October 8, 2025 • 14 mins
A planet that hums, powered by lightning, whispering at 7.83 hertz—once you hear that, you can’t un-hear it. We take you inside the Schumann resonance: a global standing wave trapped between Earth’s surface and the ionosphere, subtle enough to hide in picotesla noise, yet powerful as a scientific tool. We unpack why the frequency sits where it does, how harmonics form, and what this “planetary cavity” reveals about thunderstorms, atmospheric conductivity, and the dynamic edge of space.
From there, we widen the lens. If Earth sings, other worlds might too. We explore how resonance frequency and Q factor respond to water-driven conductivity, why that matters for decoding the atmospheres of Uranus and Neptune, and how satellite observations suggest parts of the signal can leak into near space—opening new paths for remote sensing. The stakes are high: better constraints on ice giant water content sharpen our models of solar system formation and the elusive snow line.
Then we confront the human story. The 7.83 hertz overlap with alpha brainwaves sparked curiosity about biology, spawning rigorous experiments—like NASA’s push to use the Berlin Magnetically Shielded Room to study life in electromagnetic silence. At the same time, the resonance has been pulled into wellness marketing and internet myths. We separate solid physics from shaky claims, debunk viral spectrogram “spikes,” 16-hour-day rumors, and imagined HAARP links, and show how data gaps get mistaken for cosmic events. What’s left is more interesting than the hype: a delicate, measurable hum that advances climate and space science, and a set of open questions about subtle environmental effects on living systems.
If you enjoy thoughtful dives that pair clear explanations with myth-busting and real scientific curiosity, tap follow, share with a friend, and leave a quick review. What part of Earth’s quiet hum surprised you most?
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ida (00:00):
Welcome back to the Deep Dive.
Today we are investigating asignal that's, well, it's always
there, always humming justbeneath the surface of our
awareness.
If you could somehow tune agigantic radio to the Earth
itself, you'd actually pick upthis constant, measurable
electromagnetic rhythm.
People sometimes describe itpretty dramatically, calling it
Earth's natural heartbeat.
Allan (00:20):
Aaron Powell And that heartbeat, uh, it has an
official name.
The Schumann resonance, or SRfor short.
It's a really remarkable,measurable geophysical signal.
It operates in what we call theextremely low frequency or ELF
spectrum.
So our mission today is to divedeep into this phenomenon.
We want to understand both its,you know, rigorous established
(00:41):
physics and the often kind ofbizarre cultural life it's taken
on.
It spans everything from likecutting-edge space research all
the way to wellness claims andyeah, even online conspiracy
theories.
Ida (00:50):
Aaron Powell Okay, let's unpack this then.
We should probably start withthe basic science.
You mentioned this planetaryhum.
The main frequency sits rightaround 7.83 hertz.
That number seems reallyprecise.
Why, why that specificfrequency?
Why isn't the earth humming at,say, five hertz or maybe a
hundred hertz?
Allan (01:06):
Aaron Powell, yeah, that specific frequency, it's really
a result of the Earth's geometryand electricity.
And interestingly, the conceptwasn't even measured first.
It was uh predictedmathematically.
Back in 1952, by a Germanphysicist Winfried Odo Schumann,
he basically realized that theEarth and its atmosphere created
this sort of perfectelectromagnetic container.
Ida (01:28):
Ah, the container.
That sounds key.
So you've got Earth's surface,which is conductive, right?
And then way up, hundreds ofkilometers up, there's the
ionosphere, that layer ofelectrically charged particles,
which is also highly conductive.
Allan (01:41):
Exactly.
Those two layers, Earth'ssurface and the ionosphere,
which sits about 80 to 700kilometers up.
Ida (01:46):
Yeah.
Allan (01:46):
They act like the walls of a giant spherical waveguide.
Ida (01:49):
Yeah.
Allan (01:49):
And the non-conductive area in between.
That forms this huge planetaryresonating cavity.
You could maybe think of itlike a massive tuning fork in a
way.
Aaron Powell Okay.
Ida (01:59):
So we've got the cavity, the tuning fork, but what keeps
it ringing?
What's providing the energyconstantly?
Right.
Allan (02:04):
That's the amazing part.
It's global lightning.
We have something like 50lightning strikes happening
every single second somewhere onthe planet.
Ida (02:10):
50.
Every second.
Allan (02:12):
Yeah, 50 per second.
And each strike acts like thisgigantic, continuous, impulsive
burst of electromagnetic energy.
So as those waves shoot out andbounce around inside this Earth
ionosphere cavity, they excitestanding waves, but only at
specific frequencies, theresonant frequencies of that
cavity.
Ida (02:30):
But it's incredible.
Fifty strikes a second all overthe world, creating this single
constant standing wave for theentire planet, and 7.83 Hertz is
just the main one, thefundamental.
Allan (02:40):
It's the primary, yeah, the fundamental mode.
But the system also supportsharmonics, which are weaker.
Think of them like overtones ona guitar string.
They pop up at roughly 14hertz, 20 hertz, 27 hertz, about
34 hertz.
But what's really crucial tounderstand here is the
magnitude.
Despite its dramatic name,Earth's heartbeat, this signal
is incredibly weak.
Ida (03:01):
Right, you hear heartbeat and think it must be strong, but
you mentioned it's measured inthe Pico Tesla range.
Now, for those of us like menot carrying a picoteslameter
today, how subtle is thatreally?
Allan (03:11):
Oh, it's infinitesimal, truly tiny.
We often use the analogy thatit's the electromagnetic
equivalent of trying to hear awhisper during a heavy metal
concert.
I mean, it's real it'sabsolutely measurable science,
but the signal is so subtle youneed highly sensitive
specialized equipment just todetect it.
It's definitely not somethingthat would ever register on, you
know, your phone or yourhousehold electronics.
Ida (03:34):
Aaron Powell That's a great way to put it, a whisper in a
concert.
Okay.
It's kind of hard to imaginethen that such a subtle signal
could actually be a powerfulscientific tool, but apparently
it is.
We know Earth-based monitoringis used for tracking global
lightning, studying theionosphere, but you're saying
this little Earth whisper helpsus study other planets too.
Allan (03:54):
Aaron Powell That's exactly right.
And that's where the kind ofscience detective story really
kicks off.
The theory basically holds thatany planet or moon that has
both an atmosphere and anionosphere, so think Venus,
Mars, Saturn's moon, Titan, orthe giant planets, should have
its own unique Schumannresonance.
And for planets like Uranus andNeptune, the ice giants, SR
(04:14):
properties might hold a key tosolving a really big puzzle
about their composition.
Ida (04:18):
You're talking about figuring out how much water is
actually in their atmospheres,which is like a huge unknown for
understanding how the outersolar system formed, right?
Allan (04:28):
Precisely.
Scientists use numericalmodeling, computer simulations,
to show that the SR'scharacteristics, specifically
its frequency, and somethingcalled the Q factor, which tells
you how quickly the wave fadesor attenuates, are extremely
sensitive to the atmosphere'selectrical conductivity profile.
And that conductivity isdirectly linked to the amount of
(04:49):
water, either as vapor or icefraction.
Ida (04:52):
Wait, hang on.
Why does water mess with theresonance so much?
Is it because water isconductive, so it kind of damps
the wave faster, sort of shortsit out a bit?
Allan (04:59):
That's a really good way to think about it, yeah.
The higher the conductivityfrom water vapor or ice
crystals, the more the waveenergy just dissipates.
It attenuates as it travelsaround the planet.
The models show that if Uranusor Neptune had a higher water
mixing ratio, let's say 0.1,fewer or 0.1, it could change
those Q factors by a hugeamount.
We're talking a factor of 15 to40 compared to what you'd
expect in a totally dryatmosphere.
Ida (05:21):
Whoa, 15 to 40 times.
That is a massive difference.
So it means if we could somehowmeasure the resonance on one of
those ice giants accurately, wecould work backward to figure
out roughly how much water theyhave, which helps scientists
understand the early solarsystem, maybe locate the
original snow line.
Allan (05:38):
It's basically remote sensing on a planetary scale.
Exactly.
And the possibilities areactually expanding.
Historically, you'd thinkmeasuring SR on another planet
would require landing somethingthere, which is super risky and
expensive.
But then there were theseunexpected observations from a
satellite called CNOFS back in2011.
It detected Earth's SR wavesactually leaking out into space
(06:02):
outside the main ionosphericcavity at altitudes above 400
kilometers.
Ida (06:07):
Leaking out, so we don't necessarily have to be inside
the cavity planet's side tomeasure it.
Allan (06:11):
Well, if the planet has a magnetic field, the answer
might be no, we don't.
This was a bit of abreakthrough because it
potentially opens up new, maybeless expensive ways to remotely
detect atmospheric electricityon distant worlds.
Ida (06:22):
Okay, this is fascinating on the planetary scale.
But here's where, for me atleast, it gets really
interesting.
Once scientists establishedthis, you know, constant
objective electromagnetic rhythmof the Earth, people naturally
started asking, is this justphysics or does it actually
affect living things?
This is the whole humanconnection part of the story,
isn't it?
Allan (06:42):
Aaron Powell It is.
And the initial fascination,the spark, really comes from an
undeniable numericalcoincidence.
The fundamental frequency ofthe Schumann resonance, that
7.83 hertz number, well, it'suncannily close to the range of
human alpha brain waves.
Alpha waves typically fallsomewhere between eight and
twelve hertz.
Ida (06:59):
Okay, that is close.
Almost suspiciously neat, youmight say.
Are we sure scientists didn'tjust like nudge the numbers a
bit to make them fit nicely?
Allan (07:07):
Oh no.
The 7.83 hertz is a calculatedaverage, and it does fluctuate
slightly based on things likeglobal lightning activity and
how high the ionosphere is on agiven day.
And alpha waves are also aband, not one single number.
But the overlap is real.
And since alpha waves aregenerally associated with states
of deep relaxation, meditation,kind of mental coherence.
Ida (07:28):
Yeah.
Allan (07:29):
Well, it definitely prompted some genuine scientific
curiosity.
Could there be some kind ofnatural synchronization
happening?
Ida (07:34):
And that curiosity led to some pretty wild high-tech
experiments, didn't it?
I was really struck by the NASAresearch you mentioned.
They essentially wanted to knowif this background hum, this
constant whisper, is actuallynecessary for biological
systems.
Like, do we need it?
Allan (07:49):
Yeah.
They took this questionextremely seriously.
There was a 2021 NASA whitepaper that recommended
ground-based studies usingsomething called the Berlin
Magnetically Shielded Room, orBMSR.
Ida (08:00):
The BMSR.
Okay, tell us about that.
It sounds like somethingstraight out of science fiction.
Allan (08:04):
It kind of is.
It's this incredibleeight-shume made of high
permeability metal alloys.
It's designed specifically tofilter out almost all external
electromagnetic interference,including Earth's natural
Schumann resonance.
I mean, the sheer effort andengineering required just to
create a space that'selectrically silent.
It really speaks volumes aboutthe scientific rigor they're
(08:26):
trying to apply here.
The idea was to simulateconditions you might find on the
moon, for example, whereEarth's SR would be totally
absent.
Then they could see how basiccells, specifically yeast cells
in this case, behaved when theywere completely deprived of that
background signal.
Ida (08:39):
Wow.
That is a staggering commitmentjust to study the absence of
this incredibly faint signal.
So what did they find?
Is life actually dependent onthe hump?
Allan (08:49):
Well, the field is still highly debated.
It's complex.
Some emerging research doesseem to show correlations
between fluctuations in SRactivity and certain
bioelectrical processes, likeactivity in the brain's cerebral
cortex.
However, many other similar,very carefully conducted lab
studies looking at weakelectromagnetic fields, trying
to see if they affect thingslike gene expression in human
(09:11):
cells or yeast have oftenyielded negative or inconclusive
results.
It's messy.
Ida (09:16):
So on one hand, you've got serious high-tech science
spending millions to study thelack of the signal, and then
simultaneously there's thismassive industry that sprung up
celebrating the presence of thesignal.
That's the big cultural split,right?
Allan (09:29):
It absolutely is.
This subtle piece ofatmospheric physics has been
completely, well, co-opted isone word for it.
In wellness and spiritualitycommunities, that 7.83 hertz
coincidence is often taken asdirect confirmation of a deep
resonant connection to nature,to the planet.
You see it framed as naturalharmony, and it gets tied into
ideas about spiritual awakening,enhancing intuition, even cell
(09:51):
regeneration.
Ida (09:52):
And of course, that feeds directly into a commercial
market.
You see ads for human resonancegenerators, special mats,
jewelry, all promising to syncyour body up with the Earth's
natural pulse.
Critics quite rightly point outthat this often involves
borrowing precise scientificterms to sell therapies that
lack solid, credible clinicalevidence.
(10:12):
It sounds scientific, butExactly.
Allan (10:15):
And then we shift into what you might call the
controversial edge, the spreadof easily verifiable false
claims, often built on justmisunderstanding or
misinterpreting publiclyavailable scientific data.
Ida (10:27):
Aaron Powell Right.
Like the first claim, we oftensee this dramatic assertion that
the Earth's rotation isspeeding up because the SR is
out of control, supposedlymaking a 24-hour day feel like
only 16 hours.
Allan (10:37):
Aaron Powell Yeah, that one's physically baseless.
It's easily debunked by highprecision atomic clocks and
astronomical measurements.
While Earth's rotation doesfluctuate slightly, we're
talking fluctuations on theorder of milliseconds, not
hours.
For instance, the shortestrecorded day fluctuation, I
think, is just about 1.59milliseconds shorter than the
average 24 hours.
Not exactly enough to make youfeel like you lost eight hours.
Ida (10:57):
Aaron Powell Okay, so the day isn't shrinking drastically.
Then there are the claims aboutthe frequency itself spiking
wildly, reaching astoundinglevels like 120 Hertz, and
supposedly causing physicalsymptoms like tinnitus or
vertigo, which then getrebranded online as ascension
symptoms.
Allan (11:15):
Aaron Powell Again, the idea of the fundamental
frequency hitting under 20 Hertzis simply incorrect physics.
It's not how resonance works.
These claims often come frompeople misinterpreting the
monitoring charts, thespectrograms, that are published
online by places like TomskState University in Russia.
When those charts show likesolid black vertical bars or big
white patches, certain socialmedia channels jump on that and
(11:36):
claim it shows some massiveglobal energy event, or even
that the scientists are hidingdata, suppressing it.
Ida (11:42):
But if you actually read the documentation from the
monitoring site itself, what dothose bars really mean?
Allan (11:47):
Usually nothing nearly so dramatic.
Those black bars or whiteoutstypically just mean the station
recorded no data during thatperiod.
It could be a simple technicalglitch, routine maintenance, or
maybe the sensors got saturatedby a strong local lightning
storm right near the station.
It's usually just a data gap,not some cosmic cover-up.
Ida (12:06):
Okay, that makes sense.
And the final piece of theconspiracy puzzle often involves
HARP, right?
The high frequency act ofauroral research program in
Alaska.
Allan (12:14):
Ah yes, HARP.
The perennial favorite.
There are persistent claimsthat HARP is somehow
artificially creating these SRspikes.
But again, we just need tocheck the basic physics.
HARP operates in the megahertzrange, that's millions of cycles
per second.
The Schumann resonance operatesin the single digit hertz
range, just a few cycles persecond.
The frequencies are vastlydifferent.
There's just no known physicalmechanism that connects the two
(12:37):
in the way these claims suggest.
Ida (12:39):
And when you follow the trail, there seems to be a
pretty clear financial incentivebehind spreading some of these
more alarming, misinterpretedideas.
Allan (12:46):
Absolutely.
The anxiety generated bysharing these dramatic, often
scary-looking charts.
It gets channeled directly intosales funnels.
People are pushed towardsbuying expensive solutions,
whether it's supplements,grounding mats, or special
frequency generating devices.
It often looks like a form ofpsychological manipulation
that's just weaponizingmisunderstood scientific terms
(13:07):
for profit.
Ida (13:07):
So when we step back, we're left with these two really
distinct realities for theSchumann resonance.
On one side, it's thismeasurable, frankly beautiful
scientific reality Earth'sconstant, quiet hum powered by
global thunderstorms.
And it's a genuine useful toolfor everything from climate
research to exploring otherplanets.
Allan (13:25):
And then on the other side, you have this phenomenon
feeding a massive market ofmetaphysical speculation, where
rigorous science gets eithercherry-picked, misunderstood, or
deliberately twisted, often forprofit, or maybe just
psychological comfort.
I think the main lesson here isreally the importance of
distinguishing between thatobjective rigorous science,
(13:46):
which celebrates the naturalworld's complexity and uses
these signals for real researchand claims that just borrow
scientific language withoutcredible evidence to back them
up.
Ida (13:56):
It's definitely a powerful reminder that the actual
universe, the real physics, isoften far more strange and
complex and frankly moreinteresting than a lot of the
manufactured mysteries wesometimes create around it.
Allan (14:08):
Absolutely.
And maybe think about this fora final thought.
The truly fascinatingscientific question isn't
whether the SR is some magicalcure-all frequency.
Instead, what does theexistence of that serious,
rigorous scientific effort likebuilding the Berlin magnetically
shielded room just to study theabsence of this incredibly
weak, constant planetaryfrequency?
(14:28):
What does that suggest?
Ida (14:30):
It suggests that maybe there are still subtle, genuine,
and perhaps still undiscoveredways that simply living on an
electromagnetically activeplanet does affect us
biologically.
That seems like the realmystery here, the one worthy of
careful, rigorous scientificpursuit.
Welcome back to the Deep Dive.
Today we are investigating asignal that's, well, it's always
there, always humming justbeneath the surface of our
awareness.
If you could somehow tune agigantic radio to the Earth
itself, you'd actually pick upthis constant, measurable
electromagnetic rhythm.
People sometimes describe itpretty dramatically, calling it
Earth's natural heartbeat.
Allan (00:20):
Aaron Powell And that heartbeat, uh, it has an
official name.
The Schumann resonance, or SRfor short.
It's a really remarkable,measurable geophysical signal.
It operates in what we call theextremely low frequency or ELF
spectrum.
So our mission today is to divedeep into this phenomenon.
We want to understand both its,you know, rigorous established
(00:41):
physics and the often kind ofbizarre cultural life it's taken
on.
It spans everything from likecutting-edge space research all
the way to wellness claims andyeah, even online conspiracy
theories.
Ida (00:50):
Aaron Powell Okay, let's unpack this then.
We should probably start withthe basic science.
You mentioned this planetaryhum.
The main frequency sits rightaround 7.83 hertz.
That number seems reallyprecise.
Why, why that specificfrequency?
Why isn't the earth humming at,say, five hertz or maybe a
hundred hertz?
Allan (01:06):
Aaron Powell, yeah, that specific frequency, it's really
a result of the Earth's geometryand electricity.
And interestingly, the conceptwasn't even measured first.
It was uh predictedmathematically.
Back in 1952, by a Germanphysicist Winfried Odo Schumann,
he basically realized that theEarth and its atmosphere created
this sort of perfectelectromagnetic container.
Ida (01:28):
Ah, the container.
That sounds key.
So you've got Earth's surface,which is conductive, right?
And then way up, hundreds ofkilometers up, there's the
ionosphere, that layer ofelectrically charged particles,
which is also highly conductive.
Allan (01:41):
Exactly.
Those two layers, Earth'ssurface and the ionosphere,
which sits about 80 to 700kilometers up.
Ida (01:46):
Yeah.
Allan (01:46):
They act like the walls of a giant spherical waveguide.
Ida (01:49):
Yeah.
Allan (01:49):
And the non-conductive area in between.
That forms this huge planetaryresonating cavity.
You could maybe think of itlike a massive tuning fork in a
way.
Aaron Powell Okay.
Ida (01:59):
So we've got the cavity, the tuning fork, but what keeps
it ringing?
What's providing the energyconstantly?
Right.
Allan (02:04):
That's the amazing part.
It's global lightning.
We have something like 50lightning strikes happening
every single second somewhere onthe planet.
Ida (02:10):
50.
Every second.
Allan (02:12):
Yeah, 50 per second.
And each strike acts like thisgigantic, continuous, impulsive
burst of electromagnetic energy.
So as those waves shoot out andbounce around inside this Earth
ionosphere cavity, they excitestanding waves, but only at
specific frequencies, theresonant frequencies of that
cavity.
Ida (02:30):
But it's incredible.
Fifty strikes a second all overthe world, creating this single
constant standing wave for theentire planet, and 7.83 Hertz is
just the main one, thefundamental.
Allan (02:40):
It's the primary, yeah, the fundamental mode.
But the system also supportsharmonics, which are weaker.
Think of them like overtones ona guitar string.
They pop up at roughly 14hertz, 20 hertz, 27 hertz, about
34 hertz.
But what's really crucial tounderstand here is the
magnitude.
Despite its dramatic name,Earth's heartbeat, this signal
is incredibly weak.
Ida (03:01):
Right, you hear heartbeat and think it must be strong, but
you mentioned it's measured inthe Pico Tesla range.
Now, for those of us like menot carrying a picoteslameter
today, how subtle is thatreally?
Allan (03:11):
Oh, it's infinitesimal, truly tiny.
We often use the analogy thatit's the electromagnetic
equivalent of trying to hear awhisper during a heavy metal
concert.
I mean, it's real it'sabsolutely measurable science,
but the signal is so subtle youneed highly sensitive
specialized equipment just todetect it.
It's definitely not somethingthat would ever register on, you
know, your phone or yourhousehold electronics.
Ida (03:34):
Aaron Powell That's a great way to put it, a whisper in a
concert.
Okay.
It's kind of hard to imaginethen that such a subtle signal
could actually be a powerfulscientific tool, but apparently
it is.
We know Earth-based monitoringis used for tracking global
lightning, studying theionosphere, but you're saying
this little Earth whisper helpsus study other planets too.
Allan (03:54):
Aaron Powell That's exactly right.
And that's where the kind ofscience detective story really
kicks off.
The theory basically holds thatany planet or moon that has
both an atmosphere and anionosphere, so think Venus,
Mars, Saturn's moon, Titan, orthe giant planets, should have
its own unique Schumannresonance.
And for planets like Uranus andNeptune, the ice giants, SR
(04:14):
properties might hold a key tosolving a really big puzzle
about their composition.
Ida (04:18):
You're talking about figuring out how much water is
actually in their atmospheres,which is like a huge unknown for
understanding how the outersolar system formed, right?
Allan (04:28):
Precisely.
Scientists use numericalmodeling, computer simulations,
to show that the SR'scharacteristics, specifically
its frequency, and somethingcalled the Q factor, which tells
you how quickly the wave fadesor attenuates, are extremely
sensitive to the atmosphere'selectrical conductivity profile.
And that conductivity isdirectly linked to the amount of
(04:49):
water, either as vapor or icefraction.
Ida (04:52):
Wait, hang on.
Why does water mess with theresonance so much?
Is it because water isconductive, so it kind of damps
the wave faster, sort of shortsit out a bit?
Allan (04:59):
That's a really good way to think about it, yeah.
The higher the conductivityfrom water vapor or ice
crystals, the more the waveenergy just dissipates.
It attenuates as it travelsaround the planet.
The models show that if Uranusor Neptune had a higher water
mixing ratio, let's say 0.1,fewer or 0.1, it could change
those Q factors by a hugeamount.
We're talking a factor of 15 to40 compared to what you'd
expect in a totally dryatmosphere.
Ida (05:21):
Whoa, 15 to 40 times.
That is a massive difference.
So it means if we could somehowmeasure the resonance on one of
those ice giants accurately, wecould work backward to figure
out roughly how much water theyhave, which helps scientists
understand the early solarsystem, maybe locate the
original snow line.
Allan (05:38):
It's basically remote sensing on a planetary scale.
Exactly.
And the possibilities areactually expanding.
Historically, you'd thinkmeasuring SR on another planet
would require landing somethingthere, which is super risky and
expensive.
But then there were theseunexpected observations from a
satellite called CNOFS back in2011.
It detected Earth's SR wavesactually leaking out into space
(06:02):
outside the main ionosphericcavity at altitudes above 400
kilometers.
Ida (06:07):
Leaking out, so we don't necessarily have to be inside
the cavity planet's side tomeasure it.
Allan (06:11):
Well, if the planet has a magnetic field, the answer
might be no, we don't.
This was a bit of abreakthrough because it
potentially opens up new, maybeless expensive ways to remotely
detect atmospheric electricityon distant worlds.
Ida (06:22):
Okay, this is fascinating on the planetary scale.
But here's where, for me atleast, it gets really
interesting.
Once scientists establishedthis, you know, constant
objective electromagnetic rhythmof the Earth, people naturally
started asking, is this justphysics or does it actually
affect living things?
This is the whole humanconnection part of the story,
isn't it?
Allan (06:42):
Aaron Powell It is.
And the initial fascination,the spark, really comes from an
undeniable numericalcoincidence.
The fundamental frequency ofthe Schumann resonance, that
7.83 hertz number, well, it'suncannily close to the range of
human alpha brain waves.
Alpha waves typically fallsomewhere between eight and
twelve hertz.
Ida (06:59):
Okay, that is close.
Almost suspiciously neat, youmight say.
Are we sure scientists didn'tjust like nudge the numbers a
bit to make them fit nicely?
Allan (07:07):
Oh no.
The 7.83 hertz is a calculatedaverage, and it does fluctuate
slightly based on things likeglobal lightning activity and
how high the ionosphere is on agiven day.
And alpha waves are also aband, not one single number.
But the overlap is real.
And since alpha waves aregenerally associated with states
of deep relaxation, meditation,kind of mental coherence.
Ida (07:28):
Yeah.
Allan (07:29):
Well, it definitely prompted some genuine scientific
curiosity.
Could there be some kind ofnatural synchronization
happening?
Ida (07:34):
And that curiosity led to some pretty wild high-tech
experiments, didn't it?
I was really struck by the NASAresearch you mentioned.
They essentially wanted to knowif this background hum, this
constant whisper, is actuallynecessary for biological
systems.
Like, do we need it?
Allan (07:49):
Yeah.
They took this questionextremely seriously.
There was a 2021 NASA whitepaper that recommended
ground-based studies usingsomething called the Berlin
Magnetically Shielded Room, orBMSR.
Ida (08:00):
The BMSR.
Okay, tell us about that.
It sounds like somethingstraight out of science fiction.
Allan (08:04):
It kind of is.
It's this incredibleeight-shume made of high
permeability metal alloys.
It's designed specifically tofilter out almost all external
electromagnetic interference,including Earth's natural
Schumann resonance.
I mean, the sheer effort andengineering required just to
create a space that'selectrically silent.
It really speaks volumes aboutthe scientific rigor they're
(08:26):
trying to apply here.
The idea was to simulateconditions you might find on the
moon, for example, whereEarth's SR would be totally
absent.
Then they could see how basiccells, specifically yeast cells
in this case, behaved when theywere completely deprived of that
background signal.
Ida (08:39):
Wow.
That is a staggering commitmentjust to study the absence of
this incredibly faint signal.
So what did they find?
Is life actually dependent onthe hump?
Allan (08:49):
Well, the field is still highly debated.
It's complex.
Some emerging research doesseem to show correlations
between fluctuations in SRactivity and certain
bioelectrical processes, likeactivity in the brain's cerebral
cortex.
However, many other similar,very carefully conducted lab
studies looking at weakelectromagnetic fields, trying
to see if they affect thingslike gene expression in human
(09:11):
cells or yeast have oftenyielded negative or inconclusive
results.
It's messy.
Ida (09:16):
So on one hand, you've got serious high-tech science
spending millions to study thelack of the signal, and then
simultaneously there's thismassive industry that sprung up
celebrating the presence of thesignal.
That's the big cultural split,right?
Allan (09:29):
It absolutely is.
This subtle piece ofatmospheric physics has been
completely, well, co-opted isone word for it.
In wellness and spiritualitycommunities, that 7.83 hertz
coincidence is often taken asdirect confirmation of a deep
resonant connection to nature,to the planet.
You see it framed as naturalharmony, and it gets tied into
ideas about spiritual awakening,enhancing intuition, even cell
(09:51):
regeneration.
Ida (09:52):
And of course, that feeds directly into a commercial
market.
You see ads for human resonancegenerators, special mats,
jewelry, all promising to syncyour body up with the Earth's
natural pulse.
Critics quite rightly point outthat this often involves
borrowing precise scientificterms to sell therapies that
lack solid, credible clinicalevidence.
(10:12):
It sounds scientific, butExactly.
Allan (10:15):
And then we shift into what you might call the
controversial edge, the spreadof easily verifiable false
claims, often built on justmisunderstanding or
misinterpreting publiclyavailable scientific data.
Ida (10:27):
Aaron Powell Right.
Like the first claim, we oftensee this dramatic assertion that
the Earth's rotation isspeeding up because the SR is
out of control, supposedlymaking a 24-hour day feel like
only 16 hours.
Allan (10:37):
Aaron Powell Yeah, that one's physically baseless.
It's easily debunked by highprecision atomic clocks and
astronomical measurements.
While Earth's rotation doesfluctuate slightly, we're
talking fluctuations on theorder of milliseconds, not
hours.
For instance, the shortestrecorded day fluctuation, I
think, is just about 1.59milliseconds shorter than the
average 24 hours.
Not exactly enough to make youfeel like you lost eight hours.
Ida (10:57):
Aaron Powell Okay, so the day isn't shrinking drastically.
Then there are the claims aboutthe frequency itself spiking
wildly, reaching astoundinglevels like 120 Hertz, and
supposedly causing physicalsymptoms like tinnitus or
vertigo, which then getrebranded online as ascension
symptoms.
Allan (11:15):
Aaron Powell Again, the idea of the fundamental
frequency hitting under 20 Hertzis simply incorrect physics.
It's not how resonance works.
These claims often come frompeople misinterpreting the
monitoring charts, thespectrograms, that are published
online by places like TomskState University in Russia.
When those charts show likesolid black vertical bars or big
white patches, certain socialmedia channels jump on that and
(11:36):
claim it shows some massiveglobal energy event, or even
that the scientists are hidingdata, suppressing it.
Ida (11:42):
But if you actually read the documentation from the
monitoring site itself, what dothose bars really mean?
Allan (11:47):
Usually nothing nearly so dramatic.
Those black bars or whiteoutstypically just mean the station
recorded no data during thatperiod.
It could be a simple technicalglitch, routine maintenance, or
maybe the sensors got saturatedby a strong local lightning
storm right near the station.
It's usually just a data gap,not some cosmic cover-up.
Ida (12:06):
Okay, that makes sense.
And the final piece of theconspiracy puzzle often involves
HARP, right?
The high frequency act ofauroral research program in
Alaska.
Allan (12:14):
Ah yes, HARP.
The perennial favorite.
There are persistent claimsthat HARP is somehow
artificially creating these SRspikes.
But again, we just need tocheck the basic physics.
HARP operates in the megahertzrange, that's millions of cycles
per second.
The Schumann resonance operatesin the single digit hertz
range, just a few cycles persecond.
The frequencies are vastlydifferent.
There's just no known physicalmechanism that connects the two
(12:37):
in the way these claims suggest.
Ida (12:39):
And when you follow the trail, there seems to be a
pretty clear financial incentivebehind spreading some of these
more alarming, misinterpretedideas.
Allan (12:46):
Absolutely.
The anxiety generated bysharing these dramatic, often
scary-looking charts.
It gets channeled directly intosales funnels.
People are pushed towardsbuying expensive solutions,
whether it's supplements,grounding mats, or special
frequency generating devices.
It often looks like a form ofpsychological manipulation
that's just weaponizingmisunderstood scientific terms
(13:07):
for profit.
Ida (13:07):
So when we step back, we're left with these two really
distinct realities for theSchumann resonance.
On one side, it's thismeasurable, frankly beautiful
scientific reality Earth'sconstant, quiet hum powered by
global thunderstorms.
And it's a genuine useful toolfor everything from climate
research to exploring otherplanets.
Allan (13:25):
And then on the other side, you have this phenomenon
feeding a massive market ofmetaphysical speculation, where
rigorous science gets eithercherry-picked, misunderstood, or
deliberately twisted, often forprofit, or maybe just
psychological comfort.
I think the main lesson here isreally the importance of
distinguishing between thatobjective rigorous science,
(13:46):
which celebrates the naturalworld's complexity and uses
these signals for real researchand claims that just borrow
scientific language withoutcredible evidence to back them
up.
Ida (13:56):
It's definitely a powerful reminder that the actual
universe, the real physics, isoften far more strange and
complex and frankly moreinteresting than a lot of the
manufactured mysteries wesometimes create around it.
Allan (14:08):
Absolutely.
And maybe think about this fora final thought.
The truly fascinatingscientific question isn't
whether the SR is some magicalcure-all frequency.
Instead, what does theexistence of that serious,
rigorous scientific effort likebuilding the Berlin magnetically
shielded room just to study theabsence of this incredibly
weak, constant planetaryfrequency?
(14:28):
What does that suggest?
Ida (14:30):
It suggests that maybe there are still subtle, genuine,
and perhaps still undiscoveredways that simply living on an
electromagnetically activeplanet does affect us
biologically.
That seems like the realmystery here, the one worthy of
careful, rigorous scientificpursuit.
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