Music

Prodigies dazzle us with their virtuoso violin concertos, seemingly prescient chess moves, and vivid paintings. While their work would be enough to impress us if they were 40, prodigies typically reach adult levels of performance in non-verbal, rule-based domains such as chess, art, and music before the age of 10.

Let’s talk about bias for a minute. My fiance, Rachel Rynick, just released her first album, and I think it’s awesome. Of course, my opinion on this matter can’t really be trusted.

The rise and fall of the Beach Boys leader shows how crucial the brain's executive function is to creativity

The Hearing specialist and sax player says that studying the brain during flights of improvisation may provide new understanding of creativity—as well as insight into the musical genius of John Coltrane

San Diego—Would we have Poe’s Raven today if the tormented author had taken lithium to suppress his bipolar illness? Not likely, considering the high frequency of psychiatric illnesses among writers and artists, concluded psychiatrist Kay Jamison of Johns Hopkins Medical School speaking last week at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in San Diego.

Think back to that moment when you first heard your favorite song. What about it made you stop in your tracks? Was it the incessant buildup, soaring high, filling you with a sense of elation?

When Lady Gaga tells us in her latest hit single that everything she does is “for the applause,” is that a message that we should be celebrating?

We’re sitting in the front row of the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra, listening to the musicians warm up for the dress rehearsal of tonight’s benefit concert starring John Williams, his movie music, and guest starring Steven Spielberg.

I have to say that the winners of this IgNobel won in my heart PURELY because of the costumes they wore to the ceremony. Yes. Costumes. (The best image I could find, from the South China Post coverage of the story, which you can read here, photo originally via Reuters) Because if you’re going to [...]

Who has not caught themselves singing along to Queen’s number one hit “Bohemian Rhapsody”? Perhaps we’ve made up words when we didn’t know them!

Education needs more radioactive spiders. Stay with me. Remember Peter Parker? His childhood wasn’t easy. Both of his parents– Richard and Mary– were killed on a mission as double agents.

Eugenie Scott, executive director of the National Center for Science Education, long the nation's leading defender of evolution education, discusses the NCSE's new initiative to help climate science education