Mike Sowden
@mikeachim.bsky.social
Writer (on science, travel & curiosity), Yorkshireman, tedious enthusiast, professional overthinker, Megathreader. Now: Scotland.
Writes Everything Is Amazing: https://everythingisamazing.substack.com/
Writes Everything Is Amazing: https://everythingisamazing.substack.com/
Reposted by Mike Sowden
Northwest of Ireland, the sea floor plummets.
Only in one place, 187 miles west of St Kilda, does it fully break the surface – a small nib of granite, the remains of a volcanic plug, poking just 20 metres (70 feet) above waves that occasionally burst right over it.
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Only in one place, 187 miles west of St Kilda, does it fully break the surface – a small nib of granite, the remains of a volcanic plug, poking just 20 metres (70 feet) above waves that occasionally burst right over it.
4/
November 10, 2024 at 1:18 PM
Northwest of Ireland, the sea floor plummets.
Only in one place, 187 miles west of St Kilda, does it fully break the surface – a small nib of granite, the remains of a volcanic plug, poking just 20 metres (70 feet) above waves that occasionally burst right over it.
4/
Only in one place, 187 miles west of St Kilda, does it fully break the surface – a small nib of granite, the remains of a volcanic plug, poking just 20 metres (70 feet) above waves that occasionally burst right over it.
4/
Thanks to the first volume of Michael Palin's diaries, I recently discovered the glory of one of the greatest travel pieces in British publishing history.
In early April 1977, The Guardian published a 7-page travel supplement on this "little-known" island nation...
(1/)
In early April 1977, The Guardian published a 7-page travel supplement on this "little-known" island nation...
(1/)
November 11, 2025 at 2:09 PM
This beautiful forest is not what it seems.
It's a quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) in Utah, nicknamed Pando. It may *look* like a mass of 47,000 aspens, but it’s actually a clonal organism, connected by a root system over 42.8 ha./106 acres.
But this is not the wildest thing.
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📷: J Zapell
It's a quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) in Utah, nicknamed Pando. It may *look* like a mass of 47,000 aspens, but it’s actually a clonal organism, connected by a root system over 42.8 ha./106 acres.
But this is not the wildest thing.
1/
📷: J Zapell
November 11, 2025 at 2:00 PM
I recently learned something amazing about the Arctic - & my tiny mind is blown.
Like many folk, I've always believed it's a featureless, empty place. Which is true! But this week I learned what's underneath it - & if THAT was on dry land, it'd be a wonder of the modern world.
Buckle up!
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Like many folk, I've always believed it's a featureless, empty place. Which is true! But this week I learned what's underneath it - & if THAT was on dry land, it'd be a wonder of the modern world.
Buckle up!
1/
November 11, 2025 at 1:59 PM
I thought I knew the story of the "lost world" off the east coast of Britain, inhabited by Mesolithic people until rising sea waters engulfed it around 8,000 years ago...
But I didn't know about the *tsunami*.
Holy hell.
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But I didn't know about the *tsunami*.
Holy hell.
1/
November 11, 2025 at 1:56 PM
Remember when you were a teen with GREAT ideas that turned out to be terrible in retrospect?
In 1965, Colin Irwin, a 19 year-old from Bournemouth, England, suddenly decided he wanted to live in a steel tank weighed down with sections of railway line at the bottom of the sea for a week.
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In 1965, Colin Irwin, a 19 year-old from Bournemouth, England, suddenly decided he wanted to live in a steel tank weighed down with sections of railway line at the bottom of the sea for a week.
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November 11, 2025 at 1:55 PM
Thank you so much! 🙏🙂 Yeah, I've written quite a few at this point. Time I bundled them all together like this.
November 11, 2025 at 1:54 PM
Thank you so much! 🙏🙂 Yeah, I've written quite a few at this point. Time I bundled them all together like this.
Aw. Thank you so much. :)
November 11, 2025 at 1:52 PM
Aw. Thank you so much. :)
Next, a bizarre place - an absurd fleck of nothingness in the middle of the Atlantic that the UK went to absurd lengths to annex in 1955: bsky.app/profile/mike...
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So, here's something mad.
Come with me far out to sea, to be battered by the largest waves ever recorded by scientific instruments in the open ocean - to make landfall at the final & maybe most ludicrous territorial acquisition of the British Empire.
Best hang onto your hat.
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📷: Al Elmes
Come with me far out to sea, to be battered by the largest waves ever recorded by scientific instruments in the open ocean - to make landfall at the final & maybe most ludicrous territorial acquisition of the British Empire.
Best hang onto your hat.
1/
📷: Al Elmes
November 11, 2025 at 1:51 PM
Next, a bizarre place - an absurd fleck of nothingness in the middle of the Atlantic that the UK went to absurd lengths to annex in 1955: bsky.app/profile/mike...
11/
11/
It’s 1775, & Swedish-German chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele has made a discovery that will go on to delight, entertain and, um, kill a lot of people.
Scheele is by any measure a remarkable scientist. A better world might celebrate Scheele’s legacy for what it was.
Instead, it gently ridicules it.
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Scheele is by any measure a remarkable scientist. A better world might celebrate Scheele’s legacy for what it was.
Instead, it gently ridicules it.
1/
November 11, 2025 at 1:47 PM
A look at how the ancient world was *far* more colourful - sometimes upsettingly so - than most of us would believe, which includes the line "HOLY S*** HE'S WEARING YOGA PANTS!":
bsky.app/profile/mike...
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bsky.app/profile/mike...
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You know the BEST thing about ancient classical history? All that pristine grey-white stone! SO CLASSY AND REGAL.
Look at this gorgeously near-monochrome scene from 'Gladiator'. Just look at how *right* it looks.
Yeah. Except - no. Get ready for a shock.
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Look at this gorgeously near-monochrome scene from 'Gladiator'. Just look at how *right* it looks.
Yeah. Except - no. Get ready for a shock.
1/
November 11, 2025 at 1:46 PM
A look at how the ancient world was *far* more colourful - sometimes upsettingly so - than most of us would believe, which includes the line "HOLY S*** HE'S WEARING YOGA PANTS!":
bsky.app/profile/mike...
9/
bsky.app/profile/mike...
9/
And my first thread that went hugely viral (on Twitter in '22), on the new research into the ancient flood that seems to have filled the Mediterranean with a violence that's truly mind-boggling: bsky.app/profile/mike...
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A while back I learned something mindblowing about the geological history of the Mediterranean Sea, and I just can't get it out of my head.
Now I'm going to make it *your* problem too. Sorry.
Hang onto your hat. This is wild.
1/
Now I'm going to make it *your* problem too. Sorry.
Hang onto your hat. This is wild.
1/
November 11, 2025 at 1:41 PM
And my first thread that went hugely viral (on Twitter in '22), on the new research into the ancient flood that seems to have filled the Mediterranean with a violence that's truly mind-boggling: bsky.app/profile/mike...
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And if you're scuba-diving and THIS happens, maybe it's best you get out the water: bsky.app/profile/mike...
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It's 2000, & wreck diver Rod Macdonald has discovered something terrifying:
"Dave and I couldn’t resist the temptation to fin over to the edge of the pinnacle & look over the side, down into the 200-metre deep abyss.
[Then] I became aware that my exhaled bubbles had stopped rising upwards..."
1/
"Dave and I couldn’t resist the temptation to fin over to the edge of the pinnacle & look over the side, down into the 200-metre deep abyss.
[Then] I became aware that my exhaled bubbles had stopped rising upwards..."
1/
November 11, 2025 at 1:38 PM
And if you're scuba-diving and THIS happens, maybe it's best you get out the water: bsky.app/profile/mike...
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Next up - the optical weirdness of floating cargo ships and cities hovering in the sky: bsky.app/profile/mike...
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Seeing the Northern Lights is one thing - but have you ever seen a *city* up there?
Yes, like that scene in ep. 1 of 'His Dark Materials'.
Because here's the weird thing: they exist. You can indeed see cities in the sky. There's credible, explainable science on it.
Let's do this. 🧵
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Yes, like that scene in ep. 1 of 'His Dark Materials'.
Because here's the weird thing: they exist. You can indeed see cities in the sky. There's credible, explainable science on it.
Let's do this. 🧵
1/
November 11, 2025 at 1:37 PM
Next up - the optical weirdness of floating cargo ships and cities hovering in the sky: bsky.app/profile/mike...
6/
6/
I recently wrote something about the science of pareidolia, the "you can't unsee this face in this inanimate thing" bias - and all the examples I found are delightful, ludicrous and worrying! (It's amazing how completely it hijacks our mind.)
I dare you to unsee the following examples.
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I dare you to unsee the following examples.
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November 11, 2025 at 1:33 PM
As for how I structure these kinds of threads & how I use them to grow my newsletter readership, it's in my storytelling course, if anyone's interested: www.getyourstorystraight.co.uk
(I'm on my last day of accepting new students, so, grab a place if you're interested!)
Anyway. Back to it...
4/
(I'm on my last day of accepting new students, so, grab a place if you're interested!)
Anyway. Back to it...
4/
November 11, 2025 at 1:33 PM
As for how I structure these kinds of threads & how I use them to grow my newsletter readership, it's in my storytelling course, if anyone's interested: www.getyourstorystraight.co.uk
(I'm on my last day of accepting new students, so, grab a place if you're interested!)
Anyway. Back to it...
4/
(I'm on my last day of accepting new students, so, grab a place if you're interested!)
Anyway. Back to it...
4/
Thirdly - it's that time again here in Scotland where strange pillars of light beam into the sky, even though they're not actually there, and here's the explanation: bsky.app/profile/mike...
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3/
In January of 2021, photos started bouncing round the internet of this deeply weird thing happening in the sky above Glasgow, Scotland. Photoshop trickery?
The bizarre truth:
- yes, everyone really saw these
- no, they're not faked or manmade
- they absolutely don't exist.
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The bizarre truth:
- yes, everyone really saw these
- no, they're not faked or manmade
- they absolutely don't exist.
1/
November 11, 2025 at 1:07 PM
Thirdly - it's that time again here in Scotland where strange pillars of light beam into the sky, even though they're not actually there, and here's the explanation: bsky.app/profile/mike...
3/
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Secondly: the largest waterfall in the world isn't where you might think! bsky.app/profile/mike...
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This is Angel Falls in Venezuela, with its 807-metre sheer plunge - the tallest waterfall on our planet.
Except - it isn't. There's one that's bigger. MUCH bigger. And when I learned about it this week, my mind was fully blown.
OK. Buckle up! (Especially if you don't have a head for heights.)
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Except - it isn't. There's one that's bigger. MUCH bigger. And when I learned about it this week, my mind was fully blown.
OK. Buckle up! (Especially if you don't have a head for heights.)
1/
November 11, 2025 at 1:05 PM
Secondly: the largest waterfall in the world isn't where you might think! bsky.app/profile/mike...
2/
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And if you fancy reading something else underwater-based with an added dose of pure horror, check this out:
bsky.app/profile/mike...
bsky.app/profile/mike...
It's 2000, & wreck diver Rod Macdonald has discovered something terrifying:
"Dave and I couldn’t resist the temptation to fin over to the edge of the pinnacle & look over the side, down into the 200-metre deep abyss.
[Then] I became aware that my exhaled bubbles had stopped rising upwards..."
1/
"Dave and I couldn’t resist the temptation to fin over to the edge of the pinnacle & look over the side, down into the 200-metre deep abyss.
[Then] I became aware that my exhaled bubbles had stopped rising upwards..."
1/
November 11, 2025 at 12:18 PM
And if you fancy reading something else underwater-based with an added dose of pure horror, check this out:
bsky.app/profile/mike...
bsky.app/profile/mike...
Thank you for sharing my awful living nightmare! 😅 (Thank you. So kind.)
November 10, 2025 at 4:47 PM
Thank you for sharing my awful living nightmare! 😅 (Thank you. So kind.)