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From uncovering hidden truths that could change the course of history to shedding light on overlooked scientific breakthroughs, these video will leave you awe-inspired and eager to learn more.
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00:00Now, have you ever seen cricket balls that are 3 billion years old?
00:05Klickstorp spheres were found in deposits of the mineral pyrophyllite in South Africa and rocked the science world.
00:12They do look like tiny ancient cricket balls with seams-like lines around the middle.
00:17Back in the 1980s, some folks claimed these spheres had been made by an advanced pre-flood civilization we know
00:24nothing about.
00:25One museum curator shared stories about how they rotated on their own in a display case.
00:31There was also a TV show that invited a psychic who declared the spheres were pieces of an ancient spaceship.
00:38But according to geologists, these spheres are actually pretty common concretions or spherical objects formed by different minerals than the
00:47surrounding rock.
00:48The seam-like lines are just imprints from the host rock's layers building up over time.
00:53The Klickstorp spheres come in different shapes, from noticeably flattened spheres to distinct disks.
00:59As for that episode, when one of these spheres spun on its own, the curator of the Klickstorp Museum cleared
01:06that up, too.
01:07He said that when he put one sphere on its glass shelf when a journalist came to visit, the sphere
01:12naturally rotated a bit because it's round.
01:15The area where the museum is located often experiences earth tremors from gold-mining activities nearby.
01:22The oldest known human-like footprints could be 6 million years old.
01:27They were found on the Greek island of Crete in 2002.
01:31If the number is correct, it would mean that early human ancestors may have migrated between Europe and Africa much
01:37earlier than we previously thought.
01:40This doesn't mean Africa is not the cradle of humankind, though.
01:43It could just prove that early human ancestors moved back and forth between continents.
01:49Some researchers believe the footprints were left by a bipedal creature possibly related to an early human ancestor nicknamed El
01:58Greco.
01:59According to scientists who studied them, the footprints have a very human-like shape, with five toes and a parallel
02:06big toe.
02:06Some scientists are skeptical about it and suggest the prints might be from a late European age.
02:12The new study analyzed fossilized marine microorganisms found in the sedimentary rocks to determine the footprint's age and prove it's
02:21actually 6 million years.
02:23The next amazing find that keeps scientists entertained is the Dorchester plot.
02:28It's a beautifully crafted metal vessel with some fancy geometric designs embossed in shiny silver.
02:35The pot was discovered in, who could have thought, Dorchester, in 1852 under quite unusual circumstances.
02:42During a powerful blast, the pot broke into two pieces.
02:46Scientists believe it was originally embedded within a rock or boulder known as pudding stone.
02:51The rock from which the Dorchester pot emerged is dated to be around 500 million years old.
02:58So, it could mean the pot itself is also that old.
03:01The current and less exciting theory suggests that the Dorchester pot is a Victorian-era candlestick holder.
03:08Such things were really trending back then, so it's not a surprise to find such fancy household item from that
03:14time.
03:15The Dorchester pot falls into the category of uparts, or out-of-place artifacts.
03:20Those are objects that seem too advanced for the time period they're supposedly from.
03:25If we accept that the pot is 500 million years old, then whoever made it was way ahead of their
03:32times in terms of crafts and tech.
03:34One extra mystery is that the pot has an engraving of a plant that most likely disappeared from Earth over
03:40100,000 years ago.
03:42Sounds like good proof the pot is really extra old.
03:47Now, it looks like the oldest map in Europe is a stone from 4,000 years ago.
03:52This bronze-aged slab was found in France in the year 1900 at an ancient burial ground.
03:58The carvings on the slab show in three dimensions the river Odi network with a fantastic accuracy of around 80
04:06% over an 18-mile stretch.
04:07There are other stone-carved maps around the world, but this one is unique because it shows a specific area
04:15to scale.
04:16Looks like the slab's carvings don't just map rivers and hills, but also settlements, barrow sites, and field systems.
04:24Archaeologists say the slab wasn't used for navigation, but rather to symbolize power.
04:29The detailed markings on the slab might have served to illustrate the domain of a local ruler, possibly a prince
04:36or king, to show their control over the territory.
04:39When the ruler lost power, the slab was likely repurposed as part of a burial vault.
04:45The unique artifact was stored in the cellar of a museum.
04:49For decades, no one even noticed until several scholars read older reports about the slab and decided to check it
04:56out.
04:56They conducted a detailed analysis using 3D techniques.
05:00Their research proved that the creators of the slab had not only etched lines into the rock,
05:05but also modified its surface to reflect the topography of the landscape with high accuracy.
05:12The Salzburg cube, also known as the Wolf's Egg Iron, was discovered in the late 19th century in Austria.
05:19Now, don't let the name mislead you.
05:21It doesn't look like a cube at all.
05:23It's more like a rounded object with two flat sides.
05:26Down the middle, there's a groove, and the surface is covered with pits and craters.
05:31This unique appearance is the reason why many people think it might be something out of this world.
05:37Workers accidentally found this artifact when they blew apart a piece of coal.
05:41The coal seam it came from is thought to be over 60 million years old.
05:45The Salzburg cube moved between museums, mysteriously vanished in the early 20th century,
05:51and then showed up again.
05:53A professor from Bonn University suggested it might be from a meteor.
05:57But they found no evidence of elements that you'd normally see in meteorites, like cobalt or nickel.
06:04Then, researchers thought it must be a human-made object, possibly a Victorian-era candlestick holder.
06:10No one knows the true story of the cube or its current location.
06:14Yep, it disappeared again.
06:17Have you heard about the Meister print?
06:20It's a fossilized sandal print discovered in 1968, and it has sparked a lot of intrigue.
06:26There's a trilobite inside the print, which supposedly went extinct around 500 million years before humans even existed.
06:34But many historians think this age is an exaggeration.
06:37When Meister found the fossil, it was authenticated.
06:40But the scientist who did it didn't confirm it was a human's sandal print.
06:45He only agreed there was a trilobite there.
06:48When another scientist visited the site, he found a 6-inch impression he believed was from a child's moccasin.
06:55But the footwear seemed to be new.
06:57So, could it be evidence of time travel?
07:00Proof that humans existed millions of years earlier than we thought?
07:04Or a sign that someone else visited early Earth?
07:07Or is it just a rock formation that looks like a sandal print?
07:10We still don't have the answers.
07:13Back in June 1936, a couple was walking along Red Creek in London, Texas.
07:19London, Texas?
07:21Yeah, when they stumbled upon something unusual.
07:23It was a piece of wood sticking out of what seemed to be an ancient rock formation.
07:29About 10 years later, their curious son decided to crack open the rock to see what was inside.
07:34And he saw a hammer, which looked surprisingly modern.
07:39Then, one unique finds enthusiast decided that the rock encasing the hammer was from the Cretaceous period.
07:46This would mean that someone dropped a 19th century hammer while dinosaurs like Triceratops were still roaming the Earth.
07:53So, if this hammer was truly from the Cretaceous period, then the whole evolutionary theory would be wrong.
08:00And if the hammer was modern, it would mean the Cretaceous rock formation it came from was much younger than
08:06we thought.
08:07But the real answer was much simpler.
08:10The hammer was indeed modern, and geological processes had encased it in rock.
08:16Minerals can harden around an object in a relatively short time.
08:19So, the hammer was probably dropped by a miner a century or so ago, and the rock formed around it
08:25afterward.
08:26And no, it wasn't a Victorian-era candlestick holder, either.
08:31Meet Costello.
08:32He's a Brazilian reef octopus.
08:34But Costello isn't a regular octopus.
08:37While watching him, scientists began to suspect that he might be experiencing nightmares.
08:42When he was sleeping, he was changing colors, making some wild movements, expelling water, and even releasing ink.
08:50They decided to study Costello for a while.
08:52His behavior during sleep resembled stress and fear.
08:56The study showed that he might see vivid dreams, which are, at times, spooky.
09:01Well, as just one octopus, these cute underwater creatures are known for their intelligence.
09:07And sometimes, human-like behavior.
09:09So, it's entirely possible that they see dreams just like we do.
09:13In Costello's case, he might be haunted by memories of tough times off the coast of the Florida Keys.
09:20Poor Costello has a rough past.
09:22He lost a tentacle to a predator before captivity.
09:25So, maybe that's what he sees in his dreams.
09:28If proven true, this discovery could reshape how we perceive intelligence and awareness in both animals and humans.
09:37Well, it turns out plants can talk.
09:40Well, kind of.
09:42Scientists found out that plants actually make ultrasonic clicks when they're stressed.
09:46Imagine tomatoes and tobacco plants in a jam.
09:50They're making sounds like popping bubble wrap, but way too high for us to hear.
09:54These are called ultrasonic signals.
09:57And they might be their way of indicating stress.
09:59That would mean that plants can't communicate with each other.
10:03And stressed plants prefer to be drama queens and let everybody know about their troubles.
10:08They make around 30 to 50 pops and clicks per hour.
10:12Calm and healthy plants don't do nearly as much.
10:16And not only do plants talk, but even have their own language.
10:20They make different sounds depending on whether the plant is experiencing thirst or is bothered by a snipped stem or
10:27something else.
10:28Moreover, some of them are so dramatic that they start ringing alarms even before they show signs of dehydration, when
10:36they know they're getting close to it.
10:38Scientists aren't sure why they do that, though.
10:40They believe that it might involve cavitation, a term that means air bubbles dancing in the plant's plumbing.
10:47Plants that sing these symphonies include corn, wheat, grapes, and even cacti.
10:53That is quite a big discovery in agriculture.
10:56We could use it to check if our crops are thirsty and stuff like that.
11:00So now, we'll be eavesdropping on plants and deciphering their secret language.
11:07Okay, time for some universal news.
11:10Recent studies are shaking up what we thought we knew about the universe's age.
11:14Our findings during the last decades showed that the universe must be around 13.7 billion years old.
11:21However, a new study shows that it might be almost twice as old, up to 26.7 billion years.
11:28Keep in mind that it's not proven, so for now, the official number stays the same.
11:33Scientists were using the time since the Big Bang and studying ancient stars to measure the universe's age.
11:40But some stars were playing hard to get, looking older than the universe itself.
11:45For example, the ancient star Methuselah, which is estimated to be around 14 billion years old, which would be older
11:52than our universe.
11:53Also, the James Webb Space Telescope caught galaxies looking super-mature just a few hundred million years after the Big
12:01Bang.
12:02All this poses some hard puzzles for astronomers.
12:06But this new hypothesis combines the expanding universe theory with something called the tired light theory.
12:13It suggests that light loses energy as it zips across cosmic distances.
12:18Combine this with the expanding universe theory and bam!
12:21As the universe expands, the light loses energy, so we simply can't see all the super-ancient stars that are
12:28very far away from us.
12:30Which is why we could make a mistake in calculating our universe's age.
12:35The new model also pushes back when galaxies started forming.
12:38It suggests that those early galaxies spotted by the Webb Telescope took way longer to form than we originally thought.
12:45This study is a serious shake-up in the scientific community.
12:49If we made such a huge mistake in calculations, we'd have to rethink the very fundamental astrophysics principles.
12:56That would be a giant leap, and we'd have to make a huge makeover of almost everything.
13:02Which is why we need to be very cautious about it.
13:05So, while scientists test this new theory, we just have to wait for the results.
13:10Now, these aren't the only space news.
13:13The new AI technology is already being actively used for scientific research.
13:17This time, AI is helping us to look for signs of extraterrestrial life.
13:23Researchers in SETI created machine learning algorithms that would help us sift through the cosmic noise faster and more efficiently.
13:31When you point a radio telescope at the stars, it's like turning into a celestial radio station that's full of
13:37different signals.
13:38We catch everything from pulsars to radio galaxies and earthly interference.
13:44Obviously, it would be pretty hard to identify a potential signal from extraterrestrials in all this mess.
13:51For over 60 years, scientists had to do all this manually.
13:55It was a daunting task to scan the skies and explore countless stars and radio frequencies.
14:00But now, AI came to help.
14:03The algorithms are trained to recognize and distinguish known interference patterns,
14:08like those from mobile phones and electronic devices amidst the cosmic data.
14:12They spot anything deviating from known patterns, the potential needle in the haystack.
14:18And we've already had some breakthroughs here.
14:21The astronomers caught eight signals that didn't fit known patterns.
14:24While not confirmed as extraterrestrial life, they show that there's a great potential for future research.
14:33Going back to animals, this time, we're visiting prehistoric Earth.
14:37Imagine turtles so massive, they make today's turtles look like tiny toys.
14:42Recently, scientists stumbled upon the fossilized remains of one of these giants.
14:46It's a sea-dwelling titan that cruised the European waters about 80 to 70 million years ago.
14:52The discovery was accidental.
14:55A hiker in northern Spain stumbled upon fragments of this creature near the Pyrenees Mountains.
15:00This turtle was roughly the size of a rhino, around 30 feet in length.
15:04Just to give you an idea, this creature would be about the size of an average car.
15:09It shows that extreme sizes were more common before an extinction event.
15:14The turtles we know now, of smaller, still substantial sizes, dominated afterward.
15:19But the ancient oceans were filled with giant turtles munching on mollusks and jellyfish.
15:25This discovery also challenges the idea that gigantic turtles were exclusive to North America.
15:31The existence of this turtle proves that these colossal reptiles were hanging out in European waters too.
15:38So this might be just the tip of an iceberg.
15:41And you'll want to steer around that one too.
15:45And finally, NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has made a great discovery.
15:50It detected a crucial carbon compound in space.
15:53It's called methylcation.
15:55And this tiny molecule, even if it might seem insignificant,
15:59could help us unlock the secrets of interstellar organic chemistry.
16:04Carbon is incredibly important.
16:06Carbon molecules are building blocks that construct everything from stars to planets to, well, us.
16:12It's the key ingredient for life.
16:15And scientists are eager to understand how it shaped our existence on Earth
16:19and if it could do the same elsewhere in the universe.
16:22And methylcation plays a very important role in the creation of complex carbon-based molecules.
16:30That's why it's very cool that we discovered methylcation, even if it's very far away.
16:36NASA scientists found it in a young star system.
16:38This system is chilling about 1,350 light-years away from us in the Orion Nebula.
16:45The star in this system, which is smaller and a bit weaker than our sun,
16:50is bombarded by intense ultraviolet light from nearby hot, young, massive stars.
16:55You'd think such strong UV radiation would destroy complex organic molecules.
17:01But the research team believes that it might actually kick-start the formation of these carbon compounds.
17:07Maybe stronger stars and their insane radiation levels actually work as energy sources for life.
17:14They set off a chemical chain reaction, which results in complex carbon stuff like plants and animals.
17:20Seems like we've found yet another puzzle piece.
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