Ocean

Are you a pro swimmer, brave enough to take a dip in any ocean or sea? Bad news, there are some places you should avoid no matter how well you swim or dive. Some of these places have dangerous underwater rocks, strong currents and tides. Others are famous for legends about monsters and mysterious creatures. So let’s dive into this aquatic horror show! Have you ever heard the word “the Strid”? It’s a variation of the word “the stride” that is used in Yorkshire, and it refers to a narrow section of the river Wharfe that’s so small, you could jump over it. But, don’t be fooled by its size, it’s one of the most dangerous spots around. Even taking a step into the water can have dire consequences. The River Wharfe has a forceful current, and since the Strid is so narrow, it’s even stronger in that area. The intense water flow has eroded the limestone around the Strid, which created hollow spaces much deeper than the rest of the riverbed.

Has it ever happened to you that you’re enjoying your vacation at the beach when suddenly you find a strange animal buried in the sand? In most cases, you examine the specimen and continue your vacation. But what would you do if you found the creature alive? This is what happened to a swimmer in Mexico, who was able to record an unknown creature walking along the seashore.

You call your beloved cat to have his dinner. Sir Scratchy! Suddenly, you hear loud stomping. The dishes on the dinner table clink with every thump. A painting’s fallen off the wall! Is it an earthquake? No, that’s a cat the size of a pony walking into the dining room! It needs ten times as much food as the average cat. And it purrs like a tractor! No, Scratchy, stop rolling, you’ll turn over the cupboard! Well, this is one possible scenario for the evolution of animals in the future. Climate, water, oxygen in the air, and even gravity are factors that influence the course of evolution. For example, scientists predict that some bird species will gradually lose their warm feathers. In the future, they will basically look like sphinx cats with beaks and wings. The same thing might happen to our pets. Gradually, their fur will become shorter until they’re completely bald.

You can feel the waves brushing up against you. You wake up and see that you’re a giant standing up on 2 feet in the sea. So much water starts dripping down like rain. You’re way taller than the Statue of Liberty. You look at your hands and compare them to a small hot dog stand below you. You pick it up and fit it on the palm of your hand before crushing it by accident. Suddenly you feel a slight sting on your ankle. You look down and see that some people are shoving you away while most people are running away in fear. Some are taking pictures of you, while others are shouting at you to go away. You take a step to the main road and crush a car with no one inside.

You’re swimming 2 miles down at the bottom of the ocean. Don’t ask me how, just play along. It’s cold, and the pressure is intense, no fish in sight.

The moon shines brightly and illuminates the black water of the ocean. Thick fog descends on it in ominous silence. Then, it’s suddenly broken by the creaking of wooden boards, followed by a rippling of the waves. Through the fog, you see the outline of an old large ship. Its hull is rusty, and a strange cold is coming from it... But the most unsettling thing is that there’s no one on the deck.

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? Then there would be two different scenarios. The first is the destruction of both planets. The second has an unexpected but pretty logical ending. But let’s start with the catastrophic scenario. The second Earth with the same conditions could exist only if it received absolutely the same amount of sunlight as our planet. The orbit that our Earth follows is perfect for getting the necessary amount of solar heat. If we were a little further away, the entire surface of our planet would resemble Antarctica. And if Earth was a little closer to the Sun, we’d all live in a huge desert inhabited by very few living beings. So, for the second Earth to be identical to ours, it’d need to follow the orbit of our planet.

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.”

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!

Once upon a time, in the deep blue sea, there was a giant monster called the Kraken. People believed it lived in the waters near Norway and Greenland. The first time anyone wrote about the Kraken was a long, long time ago. It was a man named Erik Pontoppidan from Denmark. In a book called “The Natural History of Norway,” he wrote that the Kraken looked like a huge octopus or cuttlefish, and it could pull ships down to the bottom of the ocean. Later on, people started to imagine the Kraken as a giant squid. Even today, the story of the Kraken is still very popular, and it can be found in books, movies, or games.

Poor Pete. Pete is so scared of bugs all he wants is to find a place on Earth where he can be safe from them. After years of research and traveling, he eventually finds the place to go: Antarctica! Pete makes it there, confident that bugs wouldn’t survive in the cold. Ahhhhhhh! Little did he know that insects are on every continent of this planet. Well, not really. He was kind of right about Antarctica: it isn’t home to a lot of bugs. In fact, there is only one true species of insect that calls this place home: it’s a wingless midge called Belgica antarctica. This fly is tiny [0.08 to 0.23 inches long], but it’s still Antarctica’s largest terrestrial bug.

The world’s largest waterfall is tucked away underwater! The Denmark Strait cataract is located between Iceland and Greenland. If you suddenly grew fish gills allowing you to comfortably breathe underwater, you’d be able to see a breathtaking series of waterfalls. They begin at 2,000 feet under the surface and then drop for about two miles — down to a depth of 10,000 feet.

Do you know that NASA explores not only stars, planets, galaxies, or black holes? Hard to believe, but yes! The agency also works on discoveries here on our home planet Earth. So what has NASA recently discovered? Is there life under the ice? While they were analyzing data recently, they discovered something unbelievable hiding under Antarctica’s ice! And this discovery not only changes everything we know about the whole water system of the Earth, but it may also help with research about life in space! Humankind’s existence might depend on understanding Antarctica and its secrets! So, the recent discoveries reveal vital information about our survival!

People get tattoos for different reasons: some people see them as decorations, others want to cover their scars, and others are seeking some deeper meaning or connection by getting them. In this article, we put together stories from internet users whose ink is something more than just a pretty picture.

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?

Alright. You’re scuba diving in the ocean, watching corals and colorful fish flitting by, when suddenly an enormous shadow appears above you. You look up and see a massive creature approaching you, its mouth a gaping abyss... Relax, just stay still and you’ll be fine.

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.

You wake up with your head feeling heavy. Ummm... 1, where’s your comfy bed? And 2, why were you just sleeping on the wet and dirty ground in the middle of nowhere. Wait, what’s all this stuff around you? Are you in... the Jungle?

Think you know what lurks in the depths of the ocean? While nearly 95% of our oceans haven’t been explored yet, it’s hard not to let your imagination run wild. But thanks to brave explorers, deep-sea cameras, and awesome archaeologists, we do know about some pretty incredible sea creatures living in our waters today...and millions of years ago. From the 9-ft [2.7 m] spider crab to the 60-ft [18 m] prehistoric Megalodon, these sea dwellers come in all shapes and sizes! But let’s focus on sea creatures famous for their huge size.

The ocean covers 70% of planet Earth, so it’s only natural that it’s home to millions of creatures. And from that percentage, we have only explored a mere 20%, leaving the rest of the 80% completely unexplored. This means that there is a large number of species that humans don’t know about and have never seen. So, each year, scientists keep discovering new creatures from the deep sea that make us feel smaller and smaller.

There are many miles of undiscovered areas beneath the crust we can’t even come close to. Scientists found what appears to be underground mountains buried inside the mantle. Our planet is divided into 3 layers — the crust, the mantle, and the core. The crust is where 8 billion people, trillions of trees, and millions of animals live and thrive. There are also different types of crusts in the land and the ocean. The oceanic crust contains unique rocks and is denser than the land crust. We all see how the Earth is divided and color-coded to show the crust, mantle, and core in textbooks. But there are also special layers in between that not everyone talks about.

April 14, 1912. The dark night was filled with horrible sounds of a giant metal vessel breaking into two. The largest ship of that time collided with an iceberg that was on its way. The Titanic. One of the biggest stories of the 20th century that people still talk about. The starboard side of the giant vessel brushed up against the iceberg. It was 11:40 p.m. when things started going wrong. This iceberg caused enough damage for at least five watertight compartments in the hull to start filling with water.

On April 10, 1912, the RMS Titanic set sail from England. But this wasn’t the launch of a regular ship. The Titanic was the largest liner ever built at the time. It was 882 feet long — that’s nearly the size of three soccer fields! And measured from the hull to the top of the smokestacks, the ship was an impressive 175 feet tall! That’s the size of a 17-story building. Deemed “unsinkable,” it took 3,000 workers almost 3 years to build. But a mere four days into its very first voyage, at 11:40 PM, the ship collided with an iceberg and was lost beneath the waves of the Atlantic Ocean. It took the liner only 2 hours and 40 minutes to sink. And of more than 2,200 passengers and crew members on board, only 706 survived.

The problem with that asteroid that destroyed dinosaurs was not that it fell, but WHERE it fell. This colossal space rock found the worst place where it could land. Also, the angle at which it hit the ground was the most unfortunate. If it had fallen vertically, there would have been less destruction. But it fell at such an angle that it threw a huge amount of dust into the air. After the disaster occurred, tons of soot started burning. 65 million years ago, only 13% of Earth’s surface contained the right amount of sulfur and oil needed to form a colossal amount of soot. If the asteroid had fallen on the other 87% of the territory, dinosaurs could still be living today. But it hit the worst place and lifted a million tons of burning material into the sky.