r/todayilearned • u/Proboyhuh • 1d ago
TIL the Earth has a "heartbeat" every 26 seconds. Scientists have detected a rhythmic microseismic pulse coming from somewhere in the ocean, and its exact cause is still unknown.
https://www.good.is/scientists-puzzled-by-earths-heartbeat-that-causes-slight-tremors-every-26-seconds4.6k
u/myst3r10us_str4ng3r 1d ago
Any geologists, scientists, or those well read in the topic want to speculate? Would be more interesting than the trope-jokes.
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u/SupremeDictatorPaul 1d ago edited 1d ago
I expect it is something like Old Faithful. An underwater geyser that takes 26 seconds for water to percolate down to the hot point, heats up, vaporizes, and explosively expands outward.
Edit: Well, I tried to keep my answer serious for the asker, but I can’t control others. Sigh…
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u/superhomunculus 1d ago
I appreciate you trying to be serious.
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u/sintaur 1d ago
relevant xkcd btw
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u/alienblue89 1d ago
This was way more relevant than expected.
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u/kateastrophic 1d ago
I mean, I know r/relevantxkcd exists for a reason, but holy shit!
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u/Any-Comparison-2916 1d ago
I believe xkcd is basically like the library of babel and every possible comic already exists, you just have to find it.
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u/DonJeniusTrumpLawyer 1d ago
It’s always amazing to me when the xkcd applies to fucking random situations. It’s like reddit has already been predicted.
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u/Spidey209 20h ago
Infinity monkeys typing will produce the works of Mad Magazine.
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u/MagicNipple 1d ago
Article says it's felt around the world, and it's believed to originate somewhere in the southern or equatorial Atlantic. That would have to be some geyser.
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u/Me-Ook-You-In-Dooker 1d ago
Damn I was hoping for "it is possible at the extreme depths of the ocean due to the conditions for survival down there that there could be a monolithically large entity so massive that while in some form of hibernation it is releasing an electromagnetic pulse as some sea creatures do, which is being registered as a 'heartbeat'."
Fucking dashed my hopes for IRL Cthulhu :(
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u/someLemonz 1d ago
I mean kinda tho, Antarctica has lager version of most marine life because cold and depth/pressure both increase size
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u/GozerDGozerian 1d ago
Well yeah, lager type sea creatures are cold brewed and bottom fermented.
Much more fearsome than some over hopped ale-kraken.
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u/RulerOfSlides 1d ago
Yeah I was hoping for some kind of insight instead of pure circlejerk.
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u/IrregularRevisionist 1d ago
Read through the literature on the topic briefly (Ph.D. Oceanographer here). It looks fairly clear cut as a case of repetitive swells caused by intense resonance with the local topography of the west African coast. These sorts of events also coincide with storms in other regions, hence the metal name of the paper, "Stormquakes" (https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2019GL084217). I would kill to have a one-word-paper-title to my name with that kind of gravitas! So, ultimately, very interesting from a physical oceanography perspective, but highly unlikely to be anything remarkable on a worldwide scale.
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u/IsthianOS 1d ago
Reminds me of that seismic event that lasted for days and turned out to be water sloshing back and forth in a lake after a big rockfall.
edit: this thing https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth/a-mysterious-seismic-event-shook-earth-for-9-days-straight-in-2023-now-scientists-have-found-its-origins
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u/Paavo_Nurmi 1d ago edited 1d ago
It's amazing that we have the technology to detect these things, and the scientist to interpret the data.
EDIT:I forgot to add......There are people that design and build the monitoring equipment, people that write the software to make it work, somebody to install and maintain all the stuff.
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u/Constant_Natural3304 1d ago
Fascinating.
Too bad, it could have been the perfect beginning of a sci-fi horror movie. Something like 'War of the Worlds' or something.
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u/theArtOfProgramming 1d ago
I’ve never thought about a one word title for a paper but now it’s a goal of mine haha
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u/Useful_Shirt151 1d ago
People keep saying “you’re on Reddit what did you expect”
Reddit 5+ years ago used to be full of real discussions, now you have to sift through people making the same jokes over and over to find anything substantial.
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u/bradygilg 1d ago
There's been a dramatic drop in quality since the majority of users started to come from the phone app.
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u/turunambartanen 1d ago
So true
Also the redesign of the website.
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u/DinoHunter064 1d ago
Also people fleeing Twitter, and the massive changes to Reddit's algorithm, and users with higher standards fleeing from Reddit somewhere around the API changes.
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u/Deaffin 1d ago
That was the first big hit. The second big hit was politicians finally taking the internet seriously and dumping oodles of money into filling up these spaces with their preferred rhetoric, injecting tribalism and all around awfulness.
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u/Gynthaeres 1d ago
Everyone on Reddit has to be a comedian. It's infuriating. It's be nice to learn something, or see real discussions, but nope, so much of it is tired jokes in hopes of upvotes.
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u/whaargarbl_ 1d ago
I've said these exact words to myself after opening so many threads the last few days.
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u/Jokong 1d ago
Waves hitting the continental shelf. My sister is a geologist, married to my brother in law who is a geologist and that's what the article says.
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u/FartingBob 1d ago
My sister is a geologist, married to my brother in law
Coincidence? I think not.
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u/bwerde19 1d ago
If you click through to the linked article and then click through in the first paragraph to the source article (Discovery) you will get a well-reported answer to your exact question.
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u/lmaytulane 1d ago
Guess we’ll never know then
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u/BeneficialEvidence6 1d ago
Could be waves. Could be volcanic activity. No one is sure yet. But never say never.
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u/Funperson0358 1d ago
redditors do not click the article, redditors only read the headline and speculate without having any background in the field
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u/APunnyThing 1d ago
Given the current state of things I don’t think an ancient old one bursting forth from the earth’s core would really register on many people’s radar
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u/ProStrats 1d ago
It'd definitely register for me, got that fucker on my bingo card!
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u/theJoosty1 1d ago
For real, I've got money on that guy!
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u/Lennon__McCartney 1d ago
I got Cthulu chowdown for +2000!
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u/_Pyxyty 1d ago
Never trusting that flopper Cthulhu again after it lost to a freaking boat. I lost half my savings betting on what was supposed to be a sure deal.
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u/CaindaX 1d ago
Ancient One, capable of things beyond your comprehension of the universe
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A lil boaty guy
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u/Prophet_Of_Loss 1d ago
I, for one, ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!
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u/NonGNonM 1d ago
Ancient Eldritch horror returns to sea after not finding sacrifices as people were called into work that day. World to be destroyed later today.
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u/Vandergrif 1d ago
Oh m̵y̶ ̵g̵o̶d̴ ị̵͊͊ ̴̲̜̎s̸̗͕̓̒o̵̺̚ ̶̟̽ḁ̶̈́͝ǧ̴͔͗r̶͓̊̎ë̵̬͉́̍e̸̟̒.̵̟̈́̓ Į̷̡̪͕̉͛̔͂̑͊̋̓̑̕͝t̸̛͙̣̯͇̯̠̟̹̠̖̘̫̀̍̔͌̅͆̌͠ͅ'̴̳̝̱̞̱̒̾̔̈́̋̓̈́͐͐̕͝ͅş̷̨̡̬͎̞͙̦̱̬̾̒͌́̒̎̉̄͠ ̷̪̟̗̬̦̼͎̗͇̤̙͔͖̖͔̰͚̆͂̅̊̿͛͝a̵̩̾̌̋̃̉̐͛̉ ̷̧̛̛̛̣̗͈̪͎̱̔̾̏͛͆̾́͘g̴̨̢̫̤̲̺̯̘̼̣͚̰͓̗̳̲̈́̏̇͜r̸̢̫͈̜̫̰̳̥͚̥͉̤̰̤̣̩͓̽̀̾̆̈̓͆̒́̌͠ể̶̹̫̬̜͍̫̖̼̩̮̪̰̺̬͔̂̓̒͜ͅā̵͖̥̻̱͑̈́͒̎̂̈̕͝ṯ̴͓̣̊̏͛͂̔̑̏̓͊͂̍̈́̏́͘͘ͅ ̷̧̨̙̮̘̬̫͙͇̤̏̉͛͜ţ̷̖̩͇͔̇̐͊̂̌̚͝î̵̘͕̼̒̐͜m̶̯͎̮̀͐͘e̴͍̜͓̹̗̳̟͉̖̮͐́̽͒̓͒̌̾͐͊̾͝͝.̵͇̘̏̊͠ͅ T̷̼̀͌r̷̡͇̫̗͉̯̹̫̼̣̻̦̰̫̀ͅư̵̰͔͍͙̫̥̪̲̰̩͔̝̣̏̇̿̅̈̂́͘͠ͅļ̸̼̬͓̪̩͈͍̬͓̙̗̯̌͂y̶̧̡̧̧̛̙̰͈̖̟͕̪̣̜͉̰̲͋̌̽̉̐̔͠ ̷͓͑ẗ̵̢̨̧̨̛̜͎̣̩͈̤̻̹͚̜̦̺́͑͗͌̈́̎͂̓̍͂͆̓̆̕͝͝ḧ̶̯́̂̐̿̑͗͐̀̓͒̀̈́̕͝͝ȩ̵̢̢̧̧̛̳̼̝͓̘̳͍̦̙͈͗͛͌̈́͗̅̎̇͋̅́̽̃̂ͅ ̸̡͉̖̮̮̘̥̥̮̥͕̘͎̯̾͂̕ͅb̶̢̜̺͙̬̂̍͑̔̀̏e̷̼͈̯̺̪̭̩͗s̸̠̣̞̰̩͖͔̭̯͊̒̐͒͂̃̀̉̾͌̎͑͒͐̈͘͝ṱ̴̤̽̐̉̓͆̀̉̏̒̊͛͠ ̴͇͙̼̣͓͐̇̃̀̋̏̓̅̕͝t̴̨̛̥̲͓̮̫̦̫̝̹̲͓͉̼̾̑̀́̽͂̈̒̇̉̽̍̓̌̕͜ȉ̷̟̖͕̊̐̑͗͘m̵̨̧̛̺̝͔̫͇͇̜͓̦̃̃̇̀̀̆̎͂̕͜͜͜͝͝ȩ̵̧͓̩͇̱͖͇̩̐̈́̃̓̂̕͠͝ t̴̡̡̻͙͙̫̮͔̹͙̫͍̻̖̲̲̞́̄̅̑̄́̂͐̃̑̃̇͜ȯ̸̡̡̰͚̘̤̻̮͑͂̐̓́̀̏̓̔̃̈̿͆́͘̚͝ ̷͔̲͕̭̰͇͍͇͚̦̪̘͚͉̣̥͕̗̣̘̩̬̼͚͉̝̓͊͗͗̍̾͑͂͒̐͋̈̈́̇̀̽͐̒̃̕͜͜͠ͅw̸̪͓̗̹͖̭̲͒̊̄̇̒͗̌́͒͑̑́͗̓̌̆̔͋͂͊g̴̡̠̝̖͕̖͓͎̺̭̗̻͎̭̳͚̜̤̘̰͙͓̼̲͒̋͒̂͌̾͗̋̈́͂͊͋͛̋̌́̎̀̚͠͝ͅa̷̧͎̠̘̹͇̬̪͈̮͈̼̖̱͇͇̮̫͈͚̪̔̓͝h̶͈̲̭̻̣͈̙̣̪̠̦̼͕͉̘̭̼̥̓͊̎͋͑̓̂͋̃̂̈̀̑̉̐̃̐̽̑̄̎͘̕͠'̵̧̡̛̭͎͉̞͍̠̜̹̦̥̼͛̾͌͗́̋̃̒̿̔̍̿́̓̈́͝͝ń̷̼̏̕͘̚a̴͈̲̹̩̙̣̪̲̳͓͆́͊̈̿̏̓̊̆̆͗̃̀́͑̉̄͒̊̚͠g̴̥͍̭̯͇̖̪̱̲̈̽͆̇̄͋̚̚͘͝͝ͅḻ̶̢̡̩̲̩͖̬͖͔̺̳͚̮̪̱̻̹̖̿̓̀́͆̽̂̕ͅ ̶̼̱̗̖͓͚͖̣͕͎̟͓̻̖̳̱̼̰̳͇̳̍̈́͌͋̔̊̒̈́͌̄̓̓͐̚̚̕͠͝f̸̯͖̻̞̜͎̓̉̍̚ͅh̷̨̡̺̯̦̭͐̇͒t̴̢̹͔̮̙͇͉̘̞̹͙͇̥̤͎͚̬̳̘̙͓̤̜̘̎͛͑̏̊̾̇͌a̸̘̮͖̙̖̦̓̈̉̑̍͋̓͊̂́̑̕͜ͅg̶̛͔̭͕̞̰̩͚͍͔̓͑͑̈̑̂͊̈́̅̀̄̈́̈̍̉̈́̔̈́̂̓̒͐̚͜͝͝͝ņ̴̡͍̥̦̺̻̱͖̠̜͍̮̂̎̋͑̆̒̈́̀̔̈́͊̚͠.̵̧̨̱̹̻̱̤̯̲̩̈̈̇͌̀̈́̊͗́̍̑̅̈́̂͑͘
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u/MyMoneyJiggles 1d ago
Oh my god, I so agree. It’s a great time. Truly the best time to wgah’naglfhtagn.
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u/NoCreativeName2016 1d ago
I’m starting to understand the characters in disaster/horror movies that praise the gigantic beast from down below right before it devours them. “Yes, please, end it all!”
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u/Yellwsub 1d ago
Real Cabin in the Woods energy, I’m here for it!
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u/Equivalent-Bet-8771 1d ago
$30 on cannibalism 4 days after power goes out.
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u/hereholdthiswire 1d ago
I'm afraid I don't have four days worth of Cheetos on hand. Gonna have to bump the timeline up a touch.
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u/RelaxPrime 1d ago
Yeah worst case scenario is this shit just keeps going on forever.
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u/so_not 1d ago
And we'll all still have to go to work. Cthulhu rising is no excuse.
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u/ReaditTrashPanda 1d ago
Rooftop on Independence Day, she mumbles “it’s so beautiful” before being vaporized
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u/Ok_Amoeba6205 1d ago
Now, this is a cult I could see myself getting into. Give me some black robes and tell me where it's emerging from, and I'll gladly be among the first to greet whatever horrors it unleashes.
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u/Equivalent-Bet-8771 1d ago
Yeah but you have to carry a staff made of twisted wood.
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u/necrolectric 1d ago
Buddy, you say that like having an actual reason to carry around a cool stick is a bad thing.
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u/Queen_Ann_III 1d ago
I’m not kidding, I’d either just shrug it off, or celebrate that a deity was finally found to be real
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u/terrierdad420 1d ago
Mass shooting, mass shooting, more trump bullshit, Godzilla wakes up in the fucking ocean, mass shooting, oh Last of us Season 2 commercial!
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u/Vyper11 1d ago
Ancient one to take me away from trump? Sign me up!
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u/NonTimeo 1d ago
Nameless Abyssian ‘28
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u/moteytotey 1d ago
Godzilla
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u/greenizdabest 1d ago
Leviathan
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u/atomicdustbunny07 1d ago
Release the Kraken
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u/Altruistic-Cat-7531 1d ago
Kaiju incoming.
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u/382Whistles 1d ago
Goddamn Loch Ness monster tying to trick me into giving tree fiddy again.
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u/xxplumdrop 1d ago
Detecting multiple leviathan class lifeforms in the region. Are you certain whatever you’re doing is worth it?
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u/Nikkolai_the_Kol 1d ago
There is an xkcd for everything.
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u/DWMoose83 1d ago
Occam's Razor tells me the giant is the simplest answer, so therefore must be the more likely.
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u/yoloswagrofl 1d ago
Yeah! Complicated resonance pulses (whatever the heck that is!!) or a giant? Seems like a no-brainer!
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u/Righteous_Fury224 1d ago
"That is not dead which can eternal lie/ And with strange aeons even death may die"
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u/fitzbuhn 1d ago edited 1d ago
Full fathom five thy father lies.
Of his bones are coral made; those are pearls that were his eyes.
Nothing of him that doth fade, but doth suffer a sea change.
Into something rich and strange.
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u/kynthrus 1d ago
“What is food if never on is fed when with strange disposals even death lies dead?”
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u/CutAccording7289 1d ago
Cthulhu, it stirs….
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u/JetScootr 1d ago
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn.
In his house at R'lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming.
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u/windyy 1d ago
Well of Ascension.
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u/HighOverlordXenu 1d ago
Two-thirds through Book 3 right now, wondering how many references I've missed throughout the years.
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u/TheHancock 1d ago
Just wait until you read the Stormlight Archives. Lol
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u/johnnyringo771 1d ago
Journey before destination
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u/darelik 1d ago
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u/isaac99999999 1d ago
Read through mistborn era 1 and 2 and started seeing references everywhere. Now I'm reading through the stormlight archives and seeing references to those everywhere
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u/Ka_Trewq 1d ago
This is the only acceptable answer. Write it in steel, any other material is vulnerable to corruption.
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u/ZigZag3123 1d ago
Lol I literally just read this headline and told my wife “apparently Earth has a Well of Ascension.” Or like, a Rhythm of Roshar.
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u/AFerociousPineapple 1d ago
Well shit hope I get to be a coinshot before all this is over, would be neat to go flying around my city
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u/BurntMaToast 1d ago
Oh of course, that super reliable source of good.is.
I'm so familiar with their peer review studies and research /s
All jokes aside - if it's true... I wonder what it would mean. Can we kill earth?
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u/feryoooday 1d ago
I was taught very young, thankfully, that a lot of sources will say things like “science says” or “scientists say” and those are immediate red flags to check their sources. Which they inevitably won’t have.
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u/Piperalpha 1d ago
Scientists say ten thousand words; newspapers say a thousand; tabloids say a hundred; a headline says ten. Nuance is lost at every step.
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u/UsuallyAnnoying324 1d ago
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u/UnpluggedUnfettered 1d ago
"[ . . . ] detected the storm for an interval of about 2 days during which the periods of the waves decreased from about 28 to about 20 seconds."
Then it is like "it was probably waves or maybe underground magma" like it is percussive or maybe a natural magma pop-pop boat engine.
It turns out that less terrible journalism makes it more of a "huh" level of interesting.
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u/ggallardo02 1d ago
Can we kill earth?
I mean... points at everything
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u/jorceshaman 1d ago
We can cause mass extinctions and kill humans but I think that the tardigrades will still exist no matter what we do.
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u/si-gnalfire 1d ago
Remember when those Astro physicists kept getting data that told them someone was trying to contact them from outer space, and it turned out it was someone in the break room opening the microwave door before it had finished. I have a feeling this is something like that.
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u/Frogs4 1d ago
There were those guys who thought the static on their radio telescope was bird poop. Turns out it was the universe exploding.
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u/C_MMENTARIAT 1d ago
According to seismologists, "the Earth don't move to the beat of just one drum. What might be right for you may not be right for some."
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u/acedefective95 1d ago
it's lavos
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u/Spikes_in_my_eyes 1d ago
The Old One rises from the waves, takes a look at what's going on, and just.... slowly sinks back under the waves.
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u/The-Slamburger 1d ago
I mean, I’d take Godzilla or Cthulhu over what we’re currently dealing with.
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u/BasilSerpent 1d ago
Nobody’s considered it’s just tectonics being funky?
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u/Joshee86 1d ago
At regular, semi-exact intervals? They have postulated tectonics though.
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u/MRiley84 1d ago
It could take a void 26 seconds to fill up, then something causes it to depressurize and send out a blast. There are naturally occurring waterspouts that can be timed, so it being a regular interval isn't impossible.
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u/HighOverlordXenu 1d ago
It's almost certainly something relating to tectonics or magma displacement.
But that headline doesn't generate clicks.
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u/i_am_13_otters 1d ago edited 9h ago
Someone below posted the original paper. Headline is just plain clickbait. Summary from paper, I can't be arsed to copy that too.
The favored hypothesis on the nature of the source mechanism suggests that the seismic waves were generated by dispersed ocean waves striking the coast of the Gulf of Guinea. A second hypothesis suggests that the microseisms are a form of harmonic tremor associated with magmatic activity beneath the South Atlantic Ocean.
EDIT: And it happened once in 1980, not like.. every 26 seconds. Whoever posted this headline is a dumbass.
EDIT2: This is a different paper. I am also a dumbass.
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u/CovfefeKills 1d ago
MICROSEISMS: A T W E N T Y - S I X - S E C O N D S P E C T R A L LINE IN LONG- PERIOD E A R T H MOTION BY L. GARY HOLCOMB ABSTRACT A narrow-band microseismic peak exists in worldwide earth background near a period of 26 sec. During storms, the amplitude of this ground motion increases to high levels which allows detailed studies of its characteristics. Analysis indicates that the energy arrives as Rayleigh waves from a source in the southern Atlantic Ocean. The most significant property of this microseismic peak is that it is nondispersive, thereby eliminating deep-water ocean-wave dispersion as the mechanism for isolating the narrow-band energy.
It is claiming to be a 26 second interval not something that happened once in 1980 did you reference a different paper to the one the article is referencing? (I haven't really read it and am not committing to defending an article quoting bright side whois a joe rogan and graham hancock friend)
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u/tswpoker1 1d ago
It's not a heartbeat. It's actually the earth's pulsating butthole.
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u/Boopy7 1d ago
Somehow this is one of the most beautiful (in an eerie way) things I've read all year. Seriously. The idea of an ancient, constant, non human earth pulse from the deepest places is just too stunning to comprehend fully. Gonna set this aside for next time I'm outside, like twenty years from now.
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u/Clawdius_Talonious 1d ago
Let's find and kill it! Maybe there's a pearl in it!
The boat's just a boat, but the mystery box could be anything - it could even be a boat! You know how much you've wanted one of those.
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u/blindtobraille 1d ago
Please, cthulu, we need your cleansing reign of terror to save us from ourselves.
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u/Holy_Smokesss 1d ago
Another stupid ass post from a low reputation website that has tens of thousands of upvotes
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u/ElectricSmaug 16h ago
It's Cthulhu sleeping, dreaming in R'Lyeh. Don't worry, the stars are almost right.
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u/Plipooo 1d ago edited 17h ago
There is a fundamental error in the Discovery article. It is not a pulse every 26 seconds, but a continuous hum with a 26 seconds period (1/26 Hz). Trust me I'm a seismologist.
There are 2 other mircroseismic peaks at 7 and ~14 seconds, which are clearly demonstrated to come from oceanic sources.
Edit : was not expecting that much attention ! Here is more info : https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microseism