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“Protein-derived music may be of therapeutic interest as a replacement for
music therapy,” says Helen Long of Crediton, Devon. Her patent (GB 2350469)
turns complex biological structures, such as proteins, into music. Long uses
X-ray crystallo-graphy to map a protein’s amino acids in three dimensions. Each
atom type and position gets a characteristic sound, which varies in pitch,
volume and rhythm. This means that every amino acid has its own identifiable
musical note or phrase. Protein helices, she suggests, translate into arpeggios.
The music map is stored as a MIDI computer file, which will play on any PC.
Small differences in molecular structure are distinguished by their tunes.