‘Cosmic Piano’ Plays Jazz Composed By The Cosmos

Physicists are always trying to convince the rest of us that physics is fun - and this time, they might be on to something.

Using four standard cosmic ray detectors, the scientists at CERN have created a “cosmic piano”, which sounds like something Jamiroquai would be quite interested in.

Every time a cosmic ray hit one of the detectors, it creates a vaguely musical sound and lights up the lights on the board.

On it’s own, it’s about as annoying as a child bashing its first Casio keyboard or, say, the music of Jamiroquai, but when paired with a pro jazz musician like Al Blatter involved it becomes something a bit more avant garde.

As the cosmos freestyled through the instrument at the Montreux jazz festival, Blatter jammed along on a regular piano.

“The cosmos doesn’t really have much of a rhythm,” said Steven Goldfrab, a physicist involved in the project. “So it’s quite a challenge.”

This wasn’t the first time that CERN used its raw data to create music - last year its scientists performed a composition that was written based on data from the Large Hardon Collider’s major experiments, known as the LHC Chamber Music Project.

If the sounds of the cosmic piano seem to be just the thing missing from your living room, the good news is that you can actually buy one. The bad news is that it’ll set you back around £1,636.

Jay Kay is probably ordering one as we speak.