• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
  • WordPress
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
Science Update

Science Update

Sharing Science | Satisfying Curiosity | Debunking BS

  • Spotlights
  • Reality Check
  • Why Is It?
  • Radio Archives
  • Sciup @ School
Home » Radio Archive » Daily Show » Sticky Music

Sticky Music

January 30, 2008
https://podcast.scienceupdate.com/080130_sciup_stic.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window

BOB HIRSHON (host):
Songs you can’t get rid of. I’m Bob Hirshon and this is Science Update.

Listener Kelly of Eugene, Oregon wrote to ask why popular tunes get stuck in our heads. We turned to cognitive neuroscientist Daniel Levitin of McGill University. He says relatively little work has been done on the neural mechanisms underlying our memory for these songs, which he says are called ear worms.

DANIEL LEVITIN (McGill University):
We don’t know why songs get stuck in the head but we know something about the ones that do. They tend to be short little pieces, they tend to be relatively simple, melodically and rhythmically, so people aren’t typically running around with Mahler’s 5th Symphony, but it’s more likely "It’s a Small World After All" that get stuck in there.

HIRSHON:
So more work is needed. But really, who would want to do it? If you have a science question, call us at 1-800-whyisit. I’m Bob Hirshon, for AAAS, the science society.

Category: Daily ShowTag: Acoustics & Sound, Anthropology, Brain Science, Social & Behavioral Sciences
Previous Post:Spermbots
Next Post:Diamond Fingerprinting

Sidebar

Radio Program Archives

Want to learn more about the brain? The environment? Here you can browse the topics that come up regularly on Science Update.

Search the Archives

Categories

  • Daily Show
  • Station Download
  • Weekly Show

Find By Tag

  • 2020
  • Acoustics & Sound
  • Aging
  • Animal Behavior
  • Anthropology
  • Archaeology
  • Astronomy & Space
  • Biology
  • Brain Science
  • Bugs
  • Cat Video
  • Chemistry
  • Children & Families
  • cicadas
  • Climate & Weather
  • Communications
  • Computer Science
  • Economics & Business
  • Education
  • Energy
  • Engineering & Technology
  • Environment & Conservation
  • Genetics & Evolution
  • Geology
  • Marine Science
  • Materials Science
  • Mathematics
  • Medicine & Health
  • Microbiology
  • Nanotechnology
  • NASA
  • Nutrition & Food Science
  • Paleontology & Dinosaurs
  • Physics
  • Plants & Agriculture
  • Political Science
  • Reality Check
  • Social & Behavioral Sciences
  • Sports & Fitness
  • spotlight
  • Spotlight Bugs
  • Terrorism & War
  • Why Is It? Questions
  • Wildlife
  • Year in Review

Find By Date

Science Update
  • About Science Update
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • YouTube

Recent Posts

Image of computer screen depicting an orange cat with a variety of alphanumeric scientific data superimposed on the the screen.
Spotted skunk performing handstand to threaten predators

Copyright © 2025 · Springtail Media LLC · All Rights Reserved · Powered by Pongos