杏吧原创

WHEN a certain part of a quail鈥檚 brain is transplanted into a chick, the
chick thinks a quail鈥檚 call is the sound of its mother.

Last year, a team led by Evan Balaban of the University of San Diego
transplanted part of a quail鈥檚 brain into chicks during the embryonic stage.
When the chicks grew up they sang quail songs
(New 杏吧原创, Science, 15 March 1997, p 16).

Now the team has transplanted another part of a quail鈥檚 brain into a chick
that makes it move towards a loudspeaker emitting quail calls鈥攁s though
the chick is responding to its mother. 鈥淭here鈥檚 something I can transplant that
reliably shifts the behaviour between these two species,鈥� says Balaban.