Peanut Dancing in Beer May Help Study Volcanoes.
Scientists have investigated why peanuts "dance" when dropped into beer. The peanuts sink to the bottom of the glass before floating up and becoming a "nucleation site" for tiny bubbles of carbon dioxide. The bubbles carry the peanuts upward until they burst, and the process repeats until the carbon dioxide runs out or someone drinks the beer. The research helps scientists understand mineral extraction and bubbling magma in the Earth's crust. The same process could also explain why magnetite rises to higher layers in the Earth's crust than expected.