Editing 2344: 26-Second Pulse

{{comic
| number    = 2344
| date      = August 10, 2020
| title     = 26-Second Pulse
| image     = 26_second_pulse.png
| titletext = There are some papers arguing that there's a volcanic component, but I personally think they're just feeling guilty and trying to cover the trail.
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic strip, [[Jill]] is presenting her project on geology to her classmates and is explaining some of the non-earthquake signals that {{w|seismometers}} detect. She describes [https://phys.org/news/2011-01-seismometer-noise-south-atlantic-storms.html a mysterious signal that repeats with a 26-second period]. Scientists have exploited this signal to [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320126150_Assessing_the_short-term_clock_drift_of_early_broadband_stations_with_burst_events_of_the_26_s_persistent_and_localized_microseism correct for clock drift] in historic seismic records.

[[Jill]] initially provides a plausible explanation (some kind of natural wave pattern on the coastline of the {{w|Gulf of Guinea}}, which is in fact the most common theory about this signal). However, she quickly takes a turn for the dramatic when she claims that it might be a giant, murdered by seismologists, whose heart still beats. This is a reference to Edgar Allan Poe's short story ''{{w|The Tell-Tale Heart}}'', in which the main character murders a man and hides his corpse beneath the floorboards, and then hears (or believes he hears) his victim's heart continuing to beat; the noise eventually drives him to confess his guilt to visiting police officers.  (The narrator of ''The Tell-Tale Heart'' never uses that phrase in the story; he calls it a ''hideous'' heart.) "The Tell-Tale Heart" was previously referenced in [[740: The Tell-Tale Beat]].

Normal human hearts beat much more rapidly than once every 26 seconds, but [https://www.answers.com/Q/What_animal_has_slowest_heart_rate large animals and hibernating animals] may have much slower heart rates (which would include a giant at the bottom of the ocean).{{Citation needed}}

The title text gives an alternate explanation for the seismic activity: [https://academic.oup.com/gji/article/194/1/362/2006108 volcanic activity], but Jill continues to believe in the giant story. In the last panel she references the common science meme that further research is needed, which has been mentioned several times in previous strips, including [[2268: Further Research is Needed]].

==Transcript==
:[Jill is standing in the front of a whiteboard holding a pointer up towards the board. Ponytail, Hairy, and Megan are sitting at desks facing Jill.]
:Jill: When everything is still, seismometers pick up faint tremors we call seismic noise.
:Jill: Most of it is from ocean waves, cars, etc. But there's also a mysterious 26-second pulse.

:[Close up on Jill. She is holding a hand palm up towards the board behind her, showing a map with Africa in the center and some other continents at the edges of the view. A star is drawn within the country of Ghana, near the coastline.]
:Jill: We've triangulated the source to somewhere in the Gulf of Guinea.
:Jill: It comes and goes with the seasons, but it's been there since at least the 1980s. It's so regular we use it to sync up seismometers.

:[In a frame-less panel only Jill is shown, once again in profile. She has the board behind her and points the pointer towards the board.]
:Off-panel voice: What causes it?
:Jill: Not sure. The most popular theory is that storm-driven waves set up some kind of resonance with the coast.

:[Jill has leaned her stick on the board's tray. She has raised her clenched fists.]
:Jill: Another theory is that long ago, seismologists murdered a giant and buried the body at sea.
:Jill: Now we are haunted by the beating of its telltale heart!
:Jill: Could be either.
:Jill: Further research is needed.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Jill]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Geology]]
[[Category:Volcanoes]]
[[Category:Fiction]]