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

GastroPy is now out in early beta! Please to share our Python toolbox for electrogastrography and stomach-brain coupling analyses. It includes tools for cleaning, visualising, and analysing EGG data, plus fMRI stomach-brain coupling workflows. Docs, code, and preprint below. osf.io/preprints/ps...

a small white bird is standing on one leg on a beach . ALT: a small white bird is standing on one leg on a beach .

🚨 Job alert!
#PhD in #Biomechanics × #Neuroscience to study birdsong 🎵🐤 @mecadev.bsky.social and @neuropsi.bsky.social

We are pre-selecting a candidate by April 15 to compete to InLife & IPV 2026 doctoral program (interview: May 20)

🔗 Full offer: sites.google.com/site/pauline...

Please share!

Pace of ecology drives the tempo of visual perception across the animal kingdom - Nature Ecology & Evolution Using phylogenetic comparative methods across 237 species from disparate phyla, the authors show that species with fast-paced ecologies have higher temporal resolution of perception.

ICYMI, our new paper: Pace of ecology drives the tempo of visual perception across the animal kingdom www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Stentor coeruleus is a single-celled organism with unexpected abilities PHOTO AGENCY MELBA / Alamy

Single-celled organism with no brain is capable of Pavlovian learning

Associative learning in the protozoan Stentor coeruleus 🧪
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Suggests an ancient evolutionary origin that preceded the emergence of multicellular nervous systems.

Nonlinear phenomena are acoustic irregularities widespread in animal & human vocal repertoires, as well as music. This #PhilTransB issue brings together studies introducing new ideas and exploring future directions for this growing field of study: royalsocietypublishing.org/rstb/issue/3...

SAVE THE DATE!
SMBE Satellite Meeting on Gene–Culture Co-Evolution: Molecular Perspectives on Human History and Diversity
🌍 University of Cagliari, Italy
- Abstract submission and travel grants deadline: 30 April
- Registration opening soon
- Conference dates: 21-23 September 2026

Today is International day of the seal, a time to celebrate all things pinniped! 🦭

Last year, I finally got to see Ontocetus posti from the early Pleistocene of the UK. This species is a close relative of the modern walrus that still has canines on its lower jaw!

Unsolicited Writing Advice

It helps to keep in mind that writing typically isn't the process of turning your thoughts into sentences on a page. It's rather the process of figuring out what your thoughts are by writing sentences on a page and then deleting most of them

Hoover the Talking Seal YouTube video by New England Aquarium

Five years passed. Then visitors started hearing a gruff voice shouting “Hello there!” and “Come over here!” — in Swallow’s accent. Nobody trained him. He’d absorbed human speech as a pup, stored it for years, and only produced it at maturity. (4/13) youtu.be/prrMaLrkc5U?...

The paradox of learned song in a semi‐solitary mammal In past decades, pinnipeds have become a popular example of non-human vocal production learning. In the case of harbor seals (Phoca vitulina), this is mainly owed to Hoover—a human-raised seal pup, t....

So why are these pups, who grow up to be quite loners, so skilled with their vocalizations? Duengen & Ravignani (2023) hypothesize they learn breeding songs during a sensitive developmental window — then stay silent for years until ready to perform. (8/13) onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

1/5 Did diving help seals “talk”?

In part, it did: life in the water selected for very fine voluntary control of breathing, and that seems to have opened the door to greater control over the voice and, eventually, vocal learning.

(paper) www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
by @pfcook.bsky.social

🧠🧪🧵1/37
Our new paper on how pinniped (seal and sea lion) brains evolved to unlock vocal plasticity is this week's @science.org cover.

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Deadline April 1 (rolling): Open-rank, open-area cluster hire to support new cogsci department (!). Bocconi University, Milan www.unibocconi.it/en/faculty-a...

Neonatal auditory input affects vocal development in harbour seals. New paper by Teresa Raimondi & al. with Koen de Reus, Yannick Jadoul, @andrearavignani.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2024.0369

And the @nature.com essay is probably the only thing I’ve published yet that I think even non-academics will enjoy. Here is a gift link to the full PDF if needed (though it lacks some of the cool audio/visuals of the link above) 🔓: rdcu.be/e5gLE

Front cover of my book, titled "Comparative musicology: Evolution, universals, and the science of the world's music" (published today by Oxford University Press)

1st of my 4-page essay published in Nature today titled "Music is not a universal language - but it can bring us together when words fail" Picture caption: "Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny (centre) performed in Spanish at the half-time show of the 2026 American Football Super Bowl LX."

My book is now published! 🌏🎶🧪

You can download it for free at academic.oup.com/book/62353 - I’d be grateful if you do!
I also published an accessible summary with audio/video today in @nature.com: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Try reading that first, then give the whole book a read if you like it!

New paper led by former PhD student @romainlefevre.bsky.social: 10 years after the first experiment, we finally know how horses make their biphonic and unsusually high pitch whinnies! Thanks to many collaborators including @tecumsehfitch.bsky.social & David Reby
doi.org/10.1016/j.cu...

I've been reading comparative cognition for almost 30 years now, and it continues to be frustrating how terrible other primates are at vocal learning and music perception, two hallmarks of human cognition. The gulf is so great, makes it hard to test theories of our cognitive evolution.

Postdoc Position in Animal Behaviour Does intergroup conflict shape intragroup (parochial) prosociality in primates? If so, what behavioural, neuroendocrine, and (epi)genetic mechanisms drive it.

#Postdoc #Job opportunity in #AnimalBehaviour with Jorg Massen at @utrechtuniversity.bsky.social. Check out the position here: www.uu.nl/en/organisat...

Moving intentions from brains to machines

Opinion by Christian Beste, Heleen A. Slagter (@haslagter.bsky.social), Christian Herff (@cherff.bsky.social), Yukiyasu Kamitani (@ykamit.bsky.social), Sabrina Coninx (@sconinxphil.bsky.social), Richard van Wezel, & Christian Frings

tinyurl.com/mr2ch69z

We’ve been working behind the scenes to ensure a range of cost-free activities for all tastes!

Fantastic opportunity to work with us at Shark Bay Dolphin Research 👇🏻

What a Rare Condition Can Teach Us About the Power of Music The study of musical anhedonia—the inability to enjoy music—is revealing how music moves us.

Thrilled to share that The New Yorker featured my work on musical anhedonia - why some people don’t experience pleasure from music, and what this reveals about how our brains predict and process reward.
www.newyorker.com/culture/anna...
#neuroskyence #musicskyence #psychscisky

1/9 Comparison of carnivore brains beyond brain size

They compared the brains of 26 carnivore species (including canids, felids, and ursids, among others) using magnetic resonance imaging.

(paper) elifesciences.org/articles/100...

Why did consciousness evolve at all? A superb special issue of @royalsocietypublishing.org brings together experts across disciplines to explore the functions of consciousness and why it emerged in some species but not others. @tecumsehfitch.bsky.social royalsocietypublishing.org/rstb/issue/3...

A new theme issue of #PhilTransB examines the mechanisms of learning from social interaction. Read articles for free: buff.ly/K8v43YM

Apes Share Human Ability to Imagine YouTube video by Johns Hopkins University

Imagination in bonobos!

I am thrilled to share a new paper w/ Amalia Bastos, out now in @science.org

We provide the first experimental evidence that a nonhuman animal can follow along a pretend scenario & track imaginary objects. Work w/ Kanzi, the bonobo, at Ape Initiative

youtu.be/NUSHcQQz2Ko

To the right, image of people wearing conference lanyards standing around tables in a hall. To the left, white text on navy blue background saying 'Call for Satellite Workshop', with Interspeech 2026 logo above and website interspeech2026.org below.

📢 Extended deadline for Satellite Workshop proposals! Submit to ISCA portal by 15th Feb for endorsement, then submit endorsed proposals to #Interspeech2026 Satellite Workshop Committee by 25th Feb. See website for all details: interspeech2026.org/en-AU/pages/...

Why does life explore so few of the forms it could possibly take? Using fractal descriptors, this #scienceadvances paper shows that Earth’s biosphere clusters around simple shapes, reflecting deep evolutionary constraints. @artemyte.bsky.social @manlius.bsky.social www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1...