Scientists Turn Flames into Music and Words Into Matter

Machine learning translates human language into materials and makes matter (and music) from fire

Anyone who has gazed at a candle flame feels the calming visual sensation it brings to a room. Fire’s physical behavior and mesmerizing flickering flame has fascinated humankind since the prehistoric era. Now, at the intersection of science and art, scientists have used fire to create music and matter.

“Fire has all the elements of a vibrating string or vibrating molecule but in a dynamic pattern that’s interesting.” said Markus Buehler, an engineering professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Buehler’s lab studies quantum phenomena such as making music with proteins and bio-based materials from nature to model and create new sustainable materials with architectural features.

At the 2022 APS March Meeting, Buehler will cover new results from a technological method to render flames into sound, and the design and manufacturing of nature-inspired materials.

“It's a bit like freezing a fire’s flame in time and being able to look at it from different angles. You can touch it, rotate it, and the other thing you can do is look inside the flames, which is something that no human has ever seen,” he said.

Buehler will also present new research that asks the question: Is our consciousness, thoughts, and words a state of matter or the result of our neurons creating a material reality?

“Human language contains the rules of grammar that form phrases and sentences together to convey meaning. It’s equivalent to the self-assembly process in materials science, where a molecule forms into larger scale structures by itself,” said Buehler.

His team found that human language can create a physical object which has materialized in the exact way our words describe.

“We developed this system where we can ask computers to help us assemble materials that don’t exist yet,” said Buehler.

The system allows a person to type text into the computer that describes anything their imagination wants to create, and a couple hours later, you have a physical three-dimensional replica in your hands that resembles everything you just typed.

Buehler adds that this form of materialization wouldn't be possible without deep learning models. “It’s building a relationship between language and our thoughts. We can now explore, what are the physical properties of our thoughts?”

Making Music and Materials from Fire
11:54 a.m. - 12:06 p.m. CDT, Wednesday, March 16, 2022
Contact: Markus Buehler, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract | MIT Press Release

Bioinspired Machine Learning Towards Mechanistic Insights, Generative Design, and Discovery From the Bottom Up
3:00 p.m. - 3:36 p.m. CDT, Wednesday, March 16, 2022
Contact: Markus Buehler, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract | MIT Press Release

Simulated flames movingCREDIT: Markus Buehler and Mario Milazzo, MIT

Assembly simulation of flames into a fairytale garden

Fingers squeezing intricate 3D modelCREDIT: Markus Buehler, MIT

Simulation of our thoughts to describe an architectural material printed on flexible black TPU filament