Scientists have worked out how to change a bird’s song by zapping its brain with pulses of light.
Male zebra finches, a colourful, Australian species, have been described by ornithologists as “loud and boisterous” singers whose rhythmic, beeping songs — learnt from their fathers — are used in courtship and in territorial disputes.
Now researchers have demonstrated that artificial memories of singing lessons can be implanted in the birds’ brains to teach them vocalisations without the father’s input.
They believe that their experiments could ultimately help humans who have speech difficulties caused by neurodevelopmental conditions such as autism.
The team at the University of Texas Southwestern used the emerging practice of “optogenetics” to manipulate activity in parts of the avian brain that were known