Interview with Mari Kimura. The Scientific American article about her. .. Instrument du jour of the week: Lur Some lur info. (Underneath: Fornnordiska klanger – The Sounds of Prehistoric Scandinavia.) ..

News Brain scans may have a (very) limited ability to predict hit records. (Reporting, Reporting, Study, Example of bad headline.) Original study where the data came from. .. Biorhythm Biorhythm: the psuedoscience. The Reality Check episode on the subject. Biorhythm: the interactive art exhibit — field trip. ..

A new study has found that dolphins emit two echolocating sound beams simultaneously. They vary in frequency (pitch), and can be sent in different directions. While the speculation is that this allows for a more detailed “view” of their surroundings, rather like stereo vision (two eyes), it hasn’t yet been proven. Interestingly, there is no [...]

  Rite of Spring premiere update, in which we more strongly declare that there was no riot. .. Violence in Lyrics Heavy metal and aggression study. (PDF)

In 2009 there was a lot of talk (1, 2, 3…) about monkeys who like Metallica. The usual takeaway was that of all the music played to a group of tamarins, Metallica was the only kind they responded to, and it relaxed them. Perhaps this is true, perhaps it’s not. It’s worth pointing out what [...]

A somewhat vague discussion about the fantastic World Science Festival. .. Interview with Baba Brinkman. The Rap Guide to Evolution in NYC at the Soho Playhouse. ..

In our last episode we questioned the legendary “riot at the Rite of Spring premiere.” We agreed that, looking at the original sources we found, it didn’t sound like there was a riot, and what hissing and booing occurred was a reaction to the choreography not the music, and that certainly the trouble didn’t last [...]