Lasers in the Jungle Somewhere ...

... Staccato signals of constant information ....

The Paul Simon lyrics were prompted by this item about how NASA is using something called a Laser Vegetation Imaging Sensor (LVIS) to search for ivory-billed woodpecker habitat. Here's how it works:

The instrument uses lasers that send pulses of energy to the Earth's surface. Photons of light from the lasers bounce off leaves, branches and the ground and reflect back to the instrument. By analyzing these returned signals, scientists receive a direct measurement of the height of the forest's leaf covered tree tops, the ground level below and everything in between.

"LVIS is aiding this search effort far beyond what aircraft photos or satellite images can provide in the way of just a two-dimensional rendering of what's below," said Woody Turner, Program Scientist at NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.

Woody and the woodpecker. You can't make this stuff up.