Scientists have a 20-minute “conversation” with a humpback whale • Earth.com

Mar 12, 2024 | Flash Sci-Fiction News | 0 comments

Scientists have a 20-minute “conversation” with a humpback whale named TwainByEric RallsEarth.com staff writerIn an unprecedented encounter, a research team successfully engaged in a “conversation” with a humpback whale named Twain.

Source: Scientists have a 20-minute “conversation” with a humpback whale • Earth.com

In a remarkable experiment by Whale-SETI, involving researchers from the SETI Institute, UC Davis, and the Alaska Whale Foundation, a humpback whale named Twain was engaged in what resembled a conversation using bioacoustic playback techniques. By broadcasting a specific “contact” call into the ocean, scientists were met with Twain’s curious and interactive response, demonstrating a significant breakthrough in interspecies communication. This encounter not only sheds light on the sophisticated communication of humpback whales but also parallels the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, suggesting that intelligent beings, terrestrial or not, might be inclined to communicate. This pioneering study, published in Peer J, marks a novel step in understanding both terrestrial and potential extraterrestrial intelligence.

How to Use AI to Talk to Whales—and Save Life on Earth | WIRED

Mar 5, 2024 | Uncategorized | 0 comments

How to Use AI to Talk to Whales—and Save Life on EarthWith ecosystems in crisis, engineers and scientists are teaming up to decipher what animals are saying. Their hope: By truly listening to nature, humans will decide to protect it. … Fournet wondered what else she was missing. The humpbacks she was getting to know revealed themselves in partial glimpses. What if she could hear what they were saying? She dropped a hydrophone in the water—but the only sound that came through was the mechanical churn of boats. The whales had fallen silent amid the racket. Just as Fournet had discovered nature, then, she was witnessing it recede. She resolved to help the whales. To do that, she needed to learn how to listen to them….The whales have huge and diverse vocabularies, but there is one thing they all say, whether male or female, young or old. To our meager human ears, it sounds something like a belly rumble punctuated by a water droplet: whup. Jessica ChouFournet thinks the whup call is how the whales announce their presence to one another. A way of saying, “I’m here.”

Source: How to Use AI to Talk to Whales—and Save Life on Earth | WIRED