Some of the building blocks of human language appear to be present in a wide range of social animals. Key elements of grammar previously thought to be used only by humans have been found in animals as ...

Language was long understood as a human-only affair. New research suggests that isn’t so. Credit...Illustration by Denise Nestor Supported by By Sonia Shah Can a mouse learn a new song? Such a ...

At the turn of the 20th century, a famous horse named Clever Hans toured Germany. The horse stunned crowds as his trainer demonstrated the animal's alleged ability to understand German, tell time and ...

We’ve been wondering what goes on inside the minds of animals since antiquity. Dr. Doolittle’s talent was far from novel when it was first published in 1920; Greco-Roman literature is lousy with ...

Just like ChatGPT and other generative language models train on human texts to create grammatically correct sentences, a new modeling method trains on recordings of birds to create accurate birdsongs.

In 2025 we will see AI and machine learning leveraged to make real progress in understanding animal communication, answering a question that has puzzled humans as long as we have existed: “What are ...

A new Science paper challenges the idea that language stems from a single evolutionary root. Instead, it proposes that our ability to communicate evolved through the interaction of biology and culture ...

Language is a defining characteristic of humanity, yet its origins remain a topic of intense debate. Some researchers argue that language emerged in our lineage around 100,000 years ago, while others ...

Language shapes the way we view our world. In the field of wildlife conservation, even very subtle word choices drive peoples’ perceptions around individual species or situations. These word choices ...