{"id":4011,"date":"2023-12-31T13:10:41","date_gmt":"2023-12-31T18:10:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/magazine\/?p=4011"},"modified":"2024-01-16T21:35:45","modified_gmt":"2024-01-17T02:35:45","slug":"questions-we-have-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/magazine\/2023\/questions-we-have-questions\/","title":{"rendered":"Questions, We Have Questions …"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s not just young children who want to know why the sky is blue or what croaking frogs are saying. We are all driven by questions. Luckily, College of Arts and Sciences faculty have answers.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Photo

Photo by Michael Benard<\/p><\/div>\n

What are frogs saying when they croak?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Frogs make all kinds of sounds, from croaks to something like a banjo string being plucked or a thumb dragged across a comb\u2019s teeth, said <\/span>Michael Benard,<\/b> PhD, associate professor and chair of the Department of Biology. But whatever their sounds, frogs\u2014 mostly male\u2014vary them to mainly make three types of calls. The advertising call attracts females; the encounter call warns another male that he\u2019s too close; and the release call tells a male that, perhaps mistakenly, grabs onto another male\u2014rather than a female he intends to mate with\u2014to back off.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Why do we use our hands when we speak?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\u201cWe gesture for the same reason we speak (or use sign language)\u2014to communicate and organize our own thoughts,\u201d said <\/span>Fey Parrill<\/b>, PhD, a professor and chair of the Department of Cognitive Science and director of the college\u2019s Language and Cognition Lab. Language is actually speech plus gestures. Hand movements help promote understanding. Some people gesture more, especially if they are extroverts. Some cultures feature more conversational gestures, like those that speak Romance languages. \u201cBut everybody gestures \u2014and it\u2019s spontaneous.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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What\u2019s a word we think is recent, but has been around a long time?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

OMG! As in the abbreviation for \u201coh my god,\u201d said <\/span>Kimberly Emmons,<\/b> PhD, the Oviatt Professor of English and an associate professor. According to the <\/span>Oxford English Dictionary<\/span><\/i>, in 1917 a retired British admiral wrote to young Winston Churchill, then minister of munitions, to complain about the flurry of knighthoods\u2014with their three-letter abbreviations\u2014being given out. \u201cI hear that a new order of Knighthood is [under discussion]\u201d he wrote. \u201cO.M.G. (Oh! My God!)\u2014 Shower it on the Admiralty!!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Photo

Photo by Getty Images<\/p><\/div>\n

Is soundtrack music for cartoon characters different from music for live actors?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

First, you have to get over the these-things-were-never-alive-in-the-first-place mentality. A cartoon\u2019s creator may rely on a composer to give an animated character a musical boost of vitality, said<\/span> Daniel Goldmark,<\/b> PhD, an associate dean, music professor and director of the Center for Popular Music Studies. But there is nothing inherently different about music for animation. \u201cPlenty of live-action feature music sounds like cartoon music, and plenty of cartoon music sounds like feature music. It depends on what the music and visuals do together.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Illustration

Image by Getty Images<\/p><\/div>\n

How do you reconcile supernatural explanations for events that naturally occur?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Many people see supernatural entities like gods or spirits as working indirectly through natural events, said <\/span>Julie Exline<\/b>, PhD, a professor specializing in the psychology of religion and spirituality. They may see birds at their window after a death and believe it\u2019s their loved one communicating. It depends on your worldview. \u201cIf you see God or the devil or spirits as being able to affect people\u2019s lives and events,\u201d she said, \u201cyou can see the world as, in a way, enchanted.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"A

Photo by Getty Images<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/b>What is quantum computing\u2014and why the excitement?<\/b><\/h4>\n

Quantum computing represents a new era in computing\u2014one using principles of quantum mechanics to solve particular classes of problems more efficiently than today\u2019s standard \u201cclassical\u201d computers, said Mhlambululi Mafu<\/strong>, PhD, a visiting assistant professor of physics specializing in quantum communication and computing. Early quantum computers are in the market, but Mafu expects that fully harnessing the technology could take 10 to 15 years. While classical computers use \u201cbits,\u201d that is zeros <\/span>or <\/span><\/i>ones, quantum computers use \u201cqubits,\u201d with the zeros and ones existing <\/span>at the same time <\/span><\/i>in a linear combination. That allows them to solve complex problems in powerful new ways. Mafu expects the technology will revolutionize fields including medicine, finance and artificial intelligence. \u201cIt\u2019s exciting,\u201d he said, \u201cand it\u2019s exciting everyone.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Do you have an intriguing arts, humanities, natural sciences or social sciences question you\u2019d like a faculty member to answer? Email us at <\/i>artsci@cwru.edu<\/a><\/i><\/b><\/a> and we\u2019ll publish answers in future issues.<\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s not just young children who want to know why the sky is blue or what croaking frogs are saying. We are all driven by questions. Luckily, College of Arts and Sciences faculty have answers. …Read more.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":481,"featured_media":4015,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/artscimedia.case.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/147\/2024\/01\/02124350\/P8_IMG_1205_edit-frog-outline_Credit_Michael_Benard.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4011"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/481"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4011"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4011\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4252,"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4011\/revisions\/4252"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}