Genetic Music Project August 4, 2011
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in DNA, Fun, Music, Web 2.0.2 comments
Some months ago I wrote about Alexandra Pajak, a graduate student at the University of Georgia, who released an album of music based on the DNA of HIV. And now here is the Genetic Music Project, an open source genetic art project combining music and science where everyone is art and everyone can be an artist.
Since all genetic information can only come in the language of four nucleotides (A Adenosine C Cytosine G Guanine T Thymidine) it is fairly easily conveyed in musical form. Another way of thinking about it is that each and every one of us and all life on this planet is made of music.
E-patient Rap: Gimme My Damn Data July 30, 2011
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in e-patient, Fun, Music, Video.add a comment
E-Patient Dave has recently given a presentation about the importance of online available data of e-patients and performed a short rap about this issue. And now he is remixed, watch it and enjoy!
Health 2.0 News: From Rap to Sequencing April 29, 2011
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Medicine, Health, Music, Web 2.0, Medicine 2.0, Health 2.0, Video, Fun, What's on the web?.add a comment
I’d like to get a small group of volunteer experts together – healthcare professionals committed to science and common sense – and have them read and approve links before they are promoted on Twitter. I have created a new Twitter account called “HealthyRT” – the volunteer experts will have access to this account and can promote content that is medically sound.
When the science you learned in school and the science you read in the newspaper don’t quite match up, the Meet Science series is here to help, providing quick run-downs of oft-referenced concepts, controversies, and tools that aren’t always well-explained by the media.
As we work to get our fellow physicians to emerge from the shadows, the last thing we need is a social health horror story. This week a Rhode Island physician was formally reprimanded for breaching patient confidentiality on Facebook. You can get catch up with the core story on MSNBC or read KevinMD’s nice analysis.
Why Songs Can Get You High January 17, 2011
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Music, science, Video.6 comments
According to a new study in Nature Neuroscience, there are songs that can arouse feelings of euphoria and craving by endogenous dopamine release in the striatum.
If music-induced emotional states can lead to dopamine release, as our findings indicate, it may begin to explain why musical experiences are so valued. These results further speak to why music can be effectively used in rituals, marketing or film to manipulate hedonic states. Our findings provide neurochemical evidence that intense emotional responses to music involve ancient reward circuitry and serve as a starting point for more detailed investigations of the biological substrates that underlie abstract forms of pleasure.
One of those songs according to Robert Zatorre, one of the authors:
(Hat tip: In and aound the lab)
Health 2.0 News: From WHO to Medical Songs December 15, 2010
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Cancer, Health, Health 2.0, List, Medicine 2.0, Music, twitter, Video, Web 2.0, What's on the web?.1 comment so far
AIDS Drugs Lower the Risk of HIV Infection
Synthetic Cell
Blood Test for Alzheimer’s
FDA Approves Botox for Migraines
Taking the Resuscitation Out of CPR
The FDA Restricts Avandia
Blood Test for Heart Attack
Predicting IVF Success
Artificial Ovary
Creating iPS Cells Safer and Faster
If it’s the latter, it may be time to find another doctor. With nearly 90% of online Americans searching the Internet for health resources, it’s likely you and your friends and family already use the Internet to research health issues. It’s true that the web has a jumble of health information, and engaging online takes time, which most health experts don’t have. The good news, however, is that the increasing number of health professionals now embracing the Internet as an important and useful tool for health and wellness is beginning to change your options as a consumer.
Research suggests that regardless of cultural differences, doctors around the world now view the internet as essential to how they practice. And around a fifth can be identified as highly ‘e-reliant’. One of the measures of this is where they get their clinical information, and more than 75% are saying they are getting that information online.
Medical Students Present Their University by Singing November 29, 2010
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Fun, Music, Video.5 comments
Here is the medical version of “Glow” music video made by graduating medical students of the University of Tromsø, Norway.
Sounds of HIV: Unique! October 31, 2010
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Music.4 comments
A few weeks ago, I wrote about Alexandra Pajak, a graduate student at the University of Georgia, who released an album of music based on the DNA of HIV. You can buy the album on Amazon (release date: 26, October). Note that some of the proceeds will go to the Emory Vaccine Center, which conducts research for an HIV vaccine. If you wonder how it was made, here is the explanation.
I just go my copy and it’s truly amazing. I love this kind of music.
ZDoggMD: The Rapper Doctor October 5, 2010
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Fun, Medicine, Music, Video, Web 2.0.5 comments
I just came across ZDoggMD and had to watch some of his videos which are absolutely fantastic! But I’m speechless now…
Anyway, who is this genius?
I’m a hospital physician and a purveyor of fine medical satire. I strive to practice evidence-based comedy…everything on this site has been clinically proven to be slightly funnier than placebo.
Sounds of HIV October 5, 2010
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in DNA, Fun, Music, science.8 comments
A few months ago, Alexandra Pajak, a graduate student at the University of Georgia contacted me about an album of music based on the DNA of the HIV virus she was about to release. I feel lucky that the album is just on its way to my CD player right now. You can buy the album on Amazon (release date: 26, October). Note that some of the proceeds will go to the Emory Vaccine Center, which conducts research for an HIV vaccine. If you wonder how it was made, here is the explanation:
Sounds of HIV is a musical translation of the genetic code of HIV, the Human Immunodeficiency Virus. Every segment of the virus is assigned music pitches that correspond to the segment’s scientific properties. In this way, the sounds reflect the true nature of the virus. When listening from beginning to end, the listener hears the entire genome of HIV.
In English, the nucleotides Adenine, Cytosine, Uracil/Thymine, and Guanine are abbreviated with the letters A, C, T, and G. Since A, C, and G are also musical pitches in the Western melodic scale, these pitches were assigned to the matching nucleotides. To form two perfect fifths (C-G and D-A), “D” was arbitrarily assigned to musically represent Uracil. I assigned the pitches of the A minor scale to the amino acids based on their level of attraction to water.
On “Sounds of HIV,” depending on the track, only nucleotides and/or amino acids “play” as music. Tracks 1 and 10 are based on the first and last nucleotides of the RNA chain. Tracks 2-9 “play” the proteins and sometimes the nucleotides on top of the proteins.
Hospital Music Videos December 5, 2009
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Fun, Music, Video.3 comments
Do you remember the music video with the title Breathe? I wrote about it a few months ago. Their name is The Laryngospasms and they have an own website where you can download other songs as well like the Fractured Femur.
Here are other “pop classics”:
Update: Many thanks to Denton Shanks for the other tips:
