Marcel Łysiak

     Not so long ago, I stumbled upon an interesting statement - "Music helps plants grow faster". As everyone would do, I went onto the internet to verify if this statement is actually true. I found out that it's not really music that helps plants grow faster, but a particular sound waves. For example, Heidi Appel and Rex Cocroft of the University of Missouri "wondered whether plants would respond to the sound of insect herbivores feeding, so they ran a couple of experiments". They recorded the sound of a caterpillar feeding on an Arabidopsis, and then they played it back during the growth of a set of these plants. Compered to a set of plants growing in silence, when they later placed caterpillars on these plants, the group that was exposed to the sound produced much higher quantities of mustard oil in order to repel these insects. So as it turns out it isn't music that changes plant's behavior, but the sound waves and sounds that they recognize. https:...

       Most people can experience mood changes while listening to different types of music. For example, if you listen to upbeat music, levels of dopamine in your body may arise. But what's more fascinating is that music can change our perception. Studies carried out by researcher Jacob Jolij and student Maaike Meurs show that music strongly affects human perception. During the experiment, subjects had to identify smileys while listening to different kinds of music. As it turns out, upbeat music resulted in much greater recognition of happy smileys, while having the same results with sad music and sad smileys. As you may suspect, a connection between music and human perception exceeds the recognition of smileys. Music can also affect one's tendency for violent actions. According to a UK study, both content and pattern of "drill" music "might be linked to attention-seeking crime". Violent music under specific conditions can encourage the listener to proceed i...

        Not so long ago I stumbled upon an interesting video about an astronaut who released a music album fully recorded in space. The album was titled "Space Sessions: Songs From a Tin Can", and it was entirely made by a Canadian astronaut - Chris Hadfield, who is not only the first human to ever record a full album in space, but also is the first in history Canadian to ever walk on a moon. The album itself consists of eleven original songs, as well as a cover of well-known "Space oddity" by David Bowie, which gave such a popularity to Chris with over 26 million views on YouTube. The idea to record this album was given to him by his son, but both he and his son didn't expect to be recognized with such a volume. The astronaut claims that all the songs were recorded in a studio that he set up in the small spaces of the NASA's International Space Station (which he referred to as "Tin Can" in the album title). The only things he brought and used to r...

   Have you ever been to a gym or any kind of sports facility in general? If so, you probably heard some kind of music playing all around this building the moment you stepped into it. This procedure is done in order to improve physical performance by either delaying fatigue or increasing work capacity, and it can be described as an ergogenic effect of music. It's a really complex effect that is built upon several aspects of music. The most important one is rhythm. It can affect the rate at which heart beats. It has been proved by several studies that "faster-paced music tends to help improve athletic performance". Of course, not all kinds of physical performance will be affected by music (e.g. more demanding exercises) and not all kinds of music will boost your physical performance. It strongly depends on one's taste. For example, if you find some kind of music pleasurable, It'll increase your levels of serotonin, resulting in a more engaging workout. To sum up, n...