Sad trombone?

Brass instruments most likely to spread COVID-19. PLUS: interesting links and online training

🎺 Bwaaap bwaaaaaap. That’s the “sad trombone” sound for any musicians out there, because yet another study came out showing that brass instruments are particularly good at spreading respiratory particles – about three times as much as woodwind instruments. That means that instruments like tubas, trumpets and trombones would have contributed more than others to the spread of COVID-19. 

🎺 You can read the full article (which I wrote) on Forbes, but here’s the take-home message:

Knowing what we know now about the way Covid-19 is spread by air and how much brass and woodwind instruments can contribute to this, Volckens also emphasized that shutting down music venues and rehearsal spaces early in the pandemic has likely saved lives.

Wind instruments at a concert by London Euphonia Orchestra earlier this year. By the way, this is my orchestra and our next concert is on December 3rd

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💡Interesting links

• An unusual anecdote from Raymond Chen on his Microsoft blog “The Old New Thing” and without a doubt the most interesting thing I heard this week:  Apparently, back in the days of Windows XP, playing the music video for Janet Jackson’s “Rhythm Nation” would crash nearby laptops because it included one of the national resonant frequencies of the laptop drives! 

• Meet Erin Espelie, the scientist-turned-filmmaker who fuses science and art, by Nirmal Jovial in The Week

• Music, Dance and Bilingualism Could Help Alzheimer’s – If Learned Young, by Jennifer Sala in Discover Magazine

• The science of why you have great ideas in the shower, by Stacey Colino in National Geographic

• Ancient art technique helps visually impaired chemists, by me on Forbes.com

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🔍 Online training: Clever search methods for Google and beyond

Sometimes people ask me where I find ideas for my articles or for this newsletter. Well, I’m going to be revealing one of my secrets in an upcoming online training! On September 30 I’m presenting a “Fiver Friday” webinar (lunchtime for the UK/Europe, early morning for East Coast North Americans), in which I show you some clever online search tricks. And yes, that’s related to how I find Mixture topics, but if you want to know exactly how, you’ll have to sign up!