Deep in a North Carolina marsh, a lone swamp sparrow sits on his
perch in the middle of the water. He’s singing his usual song.
But he’s also aggressively flapping one wing, trying to incite a
nearby male into action. Onlookers are watching – just to see
what happens. However, this is no ordinary territorial scuffle.
This is bird research. The sparrow on the perch is a robot, and
the chief, hip wader-clad onlooker – who is also in control of
the robot’s movements – is Steve Nowicki, Ph.D., a biology,
psychology, and neurobiology professor at Duke University. He’s
testing whether the wing flap will actually prompt a fight.
According to Nowicki, birdsong and signaling have a surprisingly
close relationship with human speech. “It’s an unexpected and
remarkable model for human speech control, development and
perception,” he said. “Birds also learn their songs in much the
same way humans learn to speak, and that’s an unusual trait.
They have to learn their language from their parents.” His
research, though, isn’t