Pigeons Whistle for Safety

Research reveals that pigeon wing-flapping creates distinct whistles, warning flock-mates when taking off or when escaping predators. Scientists recorded the sounds crested pigeons wings made during a routine liftoff and during an emergency takeoff. The sound produced during dangerous moments includes a distinctive whistle. That noise scatters a flock of pigeons as quick as the shadow of a predator.

Levitation With Sound

Liquid droplets, while useful for research, are easily contaminated by other liquids or surfaces. In response, scientists are making liquids bounce or float in air. Droplets on oil's surface eventually collapse but employing sound vibrations makes droplets lightly bounce, thereby separating the droplets from the oil.

Here's a video of ultrasonic levitation.

Bad Singing

Researchers randomly asked people to sing Quebec’s anthem. 40 out of 42 people sounded as good as the pros.

But why couldn’t the 2 bad singers carry a tune?

Repeating the experiment, researchers asked people to sing Jingle Bells and then tested their ability to listen to some music and identify bad notes. They found that bad singers either cannot recognize the wrong notes ... or simply do not care how they sound.

A Sonic Black Hole

A black hole is a pocket of density so intense that light cannot escape. Scientists have created a sonic black hole - that is a pocket of space from which sound cannot escape.

Cooling rubidium atoms to just barely above absolute zero, a laser shot into the cloud created a void. The atoms, attracted to the breach, left the pocket at +4 times the speed of sound, creating a black hole type effect. No sound wave could travel against the flow of the racing fluid - much like trying to swim against a current much faster than you.

Aside from being real cool, a sonic black hole could help evaluate Stephen Hawking’s prediction that a real black hole slowly evaporates as it emits radiation.

Sound Determins Value?

Research has found that the mere sound of numbers can affect our perception of what is, and is not, a good deal. The effect was more apparent when there was a frame of reference (regular price). Sometimes, the sounds of numbers created false impressions - participants thought a $10 item reduced to $7.66 was a greater discount than $7.22.

Consumers basically attach what a price looks and sounds like to a value (e.g. "This is expensive"). Small sounds often gave the perception of big deals.

Previous discoveries indicate people also associate vowel and consonant sounds with physical size. Front vowels (long a, e, i) and fricatives (English f, z, s) convey smallness, while back vowels (/u/ in goose, foot) indicate largeness.

Talk Out Problems for Higher Score

A study suggests that students who talk out loud or drew out pictures representing the problem, answered questions on a math exam more quickly (and more accurately) than otherwise.

The reason is unknown for now, but just remember while showing your work, also remember to SAY it.

The 'Location' behind Perfect Pitch

Perfect pitch (PP) was considered a genetic anomaly - identical twins are far more likely than fraternal twins to have PP, and ~50% of people with PP have relatives who also have it. New studies, however, reveal that PP is far more common form of "speech" which can be learned.

In the study, English speakers read the same list of words on different days and their pitch for any given word varied by as much as 2 notes. But speakers of tonal languages (e.g. Vietnamese, Mandarin) hit the exact pitch, day after day, and an unusual number had PP. In Mandarin, depending on pitch, 'ma' can mean "mother," "horse," "hemp," or "to scold."

Pitch range was tied to geography so much that researchers guessed where subjects or their parents grew up. Range predictability suggests pitch recognition develops early on, perhaps in the womb.

Moreover, researchers recommend giving children musical instruments, preferably with labeled notes (e.g. a color-coded xylophone) as PP people have a higher rate of synesthesia - seeing a color when hearing a sound.