00:00If nature had its own movie, it'd be a mix of Avatar and Interstellar, and I'm not even
00:06kidding. How else could you explain something as surreal as avalanches that spark blue light
00:11or pink lakes? The thing is, these aren't CGI, and I'll show you how Earth manages
00:18to pull these off!
00:22In October 2024, a guy was lucky enough to be at the right place during the right cold
00:28night and got to record a blue avalanche. I mean, it was mainly white, but it quickly
00:33flashed a blue light while it was running downhill. Now scientists aren't totally
00:39sure how these blue flashing avalanches happen, but they have some ideas. One part of the
00:44mystery comes from a thing called triboluminescence, which is when light is created by rubbing
00:50or breaking something. It can happen on many different occasions. One of them is with ice
00:56structures. This happens because of friction, like when two things scrape against each
01:01other causing a little bit of sparks to appear. It's a cold light, meaning it doesn't come
01:07from heat, just from pressure or movement. Sometimes when ice cracks or breaks under
01:13pressure, it can make a tiny electrical charge. When something disturbs ice blocks, making
01:19it crack, this ignites a reaction. The trapped ions are charged particles, and when they
01:25suddenly get released, they start moving around. This big release of energy is what
01:30creates flashes of light. In this case, a blue glow or flash of light. All of this happens
01:36absurdly fast, so to actually witness this release of light is super rare!
01:45In June of 2024, people in the US witnessed a massive emergence of cicadas that only appear
01:51once every 13 or 17 years. Cicadas spend most of their life cycles underground. While
01:58they're still nymphs, they can spend multiple years feeding on tree roots. Some species
02:03can spend up to 17 years under the earth before they're ready to re-emerge to the surface
02:08and officially turn into adults. But in 2024, both 13-year and 17-year-old cicadas appeared
02:16at the same time. And since 13 and 17 are prime numbers, this event only happens once
02:23every 221 years!
02:27The forests got absurdly loud. You see, cicadas can sing anywhere as loud as 80 to 120 decibels.
02:35They usually sing in groups, which is why it tends to get pretty loud. Someone who actually
02:40lived through this event said they could yell at full strength while inside the forest and
02:45not hear themselves at all. When cicadas come out of the ground, the male insects produce
02:51loud songs by vibrating their abdomens to attract females. With millions of insects
02:57from both species singing together, you were in for a real-life natural symphony. Some
03:03people mistook these cicadas for locusts and called it an infestation.
03:11All the way down in Senegal, Africa, lies a unique lake. Arriving there, you might think
03:16you're walking out of a spaceship and into an unknown planet. After all, have you ever
03:21seen pink water before? The so-called Lake Retba, or Lac Rose, as known by the locals,
03:28has become internationally famous for shining its vivid pink color. And yes, you can swim
03:34there if you'd like, but you should know the water is extremely salty. Lake Retba is
03:39known to be one of the world's saltiest lakes with a saline level of about 40%. And
03:45in case you're wondering why the water is pink, I assure you this has nothing to do
03:50with other worldly factors. It's actually due to the high levels of salt. The algae,
03:55known as Dunaliella salina, is the one responsible for the pink shading. These algae produce
04:01red pigments that absorb sunlight, giving the lake its striking pink color. But if you'd
04:07like to catch the lake at its brightest color, you should go during the dry season, between
04:11the months of November and June. In other months, the rainwater dilutes the pigments,
04:16and its color becomes less distinct.
04:19You can also find a Bubblegum Pink Lake in Western Australia. It was actually crowned
04:25as the 10th most otherworldly site in the world. Lake Hillier is shaped like a footprint
04:30and measures over 1,900 feet in length. You can really see how the pink stands out next
04:37to that deep blue ocean sitting next to it.
04:41Hey, look here! Any ideas what this is? Take your wildest guess. Ok, it looks like a river,
04:49right? But that doesn't look like water flowing on it. When locals first saw this
04:54happening, they didn't know what it was. So, to make things easier, they just called
04:59it Sand River. It sure was a good guess, but it turns out that what these people saw
05:04is more or less an optical illusion. It's not sand, but it's not exactly water either.
05:11You see, in arid environments, it's pretty rare for hails to happen. And in this case,
05:17what we're seeing are thousands and thousands of floating hailstones. Simply put, hail is
05:22just frozen rain that pours down in the form of small pebbles of ice. Looks pretty magical
05:28though, doesn't it?
05:32Now isn't it crazy that something as beautiful as the Northern Lights emerges from a violent
05:38encounter? Yep, the so-called Aurora Borealis is actually the result of solar storms. Here's
05:45how it works. The sun, the giant ball of gas, sometimes throws out bits of plasma into space.
05:52When this plasma flies away from the sun, we call it a solar storm. These storms travel
05:57through space, passing by planets like Mercury and Venus, before reaching Earth. When these
06:02intense solar storms hit the Earth's magnetic field, something amazing happens. These particles
06:09coming from the sun are captured by Earth's magnetic field. They collide with atoms and
06:13molecules in the Earth's atmosphere, and these collisions create auroras, especially near
06:19the North and South Poles. From where we stand, these flashes look like colorful lights dancing
06:25in the sky. But that's not really what's happening. If you zoomed in, you'd see millions
06:30of tiny flashes happening super quickly. Oh, and the Northern Lights make sounds too. It's
06:37a mix of chirps, crackles, and buzzing noises, like a strange radio signal. And this is the
06:42sound of a solar storm crashing into our atmosphere.
06:49Does Thor ring any bells? I'm guessing he lives inside this next natural phenomenon.
06:55The thing is, sometimes when a volcano erupts, it can be accompanied by huge thunderbolts.
07:02Scientists often refer to it as volcanic lightning, and they're still debating as to why this
07:06happens. One of their guesses is that when a volcano erupts, it projects charged debris
07:11into the atmosphere. These charges then react with other charges already present in the
07:16air, which can result in a bolt of lightning. Cool, huh? The first time anyone ever witnessed
07:22something like this was during an eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE.
07:31Last but not least, rainbows. Of course, which is the semicircular one we see most times.
07:38If you're lucky, you can witness a full-circle rainbow, which usually happens in high altitudes,
07:43where the line of the horizon doesn't cut the rainbow in half. Ah, yes, there's also
07:49the possibility of a lunar rainbow, aka the moonbow, which is a very unusual sight. It
07:56happens usually during full moons, when the light of the moon is at its brightest, and
08:01it's also perceived as a white arc, outlining the moon's outer rim. Let's just wow here
08:07for a moment.
08:10That's it for today! So, hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like
08:15and share it with your friends. Or, if you want more, just click on these videos and
08:19stay on the Bright Side!
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