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Said scientists spent how many years training to learn something they already knew, huh.
The headline proves that humans CAN learn despite what you experience in your own family. >

Nature is healing >

i seen a gorilla get obvious silent treatment from his girl while he struggled to stay positive with the baby climbing all over him, that did it for me. >

Their hand gesture language really comes in handy whenever they vacation in Italy. >

Rome airport sucks, ..always lose samsonite luggage, just use Milan airport. 
I like bananas and masturbation… >

It's like looking in a mirror >

Apes together, strong! >


Volunteers watched videos of the chimps and bonobos gesturing, then selected from a multiple choice list of translations.
The participants performed significantly better than expected by chance, correctly interpreting the meaning of chimpanzee and bonobo gestures over 50% of the time. 

I feel like getting >50% on a multiple choice test should not be summarized as conclusively as "Signs used by apes understood by humans". A competent test taker (and considering how this type of research goes, there's a strong probability a majority of the survey population were students familiar with test taking) could easily get over 50% on a multiple choice test with no understanding of the subject at hand. >

Studies calculate what chance would be based on the specific factors involved in a given test. 
For instance, if there are 4 options for each question, with only one correct answer, then chance would likely be nearer to 25% than 50%. 
Additionally, a test given as part of an experiment isn't designed with the same intention as a test given in a college course. It's possible to design a test for an experiment wherein the highest expected score is 50%, whereas a test in an academic setting that students were only expected to get half the questions correct would cause some issues. 
Without context, a score of 50% really tells us very little. >

Any good scientific study is just proving that a thing we did has an impact on events outside of the unrelenting Randomness. Like the Force, it's in every single particle of the universe, and showing something makes something happen more than chance is how you start to prove it worked. 
Youre right, we need to see their methodology, we'd need multiple tests showing it, we'd need to weigh whether a certain threshold above chance qualifies as meaningful.. >

I'm going to start carrying around leaves to strip with my teeth whenever I want someone to flirt with me. >

Hominids stick together no matter what ! No monkeying around. >

With continued interaction, it might even be possible to domesticate the humans.
Caution should be exercised though, as they can be prone to irrational fits of rage. >

In case anyone wanted to visualize it.
video of Ape Gestures. >

We're learning, this is fantastic!  Maybe one day we can be civilized. >

I feel like very little of this science is valid. The natural environment of apes other than humans has been so impacted by our extermination and research that any anthropomorphic behavior is, most likely, due to copied behaviors. >

The science is fine.  Some people (mis)interpretation of it is the problem.  Even the maybe overly optimistic conclusion they reached isn't surprising.  Elephants and several domestic animals can follow human pointing and glancing.  Dogs will mimic human behaviors (granted, they've been bred to be nearly symbiotic with humans).  Still cool research. >

It's nothing new to me that other animals communicate, especially as it relates to our non-human apes relatives (yuk yuk yuk).  I'm glad that people are figuring out how to communicate with them now. >

"Signs used by *other* apes understood by humans"
Fixed. >

I can understand my cat, so do we share a common language? >

It’s pretty well established that babies can learn signs before they can learn speech, so this isn’t that surprising to me.