Communication

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Sign Language Translating Devices Are Cool. But Are They Useful?

Michigan State University researchers are developing a small tool, with a motion capture system, that translates ASL into English

Scientists Use AI to Decode the Ultrasonic Language of Rodents

The DeepSqueak software translates the high-pitched communication into sonograms, which can be analyzed to determine what mice and rats are saying

A City Frog's Love Song Attracts More Mates Than Countryside Croaks

Fewer predators and heightened competition for mates allowed urban tungara frogs to add more notes and frills to their calls, with big results Read more: h

How Wireless Water-to-Air Communication Could Revolutionize Marine Research

Solving a longstanding puzzle, MIT researchers have developed a way of sending signals from underwater to airborne devices

Military Invests in 'Molar Mic' That Can Route Calls Through Your Teeth

Too lazy to pick up the phone? Open wide... this new device latches onto your chompers to transmit sound via the cranial bones

Chimps and Toddlers Use Same Gestures to Get Attention

A new study shows 12 to 24 month old children and chimps use 46 of the same movements to communicate, including stomping, pointing and clapping

A child tests the Superpower Glass.

"Superpower Glass" Helps Kids With Autism Understand Emotions

A new Stanford-designed technology pairs Google Glass with a face-identifying AI app that tells wearers what emotions they're seeing

Elephants communicate in low rumbles, each listening for the resulting vibrations in the ground with their feet.

Some Animals Take Turns While Talking, Just Like Humans. Why?

Understanding their courteous exchanges—from frog croaks to elephant rumbles—could shed light on the origins of human conversation

Study Looks at Why We All Spew So Much BS

The social pressure to have an opinion and a lack of accountability are what lead to the mix of truth, half-truth and outright falsehood known as bullshit

Nisarg Desai observes wild chimps known as Sandi, Ferdinand and Siri in Tanzania.

What Can Chimpanzee Calls Tell Us About the Origins of Human Language?

Scientists follow and record chimps in the wild to find out if they talk to each other—and to fill in details about how and why language evolved in humans

ELIA's blocky characters echo the Roman alphabet, with the goal of making it easier to learn for people who lost sight late in life.

Could This New Tactile Font Help People Who Lose Their Sight Late In Life?

ELIA Frames may serve some blind readers better than braille, but the new system has its skeptics

Why Researchers Believe These 100,000-Year-Old Etchings Weren't Symbolic

In a new study, the markings — which resemble hashtags —were not found to be distinctive based on time and geography

NASA’s Psyche mission to a distant metal asteroid that pass near Mars will carry a revolutionary Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) package. This artist’s concept shows Psyche spacecraft with a five-panel array.

NASA Plans to Send High-Definition Video of Mars to Earth With Lasers

In 2022, NASA will launch the Psyche mission, carrying sophisticated communication technology

Whale Talk Pretty One Day: Listen to an Orca Mimic Human Words

Though it's fun to hear an orca say "Hello" and "Amy," the new study could provide clues to how whale dialects change over time

Envelope for stationary packet, "Torch of Love," George W. Fisher Bookseller and Stationer, Rochester, New York.

How the Civil War Taught Americans the Art of Letter Writing

Soldiers and their families, sometimes barely literate, wrote to assuage fear and convey love

Belgium Ends Telegram Service After 171 Years

The end of Belgian telegrams isn’t the end of the service across the world, but it’s getting close

Shan Dou (from left), Jonathan Ajo-Franklin, and Nate Lindsey were on a Berkeley Lab team that, in collaboration with researchers from Stanford, used fiber optic cables for detecting earthquakes and other subsurface activity.

Could Fiber Optics Detect Earthquakes?

By monitoring every grumble, shiver and burp our planet makes, researchers hope to be more prepared to take action when things go awry

The AOL Instant Messenger icon became so well known it was made into a plush toy.

AOL Instant Messenger Taught Us How To Communicate in the Modern World

As AIM sunsets, let's reflect on its role in preparing people for today's digital messaging methods

This paper log for Interface Message Processor shows the very first online communication.

These Two Small Letters Heralded the Beginning of Online Communication

Their message is far more profound in retrospect than it was at the time

When they know humans are looking at them, dogs turn out to make a lot of facial expressions

Fido's Making That Puppy Face on Purpose—He's Trying to Tell You Something

A new study suggests dogs use their facial expressions to communicate

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