A reader asks about noise pollution and beluga melons

Several studies suggest that women exposed to noise pollution during pregnancy may be at higher risk of developing gestational diabetes, pregnancy-induced hypertension and preeclampsia. JAMA Network Open The study also found that children and adolescents living in areas with high traffic noise in the UK are at higher risk of anxiety.

One in a melon

Captive beluga whales will bend their forehead fat (the melon) into a distinctive shape when they are with other beluga whales. Elizabeth Ann Brown “Beluga whales may communicate using ‘melons,'” reports the article (SN: 6/1/24, p. 9).

reader Jim Sobeck The idea was that by changing the shape of the melon, it would be possible to amplify and concentrate the sounds the belugas make and receive, making it easier for them to hear each other during their “conversations.”

Belugas and other toothed whales typically hear with their lower jaws and inner ears, so it’s unlikely that the melons play a role in receiving sound, he said. Marine Lilyis a comparative psychologist at Texas A&M University Central Texas in Killeen.

But toothed whales are known to use their melons to transmit and direct echolocation clicks and other vocalizations to their environment, so belugas may be distorting their forehead masses to change the acoustic signature of their vocalizations, the ethologists say. Justin Richard Researchers from the University of Rhode Island in Kingston believe that the visual aspect of this behavior is key to beluga social interactions, because belugas change the shape of their melons primarily when other belugas are watching. Richard “Studying the potential auditory component of this unique beluga behavior is an important next step in understanding its role in whale conversation.”