Latest news with #Dominica
Yahoo
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Famous birthdays for June 9: Gloria Reuben, Michael J. Fox
June 9 (UPI) -- Those born on this date are under the sign of Gemini. They include: -- Russian Czar Peter the Great in 1672 -- Musician Cole Porter in 1891 -- Musician/inventor Fred Waring in 1900 -- Musician Les Paul in 1915 -- Robert S. McNamara, former U.S. defense secretary/World Bank president, in 1916 -- Journalist Marvin Kalb in 1930 (age 95) -- Comedian Jackie Mason in 1931 -- Musician Jackie Wilson in 1934 -- Sportscaster Richard Vitale in 1939 (age 86) -- Writer Patricia Cornwell in 1956 (age 69) -- Religious leader T. D. Jakes in 1957 (age 68) -- Writer/producer Aaron Sorkin in 1961 (age 64) -- Actor Michael J. Fox in 1961 (age 64) -- Actor Johnny Depp in 1963 (age 62) -- Actor Gloria Reuben in 1964 (age 61) -- Musician Rob Pilatus (Milli Vanilli) in 1964 -- Actor Tamela Mann in 1966 (age 59) -- Musician Dean Dinning (Toad the Wet Sprocket) in 1967 (age 58) -- Musician Dean Felber (Hootie & the Blowfish) in 1967 (age 58) -- Actor/musician Ed Simons (Chemical Brothers) in 1970 (age 55) -- Dominican Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit in 1972 (age 53) -- Musician Matthew Bellamy (Muse) in 1978 (age 47) -- Actor Natalie Portman in 1981 (age 44) -- Actor Mae Whitman in 1988 (age 37) -- Actor Logan Browning in 1989 (age 36) -- Actor Lucien Laviscount in 1992 (age 33) -- U.S. Olympic gold medal gymnast Laurie Hernandez in 2000 (age 25) -- Actor Xolo Maridueña in 2001 (age 24)
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Travel + Leisure
2 days ago
- Travel + Leisure
I've Chased Waterfalls Around the World—but These Twin Falls in the Caribbean Stunned Me
I've always had a bit of a rebellious travel streak, defying the advice of the popular 1994 TLC song and chasing waterfalls around the globe. Perhaps inspired by childhood trips to Niagara Falls and Yosemite Falls, I've never hesitated to go the distance to witness the roaring power of natural cascades, even traveling to Zimbabwe for Victoria Falls and to both Brazil and Argentina for Iguazú Falls. Having witnessed so many of the greats—of all sizes, shapes, and flows—I became somewhat jaded to waterfalls. That is, until I visited the Caribbean island nation of Dominica a few weeks back. As soon as I arrived to Nature Island—which earned its moniker for its lush terrain filled with verdant rainforests, mountains, and stunning shorelines—all the gregariously welcoming locals asked me if I'd been to Trafalgar Falls. There was a sense of pride when they mentioned the waterfalls, and my curiosity grew deeper. While many waterfalls have names that are plural because they're made up of smaller cascades, I learned that what made this one so distinctive is that it was actually a pair of twin falls, tucked within Morne Trois Pitons National Park. A 17,297-acre UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997, the park's 'luxuriant natural tropical forest blends with scenic volcanic features of great scientific interest,' according to UNESCO. With steep valleys, fumaroles, lakes, and volcanos, the unusual combination made it a rather distinct backdrop that this waterfall chaser couldn't resist. Located about a 20-minute drive from the capital of Roseau, the narrow road twisted and turned before reaching the modest visitors' center. From there, a pathway through the rainforest served as the opening act, drawing me deeper into the trenches of the valley hugged by the mountain peaks on all sides. Just 10 minutes into the walk, I was surprised to hear the gentle roar of the falls. Sure enough, just steps later, I was on a wooden platform, in awe of the sight in front of me. The two falls appeared simultaneously, almost as if they had choreographed their appearance, positioned on their stage back-to-back. The taller 125-foot one sat on the left and is referred to as Mother, while the 75-foot smaller (but stronger) one on the right is referred to as Father. (Many people reverse the nicknames, going purely by height, according to Discover Dominica.) With a bold granite stone between them, they appeared like two sides of a coin, so I was especially stunned to learn that they actually come from two completely different sources, with the Father Falls sourced by Freshwater Lake, whose waters flow through Ti-Tou Gorge. Meanwhile, the Mother Falls' water actually comes from the Breakfast River. That very fact made them even more impressive: it was an act of Mother Nature's happenstance that joined them at this point. (Sure I had seen multiple falls before, but just imagining how two completely separate sources led to the same spot and happened to create the mesmerizing sight was mind-boggling.) As I peered at the falls, I saw there was actually another pair of falls within them, like another generation of baby twin falls, within the lower cascades on the left. For the adventurously spirited, there's a hot springs pool within the Mother Falls where we spotted a pair of travelers climbing the rock scramble. The Dominican government's forestry, wildlife, and parks division says that while the 0.12-mile walk to the viewing platform is easy to moderate, the one down to the base of the falls is difficult and that 'a tour guide is highly recommended for accessing beyond viewing platform.' On this rainy day with slippery rocks, I opted to stay and enjoy the view of the pair together in the warmth of the thermal heat, thanks to the five volcanos in the national park. On my way back down, I passed the small village of Trafalgar, after which the falls are named, before stopping at Ti Kwen Glo Cho in Wotten Waven to soak in its natural hot springs pools. Getting to experience the warm waters of the area while also sitting right in the rainforest among local families truly felt like I was striking the best of both worlds. Trafalgar Falls is located about five miles east of Dominica's capital of Roseau, accessible through Trafalgar or Wotten Waven, and has a $5 admission fee for non-residents, payable on site.
Daily Mail
6 days ago
- General
- Daily Mail
Legendary journeyman finally retires at 46 after playing more than 900 games for 52 clubs
A legendary journeyman in football has finally called time on his career after playing more than 900 games for 52 different clubs. Jefferson Louis, who featured for the likes of Oxford, Stevenage and Wrexham, started his playing days back in 1996 with Risborough Rangers, before embarking on the ultimate journeyman career. His final club was Thame United, who the forward played 54 times for before hanging up his boots. The most time he ever spent at a club was two seasons, and he one placed for five clubs in one year in 2011, playing for Gainsborough Trinity, Darlington, Weymouth, Hayes & Yeading, Maidenhead and Brackley all in the calendar year. More of his clubs included Lincoln, Newport and Crawley, but he spent almost all of his career in non-league also turning out once for the Dominica national side in a World Cup qualifier. Although he has waved goodbye to his playing days, he is remaining in football, with the 46-year-old now taking up a role as assistant first team coach at Slough Town. Louis once claimed his journeyman status had worked against him. He said: 'People say he must be a rebel, Jefferson must have been rude. 'It's tarnished me. Some managers think I must be a bad apple.' His new boss, though - Slough head coach Scott Davies - is backing him to be a success in the dugout. 'Football these days for me is more about mentality than ability,' he said. 'Every player at the level has ability which has allowed them to get to this point, but it's so important that we, as a management team, can tap into their psychological side too. 'Throughout the season, individuals will need one-to-one chats when things aren't going as well as they may have hoped. 'And I strongly believe that with myself, Yella and now Jefferson joining the group, we've got all bases covered with the wealth of experience we have that we can now give back to the players.'
Travel Daily News
26-05-2025
- Business
- Travel Daily News
Dominica announced tourism developments at CHTA Marketplace 2025
Dominica to open world's longest cable car in December 2025, boost airlift, expand infrastructure, and launch major sustainability initiatives. ROSEAU, DOMINICA – The Discover Dominica Authority announced several major developments during a press conference held during the 43rd CHTA Marketplace 2025 in Antigua, reinforcing the Nature Island's commitment to sustainable growth and enhanced visitor access. Discover Dominica Authority's CEO, Marva Williams, announced Dominica's groundbreaking cable car, the longest detachable cable car in the world at 6.6 kilometers, will officially open in December 2025. The project will connect the Roseau Valley to the iconic Boiling Lake in just 20 minutes, transforming what is currently a six-hour hike into an accessible rainforest experience. It has already generated more than 450 construction jobs and will sustain more than 150 permanent positions. Additionally, Williams shared positive news regarding increased airlift to the destination. American Airlines will expand its service from Miami starting in August with six flights per week, scale back to two in September, then resume daily service in October, followed by an increase to eight weekly flights in November and December – marking a significant boost in U.S. connectivity to the island. 'Dominica continues to set itself apart in the Caribbean by investing in projects that expand access while preserving what makes the Nature Island so special,' said Williams. 'We are redefining what it means to be a sustainable and green destination where nature is respected, where communities lead, where innovation fuels resilience, and where every traveler is transformed by the journey.' Additional destination updates shared during the press conference included: A 10-megawatt geothermal plant is set to become operational by the end of 2025, supplying up to 50% of the country's peak electricity demand – dramatically lowering energy costs and carbon emissions. The US $201 million Cabrits Marina will welcome vessels up to 150 feet and feature a marine village with dining, shopping, and cultural experiences – all developed with a strong focus on environmental stewardship. Dominica's international airport is now 40% complete and remains on track for completion in 2027. The 2,850-meter runway and climate-resilient terminal will support direct flights from North America and Europe, vastly expanding the island's visitor capacity. 'With our upcoming cable car, expanded airlift, and progress on renewable energy and infrastructure, we are not just building for today, we are creating a more sustainable, connected, and resilient future for generations to come,' continued Williams.
Gizmodo
17-05-2025
- Science
- Gizmodo
AI Is Deciphering Animal Speech. Should We Try to Talk Back?
Chirps, trills, growls, howls, squawks. Animals converse in all kinds of ways, yet humankind has only scratched the surface of how they communicate with each other and the rest of the living world. Our species has trained some animals—and if you ask cats, animals have trained us, too—but we've yet to truly crack the code on interspecies communication. Increasingly, animal researchers are deploying artificial intelligence to accelerate our investigations of animal communication—both within species and between branches on the tree of life. As scientists chip away at the complex communication systems of animals, they move closer to understanding what creatures are saying—and maybe even how to talk back. But as we try to bridge the linguistic gap between humans and animals, some experts are raising valid concerns about whether such capabilities are appropriate—or whether we should even attempt to communicate with animals at all. Using AI to untangle animal language Towards the front of the pack—or should I say pod?—is Project CETI, which has used machine learning to analyze more than 8,000 sperm whale 'codas'—structured click patterns recorded by the Dominica Sperm Whale Project. Researchers uncovered contextual and combinatorial structures in the whales' clicks, naming features like 'rubato' and 'ornamentation' to describe how whales subtly adjust their vocalizations during conversation. These patterns helped the team create a kind of phonetic alphabet for the animals—an expressive, structured system that may not be language as we know it but reveals a level of complexity that researchers weren't previously aware of. Project CETI is also working on ethical guidelines for the technology, a critical goal given the risks of using AI to 'talk' to the animals. Meanwhile, Google and the Wild Dolphin Project recently introduced DolphinGemma, a large language model (LLM) trained on 40 years of dolphin vocalizations. Just as ChatGPT is an LLM for human inputs—taking visual information like research papers and images and producing responses to relevant queries—DolphinGemma intakes dolphin sound data and predicts what vocalization comes next. DolphinGemma can even generate dolphin-like audio, and the researchers' prototype two-way system, Cetacean Hearing Augmentation Telemetry (fittingly, CHAT), uses a smartphone-based interface that dolphins employ to request items like scarves or seagrass—potentially laying the groundwork for future interspecies dialogue. 'DolphinGemma is being used in the field this season to improve our real-time sound recognition in the CHAT system,' said Denise Herzing, founder and director of the Wild Dolphin Project, which spearheaded the development of DolphinGemma in collaboration with researchers at Google DeepMind, in an email to Gizmodo. 'This fall we will spend time ingesting known dolphin vocalizations and let Gemma show us any repeatable patterns they find,' such as vocalizations used in courtship and mother-calf discipline. In this way, Herzing added, the AI applications are two-fold: Researchers can use it both to explore dolphins' natural sounds and to better understand the animals' responses to human mimicking of dolphin sounds, which are synthetically produced by the AI CHAT system. Expanding the animal AI toolkit Outside the ocean, researchers are finding that human speech models can be repurposed to decode terrestrial animal signals, too. A University of Michigan-led team used Wav2Vec2—a speech recognition model trained on human voices—to identify dogs' emotions, genders, breeds, and even individual identities based on their barks. The pre-trained human model outperformed a version trained solely on dog data, suggesting that human language model architectures could be surprisingly effective in decoding animal communication. Of course, we need to consider the different levels of sophistication these AI models are targeting. Determining whether a dog's bark is aggressive or playful, or whether it's male or female—these are perhaps understandably easier for a model to determine than, say, the nuanced meaning encoded in sperm whale phonetics. Nevertheless, each study inches scientists closer to understanding how AI tools, as they currently exist, can be best applied to such an expansive field—and gives the AI a chance to train itself to become a more useful part of the researcher's toolkit. And even cats—often seen as aloof—appear to be more communicative than they let on. In a 2022 study out of Paris Nanterre University, cats showed clear signs of recognizing their owner's voice, but beyond that, the felines responded more intensely when spoken to directly in 'cat talk.' That suggests cats not only pay attention to what we say, but also how we say it—especially when it comes from someone they know. Earlier this month, a pair of cuttlefish researchers found evidence that the animals have a set of four 'waves,' or physical gestures, that they make to one another, as well as to human playback of cuttlefish waves. The group plans to apply an algorithm to categorize the types of waves, automatically track the creatures' movements, and understand the contexts in which the animals express themselves more rapidly. Private companies (such as Google) are also getting in on the act. Last week, China's largest search engine, Baidu, filed a patent with the country's IP administration proposing to translate animal (specifically cat) vocalizations into human language. The quick and dirty on the tech is that it would intake a trove of data from your kitty, and then use an AI model to analyze the data, determine the animal's emotional state, and output the apparent human language message your pet was trying to convey. A universal translator for animals? Together, these studies represent a major shift in how scientists are approaching animal communication. Rather than starting from scratch, research teams are building tools and models designed for humans—and making advances that would have taken much longer otherwise. The end goal could (read: could) be a kind of Rosetta Stone for the animal kingdom, powered by AI. 'We've gotten really good at analyzing human language just in the last five years, and we're beginning to perfect this practice of transferring models trained on one dataset and applying them to new data,' said Sara Keen, a behavioral ecologist and electrical engineer at the Earth Species Project, in a video call with Gizmodo. The Earth Species Project plans to launch its flagship audio-language model for animal sounds, NatureLM, this year, and a demo for NatureLM-audio is already live. With input data from across the tree of life—as well as human speech, environmental sounds, and even music detection—the model aims to become a converter of human speech into animal analogues. The model 'shows promising domain transfer from human speech to animal communication,' the project states, 'supporting our hypothesis that shared representations in AI can help decode animal languages.' 'A big part of our work really is trying to change the way people think about our place in the world,' Keen added. 'We're making cool discoveries about animal communication, but ultimately we're finding that other species are just as complicated and nuanced as we are. And that revelation is pretty exciting.' The ethical dilemma Indeed, researchers generally agree on the promise of AI-based tools for improving the collection and interpretation of animal communication data. But some feel that there's a breakdown in communication between that scholarly familiarity and the public's perception of how these tools can be applied. 'I think there's currently a lot of misunderstanding in the coverage of this topic—that somehow machine learning can create this contextual knowledge out of nothing. That so long as you have thousands of hours of audio recordings, somehow some magic machine learning black box can squeeze meaning out of that,' said Christian Rutz, an expert in animal behavior and cognition and founding president of International Bio-Logging Society, in a video call with Gizmodo. 'That's not going to happen.' 'Meaning comes through the contextual annotation and this is where I think it's really important for this field as a whole, in this period of excitement and enthusiasm, to not forget that this annotation comes from basic behavioral ecology and natural history expertise,' Rutz added. In other words, let's not put the horse before the cart, especially since the cart—in this case—is what's powering the horse. But with great power…you know the cliché. Essentially, how can humans develop and apply these technologies in a way that is both scientifically illuminating and minimizes harm or disruption to its animal subjects? Experts have put forward ethical standards and guardrails for using the technologies that prioritize the welfare of creatures as we get closer to—well, wherever the technology is going. As AI advances, conversations about animal rights will have to evolve. In the future, animals could become more active participants in those conversations—a notion that legal experts are exploring as a thought exercise, but one that could someday become reality. 'What we desperately need—apart from advancing the machine learning side—is to forge these meaningful collaborations between the machine learning experts and the animal behavior researchers,' Rutz said, 'because it's only when you put the two of us together that you stand a chance.' There's no shortage of communication data to feed into data-hungry AI models, from pitch-perfect prairie dog squeaks to snails' slimy trails (yes, really). But exactly how we make use of the information we glean from these new approaches requires thorough consideration of the ethics involved in 'speaking' with animals. A recent paper on the ethical concerns of using AI to communicate with whales outlined six major problem areas. These include privacy rights, cultural and emotional harm to whales, anthropomorphism, technological solutionism (an overreliance on technology to fix problems), gender bias, and limited effectiveness for actual whale conservation. That last issue is especially urgent, given how many whale populations are already under serious threat. It increasingly appears that we're on the brink of learning much more about the ways animals interact with one another—indeed, pulling back the curtain on their communication could also yield insights into how they learn, socialize, and act within their environments. But there are still significant challenges to overcome, such as asking ourselves how we use the powerful technologies currently in development.
