Tech

Baidu Looks to Patent AI System to Decipher Animal Sounds



Ever wished you could understand what your cat is trying to tell you? A Chinese tech company is exploring whether it’s possible to translate those mysterious meows into human language using artificial intelligence.

Baidu, owner of China’s largest search engine, has filed a patent with China National Intellectual Property Administration proposing a system to convert animal vocalisations into human language, according to a patent document published this week.

Scientists have long attempted to decode animal communication, and Baidu’s patent represents the latest effort to leverage AI to do so.

The document says the system will collect animal data, including vocal sounds, behavioural patterns, and physiological signals, which will be preprocessed and merged before an AI-powered analysis designed to recognise the animal’s emotional state.

The emotional states would then be mapped to semantic meanings and translated into human language.

The system could allow “deeper emotional communication and understanding between animals and humans, improving the accuracy and efficiency of cross-species communication,” Baidu said in the patent document.

“There has been a lot of interest in the filing of our patent application,” a Baidu spokesperson said when asked how soon the company could turn the patent into a product. “Currently, it is still in the research phase.”

Baidu was among the first major Chinese companies to invest heavily in AI following the 2022 debut of OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

It unveiled its latest AI model, Ernie 4.5 Turbo, last month, saying it matched the industry’s best in several benchmark tests. However, the Ernie chatbot has struggled to gain traction amid fierce competition.

A number of efforts are underway outside China to try and interpret what animals want to convey.

International researchers at Project CETI (Cetacean Translation Initiative) have been using statistical analysis and AI since 2020 to understand how sperm whales communicate, while the Earth Species Project, a non-profit founded in 2017 whose backers include LinkedIn’s Reid Hoffman, is also trying to use AI to decode animal communication.

Local media reports about Baidu’s patent application sparked discussion on Chinese social media platforms late on Wednesday.

While some were excited about the possibility of eventually being better able to understand their pets, others were sceptical.

“While it sounds impressive, we’ll need to see how it performs in real-world applications,” commented a user on Weibo.

© Thomson Reuters 2025



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Operation Sindoor: Important Dos and Don’ts Shared by IT Ministry to Prevent Misinformation


The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) on Friday published a set of dos and don’ts for users in a post on X (formerly Twitter) following Operation Sindoor. The ministry’s latest advisory seeks to inform citizens of the risks of misinformation and urges them to stay safe online while following cybersecurity precautions. The government’s fact-checking unit has been actively posting clarifications for misleading posts and images circulating online after Operation Sindoor, and users have been urged to report misinformation via WhatsApp and email.

MeitY Urges Users to Follow Cybersecurity Precautions

In a post on X, the IT ministry urged users to be cautious online. “Critical Online Safety Alert always follow cybersecurity precautions. Stay cautious while online—don’t fall for traps or misinformation. Be patriotic, stay vigilant, stay safe,” the IT ministry said in the post.

Users have been asked to share information about helplines, or official advisories and relief updates. These details can be useful for people in affected areas, and can help keep other users informed of critical updates from official sources.

MeitY also says that users should also make sure that any news they plan to share with other users has been fact-checked for accuracy. There are several fact checking organisations online, and the Press Information Bureau (PIB) has been actively working to address misinformation online.

Meanwhile, the IT ministry has asked users not to share sensitive information related to Operation Sindoor online. This means users should not share details related to troop movements, or other defence related information on social media.

Users have also been directed not to forward or share information unless it has been verified. This warning comes days after Doordarshan News shared a post on X warning citizens against an incoming wave of propaganda after Operation Sindoor, asking them to scrutinise information carefully and report dubious content to the PIB’s fact-checking division.

The IT ministry has also warned users against posting information that could incite violence or communal tensions in the country. The government has also urged users to report fake news spotted online via WhatsApp (+91 8799711259) or by emailing socialmedia@pib.gov.in.

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Massive Asteroid 2002 JX8 to Fly Past Earth on May 9, Live Stream Available for Public Viewing



A massive asteroid nearly the size of a stadium will pass safely by Earth on May 9, and space enthusiasts can follow its journey in real time. The object, asteroid 612356 (2002 JX8), measures around 950 feet (290 metres) in diameter and is not a threat, as per NASA. The Virtual Telescope Project will broadcast the asteroid’s flyby on its YouTube channel starting at 4:30 p.m. EDT (20:30 GMT). The asteroid is expected to make its closest approach at 11:02 GMT. The stream will also feature asteroid Vesta, which remains visible after reaching opposition on May 2.

Asteroid 2002 JX8’s Safe Flyby Offers Stargazers a Rare Celestial Event

As per a recent post by Gianluca Masi, founder of The Virtual Telescope Project, it will come as close to Earth as a million kilometres (2.6 million miles) — 10.9 times the average distance between Earth and the Moon. The project provides free online observing opportunities in which exciting celestial phenomena, for example, asteroids changing position against the background of stars, can be brought to the attention of the public.

NASA had previously labelled 2002 JX8 as a potentially hazardous asteroid (PHA) due to its size and proximity during pass-bys, but has assured that there is no need for concern at this time. The PHA designation applies to any asteroid that’s bigger than 140 meters that zips by Earth at a relatively close distance, less than 0.05 AU or about 4.6 million miles.

Near Earth Object tracking also does not predict an impact of a similarly sized asteroid for at least another century. NASA estimates that an asteroid with a 140-meter diameter may strike Earth every 20,000 years and one with a 1,000-meter diameter every 700,000 years.

The event is a great chance for visitors to examine objects like planets or star clusters with telescopes or binoculars and refer to guides to view the night sky.

 



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NASA Solves Black Hole Jet X-ray Mystery with IXPE’s Polarization Powers



The blazar BL Lacertae, a giant black hole with jets, facing the earth, have made scientists curious about how X-rays are generated in such extreme conditions for a while. NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer or IXPE now might have been able to solve the mystery. By a collaboration with radio and optical telescopes and using polarisation measurements of X-ray, IXPE’s produced results indicates that the interaction between fast-moving electrons and photons might be the reason for X-ray emission in such conditions.

Evidence of Compton Scattering

According to the IXPE’s findings, high optical to X-ray polarization ratio indicates that Compton scattering might be the mechanism of X-ray generation. There are two possible and competing explanations of X-ray emission in blazar jets. One saying if the X-rays in the black hole jets are highly polarised, then the X-rays are generated from interactions between photons while the other says a low polarisation indicates X-ray formation by electron-photon interaction.

Leveraging IXPE’s unique X-ray polarisation measuring ability, scientists conducted a focused observation on BL Lac in November 2023. During this period, BL Lac’s optical polarization peaked at 47.5%, the highest recorded for any blazar. Yet IXPE found the X-ray polarization to be much lower, capped at 7.6%. This contrast supports the Compton scattering and possibly irradicates the photon-based explanation.

Milestone for blazar studies

“This was one of the biggest mysteries about supermassive black hole jets,” said Iván Agudo, lead author of the study and astronomer at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía – CSIC in Spain. The discovery validates IXPE’s mission, launched in December 2021 to study X-ray polarization.

Astrophysicist Enrico Costa, called it one of IXPE’s most significant achievements. Yet, this is just the beginning. Project scientist Steven Ehlert noted the need to observe more blazars, as their emissions vary over time. With IXPE, astronomers are now better equipped to explore these powerful cosmic jets.

 



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SpaceX Gets FAA Green Light for 25 Annual Starship Launches from Texas’ Starbase Facility



SpaceX has received approval from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to increase the launch rate of its Starship rocket to up to 25 launches a year from its Starbase facility in South Texas. On May 6, the FAA published a final environmental assessment that found that the expansion of Starship operations would not have a significant environmental impact on the area. The landings are approved for an equal number for each stage — the Super Heavy and upper-stage Starship vehicle — at the same facility, representative of a significant advancement in SpaceX’s ultimate goals for rapid rocket reusability and deep space travel.

FAA Clears Path for SpaceX to Scale Up Starship Launches Without Further Environmental Review

As per the FAA’s 53-page document titled Mitigated Finding of No Significant Impact and Record of Decision, the proposed expansion meets the environmental compliance standards set under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The agency determined that a full environmental impact statement was unnecessary, confirming previous assessments outlined in a draft released last November. SpaceX’s operator licence has now been officially modified to support the ramped-up cadence of launches and landings without requiring further environmental review.

SpaceX has reached a regulatory milestone as it continues to test and refine its Starship system, the largest and most powerful rocket ever built. The vehicle is designed for rapid reusability and long-term missions to the Moon and Mars. In terms of sustainability and long-term estimation, Elon Musk’s time-and-frequency focus is a game changer for space travel.

Starship, a Super Heavy booster, will have two flights in 2025, one in January and one in March. Despite the mishaps, the upper-stage ship has returned to the tower, raining debris on the Turks and Caicos and the Bahamas. The ninth planned flight, under construction now, has fully tested its engines.

The FAA’s decision clears the way for SpaceX to continue to scale operations at Starbase, as one major regulatory obstacle has been removed. By observers’ estimates, expect to see an even more aggressive flight cadence from SpaceX, which will be testing for Mars systems and working toward less encumbered regulatory paths.



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Asteroid Vesta May Be a Fragment of a Lost Planet, Say Scientists


Asteroid Vesta, long considered a stalled protoplanet, may actually be a massive fragment of a larger world that once existed in our solar system. New findings based on gravity-field mapping and spin-rate data suggest Vesta lacks the dense core typically found in differentiated planetary bodies. The discovery challenges previous assumptions, drawn from NASA’s Dawn mission in 2012, that classified Vesta as an embryonic planet. Now, scientists report that Vesta might have been ejected from a differentiated world in a massive collision 4.5 billion years ago, upending ideas about the development of planets and asteroids.

New Gravity Data Suggests Vesta Is Debris from a Destroyed Planet, Not a Protoplanet

As per a new study published in Nature Astronomy on April 23, 2025, Vesta does not quite match the former model. Refined calibration methods polished the radio Doppler signals, confirming the absence of a metal-rich core, which was inconsistent with earlier work. Seth Jacobson of Michigan State University, who led the research, stated the new interpretation marks a major shift in planetary science. While Vesta’s basaltic, volcanic surface still indicates geological activity, its internal uniformity contradicts the expectations of a body that once underwent full differentiation.

This paradox has caused scientists to reconsider the asteroid’s heritage. One scenario is that Vesta started to differentiate but never got very far. But data from meteorites called howardite-eucrite-diogenites (HEDs), thought to have come from Vesta, show no signs of such incomplete differentiation. Jacobson and his team instead favour the explanation that Vesta was formed from material blasted off a fully developed planet during an ancient planetary collision, which could also illustrate its volcanic surface without requiring it to have a dense core.

The results not only question Vesta’s identity but also suggest a possibility of a more general theory: that other asteroids could also be pieces of shattered planets. NASA’s Psyche and ESA’s Hera missions, planned for the next decades, intend to do such gravity investigations, which could ultimately confirm this new view. Jacobson noted that Vesta’s composition could even hint at a shared origin with Earth or other early planets, a hypothesis that may reshape asteroid science entirely.

 

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SpaceX Falcon 9 Successfully Launches 28 Starlink Satellites to Orbit From Florida



SpaceX continued its rapid-fire Starlink deployment campaign on Tuesday night (May 6), lofting 28 more internet satellites to orbit atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The launch itself took place at 9:17 p.m. EDT (0117 GMT on May 7) from Launch Complex-40, marking the company’s 53rd Falcon 9 launch of 2025 and the 36th dedicated Starlink mission this year. The payload offers worldwide internet connectivity by adding to SpaceX’s swiftly expanding array of over 7,200 Starlink satellites in low Earth orbit.

As per a Space.com report, B1085, the reusable first-stage booster, executed a perfect main engine cut about 2.5 minutes after launch, then stage separation and a retrograde burn to stop its descent. Roughly eight minutes after launch, B1085 successfully landed on the autonomous drone ship, stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. The mission was the seventh flight for this particular booster, which had previously supported two other Starlink missions.

The Falcon 9‘s upper stage continued into orbit and deployed the 28 Starlink satellites roughly one hour after launch. These newly deployed units will spend several days adjusting their positions before integrating into the broader Starlink network, which now blankets most of the globe except the polar regions. Each satellite, compact but equipped with large solar arrays, forms part of the larger web responsible for delivering high-speed satellite internet.

The May 6 launch demonstrates how quickly SpaceX is moving to meet its broadband goals. In addition to Falcon 9 missions, the company has performed two Starship test flights this year to demonstrate development progress in both satellite launch and heavy-lift capability.

An expanding constellation would finally bring reliable internet coverage to remote locations around the world. The drive to offer a reliable internet connection to remote sites globally reflects a commitment to putting the world more in reach.



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Cuttlefish May Communicate Using Tentacle Waves, Study Finds


Cuttlefish is known for displaying quite a few number of methods to communicate. The list containing the methods like changing colours and body patterns, releasing ink for courtship displays, males using tentacle motions to show aggression towards other males makes their communication system complex. A new research by Sophie Cohen-Bodénès and Peter Neri, neuroscientists at École Normale Supérieure, in France suggests the possibility of cuttlefish using their tentacles to wave and signal at each other in order to make interaction.

Studying the waving patterns

According to the study, posted on the bioRxiv preprint server, the researchers studied the common cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis) and the dwarf cuttlefish (Sepia bandensis), observing four consistent arm wave gestures: “up,” “side,” “roll,” and “crown.” When videos of these gestures were shown, cuttlefish often responded by mimicking them—especially when the footage was upright—indicating directional recognition. Additionally, the movements produced vibrational waves in the water. Using a hydrophone, the team recorded these vibrations and found that cuttlefish responded only to original, unaltered versions. This suggests that the sequence of vibrations carries meaning, potentially serving as an alternate communication method when visual cues are blocked.

Interpretations

While the study’s findings are promising, further research is yet to be done to define these arm movements as true communication. Given to Cuttlefish’s social nature, the movement are likely to be communication, but more data is needed to correlate specific signals to the responses. Researchers are thinking of applying machine learning approaches to decipher wave meanings and is developing a robotic cuttlefish to replicate gestures and vibrations, aiming to better understand this potential underwater language.

 

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Digital Resurrection of Titanic Reveals How the Ship Was Torn Apart in Its Final Hours



A detailed digital model of the sinking of the Titanic shows that the “unsinkable” ship was almost certainly destroyed after it struck an iceberg 113 years ago. Based on more than 715,000 underwater images, as well as a full-size three-dimensional movie model made for a new film, Titanic: the Digital Resurrection. The computer simulation in new research reveals insights into one of the deadliest maritime tragedies in history.

Titanic’s Digital Twin Reveals Violent Breakup and Heroic Crew Actions in Historic Detail

As per the statement from National Geographic, the documentary leverages advanced underwater scanning technology used by deep-sea mapping firm Magellan. Working alongside Atlantic Productions, the team spent three weeks capturing sonar data to produce the most precise digital model of the Titanic to date, accurate down to the rivet. The wreck is still sitting 12,467 feet below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean, where it settled after striking an iceberg four days into its inaugural journey from Southampton to New York.

With the digital reconstruction, researchers have been able to analyse the ship’s hull in new ways, revealing that it burst under pressure, rather than breaking cleanly in half. The team also found a steam valve in the hull that had been left open, which supports eyewitness reports that the engineers had continued to work to the end to keep power flowing and distress signals broadcasting. These selfless acts likely saved many lives, the documentary suggests.

Personal items such as pocket watches and purses were digitally catalogued and linked to their owners, lending a deeply human touch to the cold wreckage. A shark tooth charm was among the more unique finds. They found no trace of the fictional “Heart of the Ocean” necklace from James Cameron’s 1997 film, contrary to popular culture myths.

On April 11, 2022—the 113th anniversary of the ship’s fateful voyage—the documentary Titanic: The Digital Resurrection changed the narrative of one of mankind’s most notorious maritime disasters by combining wrenching memories with modern technology.

 



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NASA Spots Plankton Swarms from Space to Help Save North Atlantic Right Whales


North Atlantic Right Whales (NARW) are one of the Earth’s most critically endangered mammals. While commercial whaling is no longer a threat to them, accidental entanglement in fishing gears and vessel strikes account for a lot of NARW deaths. Researchers have been tracking their movements to prevent these by mapping their primary food source, a reddish planktonic copepod named Calanus Finmarchicus. Using NASA satellite data, they found a way to detect Calanus swarms at the ocean surface in the Gulf of Maine, picking up on the animals’ natural red pigment. This new approach may help to understand the migration pattern of the NARW based on those copepod gatherings.

Understanding the patterns

According to a new study, this approach uses data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite. The MODIS instrument reads how the spectrum of sunlight reflected from the ocean surface changes in response to what’s in the water.

Astaxanthin, the reddish pigment of the copepods, alters the absorption or scattering of photons in the ocean, affecting the mix of living and non-living matter, allowing MODIS to detect colour changes when a large number of zooplanktons rise to the surface.

Researchers tested a satellite-based copepod detection technique in Norwegian seas a few years ago. The Gulf of Maine, a vital feeding place for right whales during their northern journey, is now the subject of some of the same scientists’ improved methodology. They could estimate the number of microscopic organisms and create improved photos that showed Calanus swarms at the sea surface by integrating satellite data, a model, and field observations.

Future of ocean observation

The efficiency of MODIS is limited because it only detects the red pigment of the copepods rather than the organism itself. It leaves the chance of false detections of other small reddish animals. Cloud cover, rough seas, or deeper swarms limit what satellites can spot.

NASA’s next-generation PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) satellite — launched in 2024 — is poised to improve the detection of zooplankton and phytoplankton dramatically.

The PACE mission utilizes the Ocean Colour Instrument, detecting over 280 wavelengths of light, providing better insights into ocean colour and plankton types.

 

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