The calm waters of Gippsland Lakes near Melbourne, Australia, are broken by a fin, then the quiet afternoon is pierced by a high-pitched whistle. A Burrunan dolphin has breached the surface before diving down and emitting the sound, which, ordinarily, would be received only by other aquatic animals. This time, however, the dolphin’s signal is picked up by a team of scientists, for whom the coronavirus pandemic has had a silver-dorsal lining. In the past, their recordings of dolphin communication have been occluded by the whirs, clunks, and splashes from…
