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Is music in our DNA?

In 1988 Susan Alexander with assistance from biologist Dr. David Deamer measured the vibrational frequencies of the four bases of DNA, adenine, cytosine, guanine and thymine. Susan Alexander then attempted to convert these vibrational DNA frequencies into audible frequency equivalents.

How did she do it?

DNA has certain resonant frequencies related to the absorption of infrared light. As the light is passed through the sample, it is absorbed at specific frequencies. A device called a spectrophotometer plots the absorption bands as a spectrum.

The spectrum can then be converted to an audible frequency using the equation Frequency (Hz) = velocity (speed of light) x wavenumber

This number - if it were sound - is too high to hear, so she repeatedly cut it in half to get an audible range

She then assigned the frequencies to notes on a MIDI synth (Yamaha DX7). Then, using Editor Librarian and Vision software on a Macintosh computer, the DNA tunings were programmed in as microtonal "scales" for each base:

The result?

(from Susan Alexanders website)

"At first hearing of these 60 pitches from infrared spectra was discouraging. The scales and clusters they created sounded so strange and alien that one despairs at first of ever creating a beautiful work of art, or making any coherent 'sense' out of them. An overall description might be "tight relationships... densely packed microtones, with curious leaps."

"However, something very interesting began to happen. After weeks and weeks of experimenting with different sound combinations on the synthesizer, a tonal center began to emerge. One pitch seemed to draw other pitches to it...to lend coherency to the mass. This pitch turned out to be a kind of a C#, common to all the bases:

• Adenine: 545.6 Hz
• Guanine: 550
• Average Hz = 544.2
• Thymine: 543.4
• Cytosine: 537.8 "

Her conclusions

Are the frequencies in DNA bases harmonically ordered?

"They most certainly are. By comparing all 60 pitches one can find all of the precise ratios found in the first 16 harmonics of the overtone series: octaves, P5th, P4ths, Major and minor thirds, Major and minor 2nds and 7ths; even a 'flat' seventh. Mathematically, the odds of this happening at random are almost non-existent."

References:

• http://www.oursounduniverse.com
• http://www.oursounduniverse.com/articles/IEEE.html

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