Why do whales sing?

This mailbox isn’t near the front of a house. Instead, it’s by a lake. How could you deliver mail to this lake house?

It’s delivered by boat! Mail carriers jump off, run to the mailbox, then jump on! This lake town has done this for over 100 years!

This girl sent a message in a bottle by dropping it into the ocean. It started in the ocean near Britain. Where do you think it ended up?

It went across the world, from Britain to Australia! Scientists use bottles to find out how the ocean moves things around the world...

Scientists use other tools to find out how the ocean moves. They’ve even used rubber ducks! Here’s where the ducks traveled!

How could a vacuum be used to send messages? Think like an inventor! What could you do with the vacuum’s tube?

Check out this vacuum tube! You put a message in a container at one end. Then a vacuum sucks it up, and brings it across the room!

New York City used to use vacuum tubes to deliver mail! Mail traveled for miles! This animation is similar to how it worked.

Some hospitals still use vacuum tubes to deliver medicine quickly! Even this restaurant uses them--to deliver food to tables!

This sailor has lots of different colored flags. He’ll use them to send messages. How could you use flags to send messages?

Boats and towns used flags in different positions to “talk” to each other, like this. You can learn this flag language too (semaphore)!

This language is still being used by railroads! Next time you pass by train tracks, look for two colorful signs like this!

Listen… Have you heard this kind of singing before? It’s called yodeling. What does this have to do with sending messages?

Yodeling used to be like a code; different sounds meant different words! You could yodel on a hill to “talk” to people far away!

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