The concert was organized in part by New York University neuroscientist Joseph LeDoux, whose band The Amygdaloids warmed up the audience as the first science-band of the night. (Read more about LeDoux's work on memory and emotion in our March issue.) The Amygdaloids were followed by Pardis Sabeti, a Harvard University evolutionary biologist who fronts the band Thousand Days. Daniel Levitin, McGill University neuroscientist and author of the bestselling book This is Your Brain on Music, also performed, and Columbia University neuroscientist and experimental musician David Sulzer led his band, The Spinozas, in the guise of his musical alter ego Dave Soldier.
"There are way more girls in bikinis than I thought there'd be at this event," said one audience member, as Anna Copa Cabanna played her xylophone and sang in a fringed two-piece costume. One security guard ducked in front of me to get a better view of Melissa Anne, a.k.a. the Hula-Hoop Harlot, gyrating with at least four hoops at once -- all in the name of science.
The scientists were joined by well known musicians such as Dee Snider, of 80s hair band Twisted Sister, and Rufus Wainwright, who sent a ripple of laughter through the crowd when he announced before his first song, "I failed every science class I ever took." The proceeds from Rock-It Science went to The Sensation and Emotion Network, a charity promoting research in sensory processing and emotion regulation that held its annual conference on Monday and Tuesday.
"I'd wanted to do something like this for years," said LeDoux, whose lyrics incorporate aspects of his research -- what he calls his "day job."
Editor's Note (03/06/09): This article has been updated from a previous version.
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