Secrets of Stradivarius Explained.

Scientists may finally have discovered the secret of Stradivarius violins.

In a study published yesterday in Public Library of Science ONE, Dutch researchers ran five of the peerless instruments, made in the early 18th century by Italian craftsman Antonio Stradivari and synonymous with harmonic perfection, through a CT scanner.

The resulting three-dimensional X-rays revealed that wood used in Stradivari's violins possessed an exceptionally uniform density, with little variation in growth rings added by trees each season.

Summertime growth typically outpaces wintertime growth, producing broad rings of relatively permeable wood that alternate with narrow, dense winter bands. That differential affects the wood's harmonic qualities.

Fortunately for Stradivari, he lived during the Little Ice Age: trees grew little more in summer than in winter. Hence the uniformly dense wood, hence three centuries of experts baffled by the resonance of Stradivarius violins, which have been variously attributed to varnishes, boiling and submersion in ponds.

A question, Wired Science readers: uniformly dense wood made Stradivari's violins sound better. Are there musical instruments that would benefit from the highly variable grains likely produced in the wildy oscillating growing seasons of our changing climate?

Congress Opines on Why the World Hates America.

The report, in trying to get to the bottom of anti-Americanism, cites “a growing belief in the Muslim world that the United States is using the ‘war on terror’ as a cover for its attempts to destroy Islam.”

This is where the subcommittee’s report really reads like the Al Qaeda Propaganda Playbook. One look at the U.S. shows a society rooted in religious freedom where Muslims and others can practice their faith, proselytize, and form advocacy organizations. So if an uneducated audience is listening to a firebrand cleric conspiracy theorizing that America wants to eradicate Islam, is their blind acceptance of that claim America’s fault? Are we to blame for their blissful ignorance? The proof is in our guarantee of the right to worship, the lives we’ve sacrificed in Iraq and Afghanistan (with no Christian conversion program), and the $10 billion the U.S. pledged Thursday to rebuild Afghanistan (more Muslims!).