51. Catching Up With Nature

Short Stories
of Science and Invention

A Collection of Radio Talks by
Charles F. Kettering

Weekly, from September 1942 to July 1945, Charles F. Kettering gave five-minute intermission talks about Science and Invention during the radio broadcasts of the General Motors Symphony of the Air.

Kettering invented the first automobile self-starter, and for 31 years directed a research laboratory for General Motors.

These radio talks are a fascinating legacy from the mind of a prolific inventor. The obvious anachronisms now add a historical perspective of the war-time period in which they were written.

These web pages now preserve some of the most popular stories for a new generation to read The text and art come from a General Motors booklet of selected talks. (Reprint, March 1959)

51. Catching Up With Nature
A Radio Talk by Charles F. Kettering

Recently, Dr. Black conducted on the General Motors' Symphony, the overture by Johann Strauss "Die Fledermaus" or "The Bat." I have often wondered if the composer knew at the time he wrote this that the bat had a voice of great range. The voice however is pitched mostly above the ability of the human ear to detect.

Bat

I was discussing this with a musical friend of mine and I asked him if he knew of this peculiarity. He said he had never heard of it but he was very curious to know why the bat had this high pitched voice and how he used it. So - I told him of the work that had been done by two professors at Harvard and added that there were other animals such as cats and dogs who, in addition to their audible voices, were able to communicate with each other in inaudible sounds.

Now most people regard the bat as a rather objectionable, somewhat loathe some creature that lives in dark caves and comes out only in the evening and flies around to hunt for food. The thing that makes this more interesting is that tests made in many of the caves where the bats live show that there is insufficient light to register on our most delicate apparatus. These devices can detect light much below the point of visibility. Now the bat can fly around in these caves apparently as well as if they were fully lighted.