An Ode to the Brain: TED + Carl Sagan, Autotuned

Between our deep love for TED, our fascination with music and the brain, and our soft spot for remix culture, it’s hard not to fall for An Ode to the Brain by John Boswell of Symphony of Science fame — an ingenious autotune remix of footage from various TED talks, Discovery Channel programming, Carl Sagan documentaries and other fine purveyors of neuroscience insight.

For our very own remix tribute to TED, do revisit our TEDify side project.

Thanks, Chris

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Carl Sagan / Egyptian Revolution Mashup

We love, love, love Carl Sagan remixes. For the past couple of years, we’ve had a favoite: Carl Sagan + Sigur Rós. But this priceless mashup of Sagan’s iconic Pale Blue Dot and the Egyptian and Tunisian revolutions may just be the best one we’ve seen to date.

For more of Sagan’s genius, don’t forget his iconic 1980s TV series, Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, was recently restored and remastered — we couldn’t recommend it more.

Thanks, Kirstin

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Life Looks for Life: A(nother) NASA Tribute

Last month, we featured The Frontier Is Everywhere — one space fan’s breathtaking NASA tribute, remixing Carl Sagan’s iconic words with spellbinding images of the cosmos and our quest for its secrets. This month, he’s back with the second installment in the series: Life Looks for Life. Watch, breathe with the awe, and keep an eye on the project’s Facebook page for the next episode.

For more of Sagan’s glorious vision for the future of mankind in the universe, don’t miss this fantastic 9-minute animated adaptation of Pale Blue Dot.

Brain Pickings has a free weekly newsletter and people say it’s cool. It comes out on Sundays and offers the week’s best articles. Here’s an example. Like? Sign up.