Michael Weiss

3 weeks ago | furche.at | Michael Weiss

„Und es erschienen ihnen Zungen wie von Feuer, die sich verteilten; auf jeden von ihnen ließ sich eine nieder", heißt es in der Apostelgeschichte. "Alle wurden mit dem Heiligen Geist erfüllt und begannen, in fremden Sprachen zu reden, wie es der Geist ihnen eingab. In Jerusalem aber wohnten Juden, fromme Männer aus allen Völkern unter dem Himmel.

3 weeks ago | biorxiv.org | Mila Bertolo |Michael Weiss |Isabelle Peretz |Jon Sakata

AbstractIsochrony - as in the regular beat of a metronome - is cross-culturally ubiquitous in music. Is this ubiquity due to a widespread biological inclination for acoustic communication having isochronous structure? If so, it should be present in lesser-studied vocal music, in the absence of musical training, and in comparable non-human species' vocalizations. We quantified isochrony in an untrained expression of musicality: improvised songs from non-musician adults and children.

1 month ago | newlinesmag.com | Michael Weiss

There was a darkly comic aspect to watching Europe try to flatter, persuade and finesse Donald Trump into being three things he is not: reliable, constructive and pro-Ukraine. On May 10 in Kyiv, the U.K., France, Germany and Poland contrived to get what looked like a consensual policy in place between the United States and and its Western allies: Vladimir Putin, they said, had 48 hours to agree to a 30-day ceasefire in the war in Ukraine, or else face “crippling” new sanctions.

1 month ago | newlinesmag.com | Michael Weiss

Just after 2 p.m. on Valentine’s Day this year, a middle-aged woman in a bright red coat walked over to a group of Ukrainian soldiers standing outside a cafe in the city of Mykolaiv. The soldiers, who were just finishing their lunch break, stood in a group, chatting, and clearly didn’t think much of the woman as she placed the bag she was carrying on the ground. Within seconds, the bomb hidden inside the bag was remotely detonated, killing her and three of the Ukrainian soldiers instantly.

Mar 3, 2025 | newlinesmag.com | Michael Weiss

If Donald Trump’s earlier characterization of Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a “dictator” and his repeated refusal to offer any disobliging description of Vladimir Putin had left any mystery as to where his affinity lies, he eliminated all doubt within 10 minutes on Friday at the tail end of a supposed diplomatic breakthrough in U.S.-Ukrainian relations.