Capsule Reviews

Are Dolphins Really Smart?, Newton's Football, Outsider Scientists, and We Are Our Brains

Written byBob Grant

| 3 min read

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By Justin Gregg
Oxford University Press, December 2013

Marine biologist Justin Gregg really loves dolphins. He loves the cetaceans so much that he’s devoted his career to studying the fascinating ways in which they communicate. But he’s not so enamored that he’s afraid to demystify some of the prevalent myths that surround dolphins and their apparently intelligent ways.

The scientific evidence, argues Gregg in Are Dolphins Really Smart?, is ample enough to evoke a healthy fascination and respect for the marine mammals’ cognitive capabilities. After all, research has shown that dolphins form complex social hierarchies, transmit behaviors through populations via nongenetic means, display nuanced and representative vocal patterns, and in some populations, exhibit rudimentary tool use. Eschewing the pervasive and nonscientific popular opinions regarding dolphin ...

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Meet the Author

Bob Grant
From 2017 to 2022, Bob Grant was Editor in Chief of The Scientist, where he started in 2007 as a Staff Writer. Before joining the team, he worked as a reporter at Audubon and earned a master’s degree in science journalism from New York University. In his previous life, he pursued a career in science, getting a bachelor’s degree in wildlife biology from Montana State University and a master’s degree in marine biology from the College of Charleston in South Carolina. Bob edited Reading Frames and other sections of the magazine.
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