Thomas Brausse used to trade stocks for a living in Frankfurt. Now, after being laid off as a result of the financial crisis, he sells French fries and sausages from a lunch truck -- and is delighted with his new career. For Thomas Brausse, 44, the world of work is very different now from how it was before the financial crisis struck. Brausse, who has a shaved head and broad shoulders, used to be a high-powered banker in Germany's financial center Frankfurt. Now he runs a snack bar not far from his old office. Sometimes one of his former colleagues walks past without saying hello. Brausse used to chat with him a lot, he says. But the man's coldness doesn't bother him. "I don't let stuff like that get to me," he says. And most of the bankers he knows from the old days enjoy coming to see him -- to fill their bellies.
Thomas Brausse used to trade stocks for a living in Frankfurt. Now, after being laid off as a result of the financial crisis, he sells French fries and sausages from a lunch truck -- and is delighted with his new career.
For Thomas Brausse, 44, the world of work is very different now from how it was before the financial crisis struck. Brausse, who has a shaved head and broad shoulders, used to be a high-powered banker in Germany's financial center Frankfurt. Now he runs a snack bar not far from his old office.
Sometimes one of his former colleagues walks past without saying hello. Brausse used to chat with him a lot, he says. But the man's coldness doesn't bother him. "I don't let stuff like that get to me," he says. And most of the bankers he knows from the old days enjoy coming to see him -- to fill their bellies.
Tunes inspired by tamarin calls seem to alter the primates' emotions
MOVING MELODY Cotton-top tamarins (one shown) seem to respond with emotion to professionally composed cello music based on their calls. Bryce Richter/University of Wisconsin-Madison Listen to the monkey sounds / music at the bottom of the article. When people play their funky music for cotton-top tamarins, the monkeys hardly get their groove on. But playing monkey music does the trick. Cello music that mimics tamarin calls seems to bring forth the same sort of emotions in the monkeys that the original calls would have elicited, researchers report online September 1 in Biology Letters. People from many different cultures respond similarly to certain musical characteristics, such as inflection and pitch, says coauthor Charles Snowdon of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "But we shouldn't expect other species to process it in the same way." He and coauthor David Teie of the University of Maryland School of Music in College Park wanted to know whether monkeys' emotional states could be manipulated by music the way people's emotions are. Teie, a composer and cellist, used traits from calls that tamarins made in response to both stressful and calming situations to create a series of original compositions designed especially for monkeys, using cello and voice. After listening to a 30-second clip inspired by contented vocalizations, the tamarins acted calmer and more social than usual, grooming each other more and eating more. Threatening music, full of ch-ch-ch noises and short staccato notes on the cello, made for anxious monkeys. In this case, the tamarins moved around from perch to perch and urinated more frequently than usual. "I think it's a very creative approach," says cognitive biologist Tecumseh Fitch of the University of Vienna in Austria. "It's unusual to have a composer and scientist interact like this."
Listen to the monkey sounds / music at the bottom of the article.
When people play their funky music for cotton-top tamarins, the monkeys hardly get their groove on. But playing monkey music does the trick. Cello music that mimics tamarin calls seems to bring forth the same sort of emotions in the monkeys that the original calls would have elicited, researchers report online September 1 in Biology Letters.
People from many different cultures respond similarly to certain musical characteristics, such as inflection and pitch, says coauthor Charles Snowdon of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "But we shouldn't expect other species to process it in the same way." He and coauthor David Teie of the University of Maryland School of Music in College Park wanted to know whether monkeys' emotional states could be manipulated by music the way people's emotions are.
Teie, a composer and cellist, used traits from calls that tamarins made in response to both stressful and calming situations to create a series of original compositions designed especially for monkeys, using cello and voice.
After listening to a 30-second clip inspired by contented vocalizations, the tamarins acted calmer and more social than usual, grooming each other more and eating more. Threatening music, full of ch-ch-ch noises and short staccato notes on the cello, made for anxious monkeys. In this case, the tamarins moved around from perch to perch and urinated more frequently than usual.
"I think it's a very creative approach," says cognitive biologist Tecumseh Fitch of the University of Vienna in Austria. "It's unusual to have a composer and scientist interact like this."
