Archaeologists have finally cracked the mystery of Stonehenge, revealing incredible truths about this iconic prehistoric monument. Who built it, and what was its true purpose? Join us as we dive into groundbreaking discoveries, unravel ancient secrets, and shed new light on one of history's most enigmatic structures.
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FunTranscript
00:00Stonehenge wasn't a witchy monument to travel through time.
00:04It was actually constructed as a hope to build a different future.
00:09Recent research just found out that the monument was probably raised
00:13as an attempt to reunite the Britons during a period of big division.
00:18The thread of this story lies on the altar stone,
00:22the monument's most iconic rock.
00:26For years, scientists believed that the stones used in Stonehenge,
00:30including the altar stone, came from the nearby Preseli Hills in Wales.
00:35In this scenario, Stonehenge would have been built by a local community,
00:40that is, Neolithic people, who would have found easy-to-access materials
00:44to build a ceremonial mound, a sundial calendar,
00:48and a final resting place, all in one.
00:52Things changed when another discovery was made.
00:55In 2018, leading-edge research pointed that the altar stone
00:59actually came from the River Tay region in north-eastern Scotland,
01:03which is located over 400 miles away from Stonehenge.
01:08Scientists found similar rocks as such in Scottish monuments.
01:12You see, the altar stone is a recumbent stone, laying on its side.
01:17Many of the rocks were found in ceremonial stone circles in Scotland,
01:21and they are unique to this region.
01:24When this discovery broke through, it got archaeologists thinking.
01:28Maybe Stonehenge wasn't just a local project,
01:31but a wider collaboration between different tribes and communities across Britain.
01:37To understand this, we need to rewind to around 3000 BCE.
01:43That's when Britain still wasn't a unified country per se.
01:47Rather, it was a patchwork of tribes, such as those coming from southern or eastern Europe,
01:52each with their own customs and beliefs.
01:55As an island, Britain's population changed many times.
01:59Britain was mainly composed of farmers, who descended from people from the Middle East
02:04and arrived on the land around 6000 years ago.
02:07This group thrived in the area until 2500 BCE,
02:11when another group coming from the regions of the Netherlands and Germany started to appear.
02:17These ones, also known as the Beaker people,
02:20were responsible for the large population turnover that Britain experienced
02:24during the Neolithic period and the years that followed.
02:28The Beakers were called so because of a specific type of pottery they used to make
02:32and bury their loved ones with after their passing.
02:36It's possible that the original dwellers of the land didn't like it that their land was being repopulated.
02:42And what researchers suggest is that Stonehenge was this attempt
02:46to reunite the original Neolithic farmer population
02:49and regain some type of identity control over their land.
02:54They would have invested a lot of time and energy in bringing the altar stone
02:59all the way down from Scotland, without the help of wheel technology, for example.
03:04You see, the wheel had already been invented in Lower Mesopotamia,
03:09but since there was no Wi-Fi at the time,
03:11the Brits weren't aware of this technology until much later on.
03:16This whole territorial crisis could have driven locals to use their resources
03:21to move the altar stone to Salisbury Plain in England, in order to reunify the land.
03:27You see, Stonehenge wasn't built in one go.
03:31Its history dates to around 3000 BCE.
03:35That's when the monument was just a circular ditch and bank, known as a henge.
03:41Inside, they placed wooden posts and possibly totem-like carvings.
03:46This version of Stonehenge wasn't about rocks yet.
03:49It was more of a ritualistic place, and possibly a final resting place.
03:55They found several cremation pits from this period,
03:58making it the oldest resting place in all of Britain.
04:02It was only around 2600 BCE that the Blue Stones came around.
04:08The naming might be a bit misleading, since they're not literally blue rocks.
04:12They have a bluish tinge to them when they're freshly broken, hence the name.
04:17These smaller rocks probably came from the Pressley Hills in southwest Wales,
04:22which is about 150 miles away from Stonehenge.
04:27Some researchers say that the ancient ones believed that Blue Stones had healing qualities.
04:33So we can maybe guess why they went through all of the trouble
04:37to move them from Wales to Salisbury Plains, huh?
04:41A little bit later than that, circa 2500,
04:44that's when we start having the Stonehenge we know and love today.
04:48That's when the Saracen Stones started to arrive.
04:51The Saracens are Stonehenge's huge stones.
04:55I mean, each Saracen can weigh around 25 tons.
04:59That's as much as three African elephants stacked together.
05:03The Saracens make that iconic outer ring circle.
05:06Supposedly, that's also when the Altar Stone was moved from Scotland
05:10directly to the heart of Stonehenge.
05:13The Altar Stone is the largest of the Blue Stones used to build Stonehenge.
05:18Today, the Altar Stone lies recumbent at the foot of the largest trilithon of the monument.
05:24In case you don't know, the trilithons are the horizontal stones
05:28used to form those famous arches we see today.
05:31And here's where the story takes a twist.
05:35For nearly a century,
05:37scientists believed that the Altar Stone came from the same area as the Blue Stones,
05:42the Pressley Hills in Wales.
05:44It made sense back then.
05:46If you're already hauling stones from Wales,
05:49why not grab a special one to be the so-called altar?
05:53Except that theory started crumbling in 2018
05:57when a team of researchers decided to dig deeper.
06:00They used advanced geochemical analysis to pinpoint
06:04where the Altar Stone's sandstone actually came from.
06:07And it turns out, it wasn't Wales.
06:11Instead, the results pointed north,
06:14specifically to the Orcadian Basin in northeastern Scotland,
06:18400 miles from Stonehenge.
06:21This revelation changed the whole script of Stonehenge's story.
06:26How would they move the rocks, you may ask?
06:29Well, there's an old theory known as the Ice Road
06:32that suggests that the rocks were moved by natural icy pathways
06:36that formed during the winter.
06:38This way, they could slide the rocks down all the way to Stonehenge.
06:43But hey, if we're talking about a distance of over 100 miles,
06:47that's not too realistic.
06:49Anyways, this theory was debunked
06:52because it was warmer back then than it is today.
06:55There's also the River Theory
06:57that suggests that the rocks were floating along the river
07:00from the quarry to the site.
07:02But if we're talking about sarsen rocks,
07:05they're too heavy to float.
07:07So there goes this theory.
07:09What we're saying is, no one knows how the rocks were moved.
07:13Another interesting info came from all the research done in Stonehenge.
07:18A recent laser survey of the stones
07:20revealed the different stone working methods used
07:23and has shown that some parts of the monument
07:26were more carefully finished than others.
07:29In particular, the northeast side
07:32and the inner faces of the central trilithons were finely dressed.
07:36FYI, a trilithon is one of Stonehenge's most famous shapes.
07:41It's when two huge monoliths receive a third one on top of them,
07:45connecting the two together.
07:47This fancy word is just Greek for having three stones.
07:51But anyway, the bigger question and maybe why Stonehenge is so famous
07:56is why it was built in the first place.
07:59You see, Stonehenge's entire layout
08:03seems to have been carefully planned
08:05to align with the movements of the sun.
08:07The monument's architecture is particularly attuned to the solstices,
08:12the shortest and longest days of the year.
08:15During the summer solstice,
08:17the sun rises perfectly in line with the heel stone,
08:20casting light straight into the heart of the stone circle.
08:24A spectacular, almost magical sight
08:27that surely wowed its ancient audience.
08:30But it's the midwinter solstice
08:32that seems to hold a special connection to the altar stone.
08:35As the sun sets on that day,
08:38its light aligns with the altar stone at the center of Stonehenge.
08:43To the builders of Stonehenge,
08:45this alignment may have symbolized more than just celestial precision.
08:50It likely carried profound ancestral and spiritual significance.
08:54The altar stone, illuminated by the setting sun,
08:57could have been seen as a bridge between worlds,
09:00connecting the living with their ancestors,
09:03the Earth with the cosmos,
09:05and the present with the eternal.
09:08In a world without calendars, clocks, or weather apps,
09:12solstices were everything.
09:14They marked the rhythm of life,
09:16guiding agricultural cycles and spiritual rituals alike.
09:20So Stonehenge wasn't just about the stones,
09:23or the people who built it,
09:25but perhaps a way to honor their ancestral roots
09:29in an ever-changing world.
09:32You probably saw a viral video
09:34where YouTubers hid a huge treasure in the Bermuda Triangle,
09:38and a random guy dared to go after it.
09:40He scored $10,000, but let's be real,
09:43his biggest win was getting out of there alive.
09:46This dangerous stretch of water
09:48between Florida, Puerto Rico, and Bermuda
09:51is notorious for its chilling and unexplained events.
09:55They say that more than 50 ships and 20 airplanes
09:58have mysteriously disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle.
10:02This leads to many theories,
10:04suggesting that this area is somehow linked to mystical powers
10:07or vortices that pull objects into other dimensions.
10:11But an Australian scientist named Carl Krushelnitsky
10:14might have actually cracked the code
10:16on the Bermuda Triangle mystery.
10:18According to him, most popular legends
10:21and eerie disappearances can be explained by two main factors.
10:27The first factor is human error.
10:29One theory debunked by Krushelnitsky
10:32was about the doomed Flight 19.
10:34Back in 1945, a group of five planes from the US Navy
10:38took off on a routine training mission from Florida.
10:41Everything was going well until, 90 minutes into the flight,
10:45the troop commander reported that they were lost.
10:48And then, poof, they just disappeared.
10:52One of the largest air and sea searches in history
10:55was conducted to find them.
10:57But to this day, no one has found any trace
11:00of Flight 19 or the 14 men on board.
11:04What still makes people scratch their heads about this event
11:07is that the weather conditions when they took off
11:10were actually great.
11:11A relatively warm day,
11:13fluffy white clouds drifting across the sky,
11:16and a breezy wind coming from the southwest.
11:19Pretty standard for training flights, really.
11:21Nothing out of the ordinary.
11:23So, what happened?
11:26It turns out that despite the flight leader
11:29having over 2,000 flying hours,
11:32he was a bad pilot.
11:34Actually, a really bad pilot.
11:36According to Khrushchev-Nisky,
11:38the commander was such a poor navigator
11:40that he had gotten lost at sea
11:42on at least two previous occasions
11:44before the Flight 19 incident.
11:46On that doomed day,
11:47he even tried to get someone to cover his shift
11:50but was unsuccessful,
11:51to the misfortune of his entire team.
11:54After their training flight exercise
11:56was completed successfully,
11:58both compasses on board stopped working.
12:00On the patrol's radio,
12:02his anxious voice said they were over land.
12:05More precisely,
12:06he was sure they were flying above the Florida Keys.
12:09But that didn't make any sense.
12:11He had made his scheduled pass
12:13over hens and chicken shoals in the Bahamas
12:16less than an hour earlier.
12:18But now he believed this plane
12:19had somehow drifted hundreds of miles off course
12:22and ended up in the Florida Keys.
12:24He couldn't have been more wrong.
12:28According to the most plausible theories about this case,
12:31what he thought was the Florida Keys
12:33was actually some small islands in the Bahamas.
12:37And here's where the real mess happened.
12:39Instead of turning back to the west,
12:41toward Florida,
12:42he kept flying east,
12:43deeper into the Atlantic Ocean.
12:46His plane eventually ran out of fuel,
12:48and you already know the rest of the story.
12:52Okay, some theorists might argue
12:54that a malevolent force
12:56somehow interfered with the two compasses,
12:58causing them to fail
13:00while they were flying
13:01this supposedly cursed stretch of water.
13:03But let's face it.
13:05Even if that were true,
13:06human error was the main factor here.
13:08The pilot shouldn't have mistaken
13:10the Bahamas islands for the Keys.
13:12End of that story.
13:16Now let's talk about the second factor that,
13:18according to Krushalinsky,
13:20explains many of the strange disappearances
13:22in the Bermuda Triangle.
13:24And that's related to bad weather.
13:27A lot of Atlantic tropical storms and hurricanes
13:30actually pass right through the Bermuda Triangle.
13:33So, before we had advanced weather forecasting,
13:36these storms had caused a bunch of ships
13:38to go missing back in the day.
13:40On top of that,
13:41the Gulf Stream runs through the area too.
13:43That's a super strong ocean current
13:45that can make the weather change quickly
13:47and, sometimes, pretty dramatically.
13:50So, when you think about it,
13:51natural factors like these
13:53could explain many, if not most,
13:55of the disappearances.
13:57Take the USS Cyclops, for example.
14:00Back in 1918,
14:01this massive 500-foot cargo ship
14:04carrying about 11,000 tons of manganese
14:07just disappeared without a trace.
14:10It was sailing from the West Indies to Baltimore
14:12with 309 people on board.
14:15What makes this event extra eerie
14:17is that not a single distress signal was sent.
14:20Over a hundred years later,
14:22we still have no idea what happened to it.
14:25No wreckage has ever been found.
14:27Of course, people have come up with
14:29all kinds of theories about the USS Cyclops.
14:32One popular idea is that
14:34it ran into a sudden violent storm.
14:36With all that heavy manganese on board,
14:39it might've capsized and sunk really fast.
14:42Others speculate about underwater events,
14:44like landslides or even a rogue wave.
14:50Now, this is not such a crazy theory
14:52if you think about it.
14:54According to Kruszelnicki,
14:55the Bermuda Triangle isn't just a bad weather zone.
14:58It is about the raw power of the ocean itself.
15:02The ocean floor there is way deeper
15:04than most people realize,
15:05going down nearly 30,000 feet.
15:08It's basically like Mount Everest in reverse.
15:11When the ocean water gets that deep,
15:13it tends to hide things,
15:15making it the perfect place for ships and planes
15:18to just disappear without a trace.
15:21The expert confirms that there is also
15:23a tiny chance that even stranger events
15:26could be happening beneath the waves
15:28of the Bermuda Triangle.
15:29And that is related to methane clathrate.
15:32This is a fancy name for an ice-like compound
15:35that forms underwater or in really cold places
15:38with methane gas trapped inside.
15:41Sometimes these structures can break free,
15:43creating bubbles on the surface.
15:45And this bubble shower can be fatal,
15:47at least for ships.
15:49Some experiments done with model ships
15:52showed that if enough bubbles rise up,
15:54the water's density drops,
15:56and this can mess with the ship's ability to float.
15:59If a large number of bubbles come up
16:01and cover a large area quickly,
16:03the ship could lose enough buoyancy
16:05to sink or tip over.
16:07But to be fair,
16:08the chances of something like that happening
16:10are very remote.
16:12So, human error and bad weather.
16:15Those are the two factors that likely explain
16:17all the mysteries surrounding
16:19this so-called malevolent stretch of water.
16:22But the truth is,
16:23the Bermuda Triangle isn't all that special.
16:27Although this region is very popular,
16:29there are no official maps that clearly
16:31outline its exact boundaries and say,
16:34look, here precisely is the Bermuda Triangle.
16:37And that is part of the problem.
16:39Disappearances and unexplained events
16:41that happen far from the actual region
16:44end up being lumped into the Bermuda Triangle's
16:47list of unexplained mysteries.
16:49Like the Mary Celeste's fate.
16:51In 1872, this ship was found completely intact,
16:54but with no sign of the captain,
16:56his family, or the crew.
16:58People thought, okay, creepy fact, ghost ship,
17:01so it must be related to the Bermuda Triangle.
17:04But one thing doesn't add up.
17:07The Mary Celeste was abandoned
17:09about 400 miles east of the Azores,
17:11so we're talking about a completely different
17:13part of the Atlantic.
17:15By this time, the Triangle has morphed
17:17into a trapezoid to cover that huge chunk
17:20of the North Atlantic.
17:22What I'm trying to say here is that
17:24once people start believing in a danger zone,
17:27confirmation bias takes over.
17:29But the facts are that the Bermuda Triangle
17:31sees tons of daily traffic every single day,
17:34both by sea and air.
17:36And according to experts, the number of incidents
17:39that happen there is pretty much the same
17:41as anywhere else in the world, percentage-wise.
17:44Some years the number is a bit higher,
17:46some years lower, but it averages out the same.
17:49With that in mind, it seems like it's time
17:52for us to finally move on from wild theories
17:55involving the Bermuda Triangle.
17:57Well, at least until the next bizarre
17:59disappearance comes along.
18:06So, there's a mysterious doorway
18:08in the middle of Antarctica.
18:10Some people think it's Bigfoot's vacation home
18:13or a shuttlecraft from Star Trek.
18:15Or maybe a door to Agartha,
18:17a mythical kingdom some people believe
18:19is located in the center of the Earth.
18:22Well, the scientists debunked all these poetic theories
18:25and explained that what looks like
18:27a mysterious doorway is located
18:29in an area of fast sea ice.
18:32It's offshore of the coast and is full
18:34of little islands with shallow water around them.
18:37When ice flows around hard rocks
18:39hidden underneath, it can create patterns
18:42that look odd but are totally normal.
18:44In this spot, the ice is thin,
18:46so the rocks underneath have a big effect
18:49on how the ice moves.
18:51The cold winds in Antarctica also shape
18:54the ice and snow and make it look like
18:56they're lines and shapes.
18:58So, the mysterious doorway is just
19:00a rocky ridge poking out
19:02because the ice has melted a little.
19:04The top of the doorway is the tip of the rock,
19:07and the sides are snowy trails
19:09left by strong winds blowing
19:11in the same direction.
19:13It's essentially an iceberg that got stranded
19:15and is melting in one place.
19:19One YouTuber found another out-of-place
19:21mysterious object more than 150 miles
19:24off the shore of Antarctica.
19:26A 400-foot long ice ship.
19:28The Internet went wild with theories
19:31like that the ship must've ended up there
19:33right from the Bermuda Triangle.
19:35But there was no scientific proof
19:37that it was a ship and not just
19:39a large chunk of ice.
19:41And once some other Internet users
19:43revisited the place, they noticed
19:45the ice melted in the summer,
19:47and the hypothetical ship was gone.
19:50Another mysterious Google Maps find
19:52in Antarctica was a pyramid.
19:54And before you make up an exciting theory
19:56about how the ancient Egyptians
19:58built a secret base here,
20:00I have to tell you it turned out
20:02to be just a mountain.
20:04It's one of the tallest mountain range
20:06in Antarctica that stretches
20:08for almost 250 miles.
20:10It's not the first pyramid on this continent,
20:12as explorers from the British
20:14Antarctic Expedition found another
20:16unusually shaped mountain
20:18and nicknamed it the Pyramid.
20:20But this one didn't even have
20:22a pyramid shape.
20:24Here's one Antarctic find
20:26that definitely won't disappoint you.
20:28A giant ice shelf that reminded
20:30scientists of the Grand Canyon.
20:32A special submarine robot
20:34named RAN covered over
20:36600 miles under the thick ice
20:38and brought back some amazing
20:40footage of icy mountains,
20:42valleys, flat plateaus,
20:44and swirly patterns made
20:46entirely of ice.
20:48One of the strangest things RAN found
20:50was giant ball-shaped holes
20:52or scoops in the ice.
20:54Sadly, scientists lost
20:56track of the robot. They think that
20:58curious Wendell seals may have
21:00accidentally bumped into RAN and
21:02caused it to get stuck. To save
21:04energy, RAN probably shut itself
21:06down, and the scientists couldn't find
21:08it again. But the team is hoping
21:10to build a new robot and continue
21:12exploring this icy canyon
21:14to see how the patterns under the ice
21:16might change over the years.
21:18Another huge
21:20Antarctic canyon was found thanks to
21:22bad weather. A team of
21:24sound experts had to pause their
21:26work at the Casey Research Station
21:28in a storm. Instead of waiting
21:30around, they decided to use the
21:32unexpected free time to map
21:34the seafloor near Adams Glacier.
21:36And that's how they found a
21:38canyon that is almost 7,000
21:40feet deep, almost 30,000
21:42feet wide, and stretches
21:44over 28 miles away from
21:46the glacier. During the mapping,
21:48they discovered just part of the canyon
21:50before they had to go back to the research
21:52station. But when bad weather
21:54came in again, the ship went
21:56back and mapped more of the canyon.
21:58They were working in waves up to 13
22:00feet high and super powerful
22:02winds, but they managed to get about
22:0415 hours of data to complete
22:06their map. On the way back to
22:08Australia, they stopped one last
22:10time, and now they've got a full
22:12picture of the canyon. Studying
22:14it is helping scientists learn more about
22:16the history of glaciers and the
22:18interaction between the Antarctic ice
22:20sheet and the ocean.
22:22There's a frozen lake in Antarctica
22:24called Lake Enigma.
22:26For a long time, people thought the lake
22:28was completely frozen solid.
22:30But during one expedition,
22:32researchers found that under the
22:34thick ice, there was a layer of liquid
22:36water about 40 feet deep.
22:38To learn more, they drilled through
22:40the ice and sent down a camera to
22:42explore what was hiding in the lake's depths.
22:44The lake's water, which they
22:46think comes from the nearby Amorphous
22:48Glacier through a secret underground
22:50pathway, was filled with strange
22:52microbial life.
22:54These tiny microbes lived in mats
22:56that covered the lake bed. Some of
22:58the mats were thin and spiky,
23:00and others looked like crumpled carpets
23:02or even small tree-like shapes
23:04that grew up to 16 inches.
23:06Many of the microbes could make their
23:08own food through photosynthesis,
23:10just like plants do, and it gave the
23:12lake a high amount of oxygen.
23:14One of the coolest discoveries
23:16was a type of microbe which usually
23:18lives in low-oxygen places.
23:20Lake Enigma might be similar
23:22to environments on icy moons
23:24like Europa or Enceladus,
23:26so it could mean that these moons
23:28also have hidden water under their
23:30ice, and possibly microbial
23:32life too. One more mind-boggling
23:34discovery from Antarctica
23:36is tiny pieces of amber
23:38in mudstone found here for
23:40the very first time.
23:42It took scientists years of studying
23:44incredibly well-preserved fossilized
23:46roots, pollen, and spores
23:48that they found back in 2017.
23:50Amber proves that resin-producing
23:52trees once grew in Antarctica,
23:54part of a lush rainforest
23:56that existed near the South Pole
23:58during the mid-Cretaceous period.
24:00Back then,
24:02disclaimer, I wasn't around then,
24:04the trees would have had to survive
24:06through months of darkness during the
24:08long Antarctic winters.
24:10Scientists believe they adapted by going
24:12dormant for a long time.
24:14The amber pieces the scientists found
24:16are tiny, but there are beautiful
24:18shades of yellow and orange with
24:20bumpy surfaces that show how the resin
24:22flowed out of the trees.
24:24This resin likely leaked out
24:26to protect the trees from insects.
24:28It was preserved because water quickly
24:30covered it and kept it safe from
24:32sunlight and air.
24:34A scientist was browsing through satellite
24:36images for brown trails of penguin
24:38waste and found four new
24:40colonies of emperor penguins at the
24:42base of the globe. These new
24:44colonies likely have been around for years,
24:46though three of them are rather small,
24:48with fewer than a thousand breeding
24:50penguins each. One of the new
24:52colonies was found close to a place
24:54called the Lazarev Ice Shelf,
24:56where there used to be a larger penguin
24:58colony. They thought this colony
25:00went extinct in 2019,
25:02but it seems the penguins have just
25:04moved a bit because of changing
25:06sea ice conditions. So, studying
25:08them can help us learn more about
25:10how emperor penguins adapt to changes
25:12in the environment. Now, there used
25:14to be a giant river system in
25:16Antarctica 40 million years ago.
25:18Researchers found proof of
25:20it after studying soft sediments
25:22and hard rocks from the frozen
25:24seabed. They looked at tiny
25:26bits of radioactive elements, like
25:28uranium and lead, and learned
25:30that the deeper dirt came from the time
25:32of dinosaurs. The dirt
25:34closer to the surface was younger and
25:36had an interesting pattern, like
25:38the kind you see in river deltas today,
25:40such as in the Mississippi River or
25:42Rio Grande. Scientists
25:44found tiny signs of life
25:46in the sand. The river that once
25:48flowed here started in the transantarctic
25:50mountains and traveled
25:52930 miles before it reached
25:54the sea. Researchers
25:56kept studying newer layers of dirt from
25:58about 20 million years ago.
26:00They hope this will help them predict what
26:02the Earth's weather patterns might be like
26:04in the future.
26:06It's dark, and it's hot,
26:08and it's difficult to breathe deep
26:10underground in Karowi Mine
26:12in the heart of Botswana.
26:14It's been countless hours
26:16since your shift started, and yet
26:18another rock in your hands doesn't look
26:20promising. On the other hand,
26:22there is a tiny chance that it's
26:24the largest diamond you've ever
26:26found. You decide
26:28to inform your Canadian bosses from
26:30Lucara Diamond Corp, and
26:32bingo! The stone you
26:34found turns out to be a breathtaking
26:362,492
26:38carat diamond, the second
26:40largest ever found.
26:42Now, the average engagement
26:44ring size is 1.7 carats.
26:46It means that just
26:48this diamond could be enough to supply
26:50rings for more than 1,465
26:52brides.
26:54You can compare the size of the previous
26:56stone with the size of a fist.
26:58And the weight of this priceless
27:00giant is over a pound.
27:02Its value hasn't been
27:04determined yet, but how about we
27:06speculate a bit? So,
27:08another diamond from the same mine,
27:10called the Constellation, was sold
27:12for $63 million
27:14in 2016. And
27:16that was only 813
27:18carats, less than
27:20a third of this new one's size.
27:22The only other
27:24discovered diamond that's larger is the
27:26famous Cullinan Diamond.
27:28It was discovered in South Africa back
27:30in 1905, and weighed
27:323,106 carats.
27:34Now, calculate how
27:36many engagement rings we could make out
27:38of it, and write the number down
27:40in the comments.
27:42Sadly, it was later cut into several
27:44smaller diamonds, and some of
27:46those pieces are now part of the
27:48British Crown Jewels.
27:50Interestingly, once
27:52there was an even larger diamond like
27:54stone, a black diamond called
27:56Carbonado. It was
27:58found above ground in Brazil in the late
28:001800s. The coolest
28:02thing about it is that it may have come
28:04from a meteorite. The
28:06Sergio Carbonado, which is the
28:08stone's name, was broken into
28:10smaller pieces. They wanted to
28:12use it in industrial drill bits
28:14because it's one of the toughest materials
28:16on Earth. This new diamond
28:18was actually found with the help of
28:20advanced technology. The company
28:22used an X-ray system called
28:24Mega Diamond Recovery X-ray
28:26Transmission to detect the stone.
28:28This isn't the first record-breaking
28:30diamond Lucara has found at the
28:32Keroi Mine. Back in
28:342019, they discovered
28:36the Suelo diamond, which was
28:381,758
28:40carats. At that time,
28:42it was the second largest diamond in
28:44the world. Luxury brand
28:46Louis Vuitton later purchased
28:48the gem for an undisclosed
28:50sum. And before that,
28:52in 2015, they found
28:54the Lacedi La Rona diamond
28:56at the same mine.
28:58It weighed 1,109
29:00carats and brought the company
29:02$53 million in
29:042017. Diamonds
29:06aren't the only amazing thing
29:08you can find in the ground.
29:10The better and deeper you dig,
29:12the rarer objects you're likely to
29:14discover, like an ancient lipstick
29:16for example.
29:18It might be the oldest lipstick
29:20in the world since it's about
29:225,000 years old.
29:24This deep red lip paint was found
29:26in a stone vial in southern Iran.
29:28The vial actually
29:30popped up in 2001,
29:32but it took researchers until recently
29:34to figure out what it really was.
29:36Because it's not like modern
29:38lipstick in a tube, people
29:40likely applied it with a brush.
29:42Researchers are happy
29:44since this find could give us
29:46a glimpse into what women from the Bronze
29:48Age might have done to stand out.
29:50Those from elite societies
29:52probably applied this lipstick
29:54to look glamorous and show off
29:56their high status.
29:58Now, here's the backstory of the
30:00vial. It came from a
30:023rd millennium BCE graveyard
30:04and was linked to the powerful
30:06Marhazi civilization.
30:08It was a big deal in that part of
30:10Mesopotamia at the time.
30:12The graveyard was uncovered after flooding
30:14and unfortunately, looters got their
30:16hands on many items.
30:18But luckily, the authorities managed
30:20to recover this particular piece.
30:22The vial caught scientists'
30:24attention because it was different from
30:26other items they'd found.
30:28Normally, they'd come across grey,
30:30compact substances in similar containers.
30:32But when they opened this
30:34particular one, a loose,
30:36fine powder spilled out.
30:38It was dark greyish purple
30:40in color, nothing like what they'd
30:42seen before. When the researchers
30:44analyzed the powder, they
30:46found out that it was made with hematite,
30:48which gave it a rich, deep
30:50red color. It also
30:52had other ingredients like vegetable
30:54oils and waxes, making it
30:56really similar to what you'd expect
30:58in a modern lipstick.
31:00Apparently, back in the Bronze
31:02Age, makeup was a sign of
31:04luxury and superior status
31:06in that area. It showed off
31:08wealth and power, especially
31:10in elite circles.
31:12By the way, the researchers don't want
31:14to claim for sure that this is the world's
31:16oldest lipstick, because who
31:18knows? Something older
31:20might turn up someday.
31:22How about we move
31:24to Bulgaria right now and do some
31:26digging there? Ah, wait.
31:28There's no need to take a spade and
31:30dirty your hands. An amazing discovery
31:32is already waiting for you.
31:34There they've found a large
31:36marble statue. It's almost
31:387 feet tall, which might depict
31:40Hermes, a Greek deity.
31:42But the craziest thing is
31:44that it was buried in an ancient sewer
31:46for around 2,000 years.
31:48The statue is in really
31:50good shape, especially the head,
31:52which is super well-preserved.
31:54There are some cracks in the hands,
31:56but overall, it's in surprisingly
31:58great condition, according to
32:00the scientific director of the excavation.
32:02And here's how they found
32:04the statue. The team was
32:06doing a routine dig in southwestern
32:08Bulgaria, near the Greek border.
32:10This area used to be part
32:12of the ancient city of Herakleia Sintika,
32:14which dates back to the
32:164th century BCE.
32:18While digging, the researchers
32:20stumbled upon the statue's marble
32:22foot. From there,
32:24they carefully uncovered the rest of it.
32:26It was a total surprise for them
32:28since they didn't expect to find
32:30anything like this.
32:32Right now, the team is
32:34working on safely removing the statue
32:36from the sewer. It's really
32:38heavy, so they're using a crane
32:40to lift it out and transport it to the
32:42History Museum in Petric.
32:44Once they restore and conserve it,
32:46the plan is to put it on display.
32:48Experts are very excited
32:50about this find. It could teach
32:52us more about the local culture in
32:54Herakleia Sintika, which isn't
32:56a very well-known ancient site.
32:58Now, if you're dreaming
33:00of making discoveries like this one,
33:02but don't have a degree, don't lose heart.
33:04Even an amateur can make
33:06a scientific breakthrough. For example,
33:08you could find a Roman
33:10dodecahedron. It's this weird
33:12mysterious 12-sided metal
33:14object about the size of a grapefruit,
33:16and no one really knows
33:18what they're used for.
33:20Historians have been scratching their heads
33:22about these things for centuries.
33:24This particular dodecahedron
33:26was discovered last summer in a
33:28farmer's field near Norton, Disney,
33:30about 35 miles southeast
33:32of Sheffield. A group of
33:34volunteers had already found Roman
33:36coins and brooches in the area,
33:38so they knew the field might
33:40hold more treasures.
33:42A geophysical survey had shown
33:44areas underground where the Earth's
33:46magnetic field was disturbed,
33:48hinting that something might have been hidden there.
33:50The team started digging trenches
33:52during a two-week excavation.
33:54On the second to last day,
33:56in Trench 4, someone
33:58spotted the dodecahedron.
34:00Richard Parker, the group's
34:02secretary, was nearby making
34:04tea when he heard the shout.
34:06He said they were all shocked because they
34:08hadn't found much metal, and then
34:10boom! That awesome
34:12artifact simply popped up!
34:14The extra cool thing
34:16about that dodecahedron was that
34:18it was complete, which is rare.
34:20Many others found before
34:22were broken or incomplete.
34:24Plus, it's larger than usual.
34:26Roman dodecahedrons can be
34:28as small as a golf ball, but this
34:30one is closer to a grapefruit.
34:32Now, the dodecahedron
34:34is on display at a local museum.
34:36So far,
34:38over 100 Roman dodecahedrons
34:40have been found in northwestern Europe,
34:42mostly in former Roman
34:44territories like the Gallo-Roman regions.
34:46They date back to somewhere
34:48between the 1st and 3rd centuries
34:50CE. Each one
34:52is a hollow metal shell,
34:54usually made of bronze.
34:56It has 12 faces with differently sized
34:58holes on each face.
35:00Around the holes, there are concentric
35:02rings imprinted into the metal.
35:04And at every corner where the faces meet,
35:06there's a small stud.
35:08There's no writing on them, and nothing
35:10in Roman texts mentions them at all.
35:12That's why
35:14nobody knows what these dodecahedrons
35:16were for. There are loads of
35:18theories. They could have been toys,
35:20dice, mace heads,
35:22or even tools for measuring distances
35:24in Roman artillery.
35:26Some people even think they were used
35:28for knitting gloves, or even figuring
35:30out dates using the stars.
35:32But most of those ideas
35:34don't really hold up. So the
35:36mystery remains.
35:38Consider Lake Enigma.
35:40What a fitting name.
35:42It's already strange enough
35:44because it's not even supposed to exist.
35:46But now, we stumbled upon
35:48actual life deep beneath
35:50it. And this just
35:52might help NASA in their search
35:54for life in outer space.
35:56The lake lies deep in the icy
35:58heart of Antarctica. So it's
36:00not really a water pool like we're used
36:02to. More like a lake-like
36:04block of ice. Or so
36:06we thought. Just recently,
36:08Italian scientists discovered
36:10a secret that had been buried for
36:12ages. An actual body of
36:14water. And in this water,
36:16life is thriving. Various
36:18microorganisms, and even
36:20some weird little hunters.
36:22Which is super weird, since
36:24Lake Enigma sits in a remote
36:26and harsh corner of our planet.
36:28The northern Victoria land in
36:30Antarctica. The entire
36:32South Pole is cold, but
36:34in this place, temperatures can
36:36plummet to a horrifying
36:38minus 41 degrees Fahrenheit.
36:40Though on average, it's
36:42around 7. Brrr, chilly!
36:44Like we said, this
36:46lake shouldn't even be there at all.
36:48Antarctica is technically
36:50the largest desert on Earth, even
36:52covered in snow, because
36:54it's super dry. There are
36:56zero rains, truly little
36:58snowfall, and the sun barely
37:00evaporates anything. And even
37:02if there is some water, the insane
37:04winds make sure to dry everything
37:06out super quickly.
37:08Putting on our thinking caps, this lake
37:10should lose an unimaginable
37:127 million cubic feet of water
37:14every year. Yet,
37:16the water remains. Why?
37:18No one knows.
37:20Scientists say there could be something
37:22deep underground that refills it
37:24constantly. They just have no
37:26idea what that might be.
37:28Maybe deep underground rivers,
37:30melting ice, or something
37:32else entirely. But hence
37:34the name, the Enigma Lake.
37:36The block of ice we
37:38mention is permanent and super
37:40thick, at least 36 feet of it.
37:42And that's higher than a 3-story building.
37:44So researchers decided
37:46to check out if there's anything beneath it.
37:48They used a so-called
37:50ground-penetrating radar, a
37:52super smart echo detector for the ground.
37:54This radar sends invisible
37:56radio waves into the Earth.
37:58When they hit something underground,
38:00like rocks, water, or
38:02anything else, they bounce back
38:04to the device. By measuring
38:06how long it takes for the signal to return
38:08and how strong they are,
38:10we can determine the distance
38:12and what exactly the radar hit.
38:14That's how animals like bats,
38:16whales, and dolphins can see
38:18underwater. And we humans stole
38:20this cool nature idea to
38:22research buried structures and hidden
38:24caves. Scientists used
38:26this device all over the Enigma
38:28surface. This way, they were
38:30able to create an entire map of
38:32this under-ice world beneath.
38:34The water itself wasn't surprising.
38:36It's the unique ecosystem
38:38in it that shocked them.
38:40Unfortunately, no
38:42secret monsters or extraterrestrial
38:44secrets this time. But
38:46there are microorganisms
38:48there that may not exist
38:50anywhere else on Earth. Somehow
38:52these creatures have managed to survive
38:54in complete isolation
38:56in extreme cold. It's
38:58not that we don't know these microorganisms,
39:00we've met them before,
39:02just not exactly like this.
39:04There are a couple groups hanging out
39:06down there. The first one is
39:08Bacteroidota. They love
39:10breaking down complex molecules,
39:12especially in your stomach,
39:14and help digest tough plant fibers.
39:16They mostly hang out inside
39:18us. But in the outside world,
39:20we might occasionally find them
39:22in soils and oceans.
39:24Then Actinobacterioda.
39:26Genius chemists among bacteria.
39:28They decompose organic
39:30materials and help the soil
39:32get healthier. They're also famous
39:34for producing antibiotics,
39:36so we owe a lot of our medicine
39:38to them. The third one is
39:40Pseudomonodota. These guys
39:42weren't a surprise. They're crazy adaptable.
39:44They can thrive pretty much
39:46anywhere, from soil to water
39:48to the human body.
39:50Some of them are good, helping plants grow
39:52and in nutrient cycles, but
39:54others can be opportunistic pathogens.
39:56Ooh, bad guys.
39:58But what is actually
40:00a surprise is that Lake Enigma
40:02has tons of Passivacteria.
40:04They're ultra-small
40:06even for microorganisms,
40:08and can barely do anything themselves.
40:10So they prefer to live
40:12in symbiosis or be little
40:14parasites, relying on their hosts
40:16for nutrients and other necessities.
40:18All these little chompers
40:20might be ancient. They could be remnants
40:22of a time before the lake froze over
40:24completely, which is hundreds of
40:26thousands of years ago.
40:28It's simply weird to encounter these
40:30bacteria in the Enigma Lake,
40:32especially the little parasites.
40:34Passivacteria usually love
40:36low-oxygen environments,
40:38but this lake is very oxygen-rich,
40:40not even mentioning an almost
40:4240 feet of ice above.
40:44So all this means that
40:46even though we know who these guys
40:48are, this specific species
40:50might be new to us.
40:52They could've evolved with some unique adaptations
40:54and abilities using the lake's
40:56unusual chemistry.
40:58They probably rely on a super
41:00simple and delicate food web.
41:02Some of the microorganisms
41:04produce energy from light
41:06– well, whatever light gets down there –
41:08or the lake's chemicals.
41:10The symbiosis guys most likely
41:12survive by living on or
41:14inside their neighbors.
41:16Yep, these microscopic creatures
41:18hunt each other. Nope, things
41:20can't be peaceful even in a place like that.
41:22If we find out
41:24what their secretive survival is,
41:26we might learn more about chemistry,
41:28medicine, and even
41:30extraterrestrial life.
41:32Because if life can endure such
41:34extreme conditions, then it can
41:36probably appear pretty much
41:38anywhere. Including our
41:40closest neighbors, Europa or
41:42Enceladus, the moons of Jupiter
41:44and Saturn. They definitely
41:46hide oceans beneath their frozen
41:48surfaces, and now there's a very
41:50high chance there might be some
41:52life there. Antarctica
41:54must be the closest thing we have
41:56to extraterrestrial exploration
41:58before we actually land on
42:00other planets. It's full of
42:02hidden mysteries and surprising creatures.
42:04Even outside of Lake Enigma,
42:06the South Pole harbors
42:08life. Just take the
42:10McMurdo Dry Valleys, which
42:12are often referred to as Earthly
42:14Mars. These are among the most
42:16mysterious and extreme places on
42:18our planet. They're stretching
42:20across Victoria Land in
42:22Antarctica, and this is one of the
42:24driest places on Earth.
42:26Makes sense, if you remember the name.
42:28Surprisingly, unlike other
42:30parts of the South Pole, this land
42:32is almost entirely devoid
42:34of snow and ice. Just lots
42:36of super cold ground.
42:38There might even be some sand dunes
42:40nestled here and there between the rugged
42:42mountains. The ground is mostly
42:44covered in loose gravel, scattered
42:46with ancient rocks made of granite,
42:48and something interesting called
42:50gneiss, just spelled differently.
42:52It's the type of rock that's been
42:54through a lot, literally.
42:56It's usually born when granite
42:58and sedimentary rocks have to endure
43:00insane pressure or horrifying
43:02heat for a while, a process
43:04called metamorphism.
43:06These conditions are so intense
43:08that they literally rearrange
43:10the minerals into layers.
43:12That's why gneiss has such beautiful
43:14folated looks. It's the planet's
43:16version of baking a layered cake.
43:18It's amazing because
43:20this place is almost exactly
43:22the way it was millions of years ago.
43:24These valleys are frozen
43:26in time, and they give us a little glimpse
43:28into Earth's distant past.
43:30And that includes life.
43:32Once again, local winds are
43:34absolutely terrifying gusts of
43:36cold air racing downhill,
43:38and they evaporate snow
43:40faster than it can even melt.
43:42So, logically, you shouldn't
43:44find much water here, not even
43:46mentioning life. But
43:48somehow, you can still stumble
43:50across frozen lakes and saline
43:52ponds in the dry valleys.
43:54And local life stretches
43:56all reason and our understanding
43:58of biology. It exists
44:00inside the rocks themselves.
44:02Microorganisms are
44:04hidden in slightly moist cracks
44:06and crevices. Deep inside,
44:08there's endolithic bacteria.
44:10These guys are super chill.
44:12Instead of moving around like other
44:14microorganisms, they always
44:16stay put inside their little rocky
44:18homes. How do they survive?
44:20Through photosynthesis.
44:22Just like plants, they take teeny
44:24tiny parts of light that gets in
44:26crevices and acts like little
44:28solar panels, getting energy
44:30from the sun. Meanwhile,
44:32in another place, beneath the
44:34Taylor Glacier, there's bacteria
44:36that literally doesn't eat anything.
44:38Not comfort, not sunlight,
44:40not even oxygen. These
44:42guys rely on a diet of dusty
44:44rocks and sulfur to fuel their
44:46weird metabolisms. By
44:48breaking down sulfur and iron,
44:50they get energy to sustain
44:52themselves. This way, they
44:54easily survive in deep seas
44:56at sub-freezing temperatures,
44:58completely cut off from sunlight,
45:00oxygen, and the world itself.
45:02This place is fascinating
45:04for both its life and
45:06the lack of it. In some parts
45:08of the valleys, like University Valley
45:10– yes, that's what it's called –
45:12the permafrost is so harsh
45:14that no microbes were found
45:16at all. This might be
45:18one of the only places on Earth
45:20where life appears to be completely
45:22absent. A quite scary idea.
45:24Anyway, now
45:26scientists are thinking about learning more
45:28about Lake Enigma and drilling
45:30this Mars-like environment.
45:32Exactly for that reason. To see how
45:34we could get samples from Mars
45:36in the future.
45:38That's it for today! So hey, if you pacified
45:40your curiosity, then give the video
45:42a like and share it with your friends.
45:44Or if you want more, just click on these videos
45:46and stay on the Bright Side!