00:00There is a place deep in the ocean where pressure is 1,000 times stronger than that we're
00:06used to at the surface.
00:08This force is enough to turn an unprotected human into dust instantly.
00:12Well, maybe more like mud.
00:14Anyway, that's why explorers need some serious preparation and equipment to survive in such
00:20extreme conditions down in the Mariana Trench.
00:24It is as wide as 20 national malls in Washington, D.C., and about one-fifth as long as the diameter
00:31of Earth.
00:33People who went all the way down describe it as a chilly, quiet, and very peaceful place.
00:38They saw a bright blanket of red and yellow rocky outcrops, and there was a whole variety
00:44of unique small translucent animals.
00:49The popular myth is that more people have gone to the moon than to this deepest place
00:53on Earth is not true, though.
00:56In total, 24 humans flew to the moon.
01:00And at least 27 brave souls dove down to the Mariana Trench.
01:05Most of them were explorers and not proper scientists.
01:08They just go there for the thrills and also to collect video evidence of different wildlife,
01:13geological formations, and human-made objects.
01:18Humans started traveling around space and into the ocean depths at around the same time.
01:23The first moon landing was in 1969.
01:27And the first person to go down the Challenger Deep, the deepest part of the Mariana Trench,
01:31did so in 1960.
01:34This unusual location got its name after the British ship HMS Challenger, which first located
01:40this massive drop in the ocean floor at the end of the 19th century.
01:45It would take 8 more decades before the first human went down to it.
01:51Explorers didn't manage to do it in a conventional submarine.
01:54They used a type of submersible called a bathyscape.
01:58The Swiss oceanographer Auguste Piccard designed his own in 1953.
02:05Seven years later, the submersible managed to do the impossible.
02:08It had reached a depth of nearly 36,000 feet.
02:13But what explorers saw was merely a fraction of the trench's full size.
02:18The fact that it is so huge of the Mariana Trench is just one of the reasons why it's
02:23mostly unexplored today.
02:25The absence of light is another major issue.
02:28Sunlight is incapable of reaching such profound depths, so the entire trench from top to bottom
02:34lies in absolute darkness.
02:38Because of such conditions, the ecosystem is a lot different than the shallower regions
02:42of the Pacific.
02:43This puts immense pressure on marine wildlife.
02:46Yeah, the pun is intended.
02:50Another reason why it's so challenging to survive there is the temperature.
02:56Water freezes at 32 degrees Fahrenheit.
02:58At the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the ocean is just a couple of degrees above freezing.
03:04One of the factors that hasn't let this area turn into a giant icicle is the fact that
03:08salt water has a slightly lower freezing point.
03:11The other reason is geothermal energy that warms the ground at the bottom of these just
03:16enough for it not to freeze.
03:18That's why submersibles need to have proper insulation to navigate these icy conditions.
03:25When they reach the bottom, researchers find out that this desolate and harsh climate is
03:30home to several animal species.
03:33They encountered arrowtooth eels, snailfish, and spoonworms at various depths.
03:40There were even strange-looking translucent sea cucumbers and shrimp-like amphipods.
03:47The biggest surprise was microbial mags thriving on methane and hydrogen from the mud.
03:53Among the species, the Mariana snailfish looks like a master of the environment that can
03:58go farther and deeper into the trench to feed on prey than its competitors.
04:03Despite its seemingly fragile appearance, the snailfish has adapted to withstand extreme
04:08pressures, a superpower it wouldn't be able to survive without.
04:12The exotic-like forms that live deep down aren't normal-sized, since deep-sea gigantism
04:18makes them grow significantly larger than their counterparts in other ecosystems.
04:24One example is the giant tubeworm, which can be 6 feet long.
04:29Science has a hard time explaining the exact cause of this form of gigantism.
04:35Natural vents are just one of the possible explanations.
04:39All of these factors might help explain the huge time gap in researching the Mariana Trench.
04:44The first successful dive after the 1960 expedition came only in 2012.
04:50That's when the famous Canadian film director James Cameron went down in the deep-sea Challenger.
04:57Because few scientists have gone that deep before or after Cameron, there is no map of
05:02the deepest point on our planet.
05:04We know very little about the oceans that cover two-thirds of the Earth's surface.
05:09Researchers have mapped out only 5% of them so far.
05:13Science still has a lot to discover in the Mariana Trench and other unexplored places
05:17on our planet.
05:20The Amazon rainforest stands as the best example of the world's most unexplored regions.
05:25The list of reasons why this part of South America is unknown starts with its wildlife
05:30– jaguars, anacondas, piranhas, black caimans, and Brazilian wandering spiders are just some
05:38of the creatures that pose a risk for researchers.
05:43Relentless year-round rainfall induces heavy flooding.
05:46Add to all this some treacherous river currents, and you can see why scientists have mapped
05:51such a small percentage of the Amazon to date.
05:56In just one region of Brazil near Peru, there are at least 14 tribes that have never had
06:02contact with the outside world.
06:04The national authorities intend to keep it that way.
06:08Isolation of these indigenous people is the best way to protect their future.
06:13The same goes for a remote island in the Indian Ocean.
06:17After the tragic tsunami of 2004, helicopters flew over North Sentinel Island to make sure
06:23its inhabitants were alive and well.
06:25Meanwhile, the Sentinelese weren't thrilled.
06:28They took up bows and arrows to drive away the unwanted visitors.
06:32This tribe is one of the last uncontacted tribes on Earth.
06:37Although anthropologists and filmmakers visited the island in the late 1960s, we still don't
06:43know much about its indigenous population.
06:47It sits a long way off any shipping lanes in the Bay of Bengal.
06:51North Sentinel has no natural harbor, and it's surrounded by a shallow reef.
06:56This makes access to the island possible only by boat.
07:00The Indian officials who lay claim to the island have prohibited outsiders from visiting
07:04the island for safety reasons.
07:07The estimates on how many people inhabit the island vary significantly – from as few
07:11as 15 to as many as 500.
07:15The island is not tiny – it's about 5 times as big as London's Heathrow Airport.
07:20Apart from occasional contact during the past two centuries, the Sentinelese must have
07:25been isolated for a long time.
07:28They are related to other indigenous groups in the Andaman Islands, but their neighbors
07:32cannot understand a word of their language.
07:36The continent of Antarctica has no permanent human settlements at all.
07:41The only people who periodically live there are international scientists.
07:46This vast expanse of ice and snow, roughly the size of the United States and Mexico combined,
07:52still has many regions where humans haven't set foot.
07:56Satellite imagery and photos that NASA's aircraft made from the air have mapped out
08:00the entire continent, so we know where to go, but it's not that easy.
08:06The reason for this are all the adjectives that go with Antarctica.
08:10It is the coldest, windiest, driest, and brightest of the seven continents.
08:16This makes it virtually unlivable.
08:18More than 99% of its surface is covered with a permanent sheet of ice.
08:23Its thickness ranges from 1 mile to as many as 3 miles in some places.
08:28That's half the height of Mount Everest!
08:33The Himalayan Range contains the world's tallest unclimbed mountain.
08:38It is also the tallest mountain in Bhutan.
08:41In the local language, the mountain's name translates as White Peak of the Three Spiritual
08:46Brothers.
08:48Out of respect for the spiritual beliefs of the local population, national authorities
08:52restricted and then completely banned mountaineering at the beginning of the 21st century.
08:58To this day, there is no evidence that any climber has ever managed to successfully reach
09:03the summit of this mysterious mountain.
09:08That's it for today!
09:09But – hey!
09:10If you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your friends!
09:14Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the Bright Side!
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