Science just keeps blowing our minds — and these discoveries are seriously wild. 🧠🌍 We’re talking about breakthroughs so big, they’re changing how we see the world, and maybe even how we live in it. From space secrets to weird stuff happening right here on Earth, this video covers it all. If you’re even a little curious about what scientists have been uncovering lately, you need to check this out. Some of these finds feel straight out of a sci-fi movie... but they’re totally real. So hit play and get ready — because after this, the world won’t look the same again. Animation is created by Bright Side.
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00:00:00Beneath the thick, shadowy canopy of a prehistoric rainforest, a silent hunter slides into the murky river waters.
00:00:09This is Titanoboa. Its size is horrifying, stretching over 40 feet long, which is about the length of a school bus, and weighing as much as a small car.
00:00:21It rains as the largest snake ever known.
00:00:24This is around 60 million years ago. It's only been 6 million years since the dinosaurs were wiped out by an uninvited asteroid.
00:00:35Nature is slowly returning to life, the Paleocene epic.
00:00:40Titanoboa's home is lush and sweltering. The air is very humid, like in a steam room, and the rivers are teeming with fish, perfect for a predator like this.
00:00:50Now that the dinosaurs are gone, Titanoboa becomes the queen of hunting. It's perfectly built for both power and stealth.
00:01:00A strong, sturdy spine can hold the snake's massive size while staying smooth and silent.
00:01:07Titanoboa glides through the water like a shadow, barely visible. It doesn't chase. It doesn't need to.
00:01:13Titanoboa waits beneath the river's surface, in darkness. A bunch of ancient lungfish meanders too close.
00:01:22With one surge, it lunges, its jaws snapping shut. The fish doesn't stand a chance.
00:01:28Titanoboa's grip is unrelenting. After the prey stops moving, the snake immediately consumes it all.
00:01:35For millions of years, this snake ruled the rainforests. Nothing could challenge it. Not the prehistoric crocodiles. Not the small mammals. Not even the birds.
00:01:46But, as it turns out, it wasn't the only apex predator.
00:01:50Alongside Titanoboa, there was this entire family of snakes, a huge biological tree full of snake genomes and species.
00:01:59Their history spans around 100 million years, all the way to the Cretaceous period.
00:02:06We find their fossils all over South America, Africa, India, and Australia.
00:02:11That's because they evolved in the Gondwan incontinence.
00:02:15Back then, all of this was one huge landmass, and they lived right in the heart of it.
00:02:20Now, this family coexisted with all the dinosaurs.
00:02:24The dinosaurs ruled the world back then, and the snakes couldn't be all that dangerous.
00:02:29They lived in the dinosaur's shadow, adapting to survive.
00:02:33Some of them fed on small mammals. Others waited for the dinosaur eggs to hatch.
00:02:38Some were super bold and went straight for baby dinosaurs.
00:02:43Fossils of one species showed the remains of a little titanosaur.
00:02:47That giant, long-necked dinosaur inside its stomach.
00:02:52And when the age of dinosaurs finally ended in a fiery cataclysm, it was time for these snakes to celebrate.
00:02:59After the asteroid disaster, the world entered a new era of heat and humidity.
00:03:04The warmer the client, the easier it is for cold reptiles to thrive.
00:03:10Snakes, including titanoboa, grew larger than ever.
00:03:14But so did the members of this family.
00:03:16All the snakes spread across continents, growing larger and scarier by the century.
00:03:23And eventually, titanoboa stopped being the only ruler of jungles.
00:03:27Fast forward to about 47 million years ago.
00:03:32Now it's the middle Eocene epoch.
00:03:35The tropical lowlands of what today is western India.
00:03:39A lush, swampy place, full of rivers and pools.
00:03:43The earth was warmer, with turtles and crocodile-like creatures basking in the sun.
00:03:48And there evolved the largest and most fearsome predator of them all.
00:03:53Vasuki indicus.
00:03:55Even the name feels important.
00:03:56Vasuki, the serpent king of Hindu mythology.
00:04:00A colossal snake that's coiled around the neck of Lord Shiva, strong and loyal.
00:04:06And the indicus part is because the snake's fossils were discovered in India.
00:04:12Vasuki surpassed titanoboa and grew to a jaw-dropping length of 50 feet, like a four-story building.
00:04:19It also weighed as much as a small elephant.
00:04:22Unlike titanoboa, who preferred to hunt in the rivers, Vasuki mostly hunted on land.
00:04:30Though it still could venture into the water when needed.
00:04:33It prowled the marshy ground with quiet, calculated movements, blending with the dense undergrowth.
00:04:39Vasuki also ate crocodiles, massive turtles, and even early whales in local water pools.
00:04:48No one stood a chance.
00:04:50It had immense muscles and squeezed with unimaginable force.
00:04:54But the snake's jaws were much scarier.
00:04:58Unlike titanoboa and today's pythons, Vasuki couldn't swallow massive prey whole.
00:05:04Instead, it ate them alive with its teeth, just like this.
00:05:09Fast and absolutely brutal, it was an apex predator of its time.
00:05:14And don't forget that we're not talking about one titanoboa or one Vasuki.
00:05:19These snakes were part of entire populations.
00:05:22In the Paleocene, rivers were full of various titanoboas.
00:05:27Some were younger, smaller ones, fighting for survival.
00:05:30While the oldest and largest ones dominated the waterways.
00:05:34In the same way as generations of Vasuki and Dickus competed with each other for thousands of years.
00:05:40Through the years, many siblings of this family got themselves a region to rule over.
00:05:47For example, alongside Vasuki, this big guy was thriving in northern Africa, in what is today's Egypt.
00:05:55Back then, this land was full of water and swamps.
00:05:58Before we learn more about other snakes, this one was considered the largest, about 36 feet long.
00:06:04That's still bigger than today's most powerful snakes, like the green anaconda.
00:06:10But then, we reached the Pleistocene epoch, from about 2.5 million years ago to only 11,000 years ago.
00:06:18Modern humans were evolving all over the world.
00:06:21And now, the snakes had a new problem, an even worse one than dinosaurs.
00:06:26While we were developing brains, in Australia, there ruled the local king of snakes.
00:06:32Their names also come from legends.
00:06:34That's how indigenous Australians called their mythological rainbow serpent the creator of the world.
00:06:42It's like a problem of a chicken and an egg.
00:06:44Was it a snake named after a deity?
00:06:46Or did the aboriginal people create their deity after a snake?
00:06:51Ancient Australians coexisted with those predators for thousands of years.
00:06:55They warned their children how to avoid dangerous spots, passing down stories of the terrifying serpents.
00:07:00In their legends, the great rainbow serpent was shaping the land, rivers, and features of the world.
00:07:07These legends were most likely inspired by the powerful nature of those snakes.
00:07:12If only they knew that these animals weren't even as huge as Vassuki or Titanoboa.
00:07:18Though they were still dangerous, Euralungor was up to 26 feet in length.
00:07:22They preferred the more green and humid parts of Miocene Australia, like waterways with lush plants around the riverbanks.
00:07:31And there was much more potential prey.
00:07:34Euralungor had a thick body as wide as a human thigh.
00:07:38It loved to hunt in what is today the northwest Queensland.
00:07:43Its fossils were found in the limestone of Riverslay.
00:07:46It was a fascinating find.
00:07:48The skull was almost intact, with teeth and everything.
00:07:51Which is crazy, considering that snake skulls are very fragile and usually don't survive fossilization.
00:07:59Just like snakes before it, Euralungor didn't rely on venom.
00:08:02It was a constrictor, quick and powerful.
00:08:05But at least now, these reptiles weren't as brutal.
00:08:08Their hugs quickly caused cardiac arrest in their prey.
00:08:12So the end came rather quickly.
00:08:14Also, they no longer could swallow the prey whole.
00:08:18And didn't have the same sharp teeth as Vassuki or Titanoboa.
00:08:22So both Euralungor and Wanambi had to eat very slowly, just like pythons today.
00:08:29Meanwhile, Wanambi was about 20 feet long.
00:08:32This one had a similar head, so it could only hunt marsupials, reptiles, and other little things that ventured too close.
00:08:40Wanambi's domain was the waterhole.
00:08:42It lay coiled in the shade, motionless, its body blending seamlessly with the dusty earth.
00:08:49If kangaroos and wallabies cautiously approached to drink, they wouldn't even notice the predator until it was too light.
00:08:56The Wanambi snakes lingered in Australia for millions of years.
00:09:01Even when the climate and ecosystem changed, it didn't bother these guys.
00:09:05In fact, they thrived in Australia's cooler, drier regions.
00:09:08Yet, even giants fall.
00:09:12Time moved on, the earth cooled even more, and nature began to change.
00:09:17Wanambi managed to last up to around 50,000 years ago, and could have lasted longer if it wasn't for humans.
00:09:24The same aboriginal Australians who once feared Wanambi eventually spelled the end for the snake.
00:09:30All these years of being the apex predator, only for the little apes to hunt you into extinction.
00:09:36But that's how evolution goes.
00:09:39Eventually, all the giant snakes disappeared, leaving behind only their fossils and stories like this one.
00:09:46Okay, what if I tell you that the extraterrestrials we all imagine as little green men may actually look like very normal earthlings and chill in Europe?
00:09:59This is the Iberian Peninsula, and people living there are under suspicion.
00:10:07Here's the reason.
00:10:09Somehow, parts of the most important artifacts that the Iberian civilization called Treasure of Valena are made of metal that simply can't be found on earth.
00:10:18Because it's metal from a meteorite.
00:10:21Now, let's tackle this step by step.
00:10:23This is the artifact itself, and it's composed of 59 different objects.
00:10:30Bowls, bottles, and bracelets.
00:10:32Hmm, is there a pattern there with all those Bs?
00:10:36In total, the fined weighs around 20 pounds, of which 18 pounds, are 23.5 karat gold.
00:10:43Now, if you're not a metal specialist, I'll clarify it for you right away.
00:10:47For comparison, 23 karat gold is 95.8% pure gold, so 23.5 karat is even purer.
00:10:57The remaining percentage goes to other metals to help add strength and durability to the precious alloy.
00:11:03There was also silver, iron, and amber in that set.
00:11:08The artifact could have been pretty straightforward, but for these two, let's call them imposters.
00:11:13Look at this wrought iron bracelet and this hollow hemisphere.
00:11:17Can you see that?
00:11:18Those rusty lines on the hemisphere and the overall weird color of the bracelet do stand out, since everything else is made of purest gold.
00:11:28This all started back in 1963, when a researcher noticed a dark leaden metal among the shiny bowls and bottles.
00:11:36The metal was shiny in some areas and covered with a ferrous-looking oxide that was mostly cracked.
00:11:42Now, just so you understand, gold does not usually act this way.
00:11:46Gold is one of the least reactive of all metals, so it won't even tarnish, let alone rust.
00:11:52To figure out where this suspicious iron came from, researcher turned to mass spectrometry,
00:11:59which checks out the mass-to-charge ratio of molecules.
00:12:03Their findings show that the nickel in the iron is similar to that found in meteoritic iron.
00:12:08Simply put, the bracelet and the hemisphere are of extraterrestrial origin.
00:12:15Now, the exact age of the trove is hard to determine, yet it's crucial.
00:12:21We need to know the exact age to see if it coincides with the start of the Iron Age in the Iberian Peninsula.
00:12:27If it does, then no further questions here.
00:12:30But if it doesn't, well, it's, at the very least, weird, if not suspicious.
00:12:37So, there's this three-age system.
00:12:39It comprises the Stone Age, then the Bronze Age, and then the Iron Age.
00:12:44The Stone Age is of no importance here.
00:12:47So, let's compare the Bronze and the Iron Ages.
00:12:50The Bronze Age began when it was realized that combining copper and tin produced a material that was more durable than either metal alone.
00:13:00This era was all about major upgrades in tools and weapons.
00:13:04But two standout inventions were riding systems and the wheel.
00:13:09Then came the Iron Age.
00:13:11This time was all about slowly bringing iron into everyday life.
00:13:16Iron was way easier to shape into cool designs than bronze.
00:13:20Now, this was a big deal, because iron, especially transformed into steel, provided significant improvements in all aspects of life.
00:13:29Tools became lighter, cheaper, and stronger compared to their bronze equivalents.
00:13:34You get it?
00:13:34Good.
00:13:36So, researchers have long debated whether the treasure dates back to the post-Argaric era or the latter part of the Bronze Age.
00:13:44The most recent study claims that those artifacts were created in 1400 to 1200 BCE.
00:13:51And something really doesn't add up.
00:13:53First off, the Iron Age began around 500 years after these artifacts were crafted.
00:13:58Plus, ancient craftsmen couldn't know back then how to work with metals that landed on Earth approximately 1 million years ago.
00:14:06And while the dates are really hard to explain, there is a logical explanation for the craftsmanship.
00:14:13The theory here is that those metal workers simply had access to the fallen meteorite.
00:14:18And thus, they could study it well and discover its properties before using it for decorative purposes.
00:14:24They could have figured it out through trial and error.
00:14:27And once they knew exactly how to work with this extraterrestrial metal, they proceeded to adorn the artifacts with it.
00:14:35Plus, there were the Phoenicians, who contributed to their craftsmanship.
00:14:38Now, it's true that the Iberian people have been processing metal and making pottery long before the Phoenicians settled on the peninsula.
00:14:47But the arrival of new metalworking techniques and the introduction of the potter's wheel enabled them to produce better quality goods much faster than before.
00:14:58So, we've figured out the extraterrestrial origins of the Iberian artifacts.
00:15:03But guess what?
00:15:05This area is still under suspicion.
00:15:07The reason for that is the language they spoke.
00:15:11You see, for most modern languages people use today, there will always be some proto-language.
00:15:18Say, for Italian, Spanish, and French, it's Latin, hence their similarities.
00:15:24But wait!
00:15:25Iberian was largely spoken where modern Spain is.
00:15:28So why isn't Spanish similar to it?
00:15:31Well, the truth is, no language today is similar to the Iberian.
00:15:35Maybe only the Basque language, but it's because of some similarities found in their numerical systems.
00:15:43Basque is classified as a language isolate, or simply unrelated to any other known languages and the only language isolate in Europe.
00:15:51The Iberian language is unclassified.
00:15:55While the scripts written in it have been deciphered to various extents, the language itself remains largely unknown.
00:16:02And look at the alphabet the Iberians had.
00:16:05Looks like it doesn't really belong to our planet.
00:16:08But hold up.
00:16:09This one might be a bit of a stretch.
00:16:11When the Phoenicians came to the peninsula, they brought along their alphabet to the Iberians.
00:16:17But honestly, the Iberians probably weren't keen on just copying someone else's writing system.
00:16:23So they tweaked it until it looked completely different.
00:16:26Let's just say they took some inspiration and ran with it.
00:16:30While linguists can guess to some extent how most characters sounded,
00:16:35actually translating the language is still completely impossible.
00:16:40The Iberian language was non-Indo-European and faded away over 2,000 years ago.
00:16:46And there aren't any similar languages left to help us out.
00:16:50Super frustrating, right?
00:16:52Yeah.
00:16:52We got over 2,000 Iberian inscriptions from tombs, coins, potteries, lead plates, and even cave wall carvings.
00:17:01But aside from a handful of words, we're totally in the dark about what they mean.
00:17:06Now, if we could understand their language, we might have learned that they were great thinkers and all.
00:17:13But we can only contemplate the works of art they left.
00:17:16Iberian culture has a lot of amazing stuff made by talented artisans.
00:17:21We're talking about not just metalwork and ceramics, but also detailed sculptures, textiles, jewelry, and other personal bling.
00:17:30But here's the catch.
00:17:33Making all those luxury items depended a lot on a big farming class.
00:17:38At the heart of Iberian society, most folks were involved in farming and taking care of livestock.
00:17:44Depending on where you were, the types of farming varied.
00:17:48For example, up in the north, they were all about growing grains.
00:17:52While down in Valencia, they focused on producing olive oil and other agricultural aspects.
00:17:57In the west, raising animals was the name of the game.
00:18:02Still, we don't have much information about the day-to-day lives of the many people doing this essential work.
00:18:09Yet, on the flip side, we know a lot about the upper class of Iberian society,
00:18:14who control these agricultural resources and hire the artisans.
00:18:18By the 7th century BCE, we start to see a group of Iberian princes,
00:18:23who were living the good life, trading with the Phoenicians, and enjoying fancy luxury items.
00:18:30You can spot this elite class in their burial practices.
00:18:34Cremation was the go-to method for funerals among the Iberians,
00:18:38and wealthy individuals were often found in cemeteries with all sorts of lavish goods and funerary sculptures
00:18:45that give us a peek into the fashion and hairstyles of the rich.
00:18:48Interestingly, starting in the 6th century BCE, there was a noticeable drop in the number of recognizable burials,
00:18:57which suggests that these elaborate funeral customs became more exclusive to a small elite.
00:19:03Meanwhile, the fate of the majority—farmers, artisans, soldiers, and laborers—
00:19:08who made up a big chunk of the population—remains a bit of a mystery.
00:19:12It used to be a pretty advanced civilization, but it vanished without a trace.
00:19:19Researchers think it could have been due to some massive earthquake.
00:19:22But so far, we don't know for sure.
00:19:28In 2025, humans will have a unique opportunity—travel to the moon.
00:19:34So far, only 12 people have walked on Earth's natural satellite.
00:19:37But a private company is offering tourists a chance to change that.
00:19:42If you are hog-stinky-rich, you can pay $750 million to spend several days exploring the moon
00:19:49and watching Earth from a distance.
00:19:52You can even join unique scientific experiments.
00:19:56Now, humans also want to build their forever homes on the moon.
00:19:59In fact, NASA believes that North Americans may have their own share of the moon by 2040.
00:20:05And you don't even need to be an astronaut to buy a plot of land on the moon.
00:20:11Of course, billionaires are already making plans.
00:20:14Their first idea is to exploit natural resources.
00:20:18The moon is packed with stuff that is rare here on Earth,
00:20:21like helium-3 and many rare earth minerals.
00:20:25Or, more precisely, rare moon minerals.
00:20:27But I digress.
00:20:29Hey, if you can get your hands on some of it, you may get even richer.
00:20:33First, helium-3.
00:20:35It's great for clean nuclear energy, but it's super rare on Earth because it escapes into space.
00:20:42The moon, though, has tons of it, enough to power Earth for a thousand years.
00:20:47Rare earth minerals are not actually rare on Earth, but they're hard to mine,
00:20:51because they react with oxygen.
00:20:54On the moon, hey, there's no oxygen.
00:20:56So we could easily get loads of these materials to make better tech, like electronics and batteries.
00:21:04Scientists aren't thrilled about this.
00:21:06For the first time, they have a chance to explore 4.5 billion years of space history.
00:21:11Because the moon's soil has stayed the same for billions of years.
00:21:16Studying its rocks could reveal lots of secrets about the universe's origins.
00:21:20But if billionaires mine the moon and destroy these rocks, all that knowledge could be lost forever.
00:21:27Another problem with exploring the moon is the size of it.
00:21:31The moon is big.
00:21:32But the best spots, the ones with water and sunlight, are limited.
00:21:37Most of the lunar surface is dangerous because of earthquakes or moonquakes, radiation, and meteorites.
00:21:43That means tourists, scientists, and mining companies would be elbowing each other in three small regions.
00:21:51The first region is called the peaks of eternal light, because there's always sunlight over there,
00:21:57making it a great energy source for telescopes or human colonies.
00:22:01The second spot is the far side of the moon.
00:22:05Here, radio signals from Earth are not so strong.
00:22:08It's not just peaceful and quiet there.
00:22:10It's also a great place to set up a telescope and study the universe.
00:22:14The third place is called the pits of eternal darkness.
00:22:19It's where all the trolls on social media go on vacation.
00:22:22Nah, it's really because no sunlight reaches that area.
00:22:26This place is even better for scientists,
00:22:28because they can use special astronomy tools to study the most distant parts of the universe.
00:22:33This is also where you can find about a billion tons of water.
00:22:37If scientists could visit the moon and study it, they would make amazing discoveries.
00:22:43But today, there are no international laws protecting space.
00:22:48No country can own the moon.
00:22:50But this can't stop a private mining company from calling dibs on a particularly good spot.
00:22:56In the past, a bunch of nations signed the Outer Space Treaty,
00:22:59and they agreed that space exploration was supposed to benefit all humankind.
00:23:05But exploring it is not cheap in the first place.
00:23:08Taking a single gallon of water from the moon to the Earth is extraordinarily expensive.
00:23:14And I bet not everyone can afford that.
00:23:17Human activity on the moon is also extremely dangerous,
00:23:21because it might change its atmosphere.
00:23:23Now, to understand it better, let's look at the surface of the moon.
00:23:26This floating rock has many craters that have been forming for billions of years.
00:23:32When a meteorite crashes into the moon,
00:23:34fine dust called regolith, with particles so tiny they can cut like glass,
00:23:39rises into the air.
00:23:41This process once created the atmosphere of the moon.
00:23:44And this atmosphere is quite different from the atmosphere of Earth.
00:23:49A big rocket landing on the moon can launch this fine dust into the lunar sky.
00:23:54And the difference here is that the space objects crashing into the lunar surface are actually
00:23:59gentler.
00:24:00A rocket landing is so intense,
00:24:03it can increase the number of atoms in the sky 100,000 times.
00:24:07If the number of atoms in the atmosphere grows,
00:24:10the air turns into a dusty plasma.
00:24:13This means that you'll be breathing in air as toxic
00:24:15as the one that poisoned miners in the olden days.
00:24:18Such an atmosphere could end space tourism too,
00:24:21because it makes electronics malfunction
00:24:23and machinery shut down.
00:24:26Well, truth be told,
00:24:27our own presence on the moon is already dangerous.
00:24:31When scientists discovered water on the surface of the moon,
00:24:34they were super excited to study it.
00:24:36This was their chance to understand where this water came from,
00:24:40and even figure out how water appeared on Earth.
00:24:42But when our spacecraft land on the moon,
00:24:46outgassing occurs.
00:24:48This means that the water on the surface evaporates.
00:24:51This evaporated water can contaminate the water on the moon,
00:24:55ruining all scientific data.
00:24:57Because when astronauts take a sample of the lunar water to study it,
00:25:01they will get the water from Earth they have brought along.
00:25:04Bummer, really.
00:25:06And it's not just the water we contaminate,
00:25:08it's everything.
00:25:09A spaceship can carry any living thing from Earth to the moon.
00:25:14It can also bring extraterrestrial life forms back to Earth.
00:25:18This type of contamination is extremely dangerous,
00:25:21because it can put human lives at risk.
00:25:25Something similar happened when Europeans were exploring
00:25:28unfamiliar lands they came upon in the Americas.
00:25:31They accidentally introduced new microbes to the natives they met.
00:25:35And since the immune systems of the native population
00:25:38were not used to those new bacteria and viruses,
00:25:41they got sick and worse.
00:25:44At the same time, Europeans also became ill with diseases
00:25:47their bodies didn't know about yet.
00:25:50And even though moon tourism is not happening yet,
00:25:54humans are already littering the lunar highlands like their own backyard.
00:25:58In 2024, an artist named Jeff Koons sent a sculpture to the moon.
00:26:05The sculpture is a transparent box filled with spheres,
00:26:09and it got to the moon thanks to a ride on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
00:26:14In each sphere,
00:26:15Koons engraved the name of a human he considered super important to humankind,
00:26:19like Aristotle, David Bowie, and Leonardo da Vinci.
00:26:23Thankfully, you don't have to go all the way to the moon to see this sculpture.
00:26:28You can purchase an NFT of each sphere.
00:26:31Or not.
00:26:33Back in 1971, the crew members of Apollo 15
00:26:36also left a couple of things on the moon.
00:26:39A figure created by a Belgian artist,
00:26:42and a commemorative plaque to honor other astronauts who couldn't be there.
00:26:47And it's not just art that humans dumped on the moon.
00:26:52If you take a walk,
00:26:53you might just stumble upon 413,000 pounds of materials left behind,
00:26:59including a gold olive branch,
00:27:01a falcon feather,
00:27:03a silver astronaut pin,
00:27:05a bible,
00:27:06some golf balls,
00:27:08a hammer,
00:27:10and even leftover urine collection kits.
00:27:12Most of this stuff was left behind by the astronauts
00:27:16that explored space between the 60s and 70s.
00:27:20So you can find moon rangers,
00:27:22lunar probes,
00:27:23and orbiters that are decades old already.
00:27:26Now, to be fair,
00:27:27bringing back unnecessary equipment costs a ton of money.
00:27:31And back in the 60s,
00:27:33their priority was the safety of the astronauts.
00:27:36The sad truth is that the moon is already turning into an extraterrestrial landfill,
00:27:41and we don't even live there yet.
00:27:43But now, we want to settle there,
00:27:46so NASA is trying to get rid of all this trash.
00:27:49The good news?
00:27:50Hey, you can be part of this process.
00:27:53The space agency launched a competition called the Luna Recycle Challenge,
00:27:57and if you want to join it,
00:27:59you must find ways to reduce the amount of litter produced
00:28:02and recycle it into materials that can be used for space exploration.
00:28:06To win, you need to develop a way to completely recycle the trash
00:28:11that is on the surface of the moon.
00:28:13You will help science and win $3 million.
00:28:16And if you get this sum,
00:28:19well, you might finally afford a ticket into space.
00:28:22In 1936, British Egyptologist Walter Bryan Emery
00:28:30found a small object in the desert
00:28:32that made people debate whether it was an elaborate stone model of a flying saucer
00:28:37or even a hyperdrive from a spaceship
00:28:40that belonged to some advanced civilization that visited the Earth.
00:28:45Emery spent years excavating sites along the Nile River Valley,
00:28:49especially in the huge ancient necropolis of Saqqara.
00:28:54He found countless treasures from ancient Egypt,
00:28:56and the most bizarre one was definitely from the tomb of a high official, Sabu.
00:29:02Historians don't know exactly who he was for sure.
00:29:05Some sources say he was a king's son.
00:29:08His burial at Saqqara means he was an important figure in the royal court.
00:29:12There are no records from this early period he lived in,
00:29:15so Sabu's role and fate are still a mystery.
00:29:20Inside his tomb, scientists found seven funerary chambers,
00:29:25each filled with traditional grave goods,
00:29:28animal bones,
00:29:29flint tools,
00:29:31pottery,
00:29:33ivory objects,
00:29:34and stone bowls.
00:29:36And then there was a strange, broken artifact that became famous as the Disk of Sabu.
00:29:44It resembles a shallow, round-bottom bowl,
00:29:46but with three delicately carved, curved lobes spaced roughly 120 degrees apart around its perimeter.
00:29:54These lobes are separated by three holes,
00:29:58and at the center, there's a thin tube.
00:30:00The material used to build the disk is meta-silt stone, or schist.
00:30:07This type of rock is fragile, highly porous, and super difficult to carve.
00:30:12It flakes easily and crumbles under pressure.
00:30:16So how they made the disk out of it with rather simple stone and copper tools from 3000 BCE is still a mystery.
00:30:24The next big question is why they decided to bury Sabu with it.
00:30:31Perhaps if we knew its true purpose, it would make more sense.
00:30:35When it was first discovered, archaeologists thought it was nothing more than a vase,
00:30:39an incense burner, or a ceremonial decoration.
00:30:42But those who took a closer look from the point of view of an engineer
00:30:46decided it could actually be a component of a larger mechanism.
00:30:50An amateur historian made an exact copy of the artifact with a 3D printer,
00:30:57and it turned out that the disk of Sabu was an ancient impeller,
00:31:00a crucial part of a centrifugal pump.
00:31:04When they put it in a housing and span at high speeds using the small central shaft,
00:31:09the disk was able to displace water.
00:31:11When it was tested without a housing, the disk created a powerful vortex.
00:31:18It became clear that the curved lobes and slightly concave shape of the disk weren't random.
00:31:24It was probably all engineered to move water with remarkable efficiency,
00:31:29like a powerful pump mechanism.
00:31:32Ancient Egypt's entire civilization depended on irrigation.
00:31:36Later dynasties perfected basin irrigation and managed to control the rise and fall of the Nile
00:31:42to take the most from agriculture.
00:31:45So, the engineers of the first dynasty may have been experimenting with advanced irrigation techniques
00:31:52thousands of years earlier than scientists previously thought.
00:31:55But then again, some people have doubts schist is strong enough to be used for a pumping mechanism.
00:32:03They suggest that artisans from Egypt's first dynasty were trying to recreate an even older object,
00:32:10using whatever tools and materials they had.
00:32:13It could be a stone replica of something originally made from metal,
00:32:17possibly belonging to a civilization far older and more advanced than ancient Egypt itself.
00:32:23One Swiss author takes this idea even further
00:32:27and proposes that the disk is a copy of a component
00:32:31from an extraterrestrial spaceship's hyperdrive,
00:32:34or stone model of a flying saucer.
00:32:38One French researcher believes the disk of Sabu
00:32:41was part of a secret massive factory system
00:32:43to manufacture sodium carbonate inside pyramids.
00:32:47Some people suggest that the disk may have been a primitive tool for weaving ropes.
00:32:52The lobes held strands of silk or fiber that were twisted into twine when it was spun.
00:32:59Or, it may have been a gigantic lamp.
00:33:03Another historical mystery is a map from 1513
00:33:07that is believed to be the oldest surviving detailed map showing the Americas.
00:33:11The author of the map is a Turkish captain, Piri Reis.
00:33:17He never crossed the ocean himself,
00:33:19and put together this map from 20 regional maps.
00:33:23He used an Arab map of India,
00:33:25four Portuguese maps showing India and China,
00:33:29and a map of America by Christopher Columbus as he saw it.
00:33:33This last map was lost for many years,
00:33:37so Reis' map gave us an idea of what Columbus must have recorded
00:33:41during his third voyage to the New World.
00:33:44A historian who studied the map suggested that it showed Antarctica in prehistoric times
00:33:50because it strangely resembled Antarctica's true coastline
00:33:54the way it looked when it was free of ice.
00:33:56But, it was later proven that this idea wasn't right.
00:34:02Another idea that rocked the science world was Klerksdorp's spheres.
00:34:06They were found in deposits of mineral pyrophalate in South Africa
00:34:10and looked like tiny ancient cricket balls with lines around the middle.
00:34:15Back in the 1980s, there was a theory that
00:34:18some super-advanced pre-flood civilization we know nothing about
00:34:22had made these spheres.
00:34:23One journalist shared stories about how they rotated on their own in a display case.
00:34:31There was also a TV show that invited a psychic
00:34:34who was telling everyone the spheres were pieces of an ancient spaceship.
00:34:39But, according to geologists,
00:34:41these spheres are pretty regular spherical objects
00:34:44formed from different minerals than the surrounding rock.
00:34:48The seam-like lines on them
00:34:50are just imprints from the host rock's layers
00:34:53building up over time.
00:34:55The Klerksdorp's spheres come in different shapes,
00:34:57from flattened spheres
00:34:58to distinct discs.
00:35:01As for that episode,
00:35:02when one of these spheres spun on its own,
00:35:05the curator of the Klerksdorp Museum
00:35:07cleared that up too.
00:35:09He said that when he put one sphere
00:35:11on its glass shelf when the journalist came to visit,
00:35:13the sphere rotated a bit
00:35:15because it's round.
00:35:16There are some gold mining activities
00:35:19going on nearby,
00:35:19so the land where the museum stands
00:35:22often experiences earth tremors.
00:35:26In a remote part of China,
00:35:27there are some bizarre pipe-like formations
00:35:29known as the Beigon Pipes.
00:35:33A local explorer found them back in 1996
00:35:36protruding from Mount Beigon
00:35:38and along the shores of Tosan Lake nearby.
00:35:41Some people thought they were the work
00:35:44of ancient guests from other planets.
00:35:48When scientists tested samples of the pipe material,
00:35:51they found out that they contained
00:35:53mostly common minerals,
00:35:55but there was a mysterious 8% of unknown stuff.
00:35:59Some extra tests showed that these pipes
00:36:01had been there before humans.
00:36:04Chinese geologists later visited the site
00:36:06and suggested that these pipes
00:36:08were formed naturally over time.
00:36:10It was probably fossilized tree roots
00:36:13from the area's super-green past.
00:36:15It's still a real mystery
00:36:17with no clear-cut answer.
00:36:20While digging a trench along a river in Romania,
00:36:23workers found a wedge,
00:36:25which is now famous
00:36:26as the Aluminum Wedge of Ajud,
00:36:29or the Object of Ajud.
00:36:32Right next to it,
00:36:33there were some mastodon bones.
00:36:35Those distant relatives of elephants
00:36:37lived 11,000 years ago.
00:36:39So some people concluded
00:36:41the wedge is of the same age.
00:36:44The cool part is that it's made of aluminum.
00:36:46But this metal wasn't discovered
00:36:48until the 1800s.
00:36:50This material requires serious heat to produce.
00:36:54The wedge is said to be covered
00:36:56in a thick layer of oxide
00:36:57that's been sitting there
00:36:58for hundreds of years.
00:37:01Some folks believe this wedge
00:37:02must have crash-landed here
00:37:04on a spacecraft from some other planet.
00:37:06Some scientists think
00:37:08it's all a hoax,
00:37:10and others suppose
00:37:11it might be a human-made object
00:37:13with an unknown purpose.
00:37:17Scientists have recently discovered
00:37:19Leonardo da Vinci's hidden passages
00:37:22under a medieval castle in Italy.
00:37:24They followed a newly found
00:37:2615th-century sketch
00:37:27by the creator of the Mona Lisa
00:37:29and found one of the unexplored
00:37:31architectural wonders
00:37:32from the age of the Renaissance.
00:37:35Construction of the Sforza Castle
00:37:37started back in 1358,
00:37:39but it was destroyed
00:37:41about a century later
00:37:42during a local crisis.
00:37:44Then, in 1450,
00:37:46Francesco Sforza,
00:37:47the Duke of Milan,
00:37:49decided to rebuild it
00:37:50on the old ruins.
00:37:51After he passed away,
00:37:53his son, Ludovico,
00:37:54took over
00:37:54and kept improving the castle.
00:37:56He brought in
00:37:57some of the best artists
00:37:58of the time,
00:37:59including Leonardo da Vinci,
00:38:01to decorate its walls.
00:38:03We can still see
00:38:04Leonardo's frescoes today
00:38:05in the room of wooden boards.
00:38:08While he was working
00:38:08at the castle,
00:38:09da Vinci also recorded
00:38:11some historical underground passages
00:38:13hidden beneath the outer wall.
00:38:15The drawing,
00:38:16dated between 1487 and 1490,
00:38:19was found at the
00:38:20Institut de France in Paris.
00:38:22The sketch is highly precise,
00:38:24and it proves that Leonardo
00:38:26was really interested
00:38:27in fortification design
00:38:28and was great
00:38:29at documenting
00:38:30existing structures.
00:38:32Historical records show
00:38:34that Ludovico ordered
00:38:35the building
00:38:35of an underground passageway
00:38:37that led straight
00:38:38to a basilica,
00:38:39where his wife was buried.
00:38:41Ludovico married Beatrice
00:38:42in 1491,
00:38:44and they had a happy,
00:38:45but tragically short,
00:38:46marriage,
00:38:47as Beatrice passed away
00:38:48while giving birth
00:38:49in 1497.
00:38:51The Duke locked himself
00:38:52away for weeks,
00:38:54grew a beard,
00:38:55and wore only black clothes
00:38:56while he was mourning
00:38:57his beloved wife.
00:38:59The secret tunnel
00:39:00may have stretched
00:39:00over a half a mile
00:39:01and would let Ludovico
00:39:03visit her grave in private.
00:39:05It could have served
00:39:06as an escape route
00:39:07if the castle
00:39:08was ever under siege.
00:39:09The existence of the tunnels
00:39:11remained one of the mysteries
00:39:12of the Renaissance for years,
00:39:14as no one knew
00:39:15for sure they were there.
00:39:17But now,
00:39:18scientists finally uncovered
00:39:19the secret history.
00:39:20They used a combination
00:39:22of ground-penetrating radar
00:39:23and laser scanning
00:39:25to build up
00:39:25an accurate 3D model
00:39:27of all the structures
00:39:28under the castle.
00:39:29They found the tunnels
00:39:31da Vinci alluded to
00:39:32in his drawings,
00:39:33and it looks like
00:39:34they may have only
00:39:34been a small part
00:39:36of a whole system
00:39:37of historical
00:39:38underground passages.
00:39:39The goal is to create
00:39:41a complete digital twin
00:39:42of the castle
00:39:43that will not only show
00:39:44all the preserved constructions,
00:39:46but also the ancient ones
00:39:47that are no longer visible.
00:39:49They also plan to add
00:39:50augmented reality
00:39:51to the virtual paths
00:39:53to let visitors discover
00:39:54Leonardo da Vinci's
00:39:56hidden passages.
00:39:57Now, we don't know
00:39:59if the genius actually
00:40:00took part in constructing
00:40:01the hidden passages
00:40:02that scientists
00:40:03recently discovered,
00:40:04but we do know
00:40:05about some other
00:40:06Leonardo da Vinci inventions.
00:40:08He created the first
00:40:09satellite-like map
00:40:11in 1502,
00:40:12long before photography
00:40:14or satellites
00:40:14were even a concept.
00:40:15A famous figure in Italy,
00:40:18Cesare Borgia,
00:40:19invited Leonardo
00:40:20to a small town
00:40:21called Imola
00:40:22near Bologna
00:40:23to create
00:40:24a highly detailed map
00:40:25for him.
00:40:26Back then,
00:40:27maps were not
00:40:27very precise,
00:40:28as no one had figured out
00:40:30how to show
00:40:30exact distances
00:40:31on a smaller scale.
00:40:33Instead,
00:40:34people spent a lot of time
00:40:35decorating them
00:40:36with dragons,
00:40:37roses,
00:40:38fancy castles,
00:40:39mountain ranges,
00:40:40flowers,
00:40:40and other artistic details.
00:40:42These maps look more
00:40:43like beautiful paintings
00:40:44meant to be displayed,
00:40:46rather than practical tools
00:40:47for navigation.
00:40:49But Cesare Borgia
00:40:50wanted something
00:40:51truly functional,
00:40:52and Leonardo
00:40:53managed to create
00:40:54something revolutionary
00:40:55in the field of cartography.
00:40:57If you compare
00:40:58satellite images
00:40:59of Imola today
00:41:00with Leonardo's map,
00:41:01the similarities
00:41:02are striking.
00:41:03He captured every alley,
00:41:05curve of the streets,
00:41:06roadways,
00:41:06and even the exact sizes
00:41:08of the buildings.
00:41:09And he did it
00:41:10all by hand,
00:41:12using just a pencil,
00:41:13ruler,
00:41:13compass,
00:41:14and several
00:41:15of his own
00:41:15clever inventions.
00:41:17To gather
00:41:17all the necessary data,
00:41:19the genius walked
00:41:20through the streets
00:41:21for weeks
00:41:21using a large wheel
00:41:23that spun as he moved,
00:41:24recording the distance
00:41:25with a cable.
00:41:27Using the magnetic compass,
00:41:28he determined
00:41:29precise directions.
00:41:31He also developed
00:41:32a tool called
00:41:33the busola,
00:41:34which measured angles
00:41:35inside a circle.
00:41:36With this,
00:41:37he could track
00:41:37the exact turns
00:41:38of each street
00:41:39and the size
00:41:40of the intersections.
00:41:41He figured out
00:41:42the distances
00:41:43between houses
00:41:44and major roads.
00:41:45Then,
00:41:46back at home,
00:41:47he used his notes
00:41:48and calculations
00:41:48to draw the map
00:41:50to scale
00:41:50with incredible precision.
00:41:52In his work,
00:41:53da Vinci also used
00:41:54a technique
00:41:55developed by
00:41:56Florentine humanist
00:41:57Leon Battista Alberti.
00:41:59He created
00:42:00a mapping method
00:42:01where you could
00:42:01place an entire city
00:42:03inside a circle
00:42:04using polar coordinates.
00:42:06At the center
00:42:06of the city,
00:42:07eight straight lines met,
00:42:09representing the main
00:42:10directions of a compass.
00:42:12Leonardo used this system
00:42:13to divide the town
00:42:14into eight sections.
00:42:15He didn't overlook
00:42:16even the smallest buildings,
00:42:18which made his map
00:42:19one of the most advanced
00:42:21of its time.
00:42:23The Italian genius
00:42:24had a big dream
00:42:25to build a machine
00:42:26that could let people fly.
00:42:28He studied how birds,
00:42:30bats,
00:42:30and kites
00:42:31moved through the air
00:42:32and designed
00:42:32a special flying machine.
00:42:34He believed that
00:42:35if he could copy
00:42:36their movements,
00:42:37humans might be able
00:42:38to soar like them.
00:42:40Da Vinci's design
00:42:41looked a lot like a bat
00:42:42with two large pointed wings
00:42:44that stretched
00:42:45over 33 feet wide.
00:42:47He planned to build
00:42:48the frame
00:42:48from lightweight pine wood
00:42:50and cover it
00:42:50with raw silk
00:42:51to make it strong
00:42:52but not too heavy.
00:42:54The person flying it
00:42:55would lie on their stomach
00:42:56on a wooden board
00:42:57in the center.
00:42:58To make the wings flap,
00:43:00the pilot had to pedal
00:43:01a crank with their feet,
00:43:02which was connected
00:43:03to a system
00:43:03of rods and pulleys.
00:43:05There was also
00:43:06a hand crank
00:43:07for extra power
00:43:07and even a headpiece
00:43:09to help steer.
00:43:10As the person
00:43:11moved their hands
00:43:12and feet,
00:43:12the wings would flap
00:43:13and twist,
00:43:14just like a bird's.
00:43:16But there was
00:43:16one big problem.
00:43:18Humans aren't strong enough
00:43:19to make the machine
00:43:20lift off the ground.
00:43:22Even though it might have
00:43:23worked once in the air,
00:43:24there was no way
00:43:25for a person
00:43:25to get it flying
00:43:26on their own.
00:43:27Leonardo probably
00:43:29realized this,
00:43:30but his amazing idea
00:43:31still inspired
00:43:32flying machines
00:43:33that came centuries later.
00:43:36Da Vinci was way ahead
00:43:37of his time
00:43:38with many of his inventions,
00:43:39but his idea
00:43:40for a humanoid robot
00:43:42was especially futuristic.
00:43:44He was working
00:43:45under the patronage
00:43:46of the Sforza family,
00:43:47the one that had
00:43:48those ancient tunnels
00:43:49of Italy built.
00:43:50The genius designed
00:43:51a mechanical knight
00:43:52that could move its arms,
00:43:54turn its neck,
00:43:55and even open
00:43:56and close its mouth.
00:43:58Da Vinci had good knowledge
00:43:59of anatomy
00:44:00and the mechanics
00:44:01of body movements
00:44:02that helped him.
00:44:03His unusual creation
00:44:04used an external system
00:44:06of cables.
00:44:07A hand crank
00:44:08set it in motion,
00:44:09and there was also
00:44:09an internal gear-driven mechanism.
00:44:12About 450 years later,
00:44:14Da Vinci's detailed sketches
00:44:15of the robotic knight
00:44:17were rediscovered
00:44:18in the 1950s.
00:44:19Several researchers
00:44:20tried to recreate
00:44:21the robot from those sketches.
00:44:23In 2002,
00:44:25a roboticist
00:44:25who developed systems
00:44:26for NASA
00:44:27and Lockheed Martin
00:44:28took inspiration
00:44:29from the old notes
00:44:30and built a functioning model
00:44:32of Da Vinci's robotic knight.
00:44:33Another design
00:44:36Leonardo created
00:44:37for Duke Sforza
00:44:38was a special kind
00:44:39of bridge
00:44:40that could be taken apart
00:44:41and carried easily.
00:44:42It was made
00:44:43for defense forces
00:44:44who needed to cross rivers
00:44:45or moats
00:44:46while traveling.
00:44:47This bridge
00:44:48would swing across the water
00:44:49and land
00:44:50on the other side.
00:44:51It had wheels
00:44:52and used a rope
00:44:53and pulley system
00:44:54so it could be set up quickly
00:44:55and packed away
00:44:56just as fast.
00:44:58To keep it steady,
00:44:59it even had a special weight
00:45:00to help balance it.
00:45:02Leonardo wrote
00:45:03in his notes
00:45:04that the bridge
00:45:04was light yet strong
00:45:06and he designed
00:45:07several bridges
00:45:07like this for the Duke.
00:45:09One of his other designs
00:45:10was a bridge
00:45:11that could be built
00:45:12very quickly
00:45:12and the defense forces
00:45:14would move across
00:45:15multiple rivers.
00:45:16As scientists
00:45:17continue to study
00:45:19Leonardo da Vinci's
00:45:20hidden passages,
00:45:21they reveal new chapters
00:45:22in human history.
00:45:24Who knows
00:45:25what other unexplored
00:45:26architectural structures
00:45:27they will find.
00:45:30Scientists have finally solved
00:45:32the Loch Ness monster mystery.
00:45:34Here's the spoiler.
00:45:35You ready?
00:45:36It's not a real monster.
00:45:38It's probably a dinosaur
00:45:39that survived
00:45:40through the ages
00:45:40or just a bunch of debris
00:45:42floating on the water.
00:45:44Thanks to many findings
00:45:45on the Loch Ness creature,
00:45:46we have proof
00:45:47of another story
00:45:49to tell you.
00:45:51It was 1933
00:45:52when a man named
00:45:54George Spicer
00:45:54and his wife
00:45:55were driving along
00:45:56the shores of Loch Ness.
00:45:58That's when they saw
00:45:59something massive
00:45:59with a long neck
00:46:01moving across the road.
00:46:03It looked like a creature
00:46:04straight out
00:46:05of the prehistoric era.
00:46:06A dinosaur-like beast
00:46:08unlike anything
00:46:08they'd ever seen.
00:46:10That was the moment
00:46:11that Loch Ness monster theories
00:46:12started spreading
00:46:13around like wildfire.
00:46:15One of the most famous
00:46:16Loch Ness monster sightings
00:46:18came just a year later
00:46:19in 1934
00:46:20when a man took a photograph
00:46:22that became
00:46:23the most well-known image
00:46:25of Nessie.
00:46:26That's the nickname
00:46:26she was given.
00:46:28She?
00:46:29Anyways,
00:46:29the photo,
00:46:30known as the surgeon's photograph,
00:46:32showed a long-necked creature
00:46:34rising out of the water
00:46:35and for years
00:46:36it convinced people
00:46:37that the monster was real.
00:46:39But years later,
00:46:40the truth came out.
00:46:41One of the men
00:46:42who helped take the photo
00:46:43confessed it was all a hoax.
00:46:45The photo had been staged
00:46:47after all.
00:46:48When the photo was published,
00:46:49it had been significantly cropped.
00:46:51This made the animal
00:46:52in the picture
00:46:53look much bigger
00:46:54than in real life,
00:46:56fueling the theories
00:46:56that the Loch Ness monster
00:46:58did in fact exist.
00:47:01In the 1960s,
00:47:02one of the first
00:47:03big scientific attempts
00:47:04to investigate
00:47:05the mystery
00:47:06of the Loch Ness monster
00:47:07happened.
00:47:08A research team
00:47:09took sonar equipment
00:47:10to the lake
00:47:11and spent hours
00:47:12scanning the waters
00:47:13in search of evidence
00:47:14of large creatures.
00:47:16What they found
00:47:17was puzzling.
00:47:18They recorded
00:47:18several objects
00:47:19moving deep
00:47:20in the loch,
00:47:21or lake,
00:47:21with no clear explanation
00:47:23as to what it was.
00:47:25Though the team
00:47:25didn't manage
00:47:26to capture anything definitive,
00:47:28this sighting
00:47:29helped fuel the belief
00:47:30that there was,
00:47:31indeed,
00:47:31something massive
00:47:32living in Loch Ness.
00:47:34After that,
00:47:35research about the mystery
00:47:36of the Loch Ness monster
00:47:37kept popping up.
00:47:39In 1972,
00:47:40with the help
00:47:41of underwater photography,
00:47:43some researchers
00:47:43managed to capture
00:47:44strange images,
00:47:46which got people's hopes
00:47:47up for a minute.
00:47:48But the truth is,
00:47:49this early research
00:47:50about the Loch Ness monster
00:47:52was far from conclusive.
00:47:54Now, of course,
00:47:55not everyone bought in
00:47:56to the mystical,
00:47:57magical theories
00:47:58about the Loch Ness monster.
00:48:00Theory one,
00:48:01from a professor of zoology
00:48:02at Oxford University,
00:48:04has made it clear
00:48:04that the monster
00:48:05is a biological impossibility.
00:48:08Hey,
00:48:09my pediatrician
00:48:10said that about me, too.
00:48:11Meanwhile,
00:48:12he says that
00:48:13no skeletal remains
00:48:14have ever been found
00:48:15in the region.
00:48:16Plus,
00:48:17no fishermen
00:48:17have ever caught
00:48:18anything resembling
00:48:19the creature
00:48:20in their fishing nets.
00:48:21For him,
00:48:22this works as proof
00:48:23that it simply
00:48:24can't be real.
00:48:25When it comes
00:48:26to the famous photos
00:48:27of the Loch Ness monster
00:48:28as evidence,
00:48:29well,
00:48:29that's pretty simple.
00:48:31The professor offers
00:48:32a more down-to-earth
00:48:33explanation.
00:48:34He argues
00:48:35that these images
00:48:36are either
00:48:36showing floating debris
00:48:38or birds
00:48:39like cormorants,
00:48:40which have long necks
00:48:41and often appear
00:48:42to be low in the water.
00:48:44When people refute
00:48:45his suggestion,
00:48:46he takes us back
00:48:47to human psychology
00:48:48and explains
00:48:49that people
00:48:49often make mistakes
00:48:51and misjudge
00:48:52the size of things,
00:48:53especially when
00:48:54they just caught
00:48:55a glimpse of it,
00:48:56and even more so
00:48:57when they are hoping
00:48:58to see something specific.
00:49:00Now,
00:49:00many of those
00:49:01alleged photos
00:49:02depict an animal
00:49:03with a long neck
00:49:04and a small head,
00:49:05which has led
00:49:06some to believe
00:49:07that what they're seeing
00:49:08is a plesiosaur,
00:49:09a giant marine reptile
00:49:11that lived
00:49:11215 million years ago
00:49:13and disappeared
00:49:14with the dinosaurs.
00:49:15The idea
00:49:17of a plesiosaur
00:49:18surviving
00:49:18all these years
00:49:19is a theory
00:49:20that's been around
00:49:21since the first sightings
00:49:22of the creature.
00:49:23But this researcher
00:49:24isn't buying it.
00:49:26He explains
00:49:27that no plesiosaur fossils
00:49:28have been found
00:49:29in the region
00:49:30dating to anything
00:49:31later than
00:49:3266 million years ago.
00:49:34The idea
00:49:35of a prehistoric creature
00:49:36still lurking
00:49:37in the waters
00:49:38of Loch Ness
00:49:38just doesn't hold up
00:49:40scientifically.
00:49:40Then there's
00:49:44theory number two
00:49:45from a British naturalist
00:49:47who has spent
00:49:47over 50 years
00:49:48investigating
00:49:49the Loch Ness
00:49:50monster phenomenon.
00:49:51His conclusion
00:49:52is a little less dramatic.
00:49:54He believes
00:49:54that most people
00:49:55who report sightings
00:49:56of long neck creatures
00:49:57are misidentifying
00:49:59other animals.
00:50:00He suggests
00:50:01people think
00:50:02they are seeing
00:50:02a sea serpent.
00:50:03Reports of sightings
00:50:04from the Loch Ness
00:50:05monster have been around
00:50:06since the 6th century CE,
00:50:09long before
00:50:09they were distilling
00:50:10Scotch whiskey
00:50:11or other explanations.
00:50:14Early reports
00:50:14of these sea serpents
00:50:15describe large creatures
00:50:17with long snake-like bodies
00:50:19and multiple humps.
00:50:21Some say
00:50:21the creatures
00:50:22were as big as boats
00:50:23and many swore
00:50:24they saw something
00:50:25swimming in the waters.
00:50:27Many of these
00:50:27early sea serpent sightings
00:50:29may have been
00:50:29misunderstandings
00:50:30or exaggerations
00:50:32of normal animals
00:50:33in the loch
00:50:33like large fish
00:50:35or even swimming birds.
00:50:37They could have been
00:50:37large eels
00:50:38which are known
00:50:39to live in Loch Ness.
00:50:40These eels
00:50:41especially when
00:50:42they're moving
00:50:42might have given
00:50:44the impression
00:50:44of a long undulating
00:50:46creature in the water.
00:50:47People who saw
00:50:48these eels
00:50:48from a distance
00:50:49particularly in low light
00:50:51or misty conditions
00:50:52might have mistaken them
00:50:54for something
00:50:55much more mysterious.
00:50:58Theory number three
00:50:59says something else.
00:51:00Nessie
00:51:01is just a series
00:51:02of standing waves.
00:51:03These happen
00:51:04when two boat wakes
00:51:05move in opposite directions
00:51:06creating a big hump
00:51:08in the water
00:51:09that could look like
00:51:09a creature
00:51:10from a distance.
00:51:11Loch Ness enthusiasts
00:51:12even showed
00:51:13how it works
00:51:14with footage
00:51:15from Fort Augustus
00:51:16where a river
00:51:17meets Loch Ness.
00:51:19These enthusiasts
00:51:19had big plans
00:51:21to use drones
00:51:21with infrared cameras
00:51:23and special
00:51:23underwater microphones
00:51:25to search the loch.
00:51:26Now, Loch Ness
00:51:27is massive
00:51:28stretching around
00:51:2923 miles long
00:51:30and more than
00:51:31700 feet deep.
00:51:33So, they thought
00:51:34they needed drones
00:51:35and infrared cameras
00:51:36to put an end
00:51:36to this discussion.
00:51:38But, despite everything,
00:51:39they haven't found Nessie.
00:51:42But, it's not only
00:51:44the Loch Ness monster
00:51:45that lacks
00:51:45scientific explanation.
00:51:47There have also been
00:51:48scores of sightings
00:51:49of yetis
00:51:50and sasquatches
00:51:51that no one
00:51:52can really explain.
00:51:53Folks have made movies
00:51:54dreaming of finding
00:51:55the truth
00:51:56about these creatures.
00:51:57But, according to
00:51:58recent research
00:51:59and evidence,
00:52:00it looks unlikely
00:52:01that we'll ever find
00:52:02definitive evidence
00:52:03of their existence.
00:52:05Science says
00:52:06they can explain
00:52:07sasquatch sightings.
00:52:08And, this is how.
00:52:10Biologists who study
00:52:11wildlife using
00:52:12camera traps,
00:52:13which are set up
00:52:14in remote areas
00:52:14to capture images
00:52:15of passing animals,
00:52:17have long attempted
00:52:18to find elusive species.
00:52:20These cameras
00:52:21detect movement
00:52:21and snap pictures,
00:52:23providing invaluable data
00:52:24on the biodiversity
00:52:25of different ecosystems.
00:52:28As camera traps
00:52:29collect more photos
00:52:30over time,
00:52:30the number of species
00:52:32recorded grows.
00:52:33However,
00:52:34after a while,
00:52:35the number plateaus,
00:52:37suggesting that
00:52:37no new species
00:52:38are being detected.
00:52:40While it's impossible
00:52:41to claim 100% certainty,
00:52:43researchers say
00:52:44that after significant
00:52:45camera deployment,
00:52:47it's safe to say
00:52:48the likelihood
00:52:49of discovering
00:52:49new species,
00:52:51especially large ones
00:52:52like Bigfoot
00:52:53or the Yeti,
00:52:54drops significantly.
00:52:57Camera trap studies
00:52:57have been running
00:52:58for years
00:52:59in regions
00:53:00where these creatures
00:53:00are rumored to live.
00:53:01But, so far,
00:53:03no conclusive evidence
00:53:04has surfaced.
00:53:06Instead,
00:53:06the supposed proof
00:53:07of Bigfoot
00:53:08or the Yeti
00:53:09often comes from
00:53:10blurry photos
00:53:11or shaky videos
00:53:12taken by individuals
00:53:13who claim
00:53:14to have encountered them.
00:53:16The scientific
00:53:17understanding of biology
00:53:18also makes
00:53:19the existence
00:53:20of Bigfoot
00:53:20highly unlikely.
00:53:22Often described
00:53:23as a great ape,
00:53:24Bigfoot would have
00:53:25had to evolve
00:53:26in North America.
00:53:27However,
00:53:28great apes
00:53:29evolved in Africa
00:53:30and the only
00:53:31great ape
00:53:32to make it
00:53:32to the Americas
00:53:33is Homo sapiens,
00:53:35whose ancestors
00:53:36crossed the Bering Strait
00:53:37only about
00:53:3816,000 years ago.
00:53:40This is far
00:53:40too short a time
00:53:42for a new species
00:53:43like Bigfoot
00:53:43to have evolved.
00:53:45While it may be
00:53:46disappointing
00:53:47for these mysterious
00:53:48creature enthusiasts,
00:53:49the scientific evidence
00:53:50points firmly
00:53:51toward the conclusion
00:53:52that creatures
00:53:53like Bigfoot
00:53:54and the Yeti
00:53:55are more fantasy
00:53:56than reality.
00:53:57After decades
00:53:58of extensive
00:53:59scientific research,
00:54:00it's safe to say
00:54:01that yes,
00:54:02science has solved
00:54:03the mystery
00:54:04of the Loch Ness Monster
00:54:05and it's pure fiction.
00:54:07So,
00:54:08what do you think?
00:54:10This area
00:54:11might just be
00:54:12the most important spot
00:54:13in America
00:54:14right now
00:54:14as it is worth
00:54:15over 1 trillion dollars.
00:54:18There's something
00:54:18incredibly valuable
00:54:19hidden right here
00:54:21at Thacker Pass
00:54:22and it is going
00:54:24to shake things up
00:54:25not just in Nevada
00:54:26but in the U.S. economy
00:54:28and its global relations.
00:54:31The McDermott Caldera
00:54:32is a massive area
00:54:33about 28 miles long
00:54:35by 22 miles wide
00:54:37stretching across
00:54:38northern Nevada
00:54:39and southern Oregon.
00:54:40It's in Humboldt County,
00:54:42a quiet,
00:54:43rural place
00:54:43with just one main city
00:54:45that's going to change
00:54:46a lot
00:54:46in the next
00:54:475 to 10 years.
00:54:49That's because
00:54:49they found
00:54:50white gold there.
00:54:52We're talking about
00:54:53lithium.
00:54:54And to explain
00:54:55why this metal
00:54:56is so important
00:54:57we need a scale.
00:54:59On one side
00:54:59we place a chunk
00:55:00of lithium
00:55:01and on the other
00:55:02an apple.
00:55:03What do you think
00:55:03will happen?
00:55:04If both have
00:55:05the same volume
00:55:06the scale is going
00:55:07to tip toward the apple.
00:55:08That's because
00:55:09lithium is super light.
00:55:11Its density
00:55:12is about 0.3 ounces
00:55:13per cubic inch
00:55:14which makes it
00:55:16the lightest solid
00:55:17you can find
00:55:18at room temperature.
00:55:20Lithium is also
00:55:21extremely reactive.
00:55:23That means
00:55:24it combines
00:55:24with other elements
00:55:25very easily
00:55:26and it can catch fire
00:55:27just as easily.
00:55:29Mix it with water?
00:55:30Fire.
00:55:31Expose it to air?
00:55:32Yep.
00:55:33Fire again.
00:55:34But when you combine
00:55:35its lightness
00:55:36with its high reactivity
00:55:37you get a material
00:55:39that's perfect
00:55:40for batteries.
00:55:41Like the one
00:55:42powering your smartphone
00:55:43laptop
00:55:44or even your electric car.
00:55:48Nevada's been hiding
00:55:48this treasure
00:55:49for about 16 million years.
00:55:52The McDermott Caldera
00:55:53used to be
00:55:53a volcanic hotspot
00:55:55spewing molten rock
00:55:57and creating
00:55:57a huge lake
00:55:58filled with
00:55:59mineral rich waters.
00:56:01Over time
00:56:02that lake dried up
00:56:03leaving behind
00:56:04thick layers of clay
00:56:05loaded with lithium.
00:56:08Right now
00:56:09Thacker Pass Mine
00:56:10is sitting on
00:56:11one of the biggest
00:56:12untapped lithium reserves
00:56:13in the world
00:56:14worth about
00:56:15one and a half trillion dollars.
00:56:17If everything goes
00:56:18as planned
00:56:19they expect it
00:56:20to produce
00:56:20about 40,000 tons
00:56:22of high quality
00:56:23lithium a year.
00:56:25And that's enough
00:56:25to make batteries
00:56:26for up to
00:56:27800,000 electric cars.
00:56:30Like I mentioned earlier
00:56:31this metal
00:56:32is the backbone
00:56:33of modern batteries
00:56:34and with the world
00:56:36racing toward
00:56:36green energy
00:56:37the demand for lithium
00:56:38is skyrocketing.
00:56:41Since 2020
00:56:41its price has gone up
00:56:43more than 10 times
00:56:44making it the most
00:56:45expensive battery metal
00:56:46in the world.
00:56:47That means
00:56:48it's way more expensive
00:56:49than magnesium
00:56:50nickel
00:56:50cobalt
00:56:51and other materials
00:56:52used in rechargeable batteries.
00:56:55Right now
00:56:56we're using about
00:56:571.16 million tons
00:56:59of lithium
00:56:59per year
00:57:00and roughly
00:57:0185% of it
00:57:02goes into making batteries
00:57:04mostly for cars.
00:57:06Between 2030
00:57:07and 2040
00:57:08experts think
00:57:09we will need to
00:57:10double the money
00:57:10we're putting into production
00:57:12from 94 billion dollars
00:57:14to 188 billion dollars.
00:57:17At the same time
00:57:18investment in batteries
00:57:20will jump
00:57:20by over 200%
00:57:22reaching
00:57:23686 billion dollars.
00:57:26Finally
00:57:27by 2050
00:57:28the demand for lithium
00:57:29is expected
00:57:30to be more than
00:57:3110 times higher
00:57:32than what we're
00:57:33producing now.
00:57:34Sorry
00:57:35I know
00:57:36that's a lot of numbers
00:57:36but I just want to show
00:57:38how important
00:57:38Thacker Pass
00:57:39will be
00:57:39for the whole world.
00:57:41This mine
00:57:42is going to be key
00:57:42to keeping everything running.
00:57:44I mean
00:57:44literally
00:57:45since most of the future demand
00:57:47will be for things like cars
00:57:48electric bikes
00:57:49scooters
00:57:50and renewable energy storage.
00:57:53Nevada
00:57:53could also be
00:57:54the epicenter
00:57:55of a global energy revolution
00:57:57with the U.S.
00:57:58aiming to cut pollution
00:57:59by 50%
00:58:00by 2030.
00:58:02A big part of that
00:58:03is replacing
00:58:03gas-powered vehicles
00:58:05with electric ones.
00:58:06And to make that happen
00:58:07America
00:58:08is going to need
00:58:09a whole lot more lithium
00:58:10than it's producing right now.
00:58:13Nowadays
00:58:13most of the metal
00:58:14used in the United States
00:58:15come from countries
00:58:16like Chile
00:58:17and Argentina.
00:58:19So
00:58:19if America
00:58:19wants to be a leader
00:58:20in this market
00:58:21it really needs
00:58:23to invest
00:58:23more and more
00:58:24in projects
00:58:25like Thacker Pass.
00:58:26But there's
00:58:27another challenge.
00:58:28Finding lithium
00:58:29in a mine
00:58:30is one thing
00:58:31but refining it
00:58:32is another story.
00:58:34Just like diamonds
00:58:35are carefully cut
00:58:36and shaped
00:58:36to bring out
00:58:37their sparkle
00:58:37and sold in rings
00:58:39and necklaces
00:58:39something similar
00:58:41needs to be done
00:58:42with lithium.
00:58:44The raw material
00:58:45that comes from the mines
00:58:46has to be refined
00:58:47into a pure form
00:58:48that can actually
00:58:49be used in things
00:58:50like batteries.
00:58:52And China
00:58:52pretty much dominates
00:58:54this part of the market
00:58:55and they're responsible
00:58:56for about 75%
00:58:58of global lithium-ion
00:58:59battery production.
00:59:01In other words
00:59:02it doesn't matter
00:59:03if a country
00:59:03finds this powerful
00:59:04metal on its land
00:59:05it will probably
00:59:06still need China
00:59:07to help refine it.
00:59:09So
00:59:10the US is eager
00:59:11to strengthen
00:59:12its supply chain.
00:59:13In fact
00:59:14they're so excited
00:59:15about this possibility
00:59:16that authorities
00:59:17have invested
00:59:18over 2 billion dollars
00:59:19in loans
00:59:20into the Nevada project.
00:59:22Because of that
00:59:23Thacker Pass
00:59:24could make the US
00:59:25a leader
00:59:25in lithium production
00:59:26worldwide.
00:59:28If their estimates
00:59:29are right
00:59:30the McDermott Caldera
00:59:31could hold
00:59:32nearly half
00:59:32of the world's
00:59:33known lithium reserves.
00:59:35It would almost
00:59:36double the reserves
00:59:37found in Bolivia's
00:59:38salt flats
00:59:39for example
00:59:39which used to hold
00:59:41the record
00:59:41for the world's
00:59:42largest deposit.
00:59:44This discovery
00:59:45is about to change
00:59:46Humboldt County
00:59:47for good.
00:59:49Those quiet streets
00:59:50surrounded by nature
00:59:51will never feel
00:59:52the same again.
00:59:53The mine will need
00:59:54about 2,000 workers
00:59:55who will probably
00:59:56move there
00:59:57from other cities.
00:59:58Those workers
00:59:59will need houses
01:00:00hospitals
01:00:00schools
01:00:01for their kids
01:00:02and all the
01:00:03necessary services.
01:00:05Do you see
01:00:05how it's like
01:00:06a ripple effect?
01:00:07For every person
01:00:08hired to work
01:00:09on the projects
01:00:10during construction
01:00:11six more people
01:00:12will get hired
01:00:13in the state
01:00:13to support them.
01:00:15Thacker Pass
01:00:16is also going
01:00:17to have a huge
01:00:18impact on the economy
01:00:19not just in Nevada
01:00:21but all across
01:00:22the country.
01:00:23People expect
01:00:24the mine to be active
01:00:25for 35 years
01:00:26and each year
01:00:27it's expected
01:00:28to generate
01:00:28over $2 billion.
01:00:31But here's the thing
01:00:32in Thacker Pass
01:00:33they'll be extracting
01:00:34lithium from clay
01:00:36and this process
01:00:37has never been done
01:00:38on such a huge scale
01:00:40before.
01:00:41So it's kind
01:00:42of a hit or miss
01:00:43but if it works
01:00:44it could completely
01:00:45change the industry.
01:00:47Big question
01:00:48who's interested
01:00:49in all this?
01:00:51Well
01:00:51we've got
01:00:52three big companies
01:00:53eyeing the lithium market
01:00:54in the US.
01:00:56First
01:00:56there's ExxonMobil
01:00:58the oil giant
01:00:59wants to start
01:00:59producing lithium
01:01:00by 2027
01:01:01and they have plans
01:01:03to become
01:01:03the top supplier
01:01:04for electric vehicles
01:01:05by 2030.
01:01:07Then there's
01:01:08General Motors
01:01:09the company behind
01:01:10big car brands
01:01:11like Chevrolet
01:01:12and Cadillac.
01:01:13They're so interested
01:01:14in this business
01:01:15that they agreed
01:01:16to pay $625 million
01:01:18for a 38% stake
01:01:21in Thacker Pass.
01:01:22And finally
01:01:23Tesla
01:01:24In 2023
01:01:26they started
01:01:26building a factory
01:01:27in Texas
01:01:28to process lithium.
01:01:30It's all part
01:01:30of their plan
01:01:31to handle more
01:01:32of their supply chain
01:01:33themselves.
01:01:35Now that you know
01:01:36how important
01:01:36lithium is
01:01:37you might be wondering
01:01:39what if we run out?
01:01:41Well that could happen
01:01:42since it comes
01:01:43from mining
01:01:43and just like gold
01:01:45is a finite resource.
01:01:47But that doesn't mean
01:01:48we'd have to give up
01:01:49smartphones
01:01:49or electric cars.
01:01:51If we ever run
01:01:52out of this metal
01:01:53we'd probably find
01:01:55new ways
01:01:55to produce batteries.
01:01:57In fact
01:01:58some experts think
01:01:59thermal batteries
01:02:00could be the next
01:02:01big thing.
01:02:03They store extra energy
01:02:04from renewable resources
01:02:05like wind
01:02:06or solar power
01:02:07which are very cheap.
01:02:09So they represent
01:02:10a new way
01:02:11of storing energy
01:02:12at a small fraction
01:02:13of the cost.
01:02:14Nowadays
01:02:15they're primarily used
01:02:16for powering
01:02:17the production
01:02:17of steel
01:02:18cement
01:02:18and chemicals.
01:02:21Thermal batteries
01:02:22are also being used
01:02:23to heat
01:02:23and cool
01:02:24large buildings.
01:02:26However
01:02:26more and more projects
01:02:27are focusing
01:02:28on bringing
01:02:29this technology
01:02:30into private spaces
01:02:31like houses
01:02:32and apartments.
01:02:34Experts are optimistic
01:02:35that initiatives
01:02:36like these
01:02:37could make
01:02:37thermal batteries
01:02:38as well known
01:02:39as electric batteries
01:02:40and they might
01:02:41soon become
01:02:42a regular part
01:02:43of our daily lives.
01:02:45That's it for today.
01:02:45So hey
01:02:46if you pacified
01:02:47your curiosity
01:02:48then give the video
01:02:49a like
01:02:49and share it
01:02:50with your friends.
01:02:51Or if you want more
01:02:52just click on these videos
01:02:53and stay on the bright side.