The science of art appreciation, and more

Quirks and Quarks

There’s no time like this time for Standard Time

In most of Canada and the US, our clocks are “falling back” an hour as we switch to Standard time for the winter and as usual we’re hearing mutterings about abandoning the time change.. Chronobiologists like Malcolm von Schantz, who study our internal circadian rhythms, are saying that if we do ditch the practice, we should revert to standard time instead of having permanent daylight time, because morning light is very important to regulating our circadian rhythms, as is having darkness in the evening time. Von Schantz recently co-authored a letter with the British Sleep Society, published in the Journal of Sleep Research, calling for the UK government to end to the practice.

Sorry beavers and Polar bears – the unique Canadian animals are not what you think

Biologists have investigated which animals, by range and evolutionary history, are most unique in Canada as part of an attempt to get a more accurate picture of Canadian biodiversity. The research, led by Arne Mooers from Simon Fraser University, highlights animals such as the mudpuppy, the osprey, the virginia opossum, and the two-tailed frog. At the top of the list is the spiny softshell turtle, which branched away from its family tree 180 million years ago. The research was published in the journal The Canadian Field-Naturalist.

A corpse in a well makes a macabre myth real

A story recorded in a 12th century Norse saga of a violent attack on a castle has been validated with the discovery and identification of human remains. The story goes that the invaders dropped a dead man into the castle well in order to poison its water supply before departing. That man’s remains have now been found. Dr. Anna Petersén, an archeologist at the Norwegian Institute of Cultural Heritage Research, worked with a team to identify and date the remains of this 800 year old skeleton. Their study, published in the journal iScience, revealed he was between 30 - 40 years old, and had blonde hair and blue eyes.

A wide range of animals take a tipple

Indulgence in alcohol is seen as a largely human vice, but biologists have collected evidence that a much wider range of animals from insects to apes will seek out ethanol, often in fermented fruit, and will, on occasion, overindulge. Dr. Matthew Carrigan, an associate professor of biology at the College of Central Florida says that some birds that fly into windows have been found to have high levels of ethanol, and intoxicated fruit flies will make poor mating choices. The study was published in Trends in Ecology and Evolution.

Tapping into science for a greater appreciation of artistic masterpieces

Recent studies of two of the world’s most famous paintings by Dutch artists have provided surprising insights into the depths of their art.

A new analysis of the entire sky in Vincent van Gogh’s painting, The Starry Night, which includes 14 swirling eddies shows how the artist intuitively understood the nature of turbulence, an incredibly complex phenomenon of fluid dynamics. Francois Schmitt, an oceanographer and research director at France’s National Centre for Scientific Research and his team published their research in the journal Physics of Fluids.

To figure out what it was about Johannes Vermeer’s painting, Girl with the Pearl Earring, that viewers find so captivating, the Mauritshuis museum where the artwork hangs in The Hague commissioned a neuroscientific study. Andries van der Leij, the research director of Neurensics — a consumer neuroscience company — and lecturer at the University of Amsterdam, said they found that people’s eyes were automatically drawn to the girl’s eyes, mouth and pearl earring in a way that drew them in for an emotional experience.