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Musical innovation tends to happen at the nexus of experimentation, play and happy accidents. As one Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) student explains in this video, the overdriven guitar fuzz sound that’s become so familiar in rock and blues was ‘discovered’ via a tech malfunction. Taking viewers inside the Voxel Lab at MIT, where students can pursue almost any idea at the intersection of music and engineering imaginable, the short film surveys several projects being built in the space. With their creations ranging from a marble-powered ‘Rube Goldberg music maker’ to a spiked, sound-generating electronic glove, participants are given the rare freedom to build new instruments and generate novel sounds – and, just maybe, stumble upon the next big thing in music.
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Ecology and environmental sciences
GPS tracking reveals stunning insights into the patterns of migratory birds
6 minutes
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Space exploration
The rarely told story of the fruit flies, primates and canines that preceded us in space
12 minutes
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Film and visual culture
A lush animated opus evokes the frenzied pace of modern life
4 minutes
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Family life
The precious family keepsakes that hold meaning for generations
10 minutes
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Neuroscience
This intricate map of a fruit fly brain could signal a revolution in neuroscience
2 minutes
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Computing and artificial intelligence
The ‘cloud’ requires heaps of energy to stay aloft. Could synthetic DNA be the answer?
12 minutes
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Art
A puppeteer makes sense of an overwhelming world by shrinking it down to size
5 minutes
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Biology
Brilliant dots of colour form exquisite patterns in this close-up of butterfly wings
3 minutes
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Anthropology
Does Mogi’s future lie with her horses on the Mongolian steppe, or in the city?
16 minutes