What do they have in common? Waves, of course.
* LiveScience: Source of Major Earthquakes Discovered Beneath U.S. Heartland
Geophysicists now hypothesize that the Farallon slab sinking under the failed arm of the Midcontinent rift caused the active New Madrid earthquake zone. People of the craton, take note: the last one was an 8.0.
“Civilization exists by geological consent, subject to change without notice.” — Will Durant
* Music Decoded From 600-Year-Old Carvings In Rosslyn Castle, Scotland
And, no, the message was not “Purchase more of Dan Brown’s damned books.”
Stuart Mitchell said he and his father were intrigued by 13 intricately carved angel musicians on the arches of the chapel and by 213 carved cubes depicting geometric-type patterns.
… Years of research led the Mitchells to an ancient musical system called cymatics, or Chladni patterns, which are [wave phenomena] formed by sound waves at specific pitches. The two men matched each of the patterns on the carved cubes to a Chladni pitch, and were able finally to unlock the melody.
For more on Chladni figures and vibrating plates, see here and here. What our ancestors knew (and what we think they didn’t know) never ceases to amaze me.
“To understand is to invent.” — Jean Piaget
