Stem Cell Symphony: A Novel

Stuart Matheson, 32, is trapped in a nursing home as well as his body, eerily immobile at the last stage of Huntington's Disease. Kelsey Raye is a science writer feeling guilty about the recent deaths of her parents. She volunteers for hospice and is assigned to Stuart. She's a PhD, he never finished school, but they share a love of rock music and disdain of religion. They instantly bond.

As Kelsey plays her iPod daily for Stuart, he improves - an impossibility - and when she misses a few days, he backslides. She deduces that Stuart's gains follow hearing U2 or their imitators. Kelsey, who writes about stem cells, thinks the frequency of the arpeggios is turning on stem cells in Stuart's brain. She shares her idea with researcher Peter Holloway, but evil Nurse Smithies overhears and outs them to a tabloid. Meanwhile, Peter scans Stuart's brain. He's getting better!

All hell breaks loose when the tabloid hits. The government shuts down Peter's lab and confiscates Kelsey's iPod, while anti-stem cell protestors harass them -- just as Peter discovers how music stimulates stem cells. Then something unexpected happens. Did science fail, or was it the anti-science forces?

The underlying love story and comical cast of characters propel this parallel tale of emerging spirituality and an evolving medical technology. Many of the characters and scenes are based on real people, and the science dead-on accurate - with the one tweak of the music turning on stem cells.

It could happen.
Customer Review: Entertaining, informative, and inspiring
It's very refreshing to read a novel that is so well grounded in science and real life. This book has all the fictional elements of a great novel, yet you learn some things about science along the way through the book. I particularly liked the section on Congressional testimony. And I can personally relate to some of the nursing home scenes. Great job!
Customer Review: A good read AND informative!
Ricki Lewis' novel is the story of a young science writer who, as a hospice volunteer, finds herself inexplicably helping a patient with an incurable disease. It is current both in terms of discussing the science of the stem cell technology we hear so much about these days, but also in its musical references, like U2 and Coldplay (two artists included in a recent planetarium show I visited in the Rose Space Center in NYC.) There is a love interest with a twist, and I found myself gripped by the unknowns presented in the thickening plots. The cast of characters was eccentric but believable. Their actions felt so real sometimes, I found myself wondering if portions of the story were based on real events. What I perhaps liked the best was that the uplifting ending suggested that the miracle of art (in this case music) can inexplicably have a profound scientific effect on our bodies in ways we have perhaps not yet discovered. If there are not medical researchers out there testing out Dr. Lewis' "novel" hypotheses- there should be! I found myself learning about science while enjoying the story. This was a good read- I highly suggest it!

Music - often called the soul of life and gateway to eternal bliss, is transformed completely with all that high-tech, well-equipped and hip recording studio, giving a new meaning to the whole concept of good music. The beautiful and catchy numbers we love and appreciate today are a result of endless and painstaking efforts in these studios and are well supported by the most modern and ultra tech recording studio equipment. It also adds that extra zing and pep to the simple songs and mundane music. So those who are initiated into music and want to make a beginning, it is a good idea to straight away make a booking in a recording studio. You can make the best use of all the studio equipment lying there to give your voice and music that extra vim and verve and make it sound more professional. Remember, even the most professional singers make use of these equipments to add support to their velvety voice and if you are just a kid of the block, it is all the more important for you to make best use of the services offered by recording studios.

Whether you are planning to cut your private album, create a profile for work or simply want to indulge in a hobby, recording studios will come to your rescue. With their services, even ordinary bathroom singers would sound like stars and stars, well, like super stars. Of course you need to have that basic thing called talent to survive and grow in this highly competitive field, but what a recording studio can do for you is to add quality, depth and balance to your voice. A variety of recording studio equipment plays its part in this. This studio equipment is mainly used for making, recording and mixing music in an ambient and classy manner.

The basic recording equipments include consoles, which may be solid state logic or newer mixing ones, multi tracks, monitors, hard disks system, patch-bays, cables and accessories, adapters and speakers, lighting equipments, synthesizers and samplers all working in tandem to make your voice crispier and sexier. Most modern studios are equipped with this equipment. As costs of recording and cutting a CD for private album are plummeting nowadays, you too can join the party at a very nominal cost.

The other alternative for you is to convert your pad into a home recording studio if you are more serious and want to have more than just a little fun. Of course there are some basic tidbits you need to remember while making a dream studio at home.

First and foremost, you need to plan and budget your expenditure well in advance as choices are plenty, and options unlimited. Decide whether you want to go for new equipment or a pre-owned one, which are also available at reasonable costs.

Some of the basic requirements of home recording studios are keyboards, synthesizers, patch-bays, adapters, at least 2 sets of speakers, computer monitors, mikes and lighting equipments. It is a good idea to make sure that you have your music keyboard and computer key board near each other to have perfect harmony. You also need to put in place a bass trap and sound absorbers to diffuse the irritating and uneven bass frequencies and to add to the acoustics of your studio.

Remember- what a recording studio can do is to package and polish and shape and sharpen your voice and make you more confident and comfortable with your singing abilities. So dont worry about the audience reaction any more go ahead and Sing!

The author loves music. Learn about the free music software available today. You can learn new music terms here. Here is some valuable information on music production software.

latin music festival