Lori Marino

But, uh, we have a fun event, uh, planned for you today.

You're going to get to meet and hear from Lori Marino, who is the 2026 recipient of the now famous Drake Award from the SETI Institute.

Ooh.

Which is awarded every year to scientists and researchers who are doing or have done extraordinary and transformative and pivotal work in contributing to the science behind the search for life and intelligence in the universe.

[laughs]

Anyway, um, let me tell everybody in the audience a little bit about you, Lori, um, because you've got an extraordinary background, and I'm just so excited to be having this conversation with you.

So, uh, Lori Marino is the founder and the president of the Whale Sanctuary Project, and she's also the executive director of the, the Kymella Center for Scholarship-Based Animal Advocacy.

Lori spent her entire career deepening our understanding of brain evolution and cognition in dolphins, whales, primates, and other animals.