Jayalakshmi Viswanathan_2, Kelly Contractor At National Institute on Aging | Biotechnology

Cochlear Nucleus of Bats: Using reflected sounds to map the location of objects in space is echolocation. Few species like dogs, dolphins, and bats have evolved to hear high frequency sounds which they use for both communication and echolocation. Bats generate airborne species-specific ultrasonic calls which bounce off objects in their environment and return to them. The auditory system in bats has evolved several modifications to the cochlea as well as the underlying auditory system. Bats communicate with each other using chirps, screeches, and songs and bat infants ‘babble’ similar to human infants. The emergence of submarine warfare during World War I led to humans developing ‘SONAR’ (sound navigation and ranging) technology to locate underwater objects using sounds which works using the same principles as echolocation. Today, ultrasound technologies are widely used in science, research, medicine, geo-spatial mapping, and robotics. As an engineer and neuroscientist, I was fascinated by the design modifications to the auditory system that allowed bats to evolve echolocation sensory abilities. While being anatomically accurate and sourced from published microscopy images, I have taken artistic license with the colors. This painting is part of my series “sensory perceptions” in which I try to capture the diversity and beauty of sensory perceptual systems.