For an interesting presentation of science, checkout the Symphony of Science.
The Symphony of Science is a musical project headed by John Boswell designed to deliver scientific knowledge and philosophy in musical form.
Pretty cool. There are more if you click the link.
Hey - I'm John Boswell, the head musician and producer behind the Symphony of Science. The goal of the project is to bring scientific knowledge and philosophy to the masses, in a novel way, through the medium of music.
Yet another cool video.
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Drawn about 2 years prior to his death.
Courtesy Public domain via WikipediaA new study just published in the Annals of Internal Medicine suggests musical wunderkind, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, may have died from complications of strep infection caused by what's commonly known as "strep throat". Mozart's death is officially recorded in the city of Vienna's death registry as "military fever", a general description for a condition with symptoms of rash and high fever. But researchers from Amsterdam dug deeper into the city's death records and discovered a high level of edema-related deaths had been recorded right around the time of the composer's death in 1791. Edema is a build-up of fluids in the body's tissue caused by such things as kidney failure, which can be brought on by rheumatic fever. Untreated infection by A Streptococcus bacteria (the source of strep throat) can develop into rheumatic fever. The researchers suspect an epidemic of strep throat may have originated in a local military hospital where crowded conditions would have been ideal for spread of the airborne bacteria. Their conclusion that strep was ultimately responsible for Mozart's death may be the most reasonable one in light of what was happening in the community at the time.
LINKS
Death of Mozart abstract in Annals of Internal Medicine
USnew.com story
CNN.com story
Les Paul, inventor of the first solid body electric guitar died today in New York. His guitars and musical inventions influenced entire generations of musicians, including the Beatles, U2, and Led Zeppelin. Paul, who was considered a country and jazz guitarist continued to play music well into his nineties, playing Monday nights at the Iridium club on Broadway in New York City. Paul invented a number of technical innovations - such as multitrack tape recording and overdubbing - that are still used in the music industry today. Listen to the above YouTube clip of one of Paul's first uses of multitrack recording on a 1950 song called "How High the Moon" in which he recorded and overdubbed 12 guitar tracks with 12 tracks of his wife Mary Ford's singing. Legend has it that Mary sang into a microphone hanging over the kitchen sink at home.

One Man Band: I bet he can't stand up to the robot.
Courtesy Vic EllisUsually it's the fan that chases the band around, checking up on its every move, emotionally connected to the music and members. But, have you ever heard of a band obsessed with its fans? So much so that it constantly checks up on its popularity and changes its music based on its mood. On top of that make it a robot band. Yes, a musical robot with feelings...
This self-conscience robot is called the Cybraphon. It was built by three musicians in an antique wardrobe using instruments, motors, and a computer. Checking in on websites such as facebook and twitter, it counts hits and compares the usage over a one to two day time frame. Using this information it calculates its popularity and adjusts its mood appropriately, displaying it on a 100 year old galvanometer.
The interments in the wardrobe include an organ, cymbals, and all the way from India, a Shruti box. All of the instruments have been modified to be played electronically using motors and solenoids. If the robot is in a good mood it can be heard playing an upbeat tune. Vice versa, in a lonely mood the music will be slow and sad.
Not only is this robot picky about its social standing but even though it is always on it will only play it's music aloud if there is someone to hear it. Using infrared sensors the robot will start to chime whenever there is an audience to listen.
Cybraphon is going on display in Edinburgh, Scotland starting on Aug. 5th. You may not be able to go see it for yourself but, you can track it's progress and boost it's ego on twitter, myspace, and facebook.
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Self-portrait by Matthias Buchinger: The forward-most curls on Buchinger's left shoulder near his collar are magnified on the right to show the inscribed hidden biblical text.
Courtesy Public domain via WikipediaI recently (and literally) stumbled upon a web page about this remarkable man from the 17th century. His name was Matthias Buchinger, and despite being born without hands, legs or thighs, this guy managed to live a full and amazing life with no less than 4 wives (!?), and fathering something like 11-14 children depending on the source. But even more incredible was how - despite his severe physical deformations - Buchinger was able to rise above Nature’s challenges and become an accomplished musician, inventor, artist, model-in-a-bottle builder, and magician.
Born in Anspach, Germany in 1674, he was the youngest of nine children, and became widely known as “The Little Man from Nuremburg” performing his feats of wonder across much of Great Britain and Europe. Buchinger was only 29 inches tall, and for hands had "two excrescences which grew from his shoulder-blades, like fingers without nails" but his skills in magic, marksmanship, and music were legendary. He played several musical instruments, some of which he invented himself, was accomplished at skittles (bowling), and could dance a hornpipe as well as anyone. He was also a talented calligrapher. His engraving skills are evident by the self-portrait to the right. Hidden within his curls are seven psalms and the Lord’s Prayer written in tiny letters. Buchinger lived much of his adult life in England and Ireland, and performed before King George and many of Europe’s royalty. He died in Cork, Ireland in 1732.
I don’t know about you but I find Buchinger quite inspiring. You can read more about this human marvel in the links below.
Matthias Buchinger
More about Matthias Buchinger
And yet another site
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