tags: piano stairway, Sweden, behavior, social experiment, streaming video
This video documents an interesting social experiment in Stockholm, Sweden, where students changed stairs into a piano, and compared before-and-after video of stairway use to escalator use. Brilliant!

GrrlScientist is an evolutionary biologist, ornithologist, aviculturist, birder and freelance science and nature writer. A native of the Pacific Northwest, she relocated from Seattle to NYC with her parrots after earning a BS in Microbiology (emphasis in Virology) and PhD in Zoology (Ornithology) from the University of Washington. In NYC, she was the Chapman Postdoctoral Fellow at the American Museum of Natural History for two years, pursuing part of her "dream" research project by reconstructing a molecular phylogeny of the parrots of the South Pacific islands. GrrlScientist and her five parrots are currently relocating to Germany, where she will continue writing her blog while also writing a book and learning German. (Meanwhile, her parrots will continue to nibble on her extensive personal library.) If you appreciate GrrlScientist's writing, you can help pay her living expenses by hiring her to "blog" your conference, speak at your club or write articles for your publication (or by clicking on the Paypal button below). If you read an essay on this blog that you especially enjoyed, please nominate it for inclusion in 
























Comments
How fun. I will only use the escaltor when there is no other choice!
Posted by: Tabor | October 31, 2009 2:40 PM
I prefer the elevator to the escalator. One time I tripped on the up escalator and I feel down the stairs for an hour and a half.
Posted by: Seismicmike | November 1, 2009 8:07 AM
Good one Mike, Not.
Posted by: Mikelover | November 1, 2009 8:43 AM
Now Mike you can fall from the stairs for an hour and a half with more fun and drama :)
Posted by: Miketeaser | November 1, 2009 12:01 PM
Genius! Let's have lots more ideas like that. Send them to the Institute for Excellent Ideas. First idea: create the IEI.
Posted by: Count Ludwig | November 1, 2009 1:20 PM
.., I wish one of that here in Philippines.. awesome!! ;)
Posted by: best online guitar courses | November 2, 2009 4:04 AM
We realy need one in Niagara Falls Ontario!
Posted by: Jim Palmer | November 2, 2009 11:56 AM
Seismicmike: my readers make my life so wonderful, and your comment is a brilliant example of what i mean when i say this. thank you for the smile.
Posted by: "GrrlScientist" | November 2, 2009 12:35 PM
Not to sound like a "green freak" or whatever, but seeing that poor escalator run unused for so long like that makes me wonder if projects like this could be used to save towns money and energy. If there were a way to make the escalator run when a motion-sensor is activated, it would only run with someone on it. And people would still take the stairs.
Posted by: eni | November 2, 2009 11:37 PM
many european cities do have escalators that are activated when someone pushes a button to activate them or stands on them .. not sure about that particular escalator, though (does someone else know the status of that escalator?)
Posted by: "GrrlScientist" | November 2, 2009 11:57 PM
Sweet.
Now we wait for people to complain about the cacophony caused by the non-musically inclined :P
I think it's a sweet idea really. Reminds me of the the scene from the the movie Big starring Tom Hanks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KosJK_ZMMu0
Be well! :)
Posted by: Marcus C. | November 3, 2009 1:18 AM
Beautiful! This is an example of how living consciously, creating new ways to economize and improve health, is not self-denial, it is an opening of new doors of experiment, sharing, and yes, FUN.
Posted by: David - green thoughts | November 3, 2009 6:10 PM
Great. Has anyone thought of a way to make it more fun to put your litter in a bin.
Posted by: Margaret | November 19, 2009 3:57 AM