These Are Their Brains on Silence - Issue 101 : In Our Nature
▻http://nautil.us/issue/101/in-our-nature/these-are-their-brains-on-silence
Asking scientists about silence is sort of like asking writers about the spaces between words. Most of us pay close attention to our language, not its absence. Even so, for my 2014 Nautilus story, “This Is Your Brain on Silence,” a dozen researchers in fields like neuroscience and biology listened patiently while I asked them an odd question. Do you like silence? Why? After dissecting the gory details of a scientific study, or discussing the progression of vibrations through the ear bones, this question always seemed a little out of place. Scientists spend most of their time cupping their ears to the door of natural phenomena, listening to the brain or body or physical world. I was asking them to listen to themselves. This made my question personal rather than scientific—and it made the (...)