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Science Quickly

Seismologists Find the World Quieted Down during Pandemic Lockdowns

Science Quickly

Scientific American

Science

4.2639 Ratings

🗓️ 25 July 2020

⏱️ 3 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

COVID-19-related lockdowns dampened human activity around the globe—giving seismologists a rare glimpse of the earth’s quietest rumblings. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Understanding the human body is a team effort. That's where the Yachtel group comes in.

0:05.8

Researchers at Yachtolt have been delving into the secrets of probiotics for 90 years.

0:11.0

Yacold also partners with nature portfolio to advance gut microbiome science through the global grants for gut health, an investigator-led research program.

0:19.6

To learn more about Yachtolt, visit yawcult.co.

0:22.7

.jp.j. That's y-A-K-U-L-T.C-O.J-P. When it comes to a guide for your gut, count on Yacult.

0:33.6

This is Scientific American's 60-second science. I'm Christopher in Taliatta.

0:39.3

Humans are a really noisy species.

0:42.5

Hammering and digging, flying and driving, delivering heavy cargo all over the world,

0:46.7

and all that activity creates seismic noise, which masks delicate signals from far away small earthquakes.

0:54.1

Raphael Dupland, a seismologist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico,

0:58.4

compares listening for small earthquakes during normal times

1:01.2

to sitting at a wedding at a table far away from the band.

1:04.4

You can't really make out the music

1:06.0

because there are so many people laughing and talking in between you and the loudspeakers.

1:10.7

And so now the lockdown is like coming during the rehearsal.

1:15.1

No one is talking.

1:16.4

So even though you're far away, the speakers are loud enough for you to listen to all the songs

1:21.3

and clearly identify them.

1:23.1

During the global lockdown, Dupland says he and his colleagues have been able to detect songs,

1:27.4

in this case seismic signals they didn't even know existed. During the global lockdown, Dipland says he and his colleagues have been able to detect songs,

1:31.2

in this case seismic signals they didn't even know existed.

1:36.0

And now that they've identified those signals, they'll be able to look back at decades of data and use these newly discovered seismic fingerprints to better identify small earthquakes like this in the past.

...

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