Neuroscience
Today's Science Weekly Podcast from The Guardian is a fascinating special on music and the brain.
Music is found in every human culture and one theory is that it was an evolutionary precursor to language.
Whereas language allows us to make propositional, "information rich" statements, music is far vaguer but arguably provides a superior means of conveying emotion. The podcast describes how this emotional power is being harnessed to help people with Alzheimer's. We also hear how singing can help stroke patients rediscover their lost voices.
However, my favourite discovery from the podcast is that birds can dance.
Link to today's Guardian Science podcast.
Link to Youtube video of a dancing bird.
Post written by Christian Jarrett (@psych_writer) for the BPS Research Digest.
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Neuroscience
All about music and the brain
Today's Science Weekly Podcast from The Guardian is a fascinating special on music and the brain.
Music is found in every human culture and one theory is that it was an evolutionary precursor to language.
Whereas language allows us to make propositional, "information rich" statements, music is far vaguer but arguably provides a superior means of conveying emotion. The podcast describes how this emotional power is being harnessed to help people with Alzheimer's. We also hear how singing can help stroke patients rediscover their lost voices.
However, my favourite discovery from the podcast is that birds can dance.
Link to today's Guardian Science podcast.
Link to Youtube video of a dancing bird.
Post written by Christian Jarrett (@psych_writer) for the BPS Research Digest.
- Science Weekly Podcast: Understanding The Brain
This week's Science Weekly podcast from The Guardian includes a report about the Society for Neuroscience (SfN) annual conference ("the brainiest science conference on the planet") and a report about dementia. Listen to the podcast here...
- Podcast: The Guardian's Science Weekly: "the Inscrutable Brain"
This week's Science Weekly podcast from The Guardian includes a segment called The Inscrutable Brain. [snippet] "On this week's show Alok Jha meets science writer Bryan Appleyard to discuss his new book The Brain is Wider than the Sky: Why Simple...
- The Guardian's Science Weekly Podcast: Blogging The Brain
This week's podcast includes The Guardian's new neuroscience blogger, Mo Costandi. Listen to the podcast...
- More From Daniel Levitin
Daniel Levitin, neuroscientist at McGill University and professional musician, has been in the (science) news a lot lately. He just published This is your brain on music : the science of a human obsession, the New York Times wrote about him a few weeks...
- The Music Genome Project?!
A new favorite podcast is Future Tense from American Public Media. Last month they reported on Pandora, "an Internet music service that streams songs based on 400 distinct musical characteristics." The people behind Pandora are working on a music genome...