Although seemingly a bit cruel, the conscripted performers were unharmed by this musical interlude—we learn via Strange Company—that a group of students at Cornell university have demonstrated that cicadas connected to tiny electrodes can be stimulated to chirp on demand as a sort of insect-computer hybrid sound-system. The orchestra is coordinated and they keep time with the piece, Pachelbel’s Canon in D (plus ‘Danger Zone’ from Top Gun), but the individuals’ biological variation and agency, as with all musicians, comes through to show they’re not cyborgs. The researchers don’t plan to make some new bizarre symphonium out of their test subjects but rather hope to further research into such collaborations to harness nature to forego wiring and components and ultimately decrease the impact of deploying infrastructure, especially for ad hoc and emergency situations.
* * * * *
synchronoptica
one year ago: an MS Paint photo filter (with synchronoptica), commemorating mass-deportations from the Baltic states under Soviet rule plus comedians get a papal audience
seven years ago: a Bayeux tapestry of a government worker’s office calendar, mapping out Dante’s Inferno plus sobriety tests for passengers
eight years ago: deifying the Singularity, simulating the universe, early ink-blots plus an antique railway hotel
nine years ago: massacre motivations, motion-capture technology, the foot from Monty Python, more on the mass-shooting in Orlando, EU proposes using Türkei as a buffer zone for migration plus a Photo-Shop battle for the Queen
ten years ago: Doomsday bunkers plus finding Dr Livingstone