Red Herring
Summary
This Radiolab episode investigates a Cold War mystery where the Swedish Navy mistakenly identified herring as Soviet submarines for over a decade. Host Lulu Miller and producer Annie McKeown explore how military sonar picked up the "typical sound" of fish releasing air from their swim bladders, leading to false alarms and wasted resources. The story highlights how confirmation bias and secrecy prevented officials from recognizing the biological source until scientists proved the sounds came from schools of herring.
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