A Whale of a Time

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a polar explorer with a PhD in natural sciences, who spends four months every year in Antarctica and in the Arctic. Mikołaj writes about nature for both children and adults. His latest books are “Czochralem antarktycznego słonia” [I’ve Ruffled an Antarctic Elephant] (Marginesy, 2016) and “Gęby, dzioby i nochale” [Gobs, Beaks and Schnozzes] (Babaryba, 2016).

The Lonely Singer

Oceans are vast spaces in which even a huge whale is a small, lonely dot. But in the course of evolution, these dots have developed a system of communication which allows them to find each other.

For example, the vocalizations of the blue whale—the largest of them all—travels thousands of miles through the depths of the ocean, reaching an impressive volume of 188 decibels. Sperm whales are even louder—up to 230 dB. For comparison, a jet engine is only 140 dB—as loud as a gunshot. Humans would find it difficult to hear these sounds, as most of them are much too low for their ears.

Every whale species uses a different frequency in the 10-40 hertz range. But there is one individual among them which broadcasts outside of that range, officially considered to be the loneliest cetacean in the

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Mikołaj Golachowski:

a polar explorer with a PhD in natural sciences, who spends four months every year in Antarctica and in the Arctic. Mikołaj writes about nature for both children and adults. His latest books are “Czochralem antarktycznego słonia” [I’ve Ruffled an Antarctic Elephant] (Marginesy, 2016) and “Gęby, dzioby i nochale” [Gobs, Beaks and Schnozzes] (Babaryba, 2016).

Translation: Marta Dziurosz

Publish date: 07.12.2017

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Mikołaj Golachowski:

a polar explorer with a PhD in natural sciences, who spends four months every year in Antarctica and in the Arctic. Mikołaj writes about nature for both children and adults. His latest books are “Czochralem antarktycznego słonia” [I’ve Ruffled an Antarctic Elephant] (Marginesy, 2016) and “Gęby, dzioby i nochale” [Gobs, Beaks and Schnozzes] (Babaryba, 2016).

Nature tends towards entropy. At the same time, it is full of patterns and regularities. How is this possible?

One of my favourite literary characters, the moderately heroic wizard Rincewind from Terry Pratchett’s novels, was once terrified to hear that a certain area featured many erratic rocks. The wizard’s anxiety could be understood if we take the word ‘erratic’ to mean unpredictable or even capricious, and not just as a descriptor of a rock that has been transported by a glacier and deposited in a surprising location.

The Lonely Singer

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Natural Order

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