I've always been fascinated by orchestras and how each one has its own personality. It's impossible, for example, to mistake the Philadelphia Orchestra for the Russian National Orchestra, especially if they're both playing a Shostakovich symphony. This is partly due to traditions and customs, but also has a lot to do with the conductors that helped bring each orchestra to prominence. Philadelphia has always been known for its lush string section and, at least in the past, would... READ ON

Today's John Tierney-authored Findings column discusses the evolution and significance of the upturned palm and its variants--the shrug, the downturned palm, etc: That simple gesture, the upturned palm, is one of the oldest and most widely understood signals in the world. It's activated by neural circuits inherited from ancient reptiles that abased themselves before larger animals. Chimps and other apes, notably humans, adapted it to ask not just for food, but also for more abstract forms of help,... READ ON

In middle and high school, I used to sit up late on Sunday nights to catch the best show on MTV, 120 Minutes. The show featured "alternative" music, and actually got better during the period (the early 90's) when alternative went mainstream. As bands like R.E.M. and Nirvana hit the main MTV rotation, 120 Minutes remained committed to indie bands, which made it a must-watch for me, even though it was on at midnight on a school night. Imagine my joy when a new blog began cataloging videos featured on... READ ON

When Life Gives You Massive River Flooding, Make Lemonade In a fit of early 1900s nature-subduing enthusiasm, the good people of California decided to turn Imperial Valley (a desert) into a vast agricultural paradise (not a desert). To do so, they started cutting irrigation channels from the Colorado River. When those filled up with silt, they cut a little deeper, digging out a large gap in the River's bank to increase flow. Then, in 1905, the floods came, washing out the engineered canal and... READ ON