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Feb

The Colorful Life of a Human Cyborg

by Meredith Mullins on February 6, 2014

Neil Harbisson, a human cyborg, wearing a head device which expands his senses for creative expression (Photo © Dan Wilton/Red Bulletin)

Neil Harbisson, cyborg and artist, changing the world of senses.
© Dan Wilton/Red Bulletin

Neil Harbisson: Expanding the Boundaries of Creative Expression

He can hear a Picasso painting.

He can paint a Mozart serenade.

He stands for hours in a supermarket aisle listening to a symphony of rainbow-colored cleaning bottles.

He composes music from faces.

This is Neil Harbisson, human cyborg. His senses defy tradition. His creative expression is unique.

He was born to a colorless world, where, in his words, “the sky is always gray and television is still in black and white.” Read more...

Meredith Mullins 4 Comments

Innovations/The World's Art & Design/The World's Music

Jan

An Unexpected Connection with Argentine Tango

by Bruce Goldstone on January 6, 2014

Microscopic cells next to a couple dancing the Argentine tango, illustrating an unexpected connection between two life passions. (Images © tagota / Thinkstock (L) and © Alejandro Puerta (R))

From the science of cells to dancing at sunset. What’s the connection?
© tagota / Thinkstock (L) and © Alejandro Puerta (R)

Linking Life Passions

What does Argentine tango have to do with molecular biology?

The fields seem disparate, but to Alejandro Puerta, the connection is perfectly clear. They are his life passions, though the link wasn’t always obvious to him, either.

The Dancing Biologist

Today, Puerta teaches tango in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the home of the passionate dance that has intrigued people around the world since the 1890’s. Puerta’s strengths as a tango professor are deeply rooted in his unusual background. He has a Ph.D. in molecular biology and worked for years as a scientist in Japan. Read more...

Bruce Goldstone Comments

Argentina/On the World Stage/The World's Music

Dec

Jonathan Tessero’s Hunt to Know the (Musical) Score

by Janine Boylan on December 16, 2013

A butterfly on a musical score, symbolizing Jonathan Tessero's life passion for music and his search for Offenbach's original music to the ballet, Le papillon. (Image © Anna Maria Thor / iStock)

A Life Passion for Music, A Love of Ballet

When conductor Jonathan Tessero heard a recording of Jacques Offenbach’s single ballet Le papillon (The Butterfly), he fell in love with it. He wanted to know how Offenbach could direct stringed instruments to perfectly mimic butterflies. So Tessero went looking for the original score.

He found plenty of information about the composer, the history of the performances, the story line. He found audio recordings and videos of parts of the choreography. He found the modern adaptation John Lanchbery did for the Houston Ballet. Read more...

Janine Boylan 1 Comment

Discoveries/On the World Stage/The World's Music

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