There's a lot we can learn from our elders. A University of Houston researcher was part of a team that uncovered the genome of the zebra finch. This research eventually will be used to study vocal learning in humans. Preethi Gunaratne, an assistant professor of biology and biochemistry at UH, played a lead role in microRNA discovery and analysis in relation to changes in the auditory forebrain of zebra finches in response to song.