Gold

Many of us have wondered about going through the stuff we store in our attic, trying to discover some unfamiliar things there. It’s because these items remind us of the past, its ways, and its customs. The people on our list today were lucky enough to stumble upon some fantastic discoveries, but their purpose remained a mystery. So, they turned to the internet for assistance and uncovered some truly surprising explanations.

Have you ever come across something that made you really puzzled? We’ve all experienced that. Our curious side just won’t quit until we figure out what it’s all about. But the times when we had to go to the library or ask an expert for answers are long gone. Thanks to the internet, we now have a bunch of online investigators ready to help. And let me tell you, they’ve revealed some amazing hidden truths about mystery finds.

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.

You just wanted to heat up a slice of leftover pizza! But something went terribly wrong. As soon as you touched the device, you felt a jolt — as if something had pushed you. You saw sparks, heard something blow up... Then darkness. Owww... It feels as if your head is going to implode. What’s hap?... OH! The microwave! You got an electric shock! Good thing you’re alive and more or less Ok. Even better — there’s no fire raging in your apartment.

I hate to break this to you, but money isn’t actually made of paper, which also proves that money doesn’t actually grow on trees. Most banknotes are 25% linen and 75% cotton, which is why they have such a distinct look and feel. Back in the 19th century, money was made of parchment paper. That’s why people could very easily counterfeit it, unlike now.

San Juanita Vargas, from Nuevo León, Mexico, excels in the discus, javelin, and shot put sports. Her exceptional performances invited her to participate in the prestigious 2023 Olympic and Paralympic Week in France. However, the burden of funding her travel expenses fell upon her family.

It’s hard to imagine how many things we throw away every day for all sorts of reasons: they got broken, we don’t want to use or like them anymore, they’ve got out of fashion, etc. Can you believe that someone can even throw away an autographed Harry Potter book? But what one person considers trash, another one may find really valuable, just like the heroes of our article who discovered something really delightful in a dumpster.

It’s partly true nothing happens if you dip your pinkie for a second into the red-hot lead. There is one condition — you need to dip it into the water first. The water between the skin and the metal will evaporate, creating a vapor layer, so it will repel metal for a second. Still, you don’t want to perform this stunt.

Legends about sunken ships with gold on board. A treasure chest on a desert island. A treasure map and an unsolved cipher. The search for hidden jewels, adventures, fake trails, hidden clues, and fabulous wealth. All this can be found not only on the pages of adventure novels and in movies but also in real life.Some people really make a living by looking for treasures and selling them for big money. The good news is that you can try it too. The bad news is it’s not as exciting as you might think.

Imagine working seven days a week on a large-scale construction site. You, along with thousands of others, carry millions of stone blocks and put them on top of each other according to a complex system. You work without modern construction equipment. You have no air conditioning or constant access to water. It’s so hot outside that you can fry eggs on the road. You’ve been building the pyramid for decades. And now, when it’s finally done, you enjoy the result of the colossal work of thousands of people. You’re looking at a giant cultural monument of global value that will freeze in time and amaze people for tens of thousands of years.

From thousands of dollars worth of treasure to brand-new phones and ancient cities — let’s dive into the water and see what we can dig up.

There are things about nature you know for sure — or don’t you? Let’s check how much you know about the incredible world we live in! How many of 14 points will you guess? Let us know!

The legend goes that a dwarf named Fafnir was famous for his strength and courage. He was the son of a famous dwarf king. Because of his qualities, he was tasked with protecting their kingdom. Dwarfs were known to gather a lot of wealth, so a bit of added security was a must. I mean, they lived in a house made from gold and precious gems. But Fafnir also had another special talent: he was able to shapeshift! Tricked by Loki, the Norse spirit of mischief, Fafnir was taken over by his greed and the shine of his father’s treasure. He decided he did not want to share any of it, not even with his father or his brothers. He stole it and ran away all by himself to a place he’d be hard to find: the middle of the desert.

To some people, thrift stores and flea markets are just places full of old, useless stuff, while to others, these are storage cases of unbelievable treasures. And these people seem to possess a magical skill that helps them find really unique items that eventually become centerpieces for their homes, outfits, and collections.

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.

Question for you: Does the island of Hy-Brasil [hai bruh·zil] sound familiar? You’ve surely never seen it on a vacation brochure. Not because it’s exclusive or hard to reach, but because it’s like the ultimate mash-up of myth and reality. Some people believe it’s just a figment of imagination, while others swear they’ve seen it with their own two eyes! According to historians, the island of Hy-Brasil has been noted in both travelers’ records and ancient Irish legends. It makes this location an Irish version of Atlantis! Although it’s known by several other names too, the island takes its most famous name from Breasal [Breh-zahl], an important figure from Celtic folklore. It’s also been spotted on maps dating back to 1325. One cartographer for example placed it west of Ireland, while subsequent sailing charts have shown it more specifically southwest of Galway Bay.

It all happened in 1708. On June 8, the Spanish galleon San José was going back home to Spain from the Caribbean. In total, there were 17 ships. The captain of the San José knew they were in for some trouble, as English ships were lurking in that area. He knew that they would be after the treasure loaded on the ships. The price of the treasure from the New World was so astronomical that it could turn the course of historical events in Europe upside down.

Voyager 1, which has been traveling through interstellar space for more than 45 years, and is trailing a long gray beard by this time (not really), it suddenly began to send strange signals to Earth. Even more bizarre, there are no signs that the probe has broken or anything. Scientists from NASA are desperately trying to find the reason. So... what’s happened, exactly? First of all, let me tell you a bit more about Voyager 1 and its long, lo-o-ong journey. Voyager 1 is an American space probe. Scientists from NASA sent it into space on September 5, 1977.

It’s dark, and you can’t see anything. There’s slime all over. The ground is soft and moving. You try to find your way around by feeling the moving walls around you. After a while, you hear some painful screams in the distance. You call out for help, but no one responds. You’re a captain of a ship, and you were just consumed by the mighty Kraken. You keep tumbling over, not knowing if you’re even going in the right direction. The screams get louder and louder. It’s only a matter of time before you see someone. As you make your next step, a large piece of wood swooshes past you, almost knocking you down. That piece of wood was from the ship that the Kraken had swallowed. It had also swallowed the entire crew alive, so they must be somewhere inside the beast’s belly.

Every single item that reaches the nearest grocery store has been planned to its last detail, regarding both quality and design. And sometimes they include features that are very hard to understand the real purpose of. But, of course, there is a perfectly logical explanation that makes us realize how everything around us has its very own special function.

I have to say — it would be hard to visit the biggest waterfall in the world because it’s underwater. Deep down below, there are fissures and caverns on the ocean floor. They form when water oozes through the layers of salt that are beneath it. This water is filled with dissolved salt. This makes it denser than the water surrounding it, which is why it ends up settling into these fissures. Such type of dense water forms a massive waterfall near Denmark. It’s a giant cascade that plummets 11,500 feet. That’s over three times the height of the well-known Angel Falls in Venezuela. So, the colder water of this waterfall sinks after it collides with the surrounding water that’s less dense.

A human being can survive up to a couple of months without food, a few days without water, and sixty-nine days trapped underground. At least, that’s what thirty-three miners in Chile managed to do. The fifth of August, two thousand ten, started like a regular workday deep underground. The miners were going about their business, digging for copper, gold, and other minerals. Some of them were working almost two thousand five hundred feet below the surface. Another group was resting in the Refuge, a room carved out of the rock for miners to relax in and breathe some fresh air pumped in from the surface. They were waiting for a pickup truck to give them a ride up for lunch.

It all happened in 1708. On June 8, the Spanish galleon San José [Ho-SE] was going back home to Spain from the Caribbean. In total, there were 17 ships. The captain of the San José knew they were in for some trouble, as English ships were lurking in that area. He knew that they would be after the treasure loaded on the ships. The price of the treasure from the New World was so astronomical that it could turn the course of historical events in Europe upside down.

If you think about it, your life is a lot like a video game. You could say it’s like a role-playing game most of all. All you need to do is add the right icons to your screen, like your health and energy bars. There’s your inventory as well, with your phone, wallet and keys in it. And, of course, everyone’s got a skill bar. But let’s start from the very beginning. Even when you’re a baby, the game difficulty is already set to hard. All your skills are at level zero, and your health bar is tiny.