Dolphin Communication on the Menu for Science Café

NIMBioS Posdoctoral Fellow Arik Kershenbaum answers questions from the audience at the Science Cafe.

NIMBioS Posdoctoral Fellow Arik Kershenbaum answers questions from the audience at the Science Cafe.

NIMBioS Postdoctoral Fellow Arik Kershenbaum led a lively discussion on the topic “Can We Talk to Dolphins?” at a Knoxville Science Café last week. All members of the community were invited.

“Science Cafés are events that take place in casual settings such as pubs and coffeehouses, are open to everyone, and feature an engaging conversation with a scientist about a particular topic,” according to Nova’s Sciencecafe.org website. The event last week is a part of a series of Science Cafés sponsored by the Spirit & Truth Fellowship of Knoxville and held at a local nature center.

After watching a series of short clips from a Nova science documentary on dolphin communication, the audience asked Kershenbaum questions about how animals communicate. Kershenbaum is an expert on analyzing the vocal communications of animals. One question from the audience about whether animals could perhaps communicate telepathically led to an interesting discussion about forms of non-verbal communication in animals.

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