100+ Uncommon Truths About the World Around Us

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Transcript

00:00:00The moon is the second brightest object in our sky.

00:00:13At the same time, among other astronomical bodies, it's one of the dimmest and least

00:00:18reflective.

00:00:19Our natural satellite only seems bright because it's so close to Earth.

00:00:23For comparison, our planet looks much brighter when you look at it from space.

00:00:29That's because clouds, ice, and snow reflect way more light than most types of rock.

00:00:35Triton, Neptune's moon, has all its surface covered with several layers of ice.

00:00:41If this satellite replaced our current moon, the night sky would get seven times brighter.

00:00:47The closer the moon is to the horizon, the larger it looks.

00:00:52This phenomenon is called the moon illusion.

00:00:55One of the theories explaining it claims that the atmosphere plays the role of a magnifying

00:01:00glass, which makes the moon look bigger.

00:01:03In reality, if the atmosphere had a say in it, the moon would actually look smaller,

00:01:08not bigger.

00:01:10Most experts believe that the illusion is created by your own mind.

00:01:15It can increase the moon's size more than twice.

00:01:18When Earth's satellite is high up in the sky, you don't have any visual cues about how far

00:01:23away it is.

00:01:25But when it's near the horizon, you can see objects surrounding it in detail.

00:01:30It makes the moon look larger.

00:01:32But it's just one of the many theories explaining the phenomenon.

00:01:36By the way, you can trick yourself out of this illusion if you bend down and look at

00:01:41the moon upside down through your legs.

00:01:45Two or three years ago, an asteroid was pulled into Earth's orbit and started to travel around

00:01:50the planet.

00:01:52Even though it's no larger than an average car, it's still a big deal.

00:01:56Out of more than one million asteroids astronomers know about, it's only the second one to orbit

00:02:02our planet.

00:02:03Called 2020 CD3, it's our temporary mini-moon.

00:02:08It won't be with Earth for long though.

00:02:11The asteroid is following a random orbit and is slowly drifting away.

00:02:17Rarely captured objects, such as 2020 CD3, are rare.

00:02:22They need to have specific direction and speed to be caught by Earth's gravitational pull.

00:02:27Otherwise, they either crash into the planet or fly in another direction.

00:02:33A transient lunar phenomenon is one of the most enigmatic things happening on the moon.

00:02:39It's a short-lived light, color, or some other change on the satellite's surface.

00:02:45Most commonly, it's random flashes of light.

00:02:49Astronomers have been observing this phenomenon since the 1950s.

00:02:53They've noticed that the flashes occur randomly.

00:02:55Sometimes, they can happen several times a week.

00:02:59After that, they disappear for several months.

00:03:02Some of them don't last longer than a couple of minutes.

00:03:05But there have been those that continued for hours.

00:03:09The year was 1969, one day before Apollo 11 landed on the moon.

00:03:15One of the mission participants noticed that one part of the natural satellite was more

00:03:20illuminated than the surrounding landscape.

00:03:23It looked as if that area had a kind of fluorescence to it.

00:03:27Unfortunately, it's still unclear if this phenomenon was connected with the mysterious

00:03:32lunar flashes.

00:03:34There might be more metals, for example titanium or iron, in lunar craters than astronomers

00:03:41used to think.

00:03:42The main problem with this finding?

00:03:44It contradicts the main theory about how the moon was formed.

00:03:49That theory says that Earth's natural satellite was spun off from our planet after a collision

00:03:54with a massive space object.

00:03:57But then, why does Earth's metal-poor crust have much less iron oxide than the moon's?

00:04:03It might mean the moon formed from the material lying much deeper inside our planet.

00:04:09Or these metals could have appeared when the molten lunar surface was slowly cooling down.

00:04:16The moon's gravity is about 17% of that on Earth.

00:04:20If you weighed 200 pounds on our home planet, on the moon, your weight would decrease to

00:04:26a mere 34 pounds.

00:04:28You would also be able to carry stuff six times heavier than what you can carry on Earth.

00:04:34It would be easier to walk on the moon's surface, but it would be more dangerous too.

00:04:39Your feet, inside a heavy space suit, would sink into the lunar soil up to six inches

00:04:45deep.

00:04:46But let's imagine you decided to skip the tedious process of walking by leaping through

00:04:51the air.

00:04:52Then, you'd likely lose control of your jumps in no time.

00:04:56Plus, the moon's surface is littered with deep craters.

00:05:00It would be a tough feat to avoid all of them.

00:05:03Not so long ago, astronomers discovered a massive blob of some mysterious substance.

00:05:10It was hidden under the surface of the moon's far side.

00:05:14Its mass was the same as that of a pile of metal five times larger than the Big Island

00:05:19of Hawaii.

00:05:21The enigmatic something lies almost 200 miles beneath an enormous crater that appeared in

00:05:27the lunar surface billions of years ago.

00:05:30The blob likely has something to do with a super collision.

00:05:34It might be the metal core of the object that hit the moon back then.

00:05:40Scientists can't wait to lay their hands on the discovery.

00:05:44It could explain lots of things about the South Pole-Aitken crater, the largest known

00:05:49in the solar system.

00:05:51If it was on Earth, its oval-shaped basin would stretch from Washington, D.C. to Texas.

00:05:58There's no air on Earth's natural satellite, but then how can it be rusting?

00:06:05Scientists have discovered the presence of hematite on the moon, and it's a kind of rust.

00:06:10A special NASA research instrument examined the light reflected off the moon's surface.

00:06:16It turned out that the composition of the satellite's poles was very different from

00:06:21the rest of it.

00:06:23The moon's surface is dotted with iron-rich rocks, but without oxygen and liquid water,

00:06:29rust can't appear.

00:06:31Solar winds add to the mystery.

00:06:34They bombard the moon with hydrogen, and hydrogen makes it much more difficult for hematite

00:06:39to form.

00:06:41But even though the moon doesn't have an atmosphere, it still has some trace amounts of oxygen.

00:06:47Its source is our planet's upper atmosphere.

00:06:51Earth also protects the moon from almost 100% of solar winds, although not all the time.

00:06:58And even though our natural satellite is bone-dry, there might be water ice in the shadowed craters

00:07:04on its far side.

00:07:07The moon isn't a perfect sphere.

00:07:09It's shaped like an egg.

00:07:11Plus, the satellite's center of mass is a bit more than a mile off its geometric center.

00:07:18The Earth and the moon are gradually drifting apart, as slowly as your fingernails grow.

00:07:24This is the flip side of our satellite's gravitational force.

00:07:28The moon creates tides in the Earth's oceans.

00:07:32They pull back at the moon and make it speed up.

00:07:35This in turn moves the satellite to a higher orbit.

00:07:39In prehistoric times, the moon was way closer to our planet than it is now.

00:07:45Luckily, we aren't going to lose the moon.

00:07:48The farther away it moves, the weaker its gravitational pull becomes.

00:07:53It means that soon, our planet won't be pushing the moon away with such a force.

00:07:59There's very little activity going on inside the moon.

00:08:03Plus, there's almost no atmosphere around.

00:08:06That's why scientists can trace impact craters littering the satellite's surface back billions

00:08:12of years.

00:08:13While dating the craters, astronomers discovered that the moon, along with our planet, went

00:08:19through a late heavy bombardment about 4 billion years ago.

00:08:24This event is also known as the Lunar Cataclysm.

00:08:28This interval lasted several hundred millions of years.

00:08:32During it, an unusually large number of asteroids collided with Earth, Mercury, Mars, and Venus.

00:08:40There might be a labyrinth of lava tubes on the moon.

00:08:44Not long ago, astronomers received the results of an underground lunar topography.

00:08:49They discovered a massive cave under the satellite's surface, about 30 miles long and 60 miles

00:08:56wide.

00:08:58The caves likely to be the result of 3 billion year old volcanic activity.

00:09:04After streams of lava hardened, they created a thick hard crust on the outside.

00:09:10But inside, lava kept flowing, melting the rock and forming tunnels and caves.

00:09:16Countless pits in the moon's surface, discovered by NASA, might be the openings to lava tubes.

00:09:24The moon's orbit around the Earth isn't a circle.

00:09:27It's an oval.

00:09:29That's why the distance between our planet and the satellite varies from over 225,000

00:09:34miles to more than 250,000 miles.

00:09:38There's very little seismic activity going on inside the moon.

00:09:42Yet, many moonquakes, caused by our planet's gravitational pull, sometimes happen several

00:09:49miles below the surface.

00:09:51After that, tiny cracks and fractures appear in the satellite's surface, and gases escape

00:09:57through them.

00:09:59Now, our planet has gone through 5 mass extinctions.

00:10:03One of them was so bad that it wiped out over 95% of life forms on our planet.

00:10:09Scientists think they might have found the culprit – volcanoes.

00:10:15Scientists took some ancient rocks from a dozen global locations and found elevated

00:10:19levels of mercury, which was released by volcanoes millions of years ago.

00:10:24This points to volcanic eruptions as the probable cause of the Permian-Triassic extinction event.

00:10:30The mercury didn't just come from rocks – it was from the atmosphere.

00:10:34This means that when the volcanoes erupted, they released this poisonous gas into the

00:10:38air.

00:10:39They produced about 720,000 cubic miles of ash – vastly more than the infamous eruption

00:10:45of Mount St. Helens.

00:10:47The gas left a trace that marks one of history's most significant catastrophes, setting the

00:10:52stage for the age of dinosaurs.

00:10:54These eruptions most likely released mercury by igniting large coal deposits.

00:10:59Shallower waters showed mercury spikes right at the extinction's main horizon, while

00:11:05deeper sections recorded spikes tens of thousands of years earlier.

00:11:09This could mean that the effects of the volcanic activity and the extinction it triggered varied

00:11:14across different ocean depths.

00:11:16It means that the extinction was prolonged and complex.

00:11:19It not only caused significant climate warming at the time, but it also led to some other

00:11:24toxic events, like acid rain, which made the situation even worse for plants and animals.

00:11:30Although few things have made it from the Permian period to the present day, we can

00:11:34get an idea of what the world was like back then from the fossils found in eastern Kansas.

00:11:40Now 252 million years ago, the Earth was thriving.

00:11:44The Earth's continents were coming together to form the supercontinent Pangea.

00:11:48The land was mostly dry, and the Earth looked like a harsh, arid desert, vast stretches

00:11:53of land with minimal water sources.

00:11:55The climate varied from scorching summers to frigid winters.

00:11:59There were some plants here and there, mostly conifers, large ferns, and primitive mosses

00:12:03in places with more water.

00:12:06The Earth was dominated by dinosaur-like creatures, like Palaecosaurs or Theropsids, often called

00:12:12mammal-like reptiles.

00:12:14There was also the fierce Dimetrodon, with its awesome snail-like spine.

00:12:18These three were the top predators of their time.

00:12:22Smaller reptiles and amphibians also populated the landscape, alongside burgeoning insects

00:12:27like beetles and dragonflies, which thrived during that dry time.

00:12:32But all the interesting stuff mostly happened in shallow tropical seas.

00:12:36Marine environments were bustling with life.

00:12:39coral reefs, shellfish called brachiopods, animals known as bryozoans, and large single-cell

00:12:45fusillanids, which kinda look like they're covered in moss.

00:12:49Small funny ammonoids were quite popular as well, often hanging out in the oceans alongside

00:12:54brachiopods, bony fish, and sharks.

00:12:58Creepy trilobites, ancient marine creatures that first appeared 500 million years ago

00:13:02in the Cambrian period, but then persisted up to the Permian period.

00:13:07These were very diverse, active predators to scavengers or plankton eaters.

00:13:12However, almost all these beautiful creatures were about to disappear during the Permian-Triassic

00:13:18extinction.

00:13:19This extinction was truly ruthless.

00:13:22More than two-thirds of amphibian and reptile species disappeared, and nearly one-third

00:13:27of all insect species were wiped out.

00:13:30Usually the insects are resilient survivors, which shows how catastrophic this event was.

00:13:36Among these extinct animals was the terrifying Meganeuropsis, a giant dragonfly with a wingspan

00:13:41of nearly 2.5 feet, once found in central Kansas near Elmo.

00:13:46This place is famous for its rich collection of Permian insect fossils, including ancient

00:13:51crickets and cockroaches.

00:13:53For a while, it was a mystery what exactly happened.

00:13:56Theories ranged from a massive asteroid strike and natural pollutants choking the oceans

00:14:01of oxygen, to dust clouds, to cosmic volcanic eruptions blocking the sun and cooling the

00:14:06planet.

00:14:07There was evidence for each of these scenarios, but the recent discovery points to the volcanoes

00:14:12theory after all.

00:14:14There's also a possibility that the reason wasn't just the volcanoes.

00:14:19NASA-funded researchers have recently uncovered what might be the fingerprints of this ancient

00:14:24perpetrator, or at least one of its accomplices.

00:14:28By investigating rocks around the globe, they've found evidence pointing to a massive

00:14:32asteroid strike as a possible culprit.

00:14:35They found unusual molecules shaped like soccer balls, known as fullerenes.

00:14:40These molecules contain rare gases that usually come from space.

00:14:44This suggests that an enormous space rock, perhaps as large as Mount Everest, crashed

00:14:49into the Earth, contributing to extinction.

00:14:52There seems like there might've been a series of catastrophic events.

00:14:56The volcanoes were spewing vast quantities of lava and gas that altered the climate,

00:15:01Pangaea was forming and disrupting weather and ocean patterns, and an asteroid decided

00:15:06to join in as the cherry on top.

00:15:09Lucky for us, nature is super persistent and always finds its way to be reborn.

00:15:14This just proves how resilient the Earth is.

00:15:17Now, what's interesting is this wasn't the only time that happened.

00:15:22The late Devonian extinction, which happened around 360 million years ago, is also tied

00:15:28to volcanic activity.

00:15:30Volcanic eruptions and the proliferation of land plants could've altered the nutrients

00:15:34flowing into the oceans.

00:15:36The Triassic-Jurassic extinction, which happened around 200 million years ago, a bit before

00:15:42the dinosaurs, might've also been a result of a volcanoes-plus-asteroid-impact combo.

00:15:48And finally, about 66 million years ago, the last dramatic shift happened on Earth.

00:15:54Our planet went from the age of dinosaurs to the age of mammals.

00:15:58This momentous change is known as the K-Pg extinction.

00:16:02Just like the Permian extinction, it was a sudden event that ushered in new forms of

00:16:06life.

00:16:07And, once again, there are two major theories about what happened.

00:16:11The most popular theory tells us that the dinosaurs disappeared because of a massive

00:16:16asteroid.

00:16:17The Chicxulub meteorite smashed into present-day southern Mexico, creating the Chicxulub crater.

00:16:23The meteor was about 6 miles wide and hurtling towards Earth at incredible speeds.

00:16:28The impact was so powerful that it vaporized everything nearby instantly and released more

00:16:34energy than any other event in a billion years.

00:16:37The aftermath was catastrophic.

00:16:40Earthquakes shook the continents, and the ground itself heaved like a stormy sea.

00:16:45As the dust thrown up by the asteroid settled, it fell back to Earth like rain, heating up

00:16:49the atmosphere so much that forests worldwide burst into flames.

00:16:54Not far behind was a gigantic tsunami, stirred up by the ocean floor's upheaval, which

00:16:59swamped coastlines near the Gulf of Mexico.

00:17:02Not all dinosaurs perished immediately.

00:17:04In places like New Zealand, some dinosaur populations survived initially.

00:17:08However, a dark, ash-filled sky eventually covered the globe, blocking out the sun and

00:17:14plunging the world into cold and darkness.

00:17:17The long-term effect of the asteroid is what really sealed the fate for dinosaurs.

00:17:22Without sunlight, the food chain collapsed rapidly.

00:17:26Herbivores slowly disappeared, followed by the carnivores that depended on them, and

00:17:30the ash settling back to the Earth exacerbated the environmental upheaval, with fluctuating

00:17:35temperatures making survival tough.

00:17:38But there's another theory that says that, like with the Permian extinction, the asteroid

00:17:43was just the cherry on top.

00:17:45The dinosaur extinction was inevitable because of the volcanoes.

00:17:49Around a million years before the dinosaurs' demise, massive volcanic activity began under

00:17:54where India is today.

00:17:57This event created the Deccan Traps, a vast plateau formed from layers of lava that covered

00:18:02an area as large as France.

00:18:05For hundreds of thousands of years, these volcanoes spewed sulfur dioxide and carbon

00:18:09dioxide into the atmosphere.

00:18:12This turned the skies dark and the rain acidic, poisoning food sources and turning oceans

00:18:17into toxic baths.

00:18:19These changes were gradual but relentless, stressing ecosystems, breaking food chains,

00:18:25and leading to a slow but steady decline in many species, including the dinosaurs.

00:18:30Although it's not certain which theory is true, scientists now think that both were

00:18:35equally to blame.

00:18:37Maybe one day we'll have a clear picture of how the reign of the dinosaurs came to

00:18:41such an abrupt end.

00:18:45The largest volcanic region on Earth is not in Africa or Japan, but under the ice of Antarctica.

00:18:52Scientists found 138 volcanoes in its western part, and if they decide to go wild, you'll

00:18:58surely notice it.

00:18:59They could melt huge amounts of ice that will move into the ocean, raise its level, and

00:19:03make our planet uninhabitable for humans.

00:19:07But before you pack your things to fly away to another planet, hear me out.

00:19:11Only two of the Antarctic volcanoes are officially classified as active now, and it would take

00:19:16a whole series of eruptions decade after decade to seriously impact the whole world.

00:19:24Mount Erebus, one of the two Antarctic volcanoes currently in action, proudly bears the title

00:19:29of the world's southernmost active one.

00:19:32It has been continuously erupting since at least 1972.

00:19:36It emits plumes of gas and steam and sometimes even spews out rocks.

00:19:40And scientists call it Strombolian eruptions.

00:19:44One of the coolest features is a lava lake in one of its summit craters, with molten

00:19:48material on the surface.

00:19:50Such lakes are rather rare because they need certain conditions to make sure the surface

00:19:54never freezes over.

00:19:56The second active volcano is Deception Island, a horseshoe-shaped landmass.

00:20:01It is the caldera of an active volcano that last erupted over 50 years ago.

00:20:07Scientists who monitor it say it shouldn't go wild any time soon.

00:20:12Antarctica also has plenty of fumaroles.

00:20:14Those are volcanic vents that release gases and vapors into the air.

00:20:18In the right conditions, they can spew out enough stuff to build fumarolic ice towers

00:20:23up to 10 feet tall.

00:20:26Scientists keep an eye on the Antarctic volcanoes with seismometers that detect when the Earth

00:20:31starts trembling from volcanic activity.

00:20:34Sometimes they also use more complicated tech.

00:20:37But it's all really challenging because of how far away this polar region is and how

00:20:41tricky it is to get there.

00:20:43That's why no one can predict when one of the continent's volcanoes that are now sleeping

00:20:47might erupt.

00:20:49We can guess what this waking up would look like if we analyzed the events from nearly

00:20:5320,000 years ago.

00:20:55So shall we?

00:20:58One of Antarctica's sleeping volcanoes, Mount Takahe, had a series of eruptions and

00:21:03spewed out a good amount of halogens rich in ozone back then.

00:21:08Some scientists say these events warmed up the southern hemisphere.

00:21:11Glaciers started to melt and helped finish the last ice age.

00:21:15For these events to repeat, we'd need a series of eruptions with substances rich in

00:21:20halogens from one or more volcanoes that are now above the ice.

00:21:24It's an unlikely scenario, but since it already happened in the past, it's not completely

00:21:30impossible.

00:21:31As for volcanoes hiding under a thick layer of ice, it looks like their gases would hardly

00:21:36make it to the atmosphere.

00:21:38But they would be strong enough to melt huge caverns in the base of the ice and produce

00:21:43a serious amount of meltwater.

00:21:45The West Antarctic ice sheet is wet and not frozen to its bed, so this meltwater would

00:21:50work as a lubricant and set the overlying ice into motion soon.

00:21:55The volume of water that even a large volcano would generate in this way is nothing compared

00:22:00to the volume of ice beneath it.

00:22:02So a single eruption wouldn't make a difference.

00:22:05But several volcanoes erupting close to or beneath any of the western Antarctica's big

00:22:11ice streams would.

00:22:12Those ice streams are rivers of ice that take most of the frozen water in Antarctica into

00:22:17the ocean.

00:22:18If they change their speed and bring unusual amounts of water into the ocean, its level

00:22:24will rise.

00:22:25As the ice would get thinner and thinner, there would be more and more new eruptions.

00:22:30Scientists call it a runaway effect.

00:22:32Something like that happened in Iceland.

00:22:34The number of volcanic eruptions went up when glaciers started to recede at the end of the

00:22:39last ice age.

00:22:42So it looks like, for massive changes, several powerful volcanoes above the ice with gases

00:22:47full of halogens need to get active within a few decades of each other and stay strong

00:22:52over many tens to hundreds of years.

00:22:55Antarctica stores around 80% of all the fresh water in the world, and if they melted all

00:23:00of it, global sea levels would rise by almost 200 feet.

00:23:05And then we'd have to look for a new planet to live on.

00:23:08But this again is an unlikely scenario.

00:23:11It's more likely that the eruptions under the ice will lubricate ice streams and seep

00:23:15water into the ocean.

00:23:17But it wouldn't be the end of the world.

00:23:22A super-strong, super-angry supervolcano could do it, though, and it has already happened

00:23:27in the past.

00:23:28Over 200 million years ago, the world went through a major makeover with not one, not

00:23:34two, but four massive volcanic eruptions and huge pulses.

00:23:39The supervolcano, called Camp, had been erupting over and over for 600,000 years.

00:23:45It all happened in Rangelia, a large chunk of land that used to be a supermassive volcano

00:23:50stretching across what's now British Columbia and Alaska.

00:23:54And it wasn't the lava or the volcanic ash that ruined the environment.

00:23:58The eruption made carbon levels skyrocket.

00:24:01The planet would never be the same again.

00:24:03This volcanic activity might've helped dinosaurs grow from cat-sized critters into giants we

00:24:09saw in Jurassic Park.

00:24:11It kicked off a two-million-year rainy season.

00:24:14It made the whole world hot and humid.

00:24:16And the dinos just loved it.

00:24:19Researchers dug deep into sediment layers beneath an ancient lake in Asia to uncover

00:24:23these secrets.

00:24:24They found traces of volcanic ash and mercury, clear signs of those epic eruptions.

00:24:30There were carbon signatures showing huge spikes in carbon dioxide levels.

00:24:34It made the atmosphere toasty, and the rain poured down.

00:24:39So the bad news is, another eruption like this could happen.

00:24:43The supervolcano beneath Yellowstone National Park has been sleeping for nearly 70,000 years.

00:24:50But if it wakes up, it would be many times more catastrophic than the eruption of Mount

00:24:55St. Helens in 1980.

00:24:56It's considered the most disastrous volcanic eruption in U.S. history.

00:25:01It followed two months of earthquakes and injection of magma below the volcano that

00:25:06weakened and destroyed the entire north face of the mountain.

00:25:09The eruption column went 80,000 feet into the atmosphere and spread ash over 11 US states

00:25:15and several Canadian provinces.

00:25:18The last Yellowstone eruption was 1,000 times greater than that.

00:25:23The ground above Yellowstone sits on a hot spot made of molten and semi-molten rock called

00:25:28magma.

00:25:29This magma stuff flows into a chamber beneath the park, about 4 to 6 miles down, making

00:25:35the ground puff up like a balloon.

00:25:37But then, as it cools down, the ground goes back to its usual state.

00:25:42Volcano watchers have been keeping an eye on this for a century.

00:25:45They noticed the ground lift up about 10 inches around 20 years ago.

00:25:49But since 2010, it's been going back down.

00:25:53The experts say we have no big eruptions on the horizon, so doomsday isn't coming any

00:25:57time soon.

00:25:59But there's some underground activity going on lately which keeps us interested.

00:26:04Since humans haven't been around to witness every little thing Yellowstone does, it's

00:26:09kinda tough to say for sure what's brewing down there.

00:26:12Yellowstone has had some epic eruptions within the last couple million years.

00:26:16They happen like clockwork, with gaps of 6 to 800,000 years between them.

00:26:21The last big one was around 640,000 years ago, and it basically reshaped the entire

00:26:27landscape, spreading ash and debris as far as Louisiana.

00:26:31You can still see the aftermath of the last big eruption in the Yellowstone caldera today.

00:26:37Experts say a massive eruption like the last one is an unlikely scenario.

00:26:41We're more likely to see eruptions of steam and hot water or lava flows.

00:26:46When and with what force it will wake up remains a mystery to scientists.

00:26:52Back in the day, from 774 to 775, Earth got hit with a mega blast of radiation.

00:26:59This crazy burst of energy left its mark.

00:27:03Three rings from that year show way too high levels of radioactive stuff.

00:27:08But what exactly caused it?

00:27:11Scientists are inclined to think that the reason was a solar flare.

00:27:15Some folks think maybe a massive supernova caused the radiation blast.

00:27:19But astronomer Phil Plait says that if that had been the case, it would have had to be

00:27:24less than a thousand light years away and would have been crazy bright.

00:27:29But there's no record of that happening.

00:27:31No bright shiny death star in sight.

00:27:35After looking at the radioactive carbon and beryllium in tree rings, scientists ruled

00:27:39out a bunch of other possibilities.

00:27:42At first, they considered that it was a smash up between neutron stars or a neutron star

00:27:47and a black hole.

00:27:49These types of crashes produce a super quick blast of gamma rays without any light show,

00:27:54which lines up best with the evidence.

00:27:57But these kinds of collisions are super rare.

00:28:00Plait thinks it's kinda unlikely that this is the answer.

00:28:04He figures we should only see one of these events in our galaxy about once every million

00:28:09years.

00:28:10So having one just 1,200 years ago seems pretty wild.

00:28:15Scientists are seriously worried about these rare events.

00:28:18If one happened closer to Earth, it could seriously mess up life on our planet.

00:28:23Even if it was thousands of light years away, a similar event today could cause chaos with

00:28:28all the fancy electronic systems we've come to rely on.

00:28:32So it's a good thing those gamma ray bursts are so rare, because if they were more common,

00:28:37Earth might be in for a rough ride.

00:28:41You may think that if our planet could withstand mega radiation blasts, it can easily withstand

00:28:46something less frightening.

00:28:47Let's say grasshoppers.

00:28:50Sorry to say that, but it's not exactly true.

00:28:53Back in 1874, during a hot summer in Kansas, things took a strange turn.

00:29:00Grasshoppers, or should I say locusts, invaded the Great Plains like nobody's business.

00:29:06They came down like a storm, blanketing houses, trees, and even poor trains passing by.

00:29:12These bugs were on a mission to cause chaos.

00:29:17Farmers had to scramble to protect their wells and just about anything else worth saving.

00:29:22Locusts landed everywhere, wreaking havoc on everything in sight.

00:29:27Even poor sheep lost their wool.

00:29:30Locusts even stripped paint off wagons and handles off pitchforks.

00:29:34This is how destructive they were.

00:29:37Livestock tried to fight back by eating them, but there were just too many of these insects.

00:29:42That year, those critters caused about $200 million in crop damage.

00:29:47The locust invasion was so tough, even the US Army stepped in to help.

00:29:52In the end, locusts began to disappear, sparing the Plains from further devastation.

00:29:59Natural disasters can be even more unexpected than radiation blasts from space and locust

00:30:04invasions.

00:30:05Check this out.

00:30:07Back in June 2017, a reindeer herder up in northwest Siberia was minding their own business

00:30:13when they suddenly heard a crazy loud blast and saw smoke shooting up from the ground.

00:30:19If that happened to me, I'd need to change my pants.

00:30:22Sorry.

00:30:23Later on, they found this huge hole that was like 23 feet wide and nearly 65 feet deep

00:30:29and was surrounded by chunks of ice and dirt.

00:30:33It turned out that there were over 17 such black holes in the area.

00:30:37They were filled with peaty water and shrouded in mystery.

00:30:41Some folks thought those were sinkholes.

00:30:44Others were sure they were left by top-secret device tests or even a bunch of meteorites.

00:30:49Now, the latest idea is that these holes are actually craters caused by the Arctic warming

00:30:55up and melting the frozen ground.

00:30:57The theory states that as the ground thaws, gas pockets trapped beneath the surface burst

00:31:03through, creating such dramatic holes.

00:31:07Apparently, these eerie craters have been showing up in specific spots in Siberia where

00:31:12ancient geological faults have been leaking out hot natural gas for ages.

00:31:18Combine that with some leftover methane from old lake sediments, and you've got a recipe

00:31:23for some explosive surprises as the planet heats up!

00:31:28Not scared yet?

00:31:29All right, maybe you're afraid of darkness, huh?

00:31:32If so, you wouldn't like it back in 536.

00:31:36It's the year when the world went through a crazy 18-month period of darkness.

00:31:41A mysterious fog covered Europe, the Middle East, and parts of Asia, blocking out the

00:31:47sun and causing chaos.

00:31:50It was like the Dark Ages, but for real.

00:31:53It turns out that the main culprit behind this fog was a volcanic eruption in Iceland.

00:31:59This eruption spread ash across the northern hemisphere, causing temperatures to drop and

00:32:04crops to fail.

00:32:05People were freezing and starving.

00:32:08It was a mess.

00:32:10Historians from back in the day even talked about how weird it was.

00:32:14The sun looked like the moon, summers were freezing cold, and even China had summer snow.

00:32:21It was all because of the volcanic ash blocking out the sun.

00:32:25And to make things even worse, this period of darkness sparked the beginning of the Bubonic

00:32:31Plague in 541.

00:32:34Talk about a rough time to be alive!

00:32:38Let's go back to Siberia real quick.

00:32:41Back in 1908, way out in the wilds of Siberia, an asteroid dropped for an unexpected visit.

00:32:48Today, we know it as the Tunguska asteroid, but it didn't get its name instantly.

00:32:54Local folks only caught a glimpse of the show.

00:32:56A bright fireball streaking across the sky, followed by a massive boom.

00:33:03Trees went flying, fires blazed, and animals weren't too happy about it either.

00:33:09But since the area was so remote, not many folks took notice.

00:33:14For almost two decades, nobody bothered to check out the Tunguska site.

00:33:19People had too much on their plates back then.

00:33:21But then, scientists finally made it out there and found evidence of the asteroid's shenanigans.

00:33:27Later in expeditions, they found some spacey microparticles.

00:33:32Fast forward to now, and NASA has a whole planetary defense thing going on.

00:33:37They even sent a mission to test out asteroid-deflecting tech.

00:33:40Because who knows when the next cosmic rock will come knocking on our door, right?

00:33:46In the middle of the 19th century, there was one more epic solar storm called the Carrington

00:33:52Event.

00:33:53It may not sound like a big deal to you, but it had pretty rough consequences.

00:33:58The next day after the storm, Earth was hit with this insane geomagnetic storm that threw

00:34:03telegraphs off the rails and brought auroras to the tropics.

00:34:08And it's the place where they normally never show up.

00:34:12Turns out, all this space weather madness started with weird stuff happening on the

00:34:16sun's surface, like sunspots.

00:34:19From these spots, solar flares and other crazy electromagnetic stuff can pop out and mess

00:34:25with our technology.

00:34:27Massive solar storms like this one can shoot out from the sun at speeds of up to 1800 miles

00:34:33per second.

00:34:34They can contain billions of tons of solar material, complete with a sassy little magnetic

00:34:39field that loves to mess with Earth's magnetic field when they meet.

00:34:44Now, listen closely.

00:34:46We're getting close to the next solar maximum in 2025, so it's a good time to check out

00:34:51the history of the worst solar storms, like the Carrington Event, and take notice.

00:34:57Imagine if a similar storm hit today.

00:34:59An internet apocalypse, anyone?

00:35:02Businesses would be sent offline and we'd be facing some serious damages.

00:35:06Luckily, these mega solar storms don't happen very often.

00:35:10But hey, space weather is tricky to predict, so who knows when the next one will hit!

00:35:18The largest tree in the world is so massive, it even earned itself the nickname General

00:35:23Sherman.

00:35:24It stands tall in California's Sequoia National Park, stretching its branches at 275 ft toward

00:35:30the sky.

00:35:31That's almost as tall as the Statue of Liberty.

00:35:34As for its weight, if we could place it on a scale, we'd need 400 elephants to balance

00:35:39things out.

00:35:41Its base stretches 36 ft in diameter, big enough to hide two sedans parked end-to-end.

00:35:48California is the last place on Earth where these colossal trees grow naturally.

00:35:53During the Ice Age, they flourished across North America and Europe, but as the glaciers

00:35:58retreated, so did the sequoias.

00:36:00Today they thrive along the western slope of the Sierra Nevada Range, relying on the

00:36:05melting glacier caps to quench their thirst.

00:36:08General Sherman gathers thousands of visitors every day, and the park's infrastructure

00:36:13caters to this.

00:36:14There's a short half-mile walk from the nearest parking lot that leads to the big

00:36:19green giant.

00:36:20Along the way, a stone marker outlines the shape and size of the tree's base, to give

00:36:25visitors a sense of its immense scale.

00:36:29This sassy sequoia is estimated to be around 23-2700 years old and has witnessed centuries

00:36:36of change.

00:36:37It sprouted during the early days of the Roman Empire.

00:36:41When Europeans arrived in California in the late 1800s, they first tried to harvest the

00:36:46sequoias, thinking they had valuable wood.

00:36:49However, the sheer effort required to take down these giants was enormous for those days.

00:36:55They also soon figured out that this type of wood was a bit more brittle than expected,

00:37:00so they let these trees off the hook.

00:37:03As for its name, the tree shares it with General William Tecumseh Sherman, a 19th-century famous

00:37:09American public servant.

00:37:11Not far from General Sherman stands the world's second-largest tree, named General Grant.

00:37:17Founded by locals years before General Sherman received its name, this tree has weathered

00:37:22its own share of challenges, including fires.

00:37:25But like its counterpart, it survived, mostly thanks to its thick bark and resilient hardwood.

00:37:32As for the oldest tree, for a long time, we've known it to be a Great Basin bristlecone pine

00:37:38named Methuselah, also found in California.

00:37:41It's been around for more than 4,800 years, way before the Egyptians built the Pyramids

00:37:46of Giza.

00:37:47This tree's location is a bit of a secret to keep it safe from harm.

00:37:52Methuselah and its friends grow way up high in California, Nevada, and Utah, where it's

00:37:57tough to survive.

00:37:59The place is cold, with dry soil and fierce winds, but these strong timbers have figured

00:38:04out how to thrive, getting their nutrients from the hard, rocky ground up in the mountains.

00:38:09Their branches are twisted and gnarled because of the winds blowing in all directions as

00:38:13they reach maturity.

00:38:15It does make their appearance a bit messy, but it's an added layer of resistance for

00:38:20those trees during powerful storms.

00:38:23Their roots only feed the branches right above them, so if one part of the tree's roots

00:38:27fades away, only that part of the tree will be affected.

00:38:32There's a new contender, however, for the same title of the oldest tree.

00:38:36In Chile, there's a Patagonian cypress called Gran Abuello, which means Great Grandfather

00:38:42in Spanish.

00:38:43It might even be older than Methuselah by about 500 years.

00:38:47This would mean this tree has seen people roaming around during the Bronze Age.

00:38:52To figure out a tree's age, we generally need to look inside its bark and count its

00:38:57rings.

00:38:58For the Gran Abuello, though, scientists use complex math to estimate how old it is.

00:39:03Some experts aren't convinced by this method just yet.

00:39:07No matter which tree is older, both Methuselah and the Gran Abuello have seen a lot of changes

00:39:12in their long lives.

00:39:14Each ring in their trunks holds info about the weather from the year it grew.

00:39:19Scientists can learn a ton about past climates on our planet by studying these ancient trees.

00:39:25The world's tallest tree is also off-limit to visitors, but this is a recent safety measure.

00:39:31Its name is Hyperion and it's located in Redwood National Park, California.

00:39:37Standing at a towering 380 feet, Hyperion is a coastal redwood, taller than the length

00:39:43of an American football field.

00:39:45Named after a character in Greek mythology, Hyperion was discovered in 2006 by two researchers.

00:39:52The park is home to other incredibly tall trees like Helios and Icarus, both also reaching

00:39:58heights of over 370 feet.

00:40:01The impressive height of redwoods in Northern California is due to their leaves and the

00:40:06region's climate.

00:40:07These trees absorb and store moisture from morning fog, and their sprouts promote growth

00:40:13after injury, allowing them to live for a very long time.

00:40:17However, their shallow roots make them susceptible to damage from hikers.

00:40:22Besides being a record holder, Hyperion's appearance may not live up to the hype.

00:40:27Witnessing its towering height from the ground is hard, and its trunk isn't that impressive.

00:40:32Hyperion is currently tucked away in a closed-off section with no official trail.

00:40:38But despite this, many tree enthusiasts have trampled through over the years, harming the

00:40:43habitat leading up to it.

00:40:45Trash has also been found along the way in the past.

00:40:48The park recently issued a statement urging visitors to steer clear of this tree, otherwise

00:40:53they could face hundreds of dollars worth of fines and even end up behind bars.

00:40:59The Tree of Life stands as a resilient symbol amidst the arid desert landscape of Bahrain.

00:41:05Nestled in the highest point of the country, this ancient tree defies odds, captivating

00:41:10visitors with its mysterious and inexplicable presence.

00:41:14It's surrounded by endless stretches of heated dunes in the Arabian desert.

00:41:19Because it stands alone against the desert backdrop, it has puzzled scientists and botanists

00:41:24for years.

00:41:25There's little to no rainfall over there.

00:41:28There are also no freshwater sources nearby.

00:41:31Despite the lack of moisture, the Tree of Life insists on flourishing, flaunting its

00:41:36green foliage.

00:41:37How it manages to survive in such harsh conditions led to some weird theories.

00:41:42Some speculate that the tree's roots go deep into the earth, reaching depths of up

00:41:47to 160 feet to access underground water reserves.

00:41:51Others suggest that the tree has adapted to its environment, drawing moisture from

00:41:55the surrounding sand grains through specialized mechanisms.

00:41:59One other interesting idea is that the Tree of Life lies at the side of the legendary

00:42:04Garden of Eden, getting its water from a mystical source.

00:42:08Apart from its scientific and cultural significance, the Tree of Life is an important tourist attraction

00:42:14for locals, luring in approximately 65,000 visitors each year.

00:42:20Poland has its fair share of trees worth mentioning, all gathered in the Crooked Forest.

00:42:28It's a group of 400 trees that bend strangely.

00:42:32They all have a similar shape, curving sharply toward the sky in little J-shapes, almost

00:42:37touching the ground.

00:42:38People have different ideas about why these trees look like that.

00:42:42Some think a heavy snowstorm covered them when they were young, pushing them down.

00:42:47Others believe the area's gravity might have affected how they grow.

00:42:51One interesting theory is that people who planted these trees back in the 1920s might

00:42:56have bent them on purpose.

00:42:58They wanted to use the curved shapes to expedite the furniture manufacturing process.

00:43:04So when the trees were about 10 years old, they interfered with their growth, making

00:43:08them develop in this odd shape.

00:43:11After the manipulation process was stopped, it left the trees in this weird position for

00:43:16decades.

00:43:17Either way, whatever happened to one tree happened to them all because they're all

00:43:21adjusted in the same way, so human intervention is the most likely explanation.

00:43:27Even though all the trees in the Crooked Forest look the same with their spooky bend, they

00:43:32still manage to grow tall and healthy.

00:43:34They've adapted to their difficult conditions, and somehow, they've managed to keep growing

00:43:40upwards.

00:43:41If you're a fan of Dr. Pimple Popper, you're probably freaking out right now, itching to

00:43:46squeeze out every little blackhead from those lip contours.

00:43:49But this is actually a hill formation that you can find in Garb, Sudan.

00:43:54Knowing that perhaps makes it all the more creepy, because it looks like the crack in

00:43:59the middle is swallowing up everything around it.

00:44:03This black hole scenario brings to mind our next stop, Vostok Island.

00:44:08This eerie spot is a 59-acre coral atoll situated in the southwestern Pacific Ocean.

00:44:15400 miles northwest of Tahiti.

00:44:18If you check it out on Google Earth today, it looks like it's been totally blacked out,

00:44:23sparking all sorts of wild theories.

00:44:26People keep saying that this place is some top secret base, or even a fictional island

00:44:30straight out of Lost.

00:44:32But what we see here is actually just a dense, dark green forest made up of Pisonia trees.

00:44:38Since nobody lives there and hardly anyone ever visits, the island is pretty much untouched

00:44:44by humans.

00:44:48This massive star, or mandala, is situated just outside Beatty, Nevada.

00:44:53It has got the internet all puzzled with people trying to figure out if it's evidence of some

00:44:58kind of extraterrestrial activity.

00:45:01To add to the mystery, this spot is right by the Taunapa Test Range, which is also known

00:45:06as the famous Area 52.

00:45:10Despite its creepiness, it's probably just one of the thousands of crop circles that

00:45:13gained fame after Google Earth came along.

00:45:17This spiral formation right here is also located in Nevada, and it definitely looks like another

00:45:23chilling crop circle.

00:45:25But things get even stranger if you use the street view option.

00:45:29As you zoom in closer and closer, you'll notice that it's made up of carefully arranged rocks.

00:45:35This labyrinth, so to speak, is part of an open-air museum situated in the ghost town

00:45:40of Reolite.

00:45:41And if that's not creepy enough, take a look around, and you'll see dozens of eerie men

00:45:46in white cloaks.

00:45:48Despite their lifelike appearance, these silhouettes are actually statues from an installation

00:45:53created by a Belgian artist in the 80s.

00:45:59Even stranger than stumbling upon a large circle on the ground is finding a bunch of

00:46:04them.

00:46:05Our next location in Wyoming is filled with peculiar circle structures to the point where

00:46:10it's hard to count them all.

00:46:12During the 20th century, this US state shifted from a farming economy to an industrial one,

00:46:18dominated by the extraction of oil, gas, and coal.

00:46:22So these circles are likely remnants of a tank farm, I mean, places where oil storage

00:46:28tanks used to be located.

00:46:32If you want to avoid nightmares, I highly recommend not searching for the mausoleum

00:46:37of Emil Becker in Poland.

00:46:40If you happen to find it by using the street view mode, prepare yourself to face an abandoned

00:46:45place with the most terrifying sculpture there is, oh, the creeps!

00:46:50Keeping on the spooky side, let's head to an isolated corner of Kazakhstan, where you

00:46:55can find a pentagram etched into the earth's surface.

00:46:58This formation is huge, measuring roughly 1,200 feet in diameter.

00:47:05Before you jump to conclusions about this formation being related to some kind of underworld

00:47:10deity worship, it's worth noting that the pentagram actually turns out to be the outline

00:47:15of a park, designed in the shape of a star.

00:47:18The star shape is marked by roadways, which are now lined with trees, making the star

00:47:23shape even more distinct in aerial photos.

00:47:26You can spot this peculiar symbol from quite a distance.

00:47:30At first glance, it might even resemble an otherworldly alphabet, as if a highly intelligent

00:47:36civilization is trying to send us an alert message.

00:47:40But this mystery is already solved.

00:47:42We are in Dahoga Valua, a Dutch national park located in the province of Gelderland.

00:47:49And these lines are actually part of the park's logo.

00:47:55Watch for these coordinates to find what looks like a land formation straight out of

00:48:00an extraterrestrial landscape, or perhaps a set from Avatar!

00:48:04This place, located in Inner Mongolia, China, is believed to be a granite mine.

00:48:10But it's a bit of a mystery why it has such a striking blue tone on Google Earth.

00:48:15If you check it out on Microsoft Bing Maps, for example, the same location appears in

00:48:20a much more natural tone.

00:48:23In the Australian outback lies a massive geoglyph known as the Mari Man.

00:48:29Discovered in the late 90s, it appears to represent an indigenous Australian man hunting

00:48:34with a boomerang or stick.

00:48:36The figure stretches for more than 2 miles in length and about 1.6 miles wide.

00:48:41It has deep furrows carved into the ground, which adds to the complexity of its formation

00:48:46and origin.

00:48:48Despite efforts to uncover its purpose, its origin is still a mystery.

00:48:56This is Desert Breath, located in the Sahara.

00:48:59Like many things you have seen in this video, this formation also sparked speculation about

00:49:04it being created by extraterrestrial beings.

00:49:07But a quick Google search clears up that mystery.

00:49:10It turns out this is an art installation created by a group of three Greek artists back in

00:49:161997.

00:49:17They went all out, moving around a whopping 280,000 square feet of sand and even creating

00:49:23a large pool in the middle of it.

00:49:26Egypt still holds many mysteries, and you can explore them yourself with Google Earth.

00:49:31That's how some people stumbled upon this striking triangular-shaped plateau and immediately

00:49:36jumped to the conclusion that they'd discovered a hidden pyramid.

00:49:40However, experts quickly dashed their hopes.

00:49:43They believe there's no plausible explanation for a pyramid to exist in this area, located

00:49:478 miles west of the Nile Valley edge in Upper Egypt.

00:49:52This discovery is likely nothing more than a hill that has suffered the effects of erosion,

00:49:57combined with a heavy dose of wishful thinking.

00:50:02In some cases, nature itself is responsible for creating frightening sculptures, like

00:50:08the Badlands Guardian in Alberta, Canada.

00:50:11If you look at it from above, you'll notice not one, but two human heads emerging from

00:50:16the landscape.

00:50:18These gigantic beings were sculpted by rainwater erosion on layers of clay-rich soil.

00:50:24Ironically, additional human-made structures give the impression that this one is wearing

00:50:28wired headphones.

00:50:31It seems that deserts are a prime spot for discovering strange images on Google Earth.

00:50:36So our next stop is China.

00:50:39In the Gobi Desert, you'll come across zig-zagging white lines that look kind of random.

00:50:45The first challenge for armchair experts was figuring out what these structures were made

00:50:49of, as it's hard to tell if they're painted on or dug into the landscape.

00:50:54There's still a lot of speculation about it on the internet.

00:50:57But the most plausible explanation is that this structure is used for calibrating satellites.

00:51:02This way, satellite cameras can focus on these large grids to orient themselves in space.

00:51:11Check out this intact plane that seems to have sunk beneath the ocean off the coast

00:51:15of Crooked Island, Bahamas.

00:51:18Some viral videos claim it's a crashed plane belonging to the infamous Pablo Escobar.

00:51:23The truth is that something lying on the bottom of the ocean can't be that visible, so it's

00:51:28more likely that it's a plane that was actually flying when Google captured these images.

00:51:33However, there is a strong belief that Pablo Escobar did have a plane that crashed nearby.

00:51:39But it was in another part of the Bahamas known as Norman's Cay.

00:51:43You can still spot it in shallow turquoise waters.

00:51:46Just search for Norman's Cay sunken plane, and there it is.

00:51:52If you're convinced that extraterrestrials are already among us, then go ahead and type

00:51:56in these coordinates on Google Earth.

00:51:59Explore the area using Street View, and wow, what is it?

00:52:04Of course we're not talking about visitors from other planets.

00:52:07But this shadow of a gigantic creature still gives me the creeps.

00:52:12Turns out it's just a person lugging around one of those 360-degree Street View cameras

00:52:17tucked away in a trekker backpack.

00:52:19So hey, if you take a good look around Google Earth, you might stumble upon more of these

00:52:24elongated necked beings walking around the globe.

00:52:32The strongest earthquake ever to strike east of the Mississippi River that happened over

00:52:37200 years ago was never over, according to some scientists.

00:52:42Most earthquakes last seconds to minutes, and the official record-breaker so far is

00:52:46a silent one in Sumatra that was going on for 32 years.

00:52:51This slow-slip event triggered a massive quake and a tsunami.

00:52:55So if it's true that the New Madrid earthquake is still sending aftershocks, we'll have

00:52:59a new top name for this sad list.

00:53:03The earthquake started in December of 1811 with a powerful quake in a sparsely populated

00:53:08part of northeast Arkansas.

00:53:10They felt the shaking almost 1,000 miles away in the White House.

00:53:14And the tower bells were ringing in Boston, even further away.

00:53:18It even made the mighty Mississippi flow backward for a few minutes over new waterfalls formed

00:53:23by shifted ground.

00:53:25The town of New Madrid, Missouri completely disappeared in the disaster.

00:53:32The Earth wouldn't stay still until the end of January the following year, when things

00:53:36got serious again.

00:53:38A massive quake hit, this time near the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, right

00:53:44in the Missouri Boothill.

00:53:46Experts believe it was a rupture on the New Madrid Fault, putting even more strain on

00:53:51the nearby Reelfoot Fault.

00:53:53Just when people thought it couldn't get worse, another two weeks of trembling passed,

00:53:58and the Reelfoot Fault snapped deep beneath New Madrid.

00:54:02Down in Tennessee, about 15 miles south of New Madrid, the ground uplift created Reelfoot

00:54:07Lake.

00:54:08Steamboats were chugging along the river, with thousands of trees floating and acres

00:54:13of woods torn apart by the quake.

00:54:16In St. Louis, Missouri, which is 160 miles away, buildings were badly damaged, and chimneys

00:54:21fell in Cincinnati, Ohio, 400 miles away.

00:54:25People all the way in Montreal, Canada, over 1,000 miles away, felt the earthshake.

00:54:34Seismologists have registered about 200 small earthquakes in the New Madrid seismic zone

00:54:38every year since 1974.

00:54:41Some researchers believe that up to 30% of those were aftershocks from those big quakes

00:54:47back in 1811 and 1812.

00:54:50In parts of the US where there's not much tectonic action going on, these aftershocks

00:54:54could keep rumbling for years, maybe even centuries, after the big ones hit.

00:55:00Aftershocks are the Earth's way of releasing all that built-up stress from the main quake.

00:55:05When the ground shakes from the first earthquake, it puts a lot of pressure on the rocks nearby.

00:55:10And when those rocks can't take it anymore, they crack, causing even more shaking.

00:55:15That's the aftershock.

00:55:17And they can be pretty intense, especially right after the main quake, but weaken over

00:55:22time.

00:55:26Not all scientists agree that contemporary earthquakes have to do with those from 200

00:55:30years ago.

00:55:31We mostly associate faults with those lines where Earth's plates meet.

00:55:36There's a whole network of those right under the center of the North American plate.

00:55:41They're like relics from 750 million years ago, when North America was part of a supercontinent

00:55:46called Rodinia.

00:55:48When Rodinia started to break up, it left behind these rifts, weak spots in the Earth's

00:55:53crust that run deep beneath the modern Midwest.

00:55:57It could explain the earthquake action.

00:56:00An international team of geologists decided to take a fresh look at three major earthquakes

00:56:05that shook North America and end the debate.

00:56:08They used a new math method called the nearest neighbor.

00:56:11It says that if earthquakes are too close in space, time, and magnitude to be independent

00:56:17background events, then one is assumed to have triggered the other.

00:56:21Depending on how you look at the numbers, somewhere between 10 to 65% of the recent

00:56:26quakes in the region could be aftershocks of those historic earthquakes.

00:56:31And a huge quake that hit Charleston, South Carolina at the end of the 19th century might

00:56:36explain up to 72% of the earthquakes in the area since then.

00:56:41But not all places are the same, so the scientific debate continues.

00:56:49In 1774, British explorer James Cook noticed a glow in the distance.

00:56:54It was the volcano of Mount Yasur in Vanuatu.

00:56:58This bad boy had been spewing lava and ash ever since, and it's quite likely that it's

00:57:03been doing that for way, way longer.

00:57:06The volcano has been sitting at alert level since October 2016, which means things are

00:57:12really unsettled around there.

00:57:13They've even marked off a 2,000-foot radius around the crater to keep people safe.

00:57:19There have been low to moderate outbursts, shooting out ash, gas, and steam, and some

00:57:24bigger blasts throwing stuff outside the crater.

00:57:27Some satellite images have picked up on some hotspots of sulfur dioxide plumes, showing

00:57:32that Yasur is still cooking up a big storm down there.

00:57:36Stromboli, one of the volcanic islands near Sicily, officially has the Guinness World

00:57:41Record as the longest continuously erupting volcano.

00:57:45It has been putting on a fiery show for over 2,400 years straight.

00:57:51Ancient sailors nicknamed it the Lighthouse of the Mediterranean.

00:57:55Most of the time, Stromboli's just spitting out spatter, but every now and then, it throws

00:58:00in some lava flows or shoots up some moderately high fountains.

00:58:04Sometimes, you might even catch a glimpse of steam-driven outbursts.

00:58:11Over 200 million years ago, the world went through a major makeover, with not one, not

00:58:16two, but four massive volcanic eruptions changing the game.

00:58:21It all happened in Renzelia, a large chunk of island that used to be a supermassive volcano

00:58:27stretching across what's now British Columbia and Alaska.

00:58:31This volcanic activity might've helped dinosaurs grow from cat-sized critters into giants we

00:58:37saw in Jurassic Park.

00:58:39It kicked off a two-million-year rainy season.

00:58:42It made the whole world hot and humid, and the dinos just loved it.

00:58:47Explorers dug deep into sediment layers beneath an ancient lake in China to uncover these

00:58:52secrets.

00:58:53They found traces of volcanic ash and mercury, clear signs of those epic eruptions.

00:58:58There were carbon signatures showing huge spikes in carbon dioxide levels, making the

00:59:03atmosphere toasty and the rain pouring down.

00:59:06It all happened in four separate pulses, each triggered by those monstrous volcanic blasts.

00:59:15There's a spot in a national park not too far away from Sydney, Australia, where a fire

00:59:20has been raging deep underground for at least 6,000 years.

00:59:24They call it Burning Mountain, and it's a coal seam fire, burning its way through a

00:59:29layer of coal beneath your surface.

00:59:31Once these underground fires start, they're pretty much impossible to put out.

00:59:36This ball of fire is up to 30 feet wide and extremely hot.

00:59:40But there's no flame – it's smoldering.

00:59:42The fire has been creeping along at a pace of about 3 feet per year.

00:59:47A local farmer first spotted it in the 19th century and thought it was a volcano.

00:59:52The people who have lived here for ages believe this place is sacred.

00:59:55They've used it for cooking and crafting tools, and tell that it started from a widow's

01:00:00tears or the torch of a hero.

01:00:03But experts think it could've been a lightning strike or coal heating up like a summer barbecue

01:00:09from the interaction with oxygen.

01:00:14Some say it might've been burning since before the dinosaurs roamed the Earth.

01:00:18No one knows exactly how long this mountain will burn or in what direction it'll move.

01:00:23Right now, the coal has enough oxygen to burn for centuries, or even millennia, without

01:00:28human intervention.

01:00:30The fire is heating up the mountain like a giant oven, making it crack and crumble, inviting

01:00:35in more oxygen to feed on.

01:00:37Even if humans decide to take action, these coal seam fires need truckloads of water and

01:00:42liquid nitrogen to tame them.

01:00:45Several years ago, explorers noticed that the smolder was creeping close to a cliff

01:00:50overlooking a little river.

01:00:52And depending on what the coal seam decides to do next, we could see some dramatic changes

01:00:57here in the coming decades.

01:00:59There could be flames with much more heat, or the coal seam could go deep, extinguish

01:01:03itself, and smolder out.

01:01:08Rekhat's structure is a giant formation in the Sahara that looks exactly like a giant

01:01:13bullseye.

01:01:14It's so wide that you can see it from space.

01:01:17Even the CIA got interested in it.

01:01:19In 1965, they planned a flyover looking for geomagnetic anomalies.

01:01:24The findings are still classified.

01:01:26Perhaps the theories are true, and this place is truly the lost city of Atlantis.

01:01:31Now Atlantis supposedly sank beneath the waves.

01:01:34But recent discoveries are pointing us in a different direction.

01:01:38This is an ancient story that goes far back in time, and Plato was the first to mention

01:01:42it.

01:01:43The place had loads of greenery and a curious structure – three concentric circles of

01:01:47land surrounding two circles of water.

01:01:50Two key quotes from Plato's writing suggest that Atlantis might not have been a typical

01:01:55island in the middle of the ocean.

01:01:57Plus, Atlantis had a major influence from Africa and Europe, challenging the idea of

01:02:03it being in the Atlantic.

01:02:05It turns out that the Eye of the Sahara and Atlantis look alike.

01:02:09When astronauts saw the Eye of Sahara from above, they initially suspected a meteorite

01:02:14impact crater.

01:02:15But the rings of the structure match the layout described of Atlantis.

01:02:19More importantly, the Sahara wasn't always a desert.

01:02:23It turned from a tropical region into a desert around 11,000 years ago.

01:02:28Researchers found evidence of a massive river called the Tamarasset that could've sustained

01:02:32a community.

01:02:33This river flowed toward the rickhat structure, aligning with Plato's description.

01:02:40The Trans-Saharan Seaway ran through the Sahara 50 to 100 million years ago.

01:02:45The sea allegedly destroyed Atlantis around 11,500 years ago, likely due to a rapid rise

01:02:51in sea level caused by the end of the Ice Age.

01:02:54NASA's worldview imagery shows patterns consistent with this theory.

01:02:59Those concentric rings might be a key to unlocking the secrets of our planet's evolution over

01:03:04millions of years.

01:03:06They're shaped by erosion on resilient rock layers, creating a spooky pattern of ridges

01:03:11and troughs.

01:03:12The central peak stands proud at 1,300 feet.

01:03:16The central part has undergone a significant erosion makeover, revealing a circular structure

01:03:21with a raised peak.

01:03:23Unlike impact craters, the Eye of the Sahara flaunts a striking balance and symmetry.

01:03:28Some say it results from rock uplift, sculpted by wind and water.

01:03:32Others think it's an ancient anticline, eroded to reveal its concentric glory.

01:03:37Then there's a salt diapyr theory, suggesting that salt's buoyancy sculpted this beauty.

01:03:43Digging techniques have proved that it formed 541 to 252 million years ago, give or take

01:03:50a million or two.

01:03:52Ancient tools are scattered around the outer rings of the structure near riverbeds.

01:03:56Some older stone tools have also been spotted in the same areas.

01:04:00And still, even though some spear points from the Neolithic period have been found, there

01:04:04aren't many signs that people were living there back then.

01:04:08The area seems to have been used for short-term activities like hunting and making tools.

01:04:15There are other unearthly mysteries that haunt our world.

01:04:18One such enigma is in Norway.

01:04:21The ominous Hessdalen Light Phenomenon, also known as the Valley of Lights, leaves scientists

01:04:26confused.

01:04:27This valley is 10 miles wide.

01:04:29It's quite isolated, but a peculiar blue box sits high on the hillside, equipped with

01:04:35cameras scanning the valley.

01:04:37The unsettling saga began in the 1980s, when the night sky over Hessdalen erupted with

01:04:43burning fireballs, a recurring spectacle that sent shivers down the spines of those who

01:04:47witnessed it.

01:04:49This wasn't a fleeting occurrence.

01:04:50Rather, it became a regular thing.

01:04:53Terrified locals reported encounters with these unexplained luminous phenomena, some

01:04:58of which happened near their homes.

01:05:00Unease spread like wildfire.

01:05:02At its peak, there were about 20 sightings every week.

01:05:06The phenomenon made its way into newspapers, magazines, and media worldwide.

01:05:10Soon, people flocked to the valley, hoping to see the lights themselves.

01:05:15In 1984, experts joined the fray, armed with sophisticated instruments like magnetometers,

01:05:21radiometers, and other-ometers.

01:05:23What they encountered was mind-bending – lights that defied explanation.

01:05:28Some moved at a leisurely pace, while others raced through the sky at an astonishing 19,000

01:05:33miles per hour.

01:05:35People tried to explain these lights – airplanes, distant reflections, ball lightning, satellites,

01:05:40planets, meteors.

01:05:42But the speed and how these lights danced ruled out all those theories.

01:05:47We're slowly approaching another mysterious place.

01:05:52This is the greatest subglacial lake among Antarctica's 675 known lakes.

01:05:58It can easily hide unknown lifeforms.

01:06:01This lake is beneath the East Antarctic Ice Sheet.

01:06:04Dive about 2.5 miles under the ice, and there you'll see Lake Vostok, located at 1,600

01:06:11feet below sea level.

01:06:12This lake is 155 miles long and 31 miles wide at its broadest point.

01:06:19With an average depth of 1,400 feet, it's also the world's 6th largest by volume.

01:06:24It's like an underwater city with lofty pillars and deep bases.

01:06:29The secret lake was discovered in 1993, yet it had been waiting to be found down there

01:06:33for over 2,000 years, collecting ancient secrets.

01:06:38In 2012, scientists drilled through the ice, creating the longest ice core ever.

01:06:43They pierced the ice all the way to the lake's surface.

01:06:46The year 2013 brought an unexpected twist when the tranquil waters erupted during the

01:06:52extraction of an ice core, mixing with drilling fluids.

01:06:55Then they got a pristine water sample in 2015.

01:06:59Some believe there might be previously unknown lifeforms down there, since it's a fossil

01:07:04water reserve that's been untouched for millions of years.

01:07:07It could be a lot like those speculated ice-covered oceans on moons like Europa and Enceladus.

01:07:14It all started with a theory in the 19th century, suggesting fresh water lurking under Antarctic

01:07:19ice sheets.

01:07:20Then, in 1955, seismic soundings hinted at a subglacial lake.

01:07:25And by the 90s, satellite data confirmed Lake Vostok's existence.

01:07:30Lake Vostok isn't alone.

01:07:32In 2005, they found an island in the middle of the lake.

01:07:36Then, two smaller lakes joined the party.

01:07:38They suspect that a secret network of subglacial rivers might link these lakes.

01:07:45Now, very far away from Antarctica, in Venezuela, Catatumbo lightning presents a sinister light

01:07:52show at the junction of the Catatumbo River and Lake Maracaibo.

01:07:56This unsettling lightning phenomenon happens at about 140 to 160 nights a year, going on

01:08:03for 10 hours a day, and can flash up to 280 times in a single hour.

01:08:08The frequency of this lightning show changes with the seasons and from year to year.

01:08:13There was a break between January to March in 2010, causing a bit of worry that it might

01:08:18vanish forever.

01:08:20As the sun sets, winds from the east start picking up speed.

01:08:24This strong wind is called a nocturnal low-level jet, like what you see in the Great Plains

01:08:29of North America.

01:08:30These winds bring moisture, mostly from the Caribbean and the lake itself.

01:08:35This humid air hits high mountain ridges, causing thunderstorms to form over the mountains.

01:08:40Thanks to the ongoing wind situation, more thunderstorms appear as the night goes on.

01:08:45This pattern repeats itself, and is why this area has the highest annual lightning rate

01:08:50globally.

01:08:54The next place scientists cannot explain is in China, that is, the Longyou Caves.

01:08:59They have lofty slanted roofs and sturdy pillars.

01:09:02The spot remained hidden for centuries.

01:09:05These human-made caverns, built around 2,000 years ago, decided to reveal themselves only

01:09:11in the 90s.

01:09:12Local farmers drained some ponds and unveiled five massive caverns.

01:09:17Further digging exposed an additional 19 smaller caves.

01:09:20They ranged from 60 to 110 feet in width and 26 to 50 feet in height.

01:09:27Scientists found historical relics from the reign of Emperor Zhuang of Han, dating back

01:09:32to over 2,000 years ago.

01:09:34Now how did these caves survive for more than two millennia without falling apart?

01:09:39No ancient records explain the way they were crafted either.

01:09:42The walls show chisel marks, hinting at some layer-by-layer chiseling action, but the exact

01:09:47construction process is still a head-scratcher.

01:09:52There are entire communities of unusual tiny organisms that live in lagoons in Patagonia,

01:09:58and they are some of the first forms of life ever.

01:10:01No one had known about them until two scientists, Brian and Maria, went to explore certain areas

01:10:07in Patagonia.

01:10:09Patagonia occupies nearly half of Argentina, and few people live there.

01:10:14Only some farmers and cheap ranchers that mostly stay near rivers and grow things such

01:10:18as apples, pears, and alfalfa.

01:10:21A long time ago, it was a wild and distant place where Indian tribes lived.

01:10:27But this time, we're going to follow the tracks of life forms that appeared long before humans

01:10:32and look closer at these interesting microorganisms Brian and Maria found.

01:10:37Those two had to drive for 9 hours on some rough roads to reach their destination.

01:10:42They stayed in a small village.

01:10:44Only 35 people live there.

01:10:46These people depend on just one spring because it almost never rains there.

01:10:51On the last night in the village, Brian realized that satellite images he had taken had shown

01:10:57a set of lagoons that were only 10 miles away.

01:11:00The next day, the small team jumped into a car and went up the road as far as they could

01:11:06until it became too difficult to drive.

01:11:08They continued hiking the rest of the way.

01:11:11It was hard because they had to carry water to deal with the intense sunlight.

01:11:16In some spots, they ended up sinking up to their knees in a slush made of salt.

01:11:22Up there, there were 12 lagoons with perfectly clear waters.

01:11:26The place itself didn't offer much, except for very acidic and salty water and intense

01:11:31direct sunlight.

01:11:33But it was kinda like traveling back in time, because those conditions were like what Earth

01:11:38looked like many, many years ago.

01:11:41When Brian examined the lagoons, he was surprised to see many unusual microorganisms there.

01:11:47We call them stromatolites, and they're so small we can't even see them without

01:11:51a microscope.

01:11:53But they get together and form large communities.

01:11:56In the past, many unusual species lived this way.

01:11:59For example, cyanobacteria.

01:12:02They were important back in their time because they produced oxygen.

01:12:06Earth in its initial stages didn't have much of this gas in its atmosphere.

01:12:12The first stromatolites might've been formed by diverse types of bacteria that didn't

01:12:17necessarily produce any oxygen but were just living their peaceful life there.

01:12:22They formed layers, piling on top of one another, so that at least some of them could get a

01:12:26bit of sunlight.

01:12:28They used sand and sticky liquids to stay close together.

01:12:32Brian was also incredibly surprised because those were the biggest living stromatolites

01:12:37he had ever seen.

01:12:38Living stromatolites usually grow to be over 3.3 feet high.

01:12:43But the newly found ones were 15 feet wide and a few feet tall, which is giant compared

01:12:49to those living in other places.

01:12:51And fossilized ones were even larger.

01:12:54A long time ago, they could grow bigger than today because there weren't many other species

01:12:59that could eat or harm them.

01:13:03Also, there are many other organisms today that can grow faster and more massive than

01:13:09them and take up their space.

01:13:11That's why stromatolites can only survive in rare places where hardly anything else

01:13:17can live.

01:13:18Like in these very salty lagoons located high above sea level in Puta de Atacama.

01:13:24The stromatolites found there are the most famous ones because they might be some of

01:13:28the best examples of the earliest life on our planet.

01:13:32But they're not actually the first form of life on Earth.

01:13:35The oldest of their fossils are 3.5 billion years old, while some other evidence we have

01:13:41tells us that life on our planet appeared around 4.1 billion years ago.

01:13:47Maybe some stromatolites lived back then as well.

01:13:50But Earth has changed a lot since then, and the places where they might've lived haven't

01:13:58Now, all this may not seem like a lot at first glance, because no one has found an exotic

01:14:03and weird beast our world has never seen.

01:14:06But these are notable examples of what searching for life somewhere else in the universe might

01:14:11look like.

01:14:13Scientists who are interested in studying Mars often come to this place, since it might

01:14:17be similar to what the Red Planet looked like an exceptionally long time ago.

01:14:22If there were fossils hidden in the ancient rocks on Mars, they might look like these

01:14:27stromatolites.

01:14:29Another faraway land has revealed some of its secrets – it's Antarctica, with an

01:14:33ancient lost world found under its ice.

01:14:37Antarctica hasn't always been this frosty, isolated land of snow and ice sheets.

01:14:42Once it used to be part of the Gawanda supercontinent, together with what is now South America, Africa,

01:14:48Australia, the Arabian Peninsula, and the Indian subcontinent.

01:14:53But at some point, it split off and went to build a life on its own.

01:14:57It formed as other landmasses started to move away, which created its coastline.

01:15:04But Antarctica was different in many other ways back then too.

01:15:08It used to be a land covered in magnificent forests and rivers full of life.

01:15:13Astronomers use radar and satellites to explore a mysterious world hidden under the ice there.

01:15:19This ancient land, which is close to the Indian Ocean, is as big as the U.S. state of Maryland

01:15:24or Belgium.

01:15:25It's more than 14 million years old.

01:15:28Some studies say that this area formed over 34 million years ago, which was way before

01:15:33Antarctica got into its deep freeze.

01:15:36At first, temperatures there were higher, possibly like the weather in Patagonia or

01:15:41the cold, temperate rainforests of Tasmania, New Zealand.

01:15:45Or maybe even more tropical than that.

01:15:48But as the climate became cooler, small glaciers started forming on hills close to the rivers.

01:15:55Valleys sunk deeper because of all that ice covering them.

01:15:58And then, temperatures dropped even lower, and a giant layer of ice covered the entire

01:16:03continent, hiding those old glaciers.

01:16:09Glaciers shaped this lost world a long time ago, way before it ended up covered in ice

01:16:14that's almost 2 miles thick in some spots.

01:16:18Scientific studies of this area showed that those landscapes had been full of highlands

01:16:22and mountains.

01:16:24The ice that formed over Antarctica made the whole area very cold, so the landscape couldn't

01:16:29erode anymore.

01:16:31This means everything has remained basically the same and untouched under the ice for millions

01:16:36and millions of years.

01:16:39What's interesting is that we know less about this land hidden under the ice than about

01:16:43the surface of Mars.

01:16:45One way to explore it would be to drill through these ice sheets to check for samples of sediments

01:16:50below.

01:16:51They could tell us more about the ancient flora and fauna frozen underneath.

01:16:56It's not a new method.

01:16:57A similar method was used to collect 2-million-year-old samples in Greenland.

01:17:02Australia has a secret world too.

01:17:05Ancient organisms were found hidden in rocks in the northern parts of the continent that

01:17:10are about 1.6 billion years old.

01:17:13These microscopic things are part of a family called eukaryotes.

01:17:17The members of this family that exist today include plants, fungi, animals, and even those

01:17:23tiny organisms with just one cell, such as amoeba.

01:17:28All living things with nuclei in their cells, including us, can trace their family tree

01:17:33back to one of the oldest members of this family.

01:17:36That one is called the last eukaryotic common ancestor, and it lived more than 1.2 billion

01:17:42years ago.

01:17:43Those ancient organisms were more complex and bigger than bacteria.

01:17:47Maybe they were the first predators on Earth, hunting bacteria.

01:17:52Antarctica.

01:17:54It was once a green land full of dinosaurs.

01:17:56But now it's a frozen continent bigger than that of the US that doesn't belong to anyone.

01:18:02It isn't hard to find – wherever you go, just go south until you get to the big

01:18:06icy thing at the south pole of our planet.

01:18:09It lies within the Antarctic Circle, and it's the largest single mass of ice on Earth.

01:18:14The continent is bigger than the US and even bigger than all of Europe.

01:18:18And still, Antarctica was officially discovered recently.

01:18:22Scientists hadn't known of its existence until 1820.

01:18:26After the discovery, it took another two decades to confirm it was a whole new continent, and

01:18:31a few more decades after that to decide on a name.

01:18:34In Antarctica, anti- means the opposite.

01:18:37So Antarctica literally means the opposite of the Arctic.

01:18:43Even before scientists discovered the land, ancient Greeks already theorized that there

01:18:48must be a southern continent to balance out the Arctic and the North.

01:18:52Also, some scientists who studied Polynesian artwork and oral history believe that Polynesians

01:18:57found the continent over a millennia before the Europeans did.

01:19:02Anyways, today we all know of this icy land at the South Pole.

01:19:06Because of its location, there are just two seasons there – summer and winter – and

01:19:10both last six months.

01:19:12In summer, it's a bit warmer, and the continent exists in pure daylight.

01:19:17And in winter, it's dark all day long.

01:19:2098% of Antarctica is ice.

01:19:23This continent alone stores 60% of the planet's fresh water.

01:19:28And yet, despite all those water reserves, Antarctica is the biggest desert in the world.

01:19:33By definition, a desert is an area with sparse vegetation and little snow or rain.

01:19:39Notice that plenty of sand isn't a necessary condition here, even though the continent

01:19:43does have some sand and even sand dunes.

01:19:46It also gets a lot of wind – Antarctica is the windiest continent on Earth.

01:19:51And wind speeds can reach 200 mph – that's even faster than hurricane winds!

01:19:58The little snow the land gets never melts – it just builds up over time, for centuries

01:20:03and millennia.

01:20:04So, there's a thick, thick ice layer there.

01:20:07This makes Antarctica full of hidden secrets – there's a whole new world underneath

01:20:11its ice.

01:20:12For example, there are a lot of mountains on the continent that are like 9,000 feet

01:20:16tall.

01:20:17They're smaller than three Burj Khalifas stacked on top of each other, if we must,

01:20:22and that's currently the tallest skyscraper in the world.

01:20:25But we don't see all those mountains because they're all hidden under the ice sheet that's

01:20:29almost 16,000 feet thick.

01:20:31There's also a lake down there, beneath over 11,000 feet of snow.

01:20:36The lake is called Lake Vostok, named after Vostok Research Station, under which it's

01:20:42located.

01:20:43Originally, it was just a hypothesis.

01:20:45Over a century ago, a scientist suggested that the huge pressure created by tons of

01:20:50ice could decrease the melting point of ice in the lowest layers of the ice sheet, creating

01:20:55liquid water, which could form a lake.

01:20:58He didn't prove his ideas in his lifetime, but others continued his work and confirmed

01:21:03that this theory was true.

01:21:05There's also a canyon in Antarctica, hidden underneath huge masses of snow too.

01:21:10It's deeper than the Grand Canyon we have in Arizona.

01:21:15There is a mountain range that divides the continent into two parts, East Antarctica

01:21:19and West Antarctica.

01:21:21The western part of the continent is experiencing higher temperatures and is starting to melt.

01:21:26If West Antarctica melts and releases its stored water, it will raise the average global

01:21:31sea level by about 16 feet.

01:21:34That will be enough for some cities all over the world to completely disappear.

01:21:39Perhaps the first to turn into a water world will be Thailand's capital, Bangkok, which

01:21:44is just 5 feet above sea level.

01:21:46Then it will be Amsterdam in the Netherlands, followed by Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, Cardiff

01:21:52in the UK, and New Orleans in the US.

01:21:56People do a lot of work in Antarctica now, residing there for many months at a time to

01:22:00study this mystery of a continent.

01:22:03Over the years, even a few children were born there.

01:22:06But it's not a country, and the land doesn't belong to anyone.

01:22:10It's governed by the Antarctic Treaty System, an agreement of peaceful research and collaboration

01:22:15that suspends all territorial claims.

01:22:18It was first signed by 12 nations, and now there are 59 supporters, half of whom have

01:22:23decision-making powers.

01:22:26The continent is occupied all year round by researchers from all over the world.

01:22:30There are about 5,000 people living there in summer and about 1,000 in winter.

01:22:35Yet no one is a permanent resident there.

01:22:37People come and go, and the scientists take turns spending time there.

01:22:43The average yearly temperature there is negative 30 degrees.

01:22:47But there was a time when Antarctica was about as warm as Melbourne, Australia is today.

01:22:52It was about 40 to 50 million years ago.

01:22:55I wasn't around then.

01:22:57But the continent had green forests and dinosaurs roaming its land, chilling in the sun in

01:23:02a 63-degree Fahrenheit environment.

01:23:05That was before penguins.

01:23:08In our age, it's so cold that you won't even find any trees or bushes in Antarctica.

01:23:13Just the snow.

01:23:14The only plants that can thrive in such extreme temperatures are lichens, moss, and algae.

01:23:20People can't stand such freezing conditions for lengthy periods of time either.

01:23:24So the continent has never had any indigenous population.

01:23:27Well, that is, if we don't count penguins, seals, whales, and a few other types of birds

01:23:33that live there now.

01:23:35Antarctica's fauna is the scariest and least diverse on the planet because only a few organisms

01:23:41can withstand its harsh conditions and because non-natives aren't allowed to be brought

01:23:45there.

01:23:46So if you decide to travel to Antarctica with your cat, well, you can't.

01:23:51Hey, I don't make the rules.

01:23:53But those few species that live on the South Pole totally own the place.

01:23:57There are no more than 5,000 people there, and around 20 million penguins.

01:24:03They are a kind of settlers, though.

01:24:06Penguins' first ancestors lived in Australia and New Zealand.

01:24:09There are still a few penguin species there, including the smallest penguin on Earth that

01:24:13is just 1 foot tall.

01:24:15Still, most of the penguins migrated to Antarctica at some point.

01:24:19Possibly because they were attracted by the greater food supply there.

01:24:23It's not the cold that made them like the land.

01:24:25It turns out, most penguins leave the continent when the summer ends.

01:24:30The only ones that stay there are male emperor penguins, and they do it to warm and protect

01:24:34eggs left by their mates.

01:24:37But where do all the other penguins go?

01:24:40At first it was a big mystery even to scientists.

01:24:42But then they attached some tiny location devices to the legs of a few of these animals

01:24:47and figured it out.

01:24:49Penguins go to live in the southern oceans, while it's too cold in Antarctica.

01:24:53None of them go ashore for half a year until they get back to the continent.

01:24:58When they come back, it's when those eggs, left for male penguins to nurture, start hatching.

01:25:03And so, penguin families can be together when it happens.

01:25:07Penguins eat different fish, and the ocean is full of those despite its cold temperature.

01:25:12In some areas, water can reach below freezing temperatures because it's salty.

01:25:17But fish don't freeze there because they have antifreeze proteins in their bodies.

01:25:23Then there are also about a million seals in Antarctica.

01:25:26They like fish too, and they can hold their breath underwater for two hours.

01:25:30They see way better underwater than in the bright light of the day, and they also use

01:25:34their whiskers to locate food.

01:25:37Their breathing holes in the ice can freeze while seals are away, and they must use their

01:25:41teeth to make a new one.

01:25:43Seals can even sleep underwater, and then resurface occasionally to get some air without

01:25:48waking up.

01:25:49I can appreciate that.

01:25:54Now imagine a tiny particle, like a proton, zooming towards your hand at 99.99% of the

01:26:01speed of light.

01:26:02Would you feel anything at all when it hits you?

01:26:05The night of October 15, 1991, a mysterious particle zoomed through space with the power

01:26:12of entire stars packed into tiny atoms.

01:26:15Its energy was 40 million times the energy of the most powerful protons ever produced

01:26:20in our most advanced particle accelerators, like the Large Hadron Collider.

01:26:25Moreover, it was incredibly fast.

01:26:27Its luminous tail even broke the particle's speed limit.

01:26:31According to some scientists, any particles going that fast should eventually slow down.

01:26:36But this one didn't follow the rules.

01:26:38It just kept going just a tiny bit slower than the speed of light.

01:26:42The scientist John Lindsley was so shocked, he exclaimed, oh my god, when he first saw

01:26:48this data.

01:26:49So, that's how they named this thing – the oh my god particle.

01:26:54Now imagine a normal particle, like a photon, traveling through space alongside this crazy

01:26:59racer.

01:27:00Well, the OMG particle has energy that's 100 quintillion times greater than those of

01:27:07photons.

01:27:08From our point of view on Earth, it would take the photon over 215,000 years to gain

01:27:13even the tiniest lead.

01:27:16If we look at its energy, it would be like a baseball thrown at almost 60 miles per hour,

01:27:21which would hurt if it hit your bare hand.

01:27:23Ow!

01:27:24But surprisingly, if the OMG particle aimed at you, you wouldn't feel a thing.

01:27:29It would simply pass through your hand.

01:27:30It could scatter some other particles around, but overall, the impact would be unnoticeable.

01:27:37And it's all because of how cosmic rays work.

01:27:40You see, when you're in space, there are tons of invisible particles zooming around

01:27:45you at incredibly high speeds.

01:27:48They're like tiny supercharged balls of energy.

01:27:51These speedy particles are called cosmic rays.

01:27:55Now we normally encounter the aftermath of their atmospheric dance at sea levels.

01:28:00Most of the cosmic rays consist of lone protons, with just a dash of heavier particles.

01:28:06The higher the energy, the rarer the ray.

01:28:09They come from various places in the Universe.

01:28:11They come in two flavors – galactic cosmic rays from outside our solar system and solar

01:28:16energetic particles emitted from the Sun.

01:28:19We're mostly protected from them thanks to our Earth's magnetic bubble, the magnetosphere.

01:28:25This protective shield deflects many charged particles, including cosmic rays, away from

01:28:31our planet or directs them toward the polar regions.

01:28:34And guess what they cause there?

01:28:36That's right, the famous, beautiful Aurora Borealis.

01:28:40The northern lights that we often see in the Arctic and Antarctic regions of the Earth

01:28:45are caused by travelers from outer space.

01:28:49But it's not like none of them ever reach our planet.

01:28:52In fact, we're surrounded by cosmic rays everywhere.

01:28:56Thousands of these rays are dancing around us every second.

01:28:59And they don't just surround us, they're hitting us and passing through our bodies.

01:29:03However, despite that, we don't feel a thing.

01:29:06That's because, even though they're very energetic, they're still super small and

01:29:11low mass.

01:29:12In fact, they're so tiny that they often pass through the spaces between atoms and

01:29:17even inside the atoms themselves with minimal interaction.

01:29:21Because of all of this, we had no idea that they existed until the 1910s.

01:29:27A long time ago, scientists found out that the air high up in the sky has some special

01:29:34stuff called ionization.

01:29:37Ionization is when atoms or molecules gain or lose electric charges, turning into ions.

01:29:43In simpler terms, it's like giving a neutral thing, an atom or a molecule, a positive or

01:29:49negative charge.

01:29:50These charged particles then can do some interesting things.

01:29:54For example, they play a big role in electricity, allowing things like lights and electronic

01:29:59devices to work.

01:30:01In any case, scientists wanted to know where ionization comes from.

01:30:05They first thought it came from radioactive things in the ground.

01:30:09But then, in the early 1900s, a couple of scientists went up in balloons and found out

01:30:14that this ionization increases the higher you go.

01:30:18Turns out, something from space, not the Sun, was making this ionization.

01:30:24Scientists learned a lot about them over the years, like where they come from and what

01:30:28they're made of.

01:30:29And that's how the cosmic rays were discovered.

01:30:33The mysterious OMG particle we've talked about was one of those cosmic rays.

01:30:37This particle was detected by the Fly's Eye camera in Utah in 1991, and to this day,

01:30:44it holds the record as the highest-energy cosmic ray ever spotted.

01:30:48Obviously, it sparked scientists' curiosity.

01:30:51They wanted to find out where this supercharged particle came from and how it got its incredible

01:30:56speed.

01:30:57So, they decided to investigate it.

01:31:00And the more they studied it, the more weird things they discovered.

01:31:04For example, they found out that time itself stretches out for this particle because of

01:31:09how insanely fast it is.

01:31:11Special relativity, an idea created by Albert Einstein, says that as you speed up, strange

01:31:18things happen.

01:31:19And when you get close to that light-speed zone, time starts playing tricks.

01:31:24For example, if the OMG particle started its journey from a spot that's 1.5 billion light-years

01:31:30away, for the particle, it would feel like just around 2 days have passed by the time

01:31:35it reaches us on Earth.

01:31:38Since scientists discovered this amazing OMG particle, they've found hundreds of similar

01:31:43super-energetic events happening in space.

01:31:46It's extremely hard to find out why they move the way they do.

01:31:50All the theories have their own problems and bumps.

01:31:54One suspect is supernovas, massive star booms with magnetic fields and energy.

01:31:59However, it looks like even their great energy isn't quite enough to create an OMG particle.

01:32:06Another top suspect was Centaurus A, a nearby active galaxy.

01:32:10But the evidence for this one is tricky because the Milky Way's magnetic field alters the

01:32:15paths of cosmic rays.

01:32:18Of course, there are some crazy and exotic possibilities, like topological defects from

01:32:23the Big Bang or mysterious interactions within dark matter.

01:32:28Scientists are exploring wild ideas as well.

01:32:30Who knows, maybe it's really some crazy twist of physics.

01:32:35High-energy astrophysics is also super helpful for studying and understanding cosmic rays.

01:32:41This is a field of study that explores highly energetic stuff in space, like extreme cosmic

01:32:47events.

01:32:49Scientists are interested in understanding how cosmic rays are connected to these wild

01:32:53events happening out there.

01:32:55Unfortunately, even after almost 30 years of detective work, the true origin of the

01:33:01OMG particles remains a mystery.

01:33:03Luckily, recent studies might give us some hints for the answer.

01:33:08In the large deserts of Utah, there's a thing called the Telescope Array.

01:33:12It's searching for super-fast particles called ultra-high-energy cosmic rays.

01:33:18Picture a massive grid of detectors spread across the desert, keeping an eye on particles

01:33:23all day long.

01:33:24And here's what it discovered recently.

01:33:27There's a specific area in the Ursa Major constellation.

01:33:30At first, scientists didn't think much of it.

01:33:33But then they analyzed the data thoroughly and realized it was important.

01:33:38This exceptional area is a warm spot, where these cosmic rays might be coming from.

01:33:44And it has almost a 100% chance of being real.

01:33:47It sounds like the Universe's hidden energy source, but what is this source, and why does

01:33:53it exist?

01:33:55Cosmic rays aren't just intriguing for astronomers, they also have earthly applications.

01:34:01In 2017, researchers used cosmic rays to discover a hidden void in the Great Pyramid

01:34:06of Giza.

01:34:07They used muon tomography, a method that examines cosmic rays penetrating solid objects.

01:34:13And this is how scientists unveiled the secrets of the ancient structure.

01:34:18Scientists also use them to look inside volcanoes.

01:34:21They use the same method as with pyramids.

01:34:23When these rays pass through a volcano, scientists can study how they move to create images of

01:34:29what's inside.

01:34:31This helps researchers figure out where different materials are in the volcano, and keep an

01:34:35eye on any signs that it might become active.

01:34:39So the more we learn about them, the more we learn about the mysteries of our Universe.

01:34:44Scientists had to build better detectors to learn more.

01:34:47Thanks to all the new technology, they're learning things very rapidly, so let's see

01:34:51what truth they'll discover in the future.

01:34:57When we think of active volcanoes, one region comes to mind – the Ring of Fire in the

01:35:02Pacific Ocean.

01:35:04Three quarters of Earth's volcanoes sit within this belt.

01:35:07Compare the area to Australia, which doesn't have any volcanic activity.

01:35:12The old continent of Europe is also calm.

01:35:15Or at least, we like to think so.

01:35:18Can you guess what the most active volcano in Europe is?

01:35:22If you thought of Mount Etna on the island of Sicily in Italy, you were right.

01:35:27The volcano has erupted about 200 times and has been far from sleeping in recent decades.

01:35:33The last time this happened was in August 2023.

01:35:36The highest mountain in the Mediterranean is half a billion years old.

01:35:41But in Iceland, there is a much younger volcano.

01:35:44It sprang into action on the 10th of July 2023.

01:35:48In the afternoon, three fissures appeared in the ground on a peninsula in the southwest

01:35:53of the island.

01:35:55This was at a base of a small mountain pig.

01:35:58Its name means little ram in the local language.

01:36:01The volcano spewed molten lava high into the air.

01:36:04There were also gas plumes in the area.

01:36:07But the scientific community wasn't surprised by the event.

01:36:13They already knew about the volcanic area that stretches between the cities of Reykjavik

01:36:17and Keflavik.

01:36:19Its name is hard to pronounce.

01:36:20Hey, I want to buy a vowel.

01:36:22Fissures had already erupted during the previous two summers.

01:36:26This activity came after 8 centuries of dormancy.

01:36:29In the days leading up to the latest eruption, seismologists, the scientists who study earthquakes,

01:36:35recorded over 12,000 tremors.

01:36:38When the ground opened up in July, the fissures were over a mile and a half long.

01:36:43The following morning, two of them closed.

01:36:45All the lava was now coming out of the last fissure.

01:36:49It grew into an elongated cone.

01:36:51The simplest shape of volcano we are all familiar with.

01:36:55The lava soon filled a large crater.

01:36:57It grew almost 100 feet tall during the first week.

01:37:01And it is still growing.

01:37:03On the night when the eruption started, lava spread out in all directions.

01:37:07Its cinders set ablaze the dry moss in the vicinity.

01:37:11Local authorities closed off the surrounding area.

01:37:13There were toxic gases from the volcanoes and smoke from the burning moss.

01:37:18Firefighters flocked to the area.

01:37:20After a week, they proclaimed the area safe.

01:37:23Visitors soon came to witness the birth of Europe's youngest volcano.

01:37:30This form of tourism is quite developed in Iceland.

01:37:33People come from all over the world to watch active volcanoes.

01:37:37The land of fire and ice is home to more than 130 volcanoes.

01:37:42Some 30 of them are active.

01:37:44Now I know what you're thinking right now.

01:37:46Is volcano tourism safe?

01:37:48In Iceland, it is!

01:37:50The country's authorities research and constantly monitor all of the hotspots.

01:37:54The island is dotted with several dozen seismic stations.

01:37:58These help researchers accurately predict future eruptions.

01:38:02And emergency services are accustomed to these sorts of events.

01:38:05They can quickly cordon off danger zones.

01:38:08This is what happened in 2010.

01:38:11A volcano in the south of the island, the name of which everyone struggled to pronounce,

01:38:15erupted.

01:38:16It spewed out a plume of steam and ash that was 7 miles high.

01:38:21This wasn't a fun time to be an air traveler.

01:38:24Winds carried the enormous plume southeast toward northern Europe.

01:38:28Many countries closed their airspace for several days for safety reasons.

01:38:32The volcano erupted in March, but the Earth was shaking from January the same year.

01:38:37So seismologists knew that an eruption was approaching.

01:38:43When it comes to the continent's youngest volcano, the tourist infrastructure is already

01:38:48there.

01:38:49Visitors can leave their cars at a designated parking lot.

01:38:52Then they go on a 5-hour-long trek.

01:38:56This leads to a viewing deck.

01:38:58Tourists are so close to the epicenter that they can feel the heat haze from the crater.

01:39:02The sight is the most impressive at nighttime.

01:39:05Safety is never a concern.

01:39:08Scientists regularly chart out hazard maps that outline the borders of lava fields.

01:39:12This way, visitors who stick by the rules are never in harm's way.

01:39:17More than a week after the eruption started, a section of the crater collapsed.

01:39:22Lava flowed downhill west of the volcano.

01:39:25This majestic, smoldering hot river is slow-moving lava.

01:39:29Scientists categorize it as an a'a type.

01:39:32The term is Hawaiian.

01:39:34It describes basaltic lava that has a rough and brittle surface.

01:39:38The flow is composed of broken lava blocks that are called clinkers.

01:39:42They fall off as the substance flows.

01:39:45This reveals red-hot areas.

01:39:47The cooler sections of lava are gray and black in color.

01:39:51When it moves forward, it produces a distinctive sound, like shattering glass.

01:39:59Nearly a month after the eruption of the new volcano, we got aerial footage of an interesting

01:40:03phenomenon.

01:40:05A tornado formed directly over the lava flow.

01:40:08This occurs due to the high temperatures in the area.

01:40:11When the conditions are right, a column of heated air can easily turn into a mini-tornado.

01:40:17Scientists observed a similar event happen during the 2018 eruption of Mount Kilauea

01:40:22in Hawaii.

01:40:23The lava fields of Europe's second-largest island tell the story of the creation of Iceland.

01:40:29It sits above the place where the North American and Eurasian plates meet each other.

01:40:35Tectonic plates are huge, rocky chunks of Earth's most outer layer.

01:40:39There are roughly 20 of them.

01:40:40They rest on a partially molten layer of rock.

01:40:43All the lava we see on the surface starts its journey here.

01:40:47You could say that these plates float on molten rock.

01:40:51Their boundaries are unstable, so when two plates grind past each other, they release

01:40:55tremendous amounts of energy.

01:40:58The formation of volcanoes is one result.

01:41:01These are places where the molten rock travels upward to the surface.

01:41:07Iceland began to form some 60 million years ago.

01:41:10The tectonic plates under the ocean drifted apart.

01:41:13Enough lava piled up on the surface to create solid ground.

01:41:17This ancient rock is under the waves today.

01:41:20As new lava reaches the surface and cools down, it pushes the old rock away from the

01:41:25center of the island.

01:41:27That's why the oldest parts of Iceland aren't 60, but only 16 million years old.

01:41:33The country's active lava fields are young in geological terms.

01:41:37Some of them are under 1,000 years old.

01:41:40Scientists consider the island a hotspot for volcanoes, pun intended.

01:41:45Nearly a third of the basaltic lava that reaches the Earth's surface in recorded history

01:41:50came from Icelandic eruptions.

01:41:52Fissure swarms, like the ones before the 2023 eruption, cover 30% of the Nordic country.

01:41:58For this reason, only a quarter of the island is inhabited.

01:42:02Norse Vikings were the first people to settle in Iceland at the beginning of the 10th century.

01:42:07Nature threw them a loud welcoming party.

01:42:10Just a few years after their arrival, they witnessed one of the greatest volcanic eruptions

01:42:15in history.

01:42:17Vikings came from a region without volcanoes, so they had no clue as to what was going on.

01:42:23Today, Icelanders are used to such events.

01:42:28This is good because their homeland is entering a new era of volcanic activity.

01:42:34Volcanologists suspect that recent events are an introduction to decades of more frequent

01:42:39eruptions.

01:42:40The peninsula that is home to Earth's youngest volcano is just 17 miles southwest of Iceland's

01:42:46capital city.

01:42:47It's been dormant for a long time.

01:42:50Modern-day eruptions there are a reminder that the natural processes that created Iceland

01:42:55are still ongoing.

01:42:57Recently scientists discovered that there's a historical link between volcanic eruptions

01:43:02in the north of Europe and glaciers.

01:43:04Our planet went through at least 5 major ice ages.

01:43:08These were exceptionally lengthy periods when the average temperature on Earth dropped.

01:43:13The result was the expansion of ice sheets across northern Europe and North America.

01:43:18The last ice age ended some 10,000 years ago.

01:43:22Researchers are still trying to fully understand how these glacial periods affected volcanic

01:43:26activity.

01:43:28They suspect that the sheer weight of all that ice disrupts the flow of magma underground.

01:43:34When glaciers retreat, the pressure is lifted.

01:43:37This makes it easier for lava to flow upward to the surface where it bursts.

01:43:41Living on our beautiful planet might seem safe, but only until you start thinking of

01:43:51all those dangers lurking just around the corner, or in the vast darkness of the cosmos.

01:43:57Let's see what may eventually lead to the end of planet Earth.

01:44:01With each new potential threat, it gets more and more terrifying.

01:44:05Consider yourself warned.

01:44:08First of all, let's talk about hypercane.

01:44:10This natural disaster can get really extreme.

01:44:14A hypercane is a theoretical hurricane of unsurpassed power.

01:44:18It would occur if the ocean became overheated as a result of climate change, or a massive

01:44:23volcanic eruption could trigger it.

01:44:25In any case, these conditions would create a hurricane which, unlike regular hurricanes,

01:44:30would stretch way beyond the lower stratosphere.

01:44:33The speed of such a storm would reach 500 miles per hour.

01:44:38The pressure inside the hypercane would be so low that it wouldn't let it wear out as

01:44:42quickly as other hurricanes.

01:44:44The hypercane could last for weeks on end.

01:44:47But the worst thing?

01:44:48It would likely damage or even destroy part of Earth's ozone layer, and the hole could

01:44:53be the size of the entire North American continent.

01:44:57Then we've got super destructive tornadoes.

01:45:00A tornado is a violently rotating column of air.

01:45:04It usually extends from a thunderstorm and is in contact with the ground.

01:45:08Inside a thundercloud, warm, humid air rises upward, and cool air falls down along with

01:45:14rain or hail.

01:45:16Such conditions can lead to the appearance of spinning air currents inside the cloud.

01:45:21Interestingly, these air currents start out horizontal, but at one point they can become

01:45:26vertical and drop down from the cloud, becoming a tornado.

01:45:30Some tornadoes are narrow, rope-like swirls, but others turn into wild funnels.

01:45:37Tornadoes are ranked with the help of the Enhanced Fujita Scale.

01:45:40A weak tornado normally lasts for a few minutes and doesn't move faster than 100 mph.

01:45:46The next level is a strong tornado.

01:45:49Such whirlwinds can last for 20 minutes or so and have winds of up to 200 mph.

01:45:55And then we can also have violent tornadoes.

01:45:58Those can last for more than an hour and move at a speed of between 200 and 300 mph.

01:46:05On average, around 1,000 tornadoes occur in the USA every year.

01:46:10There's even a region that got named Tornado Alley.

01:46:13It's a 10-state area in the Midwest, but tornadoes can happen in any state.

01:46:18One of the most destructive natural disasters was the Tri-State Tornado in the USA.

01:46:23It was the world's longest-lasting single tornado that traveled 220 miles through Missouri,

01:46:29Illinois, and Indiana.

01:46:31At the same time, the average tornado's path is usually no longer than 5 miles.

01:46:37But what if one day, a tornado much bigger and way more powerful than any we've experienced

01:46:42before, swiped through countries and continents?

01:46:45It would leave behind total destruction and devastation.

01:46:49And how about a supercell thunderstorm?

01:46:52It's the least common type of thunderstorm, but it's the most dangerous.

01:46:56It's likely to cause severe weather, damaging winds, very large hail, and even violent tornadoes.

01:47:03What makes supercells unique is a deep and persistent rotating updraft called a mesocyclone.

01:47:10Supercells can potentially last for hours and cause great havoc.

01:47:14An asteroid impact could end all forms of life on Earth, too.

01:47:19If a space wanderer was large enough, it could cause widespread devastation, like it happened

01:47:24with the 9-mile-wide asteroid from 66 million years ago.

01:47:29It's rumored to have destroyed three-quarters of the planet's plant and animal species,

01:47:33including dinosaurs.

01:47:36Depending on the asteroid's size and the speed of its approach, the impact could lead to

01:47:40massive fires, tsunamis, and the eternal winter effect.

01:47:44It happens when the debris ejected into the atmosphere blocks sunlight and disrupts the

01:47:49global climate.

01:47:50Luckily, we'd probably notice such a large asteroid coming close to our planet with the

01:47:55help of our equipment long before the collision and would have enough time to get rid of this threat.

01:48:01It would be our very own sun that would bring our world to an end.

01:48:05Our star is a gigantic, constantly changing ball of molten gases.

01:48:10Every once in a while, it spews out bursts of energy, solar flares.

01:48:14They often go hand-in-hand with something called coronal mass ejections.

01:48:19Coronal mass ejections are giant bubbles of ionized gas that can accelerate to incredible speeds.

01:48:25The most powerful volcanic eruptions pale in comparison to solar flares that release

01:48:3010 million times more energy.

01:48:33Within a few minutes, one solar flare can give out billions of tons of charged particles.

01:48:39Solar flares are also insanely hot, with the temperatures reaching several million degrees Fahrenheit.

01:48:46Scientists believe that such bursts of solar radiation happen when the sun's magnetic field

01:48:51gets twisted in some regions.

01:48:53At one moment, all the pent-up energy is released.

01:48:57The star sends out light and particles, mostly electrons and protons.

01:49:01Most solar flares last for minutes, but some continue for hours.

01:49:07Scientists classify solar flares depending on how brightly they shine in x-rays.

01:49:12You aren't likely to notice the tiniest flares if you don't have special equipment.

01:49:17Medium solar flares lead to fleeting radio blackouts at the poles, but nothing too serious.

01:49:22It's X-class flares people should worry about.

01:49:25They cause the strongest and longest lasting solar storms.

01:49:30Now if you had gamma-ray vision, you'd be able to see immensely bright flashes.

01:49:35They occur every day, outshine everything around you, and then disappear again.

01:49:40Those flashes are gamma-ray bursts.

01:49:43One of them could wipe out Earth's atmosphere.

01:49:46The flash that might ruin our planet would most probably be born in a faraway galaxy

01:49:51during a merge of two collapsing stars.

01:49:54It would be immensely powerful and super bright.

01:49:58Still 1,000 light-years from Earth, it'd already shine as bright as the sun.

01:50:03Our planet's atmosphere would try to protect us, but its natural shield wouldn't last.

01:50:09The radiation would be so powerful that it would literally cook the atmosphere.

01:50:13It would create nitrogen oxides that would destroy the ozone layer.

01:50:17Without this layer, ultraviolet rays coming from the sun would be hitting Earth's surface

01:50:22at full force.

01:50:24They would wipe out tiny plankton in the ocean.

01:50:26But these plankton produce from 50 to 70% of all oxygen in the world.

01:50:32So with their disappearance, there would be a severe lack of oxygen, which would lead

01:50:36to the disappearance of life on the planet.

01:50:39In the end, the heat and ultraviolet light coming from the sun would turn the planet

01:50:43into a huge chunk of rock.

01:50:46And what if we came across a wandering black hole?

01:50:49You might know that a black hole is a region in space where gravity is so powerful that

01:50:55not even light can escape its clutches.

01:50:57Luckily, the nearest to us black hole is 1,500 light-years away.

01:51:04It seems that we have nothing to worry about until we learn about wandering black holes.

01:51:09Now, things definitely get way creepier.

01:51:12If such a black hole entered the solar system, Earth would be doomed.

01:51:16We wouldn't stand a chance against this space monster.

01:51:19In 2020, 13 wandering black holes were spotted not so far away from our planet.

01:51:26But not far away in space terms means around 1 billion light-years away, so we've got some

01:51:31time left.

01:51:32Plus, the possibility of such a disaster is very, very low.

01:51:37One day, a rogue planet might push Earth out of the habitable zone and into an extreme

01:51:42orbit farther from the sun.

01:51:45Then the climate all over the planet would start getting colder and colder.

01:51:49Don't forget that the farther our planet is from the sun, the weaker the star's gravitational

01:51:53pull on our planet is.

01:51:56In the end, our beautiful Earth would get too far away from its main source of light

01:52:00and heat.

01:52:01It would turn into a lifeless piece of rock covered with a thick layer of ice.

01:52:07Or the sun might expand and turn into a red giant.

01:52:10If it happened, it would change the entire habitable zone of our solar system.

01:52:15The disaster would start with our star running out of hydrogen in its core.

01:52:19This would trigger a chain of reactions, which would eventually lead to the core of the sun

01:52:24heating up and getting denser.

01:52:26As a result, the sun would get way larger than it is now.

01:52:30During this transformation, the sun would swallow Venus, Mercury, and Earth.

01:53:01That's about one in one-tenth times as deep as Mount Everest is tall.

01:53:05The location of the borehole is at the edge of the second largest shifting sand desert

01:53:09in the world, Taklamakan Desert.

01:53:12During a single day, air temperatures there can vary over 100 degrees.

01:53:16The drilling rig is impressive on its own.

01:53:18It weighs some 550 tons and is the height of a 20-story building.

01:53:23And it's pretty powerful, too.

01:53:24It can lift the equivalent of 120 adult elephants.

01:53:28These engineers aren't kidding.

01:53:30One of them compared the project to driving a big truck on two thin steel cables.

01:53:35That's why they expect the dig to last well over a year.

01:53:39Their ultimate goal is to drill downward through ten layers of strata.

01:53:43These are horizontal layers of sedimentary rock.

01:53:46Sounds complicated?

01:53:48Just look at any exposed cliff and you'll notice how it has stripes of different colors.

01:53:52These are the strata I'm talking about.

01:53:55If we translate it from Latin to plain English, we'll get things that spread out.

01:53:59Makes sense.

01:54:01Each layer of rock represents a specific geological period.

01:54:05Remember Spielberg's 1993 blockbuster Jurassic Park?

01:54:09That's just one of these geological periods.

01:54:11It ended some 145 million years ago.

01:54:14But in Central Asia, scientists won't travel that far through time.

01:54:18They hope to reach the rock dating back to the Cretaceous.

01:54:22That's the geological period just after the Jurassic.

01:54:25It lasted until some 66 million years ago.

01:54:28This was the time when T-Rex still roamed North America.

01:54:33But why mount such a complicated operation in the first place?

01:54:36A single goal would be a waste of funds.

01:54:40That's why engineers in Central Asia have several objectives.

01:54:43They want to explore the planet's internal structure.

01:54:45This involves the search for natural resources, such as mineral deposits and oil.

01:54:51Another goal is to collect scientific data on earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

01:54:55The information will help researchers better predict these events in the future.

01:55:00So hardcore science is behind this pioneering project.

01:55:03But it's not the first of its kind.

01:55:05Deep in the Arctic Circle lies the Kola Peninsula.

01:55:09And no, it doesn't have anything to do with the famous beverage company from Atlanta.

01:55:13This Kola is a region of great natural beauty, covered in forests and lakes, and an abandoned

01:55:19scientific research station.

01:55:22Inside this crumbling building, a rusty metal cap sticks out from the concrete.

01:55:27It doesn't look that impressive today, but this is the site of the deepest man-made hole

01:55:31on the planet.

01:55:32It is over 40,000 feet deep.

01:55:35That's deeper than the Mariana Trench, 36,201 feet, the deepest place on Earth.

01:55:42Scientists were drilling it for nearly a quarter of a century.

01:55:44The project started in 1970 and finally shut down in 1995.

01:55:49But if you travel to this region close to Norway, you wouldn't be impressed by the shaft.

01:55:54It is only 9 inches in diameter.

01:55:57It would be impossible to fall down such a narrow opening.

01:56:00And despite the figures, the hole is pretty shallow on a bigger scale.

01:56:03You see, the drill bit went through only a third of the Earth's crust.

01:56:07Let me explain.

01:56:09Remember those layers of strata?

01:56:11Yup, that's what our planet looks like on the inside.

01:56:14The three layers are the crust, the mantle, and the core.

01:56:18The crust accounts for only 1% of Earth's mass, and it's some 25 miles thick.

01:56:23But it holds nearly all life in the known universe.

01:56:26The deeper you go, the hotter it gets.

01:56:29At the place where the crust meets the mantle, Moho, temperatures max out at 752 degrees

01:56:34Fahrenheit.

01:56:36Ouch.

01:56:38There are two types of Earth's outermost shell, oceanic and continental.

01:56:44The crust is thinner under the ocean floor, so why not drill here?

01:56:47Well, the thinnest part is usually the deepest part of the ocean.

01:56:51That doesn't mean that people haven't tried to drill into the seabed.

01:56:54Americans attempted this off the coast of Mexico in 1961, Project Mohole.

01:56:59Drilling underwater was more expensive than anyone anticipated.

01:57:02A few meters of basalt the researchers were able to bring up cost some 40 million dollars

01:57:06in today's money.

01:57:07Not worth the effort, literally.

01:57:10The Kola Superdeep borehole also burned money quickly.

01:57:14And that wasn't the only heat scientists had to face.

01:57:16The temperature at the top depth was a staggering 356 degrees Fahrenheit.

01:57:21That was double what the drilling team expected.

01:57:24Their machinery simply couldn't operate in that heat.

01:57:26At this depth, rocks behaved more like plastic than rock.

01:57:30If they had gone deeper, the stones would have the consistency of oversized caramels.

01:57:34But the drilling team gave their best.

01:57:36They even invented a new type of drill where only the tip rotated.

01:57:41There was also a lubricant to smoothen the process.

01:57:44This simply means they pumped a lot of pressured mud into the hole.

01:57:48Yet they came short.

01:57:50Have scientists completely given up?

01:57:52Not by a long shot.

01:57:56The Japanese built a ship, Chikyu, 20 years ago to drill through the seabed.

01:58:00And they have invested a hefty sum in the project, 1 billion dollars.

01:58:03The mission's goal was to drill into the Earth's crust where it's the thinnest.

01:58:07Under the ocean floor it is less than 4 miles thick.

01:58:10If the Japanese team of scientists succeeds, it will be the first time humans recovered

01:58:15in-situ mantle rocks.

01:58:17What is that?

01:58:18In-situ is a Latin term that simply means, in the original place.

01:58:22The only time we get to see what Earth's mantle looks like is during a volcanic eruption.

01:58:27A plume of hot mantle rising to the surface will form a volcano.

01:58:31You know the rest.

01:58:32But where are the Japanese researchers planning to drill?

01:58:35After all, they have a huge ship, so it could be anywhere in Earth's oceans.

01:58:39They've narrowed it down to three locations.

01:58:41Costa Rica, Hawaii, or Baja.

01:58:46In cartoons, characters often dig up a hole and end up in another country.

01:58:51The idea is that since our blue planet is round and you dig straight down, you'll end

01:58:56up on the other side of the world.

01:58:58Sounds interesting, but this theory has no grounding in truth, pun intended.

01:59:03Science knows more about outer space than about what's underneath our feet.

01:59:07And digging won't get us far.

01:59:09The temperature at our planet's inner core exceeds 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

01:59:14The best heat-resistant materials humankind has developed, tantalum carbide and hafnium

01:59:18carbide, can withstand around 7,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

01:59:23Good enough for building spacecraft, but not good enough for traveling to the center of

01:59:27our planet.

01:59:29But will Jules Verne's famous novel, Journey to the Center of the Earth, ever become a

01:59:33reality?

01:59:34For now, we can only imagine.

01:59:36The vessel that would take someone to the center of the Earth would first have to have

01:59:39great insulation.

01:59:40Then it would have to withstand a pressure 4,000 times stronger than at sea level.

01:59:45Let's talk about the finances.

01:59:47The cost of this imaginary mission would be astronomical.

01:59:50The good news is that you could pay it off with what you find underground.

01:59:54At a certain depth, 93 miles, you'll stumble upon diamonds.

01:59:59They form when all that heat and pressure alter the structure of carbon atoms.

02:00:04The final leg of the journey would take you through the Earth's core.

02:00:07The temperature here is the same as on the surface of the sun.

02:00:10And you'd be traveling through molten iron and nickel.

02:00:13But that's not the weirdest fact.

02:00:15The outer core has low gravity.

02:00:17The mass of our planet would be behind you.

02:00:20So the gravitational force would actually pull your vessel backward.

02:00:24Future travelers to the center of the Earth better have a supercharge button.

02:00:28That would be the only way to reach the planet's inner core.

02:00:35That's it for today.

02:00:37So hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your

02:00:41friends.

02:00:42Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the Bright Side!

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