LACMA: RT @TylerGreenDC: Good news from the Williams College Museum of Art: @LACMA's Asco PST exhibition will travel, opening there on Feb. 4.

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Good news from the Williams College Museum of Art: @LACMA's Asco PST exhibition will travel, opening there on Feb. 4. Il y a environ 4 heures via TweetDeck

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NPL and SUERC calibrate a 'rock clock'

Public release date: 5-Jan-2012
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Contact: Ellie Zolfagharifard
ellie@proofcommunication.com
084-568-01869
National Physical Laboratory

This will help geologists temporally dissect Earth's history more faithfully

New research by the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) and the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC) will improve the accuracy of estimates of the time of geological events. The work centres on the calibration of one of the world's slowest clocks, known as the 'argon-argon clock'.

The 'argon-argon clock' works by measuring the ratio of the amount of radioactive potassium in a sample of rock to the amount of its decay product, argon. As scientists already know the half-life of this radioactive decay (1.25 billion years), it can be used to date rocks back to the time of the formation of the Earth, 4.5 billion years ago. The older a rock is, the more potassium has decayed and the more argon is found in the rock.

The effect of the new research varies from one rock type to another, but could mean up to a 1.2 per cent difference in a rock's age from the original calculation.

"One per cent change in the accuracy of an age doesn't sound like a lot, but when aiming for 0.1 per cent precision through geological time it is a very significant breakthrough," said Darren Mark at the SUERC, who worked with NPL on the research.

"For example, this will help with establishing eruptive histories and predicting the future behaviour of young volcanoes, such as the inhabited British overseas territory Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic Ocean."

The discovery came about as part of an unrelated NPL research project to measure the Boltzmann Constant. The Boltzmann Constant links the magnitude of a degree Celsius to the amount of energy held by the molecules of a substance.

To measure the Boltzmann researchers needed to build the world's most accurate thermometer which works by measuring the speed of molecules in argon gas. But to understand their results they had to measure the isotopic composition of their samples of argon gas. After searching the world for collaborators, NPL enlisted the help of Darren Mark and Fin Stuart of the Natural Environment Research Council's Argon Isotope Facility (AIF). Darren and Fin are the 'parents' of ARGUS the most accurate mass spectrometer for argon isotope measurements in the world.

During the course of their research, they came across an unexpected result. The measurements they made using ARGUS were so precise that they allowed the team to draw conclusions about the isotope distribution of atmospheric argon. This is used to calibrate noble-gas mass spectrometers and so is responsible for the calibration of all 'argon-argon' dating that takes place throughout the world.

The results show that Alfred Nier, a great American physicist of the 1950s, was slightly in error with his measurements of argon. The data revealed that the correct measurement was achieved in 2006 by researchers in South Korea and North America.

"This work shows the power of precision measurement," said Michael de Podesta, who led the research efforts at NPL. "Many people think precision measurement is just about adding another decimal place to a number. But it's far more exciting than that. It's more like getting a sharper lens on a camera. It allows us to see the world more clearly and, when we look closely, we are never quite sure what we will find."

###

About NPL

The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) is one of the UK's leading science facilities and research centres. It is a world-leading centre of excellence in developing and applying the most accurate standards, science and technology available.

NPL occupies a unique position as the UK's National Measurement Institute and sits at the intersection between scientific discovery and real world application. Its expertise and original research have underpinned quality of life, innovation and competitiveness for UK citizens and business for more than a century:

NPL provides companies with access to world leading support and technical expertise, inspiring the absolute confidence required to realise competitive advantage from new materials, techniques and technologies

NPL expertise and services are crucial in a wide range of social applications - helping to save lives, protect the environment and enable citizens to feel safe and secure. Support in areas such as the development of advanced medical treatments and environmental monitoring helps secure a better quality of life for all

NPL develops and maintains the nation's primary measurement standards, supporting an infrastructure of traceable measurement throughout the UK and the world, to ensure accuracy and consistency.

http://www.npl.co.uk

About SUERC

SUERC, The Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre, is a collaborative research facility operated jointly under a Consortium agreement between the University of Glasgow and Edinburgh University. It hosts five Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Facilities that are available to UK scientists through competitive application to the relevant Steering Committees. The SUERC Accelerator Mass Spectrometer Laboratory is recognised by NERC as a suitable facility to undertake NERC-funded science.

SUERC's mission is to perform, stimulate and support high quality basic, applied and strategic research, within the Scottish University community and beyond, in the Earth, Environmental and Biomedical Sciences through development and maintenance of high-end analytical facilities, inter-disciplinary exchange and collaborative interaction. SUERC provides a focus in Scotland for high quality research through its own research programme and by assisting partner universities successfully to bid for research grants and deliver research outputs. Through teaching and training, SUERC contributes to the future supply of highly able scientists.

http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/suerc/

---

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 5-Jan-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Ellie Zolfagharifard
ellie@proofcommunication.com
084-568-01869
National Physical Laboratory

This will help geologists temporally dissect Earth's history more faithfully

New research by the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) and the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC) will improve the accuracy of estimates of the time of geological events. The work centres on the calibration of one of the world's slowest clocks, known as the 'argon-argon clock'.

The 'argon-argon clock' works by measuring the ratio of the amount of radioactive potassium in a sample of rock to the amount of its decay product, argon. As scientists already know the half-life of this radioactive decay (1.25 billion years), it can be used to date rocks back to the time of the formation of the Earth, 4.5 billion years ago. The older a rock is, the more potassium has decayed and the more argon is found in the rock.

The effect of the new research varies from one rock type to another, but could mean up to a 1.2 per cent difference in a rock's age from the original calculation.

"One per cent change in the accuracy of an age doesn't sound like a lot, but when aiming for 0.1 per cent precision through geological time it is a very significant breakthrough," said Darren Mark at the SUERC, who worked with NPL on the research.

"For example, this will help with establishing eruptive histories and predicting the future behaviour of young volcanoes, such as the inhabited British overseas territory Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic Ocean."

The discovery came about as part of an unrelated NPL research project to measure the Boltzmann Constant. The Boltzmann Constant links the magnitude of a degree Celsius to the amount of energy held by the molecules of a substance.

To measure the Boltzmann researchers needed to build the world's most accurate thermometer which works by measuring the speed of molecules in argon gas. But to understand their results they had to measure the isotopic composition of their samples of argon gas. After searching the world for collaborators, NPL enlisted the help of Darren Mark and Fin Stuart of the Natural Environment Research Council's Argon Isotope Facility (AIF). Darren and Fin are the 'parents' of ARGUS the most accurate mass spectrometer for argon isotope measurements in the world.

During the course of their research, they came across an unexpected result. The measurements they made using ARGUS were so precise that they allowed the team to draw conclusions about the isotope distribution of atmospheric argon. This is used to calibrate noble-gas mass spectrometers and so is responsible for the calibration of all 'argon-argon' dating that takes place throughout the world.

The results show that Alfred Nier, a great American physicist of the 1950s, was slightly in error with his measurements of argon. The data revealed that the correct measurement was achieved in 2006 by researchers in South Korea and North America.

"This work shows the power of precision measurement," said Michael de Podesta, who led the research efforts at NPL. "Many people think precision measurement is just about adding another decimal place to a number. But it's far more exciting than that. It's more like getting a sharper lens on a camera. It allows us to see the world more clearly and, when we look closely, we are never quite sure what we will find."

###

About NPL

The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) is one of the UK's leading science facilities and research centres. It is a world-leading centre of excellence in developing and applying the most accurate standards, science and technology available.

NPL occupies a unique position as the UK's National Measurement Institute and sits at the intersection between scientific discovery and real world application. Its expertise and original research have underpinned quality of life, innovation and competitiveness for UK citizens and business for more than a century:

NPL provides companies with access to world leading support and technical expertise, inspiring the absolute confidence required to realise competitive advantage from new materials, techniques and technologies

NPL expertise and services are crucial in a wide range of social applications - helping to save lives, protect the environment and enable citizens to feel safe and secure. Support in areas such as the development of advanced medical treatments and environmental monitoring helps secure a better quality of life for all

NPL develops and maintains the nation's primary measurement standards, supporting an infrastructure of traceable measurement throughout the UK and the world, to ensure accuracy and consistency.

http://www.npl.co.uk

About SUERC

SUERC, The Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre, is a collaborative research facility operated jointly under a Consortium agreement between the University of Glasgow and Edinburgh University. It hosts five Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Facilities that are available to UK scientists through competitive application to the relevant Steering Committees. The SUERC Accelerator Mass Spectrometer Laboratory is recognised by NERC as a suitable facility to undertake NERC-funded science.

SUERC's mission is to perform, stimulate and support high quality basic, applied and strategic research, within the Scottish University community and beyond, in the Earth, Environmental and Biomedical Sciences through development and maintenance of high-end analytical facilities, inter-disciplinary exchange and collaborative interaction. SUERC provides a focus in Scotland for high quality research through its own research programme and by assisting partner universities successfully to bid for research grants and deliver research outputs. Through teaching and training, SUERC contributes to the future supply of highly able scientists.

http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/suerc/

---

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?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-01/npl-ns010512.php

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thejoshuablog: Via @MMFA: Fox's Bolling Fearmongers About Chinese Control Of U.S. Debt http://t.co/FUK93SZv #p2 #p2b #media

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Via @MMFA: Fox's Bolling Fearmongers About Chinese Control Of U.S. Debt bit.ly/xwxh1s #p2 #p2b #media Il y a environ 3 heures via twitterfeed

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Source: http://twitter.com/thejoshuablog/statuses/154845549621821440

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Nap-deprived tots may be missing out on more than sleep

ScienceDaily (Jan. 3, 2012) ? A new study led by the University of Colorado Boulder could be a wake-up call for parents of toddlers: Daytime naps for your kids may be more important than you think.

The study shows toddlers between 2 and a half and 3 years old who miss only a single daily nap show more anxiety, less joy and interest and a poorer understanding of how to solve problems, said CU-Boulder Assistant Professor Monique LeBourgeois, who led the study. The results indicate insufficient sleep alters the facial expressions of toddlers -- exciting events are responded to less positively and frustrating events are responded to more negatively, she said.

"Many young children today are not getting enough sleep, and for toddlers, daytime naps are one way of making sure their 'sleep tanks' are set to full each day," she said. "This study shows insufficient sleep in the form of missing a nap taxes the way toddlers express different feelings, and, over time, may shape their developing emotional brains and put them at risk for lifelong, mood-related problems."

LeBourgeois and her colleagues assessed the emotional expressions of healthy, nap-deprived toddlers one hour after their normal nap time, and tested them again on another day following their normal nap. The study, believed to be the first to look at the experimental effects of missing sleep on the emotional responses of young children, indicates the loss of a nap -- in this case in just 90 minutes -- may make toddlers unable to take full advantage of exciting and interesting experiences and to adapt to new frustrations, she said.

"Just like good nutrition, adequate sleep is a basic need that gives children the best chance of getting what is most important from the people and things they experience each day," said LeBourgeois of the integrative physiology department.

In the study, the toddlers' faces were videotaped while they performed "kid-friendly" picture puzzles, including those of farm animals, sea creatures and insects. One puzzle each child worked had all of the correct pieces, which gave him or her the opportunity to experience and express positive emotion, she said. A second puzzle had a "wrong" piece and therefore was frustrating to the toddlers in the study because it was unsolvable.

Facial expressions of the toddlers were coded on a second-by-second basis for emotions like joy, interest, excitement, sadness, anger, anxiety, disgust, shame and confusion.

The study showed nap-deprived toddlers completing the solvable puzzles had a 34 percent decrease in positive emotional responses compared to the same children completing similar puzzles after their usual midday naps. The study also showed a 31 percent increase in negative emotional responses of nap-deprived toddlers when they attempted to complete unsolvable puzzles when compared with puzzle-solving attempts after they had napped.

In addition, the study found a 39 percent decrease in the expression of "confusion" when nap-deprived toddlers attempted to put together unsolvable puzzles. "Confusion is not bad -- it's a complex emotion showing a child knows something does not add up," said LeBourgeois. "When well-slept toddlers experience confusion, they are more likely to elicit help from others, which is a positive, adaptive response indicating they are cognitively engaged with their world."

A paper on the subject recently appeared online and will be published in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Sleep Research. Co-authors included Rebecca Berger and Ronald Seifer of Bradley Hospital in East Providence, R.I., Alison Miller of the University of Michigan School of Public Health and Stephanie Cares of Boston College. The study was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health. The study participants were from Providence, R.I.

"The non-adaptive emotional effects we saw in toddlers who missed a single nap make us wonder how young kids who consistently don't get enough sleep deal with their complicated social worlds," said LeBourgeois, who undertook the study with colleagues while at Brown University.

The toddlers were kept on a strict sleep schedule of at least 12 and a half hours of nighttime and daytime sleep for at least five days before the emotion-testing sessions. Having children follow a set sleep schedule before testing is important because it synchronizes their circadian cycles and makes sure the participants are well-slept prior to the nap and no-nap emotional assessments.

"A sleepy child in a classroom or daycare environment may not be able to engage with others and benefit from positive interactions," she said. "Their coping skills decrease and they may be more prone to tantrums or frustration, which would affect how other children and adults interact with them. This study shows that missing even a single nap causes them to be less positive, more negative and have decreased cognitive engagement."

Similar interactions in the home setting could affect parent-child relationships and a child's quality of life, LeBourgeois said.

The toddlers in the study all wore devices on their wrists that measured their sleep patterns. The parents also kept daily diaries documenting their toddlers' sleep.

"The goal of our study was to understand how losing sleep affects the way young kids respond emotionally to their world," said LeBourgeois. "This is important because toddlerhood is a sensitive period for developing strategies to cope with emotions and a time children naturally lose some sleep as they begin giving up their daytime naps."

Le Bourgeois and her colleagues are now recruiting 40 families with 2-year-olds from the Boulder area for a toddler-sleep study that involves how sleep restriction may affect not only emotion, but also higher levels of cognition known as executive function, which includes working memory and inhibitory control. "These are the building blocks for lifelong learning," she said.

LeBourgeois currently has eight undergraduates working in her CU-Boulder lab. "My students are incredible," she said. "The work we do here gives them a hands-on opportunity to learn about research with children and families, to think critically, and to analyze and present their findings at scientific meetings. They are very important to me, and their insight and passion keep me young."

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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/DjkIPBVQkJ4/120103165012.htm

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After Iowa, Romney now hopes to pull away in NH

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney listens at left, as Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., speaks during a town hall style meeting in Manchester, N.H., Jan. 4, 2012. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney listens at left, as Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., speaks during a town hall style meeting in Manchester, N.H., Jan. 4, 2012. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)

Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn. embraces husband Marcus after announcing that she will end her campaign for president, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2012, in West Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

Republican presidential candidate, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, joined by wife Karen, left, addresses supporters at his Iowa caucus victory party Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2012, in Johnston, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, accompanied by his wife Callista, speaks during a campaign stop, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2012, in Concord, N.H. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)

Republican presidential candidate, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman speaks to supporters at a rally, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2012, in Concord, N.H. Huntsman is campaigning for next week's first-in-the-nation presidential primary. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) ? Mitt Romney eagerly pocketed an endorsement from two-time New Hampshire primary winner John McCain on Wednesday and bid to convert a single-digit victory in Iowa into a Republican presidential campaign juggernaut. Unimpressed, Newt Gingrich ridiculed the former Massachusetts governor as a liberal turned moderate now masquerading as a conservative.

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum sought to rally conservatives to his side after coming achingly close to victory in Iowa, saying he "hoped to surprise a few people just like we did" in the campaign's first contest.

"This is a wide-open race still," added former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, who skipped the Iowa caucuses in hopes of making his mark in next Tuesday's first-in-the-nation primary.

Romney is the odds-on favorite to win the New Hampshire primary, though, and it is unclear how much campaign cash any of his rivals has available to try to slow or even stop his momentum. Additionally, in a measure of his establishment support, the former governor announced he would campaign with South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley on Thursday, as he was joined by McCain in New Hampshire.

"The time has arrived for Republicans to choose a presidential nominee, a new standard bearer who has the ability and determination to defeat President Obama," said McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, and a man with a demonstrated appeal to the state's independent voters.

Already, the Republican field of challengers was dwindling.

Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann ended her campaign after a dreary 5 percent showing in Iowa, the state where she was born.

After suggesting he, too, might withdraw, Texas Gov. Rick Perry decided otherwise. "Here we come, South Carolina!!!" he tweeted. That primary is Jan. 21, and will mark the first balloting in the South as well as in a state that is part of the Republican Party's conservative, political base nationally.

Iowa, for months ground zero in the Republican race, yielded an almost impossibly close finish.

Romney emerged with an eight-vote victory over Santorum, whose grass-roots campaigning produced a late surge that fell just shy of victory. Texas Rep. Ron Paul finished third, followed by Gingrich, Perry and Bachmann.

A survey of Iowa caucus-goers highlighted the internal divisions in the GOP as it sets out to find a challenger for President Barack Obama in the general election campaign.

Romney, who campaigned as the man best positioned to defeat Obama, was the favorite by far among caucus-goers who said that goal was their priority. Paul was preferred by those who said what mattered most was backing a true conservative. Santorum ran particularly well among those who said they were looking for a candidate with strong moral character.

Paul outpolled his rivals among younger voters and gained an estimated 48 percent share of self-identified independents, a group that traditionally plays a major role in determining the outcome of New Hampshire's primary.

"If you look to bringing new people in, the frustrated young people that Obama had, you have to look at my campaign. I mean that's where the enthusiasm is," he said.

McCain and Romney clashed sharply as rivals in 2008 before reconciling for the fall campaign.

The Arizona senator did well among younger and independent voters in his two New Hampshire primary campaigns. Now, in a supporting role, he said, "Our message to President Obama is, you can run but you can't hide from your record."

Romney was more scathing. Paraphrasing the president, he recalled, "He said, 'If I can't turn this economy around in three years, I'll be looking at a one-term proposition.'

"Well, I'm here to collect," he added.

Before leaving Iowa, Romney made the round of early morning interview programs, sounding at times more like an analyst of a race than a competitor.

"I think there's a real boost coming out of Iowa, not just for me but also of course for Rick Santorum and Ron Paul," he said.

At the same time, he brushed aside suggestions that his share of the vote in Iowa, less than 25 percent, was a sign of weakness.

"Ronald Reagan got 29 percent of the votes here and ultimately he was able to become our nominee," said, referring to the 1980 campaign that put Republicans in the White House.

He had a stiffer response to Gingrich, who refused to extend congratulations in the wake of the Iowa outcome.

"I'm sure he's disappointed in the results last night. But I expect he'll go on and mount a spirited campaign," he said.

Spirited might be an understatement, given the sharp escalation in rhetoric from the former House speaker in the final hours in Iowa. His campaign purchased a full-page advertisement in the Union Leader, New Hampshire's largest newspaper, calling Romney a Massachusetts moderate.

Talking with reporters in Concord, N.H., Gingrich described himself as a "conservative leader for the last generation," and depicted Romney as something entirely different.

"In that same time period, Gov. Romney was first an independent, then repudiated Reagan-Bush, then voted for Paul Tsongas, the most liberal candidate in the '93 campaign, then ran to the left of Teddy Kennedy and then became a moderate to run for governor in Massachusetts in 2002."

Gingrich accused his rival of including state-funded abortions in the health care legislation he signed into law in Massachusetts and said he had "specifically designated Planned Parenthood as a part of Romney care, appointed liberal judges to placate Democrats and raised taxes on business..."

"I suspect it's going to be a very lively campaign," he added.

Gingrich was briefly the leader in opinion polls in Iowa, before his support eroded under the weight of attack ads by a super PAC run by Romney's allies. Short of funds, the former speaker was unable to respond in kind, and declared he would run only a positive campaign.

Having jettisoned that approach, it is unclear how much money his campaign has left after Iowa, and how willing a separate super PAC set up to support him is to spend.

Personally, Romney was able to remain largely above the fray in Iowa's ad wars, generally running positive commercials while his allies took on Gingrich and other rivals.

Except for appearing at debates, Perry is not expected to compete in New Hampshire, saving his energy and cash for South Carolina.

In bowing out, Bachmann bestowed no endorsement. Nor did she say if she intended to seek re-election to the House from Minnesota.

___

David Espo reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Philip Elliott, Shannon McCaffrey and Steve Peoples in New Hampshire; Brian Bakst in St. Paul, Minn., Mike Glover in Des Moines, Iowa, and Chris Tomlinson in Austin, Texas, contributed to this story.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-04-GOP%20Campaign/id-ac5fcfbb30e446f4aa341c231847ccc5

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Double-Blind Violin Test: Can You Pick The Strad?

Enlarge Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images

In a double-blind test by professional violinists, most couldn't determine ? by sound alone ? which violin was an original Stradivarius and which was a modern instrument. Above, a 1729 Stradivari known as the "Solomon, Ex-Lambert."

Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images

In a double-blind test by professional violinists, most couldn't determine ? by sound alone ? which violin was an original Stradivarius and which was a modern instrument. Above, a 1729 Stradivari known as the "Solomon, Ex-Lambert."

In the world of violins, the names Stradivari and Guarneri are sacred. For three centuries, violin-makers and scientists have studied the instruments made by these Italian craftsmen. So far no one has figured out what makes their sound different. But a new study now suggests maybe they aren't so different after all.

OK, here's a test. Clip one is a musical phrase from Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D Major. Clip two is the same phrase. The same musician plays both. But one is on a Stradivarius violin, the other on a violin made in 1980. See if you can tell the difference.

Violin Test 1: Strad Or Modern?

Violin Test 2: Strad Or Modern?

It's a tough choice. But a professional violinist could tell the difference, right?

Well, a research team recently tried to find out. They gathered professional violinists in a hotel room in Indianapolis. They had six violins ? two Strads, a Guarneri and three modern instruments. Everybody wore dark goggles so they couldn't see which violin was which.

Then the researchers told the musicians: These are all fine violins and at least one is a Stradivarius. Play, then judge the instruments.

?

Joseph Curtin, a violin-maker from Michigan, was one of the researchers. "There was no evidence that people had any idea what they were playing," he says. "That really surprised me."

Curtin says of the 17 players who were asked to choose which were old Italians, "Seven said they couldn't, seven got it wrong, and only three got it right."

Claudia Fritz designed the experiment. She's an acoustics physicist from France's National Center for Scientific Research ? and a flute player, by the way. She says this test was more rigorous than previous ones because it was "double-blind" ? no one knew which instrument was which until after the test. That rules out the kind of bias that might creep in when a musician judges an instrument he or she knows is 300 years old and maybe played by someone like Fritz Kreisler or Henryk Szeryng.

And this experiment asked seasoned violin players, not listeners, to choose.

Fritz says some of the players told her they were certain which were the new violins and which were the old Italians.

"'Ah, it's just a bit too new for me'," she recalled one musician saying. "And it was a Strad. Another one said, 'Ah, I love the sound of this one, it really has the sound of an old Italian, ah, just so warm.' And it was a brand new violin. "

When Fritz asked the players which violins they'd like to take home, almost two-thirds chose a violin that turned out to be new. She's found the same in tests with other musical instruments. "I haven't found any consistency whatsoever," she says. "Never. People don't agree. They just like different things."

In fact, the only statistically obvious trend in the choices was that one of the Stradivarius violins was the least favorite, and one of the modern instruments was slightly favored.

Now, what does that mean for all the years of research studying the old violins ? the design, the wood, the varnish, even the glue? If no one can tell the difference, what's the point?

Well, Fritz says maybe researchers should focus more on people than old wood.

"People looked at the violin, tried to understand how it vibrates, what are the mechanics behind it," she says of past research. "But nobody has really looked at the human side." She says her research is aimed at determining how people choose what they like, and what criteria they use.

Curtin has spent years trying to capture the quality of old-world instruments. But he's not discouraged by the results. "If new violins get better, it doesn't mean old ones get worse," he says. "The question is, Can the sound be gotten from a new instrument, as well as an old one?"

The old Italians certainly sound great, but not necessarily better or even that different from the best new ones, he says. It's more in the mind, or ear, of the listener.

Dale Purves, a professor of neuroscience at Duke University, says the research "makes the point that things that people think are 'special' are not so special after all when knowledge of the origin is taken away."

The research appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Oh, yeah, the test: Which of the two phrases we played came from the Stradivarius? The second one.

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/deceptivecadence/2012/01/02/144482863/double-blind-violin-test-can-you-pick-the-strad?ft=1&f=1007

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