Heather Spence, Marine Biologist

Presentation at National Academy of Sciences

Heather — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 15:03:05 +0000

On March 21 I spoke at the National Academy of Sciences about the ocean being a world of sound. The program, called DASER, involved a panel discussion about the integration of arts and sciences. The theme for the evening was “water.”

The program was webcast live, and you can check out the archive here:

Diana Reiss and Dolphins at TED2013

Heather — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 21:29:37 +0000

Diana Reiss just gave a TED talk – and dolphins presented too – check it out here

What have you heard about The Listener?

Heather — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 16:58:43 +0000

The Listener (left) and Heather Spence (right). Photo: Raymundo Santisteban

News is traveling around the world — here are some recent articles about The Listener underwater sculpture/science lab in Cancun, Mexico that Jason deCaires Taylor and I are collaborating on. We are looking to expand the project – stay tuned and spread the word! This is just the beginning.

Smithsonian Blog “All Ears! An Underwater Sculpture That Listens”

Environmental News Network “Art With Purpose: Underwater Edition”

GreenMuze “Underwater Sculptures”

Artist Blog “New Work 2012”

ARC H2O “The Last Supper, The Listener, The Phoenix”

OceanMinds “Sculptor from the Deep”

DesignAlmiC “Silent Evolution”

Eco-Question “Eco-Art Protecting the Wealth of Marine Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services”

Colourful Radio “Underwater Sculpture”

CW Interiors India “Dive Into Art”

A New Beginning says Mayan Calendar

Heather — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 19:02:24 +0000

According to the Mayan Calendar, this is an important time – the beginning of a new cycle, opportunities, changes. The Mayans I have talked with roll their eyes at the idea of a global apocalypse. But big changes? Sure.

Today – we seem to be still existing (but some calculate the change to happen on the 23rd rather than the 21st, so we’ll see!).

We have an opportunity here to reflect and to look ahead. How do we want to approach this new cycle?

This is Mayan, as opposed to the usually depicted tongue-sticking out round calendar, which is actually Aztec.

Thinking Animals Lecture Series – Animal Communication

Heather — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 15:59:10 +0000

Friday, November 17 at 7pm at Hunter College in New York City

Panelists: Chris Clark and Katy Payne
Moderator: Diana Reiss

Communication: What can animals tell us?

Chris Clark, Katy Payne
Moderator: Diana Reiss

All animals need to communicate, and the myriad ways that have evolved to do this are fascinating. In fact, we can learn a lot about how and why we developed our own language system by understanding how other species have evolved their own. Some species communicate with sound, others by smell, gesture, magnetism, facial expression, electricity or bioluminescence. Many, including us, communicate with a combination of different senses and affects. Unfortunately, it’s just our bad luck that we haven’t figured out a way to understand what the others are saying. However, large strides have been made in the past several years to bridge this gap and the results are often amazing, not to mention humorous.

For more information:

http://www.thinkinganimals.org/lecture_series.html

New International Agreement: US-Mexico

Heather — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 03:21:18 +0000

What a GREAT accomplishment! Of course this is only the beginning, too. After two years of setting this up and arranging details, the Mexican government and a U.S. state university have just signed an agreement to do research together. This is an important step toward the realization of my vision to establish a center for international collaboration to find coastal sustainability solutions. Today’s agreement will enable us to pursue exciting new research and education programs. Stay Tuned!

Smithsonian Launches Coastal Marine Biodiversity Project with $10M donation

Heather — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 17:57:32 +0000

Thanks to Michael and Suzanne Tennenbaum, this significant investment to study coastal areas globally is a huge step towards a standardized global monitoring network. With most people living in coastal zones, and declining fish populations and coral reefs, and the challenges facing the people and economies on which they depend, large amounts of coordinated data is needed to be able to make informed decisions to promote sustainable solutions. This initiative has the potential to really improve our ability to manage coastal ecosystems over the short and long term.

Marine Passive Acoustic Monitoring will be an important part of this, since it is a key method for biodiversity with the advantages of being low cost, operational day and night and in inclement weather, and the ability to acquire large amounts of species presence and activity data for months-years at a time.

To see more about the work I am doing to initiate and coordinate acoustic monitoring networks, check out:
Global Research and Arts Center for the Investigation and Advancement of Sustainability Solutions

The Listener Sculpture Project for Marine Passive Acoustic Monitoring

Monitoring with the Ecological Acoustic Recorder

Cancun Research

For more on the Smithsonian Project, check out:

MarineGEO – Integrated Ecological Observatories for Changing Marine Ecosystems

Smithsonian Newsdesk

Talking Whale

Heather — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 00:03:34 +0000

A beluga whale was documented imitating human speech and the research was just published -

check out the recordings and npr story

and the article in Current Biology (Ridgway et al 2012)

The Belugas are communicating in “Beluga” all the time, naturally, but we only get excited when they start imitating the sounds HUMANS make…

The Most Endangered Primates – New Report

Heather — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 13:15:50 +0000

The International Union for Conservation of Nature has just released a report on the 25 most endangered primates. Major threats are habitat destruction and illegal wildlife trade. With primates as humans’ closest living relatives, it is disturbing that over half of the 633 species that we have information about are threatened with extinction.

Silky Sifaka – 1 of the 25

Singing Mice – evidence for vocal learning

Heather — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 02:32:11 +0000

Evidence for vocal learning in mice was just published, the Duke team studied neural mechanisms of male courtship vocalizations (which are ultrasonic) and found cases of reliance on auditory feedback, and pitch matching. The evidence is not as strong as for vocal learning in humans and songbirds, and may represent a more subtle part of a vocal learning continuum.