Universal property of music discovered

Researchers at the Institute for Logic, Language and Computation (ILLC) of the University of Amsterdam have discovered a universal property of musical scales. Until now it was assumed that the only thing scales throughout the world have in common is the octave.

The many hundreds of scales, however, seem to possess a deeper commonality: if their tones are compared in a two- or three-dimensional way by means of a coordinate system, they form convex or star-convex structures. Convex structures are patterns without indentations or holes, such as a circle, square or oval.

Almost all music in the world is based on an underlying scale from which compositions are built. In Western music, the major scale (do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-ti-do) is the best known scale. However, there are many other scales in use, such as the minor and the chromatic scale. Besides these ‘traditional’ scales there are also artificial scales created by modern composers. At a superficial level, scales consist of an ascending or descending sequence of tones where the initial and final tones are separated by an octave, which means the frequency of the final tone is twice that of the initial tone (the fundamental).

By placing scales in a coordinate system (an ‘Euler lattice’) they can be studied as multidimensional objects. Dr. Aline Honingh and Prof. Rens Bod from the ILLC did this for nearly 1,000 scales from all over the world, from Japan to Indonesia and from China to Greece. To their surprise, they discovered that all traditional scales produced star-convex patterns. This was also the case with almost 97% of non-traditional, scales conceived by contemporary composers, even though contemporary composers often state they have designed unconventional scales. This percentage is very high, because the probability that a random series of notes will produce a star-convex pattern is very small.

via Universal property of music discovered.

DARPA behind bid to give firefighters flame-quelling electric wand

…it’s actually a concept that’s been kicking around for some 200 years that, for no particular reason, simply hasn’t been developed.

Last week, team leader Ludovico Cademartiri showed the 241st National Meeting and Exposition of the American Chemical Society how electricity could bend, twist, turn and flicker flame.

And yes, it can even snuff it out.

Dr Cademartiri proved it for the society by shooting a beam of electricity from a “wand” at 30cm-high flames.

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Almost instantly, it was snuffed out, time and time again.

The wand was channelling about the same amount of power as a high-end car stereo system, which Dr Cademartiri said was about 10 times more than he thought was necessary.

That means a similar device could be carried in a backpack – in other words, future firefighters could all be carrying portable, fire-quelling magic wands.

“Our research has shown that by applying large electric fields we can suppress flames very rapidly,” he said.

“We’re very excited about the results of this relatively unexplored area of research.”

Which is not surprising. Rather than douse your entire home or office with thousands of litres of water or foam, your local hero simply waves his wand, parting the flames for you and your family to escape before performing an extinguishing sweep, yes?

It’s about now that we’d say the future vision doesn’t quite live up to the present reality, but Dr Cademartiri says there’s no reason why not.

He says carbon particles, or soot, generated in the flame are the keys to its response to electric fields.

Soot particles can easily become charged. The charged particles respond to the electric field, affecting the stability of flames, he said. … The idea holds particular promise for enclosed spaces, such as airplanes and submarines. …

via DARPA gets behind bid to put flame-quelling electric wands in the hands of firefighters | Herald Sun.

Hundreds of dead starfish wash up on Talybont beach

Several hundred dead starfish have been found washed up on a north Wales beach.

It comes following the discovery at Talybont, between Harlech and Barmouth in Gwynedd.

Council maritime officer Barry Davies said it is common for starfish to be washed ashore during spring tides but it was not clear why they had migrated so far up the shoreline.

Barmouth harbour committee chairman said an inquiry is needed.

Councillor Trefor Roberts said: “What I would like is a full scientist report on what caused the deaths of these starfish.”

Mr Davies said he did not think anything suspicious has led to the deaths of the starfish.

Seagulls

He said that the common starfish – found around the UK coast – feed on mussels and other crustaceans and while there is no clear reason why the starfish migrated so far along the coast he felt one reason could be a shortage of food.

“We are confident that the cause is not related to pollution or to a vessel having dredged the starfish and discarded the starfish overboard,” he said.

Although a distressing sight to see, he said the starfish were not a hazard and would probably be consumed by seagulls. …

via BBC News – Hundreds of dead starfish wash up on Talybont beach.

Tanzanian ‘miracle’ pastor Mwasapile calls for a break

A Tanzanian pastor has asked people to stop going to his remote home for a “miracle cure” after thousands flocked there, causing chaos in the surrounding area.

Rev Ambilikile “Babu” Mwasapile, 76, says he does not want any new arrivals until after Friday 1 April, to let the crowds die down.

Local media report that about 52 people have died while waiting to see him.

A BBC reporter says the queues to see him stretch for 26km (16 miles).

Belief in magic and the powers of traditional healers are widespread in Tanzania.

Some witchdoctors say that the body parts of people with albinism are effective when making magic charms, leading to the killing of dozens of albinos in recent years.

In 2009, the government outlawed all witchdoctors and traditional healers.

But on Monday, Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda said he would not take any action to stop Mr Mwasapile’s activities.

Mr Mwasapile’s concoction is made from herbs and water, which he sells for 500 Tanzanian shillings (five cents; 3p).

When she visited Mr Mwasapile’s home near the northern Loliondo town recently, the BBC’s Caroline Karobia found 6,000 people waiting to see the retired Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania (ELCT) pastor. …

via BBC News – Tanzanian ‘miracle’ pastor Mwasapile calls for a break.

The placebo effect does really work. Mr. Mwasapile should deputize others and imbue them with his amazing healing powers so they may go forth and heal more people who believe. Fewer people might die that way.

Happiness peaks in our eighties

Traditional wisdom states that our younger years are the best of our lives, with the milestone of 40 meaning we are “over the hill” and already on the wane.

But in fact satisfaction and optimism steadily increase after middle age, easily eclipsing the earlier years and peaking as late as the eighties, according to research.

An easing of the responsibilities of middle age combined with maturity and the ability to focus on the things we enjoy combine to make old age far more enjoyable than one might expect.

This is greatly increased by having good health, a stable income and good relationships with family and friends, according to scientists.

Lewis Wolpert, emeritus professor of biology at University College London, who explained the findings in a new book called You’re Looking Very Well, said most people were “averagely happy” in their teens and twenties, declining until early middle age as they try to support a family and a career.

via Happiness peaks in our eighties – Telegraph.

I hope I’m still fit enough at 80 to tour the world, make music and blog about strange news. Based on my grandfathers, however, (83 and 85) I don’t expect to enjoy all of my 80′s… unless all this health food and exercise pays off… Life expectancy is based mostly on genetics the way I understand it.

A variation in the gene FOXO3A is known to have a positive effect on the life expectancy of humans, and is found much more often in people living to 100 and beyond – moreover, this appears to be true worldwide. … Men and women who are 100 or older tend to have something else in common, an extroverted personality, says Thomas T. Perls, M.D., M.P.H., the director of the New England Centenarian Study at Boston University. Centenarians will often have many friends, strong ties to relatives and a healthy dose of self-esteem.  – wikipedia

 

Rare dinosaur found in Canada’s oil sands

The Canadian oil sands, a vast expanse of tar and sand being mined for crude oil, yielded treasure of another kind this week when an oil company worker unearthed a 110-million-year-old dinosaur fossil that wasn’t supposed to be there.

The fossil is an ankylosaur, a plant-eating dinosaur with powerful limbs, armor plating and a club-like tail. Finding it in this region of northern Alberta was a surprise because millions of years ago the area was covered by water.

“We’ve never found a dinosaur in this location,” Donald Henderson, a curator at Alberta’s Royal Tyrrell Museum, which is devoted to dinosaurs, said on Friday. “Because the area was once a sea, most finds are invertebrates such as clams and ammonites.”

The ankylosaur that was found by the oil worker is expected to be about 5 meters (16-1/2 feet) long and 2 meters (6-1/2 feet) wide.

“It is pretty amazing that it survived in such good condition,” said Henderson, noting the fossil was three dimensional, not flattened by the heavy rock sediment.

“It is also the earliest complete dinosaur that we have from this province.”

via NewsDaily: Rare dinosaur found in Canada’s oil sands.

Itching really can be contagious scientists prove

Itching can be “caught” just by watching someone else having a good scratch, scientists have confirmed.

It is a phenomenon that can leave entire rooms full of people scratching at the merest mention of fleas or lice. Now scientists have proven for the first time that itching really can be contagious.

In a condition known as itch transmission, the researchers have shown that the sensation of an itch can be caught visually in the same way as yawning.

They found that simply watching a video of someone else scratching was enough to induce and intensify itching in volunteers.

Even when they were given a few drops of a liquid designed to induce itching on a patch of their skin, the volunteers tended to scratch more on random parts of their body. …

via Itching really can be contagious scientists prove – Telegraph.

Parts of Bible’s New Testament written by ‘pretend apostles’

Parts of the Bible were written by people who lied about their identity, an author has claimed.

Bart D Ehrman claims many books of the New Testament were forged by people pretending to be the apostles Peter, Paul or James.

Writing in the Huffington Post, Professor Ehrman, best selling author of ‘Misquoting Jesus’ and ‘Jesus, Interrupted’, said religious scholars were well aware of the ‘lies’ of the Bible.

While some were happy to acknowledge them others refer to them as ‘pseudepigrapha’ – meaning a falsely attributed work -, he wrote.

In his new book , Why the Bible’s Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are, Professor Ehrman claims The Second Epistle of Peter – or 2 Peter – was forged.

‘…scholars everywhere – except for our friends among the fundamentalists – will tell you that there is no way on God’s green earth that Peter wrote the book.

‘Someone else wrote it claiming to be Peter,’ he writes.

He then suggests scholars who say it was acceptable in the ancient world for someone to write a book in the name of someone else, are wrong.

‘If you look at what ancient people actually said about the practice, you’ll see that they invariably called it lying and condemned it as a deceitful practice, even in Christian circles,’ Professor Ehrman writes.

Many scholars think six of the 13 letters allegedly written by Paul were actually authored by somebody else claiming to be Paul, Professor Ehrman claims.

‘In the ancient world, books like that were labelled as pseudoi – lies,’ he writes.

Professor Ehrman also claims the author of the book of 1 Timothy claimed to be Paul but in actual fact was someone living after Paul had died.

The author then used the apostle’s name to address a problem he saw in church, according to Professor Ehrman.

‘Women were speaking out, exercising authority and teaching men. That had to stop,’ he writes.

‘The author told women to be silent and submissive, and reminded his readers about what happened the first time a woman was allowed to exercise authority over a man, in that little incident in the garden of Eden.

‘No, the author argued, if women wanted to be saved, they were to have babies (1 Tim. 2:11-15).’

Paul is known as one of history’s great misogynists, largely based on this passage from the Bible.

But Professor Ehrman argues this label is not necessarily justified because he wasn’t the one to write it.

‘And why does it matter? Because the passage is still used by church leaders today to oppress and silence women,’ writes Professor Ehrman. …

via Bart D Ehrman: Parts of Bible’s New Testament written by ‘pretend apostles’ | Mail Online.

 

Schoolboy in hospital after falling into cave and being attacked by hibernating bear

A schoolboy skier was recovering in hospital today after being attacked by a bear in one of Europe’s biggest resorts.

The youngster, who has not yet been named, fell into a cave in Funäsdalen, Sweden, while out on the slopes with his friends yesterday.

He landed next to a hibernating bear who immediately woke up and began biting the boy.

‘It was a savage attack,’ said a local police spokesman.

‘The startled bear bit the boy on both legs, and ran his claws down his back.

‘The boy was able to free himself, however, and ran away from the animal. He was rushed to hospital in Ostersund where he was treated for very serious injuries.’

The police spokesman said the bear was later located but was not shot because he was not considered a further threat to civilians.

via Schoolboy in hospital after falling into cave and being attacked by hibernating bear | Mail Online.

Bears hate when you fall on them during hibernation. Glad the boy survived. He will have scars and a heck of a story to tell for the rest of his life. I’m glad the humans over there didn’t further insult the bear by killing it.  Clearly self defense.

New idea: Figh terrorists with curry powder (a cheap sensor for explosives)

Jason Palmer- The main chemical in the curry spice turmeric could be the basis for cheap explosives detectors, say researchers.

The curcumin molecule is already well-known in medicine for its anti-cancer and anti-oxidant properties.

Now, research presented at the American Physical Society meeting suggests it could replace more complex solutions to spot explosives like TNT.

As it gathers molecules of explosive material in air, changes in its light-emitting properties can be measured.

This “fluorescence spectroscopy” is already employed in a wide array of sensing and analysis techniques.

Illuminating some chemicals causes them to re-emit light of a different colour, sometimes for extended periods – an effect exploited in, for example, glow-in-the-dark materials.

The intensity of this re-emitted light can change if different molecules bind to the fluorescent ones, and that is how sensing techniques exploit the effect. …

via BBC News – Curry powder molecule ‘is cheap sensor for explosives’.