Sweden Serves Up a New Pop Sensation

Flutes may have helped early humans endure bitter cold

(NEWSER) - Researchers have identified two flutes made from mammoth ivory and bird bone as the world's oldest musical instruments, the BBC reports. Discovered in a cave in southern Germany, the flutes were likely fashioned 42,000 to 43,000 years ago, when early humans used them for religious ritual or recreation, experts say. Music may have also helped them maintain social networks as they survived dire cold in Europe and Neanderthals began to die off. More»

Playable mini-synth 'most ambitious doodle yet'

(NEWSER) - Google has honored synthesizer pioneer Robert Moog with a doodle fans are calling its best ever. To mark what would have been Moog's 73rd birthday, Google's homepage features a fully playable version of his famous synth, complete with 19 knobs and a recording device. "We had a terrific blueprint," chief doodler Ryan Germick tells Mashable , describing the doodle as Google's most technically ambitious yet. "The synthesizers that Moog made were really works of art in and of themselves." Tips on how to play are available in a Google blog post . More»

Increased likelihood of smoking pot, drinking: Study

(NEWSER) - Just like your parents always feared, listening to loud music may actually be bad for you. A new study finds that teens and young adults who use ear buds to listen to music at the "risky" level of 89 dBA for at least an hour each day were nearly twice as likely as non-listeners to smoke pot. In addition, those who hang out at concerts or dance clubs are almost six times as likely to binge drink as those who stay home, the Los Angeles Times reports. More»

To her entourage, she was always 'The Queen'

(NEWSER) - The passing of Donna Summer has inspired a range of thoughtful retrospectives ; now ABC News points out a few little-known facts about the Queen of Disco.

• She stopped singing the orgasmic "Love to Love You Baby" in 1979 as she re-devoted herself to Christianity. "If I were to do that song like I did it in the old days, the fire department would have to be at the show," she said.

Don't just limit her to disco, say critics

(NEWSER) - Following today's news of Donna Summer's death, critics and fans are lining up to pay their respects to the Queen of Disco. A few highlights from around the Web:

• Queen of Disco? "A more appropriate title would have been Queen of Pop," writes Melinda Newman at Hitfix . "The musical style may have been disco ... but the truth is no one had to step into a disco to hear a Summer song during her heyday."