Study suggests ‘Jedi’ rodents remotely move matter using sound to enhance their sense of smell
Scientists have debated the purpose of the ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) produced by rodents since the discovery of these sounds in the 1950s. There’s a wide research consensus suggesting USVs are a form of social communication, a courtship display, which though inaudible to humans, might otherwise be compared to the calls of certain birds.
But a UB expert in bioacoustics proposes in the journal Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews that rodents aren’t vocalizing to whisper sweet nothings, but rather to shake up their surroundings in ways that influence how inhaled particles enter their noses, suggesting that rodents use sound to enhance their sense of smell. Learn more about this research.
UB researcher named 2023 Guggenheim fellow
Eduardo Mercado III, professor of psychology, College of Arts and Sciences, has been awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship for a project that will analyze how humpback whales adjust their songs in response to their surroundings, work that radically contradicts the prevailing hypothesis suggesting why whales sing. Read the overview.