The Wildest Noises in Wildlife… and Dunes

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Nature can be pretty noisy, but there's some stuff that's just quiet all the time - right? Well, thanks to advances in audio equipment, researchers are finding out that everything from plants to bacteria have a lot more to say that we thought, despite what you might have heard. Or, not heard.
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canadiangeographic.ca/article...
www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0...
www.nytimes.com/2023/03/30/sc...
academic.oup.com/jxb/article/...
acoustics.org/4pab3-can-a-spi...
www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/1...
www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-...
royalsocietypublishing.org/do...
news.mongabay.com/2015/01/sci...
www.nature.com/articles/s4156...
www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/...
journals.sagepub.com/doi/full...
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.c...
www.aip.org/publishing/journa...
aip.scitation.org/doi/full/10...
Links to sounds
Tomato plant: www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0...
Wolf spider purr: soundcloud.com/smithsonianmag...
Larvae knocks and growls (first two wav files are recordings from the field, second two are from the lab):
royalsocietypublishing.org/do...
Drumming bacteria:
static-content.springer.com/e...
Singing sand dunes:
• Mystery Of Singing San...
www.nps.gov/subjects/sound/si...
Images
www.gettyimages.com
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
www.inaturalist.org/observati...
www.inaturalist.org/observati...
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
www.inaturalist.org/observati...
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:E_...
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
www.nps.gov/subjects/sound/si...

[@SciShow]

Visit brilliant.org/scishow/ to get started learning STEM for free. The first 200 people will get 20% off their annual premium subscription and a 30-day free trial.

[@AaronBosterMD]

😢ww😢

[@ievazvargulis8869]

Foxes scream. We have 2 that visit from time to time. Their tails are absolutely gorgeous, but their vocalizations are unearthly.

[@fancyincubus]

Hey arin How does darude sandstorm go again

[@catherinebaldwin6580]

Good to know my tomato plants are talking behind my back that I’m a monster for pruning them. I’m just trying to keep you healthy and clean, Brah.

[@mashedlinks3512]

I would be freaked out if my tomato plants started popping after underwatering them

[@paulacoyle5685]

on a very still day you can hear the corn grow though

[@nicholaslee722]

Better this than having plants screaming like banshees.

[@c1osmo]

Only plants I underwater is my pond plants.😊

[@Henri_Hilarious]

I’m VERY good at under-watering plants

[@ajchapeliere]

Hard yes, but at the same time it would be *way* harder to accidentally kill them

[@Hexeyy]

I wonder if bacteria respond to sound because they are so small the wavelengths can interact with them physically.

[@Mona_Lisa123]

They go surfing with each wave

[@Hexeyy]

@@Mona_Lisa123 right?

[@martijn8491]

You probably mean light; the wavelength of audible sound is on the order of centimeters to meters. But that doesn't really matter for the interaction. BTW EM waves (eg light) with a wavelength roughly the size of a human correspond to radio waves several 100 MHz.

[@riderinsanjose337]

​@@martijn8491I'm guessing you meant the light wavelength roughly the size of a human hair ? Having not researched it... I'm guessing it would be a lot narrower in the order of nanometers.

[@sillyjellyfish2421]

Considering that there are sound frequencies that can cause them to burst simply by squishing and stretching them due to pressure changes, i am not that surprised that there are frequencies that work kind of like a massage stimulating them.

[@Van-Leo]

a what does the fox say joke but not a single frank herbert's Dune reference when sand that makes noise is a whole thing in that series

[@maxravenwood3877]

That part at 3:00 about animals hearing these sounds we don't know plants make fits so well in my brain. Because plants also use colors in frequencies we can't see to communicate with animals that see in infrared or ultraviolet, right? So of course there might be communication happening in other ways we don't detect

[@nunyabitnezz2802]

And remember, if the sound in the sand dune is too regular, the sandworm comes.

[@germanomagnone]

for the "spice"

[@falconJB]

Always avoid walking on drum sand.

[@Magnum3144]

Gross

[@OG_Mereles]

'The larvae were beating their tiny drums mostly at night'. What a sentence!

[@terrybradford3727]

The science of Frank Herbert's Dune and how the sand worm can find you. Lol. Science is awesome

[@UnashamedlyHentai]

"We can't be sure that plants hear..." Proceeds to describe the process of hearing. I get the difference they're trying to make, but it's still funny.

[@amicaaranearum]

Some jumping spiders (Salticidae) also drum as part of their courtship rituals.

[@xpndblhero5170]

Surprised they didn't include the mysterious ocean ping they kept hearing in submarines..... It was fish farts if you've never heard about it. LMAO 🤣🤣

[@edl5731]

The plant that hears the best is corn, they have ears.

[@jewel65]

😂😂😂😂

[@Master_Therion]

Tomatoes make popping sounds? And they might hear each other?!?! Now if you had said corn I'd believe it. Popcorn is a real thing, plus corn has ears.

[@I_am_a_cat_]

..... now that's a dad joke if I've ever heard one.

[@primalartifice]

I've heard corn popping as it was growing in a field.

[@wmdkitty]

Ohh...

[@kid14346]

Boooooooo! If you have any dinosaur themes bad jokes I'm sure PBS Eons would love you.

[@Totalinternalreflection]

Take your coat and get out

[@fleachamberlain1905]

I think of hearing as a subset of feeling (vibrations), so I don't find it at all surprising that the wolf spider purrs and drums to attract mates.

[@Mushrooms0nTrees]

wow, that was deep. with people, a vibration is the energetic quality of a person. much like, reading vibes and energy......which only an EMPATH can do.

[@flamencoprof]

@@Mushrooms0nTrees Please, this is a science channel.

[@ivoryowl]

@@flamencoprof Science is not omniscient. There are a lot of scientific concepts nowadays that would have been complete hogwash or witchcraft 800 years ago. How would you explain electricity or even wifi - how it originates and what it does - to a medieval peasant? Just because we don't understand something now doesn't mean it's BS. We just lack the right tools to understand it.

[@kindlin]

@@Mushrooms0nTrees Lolwut? I think you're on the wrong channel.

[@PixieLove5]

I never thought about a spider “hearing” until this video. It never even crossed my mind that they don’t have ears or any way to actually listen. Thanks again, SciShow! I learn at least one new thing from each video 😊

[@icarusbinns3156]

Look up the dances of peacock spiders. They ‘sing’ while they dance! And sometimes get eaten when a lady dislikes the song, or the dance, or both… or his face

[@PixieLove5]

@@icarusbinns3156 that’s crazy! Spiders are scary cool to me lol I don’t mess with them but they do have some amazing powers!

[@tomtheplummer7322]

I’ve been to the Great Sand Dunes in Colorado. I was camping when I first heard them. 😮

[@mischarowe]

Kind of gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "I feel ya".

[@melodyszadkowski5256]

Somewhere a group of scientists went to the trouble and expense of putting together sheets of graphene to talk to E. coli? Wonder where that grant came from 😂

[@archerelms]

Maybe they just had something left over from other projects 😂

[@awaredeshmukh3202]

It's studies like this that make me wonder what they were trying to get from trying this. Like, I'm glad it worked! But how did you *think* of this? And how did you convince the government to fund it???

[@fruitygarlic3601]

The sources are in the description, so if you're all so interested, why not check? It's a good habit. The findings seem to have come from a very diverse range of aims, including wanting to see how the bacteria moved and just collecting findings. 2/3 list their funding, and it seems like the researchers work at labs where they're free to explore odd little things like this.

[@robinsmith5442]

I think foxes either bark or yip. They sound cute!

[@92RKID]

They also scream which sounds like a person doing it. which is terrible at night. Especially right under someone's bedroom window! My mom has been woken up by it and it wasn't fun. She wanted to strangle the fox each night that did it. Thankfully it hasn't been a recent experience.

[@robinsmith5442]

@@92RKID They and the coyotes are far enough away it isn't too scary in rural Missouri.

[@emu071981]

The bacteria growing better with the sound could be the sound waves helping the contents of the bacterial cell to move around better - kind of the same way a tea bag will infuse quicker into a cup of hot water if you jiggle the tea bag instead of just letting it sit there.

[@Glenn_3]

So what you're saying is that spiders literally feel the vibe of potential partners

[@musstakrakish]

The score for Color out of Space uses plants and coral reefs as part of the music. One of my favorite OST of all time!

[@Beryllahawk]

Two thoughts. One: growling baby fish - you noted that adult fish make the noise when jolted by electricity. Now maybe it's anthropomorphic to say this but that sounds like it'd hurt, and I dunno about y'all but I tend to seek comfort when mysterious pains happen to me. Now, the babies: they stick together, so clearly being near each other is comforting. In the dark, they can't see, so they make the noise - seeking comfort. So maybe the noise is self-soothing in adults? We know cats do something like that with certain frequencies of purring. Two: Sand dunes. I wasn't aware there were TWO types of sounds involved there - but I also have only heard it called SINGING, lol. And it's such a mysterious sound in the recordings I've heard! Would love to get a little more in depth about those waves that are UNDER the surface, never heard of that before.

[@germanomagnone]

5:39 this verse of the "larva" Gray snapper (lutjanus griseus), reminds me a lot of the roar of some big "monster / beast" of a Fantasy. 10:01 these sounds of the dunes reminds me a bit of an Australian didgeridoo.

[@mattwhaley1865]

I have a DJ and musician friend who loves spiders. That thumbnail definitely made me share this with him

[@Max-rn3eb]

we all know a DJ who loves a particular insect, my friend loves Mantises

[@jimmytiddlytoo8160]

What does a lost submarine at the bottom of the ocean sound like?

[@azmanabdula]

Captain crunch

[@Maweena]

Penny whistle solo

[@orsettomorbido]

The dune sounds is AMAZING. It makes me think about a game with a creepy atmosphere, or the backrooms creepypasta °_°

[@fawzanmohamed2670]

This channel one of the most informative and entertaining channels I’ve ever seen keep up 🔥❤️

[@donchonealyotheoneal5456]

And all you have to do is close your ears and open your mind and you can hear all sorts of new things

[@Andre-qo5ek]

can sci show come up with an entire series for the world in different frequencies? that would be great. the world views from a slightly different frequency would be fascinating to see. like those "how xyz animal sees the world" videos, but more general to just a specific frequency and ALL the animals and other environmental factors in a given range.

[@zacktheartist609]

3:43 that is the sound of sir spider writing his next novel (he likes to use the typewriter)

[@Symphing12]

Some tarantulas stridulate their hind legs on their abdomens, but that's a warning to predators.

[@AllDayEDC]

First sound reminds me of disgustipated by TOOL. Maybe the carrots really do scream on harvest day

[@capnstewy55]

HEY!!! WATER ME!

[@tristandaries1129]

Props to them for adding a reference to a 2010s meme

[@heliosex7238]

I got the fox reference at the beginning 😂

[@malexander1089]

The drumming bacteria reminded me of Charles Wallace and the song of his mitochondria

[@alexv3357]

When you think about it, all hearing is actually feeling

[@MultivectorAnalysis]

@10:27 that last bit made me think of the Towers of Darillium

[@aaronbryan5095]

They do be bussin fr fr

[@ColinRichardson]

2:45 we don't know if plants can hear, plants may be picking up the vibrations. Errm, yeah, that is call hearing. Otherwise, what on earth do you think our eardrum is doing?

[@icarusbinns3156]

What sound do growing trees make? My favorite sound with old trees is when they creak slowly and gently…

[@JorgeMartinez-dp3im]

Haven't watched the video yet but wanted to say the thumbnail was awesome.

[@Indigoturtle4581]

🎶We like the dunes, the dunes that go boom.🎶

[@MsEriKaT]

Wow so those 5 people on that titan submersible aren't making those noises. Thanks scishow!

[@WhereNothingOnceWas]

0:47 Fun fact, the word for wind that blows through the trees is scythurism(sp?). I could be close with someone who uses that as the basis of their name that is much shorter.

[@the3rdjoker]

Wasn't there also a plant sound study done with trees as well?

[@FerShibli]

Old meme reference 🦊 I love it 😂😂😂

[@michaelrae9599]

A tree falling in the woods makes an audible wave that can be heard. The tree wasn't trying to communicate.

[@LeDank]

A+ thumbnail 👏

[@danielnaberhaus5337]

Foxes can sound like a woman being murdered, hearing it in the woods at night is one of the most terrifying experiences.

[@Totalinternalreflection]

10 out of 10 for that thumbnail

[@hrfjio7455]

Dunes have a mating sound with the Tusken Raiders in Star Wars

[@kyokoyumi]

5:40 No i'd wonder who's calling me cause my phone vibrates like that on the charging stand lmao

[@German_New_State]

*_Science!_*

[@buddymartin3609]

Forehand/backhand forehand... pretty good huh? It's really hard...

[@disarmyouwitha]

Thought thumbnail was DJ Octavio~ lol

[@TiredMomma]

And the saying "As quiet as a mouse", is outdated. Also, mice are not quiet, lol. Rats are even worse, they screech loudly when they run away after being seen, where as mice normally don't. It's interesting how loud rats are compared to mice, but even a mouse that quickly runs away on a carpet, can easily be heard if your room is quiet enough. It sounds like a Scooby Doo moment of their feet scratching the carpet as they run away. It cracks me up because I would've have known otherwise the mouse was in the room, unless the pest is chewing on something.

[@Entheo_Wolf]

Foxes Yip!

[@khajiitkitten5679]

Sometimes large sculptures sing; think the Colossi of Memnon.

[@DrachenGothik666]

I think that might be caused by temperature differences in the different parts of the sculpture expanding & retracting as it's heated or cooled. It doesn't take a lot of temp change to do it.

[@TheRealSkeletor]

Well now I want a pet purring spider.

[@profpuffofficial2]

Often hear the huntsman rain spiders making stridulating noises , sounds like a quartz clock

[@aanchaallllllll]

0:52: 🌱 Plants make popping noises when stressed, which could be a way of communication with other plants. 2:46: 🕷 Plants and spiders communicate through vibrations and sounds. 5:29: 🔊 Various organisms, including wolf spiders, grey snapper larvae, and E. coli bacteria, use sound as a form of communication. 8:16: 🔬 Scientists have discovered that bacteria can produce sound and respond to sound, while sand dunes can create booming and burping noises. 11:07: 🎵 Sand dunes can create booming and belching sounds due to the interaction of different types of waves and the movement of sand grains. Recap by Tammy AI

[@WhereNothingOnceWas]

Coriander

[@WhereNothingOnceWas]

No wait

[@WhereNothingOnceWas]

Correct!

[@Dwagginz]

The E. coli drumming sounds like low-pitched tinnitus.

[@joshuacampbell1625]

My arachnophobia doesn't know how to feel about that thumbnail lol

[@AlexDeVrege]

maybe bugs can feel it and come as a response as a defense for the plant against being eaten by bugs?

[@Do_Odles]

No mention of the barking spider from Australia? (makes sound from stridulation)...all spiders drum and vibrate to attract males, so is more vibration based, than audio exactly (but that's what sound is, vibrations).

[@MyKutie]

When the mice say they heard it through the grape vine, take it seriously.

[@tiffanymarie9750]

"and foxes" 😂

[@VexMage]

'Cause it's just a hummingbird moth who's acting like a bird that thinks it's a bee.

[@life42theuniverse]

Do wolfspiders have names?

[@madLphnt]

"Prompted" with a jolt of electricity....

[@mrjoe332]

"Plants talk to each other" .... cool

[@oleksandrbyelyenko435]

5:29 so that's what Bully McGuire was doing in 3rd movie

[@jamesleatherwood5125]

what does the foc say? Yip! its says yip yip

[@Broodborn]

Standing in front of a one-and-a-half to two-metre subwoofer, turned up, you also can feel your internal organs vibrating in your chest and abdominal wall. This only depends on the actual volume power, since our bodies are also made up of single-celled organisms. So it's not surprising that plants, "deaf" spiders and of course bacteria respond to sound frequencies at a minimum.

[@christianheichel]

So certain bacteria do better in certain types of music. Would they do worse in other types of music?

[@AeronHale]

I wonder if the weird buzzing sound one can sometimes hear in the woods far away from civilization is actually the trees or other plants.

[@UGNAvalon]

Does this explain why some gardeners say that their plants prefer certain genres of music over others? 🤔

[@salt-emoji]

Ngl if i could get hearing aids that extended the frequency range if human hearing i would get them instantly.

[@jscotthatcher380]

foxes do a freaky scream.

[@AtarGG]

LOLOLOL. Tarantulas also drum. 😊

[@DeadGirlsPoem]

Guess we can be happy we don't hear the distressed sounds of plants. Would be fricking loud in the summer, especially now, as it doesn't rain as frequently anymore bc of climate change. Guess our whole garden is pop-screaming atm...

[@glenngriffon8032]

I wonder what the vegans have to say about the fact that plants can feel stressed when they're pruned and can listen in some capacity to one another? Are they going to just dismiss it by saying "oh they're just plants"?

[@eifelitorn]

Btw the mixer in the thumbnail is facing the wrong way :D

[@JoyousNightjar]

By the way we Hindus believe that everything started from Om, which we believe is a universal sound

[@somethingweird134]

So what you are saying that corn does have ears

[@sergetheijspartner2005]

Who jolts fishes with electric shocks to find out what noise they make?

[@DrachenGothik666]

It's very low voltage, just enough to feel it, not enough to be painful. It startles them, but I don't think it actually hurts them. Maybe like a zap from static electricity in power.

[@saalkz.a.9715]

PlanTone 😂

[@bfnfedboy2]

I hope no plants were harmed in the experiments 😊

[@otterspotter]

Adult snappers only made noises when prompted with a jolt of electricity.... So lemme ask, are scientists just out there electrocuting fish or what?

[@korn7809]

What are we supposed to ethically eat if plants have "feelings?"?

[@DrachenGothik666]

The fruiting bodies: so legumes, mushrooms, fruit, berries, etc. They're called Fruitarians, a sub-set of vegan.😸

[@MikePattison]

So plants can not only produce sound but communicate with other plants using sound. And those sounds are "heard" by other plants which analyze the sounds and make a decision to change their lifestyle according to what they heard. And all of this without a brain. And yet scientists still say consciousness is produced by the brain. I think we need to expand our research on consciousness. We may find it to be a fundamental part of the universe.

[@horomaru1]

Dude mongolian throat singing kinda same as sand dunes burp, coincidence i think not

[@deafponi]

Give us the actual dimensions of the subject, then correlate that to a physical object. If you still feel the need to. "About the size of a pencil-top eraser." This is a science show after all.

[@The_Savage_Wombat]

This video pleases my urticulating hairs.

[@DrachenGothik666]

*Urticating. No 'L".😸

[@The_Savage_Wombat]

@@DrachenGothik666 Awesome! Did you know that or have to look it up?

[@robotbutterflies]

Wait. If spiders don't have a concept of sound, why do some use stridulation as a warning? I'm sure I've missed something.

[@grimmscuriosities9411]

They can feel the vibration, they just don't have an organ that can translate that vibration to sound.

[@gloobglob45]

Help me i am under da water

[@space-mike]

Yip yip yip yip