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"Discovery Files" Features from the National Science Foundation
"Bat Signal"
Fully produced report in MP3 format:
48 kbps |
96 kbps
(75 seconds)
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READER SCRIPT
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"BAT"-TLE PLAN. THE "DISCOVERY FILES": NEW ADVANCES IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING, FROM THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION. YOU'RE LISTENING TO ONE OF THE WORLD'S MOST-ADVANCED TRACKING SYSTEMS FOR LOCATION AND INTERCEPTION OF EVASIVE MOVING TARGETS. IT'S NOT COMING FROM SOME MILITARY BUNKER; IT'S IN THE BAT LAB AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND. THE TRACKING SYSTEM BELONGS TO A BIG BROWN BAT. WE'VE LONG KNOWN THAT BATS USE SONAR FOR DIRECTION-FINDING. BUT, NEW RESEARCH SEEMS TO INDICATE THAT THE BAT IS INSTINCTIVELY SOLVING COMPLEX GEOMETRIC PROBLEMS TO MOST-EFFECTIVELY TRACK AND CAPTURE ERRATICALLY MOVING INSECTS. THESE COMPUTATIONS ARE SIMILAR TO THOSE DEVELOPED BY MILITARY ENGINEERS WORKING ON GUIDED-MISSILE SYSTEMS. THE BAT NOT ONLY HONES IN ON ITS TARGET, IT ACTUALLY SEEMS TO PREDICT WHERE THE MOVING TARGET IS MOST LIKELY TO GO--AND COMPUTES THE FASTEST-POSSIBLE POINT OF INTERCEPTION. WHEN IT COMES TO ROCKET SCIENCE, IT LOOKS LIKE BATS HAD IT WORKED OUT BEFORE SCIENTISTS DID. THE "DISCOVERY FILES" COVERS PROJECTS FUNDED BY THE GOVERNMENT'S NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION: FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH BROUGHT TO YOU BY YOU! LEARN MORE AT "N-S-F"-DOT-GOV.
For additional "Discovery Files" features from the National Science Foundation, click here.
