Research tracks whales by listening to sounds
Researchers have developed a new tool to help them study endangered whales ?autonomous hydrophones that can be deployed in the ocean to record the unique clicks, pulses and calls of different whale species. "There has been only...Underwater listening devices yield discoveries about endangered large whales
Why whales emit their characteristic calls remains largely a biological mystery, but listening for the distinctive underwater sounds provides a valuable way to track the movements of endangered large whales. Autonomous data-recording devices equipped with hydrophones (underwater microphones), deployed in remote waters off Alaska, have been used in recent years to track seasonal occurrences of bl...Cultural transmission in bats: When listening for dinner, bats learn from their neighbors
In an exciting study that provides new understanding of how animals learn--and learn from each other--researchers have demonstrated that bats that use frog acoustic cues to find quality prey can rapidly learn these cues by observing other bats. While numerous examples are known of instances where predators can use so-called "social learning" to learn new visual and olfactory cues associated with...Dinosaur hearing, listening to muscle noise, quieter cubicles
How did the hearing of dinosaurs compare to that of present-day animal species" What are some ways to improve acoustical conditions in office cubicles" How can sound waves diagnose and monitor muscle activity" These and other questions will be addressed at the 153rd Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) which will take place from June 4-8, 2007 in Salt Lake City. Most sessi...Really Listening to Customers...AND Employees
This week I spent time with a leading producer of fashion goods interviewing some of their best customers and employees. The mission find out what aspects of the shopping experience really matter to customers and which practices of the sales representatives make a difference to how much the customer buys and how satisfied they are with the overall in-store experience. Customers were in...Coffee-time for Those Listening to Their Heart
It’s a yo-yo study and this time it has swung in favor of the coffee//. There have been numerous studies on the risks/benefits of coffee, and especially on the relation of coffee with heart diseases. Scientists working with the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston and led by Dr. Sarah A. Rosner conducted a research on 32,650 Swedish women between 40 and 74 years of age....Listening to the Sound of Skin Cancer
Researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia can now detect the spread of skin cancer cells through the blood by literally listening to their sound//. The unprecedented, minimally invasive technique causes melanoma cells to emit noise, and could let oncologists spot early signs of metastases -- as few as ten cancer cells in a blood sample -- before they even settle in other organs. The resu...Listening to MP3s During Lightning Could Be Disastrous to Your Brains
Listening to MP3s in a storm can literally blow your brains out as one man in Vancouver, Canada, found it out the hard way . Most people who are struck by lightning are not hit directly, but get a "side flash" when the electric discharge jumps from the object that was hit. In 2006, the 37-year-old Vancouver man was out jogging when he received such a side flash from a t...