The Lost Signal by Lost and Loud Creative Studio

Lost and Loud Creative Studio
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The Lost Signal is a home for deeply-researched, plainly-told science mini-series about the hidden workings of the living world.

Season 1

  1. Episode 1

    Methods of Deception - Episode 1: Vanishing

    Every living thing that has ever been hunted has faced the same problem: how not to be seen, not to be caught, not to be believed. The Methods of Deception is a narrated journey through the astonishing ways that animals and even the odd plant and single cell, deceive one another to survive: the disguises, the mimicry, the bluffs, and the vanishing acts that evolution has been perfecting for hundreds of millions of years.   Everything in this episode is grounded in real biology. Here's where to read more. Crypsis and counter-illumination (overview): "Counter-illumination," Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counter-illumination Hatchetfish, reflective skin and counter-illumination: Rosenthal et al. (2017), "Three-dimensional midwater camouflage from a novel two-component photonic structure in hatchetfish skin," J. R. Soc. Interface 14:20161034. https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsif.2016.1034 Glass frog transparency: Taboada, Delia, et al. (2022), "Glassfrogs conceal blood in their liver to maintain transparency," Science 378:1315–1320. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abl6620 Seasonal camouflage and climate mismatch (snowshoe hare): Mills et al. (2013), "Camouflage mismatch in seasonal coat color due to decreased snow duration," PNAS 110:7360–7365. https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1222724110   This episode was created by Lost and Loud Creative Lab (https://lostandloud.art/). The research, writing, and direction are our own, with script assistance from Claude, an AI by Anthropic. The narration is an artificial voice by ElevenLabs.

  2. Episode 2

    Methods of Deception - Episode 2: Hiding in Plain Sight

    Every living thing that has ever been hunted has faced the same problem: how not to be seen, not to be caught, not to be believed. The Methods of Deception is a narrated journey through the astonishing ways that animals and even the odd plant and single cell, deceive one another to survive: the disguises, the mimicry, the bluffs, and the vanishing acts that evolution has been perfecting for hundreds of millions of years. Everything in this episode is grounded in real biology. Here’s where to read more. Masquerade, the core idea, and the experiments that proved it: Skelhorn et al. (2010), “Masquerade: Camouflage Without Crypsis,” Science 327:51. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1181931 A plain-language primer on masquerade: Skelhorn (2015), Current Biology 25:R643–R644. https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(15)00271-7 Dead leaf butterflies (Kallima): “Mystery Solved? How Butterflies Came to Look Like Dead Leaves,” National Geographic. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/141210-butterflies-evolution-darwin-leaves-mimicry-science-animals Leaf insects, including nymphs that hatch red and turn green after eating leaves: “Leaf insect,” Encyclopaedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/animal/leaf-insect Satanic leaf-tailed gecko: “Uroplatus phantasticus,” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uroplatus_phantasticus Bird-dropping crab spiders that lure prey: Yu et al. (2021), “Masquerading predators deceive prey by aggressively mimicking bird droppings in a crab spider,” Current Zoology 68:325–334. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9113284 Macrocilix maia, the moth with a painted scene: “Here’s looking at poo,” BBC Science Focus. https://www.sciencefocus.com/nature/heres-looking-at-poo-the-weird-and-wonderful-species-that-look-like-faeces Amazon leaf fish: Catarino & Zuanon (2010), “Feeding ecology of the leaf fish Monocirrhus polyacanthus in a terra firme stream in the Brazilian Amazon,” Neotropical Ichthyology 8:183–186. https://www.scielo.br/j/ni/a/KdbVBQVfcS8DTtGHkYtPpWJ/?lang=en   This episode was created by Lost and Loud Creative Lab (https://lostandloud.art/). The research, writing, and direction are our own, with script assistance from Claude, an AI by Anthropic. The narration is an artificial voice by ElevenLabs.

  3. Episode 3

    Methods of Deception - Episode 3: Faking Danger

    Every living thing that has ever been hunted has faced the same problem: how not to be seen, not to be caught, not to be believed. The Methods of Deception is a narrated journey through the astonishing ways that animals and even the odd plant and single cell, deceive one another to survive: the disguises, the mimicry, the bluffs, and the vanishing acts that evolution has been perfecting for hundreds of millions of years. Everything in this episode is grounded in real biology. Here’s where to read more. Batesian mimicry, the founding idea: Bates (1862), "Contributions to an insect fauna of the Amazon valley," Transactions of the Linnean Society of London 23:495–566. Coral snakes, kingsnakes, and the clay-model test: Pfennig, Harcombe & Pfennig (2001), "Frequency-dependent Batesian mimicry," Nature 410:323. Mimicry that sharpened after the model vanished: Akcali & Pfennig (2014), "Rapid evolution of mimicry following local model extinction," Biology Letters 10:20140304. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24919704/ Predators born fearing the coral snake's rings: Smith (1975), "Innate recognition of coral snake pattern by a possible avian predator," Science 187:759–760. Why the smallest mimics are the worst: Penney et al. (2012), "A comparative analysis of the evolution of imperfect mimicry," Nature 483:461–464. https://www.nature.com/articles/nature10961 The burrowing owl's rattlesnake hiss: Rowe, Coss & Owings (1986), "Rattlesnake Rattles and Burrowing Owl Hisses: A Case of Acoustic Batesian Mimicry," Ethology 72:53–71. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1439-0310.1986.tb00605.x Tiger moths that click back at bats: Barber & Conner (2007), "Acoustic mimicry in a predator–prey interaction," PNAS 104:9331–9334. https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.0703627104 The comet fish's false moray-eel head: McCosker (1977), "Fright posture of the plesiopid fish Calloplesiops altivelis: an example of Batesian mimicry," Science 197:400–401. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.197.4301.400 Shared honest warnings, and the viceroy that wasn't a cheat: Müller (1879); Ritland & Brower (1991), "The viceroy butterfly is not a Batesian mimic," Nature 350:497–498. https://www.nature.com/articles/350497a0 This episode was created by Lost and Loud Creative Lab (https://lostandloud.art/). The research, writing, and direction are our own, with script assistance from Claude, an AI by Anthropic. The narration is an artificial voice by ElevenLabs.

  4. Episode 4

    Methods of Deception - Episode 4: The Sudden Shock

    Every living thing that has ever been hunted has faced the same problem: how not to be seen, not to be caught, not to be believed. The Methods of Deception is a narrated journey through the astonishing ways that animals and even the odd plant and single cell, deceive one another to survive: the disguises, the mimicry, the bluffs, and the vanishing acts that evolution has been perfecting for hundreds of millions of years. Everything in this episode is grounded in real biology. Here’s where to read more. The peacock butterfly experiment — and that even naive birds flinch: Vallin, A., Jakobsson, S., Lind, J., & Wiklund, C. (2005). Prey survival by predator intimidation: An experimental study of peacock butterfly defence against blue t**s. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 272(1569), 1203–1207. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2004.3034 How eyespots deter predators: Stevens, M. (2005). The role of eyespots as anti-predator mechanisms, principally demonstrated in the Lepidoptera. Biological Reviews, 80(4), 573–588. The founding study of eyespot function: Blest, A. D. (1957). The function of eyespots in the Lepidoptera. Behaviour, 11(3), 209–256. Startle (deimatic) displays as a category: Umbers, K. D. L., De Bona, S., White, T. E., Lehtonen, J., Mappes, J., & Endler, J. A. (2017). Deimatism: A neglected component of antipredator defence. Biology Letters, 13(4), 20160936. This episode was created by Lost and Loud Creative Lab (https://lostandloud.art/). The research, writing, and direction are our own, with script assistance from Claude, an AI by Anthropic. The narration is an artificial voice by ElevenLabs.

  5. Episode 5

    Methods of Deception - Episode 5: Playing Dead

    Every living thing that has ever been hunted has faced the same problem: how not to be seen, not to be caught, not to be believed. The Methods of Deception is a narrated journey through the astonishing ways that animals and even the odd plant and single cell, deceive one another to survive: the disguises, the mimicry, the bluffs, and the vanishing acts that evolution has been perfecting for hundreds of millions of years. Everything in this episode is grounded in real biology. Here’s where to read more: Playing dead (thanatosis), the concept and the evidence: Humphreys, R. K., & Ruxton, G. D. (2018), "A review of thanatosis (death feigning) as an anti-predator behaviour," Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 72, 22. The opossum's collapse is involuntary, not an act: Francq, E. N. (1969), "Behavioral aspects of feigned death in the opossum Didelphis marsupialis," American Midland Naturalist, 81(2), 556–568. The hognose snake "peeks" — it holds the pose longer when watched: Burghardt, G. M., & Greene, H. W. (1988), "Predator simulation and duration of death feigning in neonate hognose snakes," Animal Behaviour, 36(6), 1842–1844. How long to stay dead is heritable and tunable (the beetle experiment): Miyatake, T., Katayama, K., Takeda, Y., Nakashima, A., Sugita, A., & Mizumoto, M. (2004), "Is death-feigning adaptive? Heritable variation in fitness difference of death-feigning behaviour," Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 271(1554), 2293–2296. A predator that plays dead to catch scavengers: McKaye, K. R. (1981), "Field observation on death feigning: a unique hunting behavior by the predatory cichlid, Haplochromis livingstoni, of Lake Malawi," Environmental Biology of Fishes, 6(3–4), 361–365. Orcas weaponizing the freeze — flipping sharks into tonic immobility: Higuera-Rivas, Jesús Erick, Francesca Pancaldi, Salvador J. Jorgensen, and Edgar Mauricio Hoyos-Padilla. "Novel evidence of interaction between killer whales (Orcinus orca) and juvenile white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) in the Gulf of California, Mexico." Frontiers in Marine Science 12 (2025): 1667683. Playing dead as a courtship move (the nursery web spider): Bilde, T., Tuni, C., Elsayed, R., Pekár, S., & Toft, S. (2005). Death feigning in the face of sexual cannibalism. Biology letters, 2(1), 23.

  • 5 Episodes

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The Lost Signal is a home for deeply-researched, plainly-told science mini-series about the hidden workings of the living world.

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