Category: Nature and science

Scientific innovations harness noise and acoustics for healing

Today, the role of sound in science extends beyond the range of audible frequencies: Ultrasonic and other silent acoustic waves have made their way into researchers’ repertoire, helping them push the boundaries of conventional medicine and research.
In examples from four Stanford labs, scientists are investigating the full spectrum, harnessing the nuances of noise and the power of acoustics to generate inventive, if not unexpected, technologies that show just how potent the combination of sound and science can be….Continue Reading Scientific innovations harness noise and acoustics for healing

Island Songs – Nyey

A radio work and immersive sound installation that explores the emergence in 1963 of the earths newest land mass –  a small island off the coast of iceland.

In 1963, off the coast of Iceland, an island has emerged after an underwater volcanic eruption, a rare event that occurs on average twice a century. It was given the name Surtsey, after Surtr, the fire giant of Norse mythology….Continue Reading Island Songs – Nyey

Audible Spaces: Exhibition explores physicality of sound

Audible Spaces presents three sound installations that encourage participants to explore the subtleties of listening. Tristan Perich, Zarouhie Abdalian, and [The User] have each created immersive environments using seemingly uniform sounds that dissolve into tonal, tactile, and temporal variations as participants engage with them….Continue Reading Audible Spaces: Exhibition explores physicality of sound

On Being – Gordon Hempton – Silence and the Presence of Everything

Podcast episode featuring acoustic ecologist Gordon Hempton. Silence is an endangered species, says Gordon Hempton. He defines real quiet as presence — not an absence of sound, but an absence of noise. The Earth, as he knows it, is a “solar-powered jukebox.” Quiet is a “think tank of the soul.” We take in the world through his ears….Continue Reading On Being – Gordon Hempton – Silence and the Presence of Everything

Doug Aitken – Sonic Pavillion

The idea behind Sonic Pavilion (2009) was this: boring of a 200-meter-deep well in the ground in order to install a set of microphones to capture the sound of the earth. By way of a sophisticated system of equalization and amplification, this sound is played in real time inside the empty circular pavilion, which was designed to create equivalence between the audio experience and one’s relation to the surrounding space….Continue Reading Doug Aitken – Sonic Pavillion

Visualizations of Reverberation – Toward the Circle

“Toward the Circle” is silent short film created by Zackery Belangerduring a research residency at the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) in Troy, NY. It presents a sequence of enclosures, each with a simulated burst of sound energy, that hints at an important relationship between sound and architecture….Continue Reading Visualizations of Reverberation – Toward the Circle

Acoustic Ecology and Ethical Listening

Check out the list of types of listening. “Learning how to listen is particularly relevant to understanding the lives of other animals. Most wild birds and mammals instinctually avoid human presence, so depending on your eyes alone may be a less effective method of contact than relying on your ears. When the robins nest on…Continue Reading Acoustic Ecology and Ethical Listening

ALMA Music Box: melody of a Dying Star

http://alma.mtk.nao.ac.jp/musicbox/ ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array) is a state-of-the-art radio telescope developed and operated by 20 countries and territories in East Asia, Europa and North America in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. Connecting 66 parabola antennas deployed in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile, ALMA works as a giant radio telescope with a diameter…Continue Reading ALMA Music Box: melody of a Dying Star

The Singing Comet

Rosetta’s Plasma Consortium (RPC) has uncovered a mysterious ‘song’ that Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is singing into space. RPC principal investigator Karl-Heinz Glaßmeier, head of Space Physics and Space Sensorics at the Technische Universität Braunschweig, Germany, tells us more. RPC consists of five instruments on the Rosetta orbiter that provide a wide variety of complementary information about…Continue Reading The Singing Comet

Earthquake Sound of the Mw9.0 Tohoku-Oki, Japan earthquake (Zhigang Peng)

This webpage contains earthquake “sounds” created from seismic recordings around the world generated by the 2011/03/11 Mw9.0 Tohoku-Oki, Japan earthquake. They provide a unique way for us to listen to the vibration of the Earth that is otherwise inaudible to us, and to decipher the complicated earthquake physics and triggering processes….Continue Reading Earthquake Sound of the Mw9.0 Tohoku-Oki, Japan earthquake (Zhigang Peng)

Listen to the stars – Wanda L. Diaz Merce

“In the spring of 2011, Wanda L. Diaz Merced spent time at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, doing research for her doctoral dissertation at Glasgow University, Scotland. Wanda, who is blind, has been interested in sonification as a data analysis tool: how sonification might help scientists, even those who can see, detect patterns in large…Continue Reading Listen to the stars – Wanda L. Diaz Merce

The Sound So Loud That It Circled the Earth Four Times

On 27 August 1883, the Earth let out a noise louder than any it has made since. It was 10:02 AM local time when the sound emerged from the island of Krakatoa, which sits between Java and Sumatra in Indonesia. It was heard 1,300 miles away in the Andaman and Nicobar islands (“extraordinary sounds were…Continue Reading The Sound So Loud That It Circled the Earth Four Times

Living Symphonies

Living Symphonies is a musical composition that grows in the same way as a forest ecosystem. Portraying the thriving activity of the forest’s wildlife, plants and atmospheric conditions, it creates an ever-changing symphony heard amongst the forest itself. Composed and realised by James Bulley and Daniel Jones, Living Symphonies will be taking place across four…Continue Reading Living Symphonies

Reverberation and Echo – Echo Bridge, Massachusetts

Built in the 1870s, this forty-metre wide arch spans the Charles River. There are steps down to a specially built platform so visitors can test out the sound effect. In September 1948 Arthur Taber Jones wrote to the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, detailing a small study. ‘A handlcapp [sic] is returned in…Continue Reading Reverberation and Echo – Echo Bridge, Massachusetts

Noisy Predators Put Plants on Alert, Study Finds

From the New York Times online It has long been known that some plants can respond to sound. But why would a plant evolve the ability to hear? Now researchers are reporting that one reason may be to defend itself against predators. To see whether predator noises would affect plants, two University of Missouri researchers…Continue Reading Noisy Predators Put Plants on Alert, Study Finds

Chris Watson – Whispering in the Leaves

Whispering in the Leaves(5:08) Chris Watson’s Whispering in the Leaves is an extraordinary sound installation, using recordings and natural history broadcast to transport us to the far-flung, dense rain forests of South and Central America. Throughout Kew Gardens’ Summer festival, the Palm House  whisperingintheleaves.org was diffused with the dawn and dusk choruses of the myriad of…Continue Reading Chris Watson – Whispering in the Leaves

Douglas Quiin – WEDDELL SEALS

“Douglas Quin’s Fathom brings together four extended underwater soundscapes—two each from the Arctic and Antarctic. The recordings have been gathered over a period of 15 years, capturing an extraordinary palette of sonic voices, events, spaces, and textures. To the human ear, these soundscapes are haunting and otherworldly; yet they are very much of this world—out…Continue Reading Douglas Quiin – WEDDELL SEALS

Chris Watson – Adult cheetah resting by beobab tree

An adult cheetah purring captured by master field recorder Chris Watson. This recording is from his album on Touch records titled “Outside The Ring Of Fire”. “The purr of a leopard close up against a baobab tree, waiting. Whales surfacing, breathing in cold air. Coll starling imitate the noise of farm machinery from the hollow…Continue Reading Chris Watson – Adult cheetah resting by beobab tree

Anders Dahl – Habitat

Anders Dahl: habitat Hear the real sounds of artificial nature; sometimes even more natural than nature itself. Anders Dahl have spent 4 years creating this piece of birds and insects and other animals; using only speakers, toys and other mechanical devices. Very inspiring and a very rewarding excursion. Enjoy the field trip, and don´t forget…Continue Reading Anders Dahl – Habitat