Curious Minds: How Do Birds Change Their Tune?

Songbirds learn their tunes from their parents when young. To figure out how this happens, scientists typically study the zebra finch, a bird with a relatively simple song. Postdoctoral Research Scientist Jordan Moore, PhD, recently explored something new. By swapping eggs between the nests of different bird species, he discovered a part of the brain critical for learning songs: a step toward understanding how human beings learn language when young.

His research at Columbia’s Zuckerman Institute, done in the lab of Sarah M.N. Woolley, PhD, was published in the journal Nature Neuroscience.

— Anne Holden. This video is part of Curious Minds, a video series highlighting students and early-career scientists at Columbia’s Zuckerman Institute.