Koko, the Talking Gorilla, Dies at Age 46
Koko was born in 1971 in the San Francisco Zoo. Her “mother,” Penny Patterson, crossed paths with her in what was meant to be a four-year experiment to see if gorillas could learn American Sign Language. It turned into a lifelong friendship, and yes, Koko became partly fluent in ASL. While this is a very Bay Area story—grad student meets gorilla and teaches her sign language—the western lowland gorilla was beloved by humans all around the world. On Thursday, with a heavy heart, the Gorilla Foundation announced her death. As the statement read, “Koko touched the lives of millions as an ambassador for all gorillas and an icon for interspecies communication and empathy. She was beloved and will be deeply missed.”
The Robots Are Coming
Speaking of nonhuman things, a report surfaced this week in Eater stating that robots are gearing up to make $6 burgers in San Francisco. Isn’t the point of automation to make things cheaper? We kid, we kid. Anyway, it’s true—the robots are coming. According to the report, a robot start-up called Creator will be unveiling its first robot restaurant on June 27. People can start buying tickets for dinners now.
San Francisco to Host Refugee Food Festival
The City by the Bay is hosting its inaugural Refugee Food Festival this weekend. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the event is meant to “use food to cultivate conversations about issues facing refugees.” In light of World Refugee Day, the festival will feature menus by refugee chefs from Bhutan, Iraq, Myanmar, Senegal and Syria through a series of pop-up dinners. If you don’t have any plans this weekend, you do now.
Hey! The Bold Italic recently launched a podcast, This Is Your Life in Silicon Valley. Check out the full season or listen to the episode below featuring Aarti Shahani, technology reporter at NPR. More coming soon, so stay tuned!
