#museum fur naturkunde
The Brain Scoop:
The Animal Sound Library
Important things to know about this video:
- The Museum für Naturkunde has one of the largest collections of animal voices in the world
- Scientists plant recording devices in local wetlands to track species diversity, migration patterns, and populations of rare birds year-round
- one of the early field recorders was first invited to be used by agents in the CIA :o
- Dr. Sarah Darwin does a solid impression of a nightingale. fun fact she also happens to be the great-great-granddaughter of Charles Darwin. (!)
The Brain Scoop:
The Story of the Museum für Naturkunde
It’s here! Our first video in collaboration with the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin, Germany. 7 months ago this partnership was a glimmer of an idea that we were able to make a reality.
It’s nearly impossible to try and summarize more than 200 years of an institution’s history in less than 10 minutes, but we did it anyway. The truth is, any moment of time here could be magnified and examined for its nuance an detail; what stuck with me throughout this process was the idea that political decisions, whether local or global, ultimately shape our priorities for studying the world around us. And that despite those limitations, scientists and naturalists continue their pursuits within the confines of such restrictions.
What you get with this video is a neatly wrapped story – but what you don’t see are the hours I spent researching how scientists in East Berlin dealt with censorship and police spies, or the way Jewish scientists were treated during WW2, or how the country tried to recover from economic hardship after the first World War. I wish we had three more hours to dig into all of that, unfortunately we don’t– but, regardless, I’m proud of this video and for what it represents: we have hope for our future.
