Atmosphere

The Baltic Sea anomaly. In 2011, a diving team came down to the bottom of the northern part of the Baltic Sea — they went on a treasure hunt. But what they came upon was a pretty weird object. When they took photos and showed them to others, many believed it was a sunken spaceship of another civilization. Other people thought that some natural causes formed the object. But the metals inside the structure definitely couldn’t have been formed naturally. Now, some scientists even believe it was something that appeared way back in the Ice Age. Maybe it was even a meteorite that ended up trapped under ice back then.

People stop their cars on the highway, get out of them, and lift their heads in wonder. In the cities, everyone takes to the streets. Balconies and rooftops of houses are full of people staring at the Moon in shock. It’s red. Some people scream that it’s the end of the world; some seek shelter. Indeed, the usual white Moon now looks like it has been doused in red paint. There’s no need to be afraid if you see such a thing. On the contrary, enjoy the view, because you have witnessed a rare astronomical phenomenon. This is a total lunar eclipse.

Recently, Chinese scientists discovered something interesting on the Moon... An unusual crystal. Moreover, they found out that this crystal contains an element that can literally replace nuclear fuel! Let’s find out more. The composition of the Moon has long remained a mystery to us. Half a century has already passed since the Apollo mission. Unfortunately, we haven’t traveled to the Moon much since then, so it’s not surprising that it’s not so easy for us to study it. But recently we’ve made a breakthrough in this area! In December 2020, Chinese scientists sent a Chang’e-5 probe to the Moon. The mission was named after the ancient Chinese deity of the Moon, Chang’e. Quite poetic, isn’t it?

Millions of people around the world go out on the streets and rooftops to look at the amazing cosmic phenomenon. Another planet... right next to the Moon! A big red one. At first, everyone’s excited. Mars showing up out of nowhere is having a strange effect on humanity.Just as the moon can affect the psychological and physical state of some people, Mars’s unexpected visit is causing people to behave pretty strangely. Every night, the sky is lit up by the white light of the Moon and the red glow of Mars.Many people get a sort of instant insomnia. Some even stop drinking coffee because they no longer feel sleepy. Mars brings out the energy and a little wildness in people, makes them laugh more, and even drives a few poor people crazy. They begin to go out of their houses more often and enjoy the unusual night sky.

We’re headed to the Middle East. There’s a large desert there, and it’s completely dark. Except for one spot — a big circle that glows with a bright orange light — the Darvaza Crater. And it’s basically just a giant gas burner. Years ago, geologists found gas here, and they started mining for it. But when they excavated, they came across a void underground. The void collapsed, and it formed a crater. This crater is as wide as half a soccer field and as deep as a five-story building. Gas began to come out of the cracks in the crater and since animals were often grazing in this area, the geologists decided to set these gas streams on fire to exhaust the source. Geologists thought the fire would be over in a day or two. But if you come here now, you’ll see this gateway to the underworld is still burning. And it’s been going on for almost 50 years.

Massive tsunamis, destructive tornadoes, giant meteorites, devastating earthquakes. Ooh, better have insurance. But all these are minor natural disasters compared with the eruption of a volcano. Some volcanoes can destroy a city, as it was with Pompeii. Or some islands in the Pacific Ocean. But there’s a dangerous type of eruption that can destroy all life on the planet. This type is called “flood basalt.”

Now, as much as we love epic space battles with blasters cutting through the black void and causing cheerful booms, that’s not exactly what happens when something explodes in the big black. Space is basically a vacuum, meaning it has no oxygen. And oxygen is an essential part of any process of burning we have here on Earth. You might argue that stars can burn and explode into supernovae, but that’s not exactly true either.

So you fall right into the heart of the black hole and prepare for a sad end. Well, you don’t have to! Falling into a black hole won’t necessarily destroy you or your spaceship. You have to choose a bigger black hole to survive.

Imagine a world where instead of water, the oceans are made of methane. Yes, that’s right — instead of swimming in H2O, you’d be paddling around in CH4. It’s like Mother Nature’s version of a fizzy drink! Such oceans actually exist on one of Saturn’s moons, called Titan. In fact, the methane and ethane on Titan play a similar role to the water on Earth: they cycle through the atmosphere and form clouds that eventually rain down onto the surface. They were discovered by the Cassini-Huygens space probe. And apparently, our entire planet’s oil reserves could fit in one of Titan’s puddles! Even the desert sand dunes on Titan have more organics than all of Earth’s coal reserves. Who knew that Titan was the place to go if you’re ever in need of fuel for your car? Now, obviously, there are some things that distinguish methane lakes from our water ones.

Seems like to feel at home on any planet we need the four crucial elements: air, water, earth, and fire. I’m gonna tell you what you need to squeeze to get a glass of water on Mars, how to grow your salad there, charge your phone without getting an astronomical electricity bill, and even generate some fresh air!

Mercury gets a bad rap for always being hot, but that’s not entirely true. The planet’s got no atmosphere, so its temperature swings are wild. When it’s facing the Sun, it can get up to a blistering 800°F, but when it’s turned away, it drops to a frigid −290°F. The reason for this is that Earth has a cozy atmosphere that keeps our temps in check. Mercury doesn’t have that luxury, so it’s at the mercy of the Sun’s rays. But despite all that, Mercury’s still worth checking out. It’s close to the Sun, which makes it a prime spot for studying how solar radiation affects planets. And even though it’s not exactly hospitable to life, there are still plenty of mysteries to unravel.

Scientists were looking at a list of gas clouds when they saw something strange — five groups of blue stars that are not quite a galaxy and not a known type of star cluster either. These groups of stars are called “blue blobs” and they’re located in the Virgo galaxy cluster. Now, the big question is — how did these blue blobs form if they don’t have any nearby parent galaxy where they could form? Scientists realized there are some heavy metals present in these blobs.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like if every planet in our solar system was the size of Earth? Well, it’s time to dive into this mind-boggling scenario! Let’s imagine what each planet would look like if they were as big as our beloved blue planet. Would the barren, red landscape of Mars suddenly become a lush green oasis? Would the massive, swirling gas giant Jupiter just disappear? And how would it affect our solar system as a whole — are we all doomed? Buckle up and let’s find out.

You’re on a spaceship flying through outer space at a speed of 180,000 miles per second. This is almost the speed of light. Make yourself comfortable, because the voyage is gonna be long. It will last a little more than 90 years. It’s better to use a cryo capsule to not get bored. In short, you need to fly for almost a century at the speed of light to get to a mysterious exoplanet that scientists have recently discovered.

Whoosh! Dust storms on Mars can really go crazy! They hurtle through the Red Planet’s Southern Hemisphere, especially during the summer. These storms can grow and encompass large areas of the planet, as happened in January 2022. Then, a dust storm covered almost twice the area of the United States. Could it be something like this that caused one of the robots we sent to Mars to go missing?

Octopuses have 3 hearts. Two of them pump blood to the gills while the bigger heart circulates blood to the rest of their body. They also have 9 brains. There’s the large central one. But also, each of their 8 arms has a mini-brain of its own, which is why they can act independently. Since each arm has its own brain, the central brain only sends a higher-level signal to the arm. Things like “move to that nearby crevice, there might be a crab hiding inside”. In the case of humans, the brain would guide and take control of each movement of our legs and arms. And with an octopus, arms act almost independently on their way to the crevice. It also tastes and feels with the suction cups on it. Since their arms are so independent, an octopus doesn’t actually know where they are unless it sees them. The human body has an ability called proprioception. Thanks to it, we know where our arm is even if we hold it, let’s say, behind our back.

The reviews a product has from customers play a massive role in how this item will be perceived by future buyers. And let’s face it, we all look at them before we can decide if we will buy something or not. And we might opt to avoid buying something if its reviews are negative or mediocre. That’s why we decided to gather 12 products with triumphant customer critiques that you might also find to be very useful.

There are all sorts of amazing things you can do with products already lying around the house that were meant for other things. We’ll explore some of those plus everyday items that have other purposes you may not be aware of.

It’s dark outside — almost 2 AM. You go outside and look at the sky. And here it is — bright, full Moon. You might think you know a lot about Earth’s natural satellite, but let me ask you this, “How did it form?” The answer is “nobody knows”! But, of course, there are theories. The most popular one, called “the giant-impact theory,” claims that the Moon formed during a collision between Earth and another planet. This planet must have been smaller than ours, the size of Mars. And the collision itself probably happened around 4.5 billion years ago.

Ever looked at the stars and wondered if there’s anyone else out there? A different type of creature, living on another planet, just waiting to be introduced to a different species. How come we’ve never stumbled upon other life than we are in our galaxy? And, more interestingly, if we aren’t alone in the universe, it is curious that no one has ever tried to get into contact with us. The Fermi Paradox aims to answer many of these questions.

When we say ‘extinction’ — say it with me: “extinction” — we usually think of dinosaurs that went for lunch with a humongous asteroid and wiped out from the face of Earth. We don’t think of ourselves possibly going away in the near future. But what we forget is that there have been five mass extinctions that our planet witnessed in the last half a billion years, not just one. And we can be nearing the sixth one, where one of the species to possibly disappear are humans. The first great mass extinction came about 440 million years ago, in the — Period. Back then, life was mostly thriving in the oceans and along the coastlines. Biodiversity was great at the time: there were thousands of different species. Trilobites, sea scorpions, and all kinds of weird-looking mollusks and even fish — you name it, Ordovician had it.

When you think of astronauts going to space, you probably imagine those cool things they can do up there. First of all, it’s flying like a superhero all the time! Astronauts hold on to rails and use their arm strength to move among modules. It probably takes some time to get used to this way of moving around, but in a couple of months in space, they can become real acrobats!

It’s staring at you, and you’re staring at it. A giant eye that seems to be pulling you into an abyss. You’re hovering over it in your space copter. But however scared you might be, you still need to do your job. So, you send your copter down to the surface of the Red Planet. Right, that’s where you are — on Mars. But first things first: you take a moment to remember everything you know about the fourth planet from the Sun. It’s the last of the inner planets — those are the planets that lie within the asteroid belt. They’re also called terrestrial since they’re made up of rocks and metals. The atmosphere of Mars is much thinner than Earth’s. It contains 95% carbon dioxide and a mere 1% of oxygen. In other words, don’t even think about pulling off your helmet!

Tonight, go out and look at the Moon through a telescope, and you’ll see many craters. No one still knows how they appeared there. Some of them have formed recently. Scientists have discovered a double crater on the Moon that appeared for a strange reason. In March, a rocket crashed into the Moon. And no one knows who owned it and why it left such a trail. If a regular rocket had fallen there, it’d have left one hole. A standard space rocket has a heavy engine on one side and a lighter fuel tank on the other. But this time, there had to be two heavy sides on one rocket to leave a double crater. That’s strange. No one knows what it is, and no one has claimed to be the owner.