Echolocation & Animal Superpowers for Tiny Explorers

Nova: Buckle up, Explorers.

Cosmo: Brains in!

Nova: Wheels up!

Nova & Cosmo: Brain Bus, let's GO!

Nova: You're on The Brain Bus.

Nova: I'm Nova, your driver.

Nova: And today we are going somewhere amazing.

Nova: We're going to the world of animal superpowers.

Nova: Ready?

Nova: Here is something wild.

Nova: Some bats can SEE with their EARS.

Nova: And some fish can feel your heartbeat from far away.

Nova: Whoa.

Nova: Let's find out how.

Nova: Okay, Explorers. Settle in.

Nova: I'm going to tell you a story.

Nova: A story about animals with secret powers.

Nova: It is nighttime.

Nova: The sky is very, very dark.

Nova: No sun. No light.

Nova: Can you see anything in the dark?

Nova: Probably not much.

Nova: But one little animal is flying around just fine.

Nova: It is a bat.

Nova: Bats fly at night.

Nova: And they need to find their dinner.

Nova: In the dark.

Nova: How do they do it?

Nova: They SHOUT.

Nova: The bat shouts a little squeak.

Nova: The squeak zooms out into the dark.

Nova: It hits a bug.

Nova: And then — bounce! — it comes back.

Nova: The bat's ears hear it come back.

Nova: And now the bat knows exactly where the bug is.

Nova: Can you say ECHO?

Nova: Echo! Great job.

Nova: An echo is a sound that bounces back.

Nova: Like yelling HELLO in a big empty room.

Nova: Hello... hello... hello...

Nova: Did you hear it bounce?

Nova: Bats do that. Every night.

Nova: It is called echolocation.

Nova: Can you say echolocation?

Nova: Echo... lo... cation.

Nova: That is a big word. It means finding things with echoes.

Nova: And bats have been doing this for a very, very long time.

Nova: Way longer than any mountain you've ever seen has been there.

Nova: Pretty amazing.

Nova: Now. Let's go underwater.

Nova: Here comes a dolphin.

Nova: Dolphins are very clever.

Nova: They have a superpower too.

Nova: They click.

Nova: Click, click, click!

Nova: Those clicks zoom through the water.

Nova: They hit a fish.

Nova: And they bounce back.

Nova: The dolphin hears the bounce — and finds the fish!

Nova: Just like the bat. But underwater.

Nova: And you know where the clicks come from?

Nova: Not the dolphin's mouth. Not its nose.

Nova: There is a squishy, round blob on the dolphin's forehead.

Nova: It is called a melon.

Nova: Can you say MELON?

Nova: Melon! Yes!

Nova: The melon is a squishy blob, not a fruit.

Nova: But it is very, very good at shooting sound out like a flashlight.

Nova: Now — one more animal.

Nova: This one lives in Australia.

Nova: In creeks and rivers.

Nova: It has a squishy flat bill.

Nova: It has a furry body.

Nova: It is a platypus.

Nova: The platypus swims with its eyes closed.

Nova: It can't see a thing underwater.

Nova: But its bill is magic.

Nova: Its bill can feel tiny little zaps.

Nova: Little zaps from bugs wiggling in the mud.

Nova: Even the tiniest wiggle — zap! The platypus feels it.

Nova: And it finds its dinner.

Nova: The Yolŋu people of Arnhem Land in northern Australia have known bats and their night-time ways for thousands and thousands of years. They have watched these night animals for a very, very long time.

Nova: And one more animal.

Nova: This one is a shark.

Nova: Sharks have tiny little holes on their nose.

Nova: Those holes feel little zaps.

Nova: Little zaps from heartbeats.

Nova: From other animals in the water.

Nova: Every heartbeat makes a tiny little zap.

Nova: And the shark feels it.

Nova: Sharks are not scary because of this.

Nova: They are clever.

Nova: They have zap-feelers.

Nova: How amazing is that.

Nova: Bats. Dolphins. Platypus. Sharks.

Nova: All of them have extra senses.

Nova: Extra ways to find things.

Nova: With sounds. Or with zaps.

Nova: In places where eyes don't work.

Nova: Okay Explorers, quiz time!

Nova: I'm going to ask you some questions.

Nova: Ready? Let's go!

Nova: Question one.

Nova: True or false.

Nova: Bats can see with their ears.

Nova: True!

Nova: A bat shouts. The shout bounces back.

Nova: And its ears do the seeing job.

Nova: Clever bat!

Nova: Question two.

Nova: True or false.

Nova: Dolphins click to find fish underwater.

Nova: True!

Nova: Click, click, bounce — fish found!

Nova: Just like a sound flashlight.

Nova: Question three.

Nova: A platypus finds food with — its eyes, its bill, or its tail?

Nova: Its bill!

Nova: Its squishy flat bill feels the tiny little zaps.

Nova: From bugs hiding in the mud.

Nova: Wow.

Nova: Explorers, you thought so hard just now.

Nova: Every single one of you.

Nova: That is what the Brain Bus is all about.

Nova: Wondering. And thinking. Together.

Nova: Now. Three wow facts. Fast ones!

Nova: Wow fact one.

Nova: A bat's shout is super, super loud.

Nova: But we cannot hear it.

Nova: It is too squeaky-high for our ears.

Nova: Wow fact two.

Nova: Baby dolphins start clicking when they are very little.

Nova: Just like babies learning to talk.

Nova: Wow fact three.

Nova: Some moths can HEAR a bat coming.

Nova: And they dive down to hide.

Nova: The bugs have superpowers too!

Nova: Wow.

Nova: Okay Explorers. Here is your road challenge.

Nova: Close your eyes.

Nova: Ready?

Nova: Now make a tiny click with your tongue.

Nova: Click!

Nova: Did you hear it?

Nova: Try again. Click.

Nova: That little sound bounces around inside your car.

Nova: That tiny bounce is an echo.

Nova: Just like a bat uses.

Nova: You just did bat science.

Nova: Amazing.

Nova: Now here is a wondering question.

Nova: If YOU had an animal superpower...

Nova: Would you pick echo-ears like a bat?

Nova: Or zap-feelers like a shark?

Nova: Hmm. That is a good one to think about.

Nova: Explorers.

Nova: Come in close for a second.

Nova: Some animals have extra senses.

Nova: They can find things with sound.

Nova: Or with tiny little zaps.

Nova: In the dark. Underwater. In the mud.

Nova: In places where eyes just don't work.

Nova: That is the big idea today.

Nova: Extra senses. Extra ways of finding the world.

Nova: Bats have been doing this for fifty-two million years.

Nova: Longer than the mountains have existed.

Nova: Just out there in the dark. Listening. Finding.

Nova: Every single night.

Nova: What a ride, Explorers.

Nova: Bats with echo-ears.

Nova: Dolphins with click-flashlights.

Nova: A platypus with zap-feelers on its bill.

Nova: And a shark that feels your heartbeat.

Nova: Next time on the Brain Bus...

Nova: We are going somewhere enormous.

Nova: Something so big it has its own weather.

Nova: I wonder what it could be.

Nova: Stay curious, stay clever, and keep that brain working!

Nova: Until the next stop, Explorers...

Cosmo: ...keep wondering.