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BloombergBusinessweek June 24, 2019a researcherwilloutfita zebrafinch
with a backpack containing batter-
iesthatpowera hostofelectronics
attachedtoitsskull.Thebirdisthen
placedina soundboothaboutthesize
ofa microwave,whereit singsfordays
whileOtchyandhisteampeerinto
its brainviamechanisms similarto
theonesMathisusesforhermice.As
researchershavelearnedmoreabout
thezebrafinch’ssoundprocessingcen-
ters,they’vesoughttoanswerincreas-
inglyprecisequestionsaboutitsbrain.
“Wedon’tknowhowtheinformation
ofhowtoridea bicycle,orflya heli-
copter,orspeakJapanese,is storedin
thebrain,”Otchysays.“Oneday,wewill
havethatknowledge.”
Hecametorunthisresearchcenter,
the Gardner Lab, after its namesake, Tim
Gardner, took a leave of absence to work
at Neuralink, which seeks to augment thehumanbrainwitha superfastcomputer
processor.Thedeparturecreatedcon-
siderablebuzzamongneuroscientists
andamongstudentsexcitedbyMusk’s
vision.(Gardner,whodidn’trespond
torequestsforcomment,is movingthe
labtotheUniversityofOregon;he’llstay
onatNeuralinkparttime.)“It’sa fan-
tasyatthispoint,butI findtheideathat
wecould,onedayinthedistantfuture,
reallywriteinformationdirectlyintothe
brain... amazing,”Otchysays.“Iwould
lovetobeabletocontributeinevena
smallwaytofiguringouthow.”
Birdsongresearchersareamongthe
hottesthiresina widerangeofAIfields.
AfterhisdissertationattheUniversityof
CaliforniaatBerkeleyanda stintatApple
Inc.,ChanningMoorejoinedGoogle’s
sound-understanding group, where
hecreatessound-recognitionsystems
as sophisticated as the company’simage-recognition software, capable of
distinguishing a siren from a crying baby.
AtIntelCorp.,anotherBerkeleyPh.D.,
TylerLee,is drawingonhiszebrafinch
researchtoimprovevoiceprocessing—
thetypeoftechnologythatendsupin
voice-command software such as Siri.
“We’re trying to ask very similar ques-
tions,” he says. “How can I take audi-
tory input, process it in a way that I can
understand what a person is saying,
what is the noise they’re in, what’s the
environment they’re in?”
Berkeley professor Frederic
Theunissen, who runs the lab where
Moore and Lee studied, says many poten-
tial applications arise from the focused
research he oversees. “It’s a special set
of skills you gain if you’re interested in
automatic speech recognition, voice
recognition, and so forth,” Theunissen
says. Voiceprint-based security systems
for phones and other devices are one
example. Another is noise reduction
inphonecallsandvideos.Thatappli-
cationcameoutofMoore’sworkwith
thenoise-resistant birds. The neurons
ofthezebrafincharecapableofiso-
latinganotherfinch’ssongfromthe
surrounding cacophony.Academicshavebeentryingtodeclare
itthe ageofneuroscience since the
Reaganera,butintheearlyyearsof
thiscentury,theprospectsfora young
neuroscience graduate were low, and so
weretheirnumbers.Fifteenyearsago,
Americanuniversitiescountedfewer
than1,500neuroscienceundergrads
andhandedoutfewerthan 400 doctor-
ates, according to the U.S. Department
of Education. And even with such
modest numbers, schools didn’t have
enough full-time work or grant money
to go around.
When Drew Robson graduated from
Princeton with a math degree in 2005,
his undergrad counselor gave him a
memorable piece of advice: Whatever
you do, don’t pursue neuroscience.
Robson ignored it and went on to found
the Rowland Institute’s RoLi Lab with
Jennifer Li, his partner and Princeton
sweetheart. They’ve seen the field grow
to the point that U.S. schools now awardThe semantic understanding birds have of their
songs, if properly understood, could be applied to
voice-recognition software