What inspired this story?
Sonic Sea was inspired by the whales, dolphins and other marine life that are suffering and dying from our mindless sonic assault. Whales evolved over millions of years to favor sound over light. But the intense noises we’re making in the ocean with massive ships, oil and gas surveys and military sonar are killing marine mammals, driving some populations toward extinction and making it harder for many species to prosper. We can save these majestic creatures and restore the acoustic habitat they depend on for their survival, but only by raising global awareness of the problem and showing that there is real hope for a solution.

Describe some of the challenges faced while making this film?
The biggest challenge making Sonic Sea was that its subject – sound in the ocean – is both invisible and outside normal human experience. Whereas people depend primarily on their sense of sight, whales and many other marine species depend primarily on making and hearing sounds. In order to convey what their acoustic life is like, we used animations to depict sound visually, and also built a rich sound design based on thousands of actual underwater recordings. Our goal was to plunge the audience through the waves and deep into an ocean flowing with sound.

How do you approach science storytelling?
Our approach to science storytelling is first to ensure that we are accurate and fair. Next, it is to tell a scientific story in a way that is intriguing and suspenseful. Sonic Sea is therefore constructed like a crime drama. It opens with a mysterious mass stranding and mortality of whales. The story of solving that mystery – the investigation into what killed the whales and who was responsible – forms the central dramatic arc of the film. Along the way, other scientific findings about the behavior and impact of sound in the ocean provide moments of realization, wonder and amazement.

What impact do you hope this film will have?
Our hope is that Sonic Sea is emotionally engaging and scientifically informative enough to propel change. We can solve the problem of ocean noise pollution with better technology and policy. But that will only happen if a critical mass of people is aware of the problem and understands that solutions are feasible. Sonic Sea is being seen by millions of people around the world on Discovery Network and by tens of thousands of people in screenings targeted at students, ocean enthusiasts, ocean industry professionals, legislators and ocean policy makers. We believe the film has put the issue of ocean noise pollution on the table for discussion.

Were there any surprising or meaningful moments/experiences you want to share?
Making Sonic Sea was an adventure because the film introduced us to fascinating people dedicated to understanding and protecting marine life. For instance, we visited Paul Spong, PhD., the founder of Orca Lab, a small land-based whale research station nestled against the evergreen forest of Hanson Island in the waters of the "Inside Passage" of northern Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. Paul and his team use hydrophones to listen to and record orcas. They can identify every pod and even every whale by their distinct dialect and calls. Hanson Island is a remarkably beautiful and peaceful place and the lab’s work is adding enormously to our understanding of whales without interfering with their lives or habitat.

Sonic Sea also led us to Ken Balcomb, the former Navy pilot and acoustics expert who proved to the world that naval sonar is killing whales. His work has led to extensive reforms in the way the U.S. and other nations use sonar in testing and training. Ken’s Whale Research Center, on San Juan Island in Washington State, is a perfectly situated post from which to observe whales in Haro Strait. The building is full of amazing artifacts, including several enormous whale skulls that dominate the main room and shock first-time visitors. One of the most satisfying moments in making the film was meeting our narrator, the wonderfully talented actress Rachel McAdams. When Rachel arrived to record the narration she told us she’d just watched the film a second time and that it had once again reduced her to tears.

1. Let’s Quit Romanticizing the Past
When you ask them, virtually everyone believes that violence has increased over time. In fact, you've probably already read about a senseless act of violence or a terrorist bombing in today's news. In a time of ISIS, Syria, and 9/11, the claim that we are living in an unusually peaceful time may seem hallucinatory. However, the data disproves this on every count.* Steven Pinker argues that this information is fundamental to the human existence. Despite popular belief, we are actually making things better on Earth. Declines in violence are a product of social, cultural and material conditions. If these conditions persist, violence will remain low or decline further.

3.  In Areas Where Women are Empowered, There is Less Violence
It’s very clear that in primates and humans, males are more aggressive than women. Richard Wrangham’s research shows that juvenile female chimpanzees use sticks as play things or sit with it while they are feeding. Juvenile male chimpanzees use them as weapons. As leaders, women are more thoughtful about the outcome of potential conflict; they are better at taking the perspective of the opponent and less likely to be ego driven.* For example Rwanda became the first country to have more women in the legislature. Pinker's research identifies feminism as an "angel of our kind," or a main factor in the decline of violence over time. 

Want to learn more about the science of human nature? Join us at the Science Media Awards and Summit in the Hub (SMASH) this September, where Marco Werman of PRI's The World will be leading the closing keynote with Richard Wrangham and Steven Pinker. Check it out here: http://bit.ly/1OgXfXD. Find us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @scienceSMASH, #sciencemedia.

Citations: 
*Pinker, Steven. The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined. New York: Viking, 2011. Print.
*Wrangham, Richard. "Why We Kill" and "Powerful Women = Fewer Wars," online interview with Big Think.                 http://bigthink.com/experts/richardwrangham
*Washington Blog. "What is the Real Risk from Terrorism in America." Centre for Research on Globalization. June 2015. http://www.globalresearch.ca/what-is-the-real-risk-from-terrorism-in-america/5454480

What inspired this story?
This story began with a new building. Case Western Reserve University is constructing a new Health Education Campus in collaboration with the Cleveland Clinic that will open in 2019. This campus will be the centerpiece of a new way to educate physicians, nurses and dentists. Right now, each of these different professions are educated in isolation, but are then thrown together in the clinic and often struggle to understand their part in the broader patient-care team. They’re not always familiar with the capabilities of their colleagues. This new building was meant to change that. Students will be educated together, and will come out of school as a team. Early on in this building planning, we committed to bringing our students the best possible technology. As part of this, our team was specifically tasked with finding a way to replace hundreds of years of anatomy education with digital technology. The augmented reality experience we’re showing this year is just a taste of the kinds of educational programs that we’ll be offering in this new space using Microsoft HoloLens. 

Describe some of the challenges faced while making this film?
Nobody has ever had access to Microsoft HoloLens before, and nobody has ever taught a large class with this kind of technology, so nearly everything has been challenging. We’ve even had to develop a new language to describe what’s happening, for example, how do you describe what is “real” in a physical sense versus what is “real” in a holographic sense? It has completely distorted our view as to whether something is present in our space or not. Because of this, probably the most challenging part of the past year has been trying to explain our work to people who haven’t experienced HoloLens. It is a technology you truly have to see to believe. 

What impact do you hope this film will have?
We hope this augmented reality anatomy experience will be a first step towards changing the way medical professionals are educated across the globe. Cadaver labs are incredibly difficult to establish and maintain, so if we are successful, this could provide access to high-quality anatomy and physiology education to all kinds of students. Longer term, we hope that this type of technology can be used to teach any subject at any level. Case Western Reserve University has committed to this technology because we truly believe Microsoft HoloLens is a key part of the future of education and research.

Were there any surprising or meaningful moments/experiences you want to share?
We have had more than 300 people go through our experience. Every time we ask people to walk from one side of the model to the other, 100 percent of the time, they walk AROUND our holographic person—even though he’s not physically there. It’s amazing how quickly our brains adapt to believing that this hologram is in the room with us.
 
Another fascinating experience is siting without a HoloLens and watching groups of people interacting with holographic data. You see groups of people intently focusing and pointing at things in thin air. They are definitely talking about something that is real to them, but from the outside we see nothing. It is highly entertaining! 

What next?
Over the next year, we will be continuing our educational developments. We will also be bringing this kind of experience into new and diverse areas, such as museums and manufacturing facilities. It’s amazing how much overlap we see in terms of needs and requests from very different disciplines and industries. 

Any tips for those interested in exploring VR/AR production? 
Be prepared to make a lot of mistakes, but don’t stop trying new ways to approach the medium. This is truly a new way of seeing and interacting with the world, and we are far from having this figured out. Do a lot of experiments with people who aren’t on your team. They will give you insight you would never find on your own. 

​The Human Superorganism: How the Microbiome is Revolutionizing the Pursuit of a Healthy Life by Rodney Dietert
Penguin (Dutton), July 2016
 
Ok, so you respect Ed Yong. But if you want to go further into the science of this microbiome thing, try The Human Superorganism by Rodney Dietert. Dietert is a professor of immunotoxicology at Cornell University with several academic books on disease and immunity to his name. The Human Superorganism addresses much of what we’ve heard through the media grapevine regarding modern ailments—obesity, allergies, depression, even cancer—from a practicing scientist’s perspective. We aren’t just in a symbiosis, we’re an ecological system. And as any ecologist can tell you, diversity and species distribution matter for the ecosystem’s overall health. Dietert wants to tell us what we can do with this information, too, focusing on changes that could be made in health care as well as do-it-yourself tips for maintaining a happy community. Wow your friends with your new medical knowledge—and feel free to start using the Royal We.  

​The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Scribner, May 2016
 
This one came out a bit before summer, but no science summer reading list would be complete without it. Mukherjee is a distinguished physician, scientist, and author of one of the most-read and best-written books on cancer out there, The Emperor of All Maladies (Scribner, 2010). He returns six years later for an equally moving and comprehensive look at the concept of the gene. It’s a carefully researched work of scientific and medical history, but it’s also deeply personal. Mukherjee weaves in stories of familial mental illness, and how their conditions drove his interest in understanding genes—what they are, what they do, how they do it. He also focuses on ethical and philosophical questions. If that sounds too heavy for a summer read, don’t get scared away! Mukherjee is one of our truly talented science writers. Not only does he have a firm understanding of science and medicine, and communicate it clearly, but he’s a good enough writer to scratch that literary reading itch. This one’s a tome, but, really, it’s worth it. 

​Patient H.M.: A Story of Memory, Madness, and Family Secrets by Luke Dittrich
Random House, August 2016
 
Another of today’s releases, Patient H.M. tackles the oft-cited but not deeply known story of Henry Molaison, a factory worker who became the most-studied subject in all of neuroscience. Known in studies as simply “H.M.”, Molaison suffered complete amnesia after undergoing brain surgery for epilepsy. Like Mukherjee, Dittrich writes about his personal connection to the story: Dittrich’s grandfather was one of the surgeons who operated on Molaison. If the previous suggestions weren’t soul-searching enough for you, give this one a try. Dittrich tackles the science of memory as well as the emotional resonance of memories through generations, melding a history of science with modern science writing and memoir. He raises thorny questions about human subjects in science—what do we do if taking inappropriate advantage of one subject led to important advances in neuroscience and subsequent patient care? This story is eerie and fascinating, with a touch of the tabloid exposé (the seedy underbelly of neuroscience’s history!), and it will keep you reading into the night like a good thriller. 

Want to learn more about the science of human nature? Join us at the Science Media Awards and Summit in the Hub (SMASH) this September, where Graham Townsley will be leading a session on “Being Human.” Check it out here: http://www.sciencemediasummit.org/programming.html. To register for the conference or learn more about SMASH, check out our website at http://www.sciencemediasummit.org. Find us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @scienceSMASH, #sciencemedia.
 
Caitlin Kossmann is an assistant producer for SMASH.
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