In Eastern Massachusetts we found a man doing remarkable work to save the whales. Dr. Iain Kerr runs Ocean Alliance in Gloucester, Mass. The non profit group has been developing revolutionary tools to study the heath of whales all over the world. Using 3-D printing, Kerr and his team have engineered drone-based tools to drop sensors on the back of whales. Others use drones to collect biological samples from the whales’ exhale. The drones actually fly through the spout expelled through the whale’s blowhole.

They capture biological material shot out from the whale’s lungs on petri dishes mounted to the drones. This fantastic invention is called SnotBot — and it’s allowing researchers to study the health of the thousands of whales migrating around the globe.

All this happening in Gloucester, Mass near Boston. Settled in 1623, it’s America’s oldest seaport. For four centuries of fishing, a lot of innovation and inventions have come out of this town.  The work being done by Ocean Alliance is really an extension of more than 400 years of figuring out how to co-exist with the sea. Now, it’s a new and exciting mission.

“I smelt an Idea”

What’s most remarkable is how Dr. Kerr came up with the concept of the SnotBot. “I smelt, an idea,” says Kerr of that day he figured it all out. In this “Voices of Americana,” you will meet the father of the SnotBot. His words give us inspiration and hope for the future — in the battle to save the whales.