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  • When You’re a Scientist

    Kevin Temmer is an animator, composer, singer, and songwriter. And Kevin’s still in high school. The precociously talented student created both the animation and music for this...

  • BIORYTHM: Opening Reception

    Why does a minor chord sound sad? Is there a formula for the perfect hit? Whistling, dancing, finger-snapping, and toe-tapping—what makes us do it? Find out through a...

  • BIORHYTHM Promo Clip

    Why does a minor chord sound sad? Is there a formula for the perfect hit? Whistling, dancing, finger-snapping, and toe-tapping—what makes us do it? Find out through a...

  • The Illusion of Speech

    Your brain is an extremely complex pattern-recognition machine. Neuroscientist Jamshed Bharucha demonstrates to our audience how three indistinct synthesized sounds can be...

  • Infinite Worlds: Cosmic Interlude

    Multiple universes—cosmological bubbles—suspended in space and time are represented by a wind quartet in this musical performance composed by Paul D. Miller AKA DJ Spooky...

  • Spirituality and Music in Adversity

    Do people of different faiths react differently to music? Biblical scholar Elaine Pagels doesn’t think so. She believes music reaches down to something deeper, especially during...

  • Instinctually Musical

    When you think about music as a survival instinct, taking the edge off a long train ride is probably what first comes to mind. But neuroscientist Lawrence Parsons wants you to...

  • Notes and Neurons: Jamming

    Bobby McFerrin and Daniel Levitin join musical guests Naren Budhkar, Parag Chordia, and Amber Docters van Leeuwen in an improvised performance at the end of Notes and Neurons: In...

  • The Universal Language

    Music as a form of expression exists across all cultural and geographic barriers. It has been called the “universal language,” but is it truly a language that is understood...

  • Bobby McFerrin: Spontaneous Inventor (Part II)

    Musical artist Bobby McFerrin performs for a live audience using a variety of vocal improvisations during the 2009 World Science Festival, as part of Notes & Neurons: In Search of...

  • Music: A Whole Body Experience

    When we think about music, we tend to associate it as a purely auditory activity, but just how deep does it go? Neuroscientist Lawrence Parsons walks us through music’s effects on...

  • Music Where It Is: Context and Perception

    Music has a measurable physiological and neurological effect on us. But how much does the context of a musical experience change that effect? Here, musical artist Bobby...

  • Bobby McFerrin: Spontaneous Inventor (Part I)

    Musical artist Bobby McFerrin performs for a live audience using a variety of vocal improvisations during the 2009 World Science Festival, as part of Notes & Neurons: In Search of...

  • Spotlight: This Is My Brain

    Strip away the trimmings of a traditional science presentation, add cocktails, and you have WSF Spotlight. Here, cognitive neuroscientist Jamshed Bharucha presents scans of his...

  • Concert in your Cranium

    Watch here as experimental musician Mark Stewart of Polygraph Lounge plays a duet of every member of our audience. Using a small instrument of his own design, Mark teaches...

  • The Power of the Pentatonic Scale

    We don’t know much about the human brain on music. Do people instinctively know the sound patterns of the pentatonic scale? Is there a base level of musical knowledge in all of...

  • A Biologist’s Mother Day Song

    Singer/Songwriter Adam Cole performs live “A Biologist’s Mother Day Song,” a touching, quirky, and hilarious ode to the genetic wealth his mom has given him. Performed as part of...

  • Sounds That Surround Us

    The absurdist musician/comedian duo Polygraph Lounge performs “Sounds That Surround Us” during the 2010 World Science Festival, as part of Good Vibrations: The Science of Sound....

  • The Music of the Spoken Word

    Sound is the emotional glue that holds individuals together. Neuroscientist Jamshed Bharucha explains the importance of verbal communication by discussing the unconscious choices...

  • The Siren Song

    The absurdist musician/comedian duo Polygraph Lounge performs “The Siren Song” during the 2010 World Science Festival, as part of Good Vibrations: The Science of Sound....

  • Could That Be Music?

    The absurdist musician/comedian duo Polygraph Lounge performs “Could That Be Music?” during the 2010 World Science Festival, as part of Good Vibrations: The Science of Sound....

  • Hearing Yourself Hear

    Listen in as Artist Jacob Kirkegaard tells of his journey to hear himself hear. With the aid of researchers in Copenhagen, Kirkegaard generates an artificial tone in his own ear...

  • What Makes It Music?

    Why do we classify some sounds as music and others as noise? Some intervals, such as the octave, seem universally aesthetically appealing. However, most elements of music we find...

Blog Posts

  • A Chance Meeting with a Science Bard

    Last night, I careened down the the subway stairs at 116th and Broadway only to run into WSF and NPR/Radiolab favorite Robert Krulwich at the bottom. He had in tow a be-spectacled young man with tight blonde curls and an easy smile.

  • BIORHYTHM: A Continuous Sonic Experience

    On June 2nd, during the 2011 Festival, New York saw the debut of BIORHYTHM: Music and the Body, a multimedia exhibition presented by Dublin, Ireland's Science Gallery in collaboration with Eyebeam Art and Technology Center.

  • Instant Reaction: Music and the Spark of Spontaneity

    In the Great Hall of Cooper Union, a panel of musicians—one professional, Pat Metheny, and four scientists who study their beloved hobby—discussed the art of improvisation and what happens in the brain when you do it. Casual banter and fact-dropping was highlighted by live...

  • Instant Reaction: Rhythms on the Brain

    One of life's eternal questions was addressed at the Eyebeam Center for Technology, one that each of us has been pondering since birth: What makes The Beatles The Beatles? The World Science Festival brought four music-lovers onstage—a neural scientist, a producer, and two...

  • Creation on Command

    Al Kooper didn’t know what to play. He’d told some half-truths to get into Bob Dylan’s recording session — the musicians were working on some song tentatively titled “Like A Rolling Stone” — and Kooper had been assigned the Hammond organ. There was only one...

  • Featured Video: Your Brain on Music

    When we think about music, we tend to associate it as a purely auditory activity, but just how deep does it go? Neuroscientist Lawrence Parsons walks us through music’s effects on the brain, demonstrating how music activates every corner of our mind and body, making it a...

  • Notes and Neurons: Jamming

    A look back: Bobby McFerrin and Daniel Levitin join musical guests Naren Budhkar, Parag Chordia, and Amber Docters van Leeuwen in an improvised performance at the end of Notes and Neurons: In Search of the Common Chorus. To learn more about the mental side of musical...

  • Audience as Instrument

    TED kicked off its annual conference yesterday in Long Beach, CA, with the mission of "rediscovering wonder." Word from the scene is that Bobby McFerrin was blowing minds by "using the audience as an instrument," and in effect demonstrating the innate power of the pentatonic...

  • The Illusion of Speech

    Your brain is an extremely complex pattern-recognition machine. When it comes to interpreting human speech, the brain pieces together familiar sounds to create the "illusion of speech." Here, cognitive neuroscientist Jamshed Bharucha, who studies the perception of music,...

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