“The driving, spikey rhythm of Mars from Gustav Holst’s The Planets is probably not the most comforting sound to hear through a stethoscope. A UK scientist, Elaine Chew is analysing the heartbeat patterns of people with arrhythmia – an irregular heartbeat – and turning them into classical music, in what she hopes may become an important diagnostic tool for doctors.”
Blog
New Generation Computer Design Is Taking Clues From The Human Brain
After years of stagnation, the computer is evolving again, and this behind-the-scenes migration to a new kind of machine will have broad and lasting implications. It will allow work on artificially intelligent systems to accelerate, so the dream of machines that can navigate the physical world by themselves can one day come true.
Didgeridoo Medicine And Feline Physics: The 2017 Ig Nobel Prizes
The prize for medicine went to neuroscientists who explored the reasons some people are disgusted by cheese, while medical researchers who found that learning to play the didgeridoo strengthens the muscles that control breathing and can reduce snoring received the peace prize. And since one definition of a liquid is matter that takes the shape of its container, the physics prize was given to a scientist who suggests that cats (see photo) are arguably liquid as well as solid.
Now That He’s In A Big Movie, Is Sergei Polunin Going To Give Up Ballet For Acting? Naah
“A few months ago, I was sure that I was going to stop dancing to become a good actor. But then when I was by myself for a week, I asked myself, What are you doing? You have that talent. Use it to the fullest. And if I can use that talent as well as acting, that’s magical to do both. Would I be happy just to be an actor? I don’t think I would.”
Half A Dozen Black Women Who Paved The Way For Postmodern Dance Today
“We’re highlighting some of the influential black women who came before, and have been changing the game in the downtown dance scene for almost four decades. They continue to thrive and survive, although in [one case], posthumously. As young dancemakers, we have to know the shoulders on which we stand.”
How We Can Get The Arts To Connect With Conservative Audiences
“The first challenge is to convince prospective audiences that there should be no fear of embarrassment associated with coming to a performance. Decades of research have shown that the best demographic predictor of attendance to all performing arts disciplines is level of educational attainment. … For many people, attending a performance is equated with shelling out big bucks to feel stupid in a sea of strangers, to be thrown out of one’s cultural comfort zone. How do we fix that?” Duncan Webb has a few ideas.
U.S. Holocaust Museum Finds Itself Caught In Argument Over Syrian Civil War
The museum commissioned and published a study on whether any alternative approaches might have prevented more bloodshed than the one taken by the Obama administration. (The answer: probably not.) Then the museum withdrew the study after accusations that it was nothing but a whitewash of what critics called Obama’s inaction in Syria.
We Need Real Gender Quotas At Major Theatres (Yeah, She Said It)
Lyn Gardner: “Too often, an artist – if they are a woman or are from diverse backgrounds – gets only one shot in a high-profile situation and if they don’t triumph, they are out. But it’s only when the opportunities are sustained, and not just one-off tokenism, that a significant and genuine advancement occurs in the diversity of the arts. This is why it’s important that organisations, particularly flagship ones in receipt of large amounts of public funding such as the RSC, lead the way and put policies in place that don’t just encourage diversity but embed it in their way of working.”
Thanks, Harvey: Home Base Of Houston Ballet And Grand Opera Will Be Closed Until At Least Next May
“The Wortham [Theater Center’s] two theaters, which sit near the banks of Buffalo Bayou, took on up to 12 feet of water during the storm, which flooded its basement and required the removal of the stage floor of the Alice and George Brown Theater.”
Foundation Launches New Cash Awards To Support Nonprofit Magazines
“The Whiting Foundation, which annually provides 10 emerging writers with prizes of $50,000 each, has announced a new series of grants designed to ‘acknowledge, reward and encourage’ nonprofit American magazines. The grants for print and digital publications will total up to $120,000.”