Strange Things In The World

[The Perilous Dreamer]

This Island Appeared Out of Nowhere, With Life Forms Never Seen Before

When a new island arose from the South Pacific in 2015, it created an unprecedented opportunity not just for geologists and volcanologists, but for biologists and ecologists, too.

The appearance of a new island offers a chance to learn about how ecosystems begin, starting with microbial pioneers that colonize new land like this, before plants or animals show up.

Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai island (Hunga Tonga) didn't stick around for very long – after it was formed by a volcanic eruption in 2015, it was destroyed by another eruption in early 2022.

[The Perilous Dreamer]

There's a 'Lost City' Deep in The Ocean, And It's Unlike Anything We've Ever Seen

Close to the summit of an underwater mountain west of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a jagged landscape of towers rises from the gloom.

Their creamy carbonate walls and columns appear ghostly blue in the light of a remotely operated vehicle sent to explore.

They range in height from tiny stacks the size of toadstools to a grand monolith standing 60 meters (nearly 200 feet) tall. This is the Lost City.

[The Perilous Dreamer]

Earth's Inner Core May Right Now Be in The Process of Changing Direction

Few of us give much thought to Earth's swirling, spinning contents until some sudden movement, an earthquake or a volcanic eruption, jolts us to our senses.

Geoscientists, though, are a little more clued into the dynamics of Earth's guts, and have just discovered that Earth's solid inner iron core – which usually spins within a near-frictionless molten outer envelope – appears to have slowed to a grinding halt.

Before anybody panics and searches for a copy of a terrible 20-year-old science fiction movie predicting such an event in hopes of inspiring a solution, it's not the first time record of such an event. It's not even the first in recent history.

[The Perilous Dreamer]

Great White Sharks Are Being Scared From Their Habitat by Just 2 Predators

There is no sea creature whose name inspires terror – rightly or wrongly – as much as the great white shark.

With its sleek body optimized for hunting, its sharp teeth, and its (somewhat undeserved) reputation for enjoying human flesh, the great white (Carcharodon carcharias) is widely regarded as one of the ocean's top predators.

And that's true, it is – but there's something even the great white fears.

Since 2017, scientists have documented that the sharks have made themselves extremely scarce off the coast of South Africa, where they usually congregate. Initially, the strange disappearance was blamed on human activity, such as overfishing.

But research has confirmed in detail the true culprit: a pair of orcas (Orcinus orca), hunting the sharks and slurping out their delicious, nutritious, vitamin-rich livers.

[The Perilous Dreamer]

Scientists Calculate How Often ‘Dark Lightning’ Could Strike Passenger Planes

“Dark lightning” sounds like something out of a fantasy novel, but it’s very real. These invisible bolts of energy are the most powerful type of lightning on Earth. Recent research on dark lightning suggests that if it hits a plane, air travelers could receive an unhealthy dose of gamma radiation.
Scientists have known about dark lightning since at least the early 1990s, when satellites detected a powerful gamma-ray flash in our atmosphere. At first, we thought the event must have been something like a gamma-ray burst. However, NASA’s Fermi space telescope detected a terrestrial gamma-ray flash (TGF). This allowed us to trace the phenomenon’s source to a terrestrial thunderstorm.