MIT FAST Thinking on March 5

What would happen if you crossed music and neurobiology? If you could listen in on how the brain hears music? If you removed the borders between art and science so that the interaction changed both forever?. MIT FAST THINKING, a 12-hour marathon event, will demonstrate pioneering research at the intersection of music, technology and brain science, and will provide the audience with a rare opportunity to witness - and participate in - revolutionary advances in these fields. The event is part of MIT FAST, a three month festival of art, science and technology celebrating MIT's 150th birthday. Find out more: http://arts.mit.edu/fast/fast-thinking/ HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE: 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Pawan Sinha | Insights from New Sight - MIT Professor Pawan Sinha's groundbreaking work on how the brain extracts meaning from sights and sounds has enabled him and his team both to restore sight to children born blind and 'listen in' on how the brain hears music. Sinha will talk about this work and demonstrate his 'Brain Jukebox,' a tool that reconstructs sound sequences from the mental patterns of listeners and plays it back to the audience. 2-4 p.m. Peter Child | Musical Patois: Reflections of Language in Music - This discussion/interactive performance explores the roots and relationships of rhythm and melody in music and language. MIT professor and award-winning composer Peter Child, Aniruddh Patel of the Neuroscience Institute, USC engineering professor and pianist Elaine Chew, and computer science researcher Alexandre François of USC reveal how French and English music are tied to a composer's native language.