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It might sound like a scene out of Avatar 2. But scientists claim it's now possible to have a conversation with a whale, following a 20-minute chat with a humpback whale in Southeast Alaska. A 38-year-old whale named Twain 'spoke' with the researchers from the SETI Institute and UC Davis by responding to a pre-recorded 'contact call'. This marks the first communication between humans and whales in their own language, according to the team. Looking ahead, the researchers say the conversation could pave the way for interactions with aliens in the future. In the study, researchers from SETI studied how...

When I read last week about the scandal surrounding Joe Biden’s antics with women, I had a nagging thought that it reminded me of something. I couldn’t think of quite what, so I decided to embark on my preferred method of meditation: a run in the woods. I was jogging along a beautiful lake when suddenly it came to me: The Vulcan mind meld. That was a trick employed by the Spock character on the science-fiction TV series “Star Trek.” Mr. Spock, a member of the Vulcan race who supposedly felt no emotions, would corner some unfortunate soul in much...

Special to LiveScience LiveScience.com Wed Apr 27,10:24 AM ET Empathy allows us to feel the emotions of others, to identify and understand their feelings and motives and see things from their perspective. How we generate empathy remains a subject of intense debate in cognitive science. Some scientists now believe they may have finally discovered its root. We're all essentially mind readers, they say. The idea has been slow to gain acceptance, but evidence is mounting. Mirror neurons In 1996, three neuroscientists were probing the brain of a macaque monkey when they stumbled across a curious cluster of cells in the...