On Saturday, we lost a man who loved mathematics. He wasn’t responsible for any specific theories or concepts. He wasn’t a great theoretician or an iconoclast. Nevertheless, Martin Gardner was responsible for popularizing the idea of recreational mathematics. In fact, his Mathematical Games column, which appeared in Scientific American from 1956 to 1981, had [...]

Non-Newtonian fluids, such as cornstarch and water, can do some interesting things when given a source of vibrations, such as a speaker. Some intrepid youtubers have posted nifty videos of their cornstarch creations. I’d love to see this in action at an electroacoustic concert.

It’s always fun to hear a musician use a unique sound source. Diego Stocco has managed to create a bevy of interesting sounds from a tree in his yard.

In the garden of my house there’s a tree with lots of randomly grown twigs. It looks odd and nice at the same time. One day [...]

At World Science Festival 2009, Bobby McFerrin demonstrated how the pentatonic scale is wired into the human brain, and created a novel new musical instrument.

Milton Garces is capturing some interesting sounds by placing microphones on a volcano.

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