philip's podcast

Slowing the Song Thrush

philip mann — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 19:02:45 GMT

The song thrush has rapid sequences of notes in its song. By slowing the song down we can pick out how complex these sequences are. You will hear a short section of the thrush's song at normal speed followed by the same sequence slowed down. These two are then repeated.

Humming Earth

philip mann — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 14:50:57 GMT

The Earth has a hum. It is such a low hum that humans can't hear it. By using special listening devices this hum can be speeded up and brought into our range of hearing. Scientists believe the hum is a result of energy created when sea and weather mix together. Go to http://seismo.berkeley.edu/~barbara/hum.html for more details.

Lightning Strike

philip mann — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 13:50:23 GMT

The sound of lightning striking the sea. An underwater microphone recorded this sound. Hotter than the sun, a lightning strike vapourises the air around it. More at: http://www.dosits.org/teacher/feature/strike.htm

Listen! An Ancient Sound

philip mann — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 18:21:52 GMT

The Mayan civilisation built large stepped pyramids. If you stand close to the base of such a pyramid and clap, the stepped feature reflects the clap back to you but changes the sound so that the echo sounds like a particular bird - the Quetzal. In those days (and even today) the Quetzal was considered a creature of great religious significance. Did the Mayan engineers know what they were doing? 1300 years later we can hear exactly what they heard. This podcast starts with four claps, listen very carefully to the chirp-like echo after each clap. This is followed by four chirps from a real Quetzal. They sound very similar don't they? Go to http://www.ocasa.org/MayanPyramid.htm for details.

Listen to a Roman

philip mann — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 18:06:07 GMT

A Roman potter inadvertently recorded his voice onto the vase he was making. Whilst spinning the vase on his wheel he applied a pin to its surface in order to make a decorative line. In so doing the noises in the room at the time were recorded onto the clay. A group of Belgian archaeologists have isolated these sounds and they are played for you here. More information at: http://www.zalea.org/article.php3?id_article=496

When it all started

philip mann — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 21:48:23 GMT

A long, long time ago in 1957, these simple bleeps were the birth cries of our journey into space. The Russians launched Sputnik 1 and this is what she sounded like. Sputnik 1 didn't last long but she certainly goaded the Americans to get a foothold up there as well.

Earth's Chorus

philip mann — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 21:26:13 GMT

Way up above the Earth in space amongst great areas of radiation electrons come spiraling along the Earth's magnetic field lines and create this wierd sound. Not that we can hear anything in space - but that's what they would sound like if we could. More at http://www-pw.physics.uiowa.edu/space-audio/sounds/EarthChorus/EarthChorus.html

Sprite Song

philip mann — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 21:18:28 GMT

Know what a sprite is? Just above thunder clouds each time there's a flash of lightning a sprite shoots up into outer space. They're very difficult to see, last a tiny fraction of a second and have only been known about for a few years. This is the sound they make.

Saturn's storms

philip mann — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 18:15:02 GMT

These strange sounds are radio noises from electrical storms on the planet Saturn.

The tsunami is coming

philip mann — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 18:12:28 GMT

You will hear a long rumbling sound. This is the sound made by the shifting earth just before it created the tsunami of December 2004. Go to http://news.com.com/2061-11204_3-5798946.html for more information.

Bangkok Bird

philip mann — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 12:56:59 GMT

Whilst staying in a hotel in Bangkok all through the night this bird was calling. It kept me awake. I recorded it on my MP3 player. I thought it may have been an owl but I don't think so as I managed to catch a bleary glance of it. I wonder what it was. I know now as my birdie sister-in-law from Australia recognised it! It was a Koel. Go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_Koel and listen to the sound clip from there.

Have you ever heard a shooting star?

philip mann — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 18:29:24 GMT

This rather mournful and eerie sound is a radar echo from an incoming shooting star (or meteorite). There are listening stations that monitor incoming shooting stars and this is a single example of such an echo, shortlived, as they are.

The whistling Frenchman

philip mann — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 15:43:37 GMT

Whilst staying in France, twice every day this man would walk his dog past our house along the pavement beside the garden. He always whistled. In the end we started to wait for him and he became known as "The Whistling Man". His tunes left much to be desired, nothing recognisable and often the same from day to day. I discretely hid in the bushes to record a typical whistling session

The Nightingale

philip mann — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 14:48:34 GMT

Nightingales sing during the day too! This was recorded at about 6 o'clock last May at Greenham Common near Newbury, Berkshire, England. It was cleaned up using Audacity. About 10 seconds into the recording you will hear a stretch of un filtered sound which includes buffeting wind and traffic. The noise filtering in Audacity is really good. This is my first attempt at podcasting - unsophisticated I know but that doesn't detract from the glory of the nightingale's song? Every year I try to hear these birds and usually succeed. One summer night I heard the nightingales and saw glow worms!! A double wonder!