WILLIAM WEIR
61 Lyon St., New Haven, CT
USA
Professional Experience
I write about topics many and varied: How metal makes you smart; what we lose when the dial tone goes silent; the sinister iconography of the umbrella.
General
For those with fading memories, a debilitating condition that can lead to a fading sense of identity, photos could be the key to regaining their experiences. And, counterintuitively, photos could help these people think more clearly about their futures.
When we speak of the chicken, let it be said, we speak of ourselves. So we learn at a dizzyingly ambitious, three-day conference: "The Chicken: Its Biological, Social, Cultural and Industrial History."
How the dial tone tends to our collective well-being.
At work one day, the exhibits that she meticulously put together for a case suddenly seemed like foreign objects to her; she didn't know what to do with them.
They're a lot shorter now and on the far ends of your cable system, but the TV theme is still out there. And, as some are doing, you can always make your own.
How video game music went from the bleep-bloop of Pong to a Swahilian version of the Lord's Prayer.
A look at the many ways Santa Claus and his workshop flout international law protecting the Arctic region.
Some sound like they're singing in an otherworldly tongue; few actually endeavor to invent their own language. But a handful of ambitious souls who do just that.
There's been plenty of research on the different ways that poverty can take a toll on children - health, literacy and behavioral problems, for instance. A new study now looks at how socioeconomic status can affect hearing.
UConn chemistry professor Fotios Papadimitrakopoulos believes he and his team of researchers have found a way to harness the potential of nanotubes - an extremely strong material made from carbon molecules.The discovery has many potential applications, including an elevator that leads to space.
The pope calls for more traditional music; a nun explains how chant is like jazz and Muddy Waters.
Beneath the twirling umbrella tops of a Busby Berkely musical lies a history of bloodshed, espionage and assassination. A look at the sinister, shady side of the umbrella.
How a ragtag group of technicians creating sound effects for BBC programs shaped the course of 20th-century music.
The once-ubiquitous, but tragically underappreciated fade-out in music appears to be near its end. And like a classic example of itself, the decline has been long, gradual, and barely noticed.
On why songs like Gangnam Style and 99 Luftballons enrich the pop landscape
Brian Wilson and Dick Dale weren't the first generation to sing the praises of riding a wave. Well before them were the 18th- and 19th-century Hawaiian chants, where surfing appears as a sacred rite, a definer of class divisions, and, as the Beach Boys would later note, lots of fun.
In which I consider guitar distortion and its origins.
The turntable, invented 36 years ago, ranks as the most recently created music-making device with staying power. Have computers replaced the need for the next guitar?
Jim Marshall's famous black box allowed bands to be heard by larger crowds than ever before. Now, though, it's more a symbol of arena concerts than a necessary component of them.
Are excessive lyrics ruining pop music? A statistical look at lyrical inflation from the 1950s to the present.
A goofy novelty record's place in experimental music and the history of recording technology.