November 21, 2008 at 9:42 am
Hey Guys,
Late last week, I asked the Yahoo! Answers community if “happy songs” improve their moods. Most of the responders wrote that, heck yeah, songs definitely help in getting them out of a funk. The real question is “why.” Is there a scientific connection behind music and mood?
I did some searches and discovered a 2003 article from WebMD. According to studies at Penn State University, all kinds of music improve moods. It doesn’t matter if you’re listening to rock and roll, classical, or (gasp) Celine Dion–any type of tune helped those in the study feel more “optimistic, joyful, friendly, relaxed, and calm.”
And it’s not just a person’s mood that music can affect. U.S. News and World Report writes that some neurologists prescribe music for Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. One neurologist says that, “‘music therapy can help restore the loss of expressive language in patients with aphasia following brain injury from stroke.” Apparently, “music can trigger the release of mood-altering brain chemicals and once-lost memories and emotions.”
The Harvard University Gazette hosts a nice (and surprisingly understandable) article on how the human brain perceives music. One small nugget of information that you can drop at your next cocktail party: As people play and listen to music, different areas of the brain receive increased blood flow and oxygen. According to Professor Daniel Levitin, “music activates the same parts of the brain and causes the same neurochemical cocktail as a lot of other pleasurable activities.
But for all the good music can do, it can sometimes drive humans nuts. Ask Yahoo! tackled a related question a few years back when it answered why certain songs get stuck in your head. Repetition seems to be the main reason. “The more you hear one chorus, beat, or whatever, the more likely it will burrow into your subconscious.” And, unfortunately, 97-99% of people are susceptible. The cure? Listen to another song (preferably something not by Los Del Rio).
Thanks for reading,
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Mike
November 21, 2008 at 3:48 am
Hey, everyone–
The Answers Team is happy to announce that the site is back after undergoing the second part of essential maintenance. We can see from your hundreds of passionate comments on our blogs worldwide that you are all fond of the site and there are even a few Answerholics among you, so we’re sorry we had to deprive you of your favorite site for a few hours. But please trust us when we say the work was essential and will make Answers stronger and healthier from now on. This will conclude the planned maintenance for the immediate future.
Rest assured after this maintenance, the site will look just the same as it did before and should help it avoid future downtime.
Many thanks!
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Yahoo! Answers Team
November 20, 2008 at 10:37 am
Hello, everyone-
Yahoo! Answers will be unavailable Friday, November 21, starting at 12:30 a.m. PST and lasting for several hours due to maintenance. This is the second of the two planned outages and will conclude the scheduled maintenance for the immediate future. If there is any change to this schedule, we will update the information here. Thanks for your patience!
Meanwhile, please check out these Yahoo! pages and:
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Yahoo! Answers Team
November 19, 2008 at 11:32 am
Hey everyone,
Just to let you all know that the second planned outage due today, Thursday November 20th, has been put on hold for the immediate future. It has been postponed for technical reasons.
We will keep you updated on this to let you all know when the second outage is rescheduled for.
Thanks for your patience on this.
– Yahoo! Answers Team
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Yahoo! Answers Team
November 19, 2008 at 8:00 am
A few weeks ago, we asked you to come up with a question for Leonardo DiCaprio.
Congratulations to Yemini: We’ve got an answer to your question for Leo!
Here’s his interview and–most importantly–his answer to you:
Yemini asked:
Do you prefer to play a character who is the opposite of you or someone with the same beliefs and why?
Leonardo DiCaprio answered:
It’s often more interesting to play somebody that is the opposite of you, not to say that this charcater wasn’t…
I mean obviously my life is nothing like a CIA operative in the Middle East but I am more akin in the political sort of beliefs of this character so I do have a connection with this character.
But when you’re able to forget who you are totally and throw away all your sort of moral connection to anything, it’s often a lot of fun to do.
We hope you all enjoyed the chance to get an answer from Leonardo DiCaprio and we’d like to thank Yahoo! Movies for giving us this opportunity!
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Yahoo! Answers Team
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