(1971–2023) was a transformative Canadian researcher, author, and entrepreneur who dedicated her life to bridge the gap between human technology and the natural world .
However, her most influential work emerged later in her life, when she began investigating the "hidden realm of sound." The Sounds of Life and Digital Hearing karen bakker
: How AI can decode individual orca calls and dialects passed down through generations. She passed away in August 2023, shortly after
: Flowers that flood their blooms with nectar in response to the specific sound frequency of a bee's wings. She passed away in August 2023
She passed away in August 2023, shortly after delivering a powerful TED Talk on the prospects of deciphering animal communication. Her colleagues and students remember her as a scholar who was "insatiably curious about Earth’s long-term future" and who believed that by learning to listen, we might finally learn to cohabitate.
Bakker's final work, Gaia's Web , was published posthumously in 2024. It explored the concept of "digital environmentalism," arguing that while technology can be used for surveillance, it also offers a way to regenerate the Earth and cultivate deep empathy for non-human species.