“We Will Rock You” may replace insulin injections, study shows

  • January 4, 2024

A study in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology (Volume 11, Number 9) called “Tuning of cellular insulin release by music for real-time diabetes control” showed that scientists were able to program cells to release insulin in response to certain sound waves, in this case, music from the band Queen.

The study which employs a mechanosensitive ion channel to direct cells into making insulin when stimulated with certain sound waves, was led by a Bioengineering professor at ETH Zurich, Martin Fussenegger. These MUSIC-controlled, insulin-releasing cells, where MUSIC is an acronym for music-inducible cellular control, were brought up in a lab adjacent to loudspeakers. Some of the songs used in this study included Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean”, Queen’s “We Will Rock You”, and Beethoven’s “Fur Elise”. Researchers found that Queen’s “We Will Rock You”, at a volume of 85 decibels, caused the strongest insulin release.

Researchers used diabetic mice and found that playing “We Will Rock You” for 15 minutes a day brought the insulin levels in the mice’s blood back to normal. At the same time, the blood sugar levels of the mice went back to normal.

Source: https://www.thedailystar.net/campus/campus/news/study-rock-music-could-replace-insulin-injections-3510926

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