Wild Music in the News

Archaeologists have found a tomb of noble musicians and weavers from the ancient Chimú culture in the coastal desert of Peru.

Dyslexia, a learning disability that hinders reading, hasn't been associated with deficits in vision, hearing, or general intelligence. Instead, the disorder seems to be the result of a subtle yet significant snarl in the brain's ability to process information about words. New research, described on page 1251, is reigniting debate about the cause of the disorder, which most researchers believe is caused by faulty mental representations of words. The new study suggests that these representations are actually intact in people with dyslexia, but that their ability to access the information is impaired. Author: Emily Underwood

Eating DNA sounds scary but it’s completely safe. I do it every day. Let me explain.

Spotify, the Swedish music streaming service, is set to announce a new feature that will allow users to pick specific tracks and listen to them on mobile devices for free.

Formula 1 racing is so loud that fans would have to wear both earplugs and earmuffs to enjoy the races at safe noise levels, new research suggests.

On September 18 this year, far above the Arctic Circle at Norway's Andoya Rocket Range, the SCRAMSPACE hypersonic scramjet flight experiment was about to launch. Three and a half years of intense effort by a small team of young scientists and engineers – including myself – had gone into this moment. Millions of dollars of investment were at stake. The international aerospace community and the broader public were watching in anticipation.

Eating DNA sounds scary but it's completely safe. I do it every day. Let me explain.

Beats Music, the digital music spinoff of headphone maker Beats Electronics LLC, is set to launch in January.

The sounds of icebergs calving make the oceans a noisier place, which could make it more difficult for whales and other cetaceans to hear each other's calls, new research suggests.

If they don't believe their parents, maybe America's teens will listen to the Pentagon's top general.

Every year, the MTA gets all misty around the holidays and runs a few vintage train cars. This year, the first four Sundays in December, you can ride the “Nostalgia Special” from Lower Manhattan to Queens on the M line.

There is also, this coming Sunday, a vintage subway dance party on the platform of the 2nd Avenue station from 11:45 to 6 p.m. It’s organized by enthusiasts of ’30s-era dances, like Lindy Hop and Balboa, which, according to Vanity Fair, are cool again. There will be music on the trains and dancing on the platform. The organizers say:

I just love the faces on people boarding what they think are “normal” subway cars, and see the old trains with wicker seats, fans, advertisements and a car full of people in period dress and bands playing great old tunes. (If you don’t have anything vintage, just be creative! The photographers come out in force for this! Give them something exciting to look at!)

There will be two to three bands playing on this platform at the same time. Before the train leaves for its round trip to Queens, at least one band will board the train and play for the entire trip. Another band will then take up a spot on the platform. So there will be music on the trains and platform all afternoon!

There is the danger of dancing right off the subway platform, but, eh, it’s worth it. Maybe bring a vintage collapsible ladder just to be safe.

If you’re not in New York, you can look for the tag “NYCVINTAGETRAIN2013″ on all your favorite social media sites to check out the scene.

Filed under: Cities, Living

An acoustical engineer always wanted to go to a Formula 1 Grand Prix but knew he needed to protect himself from the deafening roar of the engines. The advice he found online varied and the technical papers he read provided assessments of sound levels for NASCAR and other races, but he could find nothing that measured the noise levels or dosage specifically for Formula 1. So he decided to conduct his own test.

SAN FRANCISCO -- The sound of icebergs breaking apart in the ocean could make the seas a noisier place. In turn, whales and other cetaceans could have a harder time hearing other animals' calls in the din when icebergs are calving, new research suggests.

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The Xbox One won't quite replace your TV set-top box, but it comes awfully close. The latest game console from Microsoft takes a big leap toward being the main entertainment hub in your living room. It gives you a program guide for browsing what's on TV and what's highlighted in apps such as Netflix and Amazon. You can listen to music and view photos stored on Microsoft's SkyDrive service. You can make Skype video calls.

Vibration absorbers are devices used to damp vibration in everything from engines to buildings. When attached to the wheels or the tracks of rail transit systems, they may reduce the noise from trains, bringing more peace and quiet to passengers and those who work or live near the tracks. In tests of two major metropolitan public rail systems, researchers say that vibration absorbers have a modest effect if any on wheel or rail rolling noise, but they may be effective in reducing wheel squeal.

When attached to the wheels or the tracks of rail transit systems, vibration absorbers may reduce the noise from trains, bringing more peace and quiet to passengers and those who work or live near the tracks. In tests of two major metropolitan public rail systems, researchers say that vibration absorbers have a modest effect if any on wheel or rail rolling noise, but they may be effective in reducing wheel squeal.

Killer whales that feed on marine mammals may passively listen for the sounds of their prey and then strike in complete darkness, new research suggests.

Some song sparrows are more effusive than others in defending territory. New findings show consistent individual differences not only for how aggressive individual song sparrows are but also for how much they use signals to communicate aggressive intentions.

Like humans, some song sparrows are more effusive than others, at least when it comes to defending their territories. New findings from the University of Washington show that consistent individual differences exist not only for how aggressive individual song sparrows are but also for how much they use their signals to communicate their aggressive intentions.

Some song sparrows signal their aggressiveness clearly, but others are more circumspect.