79
votes
Accepted
Was the music used in the "You wouldn't steal a car" advertisements pirated?
Wikipedia cites an article at TorrentFreak. While that doesn't sound like a very reliable source, the article seems to be well researched, and the reporter is Dutch and hence probably has access to ...
- 3,130
15
votes
Were slaves only allowed to play the black keys of a piano?
According to As Thousands Cheer: The Life of Irving Berlin: (with my censoring)
Like many self-taught musicians, he hit only the black keys, which were easier for his untrained hands to control. ...
- 104k
15
votes
Accepted
Is listening to lossy audio more tiring than lossless audio?
Verdict: Unlikely.
Theoretical Background
The term "lossy" refers to loss of information - that is, the decompressed audio does not exactly match the uncompressed raw audio - and as a result,...
- 842
10
votes
Accepted
Did Feynman write 'Orange Juice' as a response to Pauling's advisory on Vitamin C?
Probably not
Summary
I couldn't find a reliable source that could explicitly verify or debunk the claim, but available evidence paints a picture of an OJ-loving Feynman.
The clip is part of a ...
- 3,846
9
votes
Accepted
Does streaming an album 27 times consume as much energy as manufacturing a CD?
The original research that produced this was done in a collaboration between the University of Glasgow and the University of Oslo, and UoG details it here. While the Glasgow part is available here, ...
- 1,068
8
votes
Accepted
Does listening to classical music "Improve Cognitive Function"?
Yes, though the improvement is not direct, not large, and not just from classical music.
Listening to any emotionally positive music has been shown to improve a subject's mood, which in turn has ...
- 11.4k
7
votes
Accepted
Do vinyl records account for 3.6% of global music sales?
Billboard published an article summarizing the report on which this claim is based: China Rising & Downloads Falling: 5 Takeaways From the IFPI's Global Music Report.
The reported total recorded ...
- 261
5
votes
Is this chicken playing America the Beautiful on the keyboard?
Yes, the chicken is playing the correct notes, but it is being assisted with cues.
Take a look at this video that was posted by the chicken's owner. It has a much better angle, and it can be seen ...
- 2,101
4
votes
Are the songs on "Rote Lieder (Die Besten politischen Lieder aus der DDR)" from the German Democratic Republic?
A quick look makes the list of artists seem quite genuine. Oktoberklub, Ernst Busch etc are original GDR artists.
The one example you picked out here — "the people's policeman song" — is a GDR ...
- 44k
3
votes
Is 432Hz sound frequency more "natural" or beneficial to human body than 440Hz?
Per Dr. Diana Deutsch, perceptual and cognitive psychologist at University of California - San Diego, peer reviewed research is yet to be performed. "All of this can be put to experiment, rather than ...
- 22.7k
3
votes
Is chocolate bad for your voice?
According to Voice Care Knowledge Among Clinicians and People With Healthy Voices or Dysphonia Journal of Voice Volume 21,January 2007, Pages 80–91:
Chocolate as a solid caffeine may be detrimental ...
- 104k
3
votes
Can music incite murder?
TL;DR: There is a lot of relevant research and the findings are complex. They neither strongly support nor deny the assertion that listening to certain music or watching certain music videos may ...
- 7,194
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible