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]