Apollo, the god of the sun, sent Corvus the crow on a quick but important mission to fetch water from a nearby, ultra-clear spring. Apollo sent off Corvus with one of his favorite king-sized chalices.

Crows don’t think like humans, so word-for-word translation of crow speech will probably never be possible, McGowan said. But he’s excited to see how much the UW team will be able to decipher.