David R. Harris This issue of Connecting with Cornell features
several articles about things that fly. They include John
Hermanson on bats, Timothy DeVoogd on birds, Jane Wang on
dragonflies, and Kenneth McClane on butterflies. Perhaps
surprisingly, only one of these articles focuses on flight, and
it is not the article about birds. Each illustrates how Cornell
researchers find answers to common questions in unexpected
places. Hermanson details how he and a group of undergraduate
and graduate students have studied the bats of Trinidad to
understand something that we don’t usually associate with
bats—walking. DeVoogd studies birds to gain insights into
something we don’t usually associate with birds—learning. It
turns out that birds are excellent for studying the neurobiology
of learning because the more complex a male’s song, the more
attractive he is as a mate. DeVoogd and associates have been
able to observe the brains of young birds learning complex
songs. They have also been able to observe how the brain’