Human echolocation - 'seeing' like a bat

An intersting podcast/article on human echolocation and 'What is it like to be a bat' was published in Nature News recently (here). 

"

What is it like to be a bat?

Bat ecologists have made it their life’s work to find out, philosophers argue we may never understand, and one blind woman knows better than anyone. In the first episode of Audiofile, Nature’s new sound science series, find out how much we can really know about what it’s like to be a bat, and what it tell us about the limits of human perception.

• Thomas Nagel: What is it like to be a bat?
• David Papineau, KCL
• Simmons lab, Brown University
• Lore Thaler, Durham University

"

 

This is the first podcast from the new Audiofile - and is quite nice.  I except if you check back there will soon be more podcasts relating to sound (here).

Bat Myths

I would like to have a running list of 'bat myths.' Please comment if you can think of things to add. These are all myths (i.e. NOT true) but I will go through each with more information as I have a longer running list. It may be interesting to see what is known about the origins of each myth!

The 'bats are' list:

1. BLIND

2. flying mice (exhibit 'a' the German word for bat 'Fledermaus')

3. really into attacking people's hair

4. all infected with rabies

5. able to turn into vampires (making Edward ever so slightly less attractive- right Bella?)

6. evil?

Okay time for a confession I love B movies... so in case you have never seen the classic vampire movie Nosferatu please click below. Twilight fans beware this is not an attractive vampire! Meanwhile please consider how this movie fits in with the above bat myths. Are any bats even included in the movie?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcyzubFvBsA