Meet McMaster’s own Dark Knight (of science)
A big brown bat in the McMaster Bat Lab. Researchers led by Paul Faure study the neural mechanism of hearing in the bat, in an attempt to better understand the relationship between sound production, hearing and behaviour.
There’s no question what side Paul Faure would take in a battle between Batman and Superman.
Faure is the principal investigator in the McMaster Bat Lab, home to Canada’s only captive colony of insect-eating bats.
Faure and his team want to better understand the relationship between sound production, hearing and behaviour.
To do this, they study the ultrasonic signals — the chirping vocalizations of bats that you mostly don’t hear when they are flying above you around the campfire — and neural mechanisms of hearing in the big brown bat.
Bat vocalizations are important to study because they use sounds for attracting mates, avoiding obstacles and detecting prey. Neural mechanisms of hearing by bats are also important to understand because discoveries made about the auditory systems of bats are relevant to all mammals, including humans.
Despite often being called “Batman,” Faure isn’t starring in the new superhero thriller Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice – but you may remember his debut on national television.
Faure and his lab were featured in an episode of the Rick Mercer Report in January, 2009 (clip starts at 3:20).
Faure is an associate professor in the Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour. His work with bats is supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.
