In 1977 Irene Pepperberg, a recent graduate of Harvard University, did something very bold. At a time when animals still were considered automatons, she set out to find what was on another creature's mind by talking to it. She brought a one-year-old African gray parrot she named Alex into her lab to teach him to reproduce the sounds of the English language.

　　When Pepperberg began her dialogue with Alex,many scientists believed animals were incapable of any thought. Any pet owner would disagree. How, then, does a scientist prove that an animal is capable of thinking—that it is able to acquire information about the world and act on it.

　　"That's why I started my studies with Alex," Pepperberg said.