Music History is Human History

What is Music?

It is in our car rides, movies, social events, communal gatherings, and religious ceremonies; it follows us everywhere we go. It can bring us together or keep us company when we are alone. It has an unspeakable power that can only be described with itself - with music. Melody and rhythm, the building blocks of music, are found throughout the natural world: bird calls, dolphin clicks, whale vocalizations, and woodpecker drummings all add up to the beautiful symphonic cacophony of nature - but is it music?

Music is commonly defined as rhythm, melody, and or harmony. Additionally, music is sound that conveys emotions, its essence going beyond sound (Frontiers, 2017). This complexity begs the question: when did our ancestors begin making music?

The Earliest Forms of Music

Humanity’s earliest musical expressions were likely vocal. Around a million years ago, the common ancestor of Neanderthals had the necessary anatomy for singing, as seen by fossilized skulls and jaws (Frontiers, 2017). Scholars often assert that singing was the first type of musical sound, suggesting that early humans might have begun to speak and sing simultaneously. Singing could have been used to imitate natural beauty, such as bird calls, to mimic animal sounds for hunting, or to communicate with infants through lullabies.

The evolution of vocal learning and musical traits may have helped our ancestors deal with chaotic situations like hunting or escaping predators. When groups moved together during these situations, synchronized leg movements while running in a pack created brief moments of silence, enhancing their ability to hear and be aware of their surroundings and communicate. This synchronization, which has survival value, releases dopamine, making listening to and playing rhythms more rewarding, even in safe environments. The chemical release of dopamine in response to a rhythm might explain why prehistoric activities like hand-clapping, foot-stomping, and campfire singing are so enjoyable (Expertsvar, 2013).

Initially, the first non-vocal music would most likely have been rhythmic, created by hand-clapping, eventually using tools like stones and sticks to produce sound. These early instruments, made from materials like wood or reeds, have not survived. However, bone pipes crafted from swan and vulture wing bones, dating back 39,000-43,000 years, have been discovered. Additionally, evidence shows people struck stalactites in caves to produce sound around 12,000 years ago, indicating that music has been a significant part of human evolution (Frontiers, 2017).

Music has been around for thousands of years and across many different cultures. Archaeological discoveries have unearthed flutes, whistles (often made of bone), pottery, and stone instruments, some of which are over 30,000 years old based on carbon dating — a scientific method that determines the age of objects based on the amount of carbon found in organic matter near archaeological sites. In Japan, ancient whistles and rattles that produce high-pitched sounds, crafted from stone or clay, date back about 6,000 years. In China, pottery bells have been around for at least 4,000 years and Greek instruments like the krotala, a set of hollow blocks bound with leather, emerged around 2,500 years ago. The Greeks also used finger cymbals and frame drums.

Shepherds often played the syrinx, a whistle-like instrument now known as the pan flute. The aulos, another Greek instrument, was a sophisticated woodwind with two pipes. Furthermore, 4,000-year-old rock paintings and engravings in Egyptian tombs depict musicians playing harps, and Greek pottery frequently illustrates musical scenes.

The earliest civilizations across Africa, Europe, and Asia had music deeply embedded in their cultures. Many ancient societies believed music was a divine gift from the gods. Various deities were associated with music, such as Àyàn, the African god known as a drummer, and Apollo, the Greek god who played the lyre. In the Book of Genesis, Jubal is hailed as the father of the harp and flute (Dallman, 2022).

The Role of Music in Human History

Music has persisted through the ages for various reasons. It plays a vital role in dance, although it's unclear if the first dancers had musical accompaniment or if music inspired rhythmic movement. Music is a form of entertainment that creates personal and communal joy. Music also serves as a communication tool; instruments like drums and horns have been used to convey messages across distances. In rituals, music holds a sacred place in services in almost every religion, enhancing the spiritual experience.

One of the most crucial functions of music is its ability to foster bonding. It strengthens mother-child connections, keeps workers motivated during monotonous tasks, and unites individuals before hunts or battles. Some theories suggested by Oxford’s Jeremy Montagu propose that music created society, bringing together diverse individuals who would otherwise not interact (Frontiers, 2017). Listening to music can release hormones such as oxytocin, endorphins, and cortisol, which help humans feel joy and comfort and reduce stress (Heshmat, n.d.).

The Natural Phenomenon of Music

Different cultures have developed unique musical systems, yet certain musical aspects, such as pleasing intervals between notes, or the distances between musical pitches, are universal. This suggests that music is a biological phenomenon inherent to humans. Cross-species parallels in song production also exist. For example, songbirds can learn new vocalizations throughout their lives, a rare trait in the animal kingdom. Parrots, known for their ability to move to a beat, share similar biological adaptations with humans.

While some animals can categorize music by composer or genre, it remains unclear if they are truly musical. The origins of human musical capacity and the potential for musicality in other animals remain areas of ongoing research (Vienna, 2015).

The history of music is as rich and varied as the human experience itself, constantly evolving and deeply interwoven with our cultural and biological fabric. The history of music and how it evolved alongside humans is an unknown field that hides the secrets to our story, values, and beginnings. Music is so ingrained in our cultures that it must be ingrained within us, giving clues to the beginnings of humanity.

References

Dallman, L. (2022, October 10). Who invented music? The search for stone flutes, clay whistles, and the dawn of song. Popular Science. https://www.popsci.com/science/who-invented-music/

Expertsvar. (2013, September 23). Why humans are musical. ScienceDaily. Retrieved November 1, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/09/130923092603.htm

Frontiers. (2017, June 20). The story of music is the story of humans. ScienceDaily. Retrieved October 31, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170620093153.htm

Heshmat, S., Ph.D. (n.d.). How music brings people together. Psychology Today.

     https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/science-choice/202111/

     how-music-brings-people-together
University of Vienna. (2015, February 17). Even animals compose: What it means to be a musical species. ScienceDaily. Retrieved November 1, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/02/150217122700.htm

Different Ages of the World

How has life on Earth developed over its nearly 5 billion years to what it is today?

Introduction:

The origin of life on Earth is one of science's greatest mysteries. Earth is roughly 4.5 billion years old and has transformed from a molten sphere to the continental, diverse, and life-sustaining planet it is today. This process has occurred slowly and gradually over billions of years; scientists have divided up Earth’s history into roughly four different eons (an eon is a period lasting approximately one billion years): (1) the Hadean Eon lasting from around 4.5 billion years ago (also written as 4.5 Ga) to 4.1 Ga, (2) the Archean Eon going from 4.0-2.8 Ga, (3) the Proterozoic Eon occurring from 2.5-0.63 Ga, (4) and the Phanerozoic Eon lasting from 541 Ma through today.

Knowledge of the Hadean and Archean eons is inherently limited due to the nature of the planet at this time, which was still in the process of forming its surface, and geological structures that are now buried far below the surface. Nevertheless, the Phanerozoic, meaning visible life, has abundant and complex fossilized remains—most of our knowledge of the fossil record comes from this eon. Together, these four eons tell the story of Earth’s beginning, life’s origin, and the rise of complex life (LabXchange, 2019).

Early Life:

There was no life for the first 700 million years of Earth’s history. Scientists have traced the first signs of life back to the early 3.85 Ga. However, this life did not resemble what humans would consider to be life today. Instead, there were only microscopic single-celled organisms, such as bacteria, and it took another 200 million years for the first oxygen-producing life to evolve (NCSE, 2016).

The first method that archaeologists can use to detect early signatures of life is examining carbon isotopes (an isotope is an atom with a different amount of neutrons than protons). Life on Earth requires carbon, tending to incorporate more C12 over C13. The reason behind this preference is that C12 is lighter than C13, evident through having one less neutron, and this lighter weight is more readily accessible to the given organism. Therefore, carbon with a higher ratio of C12 compared to C13 is an indicator of life. This depletion in C13 compared to C12 was found in rocks from Greenland that date back to 3.85 Ga (NCSE, 2016).

While scientists predict that life on Earth first originated 3.85 billion years ago by comparing isotopes, there is physical evidence of life just 200 million years later, in the form of stromatolites, microfossils created by photosynthetic bacteria. These photosynthetic bacteria usually live in shallow water and over time become covered in clay and other particles, causing them to move towards the surface to receive the sunlight they need to survive. As the bacteria moves upwards, it would leave behind dead layers. Scientists discovered stromatolites in Western Australia dated at 3.45 Ga by analyzing the number of dead layers left behind  (NCSE, 2016).

Formation of Oxygen:

Humans take for granted the presence of oxygen and the diverse ecosystems of animals. The ecosystems today are structured by feeding relationships through the extraction of oxygen from their food. However, that is not how life on Earth used to be. For much of its early history, Earth was not an inhabitable environment for animals because it lacked oxygen and was high in methane. Our planet had a reducing atmosphere, consisting of carbon dioxide, methane, and water vapor as opposed to the present-day atmosphere, primarily composed of nitrogen and oxygen. The little oxygen that was present reacted with methane and was sealed in the Earth’s crust. However, cyanobacteria, a microbe requiring low levels of oxygen, worked to release oxygen until the atmosphere changed (National Museum of Natural History, n.d.).

As time passed, enough oxygen accumulated in Earth’s atmosphere to allow for the evolution of oxygen-metabolizing organisms. This increase in oxygen, now a major component of the atmosphere, made the environment uninhabitable for microbes that could not bear it. Evidence for this Great Oxidation/Oxygenation Event is visible in changes in seafloor rocks called Branded Iron Formations, through a reaction between oxygen and iron dissolved in seawater. This formed iron oxide minerals on the ocean floor. Scientists believe this marked the beginning of oxygen’s permanent presence in the atmosphere (American Society for Microbiology, 2022).

A revolutionary event occurred when microbes, single-celled organisms that lack organelles, began living inside other microbes, serving as organelles. Cells began living together because of the direct benefits of more efficient feeding and protection. These groups of specialized cells working together became the first animals around 800 million years ago. As time continued and the planet advanced during the Ediacaran Period (635 to 541 million years ago), there was an accumulation of other organisms. By the end of this period, oxygen levels rose, which brought them closer to levels sufficient to sustain oxygen-based life (National Museum of Natural History, n.d.). With an oxygen-rich atmosphere, life was able to rapidly evolve from organisms to full-fledged animals, such as dinosaurs.

Dinosaur Extinction:

Dinosaurs were a group of reptiles that dominated the land for over 140 million years taking on diverse shapes and sizes, symbolizing Earth’s history and evolution. Due to the lack of details, there is much discussion among paleontologists regarding what killed Earth’s Cretaceous inhabitants and how long it took them to become extinct. However, scientists are sure it was a massive event that impacted all types of life on Earth, from the smallest organisms to the largest dinosaurs. A common misconception portrayed today is that all life on Earth suddenly went extinct at the end of the Cretaceous Period (about 66 million years ago), when in fact it was only 75% of life. Furthermore, evidence depicts that dinosaurs were already in decline in the latest portion of this period (Britannica, 2024).

Earth was enduring a period of climate change before the asteroid crashed with notable shifts in the climate spanning over millions of years. For a few million years there was a great amount of volcanic activity occurring which emitted gasses into the atmosphere, resulting in a major impact on global climate. Some long-term changes during this period included the continents drifting around and splitting apart from each other. This created bigger oceans, impacting the climate and vegetation because of the change in the ocean-atmosphere patterns around the world. (Natural History Museum, n.d.).

The instant devastation by the asteroid, near the impact site on the coast of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula in Chicxulub crater, and the secondary effect of the asteroid impact are considered to be why the dinosaurs went extinct so suddenly. The asteroid is believed to have been between 10-15 kilometers wide. The velocity of the asteroid caused a much larger crater of 150 kilometers in diameter to form, increasing the total devastation in the vicinity. This brought massive tidal waves, heat waves, and huge amounts of debris into the atmosphere (Natural History Museum, n.d.).

When about 75% of Earth’s animals suddenly went extinct, there was a domino effect on the food chain leading the ecosystems of the land and the ocean to collapse. The initial impact reduced plant growth, leading to herbivores having trouble surviving, and causing carnivores to have less food. This brought shorter breeding seasons with harsher conditions. Overall, however, plants were less affected than animals because their seed and pollen allowed them to survive longer harsh periods. Flowering plants dominated Earth and what little life was able to survive formed the basis of the life known today. While life suffered some level of extinction, the ancestral lines that led to modern animals survived (Natural History Museum, n.d.).

Ice Ages:

Unknown to many, planet Earth has had at least five major ice age events, the most recent having begun about 2.6 million years ago and the glacial period ending just 11,000 years ago. In general, ice ages come to an end or shift to interglacial periods (periods in which glaciers melt) based on Earth’s orientation to the sun (Dubey, 2024).

The most recent ice age has come to be known as simply the “Ice Age.” During this ice age, early humans were in the Stone Age and roamed the planet with wooly mammoths; it was only after this ice age that humans emerged as the most dominant land animals. Even though this ice age lasted hundreds of thousands of years, it only reached its peak, or its glacial maximum, 20,000 years ago (History, 2015). Life on Earth was vastly colder than it is today: The average temperatures around the world during this peak were 5 degrees Celsius colder; 8% of the planet's surface was covered in ice, and sea levels were approximately 125 meters lower (Dubey, 2024).

Even though the glacier period of the Ice Age ended, technically Earth is still considered to be in an ice age. Ice ages last millions of years, and throughout every ice age, there are glacial periods, when glaciers spread, and interglacial periods, when glaciers melt (Dubey, 2024).

Conclusion:

The four eons of Earth’s history depict the planet’s evolution from a molten to a habitable environment. From the Hadean Eon with the formation of Earth to the first emergence of life in the Archeon to the Great Oxidation Event during the Proterozoic, and finally, the Phanerozoic taking us through history to the world we know today, these four eons tell the story of Earth’s history and the evolution of life.

References

Aiyer, K. (2022, February 18). The Great Oxidation Event: How Cyanobacteria Changed Life. Retrieved October 27, 2024, from asm.org website: https://asm.org/Articles/2022/February/The-Great-Oxidation-Event-How-Cyanobacteria-Change

Dubey, A. (2024, October 15). last glacial maximum. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/science/Last-Glacial-Maximum

Earliest evidence of life: National Center for Science Education. National Center for Science Education. (2016, March 16). https://ncse.ngo/earliest-evidence-life#:~:text=3.85%20Ga%3A%20isotopically%20%E2%80%9Clight%E2%80%9D,a%20chemical%20signature%20of%20eukaryotes

Harvard. (2019, December 19). Geological Time Scale of the Earth. LabXchange. https://www.labxchange.org/library/items/lb:HarvardX:27d0b606:html:1

History.com Editors. (2015, March 11). Ice age ‑ definition & timeline. History.com. https://www.history.com/topics/pre-history/ice-age

Jaggard, V. (2019, July 31). Why did the dinosaurs go extinct? Retrieved October 27, 2024, from nationalgeographic.com website: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/dinosaur-extinction

Malcolm Walter. (2019, January 6). The origins of life on Earth. Retrieved October 27, 2024, from Australian Academy of Science website: https://www.science.org.au/curious/space-time/origins-life-earth

Osterloff, E. (2020, November 18). How an asteroid ended the age of the dinosaurs. Retrieved October 27, 2024, from Nhm.ac.uk website: https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/how-an-asteroid-caused-extinction-of-dinosaurs.html

Padian, Kevin and Ostrom, John H.. "dinosaur". Encyclopedia Britannica, 24 Oct. 2024, https://www.britannica.com/animal/dinosaur. Accessed 27 October 2024.

Smithsonian. (2019). History of Life on Earth | Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Retrieved October 27, 2024, from Si.edu website: https://naturalhistory.si.edu/education/teaching-resources/life-science/early-life-earth-animal-origins

Anaphylaxis

Anaphylaxis is an allergic reaction that occurs in the immune system that can be life-threatening. It can be caused by a variety of different substances entering the body including food, insect venom, and some medications. During the reaction, chemicals are released that cause the body to go into a state of shock and cause certain symptoms. The most common symptoms include vomiting and nausea, hives, airways tightening and closing, drop in blood pressure, dizziness, and loss of consciousness. 

After exposure to a harmful substance, the Immune system detects the substance, and sends signals to cells to release immunoglobulin E (IgE), an antibody to stop “harmful products.” Antigen is then detected by the Antigen-presenting cell, and a signal is sent to Th2. The Th2 sends a signal to B Cell and Plasma B Cell is created. The Plasma B Cell then produces IgE antibodies. These antibodies produced attach to Mast cells. Mast cells are exposed to the presenting Antigen when an allergen is consumed, granules produce chemicals that cause symptoms. This type of anaphylaxis requires previous exposure to the substance or allergen causing the reaction. 

References

Long, Erin & Ruiz, Juan C & Foglia, Julena & Valchanov, Kamen & Meikle, Andrew. (2022). Recognition, treatment, and prevention of perioperative anaphylaxis: a narrative review. AIMS Medical Science. 9. 32-50. 10.3934/medsci.2022005.

Mayo Clinic Staff. (2021, October 2). Anaphylaxis. Mayo Clinic. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/anaphylaxis/symptoms-causes/syc-20351468

Mayo Clinic Staff. (2023, December 13). Food allergy. Mayo Clinic. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/food-allergy/symptoms-causes/syc-20355095

Neurofibromatosis

Neurofibromatosis is a genetic disorder that causes tumors to grow on nerves throughout the body. Neurofibromatosis, or NF for short, affects one in every 2,000 births, which equates to about four million people worldwide. Though there is no cure yet, there is only one FDA-approved drug for NF. There are three types of NF; NF1, NF2, and Schwannomatosi Neurofibromatosis 1 is the most common form of NF, affecting 1 in every 2,500 births. NF1 is characterized by multiple café au lait (light brown) skin spots, neurofibromas (small benign growths) on or under the skin, freckling in the armpits or groin, softening and curving of bones and curvature of the spine (scoliosis), and the development of tumors in the brain, cranial nerves or spinal cord. These tumors are generally not cancerous, yet they still can cause health problems. Though some tumors may be benign, they may become malignant, or cancerous.

Neurofibromatosis 2-Schwannomatosis affects 1 in every 25,000 people and is characterized by the development of benign tumors called vestibular schwannomas. Vestibular schwannomas are tumors that are on the eighth cranial nerve, a nerve that carries sound and balance information from the inner ear to the brain. These schwannomas affect both ears and lead to partial or complete deafness. NF2-SWN may also develop other types of benign brain or spinal tumors and can cause development of cataracts. Symptoms of NF2-SWN usually develop during late teen and early adult years.

Finally, the least common and most recently identified form of NF is called Schwannomatosis. An umbrella term for several genetic conditions that cause the development of benign tumors to grow on nerves, SWN affects one in every 20,000 people. Excluding NF2-SWN, other types of SWN affect one in every 70,000 individuals. SWN is a type of NF in which individuals develop tumors called schwannomas on nerves in the central nervous system (brain and spine) and on peripheral nerves, which are nerves found throughout the body. Though schwannomas are benign and not cancerous, they can cause hearing loss, eye problems, and unmanageable pain. There are at least three genes that are known to cause SWN; NF2, LZTR1, and SMARCB1. These genes help regulate cell growth and division, and if not functioning properly, the cells may multiply excessively and form tumors.

Neurofibromatosis. (n.d.). Children's Tumor Foundation. Retrieved May 2, 2024, from https://www.ctf.org/