- 3 months ago
Get ready for a story straight out of a sci-fi movie! Scientists in Finland have just uncovered something so extraordinary, it could literally change how we think about energy, nature, and our planet’s future. From hidden natural resources to cutting-edge discoveries deep underground — this isn’t your average science headline. You’ll want to see what they found… and why every major lab in the world is suddenly paying attention. Credit:
CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/:
Tiny zircon: by Machevariani, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tiny_zircon_grain_with_pacman_and_ghost_relicts.jpg
Sonne: by GEOMAR, https://www.geomar.de/entdecken/bilddatenbank-des-geomar, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2015-09-09_19-00-51_Sonne_SO242-2_176_Logo_original(1).jpg
Nodules polymétalliques: by ifremer, https://image.ifremer.fr/data/00424/53575/, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nodules_polymétalliques_observés_lors_de_la_campagne_Nodinaut_(Ifremer_00424-53575_-_34756).jpg
Sonne: by ROV-Team/GEOMAR, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:2019-03-08_22-08-57_Sonne_SO268-1_035ROV06_OnlyLogo_klein_original(1).jpg
Thorium tyčinka: by Milda 444, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thorium_tyčinka.jpg
Ice core drill: by Kendrick15435, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ice_core_drill.jpg
Ice core: by Dargaud, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ice_core_extracted_at_Talos_Dome_showing_an_ash_layer_corresponding_to_the_Toba_eruption.jpg
Manganese-nodule00: by Hannes Grobe/AWI, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Manganese-nodule00_hg.jpg
Nodules polymétalliques: by ifremer, https://image.ifremer.fr/data/00424/53575/, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nodules_polymétalliques_observés_lors_de_la_campagne_Nodinaut_(Ifremer_00424-53575_-_34751).jpg
Nodules polymétalliques: by ifremer, https://image.ifremer.fr/data/00424/53575, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nodules_polymétalliques_observés_lors_de_la_campagne_Nodinaut_(Ifremer_00424-53575_-_34762).jpg
core drill head: by Kendrick15435, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ice_core_drill_head.jpg
Sonne: by ROV KIEL 6000, GEOMAR, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2015-04-14_18-20-14_Sonne_SO239_157ROV11_Logo_original(1).jpg
CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/:
Manganknolle: by Koelle, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Manganknolle.jpg
Norway group: by T. Høegh, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1928_Lyngen_Troms_Norway_group_Mountain_Sami_people_Photo_pcard.jpg
Thorianite: by Kelly Nash, https://www.mindat.org/photo-322579.html, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thorianite-322579.jpg
Manganknolle: by Koelle, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Manganknolle_Detail.jpg
CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/:
Okaite: by James St. John, https://flic.kr/p/ozBC1s, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Okaite,_Oka_Niobium_Mine,_Quebec.jpg
Praseodymium: by James St. John, https://flic.kr/p/2qkqYGF, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Praseodymium_(Element_-_59)_2.jpg
Cook-Islands nodule: by USGS, James Hein, CC0 1.0 https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/, https://www.usgs.gov/media/images/cook-islands-manganese-nodules, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cook-Islands_nodule_0.jpg
Europa's Surface: by NASA/JPL-Caltech, https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/taste-of-ocean-europas-surface/, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Taste_of_the_Ocean_on_Europa%27s_Surface.jpg
Lunar Thorium: by NASA, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lunar_Thorium_concentrations.jpg
Lunar Prospector: by NASA Ames/Donald Grahame, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lunar_Prospector_transparent.png
Animation is created by Bright Side.
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CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/:
Tiny zircon: by Machevariani, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tiny_zircon_grain_with_pacman_and_ghost_relicts.jpg
Sonne: by GEOMAR, https://www.geomar.de/entdecken/bilddatenbank-des-geomar, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2015-09-09_19-00-51_Sonne_SO242-2_176_Logo_original(1).jpg
Nodules polymétalliques: by ifremer, https://image.ifremer.fr/data/00424/53575/, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nodules_polymétalliques_observés_lors_de_la_campagne_Nodinaut_(Ifremer_00424-53575_-_34756).jpg
Sonne: by ROV-Team/GEOMAR, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:2019-03-08_22-08-57_Sonne_SO268-1_035ROV06_OnlyLogo_klein_original(1).jpg
Thorium tyčinka: by Milda 444, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thorium_tyčinka.jpg
Ice core drill: by Kendrick15435, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ice_core_drill.jpg
Ice core: by Dargaud, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ice_core_extracted_at_Talos_Dome_showing_an_ash_layer_corresponding_to_the_Toba_eruption.jpg
Manganese-nodule00: by Hannes Grobe/AWI, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Manganese-nodule00_hg.jpg
Nodules polymétalliques: by ifremer, https://image.ifremer.fr/data/00424/53575/, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nodules_polymétalliques_observés_lors_de_la_campagne_Nodinaut_(Ifremer_00424-53575_-_34751).jpg
Nodules polymétalliques: by ifremer, https://image.ifremer.fr/data/00424/53575, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nodules_polymétalliques_observés_lors_de_la_campagne_Nodinaut_(Ifremer_00424-53575_-_34762).jpg
core drill head: by Kendrick15435, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ice_core_drill_head.jpg
Sonne: by ROV KIEL 6000, GEOMAR, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2015-04-14_18-20-14_Sonne_SO239_157ROV11_Logo_original(1).jpg
CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/:
Manganknolle: by Koelle, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Manganknolle.jpg
Norway group: by T. Høegh, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1928_Lyngen_Troms_Norway_group_Mountain_Sami_people_Photo_pcard.jpg
Thorianite: by Kelly Nash, https://www.mindat.org/photo-322579.html, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thorianite-322579.jpg
Manganknolle: by Koelle, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Manganknolle_Detail.jpg
CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/:
Okaite: by James St. John, https://flic.kr/p/ozBC1s, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Okaite,_Oka_Niobium_Mine,_Quebec.jpg
Praseodymium: by James St. John, https://flic.kr/p/2qkqYGF, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Praseodymium_(Element_-_59)_2.jpg
Cook-Islands nodule: by USGS, James Hein, CC0 1.0 https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/, https://www.usgs.gov/media/images/cook-islands-manganese-nodules, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cook-Islands_nodule_0.jpg
Europa's Surface: by NASA/JPL-Caltech, https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/taste-of-ocean-europas-surface/, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Taste_of_the_Ocean_on_Europa%27s_Surface.jpg
Lunar Thorium: by NASA, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lunar_Thorium_concentrations.jpg
Lunar Prospector: by NASA Ames/Donald Grahame, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lunar_Prospector_transparent.png
Animation is created by Bright Side.
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FunTranscript
00:01Beneath the frozen ground of the northernmost region of Finland lies a discovery with the potential to change the world's future.
00:09From nuclear energy to electric cars, these minerals make it feel like a sci-fi future is just around the corner.
00:17But, as always, it's not that simple. Let's explore why.
00:22All the way up here on the map is a region called Lapland, a land with only one chair for every two people,
00:28so someone has to sit on someone else's lap.
00:32It's a remote snow-covered corner of Finland where reindeer outnumber people who live there.
00:39Here, the night sky glows with the northern lights almost 200 times in a single year.
00:44Oh, and Santa Claus has a house there.
00:47In 1985, Finland declared that Santa lives in Rovaniemi, a town just south of the Arctic Circle in Lapland.
00:56They even built Santa Claus Village.
00:58Where visitors can meet with them.
01:01You can cross the Arctic Circle line and see his main post office,
01:05which receives hundreds of thousands of letters from kids worldwide every year.
01:10So, it's sufficient to say that most people know about this place because of Santa's workshop, rather than scientific news.
01:18But, deep below the ice in Pine Forest is the Sockley deposit.
01:23It's a massive mineral geological site that's been studied for decades.
01:28It's mostly known for iron and phosphate.
01:31We use iron to make, well, almost everything.
01:35While phosphate mostly ends up as fertilizer to grow our food.
01:38However, recently, surveys revealed rare Earth elements, niobium, and traces of radioactive metals like thorium and uranium.
01:49The possibility of thorium is what made news outlets excited.
01:53Thorium is a naturally occurring, slightly radioactive metal.
01:57It's way more common in the Earth's crust than uranium.
02:01In fact, it's about three to four times as abundant.
02:05Scientists love it because thorium could be turned into nuclear fuel with huge numbers as the output gain.
02:11A chunk of thorium the size of a golf ball could, in theory, generate as much energy as several tons of coal.
02:18It also comes with some major perks.
02:21Thorium reactors would produce less waste, meaning that thorium is much easier to contain and safer to use.
02:28And it even has an interesting trivia.
02:31Thorium was once used in old-fashioned gas lantern mantles because it glows when heated.
02:37And that's not all.
02:39The Sockley deposit also has other rare minerals that are critical for making magnets that go into wind turbines.
02:45Electric cars, and even your smartphone.
02:49With the right investment, this single deposit could help Europe build thousands of new wind turbines or power millions of electric car batteries.
02:58So, did Finland and the entire planet just hit the geological lottery?
03:03Well, yes and no.
03:05Today, nuclear plants don't run on thorium.
03:08They run on uranium.
03:10The trusty fuel that has been powering reactors for decades.
03:14The whole system, from mining to reactor design to handling the waste, is built around uranium.
03:20It already provides around 10% of the world's electricity.
03:25In fact, in some countries, like France, it's the main source.
03:29It works, it powers millions of homes, and the industry knows exactly how to handle it.
03:35Thorium does not play by the same rules.
03:38It's not fissile, which means it cannot split and release energy on its own.
03:42Which is a fancy way of saying it needs a little help to become useful.
03:47You cannot just toss it into a regular reactor and expect magic to happen.
03:52That would be like trying to charge a Tesla by pouring gasoline into the tank.
03:57To make thorium work, you'd need different types of reactors and the system that could support them.
04:02One that's expensive, experimental, and not yet ready for prime time.
04:08So yes, Sockley's thorium looks impressive.
04:11It's full of sparkle and promise.
04:13But for now, it is staying underground, waiting for future technologies and investments.
04:18But what about those other rare earth elements?
04:22Neodymium and praseodymium might be tricky to pronounce, yes they are.
04:27But they're hiding inside almost everything these days.
04:30From earbuds to the massive MRI machines in hospitals.
04:34They drive the motors in electric cars.
04:37And help giant wind turbines spin.
04:40In short, they're everywhere.
04:42And then, there's niobium.
04:45This metal makes steel even stronger.
04:48Add a little niobium, and suddenly, you've got stronger, lighter alloys used in bridges and even rockets.
04:55Today, Europe imports nearly all of it, mainly from Brazil.
04:59If Sockley were developed, Finland could give Europe a homegrown supply.
05:04However, again, it's complicated.
05:07Like I mentioned, Lapland happens to be one of the most beautiful places on the entire planet.
05:12It's one of Europe's last great wildernesses, where pine forests stretch for miles.
05:18And digging up all those materials wouldn't be without consequences.
05:22Mining at this scale could ruin the landscape, upset Santa, or endanger delicate Arctic ecosystems.
05:29After all, we're talking about radioactive elements.
05:33It's not just about nature, though.
05:36Indigenous semi-communities live in Lapland, so they have a voice in what happens.
05:40It's a tricky situation that relies on more research and tech advancements.
05:46Until then, what are some other delicate places that could hide thorium?
05:51Well, thorium is not that hard to find.
05:54It's tucked away in beach sands and mountain deposits.
05:57But the coolest place to get it would be from the Moon.
06:00Back in the 1990s, NASA's Lunar Prospector spacecraft mapped the lunar surface and spotted areas unusually rich in thorium.
06:10Now, that's an incentive for speeding up the future Moon missions.
06:13Especially since our satellite probably hides elements like helium-3, which are incredibly rare on our planet.
06:21Mining the Moon might be a perfect solution.
06:23Big companies will certainly have way less competition.
06:26But hey, that sounds like a decent challenge for humanity, given that the Moon has no atmosphere,
06:33which makes it exposed to radiation and wild temperature changes.
06:36So, we will see.
06:39Meanwhile, let's go back to Earth for another seemingly unrelated discovery.
06:44Going down to the deep ocean seabeds, scientists recently found something pretty surprising.
06:49While exploring the Pacific Abyssal Plains, they discovered polymetallic nodules.
06:55These are potato-sized lumps of metal that are also important for making batteries.
07:00But the cool part is that the nodules seem to be releasing oxygen into the water.
07:06Scientists call it the dark oxygen.
07:08Normally, oxygen comes from photosynthesis, which needs sunlight to reach plants, algae, or bacteria.
07:16But down here, in total darkness, there is no sunlight.
07:20The idea is that these rocks act like tiny batteries.
07:24Their surfaces can create very small electric currents and split water into hydrogen and oxygen.
07:30Basically, these rocks might be quietly breathing oxygen all on their own.
07:34If this is true, it could change how we understand deep-sea life.
07:40Some creatures might not just rely on hydrothermal vents or food falling from above.
07:46They could be getting a secret oxygen boost from the rocks themselves.
07:51Now, research is still new, and some researchers say this oxygen could be contaminated or just too little in volume to matter.
07:59But if it's real, it means life in the abyss might have a secret oxygen supply we never even knew existed.
08:07Creepy, mysterious, and kind of amazing all at once.
08:10It also makes us wonder about life on other planets.
08:14If rocks on Earth can make oxygen in total darkness,
08:17maybe extraterrestrial oceans on moons like Europa or Enceladus can too.
08:22The universe might be full of secret oxygen factories just waiting to surprise us.
08:29Finally, aside from thorium, Finland recently made headlines with another cool geological discovery.
08:35Scientists found some zircon crystals that washed into rivers,
08:39and when they looked closer, they noticed that the chemical signatures didn't match local rocks.
08:45Instead, they traced back to Greenland.
08:48This suggests that part of Scandinavia's ancient base might actually have come from there.
08:54In simpler terms, it's possible that Scandinavia broke off from Greenland
08:59and drifted across the ocean billions of years ago.
09:02This unexpected link makes the Nordic landscape a lot older and more interesting than we previously thought.
09:10Whether the Soakley deposit could power the future with infinite energy remains to be seen.
09:16Each day seems to bring another discovery that inspires conversation and prompts us to learn something new.
09:23Who knows what new technologies or hidden resources the next decade will uncover.
09:29Now, excuse me, since I've learned his address, I have to write a letter to Santa.
09:34I, uh, I'm still trying to get off of his naughty list.
09:36That's it for today.
09:39So, hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your friends.
09:44Or, if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the Bright Side!
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