SSS 2008-07-14（在线收听）

This is Scientific American’s 60-Second Science. I’m Karen Hopkin. This will just take a minute.

 On the June 30th podcast, you heard some bad singing. Clearly a lot of people think they can sing, just look at the enormous crowds that show up to audition for American Idol. But how many people can actually stay in key? (Sing, sing a song. Make it simple to last your whole life long...) Scientists think they have an answer, which they presented at the conference on acoustics in Paris on July 2nd. In the first part of the study, the researchers stopped people at random in a Montreal park and asked them to sing Quebec’s anthem. In that park, turns out 40 out of 42 people sounded as good as the pros. That percentage is surprisingly high. Which makes the two people who couldn’t sing especially interesting. why couldn’t they carry a tune? (Happy birthday to you,Happy birthday to you)  The researchers repeated the experiment, this time asking people to sing Jingle Bells. They then tested the bad singers’ ability to listen to some music and identify the sour notes. They found that the off-pitch crooners fall into two classes. Those who simply can not hear that they’re hitting the wrong notes. And those who can tell, but keep singing anyway.

 Thanks for the minute, for Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I am Karen Hopkin.