Why do we follow trends?

What's got rabbit-like ears, huge eyes, nine teeth and a demonic grin? It’s Labubu! These ugly-cute toys have gone viral online, largely thanks to social media’s trending machine. Their fame was previously limited to China and parts of Asia, but since 2024 their popularity has grown and the dolls can now be purchased in more than 30 countries round the world.

This week, the global demand for Labubu inspired us to play around with trend-based science. Why do we find songs annoying after repeated listenings? Listen on->

Music on our minds

There are songs that can transport us to memorable moments from our past, especially from our adolescence. Those memories are often vivid, conjuring up intense feelings about a first love, a broken heart, a shared experience with friends. Music, even just a few notes, has a way of unlocking forgotten events and relationships, creating a soundtrack for our lives. Listen here->

How music can be used as medicine

Music has the power to evoke a wide range of emotions.. It can make us feel melancholy. Or it can fill us with hope.

Music is often tangled up with memories and experiences, too. There’s probably a playlist you associate with every stage of life — from the music that helped you through high school, to the song that reminds you of a lost loved one. Listen here ->

World Science Festival: Cool Jobs

Some music makes you dance and other music makes you cry. Watch on >

COVID-19 strikes discordant note

As live shows disappear, singers and musicians are using tech and social media to entertain an unprecedentedly large audience. Read on >

Stewart Copeland's Adventures in Music

Stewart Copeland explores the transcendental powers of music and how certain sounds have the ability to move us, transport the mind and even help us escape this world - if only briefly. Watch ->

Tis the Earworm

he day after Halloween it starts: the ubiquitous and relentless drone of holiday music. It’s likely infesting your brain. But help is on the way! How earworms get into your brain and how to get them out. Listen here >

Perceptions of Musical Octaves Are Learned, Not Wired in the Brain

In the lowlands of Bolivia, the most isolated of the Tsimané people live in communities without electricity; they don’t own televisions, computers or phones, and even battery-powered radios are rare. Read on >

How Silence Makes the Music

One of the most arresting objects on display in the musical instruments galleries of the Metropolitan Museum of Art is a 2,000-year-old bell from Japan that was built to be mute. Read on >

How to Get Rid of an Earworm

An earworm expert explains how to unstick that song that’s stuck in your head, and why it got lodged there in the first place. Read on >

How Sound Becomes Music

Music plays many roles. It can awe a concert hall full of adoring fans, woo a would-be lover, or soothe a fussing child — and psychological scientists are discovering just how deep our connection with this intimate art form goes. Read on >

From Funerals To Festivals, The Curious Journey Of The 'Adagio For Strings'

Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings is one of the most recognizable pieces of classical music in the world. It's become America's semi-official music for mourning, used at Franklin Delano Roosevelt's funeral and after JFK's assassination. But somewhere along the way, it went from an anthem of sadness to one of joy. Read on ->

Sad songs, explained

It only takes a few notes of Sarah MacLachlan’s “Angel” over images of homeless dogs and cats to trigger our tear ducts. Heartbreaking visuals aside, what makes the song itself so sad? What is it musically about a song that makes it sound sad? Hosts Nahre Sol and LA Buckner hear from experts and break down the components of sad-sounding music, creating their own somber composition. Read on >

Music, explained

Season finale of Explained on Netflix
Watch here >

How to write a summer banger

Documentary from BBC Radio 1

Watch here >

Come il pregiudizio influenza l'ascolto musicale

L'attivazione delle aree cerebrali durante l'ascolto di un brano musicale cambia se il soggetto è convinto che a eseguirlo sia uno studente di conservatorio oppure un musicista di fama internazionale. A documentarlo sono le scansioni di risonanza magnetica condotte su alcuni volontari durante una ricerca sperimentale. Read on >

Musician-Scientists and Scientist-Musicians: A Profile

The study of music and the brain is one of the most exciting areas in science, involving a growing number of researchers and centers across the world dedicated to understanding how we experience, process, and appreciate music. In the following highlights, we delve into the scientific pursuits of neurologists who are also professionally trained musicians, before shining light on renowned musicians whose eclectic scientific interests have also helped move knowledge forward. Read on >