Ian Sample

And what they wanted to do was see if that infrasound had any impact on the people.

Well, first of all, they found that people rated the music they were listening to as sadder when the infrasound was on.

But I think maybe more interesting that they were more irritated.

And also these people had higher levels of cortisol, the stress hormone in their saliva.

So what the researchers are concluding from that is it looks like, and this was a small study, so it's suggestive at best, but it looks like there might be something going on whereby even when you don't know infrasound is on,

They saw these changes to stress and to how irritated people were.

And they think, well, maybe this infrasound is having an effect on people's mood without them really realising.

Well, the question I had for the researchers was, look, if you played infrasound and it made me more irritated or even maybe my cortisol levels might go up, that wouldn't make me think that the place I was in was haunted.

I'm really sure about that.

And they're like, yes, sure.

It's not going to turn some person who doesn't believe in paranormal activity into seeing ghosts everywhere.

But what they said was, if you are one of these people who's prone to think these things, if you're in one of these places and you've been told, oh, you know, that building's haunted, then they think that sort of thing.

sensation that you can't pin down because you maybe feel slightly odd but don't know why maybe that would push you towards thinking there's a weird presence in this place and so it's speculative and it's fun but it needs a heck of a lot more research to stand it up it's like people are just getting bad vibes and for some people they'll put that down to a ghost and for others they'll just say oh this isn't a very nice house absolutely

Late last week, it looked as if maybe the Strait of Hormuz might finally reopen.

But over the weekend, talks between the US and Iran ended without an agreement.

President Trump's response?

To announce a blockade.

Once again, oil prices have jumped up and the world faces a worsening energy shock.

But it isn't just fossil fuels that are stuck.

Another crisis is brewing.