Music Neurology

Humans have an incredible connection to music. We are exposed to it from a very early age with lullabies and the tinkering of toys and continue to hear it for the rest of our lives. We hear it in commercials, movies, on the internet and more. Millions of people own iPods (and other MP3 players of course) that they're plugged into constantly. Music is a part of who we are as humans.



Music engages many different functions in the brain: emotion, memory, imagery, pattern perception, and sometimes it can enhance motor control and movement. Sometimes, without even thinking, we'll hear a song and automatically go into foot-tapping mode or start bopping our heads. This is because listening to music engages many regions of the brain, including the auditory cortex (internal processing of sound), the motor cortex (movement and control), the basal ganglia and the amygdala (learning, comprehension of emotion, autonomic and reflexive functions, etc.).



The first time that any sort of "music therapy" was used was during the second World War. Nurses and doctors noticed that when they had people go to the hospital to perform for the patients, the morale of the wounded was significantly uplifted. It wasn't until many years down the road that music therapy became what is known as "Melodic Intonation." This form of therapy is widely used with people who have suffered from various forms of brain damage. Aphasia, Parkinson's Disease, Demensia, etc.

For example, aphasic patients have a loss of language ability because there is a disconnect between the part of the brain that can process and produce language and the output portion of the brain. The left side of the brain where language is processed is inactive and causes hyperactivity in the right side. By listening to music the hyperactivity is brought down to a normal level and the left side is released from stress. The brain is re-rooted, so to speak, and aphasic patients are able to form simple words and phrases.

My hope for the future is that music therapy will continue to advance and help more and more people. I love the concept of this form of therapy because rather than chemically altering the brain, it develops and strengthens it so that it can gain back some of what was lost from the damage. It's a new and innovative way to think of therapy and a good alternative for those who don't want to be medicated. Music is a part of who we are and in the case of music therapy, it is truly medicine for the soul.

Works Cited

Linden, David J. The Accidental Mind: How Brain Evolution Has Given
Us Love, Memory, Dreams, and God. New York: Belknap P, 2007.

Hock, Roger R. Forty Studies that Changed Psychology. 6th ed.
Upper Saddle Rive: Pearson Education, 2009.

Sacks, Oliver. Musicophilia Tales of Music and the Brain. New York:
Knopf, 2007.

Shulman, Matthew. "Music as Medicine for the Brain - US News and
World Report." Health News Articles - US News Health. 17 July 2008. US News & World Report. 16 Nov. 2009
.

"YouTube - Music and the Mind." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. 15
Nov. 2009 .

Symphony of Science

Here is a fantastic video that is not only a catchy tune, but is also chalked full of science. Featuring Carl Sagan, Bill Nye, Richard Feynman and Neil deGrasse Tyson.

The Present and Future of User Interface

Interactions with computers have made some rather amazing advances. We started with punch cards and ticker tape, and technology has marched forward from there to keyboards and beyond. The last revolution in interface technology was made by Xerox when they invented the first mouse.

The mouse was a simple affair. It was just a box with a single button and two wheels: one for up and down motion, the other for left and right. Xerox was able to demonstrate how this technology could be used with virtual buttons on a computer screen. At the time, this technology was revolutionary; it was a massive step forward in making computers be user-friendly.

Looking at any computer that we use today, it is readily apparent that despite continued and exponential advancement, the basics of user interface have remained largely the same since the mouse first appeared. Our mice these days may use cameras instead of wheels to sense motion, and our buttons may be more numerous and shinier, but nothing has really changed for the average user.

Of course, a new form of interaction has rushed onto the stage: touch technology, the ability to use our fingers to manipulate what we see on a computer screen. This has been further advanced with the concept of multi-touch technology, which allows a computer to take multiple simultaneous touch actions at the same time. The most popular example of this technology is of course, the iPhone, but that is just a drop in the pond compared to what is possible on a larger scale.



The above video is a combination of technical demos demonstrating the power and intuitiveness of a multitouch interface. The display in the video was created by Jeff Han, and uses a simpler and more scalable technology than the iPhone. The iPhone detects touch from changes in electronic capacitance caused by touching the screen. However, this technology is very complicated, and very expensive to implement on a large scale.

As Kate Green writes in this article, Han’s multi-touch technology is different. His screen is a 6 millimeter thick acrylic panel. The edges of this panel are lined with infrared light emitting diodes. The light from these LEDs normally stays inside the acrylic panel, but when the panel is touched, the light is reflected out of the panel. This light is picked up by an infrared camera behind the panel, and the software is easily able to process these globs of light into distinct individual touches.

Another product that takes advantage of this technology is the Microsoft Surface. This device is the size of a table, and it takes advantage of both multitouch and image recognition technology to pull off rather impressive feats.



All this technology is pretty fancy and new. But what’s the next step? The technological world has never been content to just sit back, it’s always looking forward, and the next step will put us firmly in line towards science fiction. Holograms have always been a staple of fictionally advanced worlds, and there have been some rather significant advances in our world. However, one thing that has always seemed to not quite be possible was interactive holography. Well, we can count that dream to be solidly on track with the efforts of a team from the University of Tokyo.



The technology in the video is relatively simple. The hologram is created by an LCD screen being projected into a concave mirror. The hand tracking is created with infrared LEDs reflecting back at the two Wii Remotes (the two Wii Remotes gives the program the ability to sense depth like our eyes). Finally, the finishing touch is the ultrasonic relay which gives the user touch feedback, also called “haptic” feedback. This allows a user of this technology to touch and interact with the hologram, and feel like he or she is indeed touching that device.

What does this mean for the future? We need only to look at science fiction to tell us what’s in store for us. As these separate technologies compress and become more advanced, the devices we use will approach what science fiction has placed into our imaginations. The future is close at hand.

Works Referenced

Greene, Kate. “Touch Screens for Many Fingers.” Technology Review. MIT, January 18, 2007. Link.

Han, Jeff. “Multi-Touch Interaction Research.” New York University. 2006. Link.

Hoshi, Takayuki et al. Touchable Holography. The University of Tokyo. 2009. Link.

“iPod Touch Technology.” iPod Touch. Apple inc. 2009. Link.

Multi-Touch Interaction Experiments. Jefferson Han et al. 2006. Imbedded Video. Link.

Touchable Holography. ShindoaLab. July 16, 2009. YouTube Link.

Nanotechnology

When I say, “Scientific Revolutions of the twenty-first century” do you automatically think of nanotechnology? If you don’t, well, you better change your way of thinking because advancements in nanotechnology has dramatically increased in the past few years.

Nanotechnology is the study, understanding, and control of matter on the nanoscale. The nanoscale ranges roughly between one and one-hundred nanometers. Matter on the nanoscale is smaller than micro organisms. To give you some examples, human hair is between 60 – 120k nm and red blood cells are between 2 -5k nm.

So what’s so interesting about nanotechnology? What’s interesting is that, “Unusual physical, chemical, and biological properties can emerge in materials at the nanoscale. These properties may differ in important ways from the properties of bulk materials and single atoms or molecules.” (http://www.nano.gov/index.html). Basically, with the right technology scientists are able to change the properties of elements at the nanoscale or even create their own molecules by building them up, atom by atom.

We are already starting to see nanotech appear in commercial consumer products today. Some common nanotech items include; sunscreen that gives extra UV protection, faster recharging batteries, lightweight tennis rackets, longer lasting rubber tennis balls, stain resistant clothing, odor “eating” socks, circuitry in cell phones and other electronic devices. Basically, the idea is that just about everything can be enhanced by some sort of nanotechnology whether it’s making materials stronger, sturdier, lighter, more conductive, more flexible, or even more reactive.

Nanotechnology in non-commercial fields is rapidly advancing as well. Government and military research facilities have recently been developing groundbreaking nanotechnology. The Air Force Research Laboratory has developed nickel nanofibers that can be added to paints, adhesives, polymers, and ceramics to make materials lightning-proof. This weather protection will possibly be applied to all aircrafts and vehicles in the near future. In addition to that, the AFRL has created flexible silicone circuit board electronics. They accomplished this by changing the properties of silicone on the nanoscale. These flexible electronics are some of the worlds fastest to date and are the most damage resistant. The flexible electronics and circuit boards are currently only for satellite use. They are meant to be lightweight, compact, and undamageable by vibration.

Of course, there are going to be several risks and dangers involved when dealing with nanotechnology. It’s a relatively new field and nobody is really certain of the effects nanoparticles and materials will have on the human body. Many believe that stray nanoparticles from products on the market today can cause Morgellens disease. Morgellens is a reoccurring skin irritation that causes stinging, crawling, or biting sensations in selective areas.

Just about every scientific advancement has its own science fiction apocalyptic theory. For nanotech, the Grey Goo is what spells disaster for the human race. The Grey Goo theory is the theory that self-replicating nanobots will reprogram themselves to eat carbon. Thus, devour everything on the face of the earth. Luckily, for us, self replicating nanobots do not exist yet.

So when I say, “Scientific revolutions of the twenty-first century” Hopefully nanotechnology will pop into your head. And if for some reason it doesn’t, click the links in this article such as, “THIS ONE” or, “THIS ONE” or the links previously seeded in the text above until your brain is so full of information about nanotechnology that when asked questions completely unrelated to this subject, like, “What time is it?” or, “Where’s the beef?” you will think nothing but thoughts of nanotech.

Works Cited

Miracle, Daniel. "Dr. Daniel B. Miracle." AFRL Nanoscience Technologies (Applications, Transistions, and Innovations) 01-15. Web. 4 Nov 2009. www.nano.gov/AFRLNanobooklet.pdf>.

"What is Nanotechnology?". Center for Responsible Nanotechnology. 11/04/09 .

"Research Home." National Nanotechnology Initiative. US Government, Web. 4 Nov 2009. www.nano.gov/index.html>.

"Grey Goo". Wikipedia. 11/04/09 .

Music and Movie Piracy

When I mention piracy, I am not talking about the standard pirates who go around and yell "argh!" I am talking about the act of illegally downloading music and movies from other people. I have looked into views of how this is threatening to the First Amendment for artists and also who and what the RIAA does. I will explain interesting scenarios that are being proposed which to most people may seem utterly ridiculous. Statistics will prove how dangerous it is towards so many careers. This act of criminization could be considered as plagiarism, or stealing someone else's work. On top of finding out a bunch of fascinating ideas and facts, I have also included a few tidbits of YouTube videos to act against piracy online.


Bibliography

Adams, Mike. "RIAA Declares Using Brain to Remember Songs is Criminal Copyright Infringement (satire) by Mike Adams the Health Ranger." Independent news on natural health, nutrition and more. Web. 31 Oct. 2009. .

RIAA - Recording Industry Association of America - October 31, 2009. Web. 31 Oct. 2009. .

"YouTube - TENACIOUS D - Jack Black on Piracy." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Web. 31 Oct. 2009. .

"YouTube - "Weird Al" Yankovic - Don't Download This Song." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Web. 31 Oct. 2009. .

Prosthetics

The evolution of prosthetics is changing the way that many people see the world. By allowing the disabled to regain their lost functions, it can completely change their life. Imagine being confined to a wheelchair for years, then, suddenly, you’re given the ability to walk again after some rehab and some training for your new electrode implants. This is just one of the new concepts in the rapidly expanding field of prosthetics.
There are several types of new prosthetics for arms and legs and even devices for hearing and sight that are really amazing. One idea that has been getting a lot of attention recently is the thought controlled robotic arm. A microchip is installed into the brain of a monkey to transmit its thoughts to a robotic arm. Within just a few days the monkey was able to feed its self from within its restraints with the use of just the robotic arm. Another very interesting development is the idea of wirelessly implanted electrodes. The basic concept is that by implanting wireless, mini-electrodes into specific parts of muscles, the paralyzed will be able to walk and move again. The electrodes are connected wirelessly to an implant in the brain that will send signals to excite the electrode and the resulting electrical shock will trigger the muscle to contract.
These are just a few of the many new undertakings in the field of prosthetics. Below are several links showing other types of prosthetics currently in use or being designed.
-Legs
-Eye
-Ear

Synthetic Life

The idea behind man creating new life is timeless. Can we take the power of God into our own hands? In 1818, the book Frankenstein was published. It was a story about the creation of genetic engineering. Genetic engineering is life created by the tinkering of an organisms genes like they did in Jurassic Park. Michal Crichton wrote the soon to be bestseller, Jurassic Park: The Lost World in 1990, the book captured the imaginations of thousands. It was a tale about modern science finding the key to genetics. In the story, dinosaur DNA was found and extracted from mosquitoes trapped in amber. The DNA was then spliced together with frog DNA to fill in the gaps. Dinosaurs once again ruled the world.

In real life however, this trick cannot be easily duplicated. Instead, a man by the name of Craig Venter has been working with a team to create synthetic life. Synthetic life is the creation of life using Abiotic organisms (no living - viruses, and similar creatures). He began his search in 1990, on cataloging thousands and thousands of genomes. In 2008, he showed the world what he had created.

His team successfully took the Genome of a bacterium called Mycoplasma Mycoides, cut out the genetic code they did not want and transferred it into a yeast cell. Yeast cells have the ability to repair and organize genetic material. The yeast stitched the genome back together. By doing this he created the first synthetic (man-made) genome. They then took the completed code, and transferred it into a bacterium Mycoplasma Capricolum. This bacterium began to move and act and produce colonies of the altered Mycoplasma Mycoides.

So what does this mean for the future? The first step is the create microbes that can be utilized in everyday life. Ideas being thrown around currently, are microbes that consume plastic and glass to clean dump yards. Another huge step, would be microbes that could create oil as a waste. Some many different possibilities exist. Many things can go wrong however. A microbe could be produced that targets a certain individual’s cells, making viruses a tool of assassination or war.
Whatever the future holds it is coming quickly. Craig Venter has said that the first synthetic bacteria will be created by the end of this year.

Here is the link i will be showing in class on Monday, i will not be playing the entire thing, but for those interested youtube.com