Host Dave Schlom is joined by neuroscientist and animal intelligence advocate Dr. Lori Marino, who was recently named the 2026 winner of the Frank Drake Award by the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California.
Marino was one of the first scientists to determine that bottlenose dolphins can recognize themselves in a mirror, a key test of cognitive awareness.
For her achievements in exploring animal intelligence, Marino won the Drake Award, named for radio astronomer Frank Drake, author of the famous Drake Equation that provides a framework for researching life and intelligence beyond Earth.
As a strong advocate for marine mammals and other animals, Marino guides us in a far-ranging discussion that delves into our human bias toward other creatures and how dolphins and whales have intelligence far more advanced than we previously thought! Recently, SETI scientists have been doing fascinating studies of whale communications as an analog for what it might be like to detect intelligence on other worlds.
Marino is the founder of the Whale Sanctuary Project and Executive Director of the Kimmela Center for Scholarship-based Animal Advocacy.
