Speed Reading — Music and Genes - Level 1 — 200 wpm

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Try the same text at a reading speed of 300 words per minute.


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We all love moving to music. We cannot stop tapping our foot or nodding our head when we listen to it. Researchers say moving our body to music is genetic. Our parents pass their sense of rhythm down to us. The study is from a university and a biotechnology company. It found 69 genes that change how we react to music, and how we move in sync with music beats. The genes also change other rhythms, like breathing, walking and sleeping.

Data on 600,000 people gave researchers a "unique opportunity" to find genetic signals. Researchers said their study is "a leap forward" for understanding the links between genetics and musicality. One of the researchers said "many hundreds of genes" can change our sense of rhythm." She said tapping, clapping and dancing in sync with music beats "is at the core of our human musicality". Doctors could use music and rhythms to make us healthier.

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