mesmeric
09-12-2003, 05:22 AM
A Melbourne DJ and scientist has come up with a new way to update CD collections - dip them in beer and let them dry before playing them.
The discovery, known as an "optical biocomputer", is the brainchild of Cameron Jones.
Mr Jones is a mathematician with a record of published research and the owner of a nightclub and bar in Melbourne, the journal New Scientist reports.
"I often change CDs when my hands are wet with beer," he said.
"One night I must have changed the CDs, touched the data surface, then left them for use on another night."
The following week, he put on a CD by Nine Inch Nails and found that it would not play properly because fungus had grown on it.
The fungus had not ruined the disc - the original audio was still there - but it would sometimes change in pitch and there were small staccato noises in the background.
Mr Jones's pet area of research is how signals can be transmitted through biological cells, which grow in a so-called "fractal" way, like tree branches.
He became intrigued by experimental musicians and DJs who, from the mid-1980s, sanded, varnished or even slapped paint onto CDs to create new sounds to sample.
Jones found that much subtler sounds could be achieved using fungal or bacterial growth, which can shape the sound in weird ways.
No damage has reportedly been done to his discs or players, but he warns that the technique does crash CD players on computers because the software cannot cope.
I Thought it was funny:)
The discovery, known as an "optical biocomputer", is the brainchild of Cameron Jones.
Mr Jones is a mathematician with a record of published research and the owner of a nightclub and bar in Melbourne, the journal New Scientist reports.
"I often change CDs when my hands are wet with beer," he said.
"One night I must have changed the CDs, touched the data surface, then left them for use on another night."
The following week, he put on a CD by Nine Inch Nails and found that it would not play properly because fungus had grown on it.
The fungus had not ruined the disc - the original audio was still there - but it would sometimes change in pitch and there were small staccato noises in the background.
Mr Jones's pet area of research is how signals can be transmitted through biological cells, which grow in a so-called "fractal" way, like tree branches.
He became intrigued by experimental musicians and DJs who, from the mid-1980s, sanded, varnished or even slapped paint onto CDs to create new sounds to sample.
Jones found that much subtler sounds could be achieved using fungal or bacterial growth, which can shape the sound in weird ways.
No damage has reportedly been done to his discs or players, but he warns that the technique does crash CD players on computers because the software cannot cope.
I Thought it was funny:)