This weeks New Scientist had an item about transforming "things" into music. In this particular case it was music derived from protein sequences. (More here at "the music of protein sequences"). The explaination......
"In each piece, pitch is determined by amino acid identity. The structural features of the protein are emphasized by choosing instrumentation according to protein folding pattern, with different instruments representing regions of alpha-helix, beta-strands and turns. In some pieces, different instruments may identify functional domains of the protein" So fairly straightforward then!
Now had this not come hard on the heels of a posting by Euan Semple that contains a remarkable video make by an autistic woman (she illustrates beautifully the patterns and connections she "sees" and interacts with in the world around her), and also a pointer to the book "Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid" ("this book shows you, more clearly than most any other, what it means to see symbols and patterns where others see only the universe") I might not have paid this so much attention. But I'm struck by how some people "see" such patterns and symbols - whether in a mathematical formula, a pieces of music and image or picture or even in the sequence of events around them.
To get back to the title of this posting - click here to "listen" the music of Gamma Lens Crystallin - one of many crystalline proteins found in lens cells of the vertebrate eye. It really is amazingly melodic.
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