Surprisingly

This Weird ‘Breathing’ Cushion May Have a Surprisingly Useful Purpose

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After throwing 129 volunteers into the stressful situation of a sudden group math test, researchers found that people using a huggable ‘breathing’ cushion were more relaxed in the lead up to the questions than those without one.   “We were excited to find that holding the breathing cushion, without any guidance, produced a similar effect … Read more

Controversial impact crater under Greenland’s ice is surprisingly ancient | Science

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In 2018, an international team of scientists announced a startling discovery: Buried beneath the thick ice of the Hiawatha Glacier in northwest Greenland is an impact crater 31 kilometers wide—not as big as the crater from the dinosaur-killing impact 66 million years ago, but perhaps still big enough to mess with the climate. Scientists were … Read more

Volcanoes: Plumes of rock that feed volcanic hotspots are surprisingly cold

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Geologists may need to come up with a new explanation for the sources of volcanic activity in places like Iceland and Hawaii Earth 6 January 2022 By Alex Wilkins Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano erupting in 2018 U.S. Geological Survey via Getty Images The plumes of rock feeding Earth’s volcanic hotspots are much cooler than previously thought, … Read more

Trees Drill into Deep Bedrock for Water Surprisingly Often

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Naturalists have long noted isolated examples of tree roots boring far down through loose soil and into the unforgiving bedrock below—rare incursions that were deemed a mere curiosity. But in 2013 hydrologist Daniella Rempe probed deep into a northern California hillside and found tree roots extracting substantial amounts of moisture from pores and crannies in … Read more

Do Auroras Make Sounds We Can Hear? The True Answer Is Surprisingly Complicated

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It’s a question that has puzzled observers for centuries: do the fantastic green and crimson light displays of the aurora borealis produce any discernible sound? Conjured by the interaction of solar particles with gas molecules in Earth’s atmosphere, the aurora generally occurs near Earth’s poles, where the magnetic field is strongest. Reports of the aurora … Read more