Page 52 - Fall 2006

Acoustics in the news
issue of The New York Times. According to engineer Mark Fischer, who learned about acoustics by developing software for Navy sonar, the images capture intricate details in the whale sounds that are not easily heard. Wavelets are capable of picking up auditory fingerprints that are unique to differ- ent species and even individuals within a group (see article on whale vocalization in the Summer 2006 issue of ECHOES). Some of the whale images can be viewed at http://www. neoimages.net/artistportfolio.aspx?pid=1270.
􏰀 The builders of the new organ in the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia call it the largest pipe organ in any concert hall in the United States, according to a story in the May 15 issue of The New York Times. The organ, built by Dobson Pipe Organ Builders of Lake City, Iowa, has 125 ranks with 6,938 pipes, some more than 40 feet in length. Oliver Latry, the organist at Notre Dame in Paris, who performed during the two-week opening festival, described the organ as “wonder- fully versatile.”
􏰀 Flying mosquitoes may change the whining tone created by their wings to match those of potential mates, according to a note in the July issue of Current Biology. Researchers recorded the wingbeat frequencies of pairs of tethered tropi- cal mosquitoes and found that both mosquitoes in an oppo- site-sex pair alter their wingbeat patterns until their flight tones are the same. By contrast, the noises made by same-sex pairs diverge in frequency. Males, who have more sensitive antennae, make wingbeat adjustments more quickly than female mosquitoes.
􏰀 Particle physicists have come up with a novel way to pro- mote free, immediate access to journal articles, according to a note in the 1 September issue of Science. Led by CERN, the giant lab near Geneva, Switzerland, they propose to raise at least $6 million a year to buy open access to all published papers in their field. Recently, the American Physical Society announced that a $975 to $1300 payment to its two main journals would make an article available to all readers. Elsevier, the other major particle physics publisher, announced an open-access option for $3000. Nearly all par- ticle physicists already share preprints of their articles on free servers such as arXiv.org at Cornell University, but the final article is still what academia values most.
􏰀 While most members of Congress are back home cam- paigning for reelection, according to a story in the 18 August issue of Science, a small group of staffers is at work in Washington on legislation that could influence science spend- ing for years to come. Their goal is to craft a broad bill aimed at bolstering U.S. competitiveness that Congress could pass before the November election. The legislation draws upon sev- eral reports published over the past year, including the National Academies’ Rising Above the Gathering Storm. Unlike appropriation bills, which determine how much each federal agency can spend in a given year, these bills set desired funding levels over several years and attempt to draw political support for ongoing spending increases.
19th International Congress on Acoustics 2-7 September 2007, Madrid, Spain
“Acoustics for the 21st Century”
Organiezd by:
Sociedad Española de Acústica, SEA
Instituto de Acústica, CSIC wwww.i.ica20077mmadridi..orogrg
Abstract submission deadline: 30 January 2007
50 Acoustics Today, October 2006