When two guitarists play together, their brains are perfectly coordinated, and as a result of this perfect synchronization, beautiful pieces of music are obtained. A team of scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Human Development (Berlin) has decided to investigate the brains of musicians and analyze their activity when they form duets. The results reveal many similarities in the electric wave dance that occurs in the heads of these artists when they coordinate to play, and these similarities hold even when the musicians perform different voices from the piece.
A student at the University of Virginia has developed a biofeedback system that allows smartphones to play the music that its owner's heart needs, whether to beat hard while exercising or to slow down when the goal is to relax.
Sand dunes hum in some areas of the planet, and their "melodies" - always a low sound, similar to a buzzing - have aroused human curiosity for centuries. Marco Polo spoke of them, and also Charles Darwin in his "Voyage of the Beagle". The sound is a soft hum at a frequency equivalent to the lower half of the musical range of a cello.
Going to a rock festival, or simply turning up the volume on the stereo while listening to our favorite song, can be good for the brain. As Neil Todd and his colleagues at the University of Manchester (UK) have shown, when we listen to music at more than 90 decibels, an area of the inner ear known as the sacculus stimulates the brain to release endorphins that make us feel pleasure.
Can't you erase the happy "song of the summer" from your mind? Ninety-nine out of a hundred people are susceptible to the syndrome of the catchy song (earmworm or "ear worm" in English), which implies that when listening to certain melodies they resonate over and over again in the head in an uncontrolled way.
The songs composed in recent years are more similar to each other than the old ones. This is because transitions between note groups have slowed over the past 55 years, according to a study published in the journal Scientific Reports.
If you are a lover of blues or jazz, you will probably be an intelligent, imaginative, tolerant and liberal person, as well as open to new experiences. Heavy metal consumers agree on their intelligence, but they are also especially curious, athletic, and common social "ringleaders." Extroversion, talkativeness, energy and high self-esteem are the traits that predominate among fans of hip-hop and funky.
Natural selection is not only useful to understand species evolve and adapt. Biologists from Imperial College London have used Darwin's principles to create a computer program that creates the perfect pop melody, according to PNAS magazine in its latest issue.
Danni Büchner is invited to Sam Dylan's Halloween party. But the "Goodbye Germany" emigrant has no desire for many other party guests. And find clear words.
