Scientists think they could have found the cause of a series of “slow-motion” earthquakes that have shaken New Zealand in recent years – a hidden ocean which sits two miles beneath the sea floor. The water was revealed as part of a giant volcanic area formed about 125 million years ago, when an eruption forced a plume of lava bigger than the US to the surface of the Earth. Researchers found the region by towing 3D seismic sensors behind a boat to build up an image of the ancient volcanic area. There, they found thick, layered sediments around long-buried volcanoes which contained much more water than expected. Andrew Gase, from the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics, who carried out the research, said: “Normal ocean crust, once it gets to be about seven or 10 million years old should contain much less water.” The ocean crust scanned by researchers was 10 times as old as this – but water made up nearly half its volume. The tectonic fault line which runs through New Zealand is known for producing slow-motion earthquakes, also known as slow slip events. During one of these, the energy from an earthquake gets released over days or months, often causing little or no harm to people. Scientists don’t know why they happen more at some faults than at others, but they are thought to be linked to buried water. Finding this new area of water at the fault line which creates so many slip events could provide an explanation. Gase said: “We can't yet see deep enough to know exactly the effect on the fault, but we can see that the amount of water that's going down here is actually much higher than normal.” If researchers can work out how the water reserves affect slip events – possibly by dampening them – they could, in turn, understand normal earthquakes better. Scientists also think underground water pressure could play a key part in creating conditions that release tectonic stress via slow slip earthquakes. As a result, Gase said scientists should drill even deeper to find out where the water ends up. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

TL;DR: Apple AirPods (3rd Gen) are on sale for $139.99 this Prime Day. This deal

Shell Plc’s annual shareholder meeting was disrupted for over an hour as activists protested against the company’s climate

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 22, 2023--

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Tinder has introduced a feature that allows friends and family to take full control of your dating life – well, kind of. Dating debriefs with friends are a given with 75 per cent of singles admitting to discussing their dating life several times a month. Now, with Tinder Matchmaker, the platform is giving your nearest and dearest a say in the matter by allowing them to take over your profile and check out hopeful potentials. It works by inviting others, regardless of whether they have a Tinder profile or not, to view and suggest dates. But ultimately, the main user has the final say. "For years, singles have asked their friends to help find their next match on Tinder, and now we're making that so easy with Tinder Matchmaker," Melissa Hobley, Chief Marketing Officer at Tinder said. She continued: "Tinder Matchmaker brings your circle of trust into your dating journey and helps you see the possibilities you might be overlooking from the perspective of those closest to you." The popular dating app has partnered with rapper Coi Leray to bring the feature to life. "Handing your phone over to the friend group was the original vibe check. Obviously you want your friends to like whoever you’re crushing on, and Tinder Matchmaker is a fun way to get the bestie seal of approval even before the match," the 'Players' rapper said. Intrigued? Here's how to try out Tinder Matchmaker for yourself: A Tinder Matchmaker session can be started directly from a profile card, or within app settings. Users can share their unique link with up to 15 friends in a 24 hour period. After following the link, the matchmaker can either log in to Tinder or continue as a guest (after completing an age verification prompt and agreeing to Tinder’s terms as outlined). Matchmakers have 24 hours to play cupid before the session expires, where they can recommend profiles for the Tinder user but won’t be able to chat or send messages on their behalf. Once the session expires, Tinder users will have the opportunity to review the profiles their matchmakers’ Like for them. Profiles that received a Like from a matchmaker will be marked as a “recommendation” (profiles sent a Nope won’t change). The Tinder user still makes the final call on who to Like - but now knows who their friends are rooting for. How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

A study suggests that convincing yourself that food has a higher calorie content may suppress your appetite and help you lose weight. Alia Crum and her colleagues at Yale University gave 46 healthy volunteers the same 380-calories milkshake. However, some participants were told it was a low-calorie choice, whilst others were told it was high in calories. The 'low-calorie' bottle of the shake claimed it to have zero percent fat, zero added sugar and be only 140 calories. Whilst the 'high-calorie' bottle was labelled as 'indulgent' and accounted to 620 calories. The team measured levels or ghrelin before and after volunteers drank the shake. Ghrelin is a hormone released by the stomach when we are hungry. "It also slows metabolism," Crum said, "just incase you might not find that food." Once you have a big meal after you ghrelin rises, your level proceed to drop again, telling your brain that you've had enough to eat and it's time to start metabolising, in order to burn the calories ingested. Meaning that when we have something like a small salad, ghrelin levels don't drop as much, and metabolism isn't triggered in the same way. For a while, scientists believed that ghrelin levels change in response to the nutrients in your stomach. But Crum's study pushed back on that belief. If participants believed they were drinking the high-calorie shake, the body responded as though the participants had consumed more than they actually had. "The ghrelin levels dropped about three times more when people were consuming the indulgent shake (or though they were consuming the indulgent shake)," Crum said. However, it doesn't mean the nutrients doesn't matter, but Crum suggests that the metabolic model may need to be rethought. "Our beliefs matter in virtually every domain, in everything we do," Crum says. "How much is a mystery, but I don't we've given enough credit to the role of our beliefs in determining our physiology, our reality." Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings. How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel

After an online frenzy following a potential leak of banned cards, Wizards of the Coast confirmed the leak is fake.

A runway model has hit back at the “weirdos” responding to her after a clip of her catwalk goes viral. Marissa DuBois, an American model who goes by the name Riss, has been making waves after a clip of her walking the runway in Fashion Week went viral on Twitter. The video was posted on Twitter by the pop culture account Daily Loud and has been viewed almost 60 million times in just two days. As she walked the runway, DuBois was wearing a green bikini paired with a matching sheer cover-up. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Her curvy figure caught people’s attention and many left comments on who she reminds them of. One person wrote that she was a “blend of Beyonce and Shakira”, to which DuBois responded, “The honor”. Others discussed her body in horrible ways, suggesting that she is overweight is setting a bad example. Some speculated as to whether the model has had plastic surgery to achieve her look, but DuBois quickly shut them down. She tweeted: “For the weirdos that somehow think my body's fake... this was my senior sign in HS (high school).” Alongside the tweet was a picture of her from high school. It showed DuBois holding a big sign with her nickname and a drawing of her large bottom, referencing the name “Big Booty Judy”. “She got receipts,” one Twitter user responded. Another said: “You don’t owe anyone any explanation. You are beautiful.” Someone else commented: “Who ever saying her body fake is straight haters fr.” As well as being a model, DuBois has gained a large social media following documenting her life across multiple platforms. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

"The Hill We Climb," the poem written by Amanda Gorman for President Joe Biden's inauguration, was moved out of the elementary section of one Miami-Dade County public school, the district confirmed Tuesday. It remains available to older children.

WALDOBORO, Maine--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 22, 2023--

It was a Thursday night and I had a date. Or, so I thought. Instead,