Getting sick whales to say ‘aaaah’ isn’t easy, but experts have come up with a new way to give the creatures a health-check — using model helicopters. Radio-controlled helicopters are flown over the whales’ blowholes with special attachments to take samples from their water vapour when they breathe out. Then the samples are tested to see if the whales are carrying any diseases. Scientists came up with the unusual technique because it’s so difficult to study diseases in the giant creatures.