Hey Maths! (Beatles studies)

Improbable recently drew attention to ‘Why the Beatles Succeeded but Broke Up: the Math(s)’, now we turn instead to mathematical considerations of the band’s music (rather than of the band itself). In particular, a paper in a Special Beatles Studies issue of the journal Volume !, 2016/1 (12:2) entitled ‘Hey Maths! Modèles formels et computationnels […]

Why the Beatles Succeeded but Broke Up: the Math(s)

Over the years, many investigators have examined possible factors which might have led to the breakup of The Beatles, but Professor Tadashi Yagi (Faculty of Economics, Doshisha University, Kyoto, Japan) is one of the few* scholars to have approached the subject from a mathematical standpoint. The professor takes the view that incentives for collaborating within […]

It was 20 years ago today. Sergeant Pepper taught the… No. The duck.

It was 20 years ago today, Sergeant Pepper taught the band to— No. That’s not what happened. What happened 20 years ago today is that a duck died, in spectacular fashion, and a scientist noticed how it happened, and took notes and photos to commemorate the discovery. Today, Friday June 5th, 2015 is the 20th […]

A ninefold typology of Beatles please-please analysts

The Bibliolore blog reports: In an experiment, three groups of music students transcribed the first 64 seconds of The Beatles’ Please please me. Analysis of these transcriptions yielded a ninefold typology of polylinear listeners: holistic melodists, holistic formalists, impressionists, melodic conventionalists, semiprofessional generalists, nonmelodic semiprofessional generalists, nonprofessional melodic generalists, semiprofessional rhythmicians, and holistic graphicians. This according […]

Swordswallower recapitulates gorilla

Swordswallower Dan Meyer, co-winner of the 2007 Ig Nobel Prize in Medicine (for the BMJ study “Swordwallowing and Its Side Effects“) accidentally replicated the findings of an earlier Ig Nobel Prize-winning study that involved a gorilla. This video shows it happening: The video was filmed during the 2010 Ig Nobel Tour of the UK (for […]