We can learn a lot from nature if we listen to it more--and scientists around the world are trying to do just that. From mountain peaks to ocean depths, biologists are increasingly planting audio recorders to unobtrusively eavesdrop on the groans, shrieks, whistles and songs of whales, elephants, bats and especially birds. This summer, for example, more than 2,000 electronic ears will record the soundscape of California's Sierra Nevada mountain range, generating nearly a million hours of audio. To avoid spending multiple human lifetimes decoding it, researchers are relying on artificial intelligence. Such recordings can create valuable snapshots of animal communities and help conservationists understand, in vivid detail, how policies and management practices affect an entire population.

We haven't quite reached the terrifying sci-fi hellscape described by the Terminator franchise, but researchers at Facebook have brought us just a bit closer to the age of the machines. Recently, they pulled the plug on an artificial intelligence system after it developed its own language. The AI in question was actually designed to maximize efficiency in language, but according to Fast Co. Design, the researchers forgot to add a crucial rule in its programming: the language had to be English. So the "two AI agents" moved on with their programming to communicate as efficiently as their programming would allow, putting the conversation between the two outside the understanding of humans. "Agents will drift off understandable language and invent codewords for themselves," Georgia Tech research scientist Dhruv Batra said. It's something that keeps cropping up when researchers experiment with this type of AI.