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“Residents of the Scottish Isle of Lewis in the Hebrides are claiming to hear a strange humming noise. No one knows where it’s coming from — or if it’s even real. Nevertheless, some hum-hearers claim it’s severely disrupting their lives. … Kirtley wrote that the group has made spectrograph recordings — graphs that show sound frequency over time — at each location where people reported hearing the strange humming sounds. They identified a ‘persistent, recordable 50 Hz signal of variable strength present in all locations,’ indicating that the hum isn’t being produced from the center of the island. Using this approach, they ruled out all known potential on-island sources, including ports, turbines, and other infrastructure. The group is now exploring offshore origins.”

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“It’s no secret that a super volcano lies miles beneath the surface of Yellowstone National Park, but all this time researchers knew little beyond that — until now. A team of researchers recently made a breakthrough discovery that sheds light on the forces shaping the volcanic system and what might keep it from erupting in our lifetime… [The team] ‘discovered a sharp, volatile-rich cap’ made of magma about 2.5 miles under Yellowstone’s surface that ‘acts like a lid,’ trapping pressure and heat that it releases gradually, preventing the system from erupting.”

“Like it or not, artificial intelligence is here to stay. You’ve probably heard a lot of chatter about how it’s an incredible tool that can transform society and a malevolent force that steals work and is destined to put us all out of a job. The truth, of course, lies somewhere in between. As with any tool, the nature of AI depends on the people designing and using it. What distinguishes AI from many other resources available in the modern businessperson or student’s toolbox is its incredibly high ceiling, which current models haven’t begun to challenge. That said, the landscape is broad even now, and the proliferation of options can be confusing and intimidating. How do you leverage AI to simplify your life without wandering into morally ambiguous territory? Here are a few tips that we recommend.”

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“In 2013, a California sea lion named Ronan shot to fame when her trainers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, revealed she could bop her head to the rhythm of a beat — including to music she hadn’t heard before. Now, Ronan is back in the limelight, thanks to a new study published last week in the journal Scientific Reports, which demonstrates that she can match a tempo better — and more consistently — than humans. She’s particularly talented when it comes to the song ‘Boogie Wonderland,’ as study lead author Peter Cook, a behavioral neuroscientist at New College of Florida and UC Santa Cruz, tells the Associated Press. ‘She just nails that one,’ he says. To test Ronan’s precision, the researchers pitted her against ten UC Santa Cruz undergraduate students in a dance-off.”