Today’s Solutions: July 26, 2024

Young woman with curly hair laughing while standing outside in a park on a sunny summer afternoon.

Transform your health with these 9 powerful habits

You are your best investment — and your habits are the key to how well you thrive in life. For a balanced lifestyle that works with your body’s natural biorhythms, consider implementing these nine powerful habits into your life. Eat an earlier, lighter dinner A big meal hours before Read More...

Shh, make silence please. Isolated shot of attractive man shows silence sign

The value of silence in a noisy world

“Silence is golden,” they say, but it seems as though we have forgotten the value of silence. The modern world is a noisy place—so much so that people get accustomed to sounds and hardly register them anymore, particularly in an urban setting. Most people will be woken up with an alarm, Read More...

Lockdown helps create first gl

Lockdown helps create first global map of spring dawn chorus

The drop in noise from human activity during lockdown has presented scientists with the amazing opportunity to create the first global public sound map of the spring dawn chorus. With a quieter world, scientists and artists from the Biotopia Museum in Munich, Germany, have launched a citizen Read More...

This man is on a mission to cr

This man is on a mission to create silent, natural oases around the globe

Silence is at an all-time premium in this day and age. In fact, ninety percent of children are expected never to experience natural silence in their lives, and 97 percent of Americans are exposed regularly to highway and air traffic noise. It is so pervasive that many hardly notice it anymore, but Read More...

Quiet, please!

Quiet, please!

Noise pollution can damage your health and shatter your peace of mind. Here’s how to turn it down. Mary Desmond Pinkowish | July 2008 issue A leaf blower, snow blower, lawn mower and two huge dogs—Peter D’Epiro can describe in excruciating detail how his neighbour’s lawn equipment and pets Read More...

listening is worship

listening is worship

Gordon Hempton is fighting to save the sounds of silence in Washington state’s Olympic ­National Park — one square inch at a time. Diane Daniel | July 2008 issue Hearing the chirp of a bird in the distance, I expect our unofficial park guide to identify another animal resident here in Read More...

The sound of a Sitka spruce

The sound of a Sitka spruce

Audio ecologist Gordon Hempton says Rialto Beach in Washington state is the world’s most musical beach. So Diane Daniel, who writes about his life’s work preserving “One Square Inch of Silence” tried to cipher the symphony by poking her head into the hollowed-out driftwood logs there. What Read More...

Soft machines

Soft machines

New technologies can help lessen the sonic impact of generating and consuming energy. Marc van Dinther | July 2008 issue Just name the noise, and chances are someone somewhere has launched a campaign to tone it down. Don't like the sound of lawn mowers? Call in the California firm Goats R Us, Read More...

less than zero

less than zero

What does silence really sound like? Step inside an anechoic chamber to find out. Marisa Taylor | July 2008 issue The sky is bright and cloudless: another perfect day in the San Francisco Bay Area. But I’m about to spend part of it inside a windowless, soundless room called an anechoic chamber Read More...

Because God whispers

Because God whispers

Being silent means more than just holding your tongue. It means listening for the softest, most subtle sound of all - the sound of the soul. Tijn Touber | July 2008 issue I’m not listening. “Hurry up, sir. You have just half an hour to reach the hotel. After that the whole island becomes Read More...