Can we talk to the animals? The ethics of using machine learning to decode animal communication - Topoi There is currently much scientific and public interest in using machine learning to uncover the meaning of animal signals, which could ultimately lead to two-way communication systems between humans and other animals. This paper examines the research ethics that should govern this line of inquiry, and explores the transformative implications if scientists are successful at creating translations between animal signals and human language. We argue that the scientific and philosophical literature on animal communication systems warrants the attempt to engage in these translation projects, and describe the current state of the art of the research. While the ability to translate animal signals has many possible benefits, these come alongside no small number of risks to animal communities. We enumerate the risks that exist in the development of these models in order to help scientists avoid them. Looking ahead, we argue that successful two-way communication with animals would both reveal an existing moral landscape and create a new one. Any successful two-way communication system would require radical translation of animal signals, which in turn entails that animals are rational beings who live in normative communities. Furthermore, the creation of these communicative systems also gives rise to new responsibilities and new demands. As researchers work to transform our social relationships with animals, they must also take on the responsibility to prepare humanity for the challenges that will arise in this novel multi-species landscape.

"Can we talk to the animals? The ethics of using machine learning to decode animal communication" https://doi.org/10.1007/s11245-026-10409-2 - I'm pleased that someone finally wrote a clear and complete ethical consideration of this emerging topic! #bioacoustics

🧵 Very proud our special collection on vocal communication in corvids in Animal Cognition (@springernature.com) is now fully published! 🐦

Huge thanks to all collaborators and contributors who made this possible! (1/15)
link.springer.com/collections/...

International Workshop on Low Carbon Computing (LOCO) (Lancaster, UK & online), 10--11 Sep 2026 (abstracts deadline: May 29th) https://lancaster-university.github.io/loco2026/

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Pickled cauliflower, butterbean purée, charred lettuce, and za'atar flatbread - #nom! I wouldn't have understood this at all a few years ago, but these flavours are fabulous. Inspired by Bubala restaurant I guess. #vegetarian #kitchendiary

Bear in mind that these major map providers all serve DIFFERENT maps to you, depending which country you seem to be making the request from. I've seen this in practice. This also is a political act... e.g. to prioritise keeping-all-clients-happy, over UN borders. Most people presumably don't notice

team selfie

Landscape shot showing one of the limestone quarry cliffs

Eagle owl

The @naturalis.bsky.social bioacoustics team last week, investigating the soundscapes of a disused quarry near Maastricht. The "toadscape" was incredible. The black redstarts were delightful. And we saw the eagle owl!

Showing the Nature paper 'The growing inaccessibility of science', but shielded by a paywall stating '199 dollar' for a subscription to read it.

Found this framed in the office 🫣

I have a lot to say on this matter - one day - but I'll queue up to read the paper first

Can we talk to the animals? The ethics of using machine learning to decode animal communication - Topoi There is currently much scientific and public interest in using machine learning to uncover the meaning of animal signals, which could ultimately lead to two-way communication systems between humans a...

Paper on the ethics of using AI/ML to decode animal communication, from @marriah.bsky.social @kristinandrews.bsky.social

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Addresses work of @earthspecies.bsky.social @projectceti.bsky.social & others

#bioacoustics
#prattle 💬

LCAB Postdoctoral recruitment The Leverhulme Centre for Anthropocene Biodiversity (LCAB) is a major research centre funded by the Leverhulme Trust to increase knowledge of how the relationship between humanity and the natural worl...

TEN post-doc openings at the Leverhulme Centre for Anthropocene Biodiversity. Yes, you read that right. TEN.

BioDCASE challenge now open! Datasets and code for SIX computational tasks in animal sound: https://biodcase.github.io/challenge2026/ (Do share it to students etc!) #bioacoustics #machinelistening #ai4good #DCASE

likewise!

^ Thanks to @drscotthawley.bsky.social for these video tips bsky.app/profile/drsc...

In 1990, a family friend sent me a mixtape. A few tracks in and he dropped “O Superman” by Laurie Anderson and left me utterly spellbound.

Oh and side 2 had “Big Eyed Beans from Venus” on it. 🤯

Thanks for sharing these, Scott! Clifford algebra / Geometric algebra looks very neat, and I am slowly trying to absorb it

GAME26 Freya Holmér. Why can't you multiply vectors? YouTube video by Bivector

The video for @freya.bsky.social's great intro to Geometric Algebra at #GAME26 is now posted on YouTube. Very accessible, highly recommended. www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFzo...

Lots of placards. Striking graphic designs

Lots of amazing imagery at the "Woman, Life, Freedom" exhibition in Amsterdam's Resistance Museum. Recommended. #Amsterdam #iran #museum

Government data can be wrong. You should be able to fix it.

🏳️‍⚧️ Happy Trans Day of Visibility! 🏳️‍⚧️

#tdov #TransDayOfVisibility #OpenStreetMap #OSM #gischat

I'm worried for small businesses and people on the breadline.

I wish we'd moved more aggressively away from oil sooner. It wasn't hippy pie-in-the-sky: it was the only hard-headed, sensible option. The people thinking we didn't need to change quickly were the ones lacking realism.

chart showing how scientists tested chatbot sycophancy

What I love about this paper on chatbot sycophancy is how they did their experiment, by comparing chatbot responses and human responses to Am I The Asshole threads on Reddit.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

We're excited to provide more information about our upcoming annual workshop - The 2026 Nordic Workshop on AI for Climate (climateainordics.com/events/2026-...) - to be held on June 26th, 2026 at University of Copenhagen!

Registration link coming very soon!

New paper from us: "A dataset of insect sounds from 459 species for bioacoustic machine learning", published in Scientific Data, led by Marius Faiß https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-026-07123-4 #bioacoustics #datasets

Is plant acoustic communication fact or fiction? In recent years, the idea has flourished that plants emit and perceive sound and could even be capable of exchanging information through the acoustic channel. While research into plant bioacoustics i...

"Is plant acoustic communication fact or fiction?" is among the most read research published in New Phytologist in 2024 and 2025 👇. No evidence of plants communicating via acoustics. Great to see so much interest in debunking this myth 😃 .
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
#bioacoustics

I'm super pleased that #xenocanto has launched this new feature: detailed annotations for its animal sound data! https://xeno-canto.org/article/318 Xeno-canto is the most valuable #birdsong/#animalsound archive. This will help even more!

We're hiring an Assistant Professor of Ecology! Come and join me and a great group of colleagues at University of Windsor in Windsor, Ontario, Canada.
Our job ad: efhc.fa.ca2.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...
Message me if you have questions. @ibiouwindsor.bsky.social @uwindsor.bsky.social

Still from a TikTok video of a girl in a sweater mid dance with text overtop. "Pretty shitty how baseline human activities like singing, dancing and making art got turned into skills instead of being seen as behaviors so now it's like 'the point of doing them is to get good at them' and not 'this is a thing humans do, the way birds sing and bees make hives.'"

You don't have to be good at art to enjoy it. One of the things that makes us human is we create. Go create! Just for the sake of it.

Tiny recording backpacks reveal bats’ surprising hunting strategy By listening in on their nightly hunts, scientists discovered that small, fringe-lipped bats are unexpectedly able to efficiently take down prey nearly their own size.

"Tiny recording backpacks reveal bats’ surprising hunting strategy" - nice description and videos by Leonie Baier theconversation.com/tiny-recording-backpacks... #bioacoustics

The University of Tübingen seeks applications for a W3-Professorship in Experimental Biodiversity Research starting Oct 1, 2027. Apply by April 26, 2026. More info: https://uni-tuebingen.de/en/213700 #job

Your top speed should be inversely proportional to the mass of your vehicle.

Je komt de gekste dingen tegen als je bij Naturalis werkt!