Universal property of music discovered. Researchers at the Institute for Logic, Language and Computation (ILLC) of the University of Amsterdam have discovered a universal property of musical scales. Until now it was assumed that the only thing scales throughout the world have in common is the octave. The many hundreds of scales, however, seem to possess a deeper commonality: if their tones are compared in a two- or three-dimensional way by means of a coordinate system, they form convex or star-convex structures. Convex structures are patterns without indentations or holes, such as a circle, square or oval.
Almost all music in the world is based on an underlying scale from which compositions are built. In Western music, the major scale (do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-ti-do) is the best known scale. However, there are many other scales in use, such as the minor and the chromatic scale. 1000 scales By placing scales in a coordinate system (an 'Euler lattice') they can be studied as multidimensional objects. Envy is a stronger motivator than admiration. Admiration is happy self-surrender; envy is unhappy self-assertion. Søren Kierkegaard Mind Hacks, Not Exactly Rocket Science, The Frontal Cortex ... there are so many successful blogs out there for the Digest to admire. Or envy. In fact envy might be better.
For a preliminary study, 17 undergrads were asked to describe someone they knew who was better at something than they were. It was a similar story when 82 participants were asked to recall a time they'd felt either benign envy, malicious envy or admiration (there was also a control group who didn't do the recall task). For a third study, a further 96 participants read about a fellow student called Hans de Groot, who'd just won a prize for his excellent scholarship. Having established the contrasting effects of admiration and envy, the researchers turned to the circumstances that tend to elicit one emotion more than the other. 'Is benign envy therefore better than admiration? ' van de Ven, N., Zeelenberg, M., and Pieters, R. (2011). The Brain Is Not an Explanation. Brain scans pinpoint how chocoholics are hooked.
This headline appeared in The Guardian a couple years ago above a science story that began: “Chocoholics really do have chocolate on the brain.” The story went on to describe a study that used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to scan the brains of chocoholics and non-cravers. The study found increased activity in the pleasure centers of the chocoholics’ brains, and the Guardian report concluded: “There may be some truth in calling the love of chocolate an addiction in some people.” Really?
Is that a fair conclusion to draw from the fMRI data in this study, reported in the European Journal of Neuroscience? A growing number of scientists, including many who study the brain, are calling for more caution from scientists, both in reporting and interpreting fMRI data. The difficulties of these stories begin with the technology itself, the sheer complexity of which makes accurate reporting a challenge. + The Psychology of Money - Saving and Spending Habits. The mathematics of being nice - life - 21 March 2011. Read full article Continue reading page |1|2 Using mathematics to tackle some of biology's biggest questions, Martin Nowak has concluded that an ability to cooperate is the secret of humanity's success.
He talks to Michael Marshall about drawing fire from Richard Dawkins, the perils of punishment, and devising the mathematical equivalent of the rules of religion Why are you so fascinated by our ability to help each other out? You say there are five different ways in which we cooperate that give us an edge, in terms of natural selection. The third mechanism is when neighbours help each other - cooperators survive in clusters. Group selection has had a tricky reputation, and has been attacked by evolutionary biologists. Unless I've lost count, there should be one mechanism left.The last one is kin selection, which can occur when you help a close relative. Can you explain? Inclusive fitness is a key concept of evolutionary biology. You have also been involved in some other big debates.