MARK COLEMAN

Millions of people like to flock to the beach in the summer, taking advantage of the warm weather and splashing in the waves.

But it was not always this way. Up until the 18th century, the beach created fear and anxiety. The coast was thought of as dangerous - it was where shipwrecks and natural disasters occurred. In classical mythology, a prominent theme was the wrath of the ocean. The beach was seen as a place of misfortune, where you found pirates and bandits, the Black Death and smallpox.

We are surrounded by sound waves. Sound has the power to communicate ideas, scare us, entertain us, even help us fall in love.

Sound waves are a kind of energy that is launched when an object vibrates. These waves travel through a medium like air or water. When they reach your eardrum, the brain translates the pressure waves into words or music.

Each of us is the protagonist of our own life. Our goals feel like the most important thing in our world.

But every now and then, a moment of awe challenges our understanding of the world. We feel insignificant yet connected to the whole world, which helps us to step back and gain a better perspective.