Ben Mirin - The Safina Center

Ben Mirin is an acoustic sound artist and explorer. He leads expeditions around the world recording animal sounds to advance scientific research and create music and art that inspires conservation. Creator and host of Wild Beats on National Geographic Kids and National Geographic WILD, Ben is a former Bronx Zoo Artist in Residence, a four-time TED speaker, and the recipient of the Explorers Club Scott Pearlman Field Award. He has written about birds for prestigious outlets including Smithsonian, Slate, Audubon, Scientific American, and National Geographic Traveler magazines, and many others. He also gets elementary and middle school students excited about science as a volunteer instructor at the New York Audubon Society’s For the Birds! program. Currently Ben is a National Science Foundation Fellow studying what makes birdsong attractive to people who buy songbirds and force them to “compete” in singing contests, for human amusement. His research is informed by bioacoustic (natural sound) data, and analysis of human cultural history.

Notable works, coverage and accomplishments

- BeastBox, an online game that combines music with wildlife education. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. (2018).
- Sounds of survival, produced by Katie Garrett. bioGraphic. (2018).
- Ben Mirin beatboxes with bird calls, by Daniel A. Gross. Public Radio International. (2018).
- The art of noise, by Studio 360. Slate. (2018).
- DJing to the sounds of nature. TED Talk. (2017).
- Audio: DJ remixes the sounds of birds, lemurs, and more to inspire conservation, by Mike Gaworecki. Mongabay. (2017).
- Break better like Ben, by KitKat®. (2017).