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Using Machine Learning to Listen to Whales
For millennia, humans have regarded other species with curiosity and wonder. We have tried to decode their behaviors and imagine what they are saying—but truly speaking with animals has traditionally been the stuff of stories, such as those featuring Dr. Dolittle. In this episode of BornCurious, we talk with the oceanographer David Gruber, who is spearheading Project CETI, a multidisciplinary collaboration. We learn that understanding animals is rapidly moving beyond the realm of fiction: Gruber and his colleagues are using hard science—state-of-the-art robotics and machine learning—to listen to and translate sperm whale communication.
This episode was recorded on May 12, 2023.
Released on November 30, 2023.
Episode Transcript
GuestDavid Gruber is a visiting researcher at the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard and a distinguished professor of biology at Baruch College of the City University of New York. He also founded Project CETI—the Cetacean Translation Initiative—which aims to apply technology to bring us closer to nature.
Special AcknowledgmentDavid Gruber and Harvard Radcliffe Institute would like to acknowledge the passing of the environmental scientist and technology expert Karen Bakker RI ’23 in August 2023. Her contributions to the field of bioacoustics, particularly through her book The Sounds of Life: How Digital Technology Is Bringing Us Closer to the Worlds of Animals and Plants (Princeton University Press, 2022), have had an enormous impact. Her book Gaia's Web: How Digital Environmentalism Can Combat Climate Change, Restore Biodiversity, Cultivate Empathy, and Regenerate the Earth (MIT Press, 2024), on which she worked during her Radcliffe fellowship, will be published in April.
Related ContentDavid Gruber: Fellowship Biography
Project CETI
New Yorker: Can We Talk to Whales?
Event: Speaking with Whales: Listening to and Translating Their Communication
Radcliffe Magazine: Radcliffe’s “Jellyfish Guy” Follows the Light
David Gruber: Personal Website
CreditsWhale recordings are provided courtesy of Dominica Sperm Whale Project and Project CETI.
Ivelisse Estrada is your cohost and the editorial lead at Harvard Radcliffe Institute (HRI), where she edits Radcliffe Magazine.
Alan Catello Grazioso is the executive producer of BornCurious and the senior multimedia manager at HRI.
Jeff Hayash is a freelance sound engineer and recordist.
Marcus Knoke is a multimedia intern at HRI, a Harvard College student, and the general manager of Harvard Radio Broadcasting.
Heather Min is your cohost and the senior manager of digital strategy at HRI.
Anna Soong is the production assistant at HRI.
View all episodes
By Harvard Radcliffe InstituteFor millennia, humans have regarded other species with curiosity and wonder. We have tried to decode their behaviors and imagine what they are saying—but truly speaking with animals has traditionally been the stuff of stories, such as those featuring Dr. Dolittle. In this episode of BornCurious, we talk with the oceanographer David Gruber, who is spearheading Project CETI, a multidisciplinary collaboration. We learn that understanding animals is rapidly moving beyond the realm of fiction: Gruber and his colleagues are using hard science—state-of-the-art robotics and machine learning—to listen to and translate sperm whale communication.
This episode was recorded on May 12, 2023.
Released on November 30, 2023.
Episode Transcript
GuestDavid Gruber is a visiting researcher at the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard and a distinguished professor of biology at Baruch College of the City University of New York. He also founded Project CETI—the Cetacean Translation Initiative—which aims to apply technology to bring us closer to nature.
Special AcknowledgmentDavid Gruber and Harvard Radcliffe Institute would like to acknowledge the passing of the environmental scientist and technology expert Karen Bakker RI ’23 in August 2023. Her contributions to the field of bioacoustics, particularly through her book The Sounds of Life: How Digital Technology Is Bringing Us Closer to the Worlds of Animals and Plants (Princeton University Press, 2022), have had an enormous impact. Her book Gaia's Web: How Digital Environmentalism Can Combat Climate Change, Restore Biodiversity, Cultivate Empathy, and Regenerate the Earth (MIT Press, 2024), on which she worked during her Radcliffe fellowship, will be published in April.
Related ContentDavid Gruber: Fellowship Biography
Project CETI
New Yorker: Can We Talk to Whales?
Event: Speaking with Whales: Listening to and Translating Their Communication
Radcliffe Magazine: Radcliffe’s “Jellyfish Guy” Follows the Light
David Gruber: Personal Website
CreditsWhale recordings are provided courtesy of Dominica Sperm Whale Project and Project CETI.
Ivelisse Estrada is your cohost and the editorial lead at Harvard Radcliffe Institute (HRI), where she edits Radcliffe Magazine.
Alan Catello Grazioso is the executive producer of BornCurious and the senior multimedia manager at HRI.
Jeff Hayash is a freelance sound engineer and recordist.
Marcus Knoke is a multimedia intern at HRI, a Harvard College student, and the general manager of Harvard Radio Broadcasting.
Heather Min is your cohost and the senior manager of digital strategy at HRI.
Anna Soong is the production assistant at HRI.