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Tech NewsCulture5 Things That Could Be Making the Spooky Sounds in My House
Like many people, I live in an apartment. I don’t really know how old my building is, but it must be kind of old: it has a dark and dirty basement, the ceiling has cracks in it, and there are a few exposed metal pipes. As you can probably imagine, my old apartment makes a … Continued
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Tech NewsResearchers Think It’s a Good Idea to Secure Your Phone Using the One Thing You Perpetually Lose
Apple’s FaceID authentication system started moving smartphone users away from relying on fingerprints to secure their mobile devices, which are arguably less secure. But researchers think they’ve come up with an even better biometric tool for protecting a device that uses a part of the body that’s nearly impossible to spoof: a user’s ear canals. … Continued
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Tech NewsTHX’s New Deep Note Trailer Brings Back All the Movie Theater Feels
Do you remember how disappointed you were, years ago, when you got to the theater only to find out the THX showing of the movie you came to see was sold out? THX certified cinemas are few and far between now, but they’re still out there, and will soon be playing a new version of … Continued
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EartherClimate ChangeScientist Composes Game of Thrones-Worthy Song From Climate Change Data
Have you ever wondered what human-caused climate change sounds like? What melodic rhythms could result from every rising degree? Well, a scientist with a taste for music has got you covered. On Wednesday Lucy Jones, a seismologist who also composes music, published “In Nomine Terra Calens,” an ode to our ever-warming planet. The classically trained … Continued
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Tech NewsWhat Does a Particle Collider Sound Like?
Scientists explore the limits of physics by pumping energy into components of atoms, such as electrons and protons, accelerating them to nearly the speed of light, and slamming the beams of particles together in hopes of discovering something new. You can imagine that this process gets quite noisy. But you don’t hear particles colliding. In … Continued
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io9GamesTetris Played on an Old School Display Produces the Most Satisfying Sounds
Imagine yourself playing Tetris, and you’ll undoubtedly have the Game Boy version’s memorable theme song (called Korobeiniki) stuck in your head for hours. But playing the game on an old school analog display manages to produce an even more satisfying sound as 210 small plastic discs quickly flip back and forth to recreate the falling … Continued
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Tech NewsWhat Do Nuclear Bomb Explosions Sound Like?
On July 16, 1945, scientists first unleashed the energy stored at the center of the atomic nucleus, causing a massive explosion in the New Mexican desert. That bomb’s successors would kill several hundred thousand people, permanently alter the course of international relations, and instill a constant sense of fear across the world for the following … Continued
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EartherEarth ScienceMysterious Planetwide Rumble May Have Come From the Largest Underwater Eruption Ever Recorded
On November 11, 2018, a deep rumble ricocheted around the world, one that humans couldn’t feel but that registered quite clearly on seismometers. A new pre-print paper about the event is now suggesting that it was caused by the largest offshore volcanic event in recorded history. Originating 30 miles east of the island of Mayotte, … Continued
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ScienceBiology
Project ‘DeepSqueak’ Aims to Decipher What Mice and Rats Are Really Chattering About
The image of a lab rat is an iconic symbol of scientific research, and for good reason: These rodents are remarkably good stand-ins for human subjects because of how closely their physiology and genetic make-up resemble ours. Because of this, mice and rats are used to study everything from cancer to diabetes to Alzheimer’s disease. … Continued
Sarah Wells -
ScienceSpace & SpaceflightListen to the Creepy Noises Picked Up at a Space Weather Station in Antarctica
Scientists often detect weird sounds in Antarctica, from the groans of melting glaciers to seismic waves rippling through ice shelves. But a space weather station run by the British Antarctic Survey may hold the most diverse selection of acoustic oddities collected on the frozen continent to date. Now, thanks to BAS researcher Nigel Meredith, these … Continued
By Maddie Stone -
EartherEarth Science
Geologists Joke About ‘Sea Monster’ After Mysterious 30-Minute Rumble Emanates from Waters Near Madagascar
Between Mozambique and Madagascar lies the island of Mayotte. Since May 10, the French Geological Survey has been keeping an eye on a collection of earthquakes taking place just off the island’s eastern shores, which peaked with a magnitude 5.8 shake. This swarm was curious enough all by itself—and then, on November 11, things took … Continued
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io9Among Other Things, Viserion’s Roar on Game of Thrones Is Made of Human Screaming
Whoever thought that a giant zombie dragon could be so relatable? Viserion’s resurrection as the icy plaything of the Night King in Game of Thrones’ season seven finale left us with many questions over the last year or so…mainly because we’ve had over a year of waiting for more Thrones, and have even more left … Continued
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Tech NewsThe Only Known Sound in Space Is This ‘Singing’ Black Hole
Everyone knows there is no sound in space. After all, a sound wave requires a medium, like air or water, to travel through, and space is mostly a vacuum. But in studying a nearby galaxy cluster, astronomers detected a true occurrence of sound in space—and in this case, the incredibly deep sound was coming from … Continued
By Rose Pastore -
Tech NewsWhat Caused Carnegie Hall to Lose Its Famous Acoustics in 1986?
In May 1986, the venerated Carnegie Hall concert venue in New York City shut down for 30 weeks of major repairs. The beautiful music hall had hosted legends including Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Judy Garland, Duke Ellington, Ray Charles, Sarah Vaughan, and The Beatles, but after nearly 100 years, the building was in serious need of … Continued
By Rose Pastore -
Tech NewsHear the Aztec ‘Death Whistle’ That Mystified Scientists
In the 1990s, archeologists in Mexico City unearthed a 500-year-old skeleton near an ancient Aztec temple—a victim of human sacrifice. A grisly discovery, yes, but perhaps even more chilling was what the beheaded skeleton was holding: two small whistles, one in the shape of a skull. When a researcher blew into one of the tiny instruments, … Continued
By Rose Pastore -
Tech NewsWhat Caused the Loudest Underwater Sound Ever Recorded?
In 1997, scientists with the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration were recording the sounds of underwater volcanic activity when they picked up a noise that was so incredibly loud—louder than any underwater sound ever detected—that they initially thought it must be an equipment malfunction. But then another underwater microphone picked up the same noise… … Continued
By Rose Pastore -
Tech NewsWhat’s Causing the Mysterious Hums Heard Around the World?
People in cities around the world—from Taos, New Mexico, to Windsor, Ontario, to Blackburn, England, to Auckland, New Zealand—have reported hearing strange humming noises that have no obvious source. The hums are often compared to the sound of idling trucks, and for the people who can hear them, they can be maddening, causing nausea and … Continued
By Rose Pastore -
ScienceSpace & Spaceflight
Listen to the Sound of Saturn’s Electromagnetic Energy
Sound and light have way more in common than you think, which is why it’s easy to turn light data, like radio waves, into sound. This can make for some pretty incredible science communicating tools—just look up Jupiter’s whistlers, falling bomb sounds caused by the planet’s lightning; or the chirp of LIGO’s gravitational wave detection, … Continued
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Tech News
Chrome Finally Mutes Autoplay Videos by Default—Here’s How to Make Sure It Works
Well, would you look at that. Google Chrome is finally getting its act together, at least when it comes to all those annoying autoplay videos. The latest release of the web browser, Chrome 66, mutes autoplay videos and unmutes them if you’re the kind of maniac who wants it to do such a thing. You’ll … Continued
