Kyoto, Japan -- The intrinsic information-seeking impulse we call curiosity is independent of extrinsic rewards, such as food or mating opportunities. Curiosity is purely the pursuit of understanding the unknown, driving both humans and animals to explore their environments. Still, certain stimuli tend to spark curiosity more than others.

Recent research supports a Goldilocks principle, in which curiosity is biased toward moderately complex or uncertain stimuli while avoiding overly simple or convoluted situations. This tendency characterizes human curiosity, but few studies have explored this impulse in nonhuman animals. A team of researchers at Kyoto University's Institute for the Evolutionary Origins of Human Behavior, EHUB, wondered if a new sort of method might be useful in addressing curiosity in monkeys.

Video games are gaining more acceptance as tools that may help train cognitive abilities, and thus improve quality of life for humans. The researchers thought that if they could develop a video game that sparked the curiosity and engagement of animals in laboratories and zoos -- or even pets such as cats and dogs -- this could potentially help improve living environments and contribute to animal welfare.

Simon Fraser University researchers have received nearly $1 million in special funding from the Digital Research Alliance of Canada to develop an artificial intelligence–powered system that forecasts whale movements in busy shipping corridors.

The Humans and Algorithms Listening for Orcas (HALLO) project aims to help the Port of Vancouver and vessel pilots make more informed decisions about when and where to slow down for the Salish Sea’s endangered Southern Resident killer whales.

The system integrates real-time acoustic and visual data, vessel tracking, and citizen-scientist whale spotting reports to track not only where the Southern Resident J, K, and L pods currently are, but forecast where they’ll be over the next few hours. 

A single water sample can reveal DNA from animals, plants, fungi and even human waste, offering a rapid snapshot of ecosystem health.