Erich Jarvis

But other measures of intelligence, like learning associations, are unconnected.

The incessant drumming of a woodpecker on a hollow tree can be an annoying distraction for anyone who has to listen to it.

Modern humans are characterized by their prosociality, a broad term that encompasses intraspecies empathy, social tolerance, cooperation and altruism. These facets of social cognition have been associated with variations in the oxytocin and vasotocin genes (OT and VT) and their receptors (OTR and VTR).To shed light on the genetic basis of this behavior, scientists carried out a new study comparing the available…

Modern humans are characterized by their prosociality, a broad term that encompasses intraspecies empathy, social tolerance, cooperation and altruism. These facets of social cognition have been associated with variations in the oxytocin and vasotocin genes (OT and VT) and their receptors (OTR and VTR). To shed light on the genetic basis of this behavior, scientists from the University of Barcelona (UB) and…

Recordings of brain activity in budgerigars reveal sets of brain cells that represent different sounds like keys on a keyboard – a structure never seen before in any bird brain

A new study shows that giving mice the human version of a gene changes their squeak, suggesting some of the genetic underpinnings of language.

Around 100 million years ago, a group of land-dwelling turtles took to the oceans, eventually evolving into the sea turtles that we know today. However, the genetic foundations that have enabled them to thrive in oceans throughout the world have remained largely unknown.

The brain circuitry that lets birds learn songs is active when woodpeckers hear drumming on trees, suggesting the abilities may have emerged from similar evolutionary processes

Scientists find some parallels with human speech in cheeps and trills of birdsong.

The European starling boasts a remarkable repertoire. Versatile songbirds that learn warbles, whistles, calls, and songs throughout their lives, starlings rank among the most advanced avian vocal learners. Now a new study published in Science finds that starlings, along with other complex vocal learners, are also superior problem solvers.

It's a maze in there—and that's a good thing.

The brain circuitry that lets birds learn songs is active when woodpeckers drum on trees, suggesting the abilities may have emerged from similar evolutionary processes

In the cheeps, trills and tweets of birdsong, scientists find some parallels with human speech

In this week's Short Wave roundup, Berly McCoy and Regina Barber talk about the origins of life on Earth, what bird brains illuminate about human speech and how ADHD is mischaracterized on TikTok.

An international team of scientists has built the largest and most detailed bird family tree to date—an intricate chart delineating 93 million years of evolutionary relationships between 363 bird species, representing 92% of all bird families.

Scientists with the Human Pangenome Reference Consortium have released a new high-quality collection of reference human genome sequences that includes genomes of 47 people.

After over three decades of work, "the book of life" is ready to read.

When scientists declared the Human Genome Project complete two decades ago, their announcement was a tad premature. A milestone achievement had certainly been reached, with researchers around the world gaining access to the DNA sequence of most protein-coding genes in the human genome. But even after 20 years of upgrades, eight percent of our genome still remained unsequenced and unstudied. Derided by some as "junk…

A new study suggests that the NOVA1 gene may have been a key player in the evolution of human language.

The Vertebrate Genomes Project: It's an ambitious effort by an international group of scientists to create a "Genome Ark" by sequencing the genomes of about 70,000 animal species. The hope is that through all of this gene sequencing, scientists will be able to answer some basic but important questions like: What makes a bird, well, a bird? What makes a mammal a mammal? Plus, with so many species on the verge of…