So today I read in the Globe and Mail that sci­en­tists are increas­ingly find­ing bio­log­i­cal and genetic sup­port for the age-old adages of love (Siri Agrell, “Sluts and Ver­min”, The Globe and Mail, 26 Apr 2007, http://​www​.the​globe​and​mail​.com/​s​e​r​v​l​e​t​/​s​t​o​r​y​/​R​T​G​A​M​.​2​0​0​7​0​4​2​6​.​w​x​l​s​e​x​s​t​u​d​i​e​s​2​6​/​B​N​S​t​o​r​y​/​l​i​f​e​F​a​m​i​l​y​/​h​ome).

For exam­ple, female mice who play hard to get tend to inspire faith­ful­ness in their mates, as opposed to those who put out right away. There seems to be a bio­log­i­cal rea­son why women that are unavail­able are more desir­able, and this builds faith­ful­ness in men. Inter­est­ing. (more…)

I’ve posted a cou­ple of blog entries on my MySpace page, hav­ing to do with the phi­los­o­phy of music. One deals with the value of music in soci­ety today, the other with the eco­log­i­cal effects of music, and how the energy cri­sis will change the sound of our music. On a sim­i­lar note, I intend even­tu­ally to post some of my Master’s port­fo­lio papers here, which deal with related top­ics, once I’ve fin­ished my degree this sum­mer. Stay tuned.

I’ve thought a lot lately about the effect that sound, and par­tic­u­larly music, has on our envi­ron­ment. This is what peo­ple fre­quently call Eco­mu­si­col­ogy, though I’m not crazy about that term.

Basi­cally, do we have a right to make noise? How must it feel for a bird liv­ing on my street? Does it enjoy (or notice) the sounds of cars, air­planes, peo­ple play­ing soc­cer in the park across the street? Maybe the bird doesn’t but the squir­rel might. (more…)