Popular Science - USA (2019-10)

CONTENTS

cover photograph by The Voorhes / infographic by Sara Chodosh POPSCI.COM • WINTER 2019 5

Docs uncover hidden

hearing loss p. 42

FEATURES

Seven unexplained zings

and clashes p. 50

Immortalizing a

noble violin p. 56

Why you can’t ignore a

baby’s cry p. 64

Lessons from static in

space p. 66

Bring clarity back to

dinner chat p. 72

Sounds of pleasure,

sounds of pain p. 78

The perfect stereo, built

by hand p. 84

I WISH SOMEONE

WOULD INVENT...

Biker earbuds, zen loos,

daily autotune p. 122

HEAD TRIP

The audio tricks our

minds play on us p. 109

A home you can navi-
gate in silence p. 12

Writing out dings and
roars p. 10

CHARTED

The animal stars of our
planet’s choir p. 13

What it’s like to sing on
another planet p. 16

A 150-year history of
capturing audio p. 14

GOODS

THE BIG Q

How loud is life in the
ocean? p. 38

IN PROFILE

The architect of Earth’s
finest vinyl p. 26

One invasive frog’s
100-decibel lullaby p. 17

The most ear- splitting
noises ever heard p. 18

Birds that harmonize
with their homes p. 20

We made a song out of this issue!

Fireworks make you say
“wow” p. 22

Loud pains for lungs,
eyes, and nerves p. 21

Lure creatures with
calls of the wild p. 30

An acoustic and electric
guitar in one p. 28

Create 360- degree TV
sound p. 31

Make a homegrown
podcast legit p. 34

A trio of click-clacking
keyboards p. 32

Ditch your phone for a
simple alarm clock p. 35

A pocket-size DJ
booth p. 36

Earplugs for a range of
everyday ruckus p. 37

Headphones that hush

the world p. 100

A room so quiet, you’ll

hear a heartbeat p. 97

TALES FROM

THE FIELD

How to see all around

with your ears p. 100

Hooba noobie: building

a dialect for Sims p. 104

Five noises good

enough to eat p. 102

Blooms boogie to sonic

waves p. 105

Notes can send chills

down your spine p. 106

A monkey pops the

question p. 107

Everything in this magazine has a sound. For some we know the volume, for others the frequency,

so we took those numerical values and mapped them onto musical notes. Hear it at popsci.com/listen.

The anatomy of a
lightning bolt p. 23

The sticky history stuck

in whales’ heads p. 108

eighth beats = one item making a range of sounds

one quarter beat = one item

charted

in

profile

goods big q

features

tales head trip iwswi

one item making no sound