An Interview with Professor Dudley: From Fearless Flyers to Alcoholic Apes: A Discussion on Extremes

F rom F earless F lyers to A lcoholic A pes : A D iscussion on E xtremes with P rofessor R obert D udley By: Harshika Chowdhary, Manraj Gill, Selene Clay, and Erin Kaya BSJ: To get things started, how did you get into your field of research? B S J Prof. Dudley: Both of my parents were biologists, so I was always interested in biology from an early age. I did a lot of fieldwork in New England and in the Northeast, which is where I am from originally. I spent a lot of time studying marine life and forests. I had a lot of exposure to natural environments, so I was interested in bugs, birds, and plants. As an undergraduate, I majored in zoology. I studied a lot of physics because I was and am very interested in mechanics, which is very relevant in my current field. After taking many biology, physics, and math courses, I decided to do my Ph.D. in biomechanics. I had a very good faculty mentor at Duke University, where I completed my undergraduate degree. He steered me towards the right program, and I did my Ph.D. on the biomechanics of insect flight. BSJ: You already had a general idea of what fielded you want to research in during your graduate education? Prof. Dudley: Yes, it was a preordained projector. I had great guidance and advice early on in my career. I realize most people don’t have that kind of opportunity, but I knew about the university scene from day one. I joke that if I hadn’t done a Ph.D., my parents would have considered me a drop out. I started working on insect flight. Of course, there are 6 million species of insects. Insects are one of the most diverse, amazing groups on the planet. There are lots of different sizes, shapes, colors, and they’re doing many different things. They can have different numbers of wings, which is just incredible diversity. The insect scene is an interesting one. We also do a lot of work on hummingbirds, which are convergent to insects in terms of feeding on nectar, but, of course, they are a lot smarter. You can also work with them behaviorally, in ways you cannot work with insects. You can manipulate their behavior in the lab. You can always feed a nectar reward in a very predictable manner and have submeter level precision. In terms of flight, we’re basically looking at stability. We are very interested in BSJ Interview Team had the distinct honor and pleasure to interview Professor Robert Dudley. Professor Dudley’s research interests revolve around animal flight, focused on biomechanics and evolution. Professor Dudley explores how the wings and even hemoglobin in blood have evolved in hummingbird and bumblebee populations to allow these creatures to fly and thrive at high elevations. BSJ Interview Team had the opportunity to learn more about the extreme climates that hummingbirds and bumblebees reside in and the drunken monkey hypothesis, which may lead to insight on another form of extremism, particularly in humans – alcoholism. stability, but also maneuverability. How the hummingbirds change direction, how do they fly in turbulence or in rain? Half the work is fieldwork and half the work is lab work. We’re interested in the origins of flight, the mechanics of flight, aerodynamics, physiology, and diversification. Why are there so many different kinds of flying things and how has flight enabled that diversification? The other interesting aspect of it, as you’ve probably heard of, is a field called “micro air vehicles.” Everyone is trying to make drones of different kinds, but now, all of a sudden, there are surges of interest by engineers in animal flight because animals have incredible flight capacity that, today, cannot be engineered. The idea is the basic knowledge that animal flight might let us make better drones. It’s technology. It can be both good and bad, and we have seen abundant examples of both. We know the bad examples of drones, but the good ones are protecting rhinos and other big game from poachers. The rangers can’t cover 500 kilometers a night around a game reserve in South Africa, but drones can easily survey large areas of land. Or if you’re walking home in a sketchy neighborhood at night, maybe you want a drone following you, taking pictures and transmitting them to your friend. BSJ: How does it translate exactly though? Is it just breaking down the basic components of animal flight? Prof. Dudley: Well, say you’re flying along and you encounter a gust of wind, which throws you sideways. What’s the most efficient and useful response? If you have 44 • B erkeley S cientific J ournal • E xtremes • F all 2014 • V olume 19 • I ssue 1