AMF II.I by Graemo Model’s Gynt & Haro
Ray Troll stratigraphy/geologic time. I’m printing this out and hanging it above my desk.
Know your geologic history.
And don’t put a nautilus in the back of your pickup truck. That is not how we treat nice fossils.
Dear Science love letters
Show your love!Forget the flowers. Forget the chocolates. This Valentine’s Day, why not tell science how you feel with a “Dear Science” love letter? Perhaps you want to remind science how you first met. Or maybe you want to tell science about the moment you knew it was love.
We’ll be collecting your love letters throughout the day, and posting our favorites tomorrow. You can either send your letters in through the submission tool, or by emailing them to submissions@lookslikescience.com
NASA’s Earthbound Practice For the Moon Walk, 1963-1968
More people walking sideways at the link.
(via Retronaut)
The Science of Why Adele’s ‘Someone Like You’ Makes Everyone Cry
Tension, resolution, and the ever important “buildy-ness” (which is a term I invented but is accurate), these are the characteristics behind the most extreme emotional reactions to songs:
Twenty years ago, the British psychologist John Sloboda conducted a simple experiment. He asked music lovers to identify passages of songs that reliably set off a physical reaction, such as tears or goose bumps. Participants identified 20 tear-triggering passages, and when Dr. Sloboda analyzed their properties, a trend emerged: 18 contained a musical device called an “appoggiatura.”
An appoggiatura is a type of ornamental note that clashes with the melody just enough to create a dissonant sound. “This generates tension in the listener,” said Martin Guhn, a psychologist at the University of British Columbia who co-wrote a 2007 study on the subject. “When the notes return to the anticipated melody, the tension resolves, and it feels good.”
Chills often descend on listeners at these moments of resolution. When several appoggiaturas occur next to each other in a melody, it generates a cycle of tension and release. This provokes an even stronger reaction, and that is when the tears start to flow.
There’s just about the most detailed scientific analysis of a Grammy-winning song ever at the link.
(via WSJ.com)
You can never be overdressed or overeducated.
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Oscar Wilde (via mmementomori) (Source: imfeelingmorethanalive) |
