This article was originally published on The Conversation, an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts. Disclosure information is available on the ...

What does it take to create a horror movie scream that is truly horrifying? One that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up? NPR's Michelle Aslam found it is part art and part science.

Some of the best soundscapes, it turns out, signal danger in ways we cannot ignore, alerting parts of our brain that evolved millions of years ago. There’s a science to the sounds that make horror ...