Friday, January 22, 2010

Slimy tunes

Here's another free idea for composers adapted from natural science:  it turns out that slime molds can discover efficient paths through complex networks, subway systems, for example (read here, in German).  How about using slime mold paths to design melodies?  Melodies have at least two dimensions of movement (in absolute pitch and in pitch relative to harmonic references), so there is some similarity to networks like subways.  How important an efficient path may be, however, may vary with your aesthetic purposes.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

If you have access to these journals, there is a new paper out on oil droplets navigating their way through mazes.
>http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2010/113/4
>http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ja9076793

And more on slime molds, they can also make efficient nets between model cities in Japan
>http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2010/121/1

Valéria Gomes said...

Adorei o seu blog.Não é difícil visualizar voçê:Homem criativo, inteligente, sensível, inovador...

Mil beijos!!!