Pandemic is turning the natural world upside down

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

From inside her living room in London, Paula Koelemeijer can feel the world around her growing quieter.

Koelemeijer, a seismologist, has a miniature seismometer sitting on a concrete slab at the base of her first-floor fireplace. The apparatus, though smaller than a box of tissues, can sense all kinds of movement, from the rattle of trains on the tracks near Koelemeijer’s home to the waves of earthquakes rolling in from afar. Since the United Kingdom announced stricter social-distancing rules last month, telling residents not to leave their home except for essential reasons, the seismometer has registered a sharp decrease in the vibrations produced by human activity.

With fewer trains, buses, and people pounding the pavement, the usual hum of public life has vanished, and so has its dependable rhythms: Before the spread of COVID-19 shut down the city, Koelemeijer could plot the seismometer’s data and see the train schedule reflected in the spikes, down to the minute. Now, with fewer trains running, the spikes seem to come at random.

“It’s very literally reflecting a slowdown of our lives,” Koelemeijer told me over Skype.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/science/pandemic-is-turning-the-natural-world-upside-down/ar-BB125cVJ?li=BBnb7Kz

[cwydro]

1. I live in a small southern city. I've always liked the sound of the train whistle in the distance.

Lately, I’ve noticed how much more clearly I can hear it.

Tonight, while sitting on the porch I realized I could actually hear the clackety clack of the train on the rails. Never could hear that before. It’s nice in so many ways.

But spooky when you know the reason for it.

[dixiegrrrrl]

3. There's something about a train whistle down here in the South, isn't there?

Our train is just close enough to hear, but not so close as to be objectionable. I like hearing it, too.

[cwydro]

5. Yes, exactly.

A nice sound.

[Bettie]

4. We live a block from the tracks

have for 18 years....don't even notice the train whistles anymore!

But all my kids can sleep through anything and everything, unfortunately, that includes the alarm clock.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

2. Bluer skies on fair days. . . . nt