"Brain Expansion: Sparrows' Surprising Pre-Mating Adaptation"

Researchers are studying the Gambel's white-crowned sparrow, a songbird native to North America, to understand how its brain expands during mating season. The male sparrow's brain region responsible for singing, called the HVC, nearly doubles in size from around 100,000 neurons to about 170,000. Scientists are intrigued by this phenomenon and hope to uncover the mechanisms behind it, which could potentially provide insights into treating anomalies in the human brain, such as depression. The sparrow's ability to manage this brain growth without detrimental impacts is a subject of ongoing research.