UF biologist James Liao hopes that understanding marine animal movement can provide solutions to human issues. He is studying tiny hair cells on the skin of fish that allow them to feel without touching. This research could help us better understand human hearing loss.

Liao says that the fish hair cells “translate sound and movement from the environment and send signals to the fish’s brain, telling it when and where to swim. The cells are identical to the ones we have in our ears that help us hear. But, unlike fish, we can’t regenerate them.”

• James Liao