Music things happen all the time in the world of science.
Computational musicology: Tracking the changing sound of bands
Jul 2025, phys.org
It is often believed that the older a musician gets, the more they start producing slower, more mellow material, but this is not what this study found. Variations in sound and rhythm continued to occur at different stages of the artists' music careers.In the study, Radiohead were consistently more diverse than Coldplay harmonically, but not necessarily timbrally.Overall, R.E.M. were generally the least adventurous in their musical style with Coldplay becoming increasingly part of the pop mainstream over time.This research is part of a growing field called computational musicology, where computers are used to study music in new ways. By analyzing sound files directly, researchers can get a better understanding of how artists grow and change.
via Durham UniversityDepartment of Music: Nick Collins, Recording artist career comparison through audio content analysis, Royal Society Open Science (2025). DOI: 10.1098/rsos.241647
Audio of Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson arguments from Marriage Story used to scare off wolves in the US
Aug 2025, The Guardian
His teams employ “drone cowhands, whose quadcopters have thermal cameras that can reveal any wolf lurking in the darkness”. The predator is then spotlit and treated to audio blasted over a loudspeaker. Aside from Baumbach-scripted acid insults, tracks include fireworks, gunshots and AC/DC’s Thunderstruck.
Study maps the happiest and saddest national anthems from around the globe
Sep 2025, phys.org
Using machine learning and music information retrieval (MIR) on 176 national anthems, the team predicted the emotional profile of each anthem and identified clear global patterns.
- anthems from the Americas were generally more tense and less positive than those from other regions
- hierarchical (high power distance) cultures had more energetic anthems
- individualistic cultures had anthems that were more tender and less tense
via University of Jyväskylä: Petri Toiviainen et al, The emotional geography of National anthems, Scientific Reports (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-025-08956-6
The older we get, the fewer favorite songs we have, study shows
Sep 2025, phys.org
- Younger users listen to a wide range of contemporary popular music and follow trends in popular culture.
- In the transition from adolescence to adulthood, music habits broaden - more artists and genres are explored, and listening becomes increasingly varied.
- With age, this spectrum narrows, while music choices become more personal and influenced by previous experiences.
The study is based on Last.fm data spanning 15 years and covering more than 40,000 users. The data contained over 542 million plays of more than 1 million different songs.
via University of Gothenburg, Jönköping University and University of Primorska: Arsen Matej Golubovikj et al, Soundtracks of Our Lives: How Age Influences Musical Preferences, Adjunct Proceedings of the 33rd ACM Conference on User Modeling, Adaptation and Personalization (2025). DOI: 10.1145/3708319.3733673
Global study shows why the songs from our teens leave a lasting mark on us
Oct 2025, phys.org
Every wedding dj knows this; but also there's the "25 year bump" as well, which for me doesn't hold up actually:
The "Reminiscence Bump" - our most emotionally resonant music tends to come from our teenage years, peaking around age 17; but men closer to 16 and women closer to 19The "Cascading Reminiscence Bump" - both men and women often form deep connections to music released decades before they were born—typically from about 25 years earlierOn genres - Men often gravitate toward intense, rebellious genres that fuel teenage identity and independence—a phase that peaks early. Women, however, tend to engage with a wider spectrum of music, from pop to soul to classical, often using it also as a tool for strengthening social bonds.
via University of Jyväskylä Finland: Iballa Burunat et al, Memory bumps across the lifespan in personally meaningful music, Memory (2025). DOI: 10.1080/09658211.2025.2557960
'Audible enclaves' could enable private listening without headphones
Mar 2025, phys.org
"We use two ultrasound transducers paired with an acoustic metasurface, which emit self-bending beams that intersect at a certain point. The person standing at that point can hear sound, while anyone standing nearby would not. This creates a privacy barrier between people for private listening."
via Pennsylvania State University College of Engineering: un, Audible enclaves crafted by nonlinear self-bending ultrasonic beams, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2025). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2408975122.
