New research from MIT explores fire from a whole series of new perspectives. The research uses deep-learning approaches that extract the vibrational features of flames as flickering objects and, in turn, renders them into sounds and materials. The 19th-century physicist Michael Faraday was known not only for his seminal experimental contributions to electromagnetism but also […]
Enlarge / The physics behind champagne’s bubbly delights is surprisingly complex—including the source of its distinctive crackling sound. (credit: Jon Bucklel/EMPICS/PA/Getty Images) There’s rarely time to write about every cool science-y story that comes our way. So this year, we’re once again running a special Twelve Days of Christmas series of posts, highlighting one science […]
Enlarge / Brian Anderson’s experiments with Lego minifigs led to the development of an interactive museum exhibit in Switzerland. (credit: Brian Anderson) Legos are a beloved staple of educational science activities and have even proved useful in particle physics experiments at CERN to explore the properties of hadrons. For Brian Anderson, a physicist at Brigham Young […]
Enlarge / A 1729 Stradivari known as the “Solomon, Ex-Lambert” on display at Christie’s in New York in March 2007. (credit: Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images) Along with Andrea Amati and Andrea Guarneri, Antonio Stradivari dominated the so-called Golden Age of Violins (roughly 1660 to 1750), and the instruments they crafted remain the gold standard today in […]
Enlarge / Archaeologists in 1931 found the conch shell near the entrance of Marsoulas Cave. This is a reconstruction of where and how the shell might have been played. (credit: G. Tosello) After 18,000 years of silence, an ancient musical instrument played its first notes. The last time anyone heard a sound from the conch […]