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2. Mozart helps cows produce better milk.
According to farmers from Israel to Spain to England, cows are able to produce better milk when they have been listening to Mozart. This technique was said to be discovered by monks in Brittany, France. Mozart’s music is thought to relax the cows during milking time which in turn makes the process easier and more productive. Ordinary cows produce about seven gallons of milk a day, while cows that listen to Mozart produce up to nine gallons of milk that is higher in protein and healthy fats.
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4. This pyro scientist fuels his desire for more fire.
5. A musical staircase tricks people into exercising.
In 2009, a musical staircase was built at the Odenplan station in Stockholm, Sweden to see if it would encourage more people to choose the stairs over the escalator. When commuters realized that each step made a musical note, more people were intrigued to take the stairs for once. This social experiment produced by The Fun Theory encouraged 66% more people to be active without them even realizing it.
7. Metallica is used to torture.
It was revealed that the U.S. Government played music on repeat at extreme volumes—just under the level to shatter eardrums—to torture prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. Some of the artists whose music was used include Metallica, Rage Against the Machine, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Green Day, Skinny Puppy, Queen, and Eminem. A majority of the groups sued the U.S. Government for using their music without their permission.
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9. A zoo plays Marvin Gaye to encourage pandas to mate.
People are known for setting the mood with certain types of music but apparently that technique works in the animal kingdom too. Edinburgh Zoo in Scotland plays Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On” during mating season for their pandas. Female pandas are only fertile for two days per year, so the zookeepers are clearly desperate for options. Apparently the music relaxes the pandas and distracts them from the inevitable discomfort of a whole crowd of people waiting around for them to get busy.
Press play on the song and watch the GIF below, and it all kinda makes sense in a beautiful way. Bless those pandas.
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12. Dancers' energy is harnessed to power the club.
The human body can produce approximately 1,600 watts of energy just from running, so imagine the amount of energy hundreds of dancing bodies could work up. A group of researchers from the Netherlands have created a prototype dance floor for a nightclub that would receive its energy from party goers. As the crowd dances, an electromagnetic generator under the floor will be activated to convert their energy into electricity. As of now it’s only capable of powering the LED lights in the floor but the plan is to eventually power the entire club. Although it is still merely a prototype, an eco club in Rotterdam appropriately called WATT has already installed an early version of it.
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14. This robot creates light paintings based on rap lyrics.
Tahir Hemphill complied semantic data for more than 40,000 hip-hop songs dating from 1979 to present day. Hemphill used the results of his research to extract every geographic mention from the complete discographies of 12 different rappers. Some of the rappers include Nas, The Notorious B.I.G., Kendrick Lamar, Drake, Missy Elliott, and Cam’Ron. The project—which was completed at the Frank-Ratchye Studio for Creative Inquiry at Carnegie Mellon University—translates the mentioned locations into coordinates on a map. The robot plotted these coordinates with smooth arm movements to create a path holding a light pen.
16. Pop music helps solar panels absorb more energy.
Solar panels are efficient for converting sunlight into energy, but they can be expensive. Professors Steve Dunn of Queen Mary University and James Durrant of Imperial London College experimented with creating a cheaper solution. They found out that the vibrations made by music—specifically pop and rock music—can increase the solar cells’ output of energy by up to 40%. Eventually this discovery could help power more practical things like laptops, ACs, and various forms of transportation.
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18. Drops of color get turned into musical notes.
Some artists claim that they can see colors when they hear music. Though it’s rare, it seems that it’s not so crazy after all. An audio-visual instrument called audio color works to generate sound from color. A web camera is connected to a computer and creates a musical note based on each drop of color. The size of each drop also affects the volume of the note. The entire system is based on basic color and music theories. Blue, red, and green are the visual equivalents for the notes A, D, and F.
20. The rings of trees act as the grooves on a record.
If you were to look at the stump of a recently cut down tree, the rings might look a little similar to the grooves of a record. In 2012, artist Bartholomaus Traubeck came to this realization and tried to see if he could “play” tree rings like a record. Traubeck designed a record player that is able to read the rings of the tree trunks and translate them into readable music. Then the program Ableton Live was able to use to interpret the notes into a piano track.
22. Yeezianity takes artist worship to new levels.
Many fans claim they worship their favorite artists, but no one ever really takes them seriously. (Unless it’s Beyonce’s dedicated Beyhive—always take them seriously!) But recently some fans of Kanye West have taken their worshiping to much more literal level by creating a religion based on him. Yes, Yeezianity is officially a thing. Not only do followers of Yeezianity (Yeezianists?) have a passionate appreciation for Kanye West’s music, but they also admire his attitude and vision. The new religion’s official website says, “He has shown the modern world the creative potential of a human being and he serves as a living model for behavior and ethic.”
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