NASA has found something pretty wild under Greenland — a giant hidden void beneath the ice! Using satellites and radar, scientists discovered a huge cavity that’s about 1,000 feet tall and nearly the size of Manhattan. It was formed because a glacier above it, the Thwaites Glacier, is melting much faster than expected. The heat trapped by climate change is eating away the ice from underneath, hollowing it out. This massive void could speed up sea level rise if the glacier keeps melting at this pace. So yeah, Greenland’s hiding a giant icy secret — and it’s kind of a big deal! Animation is created by Bright Side.
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00:00There's nothing around, just the eternal, endless whiteness of Greenland snow and cold winds blowing into your face.
00:09Nothing hints at the impending catastrophe.
00:12You take another step and freeze in horror.
00:15An abyss is spreading at your feet, bottomless and dark.
00:20If you had made a bigger step, it would have swallowed you.
00:24That infamous Greenland's hole.
00:27It happened in the middle of the 2010s.
00:30A group of geologists were scanning the surface of Greenland's Hiawatha Glacier using radar when they spotted something very, very strange.
00:39It was a giant pit, more than 980 feet deep and almost 20 miles wide.
00:45That's big enough to fit inside Washington, D.C. or Paris.
00:50After staring at their radars for quite a while and scratching their heads, researchers decided to find out what could have made such a huge hole.
00:58Could it have been good ol' erosion?
01:01A raging volcano?
01:02An asteroid impact?
01:04A giant sandworm?
01:06Ugh.
01:07I might have gone a bit overboard with this worm idea, but you never know with these ancient glaciers.
01:13Anyway, in our case, one mystery seemed to lead to another, which had been puzzling scientists for decades.
01:19And to solve both of them, scientists needed something super common, but at the same time, very important.
01:25Quartz.
01:26One of the most abundant materials in Earth's crust.
01:30But before we dig deeper into this topic, let's make a small detour and talk about a pretty bizarre phenomenon called the Younger Dryas Event.
01:38To see what it was like, we need to go deep into the past, as far back as 12,900 to 11,600 years ago.
01:49During that period, the planet became much colder, especially in Europe and North America.
01:54Now, let's talk a bit more about that weird climate change in the Northern Hemisphere.
02:00There are a few theories.
02:02One that involves a change in currents in the Atlantic Ocean.
02:05Another speaks about something large kicking tons of dust into the air and effectively blocking sunlight.
02:11The two most popular, and likely, hypotheses mention a volcanic eruption and an asteroid impact.
02:19Indeed, there was a volcanic eruption on the territory of modern-day Germany at around the right time.
02:25But there's also a probability that a space object struck the planet during this period, too.
02:32And now, let's get back to the hole scientists found in Greenland.
02:36When NASA's IceBridge program and Germany's Alfred Wegener Institute discovered it,
02:42it seemed they had finally found a reason for the Younger Dryas event.
02:46But was it really an asteroid that created that impressive pit and caused temperatures to drop all over the Northern Hemisphere?
02:54To test this theory, the researchers needed quartz.
02:58The thing is, in its pure form, quartz has a very simple structure.
03:02It's made from interlocking silicon oxygen tetrahedra.
03:05Efficient and so pretty.
03:09Just look at these six-sided prismatic crystals.
03:12Since its structure is so simple and the components are so common,
03:15you can find quartz almost in any rock on the planet.
03:19At one point, magic happens.
03:22Larger rocks erode away, pushing out tiny bits of quartz sand.
03:26The scientists exploring the mysterious pit gathered the quartz sand that had been washed out from underneath the glacier.
03:33It was like looking at the rocks at the very bottom of the hole without having to actually get all the way down there.
03:40Very handy.
03:42So, while examining the material, they discovered quartz grains with the tell-tale signs of terrible catastrophe.
03:48They had PDFs all over them.
03:53Uh, no.
03:54I'm not talking about the document format.
03:57PDFs stand for planar deformation features, and they look like lines etched into the crystal surface.
04:03These lines are a sign that you're holding shocked quartz.
04:08It forms under immense pressure, when the internal crystals are pushed out of alignment.
04:14But the most exciting thing here is that shocked quartz only appears under the influence of powerful forces,
04:20like massive impacts or terrifying explosions.
04:24In other words, finding this poor shocked quartz under the Hiawatha Glacier could be much-needed proof that the hole was an enormous impact crater
04:33that formed when something equally enormous crash-landed there.
04:38Based on the size of the crater, this space object probably was a bit more than a mile across,
04:45which is twice the height of the Burj Khalifa Tower in Dubai.
04:48A meteorite that big would have looked three times as bright as the sun when traveling across the sky,
04:54and it would have hit Earth with an immense force.
04:58The impact would have been so great, it'd have vaporized rock and thrown debris for hundreds of miles away.
05:05The sky would have filled with dust.
05:08It would have dimmed the sun and led to a temperature drop all over the planet.
05:12And guess what?
05:13The last part about decreasing temperatures got the researchers super excited.
05:18Because it opened up a possibility that the impact could have been connected to the Younger Dryas event.
05:25To prove this idea, scientists decided to use quartz again.
05:30They examined it more closely, trying to date the impact.
05:34Well, they were in for an even greater shock.
05:37The Hiawatha crater turned out to be not 12,000, but 58 million years old.
05:43On the other hand, the researchers were disappointed that they hadn't been able to confirm their theory.
05:50The crater couldn't explain the Younger Dryas cold snap.
05:53But on the other hand, it was still an amazing discovery.
05:58Now, get ready for one final twist to this story.
06:01And it revolves around quartz again.
06:04Other scientists have recently discovered more deposits of shocked quartz all over what is now the eastern USA.
06:11It was hiding in sediment layers dating to just before the Younger Dryas.
06:16Interestingly, there aren't any craters around those sites whatsoever.
06:21But quartz can't lie.
06:22It provides evidence of a powerful explosion.
06:24It makes scientists think that their impact hypothesis might still be true.
06:30But instead of a collision, it could be an airburst.
06:34A massive comet could have broken up while entering Earth's atmosphere around 12,000 years ago.
06:40And the fragments could have exploded before reaching the ground.
06:44It would have caused catastrophic mass burning throughout the North American continent.
06:48And messed with the climate so much that the Younger Dryas would have been triggered.
06:53Well, I guess we need to wait a bit longer for scientists to find some further proof of this hypothesis.
07:00But it doesn't mean we don't have any more curious phenomena to explore in Greenland.
07:05Take these fascinating holes.
07:07They sure are kind of smaller than the monster we were talking about.
07:12They're called moulins.
07:13And they carry surface meltwater all the way down to the base of the Greenland ice sheet.
07:19And they have prepared some surprises for us, too.
07:21Apparently, they're way larger than we previously thought.
07:26That's what a recent study based on observation and first-hand exploration claims.
07:31Even more interesting, this high volume might influence the stability of the ginormous ice sheet in question.
07:38As well as the speed at which it's sliding towards the sea.
07:42Researchers think that increased water depth and pressure inside moulins might lubricate the base of the ice sheet, making it move faster.
07:52You know, the way an ice cube slides more easily on a thin film of melted water.
07:58Until recently, we need too little about the real size of moulins and how much water they can hold.
08:03But now, we know that moulins can be giant.
08:07The team made two trips to the Greenland ice sheet in 2018 and 2019.
08:13And during each of them, they used ropes and climbing equipment to drop around 330 feet into two separate moulins, almost touching the water's surface.
08:23Those who did it described the experience as intimidating.
08:28Picture this.
08:29Your back is over the edge.
08:31All you see is bluish ice going down and blurring into blackness.
08:36And the only thing you hear is occasional sounds of crashing ice.
08:41It must be extremely unnerving.
08:43Experts explain Africa is splitting in two, and it will look like this.
08:53Up close, the process is even more shocking, with a massive crack stretching from Mozambique in the south to the Red Sea in the north.
09:02This gap keeps growing every year, tearing apart the land and destroying homes.
09:08Now, specialists believe the continent could split much sooner than we expect.
09:12Africa is breaking apart because of the Somali plate movement.
09:18Think of it like a dramatic breakup happening with tectonic plates.
09:22On the east side, there's the Somali plate.
09:25On the west, we have the Nubian plate.
09:27And during this breakup, the Somali plate just wants more space.
09:32So it's pulling away from the Nubian plate.
09:34This movement is forming the East African Rift, a region where tectonic plates are splitting apart.
09:41Magma keeps rising from deep below.
09:44And a bunch of active volcanoes are being born.
09:47So this place is hot, with daytime temperatures that can soar to 130 degrees Fahrenheit.
09:53And at night, they cool down to 95 degrees.
09:57Inside this hot zone, we have the Afar Triangle, also known as the Afar Depression.
10:04And its geology is fascinating, as the rifting process is causing valleys, faults, and deep cracks to form in this region.
10:12Take, for example, this massive 35-mile-long fissure in Ethiopia's desert.
10:17It's also so wide that a person can easily fit inside of it.
10:22But what's scary is this crack keeps getting bigger, growing about a half an inch every year.
10:30The Nubian and Somali plates moving apart could also lead to a new ocean forming in Africa.
10:36This type of process isn't something new.
10:38About 150 million years ago, when dinosaurs were still around, a similar tectonic shift created the Atlantic Ocean.
10:47The continents were once all clustered together.
10:50But when a rift formed in what was Pangaea, it started pulling them apart, splitting the East and West hemispheres.
10:57So, a similar thing is happening with this gap in Africa.
11:03At some point, experts say the waters of the Indian Ocean might flood the East African Rift Valley, eventually creating a sixth ocean.
11:12Now, it's a pity you won't be able to swim in its waters during your lifetime, though.
11:17According to geophysicist Ken McDonald, who specializes in tectonic faults,
11:22this dramatic rupture could happen in 1 to 5 million years.
11:26Trust me, that's considered fast in geologic terms, and way sooner than most experts thought.
11:33Now, even though you won't get to watch Africa breaking apart, people there will still see and feel the signs.
11:40They might experience intense volcanic eruptions and strong earthquakes as this process slowly unfolds.
11:47One example is related to that scary crack in Ethiopia's desert we mentioned earlier.
11:52The fissure was created in 2005, after the area was hit by two volcanic eruptions and 163 earthquakes,
12:02each with a magnitude greater than 3.9.
12:05A crack this deep and long on Earth usually takes centuries to form.
12:10But in this case, it unfolded in just a matter of days.
12:13That's how powerful this event is.
12:17In fact, this kind of intense seismic activity can speed up the African splitting process.
12:23And that's why it's so hard to predict the exact time frame for the event.
12:28What we know is that people are already calling this new land the Nubian continent.
12:34If the predictions are right, it will include Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, and part of Ethiopia.
12:39That's exciting and concerning at the same time.
12:44As new coastlines emerge, countries will need to make major adjustments when it comes to infrastructure and land management.
12:51They might lose a lot of roads, houses, and other constructions currently located near or right in the East African Rift.
12:59In Kenya, for example, the fissures tore apart a busy road,
13:03and authorities desperately tried to fill the gap with rocks and cement.
13:06In another case, an old woman was sitting and eating with her family when her house suddenly split down the middle.
13:15Recently, earthquakes that happened near Ethiopia's afar region demolished 37 schools
13:20and forced about 5,000 students to leave their classrooms.
13:24Unfortunately, stories like this could become more common over the next few years.
13:29But there is a positive side to all this.
13:33Countries located in the middle of Africa, like Zambia and Uganda, could gain coastlines.
13:39And that might be great for them.
13:42Having a coast means they would get access to new trade routes, opening fresh economic opportunities.
13:48Plus, think about the tourism boom.
13:50With all those newly formed paradisiacal beaches,
13:53these countries could become the next big gateway spot for travelers.
13:57The local ecosystem in this newly created ocean will change as well.
14:02And new marine species may emerge.
14:06So, let's look.
14:07This is the path where the rift is most advanced right now.
14:11I mean, we expect this is where Africa will eventually get separated.
14:15But things could get a little more complicated.
14:19Some time ago, Michael Daly, a geologist at the University of Oxford,
14:23suggested that this rift could extend further west.
14:27And some new evidence backs up his theory,
14:29pointing out that the crack could extend south through Botswana's heartland into South Africa,
14:35and west through Namibia, all the way to the Atlantic Ocean.
14:40If these fractures widen into deep cracks, the ocean might come in and fill the gaps.
14:45Experts say Africa could split so much that it becomes an archipelago.
14:50But, then again, we won't see that happening.
14:53It will take tens of millions of years for this to play out.
14:57We already know that Africa is at risk of breaking into a bunch of huge islands,
15:02or small continents.
15:03The news isn't great for Madagascar, either,
15:06as the world's fourth-largest island could end up being split in half.
15:10But can the opposite process happen?
15:13I mean, can new land appear as the Nubian and Somali plates move apart?
15:17Well, as these tectonic plates get away from each other,
15:22the magma from the Earth's mantle might rise to the surface.
15:26And when it cools, it solidifies into new land.
15:29That's how other places in the world emerged, like Iceland and the Azores.
15:34So, yeah, the same process could happen in the East African Rift.
15:38And over the long term, it is possible that the rift could create new islands.
15:43For now, all we can say is that the geology of the Afar Depression is unique.
15:51It is the most active rift system on our planet.
15:54And when I say rift system, I mean a zone where tectonic plates are pulling apart.
15:59This region brings together all kinds of events,
16:02from faults in the Earth's crust to volcanic zones
16:06to the potential formation of a sixth ocean.
16:08For experts, it's like studying the evolution of rifts up close.
16:14And since it is such an active volcanic area,
16:17it also has enormous potential for tapping into geothermal energy.
16:22That is, using heat from inside the Earth to generate electricity.
16:26Two geothermal power plants are already producing energy in Ethiopia.
16:30One in the Ethiopian Rift Valley and the other in the Afar.
16:34Now, geologists are exploring new potential spots.
16:39When we look at that deep crack in the ground,
16:41we know it's caused by tectonic plate movement.
16:44There's no mystery there.
16:45But what we still don't fully understand
16:48is why the cracks happen exactly where they do.
16:52For example, a crack that opened up in Botswana
16:55appeared after a magnitude 6.5 earthquake back in 2017.
17:00But the epicenter wasn't in the rift zone,
17:03where the plates are moving like we would expect.
17:06Instead, it was farther south.
17:09Since it's unusual for a rift to happen without volcanic activity,
17:13this fact really challenges our traditional ideas of how continents divide.
17:19Figuring out why these cracks appear in specific spots
17:22is still a missing piece of the puzzle for experts
17:25trying to explain how Africa is splitting.
17:27Hopefully, we get some answers before the continent
17:31turns into a massive archipelago.
17:36This invisible line divides the world into two parts.
17:40And most animals, fish, and birds,
17:43for some reason, can't cross it.
17:45The line is called the Wallace Line,
17:48and it runs between Australia and Asia.
17:51It has its name after Alfred Russell Wallace,
17:53a British scientist and explorer who discovered it in 1859.
17:58He traveled to Asia to explore a group of islands called the Malay Archipelago.
18:04As Wallace walked through the jungles,
18:07climbed hills, and sailed on boats,
18:10he noticed something like an invisible wall.
18:14On its west side, in places like Borneo and Sumatra,
18:17he saw animals you might find in Asia.
18:21There were big rhinos munching on leaves,
18:23and monkeys swinging from tree to tree.
18:26The forests were full of life,
18:28with all kinds of animals you'd expect to see in a jungle.
18:32But in places like Sulawesi and Lombok,
18:36just across the imaginary line he came up with,
18:39Wallace found animals more like the ones in Australia,
18:43and colorful birds like cockatoos.
18:45The behaviors of animals differ on different sides of the Wallace Line.
18:50Some creatures are great at traveling across tough barriers like water,
18:55but others are not.
18:57For example, bats can fly across open water,
19:00but they sometimes cross the Wallace Line.
19:03On the other hand,
19:05big animals that live on land like elephants
19:07usually stay on just one side of the line.
19:10Some birds are shy and like to stay hidden in thick bushes and trees to avoid predators.
19:16They wouldn't feel safe flying over wide stretches of water with no place to hide.
19:22Plants don't stick to the Wallace Line as strictly as animals do,
19:26because they spread in their own unique ways,
19:28like with seeds carried by the wind, water, or animals.
19:32One plant genus, the Eucalyptus,
19:35mostly stays on the Australian side.
19:38But one Eucalyptus tree has made its way to the Philippines on the Asian side.
19:44Underwater, the Wallace Line doesn't matter as much.
19:48The area between the Wallace Line and Australia is called the Coral Triangle,
19:52and it's bursting with light.
19:56Now, after more than 150 years,
19:59scientists think they finally have an explanation of the Wallace Line mystery.
20:03They believe it all started about 35 million years ago,
20:08when Australia broke away from Antarctica
20:10and slowly moved up to crash into Asia.
20:14When this happened,
20:15the crash created a chain of islands called the Malay Archipelago between Asia and Australia.
20:21This caused extreme changes in the weather,
20:24which made the area very different and affected which animals could live there.
20:29Researchers used a computer model that looked at how more than 20,000 species of animals
20:34from both sides of the Wallace Line would have behaved millions of years ago.
20:40When Australia started to drift away from Antarctica,
20:43it opened up a huge new era of deep ocean around Antarctica.
20:47This is where the biggest ocean current on Earth,
20:50called the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, began to flow.
20:55This swirling current made the planet's climate much cooler
20:58and completely changed how animals could live in different places.
21:02But not all animals were affected in the same way.
21:05Indonesia stayed warm and rainy, which was perfect for animals from Asia.
21:11These creatures could hop from island to island like stepping stones
21:14and make their way toward Australia.
21:17But animals from Australia had a harder time.
21:20Over millions of years, they had gotten used to living in cooler, drier places.
21:24So the tropical islands didn't suit them as well.
21:27Scientists believe if we can see how animals adapted to big changes in weather patterns millions of years ago,
21:35we might be able to predict how today's animals will cope with a similar situation.
21:42Other scientists after Wallace also tried to describe and explain
21:47the invisible natural border between Asia and Australia and came up with their lines.
21:52The Weber Line, for example, is in a slightly different location than the Wallace Line,
21:58between the Oriental and the Australasian faunal regions within Wallacea.
22:03It's a group of mainly Indonesian islands that are separated by deepwater straits
22:08from the Asian and Australian continental shelves.
22:11They were never connected to the big continents by land,
22:14so animals that could swim, fly, or float across the water made it to these islands.
22:20That's why the creatures living there are so unique.
22:22And come from both Asia and Australia.
22:26Weber's Line is where the balance tips.
22:29If you go one way, most of the animals are from Asia.
22:32If you go the other way, most of the animals are from Australia.
22:37Another important migration event in the history of our planet happened in the Americas.
22:43Around 30 million years ago, South America became a separate landmass
22:47as tectonic plates moved and pulled it away from Antarctica and Africa.
22:52Once it was on its own, the animals living there started to evolve in unique ways
22:57and turned into creatures you couldn't find anywhere else in the world.
23:01There were animals we still see today, like opossums, giant rodents like capybaras and chinchillas,
23:09armadillos, anteaters, and sloths.
23:14Some of the animals from those times are now extinct.
23:17There were giant ground sloths, bigger than cars, roaming around.
23:21There were glyptodonts, which were like giant armadillos with super-tough, bony shells.
23:28There were also huge, scary birds that couldn't fly but could chase down their prey.
23:34Up in North America, animals could still travel to other parts of the world through the Bering Strait.
23:40So North America was full of different animals like deer, bison, horses, camels, and even mammoths and mastodons.
23:52They all lived alongside predators like big cats, wolves, and bears.
24:00About 3 million years ago, the continents of North and South America got connected by a strip of land called the Isthmus of Panama.
24:08It formed because the tectonic plates shifted again.
24:14Some major volcanic activity between 25 million years ago also contributed to the process.
24:20Animals started to move between North and South America,
24:23and this long process went down in history as the Great American Interchange.
24:30During the Ice Age, huge glaciers in the North grew and shrank over tens of thousands of years.
24:36When the glaciers were at their biggest, they held so much water that the sea levels dropped,
24:42and forests probably turned into wide, grassy plains.
24:46So animals had the perfect conditions to cross over.
24:51Giant ground sloths were among the animals that went up north from South America,
24:56all the way to Alaska.
24:57One special kind even roamed the chilly tundras alongside woolly mammoths and caribou.
25:06Lots of North American predators decided to explore the South.
25:11There were cats like cougars, jaguars, and saber-toothed tigers with their giant teeth.
25:17Wolves, foxes, otters, raccoons, and bears also joined the migration.
25:22The short-faced bear could stand up to 13 feet tall and weigh as much as a small car.
25:30South America also had some funny-looking animals called sanus, or South American native undulates.
25:37These were hoofed mammals that evolved into all kinds of weird shapes while South America was isolated.
25:43Big animals from North America, for example, relatives of elephants with strange tusks,
25:50came to the South and became some of the largest creatures around.
25:54The ancestors of today's llamas settled in the Andes Mountains,
25:59and deer, tapirs, and peccaries thrived in the forests.
26:04Animals kept moving back and forth between the continents for thousands of years.
26:08But as the Ice Age ended, many of the bigger animals, like the giant ground sloths,
26:14couldn't adapt and disappear.
26:16It seems North American animals were better at adapting to their new homes.
26:21You can find armadillos, porcupines, and opossums from South America in North America.
26:27But many of South America's most famous animals like jaguars, llamas, and spectacled bears
26:33left North America long ago.
26:36Scientists think South America's animals, after being isolated for millions of years,
26:42had a harder time dealing with new challenges when their ecosystems changed.
26:49So, there's a mysterious doorway in the middle of Antarctica.
26:53Some people think it's Bigfoot's vacation home, or a shuttlecraft from Star Trek,
26:58or maybe a door to Agartha, a mythical kingdom some people believe is located in the center of the Earth.
27:04Well, the scientists debunked all these poetic theories and explained that what looks like
27:10a mysterious doorway is located in an area of fast sea ice.
27:15It's offshore of the coast and is full of little islands with shallow water around them.
27:20When ice flows around hard rocks hidden underneath,
27:23it can create patterns that look odd but are totally normal.
27:27In this spot, the ice is thin,
27:29so the rocks underneath have a big effect on how the ice moves.
27:34The cold winds in Antarctica also shape the ice and snow and make it look like they're lines and shapes.
27:40So, the mysterious doorway is just a rocky ridge poking out because the ice has melted a little.
27:47The top of the doorway is the tip of the rock,
27:50and the sides are snowy trails left by strong winds blowing in the same direction.
27:54It's essentially an iceberg that got stranded and is melting in one place.
28:01One YouTuber found another out-of-place mysterious object more than 150 miles off the shore of Antarctica.
28:09A 400-foot-long ice ship.
28:11The internet went wild with theories like that the ship must have ended up there right from the Bermuda Triangle.
28:17But there was no scientific proof that it was a ship and not just a large chunk of ice.
28:23And once some other internet users revisited the place,
28:26they noticed the ice melted in the summer and the hypothetical ship was gone.
28:32Another mysterious Google Maps find in Antarctica was a pyramid.
28:37And before you make up an exciting theory about how the ancient Egyptians built a secret base here,
28:42I have to tell you it turned out to be just a mountain.
28:45It's part of the tallest mountain range in Antarctica that stretches for almost 250 miles.
28:52It's not the first pyramid on this continent,
28:55as explorers from the British Antarctic Expedition found another unusually shaped mountain
29:00and nicknamed it the pyramid.
29:02But this one didn't even have a pyramid shape.
29:06Here's one Antarctic find that definitely won't disappoint you.
29:10A giant ice shelf that reminded scientists of the Grand Canyon.
29:15A special submarine robot named RAN covered over 600 miles under the thick ice
29:21and brought back some amazing footage of icy mountains, valleys, flat plateaus,
29:27and swirly patterns made entirely of ice.
29:30One of the strangest things RAN found was giant ball-shaped holes or scoops in the ice.
29:37Sadly, scientists lost track of the robot.
29:39They think that curious Wendell seals may have accidentally bumped into RAN and caused it to get stuck.
29:46To save energy, RAN probably shut itself down, and the scientists couldn't find it again.
29:51But the team is hoping to build a new robot and continue exploring this icy canyon
29:56to see how the patterns under the ice might change over the years.
30:00Another huge Antarctic canyon was found thanks to bad weather.
30:06A team of sound experts had to pause their work at the Casey Research Station in a storm.
30:12Instead of waiting around, they decided to use the unexpected free time
30:16to map the seafloor near Adams Glacier.
30:19And that's how they found a canyon that is almost 7,000 feet deep,
30:23almost 30,000 feet wide, and stretches over 28 miles away from the glacier.
30:29During the mapping, they discovered just part of the canyon before they had to go back to the research station.
30:35But when bad weather came in again, the ship went back and mapped more of the canyon.
30:41They were working in waves up to 13 feet high and super powerful winds,
30:45but they managed to get about 15 hours of data to complete their map.
30:50On the way back to Australia, they stopped one last time,
30:53and now they've got a full picture of the canyon.
30:55Studying it is helping scientists learn more about the history of glaciers
31:00and the interaction between the Antarctic ice sheet and the ocean.
31:04Now, there's a frozen lake in Antarctica called Lake Enigma.
31:09For a long time, people thought the lake was completely frozen solid.
31:12But during one expedition, researchers found that under the thick ice,
31:17there was a layer of liquid water about 40 feet deep.
31:20To learn more, they drilled through the ice and sent down a camera to explore what was hiding in the lake's depths.
31:27The lake's water, which they think comes from the nearby amorphous glacier
31:31through a secret underground pathway, was filled with strange microbial life.
31:36These tiny microbes lived in mats that covered the lake bed.
31:40Some of the mats were thin and spiky,
31:43and others looked like crumpled carpets,
31:45or even small tree-like shapes that grew up to 16 inches.
31:48Many of the microbes could make their own food through photosynthesis,
31:52just like plants do.
31:54And it gave the lake a high amount of oxygen.
31:57One of the coolest discoveries was a type of microbe,
32:00which usually lives in low-oxygen places.
32:03Lake Enigma might be similar to environments on icy moons like Europa or Enceladus.
32:08So, it could mean that these moons also have hidden water under their ice,
32:13and possibly microbial life too.
32:15One more mind-boggling discovery from Antarctica is tiny pieces of amber in mudstone,
32:22found here for the very first time.
32:24It took scientists years of studying incredibly well-preserved fossilized roots,
32:29pollen, and spores that they found back in 2017.
32:33Amber proves that resin-producing trees once grew in Antarctica,
32:37part of a lush rainforest that existed near the South Pole during the mid-Cretaceous period.
32:43Back then – disclaimer, I wasn't around then – the trees would have had to survive
32:48through months of darkness during the long Antarctic winters.
32:52Scientists believe they adapted by going dormant for a long time.
32:56The amber pieces the scientists found are tiny,
32:59but they are beautiful shades of yellow and orange with bumpy surfaces
33:03that show how the resin flowed out of the trees.
33:06This resin likely leaked out to protect the trees from insects.
33:11It was preserved because water quickly covered it and kept it safe from sunlight and air.
33:16A scientist was browsing through satellite images for brown trails of penguin waste
33:21and found four new colonies of emperor penguins at the base of the globe.
33:26These new colonies likely have been around for years,
33:29though three of them are rather small,
33:31with fewer than a thousand breeding penguins each.
33:33One of the new colonies was found close to a place called the Lazarev Ice Shelf,
33:39where there used to be a larger penguin colony.
33:42They thought this colony went extinct in 2019.
33:45But it seems the penguins have just moved a bit because of changing sea ice conditions.
33:50So studying them can help us learn more about how emperor penguins adapt to changes in the environment.
33:56Now, there used to be a giant river system in Antarctica 40 million years ago.
34:00Researchers found proof of it after studying soft sediments and hard rocks from the frozen seabed.
34:07They looked at tiny bits of radioactive elements, like uranium and lead,
34:12and learned that the deeper dirt came from the time of dinosaurs.
34:16The dirt closer to the surface was younger and had an interesting pattern,
34:20like the kind you see in river deltas today, such as in the Mississippi River or Rio Grande.
34:25Scientists found tiny signs of life in the sand.
34:29The river that once flowed here started in the Transantarctic Mountains
34:33and traveled 930 miles before it reached the sea.
34:38Researchers kept studying newer layers of dirt from about 20 million years ago.
34:42They hope this will help them predict what the Earth's weather patterns might be like in the future.
34:47So it turns out that you can't drive between South America and North America.
34:54And there's a simple reason for that.
34:56There are no roads connecting the two continents.
34:59Not even a rudimentary one.
35:01Technically, you could try your luck crossing on foot.
35:04But let me tell you, that would be a huge, huge mistake.
35:09The region that connects the two continents is called the Darien Gap.
35:13It stretches across southern Panama's Darien province and the northern part of Colombia.
35:18The only land route there is is a 60-mile jungle trek.
35:23Crossing it can take anywhere from 3 to 10 days.
35:26It depends on weather conditions, how much you're carrying, and, honestly, just pure luck.
35:32Chance plays a big role here because this isn't some chill, relaxing nature walk.
35:37It's a harsh, extreme environment, known for being completely isolated and one of the most dangerous places on Earth.
35:45Still, people seem to forget that and go there anyway.
35:49Every year, the number of people crossing just keeps growing.
35:52In 2014, fewer than 10,000 people crossed the gap.
35:57In 2023, that number increased to 520,000.
36:01Now, you might be wondering, what are so many people doing in the middle of the two American continents, risking all that danger?
36:09Well, that's because the Darien Gap has become a route for refugees migrating to North America.
36:16But to get there, they face all kinds of dangers, from insect bites and infections to serious fractures.
36:24We're talking about a no-man's land.
36:26Since there are no police stations, immigrants must also watch out for thieves.
36:31Along the way, they have no choice but to rely on and support each other.
36:36Most people start the crossing with at least a tent or cart, rain boots, water, and some food.
36:43But these things get heavy fast, and people normally can't carry enough supplies for the entire journey.
36:49At some point, people start drinking river water to avoid dehydration.
36:53But the water's full of bacteria and dirt, so it causes intestinal issues.
36:59And if things get serious, there's no medical help there.
37:02To make this whole scenario even worse, the temperatures are brutal, often hitting over 95 degrees Fahrenheit.
37:10Now, a small subset of people who venture through the Darien Gap are hardcore adventurers
37:16and travelers looking for a survival experience in the jungle.
37:20But this region is no place for a relaxing vacation.
37:25A group of tourists who went there in 2023 ended up getting jungle rot, a fungus that affects the feet.
37:32The situation got so bad that a woman had to be carried out by the group on the last day because she couldn't walk.
37:39No matter how prepared people are for the Darien Gap, in the end, survival mostly comes down to luck.
37:46Out there, travelers won't find cities with solid infrastructure, where they can crash at a hotel and gear up for the next day.
37:55In some spots, they might stumble across basic camps right in the jungle.
37:59These camps might offer wooden platforms for tents, bucket showers, toilets, and even plates of chicken and rice.
38:06But it all comes at a price.
38:10Wi-Fi, for example, might cost $2 an hour.
38:13And that seems like a pretty good deal, considering there's no cell phone service on the trail.
38:18They pretty much lose all contact with the outside world.
38:22Now, picture a dense rainforest with steep, muddy terrain.
38:26The hiking trail is littered with boulders and tangled with vines, like nature's own tripwires.
38:32It climbs sharply over a mountain, becoming a serious challenge even for someone in good physical shape.
38:39The area also gets constant heavy rainfall, which can lead to landslides, flash flooding, and extremely muddy conditions.
38:47The situation gets so intense that even the t-shirts and faces of those who make the crossing end up covered in mud.
38:55They'll also have to cross a lot of fast-moving rivers.
38:58A Venezuelan dad, who recently went through the area with his two kids, said their sneakers ripped apart on the very first day.
39:07That's how powerful the rivers can be.
39:09And they're deep, too.
39:11Sometimes the water reaches all the way up to their shoulders.
39:14But the dangers in that area aren't recent.
39:18For centuries, the Darien Gap was thought to be impossible to cross.
39:22The first Europeans who ventured into Latin America saw it as kind of a jungle training school.
39:28They totally knew about its dangers.
39:31But still, many adventurers tried to make the crossing in the years that followed.
39:35In 1854, for example, an expedition disappeared for 49 days in the jungle, battling starvation and exhaustion.
39:43Then again, in 1870, a group of 100 men set out to cross it.
39:49Even though they were well-prepared and carried cutting-edge equipment for the time, they still suffered tremendously during the journey.
39:57They had to rely on incredible resilience to survive the challenge.
40:01Over the years, people who ventured in often ended up passing away from hunger, thirst, and even drowning in rivers.
40:08They also face the risk of being attacked by dangerous animals like jaguars, white-lipped peccaries, and the fer-de-lance, a fast, irritable snake that is one of the most venomous out there.
40:21The area is also swarming with mosquitoes, which can spread serious health problems.
40:27Leaning against trees to rest can also be risky.
40:30This jungle is full of spiked chunga palm trees, which are covered in long, black spines up to 8 inches long.
40:37Unfortunately for us, these spines are covered in all sorts of bacteria.
40:42Just brush against a chunga, and you could end up with infected wounds.
40:47And yet another danger is getting lost in the dense forest and never finding your way back to safety.
40:53These days, though, this risk is a lot lower.
40:56Some people have mentioned color-coded markers that help guide travelers and keep them from going the wrong way.
41:02If they see blue or green fabric tied to trees, it means keep walking.
41:07But if they spot red fabric, that's a sign they're going the wrong way and need to turn around quickly.
41:14Since there are so many dangers, why not just build a road through the Darien Gap?
41:19While it might seem like a good idea, building a road connecting Panama and Colombia isn't really that simple.
41:26The Darien Gap has a humid climate, tough terrain, and constant rainfall,
41:31which means any attempt to build a functional road would be highly challenging and super expensive.
41:38Even though there have been previous attempts to fill in the gap.
41:42See, there's a huge road system called the Pan-American Highway,
41:46which stretches all the way from Alaska to the southern tip of Argentina.
41:50Nowadays, this highway hits a roadblock right at the Darien Gap.
41:55But it wasn't supposed to be like this, as the original idea was for the road to go through there.
42:01Leaders from Latin American countries tried to make this plan happen in the 70s,
42:06and then again in the 90s.
42:08But a lot of people were against it,
42:10mainly because they wanted to protect the local communities and the rainforest.
42:14Since the Darien Gap is mostly untouched by humans,
42:18it's one of the most biodiverse places on the planet.
42:22It's believed that one in five species are endemic to the region,
42:26meaning they only exist in that specific area.
42:29Like the Darien Pocket Gopher and the slatty, slender Mousypossum,
42:33a road would have really damaged the ecosystem in the area.
42:36So the plans were scrapped.
42:39Eventually, an alternative was created to travel by sea.
42:42At least two companies started a ferry service connecting the two countries.
42:47However, the business wasn't profitable, and they ended up shutting down.
42:52Not long ago, Panama decided to close the Darien Gap route.
42:56Now they're sealed off with barbed wire fencing.
42:59It might just be a matter of time before other routes are created.
43:03But if you are an adventurer looking to visit South America,
43:07it's probably not best to wait for that.
43:09Traveling by plane to Colombia will always be a much safer option.
43:14That's it for today.
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