Beautiful music cures brain diseases and improves blood circulation

People have been aware of music’s healing properties since the times of Pythagoras and Aristotle. Russians have long believed in medicinal effects of the sound of church bells. The branch of science studying interaction of music and other sounds with living organisms (including a human body) brings forth most interesting discoveries almost every day.

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A Los Angeles scientist believes that living cells can make distinct sounds, which might someday help doctors “hear” diseases. Jim Gimzewski, a 52-year-old UCLA chemist, calls the study of cell sounds sonocytology. The scientist became interested in the sound of cells in 2001 after a medical researcher told him that when living heart cells were placed in a Petri dish with appropriate nutrients, the cells would continue to pulsate. Gimzewski wished to found out whether such tiny vibrations would produce a detectible sound. He conducted a series of experiments using complex equipment. Those experiments showed that the cells could really make a noise though it was detectible only by an especially sensitive instrument. Gimzewski and his assistant used some yeast cells for conducting their research of cellular noise. They found out that the pitch of the sound wave would be higher if cells are sprinkled with alcohol. The dead cells would give off a low, rumbling sound. The researchers also found that yeast cells with genetic mutations produce a slightly different sound than normal yeast cells do. They hope that the technique might eventually be applied to diagnosing diseases such as cancer, which is thought to originate with changes in the genetic makeup of cells.

It is already clear that the future of medicine hinges specifically on research of cellular activities. The world of sounds takes part in those processes in a most active manner.

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