Recent contributions to wildlife law emphasise that wild animals should be recognised as sentient individuals, not just components of ecosystems www.eurekalert.org/news-release...

Do birds enjoy flying? Cool new research shows evidence of positive affect associated with flying in galahs (an Australian parrot species) doi.org/10.1163/1568...

Bees continue to capture public interest - this time their casual puzzle‑solving 🐝 www.ecoportal.net/en/americans...

In Argentina, two goldfish have recently been recognised as legal ‘subjects of rights’ - a new case highlighting legal attention to animal sentience www.i24news.tv/en/news/inte...

Slow-motion videos suggest that the insects display distinct behaviors when they like or dislike a snack. The findings might offer a new way to study their emotion-like states. www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/b... via @smithsonianmag.bsky.social #entomology #science #biology #SciChat

New research! 📚 We built the largest database to date of cephalopod species - octopuses, squids and cuttlefish - and their brains, habitats and behaviors 🐙🧠📈 What did we find?👇 Press release: www.lse.ac.uk/news/ecologi... Paper: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

“An early framework: look carefully at behaviour, compare species, distrust easy human exceptionalism and take animal expression seriously.” www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026...

2026. Pragmatism bias in farmed animal welfare science. pureportal.ilvo.be/en/publicati...

How might animals perceive time? Ishan Singhal describes how illusions might hold the key, in today's @theguardian.com (based on our recent @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social which he led) @singhal.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Veterinary associations hold significant influence across food systems and animal welfare regulations, yet their positions don’t always align with the profession’s ethical commitments or recognition of animal sentience. boldreasoningwithpetersinger.substack.com/p/when-veter...

Congratulations to Dr Julie Elie for working out the 11 core calls in the zebra finch vocabulary and their meanings; awarded the 2026 Coller-Dolittle prize for two-way interspecies communication! www.theguardian.com/science/2026...

On Friday 26 June @birchlse.bsky.social will be in a cross-cultural dialogue exploring insights into animal consciousness, food choices and the environment. Free and open to everyone - details and registration: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... #LCAW2026

Did the evolution of consciousness begin with smell? I have a piece arguing it might well have done (in response to @smfleming.bsky.social and @matthiasmichel.bsky.social's recent vision-centric picture). Free to read here: drive.google.com/file/d/1ZhrI...

Recognition of animal sentience appears to be increasing in the UK, according to the RSPCA's 2026 Kindness Index (an annual survey of public attitudes towards animals): www.rspca.org.uk/whatwedo/lat...

The science of sentience - Mark Briffa and I discuss why we need a precise definition of sentience so we can empirically test hypotheses of animal sentience. This allows us to provide evidence to legislators and other stakeholders #sentience www.wellbeingintlstudiesrepository.org/animsent/vol...

🌱🌍 The video of the "Food future" panel is now available online: www.youtube.com/watch?v=6j4w... The panel of experts discussed the ethical, logistical, and technical challenges of transitioning to a more planet-friendly food system. @birchlse.bsky.social @lseanimalsentience.bsky.social

Sperm whales have accents. Scientists studying sperm whales in the Mediterranean have discovered distinct regional dialects. royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article... 📷 Image: Amanda Cotton/Ocean Image Bank (photographed in Caribbean) @unbiodiversity.bsky.social #whales #oceanscience

Wow, hot isn't it. Animal agriculture contributes somewhere in the region of 15-20% of greenhouse gases and is one of the biggest contributors to climate change. We cannot save our planet without drastically reducing consumption of animal products.

Do animals perceive time differently from humans? Science covers our new paper on 'timescapes of animal experience', led by Ishan Singhal @singhal.bsky.social 🦇🐈🦋🕷️🐟🐒🐍🪰🦜⏰ www.science.org/content/arti...

Excited to share our contribution to the #LSEFestival exhibition on holding powerful veterinary institutions to account. One of many LSE Research contributions on display in the Marshall Building Great Hall, free and open to everyone to browse until 2 July. www.lse.ac.uk/events/lse-f...

Our review on #speciesism is now out in Nature Reviews Psychology. rdcu.be/foTDx We synthesise research on how people think about animals, morally rank species, and justify animal exploitation and consumption. A pleasure to work on this with @gordonhodsonphd.bsky.social @springernature.com

How do other animals experience time? It's been a pleasure to work with @singhal.bsky.social and @anilseth.bsky.social on a paper exploring how temporal illusions and other experimental strategies can shed light on this. It's our today! www.cell.com/trends/cogni...

This @noemamag.com article by Ryan Huling, author of Hidden Nations, beautifully covers our Nature Sustainability paper with @merikatariina.bsky.social and @birchlse.bsky.social! If you can’t access it, let me know 😉 doi.org/10.1038/s418...

Coverage in the Guardian of our latest publication in Royal Society Open Science, with fantastic collaborators Alan McElligott (@amcell.bsky.social), Christian Nawroth (@goatswhostare.bsky.social), Federico Rossano and Simon Townsend. Paper threaded below! www.theguardian.com/science/2026...

Can an octopus use a mirror as a tool? 🐙🪞 Researchers found octopuses can learn to use mirrors to locate food hidden from view, a skill previously documented only in vertebrates. Every time we think we've reached the limit of octopus intelligence, they casually move the goalposts. #Science

Once upon a time, I approached biologists @biotay.bsky.social and @auersperga.bsky.social with some crazy ideas on how to test for animals’ concept of death. Many years later, our first study with the stellar cockatoos from the Goffin Lab is finally out! (More to come)

We’re bringing topics of animal sentience - in the context of food choices - to the table this London Climate Action Week #LCAW2026. Join our audience on Saturday 20 June, 5–6pm (in‑person or online): londonclimateactionweek.org/event/food-f... #LSEFestival

🦞 In honor of #CrustaceanCompassionDay2026, a screening of ‘Seantience’ by Animal Ethics. 🦀The film explores the inner lives of aquatic animals & makes the ethical implications of their sentience impossible to dismiss. 🎞️ Register to watch @ 20:00 CEST → tinyurl.com/2rd3t4dr #CCDay2026

Special issue now online: Gandhi's Ahimsaism, Insects, and Animal Sentience. Target article by @birchlse.bsky.social with commentaries from Angie Pepper, Gary O'Brien, Samantha Hurn & Alexander Badman-King. Now online, full publication in August: www.uehiro.ox.ac.uk/article/jpe-... #ahimsaism

Growing evidence is exposing how power, influence, and economic and political incentives shape current food systems - with industrialised pig farming revealing outcomes misaligned with the public interest, animal welfare, environmental sustainability, and public health.

Denmark is set to move from ultra‑intensive pig farming toward a lower‑density model, following sustained evidence of welfare harms, environmental impacts, community effects, and the economic costs of the existing system - too many for citizens and politicians to ignore.

If insects are sentient and sentience implies rights, what follows for food security and public health? I call this the "insect challenge" for animal ethics. The Journal of Practical Ethics has a new symposium on it, with an article by me and 3 replies: journals.publishing.umich.edu/jpe/news/ 1/5

Incredible. They can count, they can use tools, they make motivational trade-offs, can be trained, have memories, etc. At this point, I'd be more surprised to learn they don't feel pain than that they do. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

After a recent vote, New York is now very close to banning octopus farming - joining California and Washington, where bans are already in force.

The Bank of England is holding a vote for the animals that will appear on the next UK banknotes. Contribute! My vote was for hedgehogs and grey seals in the mammal category, barn owls and curlews in the bird category, and buff-tailed bumblebees and common frogs in the 'other' category.

🌍 Scientists agree we cannot reach our climate targets without significantly changing our diets. However, food choice can be complex & controversial, and it’s unclear how to move dietary change up the policy agenda. 📅 20 June, 5pm - 6pm 📍 LSE & online #LSEFestival www.lse.ac.uk/events/lse-f...

Thank you so much to the @royalsociety.org for this wonderful honour and to all the wonderful young people who have, over the years, been bold enough to join our somewhat eccentric endeavour of trying to understand an insect mind! And a big thank you to the bees of course! 🥹🙏

“More than 80% of studies that use insects omit anaesthesia for severe procedures”; growing calls for ethical consideration of invertebrates used in science - and implementation of a precautionary principle to guide inclusive welfare standards www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

New report questions the “green credentials” of insect farming as an alternative to conventional meat. It cites emerging evidence that insects may be sentient - and feel pain - as one reason insect farming may fall short, with lower‑welfare‑risk options like cultivated meat.

Cutting‑edge research on AI‑driven decoding of cross‑species communication will be presented at the Coller Dolittle Challenge webinar on 25 June. Four finalist teams will share their work, followed by the announcement of this year’s winner. Open to everyone. Register: zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Evidence that the US veterinary profession has been captured by the pork industry? California’s Proposition 12 protects pigs from extreme confinement systems (long recognised as welfare concerns), yet the American Veterinary Medical Association supports federal laws that would override it.

🎯 The Disclosure Podcast featuring Dr Johnathan Birch, a prize winning professor of Philosophy. His research focuses on animal sentience, welfare, and ethics 🐾🐾 🚨 A must listen 💚 Thank you Ed! youtube.com/post/Ugkxx3y...

The Scottish Government advisory group recently received a presentation on animal sentience - so that animals’ capacities to experience pain and suffering can be continuously considered across agenda items - including key areas in farm‑animal welfare, slaughter, and feral animals.

"A coda... spread throughout the ocean." AI tools are revealing patterns in whale songs and reshaping how we understand animal communication. @kristinandrews.bsky.social (York University) talks to @jeyantvo.bsky.social, tonight at 8pm | Producer: Eric Bombicino

🎟️ Tickets are now live for the #LSEFestival 2026: How to save the planet! Join us 15-20 June at LSE (on campus or online) for a week of panels, talks & workshops on #sustainability, global challenges, communities & more. 👉 Programme: www.lse.ac.uk/events/lse-f...

My Octopus Teacher - alongside wider advocacy - supports the cultural conditions in which strong evidence and policy recommendations advance recognition and protection for the species

Should animals have rights or just protections? ✍️ @jeffsebo.bsky.social blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2...