Learn Echolocation like a Dolphin

When I was in high school, I had a blind friend who used something similar to do some rather amazing things. He would follow me on his bicycle (!), tracking by the sound the bike made. Solo, he could turn into the driveway next to his house. When prompted, he told me he could tell where he was by the trees. What? "Yes, I can hear the sound the trees make". The light rustling of the leaves, the reflection of the bike's sound off the tree itself.

I suspect that we may use a bit of this already without being aware of it.

I have always felt that there are opportunities to extend our senses, not only by practice as suggested by the article, but also by some sort of electronic assist.

A few months ago I had to spend four days with my eyes closed. I was surprised to discover that I could tell where my coffee was just by holding out my hands and tracking the heat source. I also tended to stop suddenly when walking around, feeling that something was wrong, and then finding that there was indeed an object out of place and in the way. Sometimes these were quite small - mug-sized (although not mugs).

Feynman had more to say about training the senses. You can read about it in his semi-autobiographical books.

Comparing Human Echo location to a Dolphin is highly unfair, at least for the human. The Dolphins brain has specifically adapted to use this technique and it is quite impressive. Dolphins are actually able to see through things which block their view of an object. Meaning that they can distinguish objects without actually seeing them directly.

Here is more on this:

http://www.guba.com/watch/2000977386?duration_step=0&fie...