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Music

Trending Today

Vinyl Producers Can’t Keep Up With Hipsters’ Demands

Vinyl is cool again, but will it last?

Though playing music is common in operating rooms, sleeping is not.

What’s Your Surgeon’s Jam? Probably Classical or Soft Rock

British doctors make the case for playing music during an operation

This 1897 calendar is brought to you by parading cats.

After 12/13/14, What Are the Next Fun Dates for Math Lovers?

Sequential integers are a bit boring, anyhow. Here are some more exciting sequences to celebrate over the next 89 years

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Cool Finds

Norwegian Nobel Winners Release Their Inner Avant-Garde Musicians

Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine repurposed a Norse folk tune for a science lecture

Candy Crush Soda Saga brings classical music to tablets, smartphones and computers around the world.

Why the Composer of Candy Crush Soda Saga is the New King of Video Game Music

You may have never heard of Johan Holmstrom, but millions listen to his music every day

Artist Yoshi Sodeoka envisions musical instruments carried in satellites orbiting the Earth that would be able to “neutralize nations at war."

How Will We Make Music in 200 Years?

A group of innovators were asked to imagine what music will be like in 2214. If they’re right, it could be pretty bizarre

One of the original Regency TR-1 models resides in the Smithsonian collections.

How the Transistor Radio with Music for Your Pocket Fueled a Teenage Social Revolution

In a burst of post World War II innovation, the Regency TR-1 transistor radio became the new “It” gift for the holiday season

New Research

Can’t Clap to the Beat? You Might be Beat-Deaf

For some people, tapping their foot to the beat is a challenge at a fundamental level

A hermit thrush perches on a branch in the Pennsylvania woods. Its songs have long been compared to human musical scales.

This Bird’s Songs Share Mathematical Hallmarks With Human Music

The hermit thrush prefers to sing in harmonic series, a fundamental component of human music

Cool Finds

This Awesome Synthesizer Turns the Weather Into Song

Hear the pitter-patter of rain in a new way

2014 Ingenuity Awards

The 2014 Smithsonian American Ingenuity Award Winners

These 10 innovators in science, history, society and the arts are a testament to the imagination and hard work that define the nation’s spirit

2014 Ingenuity Awards

Rosanne Cash on Discovering New Artistic Terrain

The singer-songwriter looked to her Southern ancestors to come up with a different kind of concept album

Bob Dylan in 1964

Cool Finds

Scientists Are Sneaking Bob Dylan Lyrics Into Their Writing

Everyone likes goofy intra-office rivalries, even scientists

Ridley's film focuses on Hendrix in the years before he became famous, 1966-1967.

The Oscar-Winning Writer John Ridley, Talks About His New Jimi Hendrix Movie

The writer and director of Jimi: All Is by My Side speaks about making living history from legend

Smithsonian Folkways is re-releasing its classic catalog of songs about the Spanish Civil War.

Revisiting the Timeless Tracks of the Spanish Civil War

Smithsonian Folkways is re-releasing its catalog of Spanish Civil War songs

Zero Mostel in the original Broadway production of Fiddler on the Roof.

Six Things You May Not Have Known About Fiddler on the Roof

As the acclaimed musical turns 50 years old this week, relive the tradition with these interesting factoids

A standard 10-hole Hohner harmonica.

Industrial Espionage and Cutthroat Competition Fueled the Rise of the Humble Harmonica

How a shrewd salesman revolutionized the instrument industry

New Research

This Is Your Brain on Your Favorite Song

When people listen to music they enjoy, their brains drift into a resting daydream, regardless of the genre

Debbie Harry on camera or a monitor during the video shoot for “Picture This,” c. 1978. Debbie was constantly asked, “How does it feel to be a sex symbol?” Literally exactly that question, over and over again.

Blondie Guitarist Chris Stein Shares His Secret Photographs of the 1970s and 1980s

Hearken back to the era of punk and new wave music with these snapshots

New Research

The 10,000 Hour Rule Is Not Real

The biggest meta-analysis of research to date indicates that practice does not make perfect

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