The construction of biological matter, and life itself, features striking similarities with musical creativity. In my research, I have explored these relationships with a combination of biology, chemistry, as well as mathematical and music theoretical tools. 

Listen here how dinoflagellate (a single-celled organism with two flagella, occurring in large numbers in marine plankton and also found in fresh water)  induce hierarchical vibrations translated to musical form.

Superfluous Dreams (Violin Adagio) - Part V

Markus J. Buehler is the McAfee Professor of Engineering at MIT, and a composer of experimental, classical and electronic music, with an interest in sonification. Using an approach termed "materiomusic", his artistic work explores the creation of new forms of musical expression - such as those derived from biological materials and living systems - as a means to better understand the underlying science and mathematics. One of his goals is to use musical and sound design as a novel and abstract way to model, optimize and create new forms of matter from the bottom up, and to assess cross-system design relationships. He is also interested in research to explore relationships between classical music, mathematics, and the physical and biological sciences, an in the mapping of models of consciousness across systems. In recent work he has developed a new framework to compose music based on proteins – the basic molecules of all life, as well as other physical phenomena such as fracturing, to explore similarities and differences across species, scales and between philosophical and physical models. 

Contact: mbuehler@MIT.EDU