Today is a good time to provide updates on some recent articles. And I have a few zingers to share. Let’s start by healing the sick….
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For the last twenty years, I’ve made grand claims about the healing power of sound and music. (See here and here, for example.) This runs counter to the prevailing dogma that sound can perhaps lift our spirits, but doesn’t really help our body.
I once thought that too. But when I did research for my book Healing Songs (2006) I completely changed my tune. I now believe we underestimate the power of sound—it’s one of the most formidable forces in our medical toolkit.
So I share this news story as more evidence:
A researcher was using ultrasound in an experiment, and her co-workers complained about the noise—even though human ears aren’t supposed to hear these frequencies. She responded by raising the frequency level even higher, and was amazed at what happened next.
To her shock, increasing the number of pulses per second—which also meant each pulse reduced in length to a microsecond—was not only less disruptive to those around her, but also more effective on living tissue than the approach she’d tried previously. As she watched, a hole appeared in the pig heart tissue within a minute of ultrasound application. “I thought I was dreaming,” says Xu.
This led to the birth of histotripsy—the use of soundwaves to treat cancerous tumors without the need for surgery. It was approved by the FDA for use in treating liver tumors in 2023.
Results were deemed successful in 95% of cases, according to an early test. Back in June, the UK became the first country in Europe to approve this procedure.
This stuff is real, my friends. The power of sound is the most underrated force in the universe—or maybe even the doctor’s office.
Here’s the inside scoop on the gambling business from a reader’s comment on my recent article “Why Is Everything Turning into a Casino?”:
I am currently working as a Table Games Manager in a legal regional brick and mortar casino in the North East and have been in the casino industry for over 20 years with experience working on the Las Vegas Strip and I agree with this article. One point I would like to make is that we are well aware of the affects that the casino environment has on customers but no one talks about the impact it has on the frontline employees that in some cases are spending over 40 hrs a week in that environment .
Anyone that works in a casino has some form of ADHD and the levels of drug, alcohol and (believe it or not) gambling problems among workers is high. At least Silicon Valley workers don’t have to spend 40 hrs a week scrolling the apps they created.
I like that last idea. Let’s force tech titans to spend a few weeks scrolling and swiping on their own apps.
I’ve grumbled a lot about the music business’s obsession with the past. It’s gotten so bad that musicians are now worth more dead than alive.
Do you think I’m exaggerating? Just consider this next news story.
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