Summary of What we — and AI — can learn from nature's intelligence

Overview of What we — and AI — can learn from nature's intelligence

This TED Radio Hour episode (hosted by Manoush Zomorodi) explores how “natural intelligence” — the sensing, computing and communicating done by plants, insects, animals and our own bodies — can both reshape our understanding of intelligence and inspire new, low-power artificial intelligence and conservation tools. The episode features TED talks and interviews with neuroscientist/educator Greg Gage, computational neuroscientist Frances Chance, psychoneuroimmunologist Keely Muscatel, and environmental researcher Karen Bakker (whose talk is presented in full and to whom the episode is dedicated).

Key takeaways

• Intelligence appears across life at many scales: from single cells and plants to insects and mammals. Intelligence can be defined as “getting to what you want given what you have.”
• Plants and single cells perform computations (Venus flytraps “count” touches; mimosa and pea plants show learning/decision behaviors; slime molds solve routing problems without a brain).
• Small neural circuits (e.g., dragonfly hunting circuits) can perform fast, efficient coordinate transformations in only a few neuron layers — an inspiration for low-power, brain-like computing hardware.
• The immune system communicates with the brain: cytokines produce “sickness behaviors” (fatigue, social withdrawal, low mood) that can be adaptive but harmful when inflammation is chronic.
• Bioacoustics plus AI are revealing rich, previously hidden communication across species (bats, orcas, coral larvae, bees, whales), and can be used to protect and restore ecosystems — but require ethical guardrails.

Speakers and main ideas

• Greg Gage (neuroscientist / Backyard Brains)

  • Venus flytrap: has trigger hairs and generates electrical action potentials; it requires two touches within ~20 seconds for the trap to close — a counting-like computation to avoid wasted energy.
  • Mimosa pudica: touch-triggered movement via water redistribution; experiments show learning/decision-like flexibility in plants (e.g., light vs. airflow conditioning in pea seedlings).
  • Slime mold: single-celled organisms can sense, avoid light, find food, and solve spatial problems; cells act like distributed computers.
  • Thesis: every cell carries computational ability — expand definitions of intelligence beyond brains.

• Frances Chance (computational neuroscientist)

  • Dragonflies hunt by flying intercept trajectories (aiming ahead of prey) and perform fast coordinate transformations from visual to motor frames in ~50 ms.
  • This speed implies neural computations can be achieved in very shallow circuits (≈4 neuron layers), amenable to modeling and emulation.
  • Goal: reverse-engineer these operations to build ultra-fast, ultra-low-power chips and drones (brain-inspired hardware that uses far less energy than current AI/data centers).

• Keely Muscatel (psychology & neuroscience)

  • Cytokines and inflammation cause physical sickness symptoms and orchestrate changes in mood and social behavior (fatigue, social withdrawal, or selective seeking of close-caregiving relationships).
  • These responses likely evolved to conserve energy and encourage rest/care during infection.
  • Chronic inflammation (driven by stress, poor sleep, diet, lifestyle) dysregulates this system and can harm mental and social health.
  • Human prefrontal control can override immune-driven signals — an adaptive but sometimes maladaptive interaction.

• Karen Bakker (environmental researcher; full TED talk included)

  • Bioacoustics + AI reveal complex animal languages and sound-based behaviors invisible to humans (ultrasound, infrasound).
  • Examples: bats have dialects and social calls; orcas have culturally transmitted dialects; coral larvae use reef soundscapes to find home reefs; peacocks use infrasound in mating.
  • AI can decode stress signals (e.g., plants emit ultrasound patterns correlated with dehydration/injury) and build species-specific “dictionaries” (elephant signals, whale repertoires).
  • Practical wins: acoustic systems have helped prevent ship strikes on endangered right whales by triangulating whale positions and notifying ships — no deaths in that zone since the program began.
  • Ethical concern: decoding or interacting with other species raises privacy/consent and ecological-caretaking questions; requires strong ethical frameworks.

Notable experiments and methods described

• Venus flytrap EKGs and hair-touch trials: measurable action potentials; trap closes only after multiple touches in quick succession (energy-saving counting mechanism).
• Pea seedling bifurcated-tube conditioning: alternating light/fan cues produce flexible growth choices suggesting associative learning-like behavior in plants.
• Slime mold routing experiments: slime molds find optimal paths to food sources and avoid light; computation distributed across the cell.
• Dragonfly VR + electrophysiology: movies of moving targets shown while electrodes record individual neuron responses; computational models predict neuron activity to identify short (≤4-layer) circuits.
• Bioacoustic recording + machine learning: slowing ultrasound/infrasound for human analysis; ML classification of species calls, health states, and individual identities; acoustic playback used to attract coral larvae or triangulate whales.

Implications for AI, tech and conservation

• AI inspiration: Nature offers compact, highly efficient algorithms and circuit motifs (e.g., dragonfly intercept computation) that could be translated into neuromorphic chips and low-power devices — think drones that operate on tiny batteries or always-on sensors that last months/years.
• Energy footprint: brain-inspired computing could substantially reduce power needs compared with current cloud/data-center models, lowering carbon cost of AI.
• Conservation & monitoring: AI-enabled bioacoustics can restore habitats (acoustic reef restoration), monitor species health, reduce human-wildlife collisions, and provide new tools for biodiversity management.
• Ethics: translating animal communication and interacting with species via robots or playback systems raises moral questions (eavesdropping, manipulation, welfare). Policies and guardrails are needed.

Human-health takeaways

• “Sickness behavior” is often driven by immune signaling (cytokines) rather than pathogens directly — fatigue, low mood, social withdrawal can be adaptive signals to conserve energy and solicit care.
• Chronic inflammation links to mental-health and social problems; lifestyle factors (sleep, diet, exercise, stress) modulate inflammation.
• Social and structural context matters: ability to heed biological signals depends on socioeconomic safety nets (e.g., paid sick leave).

Action items and recommendations

• For technologists: study small, efficient biological circuits (insects, single-cell computation) for neuromorphic/low-power designs; prioritize energy efficiency in AI development.
• For conservationists and policymakers: deploy bioacoustic monitoring and real-time alert systems (e.g., whale lanes) where practical; use acoustic playbacks carefully to aid restoration.
• For health practitioners and individuals: recognize inflammation’s behavioral effects — address sleep, diet, stress to reduce chronic inflammation; create supportive policies for sick time.
• For ethicists and funders: fund interdisciplinary bioacoustics research with strong ethical frameworks and community engagement around whether and how to translate interspecies “translation” into action.

Memorable quotes

• Charles Darwin (referenced): the Venus flytrap is “the most wonderful plant in the world.”
• Greg Gage: “Every cell is intelligent.”
• Karen Bakker: “Bioacoustics de‑centers humanity within the tree of life.”

This episode showcases how close study of natural systems — from plant electrophysiology to insect neural circuits to animal soundscapes and human immune–brain signaling — can expand definitions of intelligence and provide practical blueprints for low‑power AI, better health understanding, and new conservation tools.