Features
Notebook
Music Tailored to Animals’ Tastes
The evidence is equivocal on whether animals dig human songs, so scientists set out to make music that mimics their soundscapes.
Understanding Music Heard Through Cochlear Implants
Music sounds very different to cochlear implant users. Researchers are trying to improve the experience.
Musical Tastes: Nature or Nurture?
Studies of remote Amazonian villages reveal how culture influences our musical preferences.
Understanding the Connection Between Synesthesia and Absolute Pitch
Researchers investigate the unusual association of musical sounds with tastes or colors through the lens of another perceptual quirk.
Contributors
Contributors
Meet some of the people featured in the March 2017 issue of The Scientist.
Speaking of Science
Notable Science Quotes
Music, the future of American science, and more
Modus Operandi
Massively Parallel Perturbations
Scientists combine CRISPR gene editing with single-cell sequencing for genotype-phenotype screens.
The Literature
Neural Activity Reflects a Bird’s Perception of How Well It Sings
Zebra finches dial down dopamine signaling when they hear errors in a song performance.
Rhythm Arises from Random Beats in a “Telephone” Game
An experiment in which people pass each other initially nonrhythmic drumming sequences reveals the human affinity for musical patterns.
Birds Possess an Innate Vocal Signature Based on Silent Gaps
Zebra finches reared by another species learn to sing their foster parents’ song with rhythms characteristic of their genetic background.
Profiles
Singing In the Brain
His first love was dance, but Erich Jarvis has long courted another love—understanding how the brain learns vocalization.
Scientist to Watch
John Iversen Explores our Perception of Musical Rhythm
At the Swartz Center for Computational Neuroscience at the University of California, San Diego, the researcher studies the neurobiology of music perception.
Reading Frames
How Bad Singing Landed Me in an MRI Machine
One author's journey through the science of his congenital amusia
Foundations
Newton’s Color Theory, ca. 1665
Newton’s rainbow forms the familiar ROYGBIV because he thought the range of visible colors should be analogous to the seven-note musical scale.
Lab Tools
A Selection of CRISPR Proof-of-Principle Studies
Advice on how to deploy the latest techniques in your own lab
Careers
The Past and Present of Research Integrity in China
Several initiatives aim to improve research integrity in the country, but recent high-profile cases of misconduct highlight a lingering problem.
Editorial
Song of Ourselves
“Nature’s melodies” may be a human construct that says more about us than about the musicality of other animals.
Critic at Large
Opinion: Improving FDA Evaluations Without Jeopardizing Safety and Efficacy
What can be done to lower development costs and drug prices?
