Neuroscientists scanned Sting’s brain. Here’s what they learned.

The Washington Post:

A book with the title “This Is Your Brain on Music” would, presumably, be of great interest to a musician like Sting. His gray matter has been on the stuff for a career that spans four decades. What the once and future Police frontman could not have anticipated is that by reading the book, authored by rocker-turned-McGill University neurologist Daniel Levitin, Sting would end up inside an fMRI machine.

As coincidence would have it, in the wake of reading Levitin’s book, Sting was headed to a concert in Montreal. Also located in the city is Levitin’s lab, which Sting decided to visit. Levitin knows music — he was a record producer for groups like Santana and supplied amps to Blue Öyster Cult, according to hisbiography — and he also knows when he has a rich scientific opportunity on his hands. So as part of the laboratory tour, the neuroscientist sprung his own invitation on Sting.

“I asked if he also wanted to have his brain scanned,” Levitin said, according to a recent press release. “He said, ‘yes’.”

Read the whole story: The Washington Post