MIT Building 54: now an atmospheric speaker
The good folks at MIT have never been afraid to let
the
arts mingle with technology in hopes of striking up a bit
of inspiration. Now thanks to Carrie Bodle, you can stop by Building 54 to listen to the sounds of our atmosphere.
Thirty five, 20-inch speakers are currently broadcasting audio representations of sound waves generated from the
galactic dance of solar winds with the Earth's ionosphere. Why you may (rightly) ask? Well, scientists already know
that different stars (such as our sun or red dwarfs) make different sounds through the extraction of radio waves from
frequency, amplitude and phase. So why not listen for telltale changes in the ionosphere which might affect GPS
precision and other satellite transmissions — better than staring into a phosphorescent tube all day.
[Via digg]
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, GPS
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
JK @ Dec 19th 2005 2:05AM
Hi, I know you guys don't understand much about science and technology and things, but could you keep the meaningless BS-babble to a minimum, please? This is an interesting article but the following sentence doesn't make any sense at all:
"Well, scientists already know that different stars make different sounds through the extraction of radio waves from frequency, amplitude and phase."
I mean, it's not even clear English. Assuming it means they "know... through extraction..." what the hell does it mean to extract radio waves from frequency, amplitude, and phase? Aren't those things you extract ("measure" might be an awful lot better word) from waves, and not the other way around?
ugh.... why do I waste my time? If you knew anything about science you'd be scientists, not bloggers.
fistpittingnork @ Dec 19th 2005 2:05AM
Sure you "extract"/measure/describe frequency, amplitude, and phase from radio waves, or any waves for that matter, instead of the other way around. But why search for things to pick about?
This is a brief description of a miscellaneous gadget, in this case, an atmospheric speaker, made to give you just a taste of what it (gadget in mention) is all about.
The full story of such briefs are always located below.
Which I'm sure you already knew that..
That's what turns me on about you JK - your attention to detail.