ISEN-ASTC-L Archives

Informal Science Education Network

ISEN-ASTC-L@COMMUNITY.LSOFT.COM

Options: Use Forum View

Use Monospaced Font
Show Text Part by Default
Show All Mail Headers

Message: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Topic: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Author: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]

Print Reply
Subject:
From:
Eric Siegel <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informal Science Education Network <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Wed, 9 May 2007 20:17:02 -0400
Content-Type:
text/plain
Parts/Attachments:
text/plain (153 lines)
ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
*****************************************************************************

Hello, all:

There is a long history in music of using naturally occurring  
phenomena, manipulated with some sort of compositional algorithm, to  
create music.  The unsatisfactory part of this to me, as a musician,  
is that the generative phenomenon is typically inaudible in the  
music.  So, from the visitors pov there would be no difference in the  
sound of this particular set of values from another set of values, or  
at least nothing that would illuminate either the musical structure  
or the underlying science.

Eric Siegel
New York Hall of Science
[log in to unmask]
(718) 699-0005 x 317



On May 9, 2007, at 2:45 PM, Charles Carlson wrote:

> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology  
> Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related  
> institutions.
> ********************************************************************** 
> *******
>
> Martin,
>
> FYI: You should be aware that we made an exhibit called musical  
> mutants that was on the floor for about 10 years. It basically  
> provided comparative DNA gene sequences, converted to amino acid  
> sequences and musical notes, so that visitors could do comparisons  
> between various sequences.  We used Thymidylate Synthase as one of  
> the sequences, and F1-ATPase (?), hemoglobin, and one other.  It  
> was a noisy, popular, engaging exhibit, and understanding varied  
> with prior knowledge and experience.
> C
> On May 9, 2007, at 8:25 AM, martin weiss wrote:
>
>> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology  
>> Centers
>> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related  
>> institutions.
>> ********************************************************************* 
>> ********
>>
>> 	This article (http://www.nature.com/news/2007/070430/full/ 
>> 070430-7.html) and the gene2music site (http://www.mimg.ucla.edu/ 
>> faculty/miller_jh/gene2music/examples.html) seem to expand on the  
>> science song discussion we had earlier. Unfortunately the  
>> interface to create music from gene sequence is not easy or  
>> intuitive However, they do provide examples of music created from  
>> protein sequence data (http://www.mimg.ucla.edu/faculty/miller_jh/ 
>> gene2music/examples.html)
>>
>> 	From the Summary of the project:
>>
>> The primary goal of this work is to convert genome-encoded protein  
>> sequences into musical notes in order to hear auditory protein  
>> patterns. Although there have been previous efforts to do this,  
>> one of the main problems has involved the large jumps between  
>> consecutive notes in a 20 note range (2.5 octaves) that results  
>> from a one-to-one amino acid-to-musical note assignment. Some  
>> other concerns include assigning rhythm, dynamics, and  
>> accompaniment according to the characteristics of the protein  
>> sequence.
>> We derived a reduced 13 base note range according to  
>> hydrophobicity and pairing of similar amino acids. The amino acid  
>> pairs were differentiated using variants of three-note chords,  
>> namely the root position and first inversion chords. A rhythm has  
>> been encoded into the musical sequence according to the organism's  
>> codon distribution used in the genome-encoded protein sequence.  
>> Such a designation allows each amino acid to be represented by  
>> different note durations. The result is a set of rules that  
>> produces musical compositions that can be applied to any protein  
>> sequence [1]. As an example, we have used a prototype human  
>> protein, Thymidylate Synthase A (ThyA). A detailed description of  
>> our coding assignment can be found in the Project Evolution.
>>
>> In addition to the primary goal, we also aim to use this  
>> conversion to help make protein sequences more approachable and  
>> tangible for the general public and children. The project also  
>> opens opportunities for visually impaired scientists to access  
>> protein sequences more readily. We show and allow one to listen to  
>> examples of several proteins translated into music by these  
>> methods and also provide the opportunity for others to convert  
>> their own gene of interest using our GENE2MUSIC program.
>>
>> Martin
>> -- 
>> Martin Weiss, Ph.D
>> Vice President, Science
>> New York Hall of Science
>> 47-01 111 th Street
>> Corona, New York 11368
>> 718 699 0005 x 356
>>
>> ********************************************************************* 
>> **
>> More information about the Informal Science Education Network and the
>> Association of Science-Technology Centers may be found at http:// 
>> www.astc.org.
>>
>> The ISEN-ASTC-L email list is powered by LISTSERVR software from L- 
>> Soft. To learn more, visit
>> http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html.
>>
>> To remove your e-mail address from the ISEN-ASTC-L list, send the
>> message  SIGNOFF ISEN-ASTC-L in the BODY of a message to
>> [log in to unmask]
>
> Charles Carlson
> Director of Life Sciences
> exploratorium
> 3601 Lyon St.
> San Francisco, CA 94123
> [log in to unmask]
> Tel:   415-561-0319
> Fax:  415-561-0370
>
>
>
> ********************************************************************** 
> *
> More information about the Informal Science Education Network and the
> Association of Science-Technology Centers may be found at http:// 
> www.astc.org.
>
> The ISEN-ASTC-L email list is powered by LISTSERVR software from L- 
> Soft. To learn more, visit
> http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html.
>
> To remove your e-mail address from the ISEN-ASTC-L list, send the
> message  SIGNOFF ISEN-ASTC-L in the BODY of a message to
> [log in to unmask]


***********************************************************************
More information about the Informal Science Education Network and the
Association of Science-Technology Centers may be found at http://www.astc.org.

The ISEN-ASTC-L email list is powered by LISTSERVR software from L-Soft. To learn more, visit
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html.

To remove your e-mail address from the ISEN-ASTC-L list, send the
message  SIGNOFF ISEN-ASTC-L in the BODY of a message to
[log in to unmask]

ATOM RSS1 RSS2