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Nature 423, 815 (19 June 2003) | doi:10.1038/423815a

Open Innovation Challenges

Echolocation: Volume control

Amanda Tromans

Bats, dolphins and submarines all use sound rather than vision to locate prey, friend or foe — bats because they hunt at night, dolphins and submarines because their marine environment is all but impenetrable to light. They emit sonar signals, and then process the echoes that are bounced back from distant objects to produce three-dimensional reconstructions of their targets.