How I eavesdrop on frog conversations
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Billie Goolsby (right) and Lauren O’Connell study parent–offspring communication in frogs.Credit: Zach Reddy
Working scientist profiles
This article is part of an occasional series in which Nature profiles scientists with unusual career histories or outside interests.
When the tadpoles of some poison frogs talk to their parents, they don’t croak or sing. Instead, they speak in a language of vibration, performing a wriggling dance against their mother’s or father’s body. The parents somehow judge their offspring’s hunger from this vibration.
Scientists don’t yet know exactly how the tadpole vibrations translate into parental marching orders. But when Billie Goolsby started her PhD research at Stanford University in California in 2020, she felt uniquely equipped to investigate the question. Goolsby was born hard of hearing, and her mother spoke to her using a language that, like the amphibians’ communication, included touch.
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