We have posted many occasions on the topic of reducing noise pollution.  We care about sound, and promote the reduction of man-made versions of it when it is not needed. The author of the book (click the image to the left) is interviewed on Fresh Air and in the podcast of that conversation he explains many sound phenomena in a manner understandable to a lay person.

One of the most interesting findings of his scientific work will delight our many bird-oriented readers: collecting data from thousands of subjects on their sonic preferences (as well as sounds they can least tolerate) the sound of bird calls, natural or recorded, rate among the most loved by humans:

Ever wonder why your voice sounds so much better when you sing in the shower? It has to do with an acoustic “blur” called reverberation. From classical to pop music, reverberation “makes music sound nicer,” acoustic engineer Trevor Cox tells Fresh Air‘s Terry Gross. It helps blend the sound, “but you don’t want too much,” he warns.

Cox is the author of The Sound Book: The Science of the Sonic Wonders of the World. He has developed new ways of improving the sound in theaters and recording studios. He’s also studied what he describes as the sonic wonders of the world — like whispering arches and singing sand dunes. His sonic travels have taken him many places, including the North Sea, where he recorded the sound of bottlenose dolphins underwater, and down into a revolting Victorian era sewer, where he discovered a curving sound effect he’d not heard before. Continue reading →

Passenger Pigeon Extinct 1914. Billions of the pigeons were alive just a few decades earlier. Like the other animals shown here, it has been proposed for de-extinction projects. Credit Stephen Wilkes for The New York Times. Passenger pigeon, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University.

He had me at mammoth. When he added passenger pigeon, I demonstrated the definition of click bait. I had to learn more. I will reserve judgement for now, but can recommend your reading what I have just read. Both species may be back in business soon, with the assistance of de-extinction science according to this story in the current New York Times Magazine.  Not far from the beginning of the story, this fascinating letter is excerpted:

…Brand became obsessed with the idea. Reviving an extinct species was exactly the kind of ambitious, interdisciplinary and slightly loopy project that appealed to him. Three weeks after his conversation with Flannery, Brand sent an email to Church and the biologist Edward O. Wilson:

Dear Ed and George . . .

The death of the last passenger pigeon in 1914 was an event that broke the public’s heart and persuaded everyone that extinction is the core of humanity’s relation with nature. Continue reading →

It has been a while since we linked over to a Radio Lab podcast, but this one is a good comeback story (click the black box to go to the podcast):

This hour, we examine three very different kinds of black boxes—those peculiar spaces where it’s clear what’s going in, we know what’s coming out, but what happens in-between is a mystery. From the darkest parts of metamorphosis, to a sixty year-old secret among magicians, to the nature of consciousness itself, we confront the stubborn gaps in our understanding.

Freshman Adarsh Jayakumar, ranked No. 2 among 18-year-old U.S. chess players, talks about his love of chess and his life at Cornell. Jayakumar is an environmental science major in the College of Arts and Sciences.

In this 2.5 minute video (click the image above) a young man explains a remarkable decision: to forgo the professional opportunity he seems clearly well suited for in favor of another path which, as yet, he knows little about. As much as we appreciate chess, which he has mastered better than most players his own age, we appreciate his sense of adventure, and his decision to pursue mastery of environmental science instead of pursuing the more obvious path.