3 questions:
1. Old Italian violins have a reputation for being superior in sound to newer models. But is their reputation deserved? To find out, researchers blindfolded 10 renowned violin soloists and had them play a dozen violins, six new and six old.
When asked to guess the age of the instruments, the musicians failed to distinguish classic from modern at levels better than chance.
What's the meaning of "at levels better than chance"?
2. By freezing patients, the surgeons will also freeze time—giving them the opportunity to repair wounds a warm patient wouldn’t typically survive. Should the procedure prove effective, it could give a new meaning to the phrase “cold comfort.”
What's the origional meaning of “cold comfort.”?
3. What's the difference between "wait" and "await"?

Question

3 questions:
1. Old Italian violins have a reputation for being superior in sound to newer models. But is their reputation deserved? To find out, researchers blindfolded 10 renowned violin soloists and had them play a dozen violins, six new and six old.
When asked to guess the age of the instruments, the musicians failed to distinguish classic from modern at levels better than chance. 
What's the meaning of "at levels better than chance"?
2. By freezing patients, the surgeons will also freeze time—giving them the opportunity to repair wounds a warm patient wouldn’t typically survive. Should the procedure prove effective, it could give a new meaning to the phrase “cold comfort.”
What's the origional meaning of “cold comfort.”?
3. What's the difference between "wait" and "await"?

Answer

1. "failed... at better than chance" means that their guesses were statistically no better than if they had simply randomly chosen their answers. "at better than chance" pretty much means as good as chance... or the same as chance. 
2. "cold comfort" is a colloquial phrase that means to get what you want, but it doesn't satisfy you because there is a bitter aspect to the victory. for example, if you were in a car accident and the court found the other person guilty but didn't grant you any financial victory... you might say that the win is a cold comfort - you won, that is good, but it doesn't do you much good because you don't get any money to fix your car. it is similar to the phrase "pyrrhic victory." in the context of the sentence above, they are using 'cold comfort' as a play on words because they are talking about temperature, and also, the surgical procedure might work (good) but you have to be frozen (not so great). so, a cold comfort.
3. wait and await are both verbs. they mean almost the same thing. I wait for my friend. I await my friend's arrival. I wait for morning. I await the morning. so, you 'wait for' something but you 'await' something. also, wait can also be a noun. the wait is so long... however, you cannot use await as noun.

I hope that is clear.

Alexis