Turning Down the Temperature With a Cup of Coffee
STORY AND PHOTOS BY JOANNA MARSH
Say someone hands you a large blue marble with streaks of white and blotches of green. That marble represents the Earth and has a special power: Its surface temperature varies based on the stress levels of a region. The higher the stress, the more that portion of the Earth-marble heats up.
Now put your thumb on the marble’s Washington, D.C., spot. You will find that it’s very hot. So hot that your thumbprint’s ridges are on the cusp of burning away. But then just as the stress-heat seems unbearable, something cool pulses, steadying you.
