June 12, 2024: The musical quality that makes us want to dance, the environmental costs of AI-generated content, and giant Jiro spiders are coming. —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor | | | Why do some songs just make people want to dance? New research shows that tunes with syncopated rhythms evoke that "groove state." Syncopations are rhythmic patterns in which accented or unaccented beats in a melody appear in surprising places. Neuroscientists played the same melody with three different syncopations for 60 study participants and asked which version made them want to dance most. The version with medium syncopation was the most grooveable.
The next step: To understand how the auditory pathways in the brain that hear the music translate it into bodily movement (dance), the scientists measured brain activity in 29 people as they listened to music. The researchers specifically used magnetoencephalography to measure magnetic fields produced by the brain. They found that the dorsal auditory pathway, the brain area that connects the auditory cortex with movement areas, is where the rhythm always matches a basic beat of 2-Hz, regardless of the melody of the song. It's likely that the impulse to dance arises in this pathway and is then passed on to the motor areas as a movement impulse.
What the experts say: "For a long time music and dance have been studied separately [in the brain]," says Constantina Theofanopoulou, a neuroscientist at the Rockefeller University. By connecting the auditory process and motor system, "this study takes a step toward bridging the gap between the two." | | | Researchers have estimated that generative AI responses on search engines like Google could consume an order of magnitude more energy than traditional search. All AI comes with costs: one study found that a large language model emitted 19 kilograms of CO2 per day, equivalent to the CO2 produced by driving 49 miles in a gas-powered car. Another study found that generating two images with AI could use as much energy as it takes to charge a smartphone. The chairman of Google's parent company, Alphabet, estimated last year that generative AI answers would initially cost 10 times more computing power than traditional search, though costs might decrease over time as the technology gets more efficient.
Why this matters: Google plans to bring its new AI-generated answers to 1 billion people this year. Energy for the generative AI boom largely comes from burning fossil fuels because data centers are set up to require round-the-clock access to stable power, which renewables often can't exclusively provide. In some places in the U.S., such as Virginia's "Data Center Alley," this increasing need for power is requiring fossil fuel plants to stay online longer than planned.
What the experts say: Google's metrics indicate that users seem happy with the AI answers, a Google spokesperson told me. Sasha Luccioni, an AI researcher at Hugging Face, says it's important for users to be able to make an informed choice (though there is not currently a simple way to turn off the feature). "Some people will [think] that's worth it [and be] ready to emit that much more carbon in order to have that kind of result," while others would prefer the legacy search feature, she says. "We know that there's a cost to this. ... We should know what that cost is." --Allison Parshall, Associate News Editor | | | Joro spiders such as this one are native to East Asia and likely hitched a ride to the U.S. on shipping containers. Allen Creative/Steve Allen/Alamy Stock Photo | | | • Millions of hand-size Joro spiders are moving up the East Coast. Don't panic. (Easier said than done.) | 4 min read | | | • New York Gov. Kathy Hochul's last-minute decision to halt congestion pricing in Manhattan will likely hurt similar efforts across the country. | 4 min read | | | • Last week, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres called for bans on fossil fuel ads. Such restrictions would be difficult to implement in the U.S. | 5 min read | | | - NASA did some good with its recent decisions to honor the contributions of women astronomers by naming telescopes after them, and by renaming cosmic phenomena that had historically insensitive nicknames. Astronomers should continue to be careful how they name things, writes astronomer and Scientific American columnist Phil Plait, even if it means changing monikers that are well-established. "It's a way of making space for everyone, something we should have been doing all along," he writes. "If astronomy teaches us anything, it's that we all live in a big universe, and there's plenty of room for all." | 5 min read
| | | • Dozens of CVS-branded medicines have been banned for being produced in tainted factories. | Daily Mail | • Most life on Earth is dormant, waiting for the right moment to come back to life. | Quanta Magazine | • This artist made an album inspired by the sounds of her severe tinnitus. | The Quietus | | | Studies have shown that music boosts brain development in kids, elevates mood, reduces stress and can even lower blood pressure. Other than indri lemurs, humans are the only known mammals to use rhythm to create music. Musicality, it seems, is intricately linked to our health and happiness, and our brains respond to it accordingly. | The Glass Animals, Black Keys and Stick Figure are on my current playlist. What about you? Let me know at newsletters@sciam.com. Rock on, science lovers! | —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor | | Subscribe to this and all of our newsletters . | | | | Scientific American
One New York Plaza, New York, NY, 10004 | | | | | | Support our mission, subscribe to Scientific American | | | | | | | | | |
