S2 Ep 1. Blue-Chip Science: Blue Planet

 
 

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To kick off the second season of Small Screen Science, we’re diving in to the wonderful world of natural history documentaries, with Blue Planet II! Perhaps the most influential nature documentary series of all time, the ‘Blue Planet II effect’ has made people more aware of our impact on the environment.

During the episode we chat to Simon Watt about the most endangered ‘mingers’ and why ugly animals get such a raw deal in conservation. Look out for the scrotum frog and the kakapo. Ever thought of a spider being cute? Try searching for the jumping spider and work out why it is cuter than other spider species.

2020 is the international year of sound, so who better to speak to than Martyn Harries, BAFTA and Emmy award winning re-recording mixer who has worked with the great Sir David Attenborough himself! We talk about the difficulties around recording sound underwater as well as the use of Foley.

Sit back, relax and enjoy our foray into all things Blue Planet II!

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Meet our guests

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Simon Watt

Simon Watt is a biologist, writer, science communicator, comedian and TV presenter who runs the ‘Ugly Animal Preservation Society’ which is a comedy night with a conservation twist.  He is a fellow podcaster (Level Up Human) and is perhaps best known as a presenter on the BAFTA winning documentary series ‘Inside Nature’s Giants’, and the Channel 4 special ‘The Elephant: Life After Death’.

T: @SimonDWatt @UglyAnimal

 
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Martyn Harries

Martyn Harries is a BAFTA and Emmy award winning re-recording mixer and a Senior Lecturer in Audio and Music Technology at the University of the West Of England, Bristol. His work in the BBC’s Natural History Unit, on series such as Natural World, Springwatch and David Attenborough’s nature documentaries, has gained him international recognition and awards. He can also be heard blowing his own trumpet (literally) in bands and orchestras around Bristol, even making an appearance on the soundtrack of David Attenborough’s series “Africa”.

T: @martyntrumpeter

Blue Planet blogs

Blog
Can you hear the difference between hot and cold water?
Can you hear the difference between hot and cold water?

Next time you make tea listen carefully as you add hot water to the cup. Try pouring the same volume of cold water into the same type of cup. Can you hear a difference? Listen to the experiment and take a look at the science behind this phenomenon.

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Episode Photo Gallery

It’s international Year of Sound, so we’ve got some images of BAFTA and Emmy award winner Martyn Harries doing what he does best…can you spot Sir David? We’ve also got a kakapo and jumping spider in honour of biologist and comedian Simon Watt…did we mention he has a book out?

 
 
 

Episode References (if you fancy some extra reading)

  • Agrawal, T., Lee, M., Calcetas, A., Clarke, D., Lin, N. and Schachner, A. (2020) Hearing water temperature: Characterizing the development of nuanced perception of auditory events. Available from: https://psyarxiv.com/eb9pj/

  • Bixler, R., Crosby,. C, Howell, K. and Tucker. T. (2015) Choosing illustrations of spider (faces) for best first impressions in natural history interpretive programs. Journal of Interpretation Research. 20:2 pp. 7-18

  • Borgi, M., Cogliati-Dezza, I., Brelsford, V., Meints, K. and Cirulli, F. (2014) Baby schema in human and animal faces induces cuteness perception and gaze allocation in children. Frontiers in Psychology. 5:411

  • Buckley, R. (2016) Aww: The emotion of perceiving cuteness. Frontiers in Psychology. 7:1740

  • Cabe, P. and Pittenger, John. (2000) Human sensitivity to acoustic information from vessel filling. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human perception and performance. 26:1 pp 313-324

  • Intelligent sound engineering (2017) [Blog] Why can you hear the difference between hot and cold water? Available from: https://intelligentsoundengineering.wordpress.com/2017/05/20/why-can-you-hear-the-difference-between-hot-and-cold-water/

  • Kringelbach, M., Stark, E., Alexander, C., Bornstein, M. and Stein, A. (2016) On cuteness: Unlocking the parental brain and beyond. Trends in Cognitive Science. 7 pp. 545-558

  • Peng, H. and Reiss, J. (2018) Why can you hear a difference between pouring hot and cold water? An investigation of temperature dependence and psychoacoustics. Available from: https://www.aes.org/e-lib/browse.cfm?elib=19737

  • Velasco, C., Jones, R., King, S. and Spence, C. (2013) The sound of temperature: What information do pouring sounds convey concerning the temperature of a beverage. Journal of Sensory Studies. 28 pp. 335-345