Slashdot

News for nerds, stuff that matters

Sperm Whales' Communication Closely Parallels Human Language, Study Finds

An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Guardian: We may appear to have little in common with sperm whales – enormous, ocean-dwelling animals that last shared a common ancestor with humans more than 90 million years ago. But the whales' vocalized communications are remarkably similar to our own, researchers have discovered. Not only do sperm whale have a form of "alphabet" and form vowels within their vocalizations but the structure of these vowels behaves in the same way as human speech, the new study has found.

Sperm whales communicate in a series of short clicks called codas. Analysis of these clicks shows that the whales can differentiate vowels through the short or elongated clicks or through rising or falling tones, using patterns similar to languages such as Mandarin, Latin and Slovenian. The structure of the whales' communication has "close parallels in the phonetics and phonology of human languages, suggesting independent evolution," the paper, published in the Proceedings B journal, states. Sperm whale coda vocalizations are "highly complex and represent one of the closest parallels to human phonology of any analyzed animal communication system," it added.

[...] The new study shows that "sperm whale communication isn't just about patterns of clicks -- it involves multiple interacting layers of structure," said Mauricio Cantor, a behavioral ecologist at the Marine Mammal Institute who was not involved in the research. "With this study, we're starting to see that these signals are organized in ways we didn't fully appreciate before." The latest discovery around sperm whale speech has inched forward the possibility of someday fully understanding the creatures and even communicating with them. Project CETI has set a goal of being able to comprehend 20 different vocalized expressions, relating to actions such as diving and sleeping, within the next five years. A future where we're able to fully understand what the whales are saying and be able to have a conversation with them is "totally within our grasp," said David Gruber, founder and president of Project CETI. "We've already got a lot further than I thought we could. But it will take time, and funding. At the moment we are like a two-year-old, just saying a few words. In a few years' time, maybe we will be more like a five-year-old."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Carglass-eigenaar lijkt voor Amsterdam te kiezen als plek voor beursgang

Goedemorgen! Bij dit nieuws kreeg ik meteen een reclameliedje in mijn hoofd: „Carglass repareert, Carglass vervangt”. En Carglass gaat naar de beurs.

Behance Featured Projects

The latest projects featured on the Behance

??? ? calendar illustrations


I illustrated this 2025 calendar for all the buyers of the 'Blue Dragon's Room' NFT.

Rijnmond - Nieuws

Het laatste nieuws van vandaag over Rotterdam, Feyenoord, het verkeer en het weer in de regio Rijnmond

Weerman Stefan komt met goed nieuws voor kinderen: heerlijk weer bij Koningsspelen

Bij ruim zesduizend Nederlandse scholen staan de traditionele Koningsspelen deze vrijdag weer op het programma. De deelnemers van de jaarlijkse sportdag vallen met hun neus in de boter: met hoge temperaturen en geen regen wordt het heerlijk weer, weet Rijnmond-weerman Stefan van der Gijze.

'Thopter

niggyl :) has added a photo to the pool:

'Thopter

A fully mature Dragonfly sitting quietly on the duckboarding of the Overland Track, Lake St Clair, Tasmania.

I guess it was about to pass away from old age as it didn't flinch when I stuck the phone in its face.

I've never seen one quite that close up and it was quite large. The nail heads are about 10mm diameter. Such a beautiful blue in its eyes.

The curious circular marks on the boardwalk itself, are the marks left behind by trekking poles. Gives you some idea of the foot traffic through the park.

Phone shot due to the lack of a macro on the day.

iPhone 14 Pro Max, 2.22mm back camera, 1/490th sec at f/2.2, ISO 40

ajpscs posted a photo:

the SQUARE
TOKYO DAY WALK
© ajpscs

Found Polaroid

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Found Polaroid

Conduit

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Conduit

Rotterdam - FediMeteo (@rotterdam@nl.fedimeteo.com)

Weer voor de stad Rotterdam Deze bot wordt beheerd door het FediMeteo-project. Voor informatie en contact kunt u de pagina https://fedimeteo.com raadplegen.

Weer voor Rotterdam ☁️ - 17-04-2026 07:15 CEST...

Weer voor Rotterdam ☁️ - 17-04-2026 07:15 CEST

In één oogopslag:
• 12.4°C · Bewolkt ☁️ | Min 12.2°C / Max 19.3°C | Kans op neerslag 1%

Verwachting voor vandaag:
• Min 12.2°C, Max 19.3°C (Lichte motregen) 🌦️, Neerslag 0.2 mm, Kans op neerslag 1%, 🧭 1021.2 hPa ↘️ -0.6 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 15.5 km/u (4.3 m/s), richting: ↑ 202°

Uurlijkse voorspelling voor de komende 12 uur:

08:00: 12.9°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, 🧭 1021.8 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 8.6 km/u (2.4 m/s), richting: ↑ 187°
09:00: 13.8°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, 🧭 1022.0 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 8.3 km/u (2.3 m/s), richting: ↑ 187°
10:00: 15.2°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, 🧭 1022.0 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 10.4 km/u (2.9 m/s), richting: ↑ 191°
11:00: 16.9°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, 🧭 1022.0 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 11.5 km/u (3.2 m/s), richting: ↑ 196°
12:00: 18.0°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, Kans op neerslag 2%, 🧭 1021.8 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 12.6 km/u (3.5 m/s), richting: ↑ 193°
13:00: 19.0°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, Kans op neerslag 5%, 🧭 1021.3 hPa ↘️ -0.5 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 13.3 km/u (3.7 m/s), richting: ↑ 189°
14:00: 19.1°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, Kans op neerslag 6%, 🧭 1021.0 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 14.8 km/u (4.1 m/s), richting: ↗ 204°
15:00: 19.0°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, Kans op neerslag 5%, 🧭 1020.8 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 15.5 km/u (4.3 m/s), richting: ↗ 214°
16:00: 19.3°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, Kans op neerslag 2%, 🧭 1020.5 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 13.7 km/u (3.8 m/s), richting: ↗ 208°
17:00: 19.1°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, 🧭 1020.3 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 13.7 km/u (3.8 m/s), richting: ↗ 224°
18:00: 18.0°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, 🧭 1020.4 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 10.1 km/u (2.8 m/s), richting: → 283°
19:00: 18.4°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, 🧭 1020.5 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 9.0 km/u (2.5 m/s), richting: → 259°

Voorspelling voor de komende dagen:

zaterdag 18 april: Min 9.6°C, Max 14.5°C (Zware motregen) 🌦️, Neerslag 3.0 mm, Kans op neerslag 15%, 🧭 1021.3 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 12.2 km/u (3.4 m/s), richting: → 284°
zondag 19 april: Min 6.8°C, Max 13.2°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, Neerslag 0.1 mm, Kans op neerslag 20%, 🧭 1022.2 hPa ↗️ +0.9 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 18.6 km/u (5.2 m/s), richting: ↘ 337°
maandag 20 april: Min 5.0°C, Max 11.3°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, Kans op neerslag 13%, 🧭 1023.6 hPa ↗️ +1.4 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 9.6 km/u (2.7 m/s), richting: ↓ 16°
dinsdag 21 april: Min 6.6°C, Max 13.3°C (Gedeeltelijk bewolkt) ⛅, Kans op neerslag 3%, 🧭 1025.7 hPa ↗️ +2.1 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 16.6 km/u (4.6 m/s), richting: ↙ 56°
woensdag 22 april: Min 4.8°C, Max 15.4°C (Zonnig) ☀️, 🧭 1027.4 hPa ↗️ +1.7 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 11.9 km/u (3.3 m/s), richting: ↙ 48°
donderdag 23 april: Min 5.3°C, Max 13.2°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, Kans op neerslag 4%, 🧭 1028.0 hPa ↗️ +0.6 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 13.8 km/u (3.8 m/s), richting: ↓ 354°

Details:
• 🌡️ Huidige temperatuur (om 07:15): 12.4°C (Bewolkt)
• 🤚 Gevoelstemperatuur: 10.8°C (-1.6°C)
• 💨 Windsnelheid: 9.0 km/u (2.5 m/s), richting: ↑ 171°
• 🌬️ Windstoten: 16.6 km/h (4.6 m/s)
• 💧 Luchtvochtigheid: 68%
• 🧭 Luchtdruk: 1021.8 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/3h
• 👁️ Zichtbaarheid: 21.0 km
• ☀️ UV-index: 0.3
• 🌅 Zonsopgang: 06:40 · 🌇 Zonsondergang: 20:42

Luchtkwaliteit:
• AQI: 48 🟢 (Goed)
• PM2.5: 23.4 μg/m³
• PM10: 32.7 μg/m³

Gegevens geleverd door Open-Meteo



The Guardian

Latest news, sport, business, comment, analysis and reviews from the Guardian, the world's leading liberal voice

Air pollution making people in UK get long-term illnesses earlier, study finds

Pollution is ‘silent accelerator that robs individuals of their healthiest years’, say researchers

Research reveals air pollution is advancing the average age that people in the UK acquire long-term illnesses. For some conditions people could be getting ill more than two years earlier because of the air pollution they breathe.

The first author of the research from Prof Hualiang Lin’s group at Sun Yat-sen University said: “Our study demonstrates that air pollution is not just a risk factor for falling ill; it acts as a silent accelerator that robs individuals of their healthiest years.”

Continue reading...