Breaking news: scientists have decoded whale song and interpreted the original recordings by Frank Watlington and Roger Payne in the 70s.

The songs turn out to be a mixture of mourning family members, warnings, and distress signals between whales due to whaling and other human activity in the seas.

These recordings were included on the Voyager mission as a message to alien life about the existence and achievements of the human race. Imagine being an alien civilization discovering this. Would you want to visit Earth? Perhaps only to come to the rescue of the other life that we relentlessly and ignorantly exploit…

Happy New Year, btw!