American Scientist

Singing undoubtedly has a lot of science behind it—the process of producing sound is a mix of physiology and physics. But even more than that, singing has a deep literature as a subject of study in psychology and anthropology, for its role in producing joy and connection. Now, out of necessity, singing can boast a place in technology research as well. The COVID-19 pandemic has had well-documented effects on feelings of isolation, stress, and anxiety—all of which many people worldwide find are relieved by group singing, but that activity was inherently dangerous to do in person during the pandemic. As Esther M. Morgan-Ellis describes in “Virtual Community Singing During the COVID-19 Pandemic,” singers have been remarkably resourceful during the pandemic in adapting available online technologies to meet their need for group connection while also staying safe. Group singing in real time online requires resolving issues of signal latency, as well as finding ways of maximizing the participants’ impression of the immersiveness of the experience—challenges that are being confronted in other areas of technology research, such as virtual reality interfaces. As Morgan-Ellis explains, the technology hasn’t quite caught up to a “real” experience yet, but it might soon—and the advances developed for the sake of singing may help to further other avenues of research into realistic digital connection.

In this issue, our authors tackle several other angles on reality and humanity as well. Two articles try to take us into the minds, and palates, of ancient humans, and what the artifacts they left behind might tell us about their views on community and how they approached decisions about what to eat. Pat Shipman starts us off with Homo erectus in this issue’s Perspective column. In “Cooperative Carnivores in the Fossil Record,” she reviews remains of disabled individuals of both H. erectus and wild dogs, and shows that large carnivores may have exhibited care for others as part of the group dynamics needed for hunting large enough prey to support their body sizes. In “Mammoth Appetites,” we fast forward to the Paleolithic era, as Rob Dunn and Monica Sanchez examine evidence that early people made hunting choices not just for calories but also for flavor—and that these needs also likely tied in with their group structure.

Turning inward, Madeline Klinger and Markita P. Landry examine our internal conversations, looking at new methods that use carbon nanotubes to visualize the brain’s chemical signaling, in “Tiny Lights in the Brain’s Black Box.” And understanding how the brain processes information is a key point in this issue’s Arts Lab, “Fantastic Science Communication,” in which Caryn Babaian discusses ways that the immersive world of storybooks can give a richer experience of the cellular world. In this issue’s Nightstand section, Adam Frank reviews Frank Wilczek’s new book, Fundamentals: Ten Keys to Reality, and adds his views on the role of the experiential in understanding the nature of reality. And in this issue’s First Person article, planetary scientist Kevin Heng considers simulations and modeling, and warns against treating them as full pictures of the world.

Our interview with Heng, who has authored several articles in American Scientist not only about exoplanets but also about the nature of proof, kicks off a series of interviews that will appear in American Scientist in 2022 as part of the centennial of Sigma Xi’s Grants in Aid of Research program. The interviews will highlight scientists with notable careers in their area of research, but also look back at some of their formative experiences afforded by the program, and how those undertakings affected their research trajectories. As the articles in this issue show, humanity is a product of a series of experiences, and what makes us successful humans is a worthy subject of discussion in its own right. —Fenella Saunders (@FenellaSaunders)