Top all-time · #8388
Mike Sowden
Personal blog · everythingisamazing.substack.comsciencewriting
Mike Sowden writes Everything Is Amazing, a personal blog at everythingisamazing.substack.com about science and writing. Since 2022, 9 different Hacker News readers have linked it 16 times, most often “The flood that filled the Mediterranean Sea - in one year”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-10-29, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (4) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Mike Sowden's Substack essays on deep-time geology and climate engineering, such as the Zanclean megaflood that refilled the Mediterranean and ideas for damming it. Commenters cite them as sources.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 4 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
A newsletter about ideas, wonder and hope - and a romp through the modern sciences in search of a good "wow!" you can feel down to your boots.
Most-linked posts?
- The flood that filled the Mediterranean Sea - in one year5 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2022-03-24
- The worst dam idea: evaporating the Mediterranean to power Europe2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2022-07-31
What Hacker News says?
(I also wrote about all this in another newsletter, here: https://everythingisamazing.substack.com/p/imperial-vs-metri... This isn't me claiming Britain isn't idiotic on this matter, though...)
Comment linking /p/imperial-vs-metric
on “Europe's now-drowned 'lost world' and the 25m-high tsunami that finished it off”Submitted Europe's now-drowned 'lost world' and the 25m-high tsunami that finished it off as a story · 316 points
HN discussionHere's more of a textbook style of the account if that's your style. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zanclean_flood .Or here is a creative way of describing the account (which I happen to like) https://everythingisamazing.substack.com/p/in-search-of-a-fl...
Comment linking /p/in-search-of-a-flood-like-no-other
on “The flood that filled the Mediterranean Sea - in one year”Submitted The flood that filled the Mediterranean Sea - in one year as a story · 209 points
HN discussionThis article links to another which discusses exactly that [1] — some geological event dammed the Mediterranean from the Atlantic 6 million years ago, after which the sea mostly dried out, then subsequently the entire thing refilled in the space of a couple years in the Zanclean Megaflood (at least, there’s mounting evidence that it happened in one cataclysmic event). First the western Mediterranean filled up to Sic…
Comment linking /p/in-search-of-a-flood-like-no-other
on “The worst dam idea: evaporating the Mediterranean to power Europe”Submitted The worst dam idea: evaporating the Mediterranean to power Europe as a story · 109 points
HN discussionIf you find this subject interesting: researchers think the water-level in the eastern Mediterranean rose by ten meters a day as it was flooded, filling up within a year (give or take). https://everythingisamazing.substack.com/p/in-search-of-a-fl...
Comment linking /p/in-search-of-a-flood-like-no-other
on “Giant underwater avalanche decimated Atlantic seafloor 60k years ago”Submitted The 3-way fight for a 1,800km long mountain ridge under the Arctic as a story · 12 points
HN discussionIt's not worth because the areas under sea level will have even higher temperature and dryer to dersertic climate https://everythingisamazing.substack.com/p/the-worst-dam-ide...
Comment linking /p/the-worst-dam-idea-in-the-world
on “Venetians are pondering raising their entire city”Submitted San Serriffe: Charting Nonsense-Land (2021) as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted An Ancient Megaflood Tore The English Channel Open as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted The (Mostly) Forgotten Battle for American Independence in Yorkshire as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted In Search of a Flood Like No Other (2022) as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Despite what that SNL sketch says, Imperial isn't *completely* insane as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Britain claimed Rockall (a tiny shitty islet 200 miles from land) to stop Russia as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Three Ways That Kindness Can Save Us All – By Mike Sowden as a story · 1 points
HN discussion