A Little Music Training In Childhood Goes A Long Way→

Learning about rhythm, pitch, and melody for 20 days increased preschoolers' verbal-intelligence scores by an average of about 20%, with more than 90% of the children showing improvement, according to a study led by Sylvain Moreno of the Rotman Research Institute in Toronto. Music and language appear to be closely linked in the brain: The processing of music may overlap with mechanisms for handling other cognitive activities, the researchers say. A comparable training program in visual art yielded no improvement in verbal intelligence.

Source: Short-Term Music Training Enhances Verbal Intelligence and Executive Function

What Do Nic Cage, William Gibson, Doctor Who & Justin Bieber Have In Common?

They are amongst some of the topics covered by the very prolific and imaginative Idea Channel from PBS. It is time to catch up once again with all the talks we've missed so far, now they've gone to a weekly schedule, and ponder the unexpected perspectives they present, starting with the most recent: ​

Is CSS and Website Design a Fashion Statement?

If you've never seen a website, you are a liar! (You're on one right now.) Consciously or not, the first thing you notice when you visit a website is how the site LOOKS, which is controlled by the CSS Stylesheet. CSS is the fashion of the web- it makes sites pretty (or very very ugly). And as our lives migrate more and more onto the world wide web, our presence online becomes a central way to define and express ourselves. So before you lay out your outfit for tomorrow, take a look at your website and make sure you match!

How are Justin Bieber, Franz Liszt and Jerusalem Connected?

At first glance, Pop Wunderkind Justin Bieber aka "The Biebs" and revolutionary 19th Century pianist and composer Franz Liszt don't seem to have anything in common. And while they might not have any musical or biographical similarities, they both have had a powerful psychological effect on their fans. Fits of hysteria, screaming, and fainting are all common traits of "Bieber Fever" & "Lisztomania." But why? What is it that will cause a person to be so tremendously moved by a performer, a piece of art, a cityscape or even, heck, light refracting off of bits of water in the sky? Watch the episode and find out!

Can Dungeons & Dragons Make You A Confident & Successful Person?

There are some deeply ingrained stereotypes about Dungeons & Dragons, and those stereotypes usually begin and end with people shouting "NERD!!!" But the reality of the D&D universe is a whole lot more complex. Rather than being an escape from reality, D&D is actually a way to enhance some important real life skillz! It's a chance to learn problem solving, visualization, interaction, organization, people management... the list could go on and on. Plus, there are some very famous non-nerds who have declared an affinity for D&D, so best stop criticizing and join in if you want to be a successful at the game of life.

Is Doctor Who a Religion?

Dr. Who is one of the longest running TV shows on the BBC, and it's got a huge fandom surrounding it, called Whovians. And while it might not seem like, Whovianism, might just be RELIGION!!!!! Whovians, like other passionate fan cultures, create art & fan fiction and engage in a strong remix and cosplay culture. But it's more than that. Dr. Who provides a philosophy; a way of understanding the universe. Fans embrace this in ways that are similar to most world religions: a positive influence that changes their approach to daily life. Also, the Tardis makes a pretty great shrine!

What do MP3s and Magic Spells Have in Common?

Ah, the MP3, everyone's favorite friendly musical file format. But there's something you might not know about the Mp3 - it has a lot in common with the magical spell!!!! Both spells and music were born from a freely available folk culture, but are now sold as commercial goods. There are thousands of artists and witches trying to figure out how to make a living in an age where their products can be infinitely copied. And with commercialization, the morality and legality of sharing these once open cultural products has become quite complicated. How should we, as responsible consumers, handle this new digital age? Watch the episode and find out!

Is Diablo III Turning Virtual Economies Into Real Ones?

The U.S. economy may be in the dumps, but you can find solace in the fact that your Second Life avatar is living the life of the 1%. But what if the virtual economies of video games could be transferred to the real world? We're actually already seeing this in Diablo 3, where axes, swords, and other awesome gear have taken on real world value at the Diablo 3 Auction House. People are buying and selling them with real US dollar bills!!!!!! The idea that a collection of pixels can be sold for actual money might be confusing to some, as they are neither true "objects" you can hold nor "ideas" that can be considered intellectual property. But despite the lack of tangibility, real world economies have formed around these games and real world profits are being made.

Is Facebook Changing Our Identity?

Good old Facebook. With 955,000,000 worldwide users, it seems like just about everyone makes use of the social media giant to connect with friends, share photos, and update everyone they've ever met since grade school about their dinner plans. But what you may not realize is that Facebook's new timeline layout is enhancing the ability to construct our self identity by super-charging our memory. Philosophers have been arguing about the link between identity and memory since John Locke first proposed the idea in the 17th Century, but human memory has always been deeply flawed and limited. Now with Facebook's incredibly easy interface and ability to remember anything and everyone we want, people have a whole new way to understand their past and thus understand themselves!

Is Homestuck the Ulysses of the Internet?

If you're unfamiliar, Homestuck is a webcomic created Andrew Hussie that is over 5000 PAGES so far! And it's still not complete!! It has a strong cult following, even though it presents incredible challenges to its readers; including a giant cast of characters, huge walls of text, and animated flash games that you must beat in order to continue. In its own weird way, Homestuck is a lot like James Joyce's Ulysses, where only the strongest, most dedicated readers make it through to the end. Most people don't expect such expansive and daunting works to find a home on the internet, but Homestuck has done it, illustrating that its followers' time and effort may actually enhance rather than lessen their devotion.

Is William Gibson A Modern Day Oracle?

The science fiction writer William Gibson has not only written some fantastic scifi novels, but in the process predicted the internet, Miku Hatsune, reality TV, and a crazy amount of other technological and societal developments that have come into being. His impressive rate of accuracy seems almost mystical. Sure, he's essentially just an entertainer, but he's got a better batting average than Nostradamus, who was actually TRYING to predict the future. We may not need oracles as much as we did in the past (what with science and all), but a look into the future can be exciting and an awesome preparation for what's to come.

Are Memes & Internet Culture Creating a Singularity?

Here on the internet, we love us some memes. But where do they come from? Yes we know, they are user generated. But to an internet layman, they seem to just appear, in HUGE quantities, ready for cultural consumption. Are they a sign of a "cultural singularity"? Memes follow rules and code, are varied, self-referential, and seem to multiply at an ever increasing rate. It may seem like science fiction, but we're close to a world where culture automatically and magically creates infinitely more culture.

Is Nic Cage the Intersection of YOLO and Taoism? ​

No one would argue that Nicolas Cage is one of the greatest actors of his generation, and simultaneously a very bizarre human being. It's not just his acting ability that makes us love him, it's his total willingness to dive head first into ANY role, with no regard for the quality of the script. He seems to have mastered the trendy YOLO philosophy before it was cool. Even deeper than YOLO, he might more of a Taoist, finding harmony with the now, foregoing calculated planning and strategy. Either way, Nic Cage's wacky life choices feel sincere, attracting a massive amount of fans, some of whom even saw The Wicker Man.

Previously on the Idea Channel:

Minecraft, Dubstep & the Olympics: Trying To Figure Out What More We Can Do
​Here's an idea, PBS Idea Channel is TED Talks from the fringe
​​What are bronies, and are they changing the definition of masculinity?
​​PBS Idea Channel: Are Hologram Tupac And Hologram Freddie Mercury Nostalgia Or New Aesthetic?
​Superflat Epic Minimalism And Hello Kitty
​Is Instagram The Best Thing To Ever Happen To Photography?
​Is “Texts From Hillary” Art?
​Authenticity In Pop Music: Computer Generated Miku Hatsune vs. Marketing Generated Lana Del Rey
​Super Mario Brothers Is The World’s Greatest Piece Of Surrealist Art

Banished Words

Linguists will tell us that words are simply strings of sounds, and that those sounds in no way determine the words’ legitimacy. An opera in Italian is not better than one in German because you dislike the supposedly “harsh,” guttural, deep-in-the-throat sound of German. Being put off by the soundscape of a language is a matter of taste, a subjective experience of its words, not an objective fact about them. The bickering such judgments foster leads nowhere, for every person’s experience is, finally, true. Still, it is interesting that we do more than see and hear words; we feel them. Language is embodied, not just a baked-in set of abstract principles. Words have physical impact, a texture, a sensation. They are visceral, and perhaps this helps explain linguistic conservatism: any change is felt, not simply noted.

Jerry DeNuccio takes a look at banishing words and the role of slang in the evolution of language. In the passage above he manages to make me consider something I had not before, the idea of words as food, that words like food have a taste, a texture and combinations that please us and nourish us. As such we then have the equivalent of words that are comfort food, words that are nutritionally sound and words that are special treats

Keep working, keep learning, any form of standing still is deadly

The truth is, if you want a decent job that will lead to a decent life today you have to work harder, regularly reinvent yourself, obtain at least some form of postsecondary education, make sure that you’re engaged in lifelong learning and play by the rules. That’s not a bumper sticker, but we terribly mislead people by saying otherwise.

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There is a quote attributed to the futurist Alvin Toffler that captures this new reality: In the future “illiteracy will not be defined by those who cannot read and write, but by those who cannot learn and relearn.” Any form of standing still is deadly.

Thomas Friedman's Op-Ed in The New York Times takes a look at education world wide and how the countries that are excelling are teaching programming, or considering it, as early as possible. In doing so he articulates a very simple truth, no matter what your socio-political point of view, in order to excel you have to  keep studying.

The Theory Behind Social Networking & Dijkstra's Algorithm (MIT Video Lesson)

Teachers: Dr. F. Jordan Srour and Dr. George Turkiyyah
​Summary: This video lesson will introduce students to algorithmic thinking through the use of a popular field in graph theory --- social networking. Specifically, by acting as nodes in a graph (i.e.  people in a social network), the students will experientially gain an understanding of graph theory terminology and distance in a graph (i.e. number of introductions required to meet a target person).