Audio
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Animals
A killer whale gives a raspberry and says ‘hello’
Tests of imitating sounds finds that orcas can sort of mimic humans.
- Neuroscience
Jazz improvisers score high on creativity
Jazz musicians’ creativity linked to brain dexterity.
- Animals
Crested pigeons sound the alarm with their wings
Crested pigeons have specialized feathers that signal danger when they flee from an apparent threat.
- Health & Medicine
Moms tweak the timbre of their voice when talking to their babies
Mothers shift the timbre, or quality, of their voice when talking to their babies, a change that happens in many different languages.
- Environment
Peace and quiet is becoming more elusive in U.S. wild areas
Human noise stretches into the wilderness.
- Anthropology
Monkeys have vocal tools, but not brains, to talk like humans
Macaques have vocal tracts, but not brains, built for talking much as people do, scientists say.
- Animals
Warm-up benefit could explain morning birdsong
Even birds sing better after vocal warm-up, and an evolutionary arms race among rivals might have led to the intensity of the dawn chorus.
- Anthropology
Humans, birds communicate to collaborate
Bird species takes hunter-gatherers to honeybees’ nests when called on.
- Humans
Gelada monkeys know their linguistic math
The vocalizations of gelada monkeys observe a mathematical principle seen in human language, a new study concludes.
- Animals
Why some birds sing elaborate songs in the winter
Several obvious hypotheses fail to explain why great reed warblers sing in winter.
- Physics
Uncovering the science of sand dune ‘booms’
Mechanical engineer and geophysicist Nathalie Vriend explores noises in the desert that are triggered by sand sliding down dunes.
- Psychology
Baby marmosets imitate parents’ sounds
Vocal learning may work similarly in marmoset monkeys, songbirds and humans.
