bird’s got rhythm: so aniruddh patel at the neurosciences institute studied snowball the cockatoo and found that the bird’s tapping rhythm was indeed (loosely) related to the rhythm of the music, as reported in a story in this week’s nature. i was amused by the fact that he found it necessary to relate his results to the fact that beats can sometimes help parkinsons patients initiate movements. we live (and have perhaps always lived) in a narrowly utilitarian world, which demands instant payback for its “investments”…