Location: Optics Lab

Solution to Nina

by Catherine Olsson

Answer: OSMOSIS

This puzzle presents ten mp3 files containing recordings of someone singing songs with gibberish syllables, each followed by a number

The gibberish songs are rhythmic and melodic, but phonetically they are not in any recognizable language and the phonemes can't be uniquely transcribed.

The breaths and phonations in the original files indicate that they have been recorded in the direction they are presented; however, the sung phonemes nonetheless share many features with audio that has been reversed. Playing the audio files backwards reveals that the singer is singing backwards versions of They Might Be Giants songs. Indexing into each song title gives a letter:

  1. She's An Angel (1)
  2. I Palindrome I (5)
  3. Istanbul (2)
  4. Doctor Worm (7)
  5. Don't Let's Start (2)
  6. Experimental Film (7)
  7. Birdhouse In Your Soul (8)
  8. Particle Man (8)
  9. Why Does The Sun Shine (1)
  10. Ana Ng (3)

The selected letters spell SISWOMSEWA. The puzzler must then once again "listen to it backwards". If these letters are reversed, they spell AWESMOWSIS, which when read out loud gives the answer OSMOSIS.

The title is a reference to the They Might Be Giants song "On Earth My Nina", which is roughly a forward-sung version of the They Might Be Giants song "Thunderbird" played backwards.