In March 2020, as the lockdowns were coming into force in Europe, seismologist Thomas Lecocq of the Royal Observatory of Belgium noticed that the Earth was suddenly still.1 Every day, as we humans operate our factories, drive our cars, even simply walk on our sidewalks, we rattle the planet. Incredibly, these rattles can be detected as if they were infinitesimal earthquakes. And they had stopped. After Lecocq’s initial observation, seismologists around the world began to share data. With the anthropogenic shaking of our planet subdued, they could even detect the rushing of rivers far away. The
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