The Missed Signals Project is dedicated to probing the intelligence of humpback whales by examining human perceptual limitations and the hypothesis that critical whale biosignals have gone undetected or misunderstood. By identifying where and why these signals may be missed, we seek to expand how intelligence, communication, and cognition are recognized beyond human‑centered frameworks. The insights gained are applied both to improving cetacean conservation strategies on Earth and to informing the search for life and intelligence elsewhere in the universe.
Meet The Team
Fred Sharpe, PhD
Fred Sharpe, PhD
Fred Sharpe, PhD
Dr. Fred Sharpe has been a leading whale researcher in Southeast Alaska since the late 1980’s and founded the Alaska Whale Foundation (AWF) in 1996. His research has documented numerous individuals, seasonal movements, foraging ecology including team behaviors, and acoustic behavior. He has appeared in multiple documentaries. In recent
Dr. Fred Sharpe has been a leading whale researcher in Southeast Alaska since the late 1980’s and founded the Alaska Whale Foundation (AWF) in 1996. His research has documented numerous individuals, seasonal movements, foraging ecology including team behaviors, and acoustic behavior. He has appeared in multiple documentaries. In recent years, Sharpe has focused on the study of aerial whale sounds, including low‑frequency thrums, trumpet‑like exhalations, wheezes, and other respiratory‑associated signals that propagate through both air and water and are often overlooked in traditional cetacean bioacoustics. As a SETI investigator, he explored how structured communication systems may exist beyond human perceptual biases, using humpback whales as an Earth‑based analogue for non‑human intelligence. His SETI work included the first documented “conversation” with a humpback whale which led to worldwide press in late 2023.
Joe Olson
Fred Sharpe, PhD
Fred Sharpe, PhD
Joe Olson is the current President of the Puget Sound Chapter of the American Cetacean Society (ACS). He was the Founder and CEO of Cetacean Research Technology, a company that pioneered underwater recording devices and arrays for Cetacean study including multiple fielded systems used by numerous scientific organizations and researchers
Joe Olson is the current President of the Puget Sound Chapter of the American Cetacean Society (ACS). He was the Founder and CEO of Cetacean Research Technology, a company that pioneered underwater recording devices and arrays for Cetacean study including multiple fielded systems used by numerous scientific organizations and researchers. He expertise bridges engineering and field practice, concentrating on the physical properties of sound transmission across air and water, focusing on technological mediation and systems design, addressing how recording instruments, sensor placement, and signal processing shape what can be perceived and analyzed.. He designs microphone and hydrophone configurations that address the practical challenges of capturing low‑frequency and transient signals such as thrums, trumpets, and percussive surface sounds. He recently established the new Cetacean Institute, a 501c3 organization to fund cetacean research.
Lisa Walker
Fred Sharpe, PhD
Lisa Walker
Lisa is a scientific communicator and humpback whale researcher whose work focuses on the evolving nature of humpback song. She brings insight into its rules, logic and hierarchical structure by applying her background in music. She is a Leonardo@Djerassi Arts Fellow, host and producer of docuseries Whales and Aliens: The Search for Ex
Lisa is a scientific communicator and humpback whale researcher whose work focuses on the evolving nature of humpback song. She brings insight into its rules, logic and hierarchical structure by applying her background in music. She is a Leonardo@Djerassi Arts Fellow, host and producer of docuseries Whales and Aliens: The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence in the Salish Sea, and composer of Beyond Human; Songs for Other Species. She is a co‑author of the documented interspecies conversation with the humpback whale “Twain,” and her work has received awards for music (NAV), writing (AbSciCon), and presentation (African Bioacoustics).Her current research focuses on universal communication protocols, drawing connections between evolutionary biology and astrobiology in the design of intelligible signals for Messaging to Extraterrestrial Intelligence (METI).