to replace single-use plastics in UAE.Lamis al-Hashimy, co-founder of Palmade, shares how a hobby project became a business producing mi ...  Show more

Headspace: from mindfulness app to military partner

Headspace started life as a mindfulness app. Now it's partnering with the US Navy and investing in artificial intelligence for mental health support.The company's CEO Tom Pickett speaks to us about therapy, the increasing role of technology, and tackling burnout at scale.If you'd ...  Show more

Recommended Episodes

The Revenge of the Whales
Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford

In the middle of the Pacific Ocean, in 1819, Owen Chase is standing on a slowly sinking ship. It's just been headbutted by an 85 foot whale. It's taking in water. And now the creature is coming back for another go. This is a whaling ship, and Chase is convinced that he observes " ...  Show more

Whales' Vital Role In Our Oceans
Short Wave

Whales are more than just beautiful creatures — they play a vital role in the ocean's ecosystem. Today, Asha de Vos, marine biologist and pioneer of long-term blue whale research within the Northern Indian Ocean, explains why protecting whales is crucial for protecting the entire ...  Show more

Tom Mustill, "How to Speak Whale: A Voyage into the Future of Animal Communication" (Grand Central Publishing, 2022)
New Books in Communications

What if animals and humans could speak to one another? Tom Mustill—the nature documentarian who went viral when a thirty‑ton humpback whale breached onto his kayak—asks this question in his thrilling investigation into whale science and animal communication. “When a whale is in t ...  Show more

Are orcas OK?
The Inquiry

Something strange started happening in early 2023 in the waters off south-western Europe, where the Mediterranean sea meets the Atlantic ocean. Orcas began slamming into the sides of fishing and sailing vessels. The killer whales then dived underneath to locate and destroy the ru ...  Show more