As is a very common phenomenon, students are listening to music while studying or doing homework. In libraries, many choose to isolate themselves from the outside wearing headphones, and the same is true of some offices. Whether or not there is isolation, however, what these people have in common is that they see music as a tool that can improve concentration and productivity in general.

But is it true? Does music really help us focus better on what we’re doing, whether it’s memorizing text, studying complex topics, or writing projects?

Scientific studies have been carried out on this subject for many decades among other things, because if music can be used to improve the performance of students or workers, this information can be very useful for organizations able to finance this type of study.

For example, the results of a study were published in 1972 and it was designed to try to better understand the relationship between listening to melodies and changes in productivity. Through a series of observations, there was an increase in the performance of workers when listening to music from loudspeakers.

However, this study was the daughter of its time, and was only used to study a very specific and representative working context of the time: that of factories. Workforce tasks were repetitive, predictable and boring, and the music acted as a stimulant of mental activity. As the work was more rewarding and enjoyable, the productivity results were also better.

Other research that took place later served to reinforce (加强) the idea that music improves the performance of routine tasks. This was good news, but what about the most complex and creative jobs — those which cannot be carried out by machines? What about studying complex academic programs, which cannot be memorized literally but need to be understood and mentally worked on?

Deliberately making a road icy sounds like a method for disaster, but in 16^th-century China it helped things run smoothly. Repairs to the Forbidden City in Beijing in 1557 called for huge stones from a quarry(采石场) more than 70 km away. The biggest was the 300-ton “Large Stone Carving.” Such stones were too heavy for any cart, and too fragile for rollers. The builders adopted a wise alternative approach to carry the heavy stone.

They dug a series of wells, spaced a few hundred metres apart, along the route to the quarry. Then, in the depth of winter, when temperatures reached around -4℃, buckets of water were poured on to the dirt track, transforming it into an ice road.

The stone blocks were pushed along the road on wooden sledges (雪橇). Modern engineers have calculated that it would take 1,500 workers to drag a sledge on the dirt road, but only 300 on ice. Ancient tests suggested the ice was made slippery with more water; this reduced the friction further and just 50 men could pull a sledge. This technique only works when the temperature is also close to zero, otherwise the film of water freezes too quickly.

The researchers at Princeton University estimated that the blocks could be moved at six metres a minute, and the journey could be completed in 28 days. This would be well before the spring when the ice would melt.

It was once suggested that similar ice-sledges transported Stonehenge stones, but the ground that had a lot of holes and comparatively mild conditions probably rule this out.

Counting stars is pretty difficult in areas with lots of light, like major cities. A study says even in the clearest skies, you’re still seeing turbulence (涡流) in the atmosphere that makes stars twinkle. Want a truly perfect view of outer space? An international research team has found the spot, but you’ll need to wrap up warm. It’s in Antarctica!

According to the University of New South Wales, turbulence causes light coming from stars to bend as it reaches the Earth’s surface. That instability( 不稳定) in the air makes stars twinkle.

The location in Antarctica, however, has so little turbulence that it hardly interferes (干扰) with the light from stars, making the view extraordinarily clear. The Chinese-led research team built a system of telescopes on the top of a plateau(高原), named Dome A, which sits 4,000 feet above sea level.

“Dome A is the highest point in the central plateau of Antarctica, and the atmosphere is extremely stable here, much more so than anywhere else on Earth,” says UNSW Professor Michael Ashley. “The result is that the twinkling of the stars is greatly reduced, and the star images are much sharper and brighter. In fact, this special place even has advantages over the famous Hubble Space Telescope.”

“Satellites are a lot more expensive,” the astronomer explains. “But another advantage of making Earth-based observations is that you can always add the latest technology to your telescope on the ground. In space, everything is delayed (延迟). So you end up with technology in space lagging that on the ground by 10 years or more.”

One of the biggest advantages Dome A’s location has is that winter nights in Antarctica are very long. In fact, scientists will be able to track stars continuously since some nights in midwinter last for almost 24 hours.