Great birthday party! Bunch of kids running around, the same 5 songs on repeat. You stroll off on your own, check out the gifts table and stuff some of those chocolate cookies into your pocket for later.You stumble on some nice balloons floating around. And because you have no self-control, you grab one and start inhaling that Helium. Everyone else is outside playing games, pinning the tail on the donkey.And...it’s awesome! The first thing you notice is your voice changing. We’ve all done it at least once in our lifetime. Your voice gets super high-pitched and squeaky for a couple of seconds, you gotta keep inhaling through the balloon though, it doesn’t last very long.
Oceans cover over 70% of the Earth’s surface, so it comes as no surprise that about 50% of the U.S. territory is underwater. We’ve explored only 5% of oceans. 12 people walked on the Moon, but there were only four manned descents to the Mariana Trench, the deepest location on Earth. Pressure is the crucial challenge of going deep into the ocean. At bigger depths, temperatures are extremely low, visibility is zero, and the pressure is so intense it’s harder to send people to the bottom of the ocean than to send them into space.You can’t see it, but the pressure of the air pushing down on your body in deeper parts is so big it feels like more than one hundred adult elephants or 50 jumbo jets are standing on your head. The pressure is 1,000 times bigger than on the land. Meanwhile, in space, when we pass through the Earth’s atmosphere, the pressure drops to zero. We’re mapping the planets, but it turns out to be easier than mapping the ocean floor. NASA uses radio waves when exploring space, but this method can’t be used for the ocean, since the trillions and trillions of gallons of water get in the way.
This. Is. Earth... 335 million years ago. I wasn’t around then, but there’s just one supercontinent, Pangaea. See? Let’s watch it shift around in fast-forward. Ok here we go, it just split into two huge pieces! Australia goes this way, North and South America go that way. Africa, Asia, Europe, forming, forming... and there we go, the planet as it is today. Let’s keep going, I mean, the continents are always on the move! Over time, some of them will crash into each other, others will break apart. But that’ll take about 100 million years! Better put it on super fast-forward! 100 years from now. Humans keep spitting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and the planet’s already warmed up a bunch. The world’s ocean levels have risen about 4 feet. The Bahamas? They’ve totally disappeared! 200 years from now. The Earth’s population is about 19 billion people. The climate’s gotten even warmer, we’re packed in like sardines over here! New medical tech makes it possible to live to 180! But why? Fossil fuel reserves of oil and gas... long gone. Oh, and the continents have drifted over 16 feet!
You decide to go out for a morning jog for the first time in your life. You put on your headphones and get ready for something hard and unpleasant. But as soon as you go outside, you feel an extraordinary lightness. At first, you enjoy it and speed up, but then you realize that something’s wrong. You’re running too fast and too easily. You feel like you’ve just taken off a heavy backpack that you’ve been carrying all your life. You’re so fast you think you must have a superpower now. But, you notice another athlete running as quickly as you. You notice a puddle ahead of you and jump over it. You jump so far and so high it feels physically impossible. You fall to the ground, shocked.
You’re playing fetch with your doggie when all of a sudden you see something falling down from the sky. It’s glowing and has a large tail behind it. It’s speeding down at an alarming rate, getting ever closer.You try to grab your pooch to take it inside, but it goes stubborn, barking and growling. But then you look up and notice the shining UFO becoming more like a ball, and it looks like it’s heading towards you! You run around your backyard trying to catch your hound, but this time it thinks you’re playing with it and runs away from you.You improvise and chase it to go inside the house. And great timing too: the object in the sky flashes, so brightly you can’t even look at it, and then boom! It’s like a small piece of the sun just crashed right behind your house. You leap behind a couch and try to take a look at what happened. Your neighbors knock on your door to see if you’re all right. Once you open to them, they all flood in with their cameras.
The NASA hotline is ringing off the hook! The call center operator is all sweaty from stress. They barely have time to answer the phone, and all the messages they get say the same thing. There’s something glowing on the Moon. Indeed, hundreds and thousands of amateur astronomers were watching the Moon that night. And suddenly, there was a bright light on it. As if someone had lit a powerful spotlight on the surface. Scientists immediately began to look for an explanation to this phenomenon. They first thought it was simply the glow of an airplane flying between the observers and the Moon. But then it wouldn’t have been seen by so many people from different parts of the world at the same time.
The Sun, our majestic and life-sustaining star, has been a constant presence in our skies since time immemorial. Its radiant energy provides warmth, light, and the conditions necessary for life to thrive on Earth. But have you ever wondered what would happen if our Sun suddenly vanished and was replaced by another star?Arcturus. A huge red star. It’s just bursting from inside out! The red sea of plasma on its surface rages and pulsates. This star burns anything that comes close to it. And now... flop! Arcturus is gone! But at the same moment, it reappears at the center of our solar system, replacing the Sun. What we see in the sky isn’t a small yellow dot anymore, but a giant red ball. It’s 25 times wider and 30% heavier than the Sun.
Frozen plains, mountains with white peaks glistening in the distant sun, and rustic red...snow? Welcome to Pluto, where nothing makes sense anymore... Looking at it from a distance, the ice-ball planet is mostly predictable wintery shades of white and light blue. Once you land on the surface, you’ll notice familiar blue skies as well.But see that whale-shaped red stain running along the equator? Right there to the left of the white heart-shaped region. Thar she blows! This spot is bigger than Alaska, and it’s a mystery to scientists. That’s not red clay soil or anything you’ll see on Earth. That’s Pluto’s version of ice!
BOOM! An explosion of supersonic waves, interplanetary heat, dust, fumes... The Earth’s atmosphere has been invaded by a cosmic rock the size of Everest! A few seconds ago, this rock, weighing trillions of tons, was hurtling towards Earth. It could fly from New York to Anchorage faster than you could fry yourself an omelet! This monster’s name? The Chicxulub incident. Epic name, right!66 million years ago, it crashed into the Earth. Back then, dinosaurs ruled the planet. But not for long! The epic collision took place in modern Mexico, in the Yucatán Peninsula, right near Cancun, where the dinosaurs were vacationing! Well probably not. Still, the huge space rock hit the ocean, but even all that water couldn’t stop the inevitable.The collision caused a huge amount of energy to be released. The horror on a planetary scale had begun! Imagine a mini sun lighting up the surface of the Earth, with tsunamis the height of the Statue of Liberty bursting from the epicenter of the watery impact. Hmm. Not good.
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?
Makeup had always been a very important aspect in people’s lives and especially for those who were in the public spotlight. Right now, makeup is accessible and affordable for everyone to get, and some people choose to create art with it. It’s not just a tool to make your face shine, while hiding a few blemishes, but also a way to convey your emotions. And that’s what some 3D makeup artists out there are trying to do through their art.
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.
Well, it’s time to stretch your legs and take a walk in the park! The sun is shining, and you enjoy the weather and life on the whole. That’s when you spot a rapidly growing vertical cloud.Bright white at first, it’s approaching alarmingly fast, becoming dense and inky. The sky is darkening, and a gust of wind blows the hat off your head.And then, your hair starts to stand on end! That’s your cue to run for your life — you’re about to be hit by lightning! At this very moment, positive charges are rising through your body.They’re reaching toward the negatively charged part of the storm. If you don’t react fast, these charges will meet, and it’ll end badly for you.
If you landed on Mercury, the first thing you’d notice would be how close it is to the Sun. It’s actually the closest planet to the big ball of fire and the smallest. But it’s not the hottest planet. Venus takes credit for that. It takes Earth 365 days to orbit the Sun, and it takes Mercury more than 3 months. Well, 88 days, to be exact. The days are boiling hot, with the temperature reaching above 800 °F (425 °C). But on the other side of the planet that the Sun doesn’t reach, the temperatures drop to −300 °F (-180 °C). Mercury’s atmosphere can’t hold any heat when it’s nighttime, just like a desert. Deserts have no atmosphere, which is why they have no moisture, and no clouds or rain.If you manage to get from one end of the planet to the other and always stay in between the scorching heat and freezing cold, then you can survive. But oxygen isn’t a friend to Mercury’s atmosphere. So you’d just live for as long as you can hold your breath. Plus, there’s a magnetic field that has solar winds from the Sun that create plasma tornadoes.
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.
The recent Baywatch-inspired photo shoot showcased Pamela Anderson’s timeless beauty and her iconic status, making her the most beautiful woman in the world. Fans are in awe of her latest collaboration with Frankie’s Bikinis, which features swimsuits that are inspired by her time on the show. With her beachy blonde hair and flawless figure, Anderson looks as gorgeous as ever. This photo shoot is a must-see for anyone who loves Anderson and appreciates beautiful photography.
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.
You’re in the countryside, in the middle of nowhere, when it happens. You look up at the sky and notice that it’s taken an ominous yellow hue. Suddenly, a terrifying thought pops up in your mind — haven’t you read somewhere that the yellow sky means an approaching tornado? Wait, stop running! Let’s figure out if it’s true!
Imagine leaving your house one morning and seeing not one but 2 stars shining in the sky! The first one is our good old Sun, and the other is... Jupiter! But how has a PLANET turned into a star? And what will now happen to Earth and its inhabitants? Before we find the answer to these urgent questions, we need to revise some things we know about Jupiter. The largest planet in the Solar System is a gas giant, which means it’s made up mostly of gases. Due to the pressure and temperature differences, these gases separate into layers. This creates those red and white bands that can be clearly seen from Earth.
It’s dark and incredibly cold. There’s no oxygen. There’s no water. There’s no life. But the James Webb Space Telescope doesn’t seem bothered by all this. Its main goal is to find the very first galaxies that formed billions of years ago in the early Universe and observe the stars making up distant planetary systems. Its mission is to... but wait! What is THAT?! The James Webb Space Telescope has discovered something absolutely amazing — a star-planet hybrid with very strange clouds! This bizarre world, called VHS 1256 b, is actually a brown dwarf. Those are bigger than planets but too small to classify as stars. They emit some light of their own and are quite hot. But their mass is simply not enough to fuse hydrogen into helium — like full-fledged stars do.
Now imagine... You’re in Ancient Egypt... It’s 5,000 years ago... Impressed by your fairness and decency, the pharaoh’s wizard summons you. He explains to you that he has chosen you as the heir to his powers to fight the evil forces of the world.You accept the responsibility. All you have to do is call the wizard’s name out loud, and you’ll invoke the power of six Egyptian deities to become invulnerable in every way... Okay, I need to stop you right here before this daydream gets too exciting...Snap out of it this instant! It is not your OG story, it’s Black Adam’s — at least in one version of the comics. You know him, DC Universe’s invincible and immortal hero-but-not-really or in other words villain-but-not-really... Thanks to my very own telepathy power, I can sense that now you want to know what his powers are that make him so indestructible.
The legend of the Black Knight Satellite tells us that a spaceship of extraterrestrial origin has been orbiting Earth for many, many years. Sounds crazy, right? But over the years, the supporters of this theory have gathered a lot of evidence to prove it. So let’s look at it and judge for ourselves. 1899. Famous scientist Nikola Tesla built a giant tower in his laboratory in Colorado Springs. This tower was supposed to allow him to study atmospheric electricity and wireless energy. Everything went fine until, one day, he discovered something unexpected. The tower began to catch a signal that seemed to be artificial.
Among all the planets of the Solar System, our Earth is unique since it’s the only one that has developed life. But what if we got a competitor? What if a second Earth appeared out of nowhere?
Wouldn’t it be really cool if we could collect energy from space and just bring it down to our planet? That means we wouldn’t need to get electricity from wind, water, or other resources available on Earth.Millions of people would charge their phones, store food in the fridge, watch TV, and do so much more thanks to electricity we’d wirelessly get from space. It kinda sounds too good to be true at first. But this idea isn’t science fiction anymore. Not only is it possible, but we might see it work sooner than we think, maybe even by 2040.
You walk around the pond and take pictures of swimming ducks. Suddenly, you notice that your phone’s battery is low. You press a button on the side of the gadget, and it starts using air to charge its battery. You sit in your electric car and drive a few miles. There are no gas stations or any other charge points around. You don’t need to charge your vehicle because it’s already filled with energy. It gets it straight out of the air. Anywhere in the world, you have a mobile connection and free internet. You have long forgotten about wires, outlets, and USB connectors. All devices are powered by electricity taken from the air, and your body doesn’t get harmed. There are large towers in every city. They produce invisible electrical currents. Energy is everywhere, and there is an infinite amount of it.
Not all people have a perfect design style or perfect taste. But it’s not a big problem if you know which things are able to turn your house into a welcoming home. People shared what helps them add coziness to their spaces, and it turns out it’s all about mood lighting, texture, intimate spaces, scented candles, and family photos. We analyzed some budget-friendly options and listed the best of them here to help you inject some cozy vibes into your place.
Okay, here you are, in the middle of the ocean. It’s endless, but you can’t see it. Because there’s a thick fog all around you. Dense clouds hide the huge but dim sun. Is it day or night?.. You don’t know. There’s only a gray haze around you. You’re alone. Even if you try to swim down, after several hours, you still won’t be able to see the bottom of the ocean... And that’s a typical water planet for you! I know, sounded kinda dark... But it’s not that bad! These water worlds are more interesting than they may seem, so let’s take a look at them.
The hunt for interesting exoplanets and life forms somewhere out there in the vast expanse of the Universe keeps going; no stopping here! We’re basically searching for a second Earth — a planet that’s similar to our home and where we could finally find some space friends. We’re not picky, any form of life is fine, even some bacteria-sized organisms. And this search has mostly been going on in the habitable zone around other stars. We also call this the Goldilocks zone. That’s a region where conditions are “bearly” just right for liquid water to exist, whether we’re talking about the surface of a planet or a moon.
Imagine you’re looking up at the sky on a clear night, and you see all those beautiful stars twinkling up there. Well, one of them is Betelgeuse — a celebrity among stars. If you want to catch a glimpse of it, look up at the Orion constellation. It low-key looks like an archer holding a bow, and you can spot Betelgeuse as the reddish-orange dot on their shoulder. It’s one of the brightest stars in the sky, so it’s hard to miss! Betelgeuse is not your ordinary star. First of all, it’s gigantic, up to 1,000 times the size of our Sun. Can you imagine that? It’s so enormous that if we could somehow replace our Sun with Betelgeuse, it would engulf all the inner planets, including Earth!
Well looky here. NASA recently posted an unusual photo online... the Sun looking like a Jack O’Lantern! The clever photo was all over the Internet. But some people wonder, what if this is some kind of dangerous sign? Well, let’s see. Actually, this photo may remind you of a lot of things. For example, the infamous Marshmallow Man. Or that popular smiley sponge...
Venus has exceptionally high temperatures, hot enough to melt lead. It’s the hottest planet in our Solar System, with a high-pressure environment and super-strong winds. The winds there are 50 times faster than the planet’s rotation. It’s getting stronger over time, and scientists don’t know why. But they did find something interesting in the planet’s clouds — a potential sign of decaying biological matter. Could there be life then? Not quite, since Venus has a dry, windy atmosphere and doesn’t have enough water for life to develop.
Have you ever wondered why Earth doesn’t have rings? Gas giants Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune have them, but the rocky planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars don’t. Two theories describe how ring systems potentially developed. The first one says the rings may have formed from leftovers that date from the time a certain planet was forming. Or, as the second one says, they could be the remains of a moon that was either destroyed in a collision or broken apart by the gravitational pull of its parent planet.
There’s only one star in our Solar System, the Sun. And all the planets orbit this star. But there are also systems where a planet orbits two suns. For example, Kepler 16b. It’s an inhospitable and cold place made of half rock, half gas. But the coolest thing there is that if you visited this planet, you’d see two sunsets and have two shadows. But astronomers seem to have found something rarer and more bizarre. There might be a planet that orbits three stars at once!
You were lucky to find that 6 by 6 foot apartment, after all. None of your friends own one: they mostly live in capsule modules where it’s only possible to sleep without turning and tossing much. The price for what they call “a mansion” today is obscenely high, and you still can’t fully accept it. Tomorrow you gotta sign that contract and make the down payment. Actually, you had the chance to buy it only because you won that chance in the lottery. This is how you live in 2999 — you and the other 100 billion people.
