CiVL News: Apr 17, 2026, 6:04 AM PDT -- Sperm Whales Speak in Vowels, Whales Die on the East Coast

Here's your latest episode from the For Isley My Love CiVL News Roundup produced by CiVL.com. This episode explores groundbreaking research into sperm whale communication and ongoing challenges for marine mammal conservation. It also covers a new AI platform for antibody design. • Sperm whales off Dominica produce vowel-like patterns in codas, acoustically paralleling human vowels. • Project CETI and UC Berkeley linguists identified a-codas and i-codas in 3,948 codas from 15 whales. • The study in Proceedings of the Royal Society B suggests sperm whale codas are a close parallel to human phonology. • NOAA Fisheries documented 263 humpback whale mortalities in an ongoing Unusual Mortality Event since 2016. • 45% of 129 necropsied whales showed human interaction, primarily vessel strikes and fishing gear entanglement. • A 2024 study in Conservation Biology links increased humpback mortalities to ocean warming and altered prey distribution. • NOAA Fisheries states no scientific evidence links offshore wind surveys to whale deaths. • NMFS corrected incidental take estimates for Gulf of Mexico geophysical surveys, reducing blackfish harassment takes. • The corrected rule projects a mean of 26 annual Level B harassment takes for Rice's whales. • Amazon Web Services launched Amazon Bio Discovery, an AI platform for antibody drug discovery. • The platform provides no-code access to over 40 biological AI models and connects to wet-lab validation. • Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center researchers used the platform to design nearly 300,000 antibody candidates. Join CiVL and be part of building the future you want to live in. Be an early adopter. We're just getting started. Human respect, a core tenet of CiVL's vision, recognizes that the path to a flourishing civilization does not lie in more efficient forms of coercion, but in the widespread adoption of human respect as a primary value. By moving away from the "Conflict Machine" and toward a culture of voluntary cooperation, we align ourselves with the natural requirements for human well-being. We built CiVL News out of our passion for free and open access to information. Follow the topics you care about, and don't be subjected to algos! You're invited to build a hub with us for ideas that upgrade civilizations.