- 2 days ago
Finland may have just uncovered something that could change the future of global energy forever — a discovery so promising that scientists are already calling it a potential gateway to limitless clean power. In this video, we’ll break down what researchers found beneath the country’s icy ground and why it could solve some of the biggest challenges in renewable energy. You’ll see how this breakthrough works, why it’s different from everything we’ve tried before, and what it could mean for everyday life. From powering entire cities to reshaping energy independence, the implications are enormous. Animation is created by Bright Side.
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For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me
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This video is made for entertainment purposes. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, safety and reliability. Any action you take upon the information in this video is strictly at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any damages or losses. It is the viewer's responsibility to use judgement, care and precaution if you plan to replicate.
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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 Billy.
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.
01:27It's mostly known for iron and phosphate.
01:32We 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.
02:19It 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.
02:36And that's not all.
02:39The Sockli deposit also has other rare minerals that are critical for making magnets that go into wind turbines.
02:45Electric cars.
02:47And 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.
03:04Today, 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.
03:24In fact, in some countries, like France, it's the main source.
03:28It 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.
03:43Which 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.
04:03One that's expensive, experimental, and not yet ready for prime time.
04:07So, 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 praceodymium might be tricky to pronounce.
04:26Yes, they are.
04:27But they're hiding inside almost everything these days.
04:30From earbuds to the massive MRI machines in hospitals.
04:33They drive the motors in electric cars and help giant wind turbines spin.
04:40In short, they're everywhere.
04:43And then, there's niobium.
04:45This metal makes steel even stronger.
04:47Add 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.
05:03However, 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.
05:41It'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?
05:50Well, 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.
06:09Now, 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.
06:27But 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.
06:50While 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.
07:29Basically, these rocks might be quietly breathing oxygen all on their own.
07:36If 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.
07:50Now, 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, maybe extraterrestrial oceans on moons like Europa or Enceladus can too.
08:23The universe might be full of secret oxygen factories just waiting to surprise us.
08:28Finally, aside from thorium, Finland recently made headlines with another cool geological discovery.
08:35Scientists found some zircon crystals that washed into rivers, and when they looked closer, they noticed that the chemical signatures didn't match local rocks.
08:45Instead, they traced back to Greenland.
08:49This suggests that part of Scandinavia's ancient base might actually have come from there.
08:53In simpler terms, it's possible that Scandinavia broke off from Greenland and 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.
09:39You're down in one of those polar seas where the brinacle, eerily called the Finger of Death, is born.
09:45It's a strange, almost otherworldly place, the deep ocean, where light barely reaches.
09:53Everything down there seems to have adapted to survive in darkness and intense cold.
09:58But even those truly hardy creatures aren't ready for what a brinacle can do.
10:04When that briny, super-cooled water starts dripping down, a ghost story begins.
10:09The formation of these brinacles is a fascinating process, like an underwater science experiment happening in real time.
10:20We know that when seawater freezes, it doesn't freeze like freshwater.
10:24Because of all the salt in it, it has to push out impurities to form the pure ice that floats at the top.
10:30This means the salty water, or brine, ends up trapped in channels and pockets within the ice.
10:37When it sees the light of day for the first time, a brinacle resembles a pipe of ice reaching down from the underside of a layer of sea ice.
10:46At first, a brinacle is very fragile, and its walls are thin.
10:50But the continuous flow of colder brine supports the growth of the brinacle.
10:54It also prevents it from melting.
10:56Otherwise, this process would be inevitable, caused by the brinacle's contact with less cold surrounding water.
11:03As the ice accumulates and the walls become thicker, the brinacle becomes more stable.
11:10Over time, the brine trapped inside gets squeezed out through tiny cracks, dripping down in this cold, heavy plume.
11:17Once that cold brine starts flowing downward, it begins freezing the seawater around it into a sheath of ice.
11:23That's why, instead of melting as it hits the water below, it forms this icy casing that protects it, helping it grow longer and stronger.
11:33The brinacle keeps moving forward inch by inch, and this crazy downward spiral is almost unstoppable.
11:40And when it touches down on the seafloor, uh-oh, that's when the trouble begins for anything living nearby.
11:46Imagine being one of those creatures on the seafloor.
11:51Maybe a sea star, or an unsuspecting urchin, just trying to make it through the day.
11:56And all of a sudden, you see this icy tentacle nearing you.
12:00It isn't just some cold water coming down.
12:02It's basically a net of ice moving down and spreading out.
12:06There's no escape, no way to predict its coming, and no chance for survival.
12:12It's a slow-motion natural disaster in action.
12:17When a brinacle reaches the seafloor, it continues to accumulate ice while the surrounding water freezes over.
12:24The brine keeps traveling across the seafloor in a down-slope direction.
12:27Once it reaches the lowest possible point, it stops and pools.
12:34But don't let the danger distract you from how beautiful brinacles are.
12:38Well, in their own creepy way.
12:40They look like something you'd see in a dream.
12:42Elegant, twisting ice tubes reaching down, perfectly symmetrical, and totally random.
12:49Filming a brinacle is no easy task because they're delicate when they first form.
12:53Just the motion from a nearby current or a sudden change in temperature can snap them off,
12:58ending the show before it really starts.
13:01So, scientists who managed to capture brinacles on film in 2011 actually got incredibly lucky.
13:08It was the first time the world got to see this icy finger descending and freezing everything it touched,
13:14and it changed our understanding of polar ecosystems.
13:19Brinacles can reach quite impressive sizes.
13:21Sometimes they can stretch for several feet.
13:24Their size depends on the conditions of the water and ice above.
13:28The slower the water movement and the colder the temperature,
13:31the bigger and stronger a brinacle can grow.
13:34But if the water's too deep or if there's too much movement in the current,
13:38the brinacle is likely to break apart.
13:41It needs just the right balance to survive long enough to touch down and freeze over the ocean floor.
13:47For creatures living on the seafloor,
13:50brinacles are like invisible booby traps,
13:53only instead of avoiding a net, they're avoiding an expanding ice cage.
13:58Starfish and sea urchins might not have big brains,
14:01but they have a basic survival instinct to crawl away from danger.
14:05Sadly, with brinacles, they're usually caught completely off guard.
14:09One second they're minding their own business,
14:12the next, an icy sheet is closing in around them,
14:15trapping them where they are and freezing them almost instantly.
14:21It's hard not to feel sympathy for these creatures, right?
14:24You watch footage of a brinacle in action,
14:26and you see a starfish just stopping.
14:29One moment it's moving slowly along the sand,
14:32and then it's frozen in place, totally helpless.
14:35It's like watching a train wreck in slow-mo.
14:39Luckily, brinacles present danger only to smaller marine life forms like sea urchins and starfish.
14:45Bigger animals like seals or whales,
14:47or humans who happen to go diving in the ocean at the frigid poles,
14:51brinacles are totally harmless.
14:54At the same time, for scientists,
14:56this tough natural phenomenon offers a fascinating insight
15:00into how life adapts, or fails to adapt for that matter,
15:04in extreme environments.
15:05And it gets even better.
15:08A brinacle might just be the perfect setup for life to begin.
15:12Researchers are now looking at these super salty ice tubes
15:15as not just fatal traps,
15:17but potentially as sources of life.
15:20This theory isn't just science fiction.
15:23It's rooted in actual research.
15:25Here's how it goes.
15:26The brine channels in sea ice are full of tiny, confined spaces.
15:31Those are exactly the kind of places where chemicals can get trapped,
15:35concentrated,
15:36and start interacting in interesting ways.
15:39It's like setting up a mini-lab
15:41where the building blocks of life can come together
15:43and create something new.
15:47Scientists think this process of salt rejection in sea ice
15:50could have actually helped the first bits of life appear.
15:53Some researchers even think that this process
15:57might be happening right now on icy moons
15:59like Europa, Ganymede, or Enceladus,
16:03where there might have been frozen seas beneath thick ice layers.
16:07Just imagine it.
16:09Brinacles forming in other worlds of our solar system,
16:12laying down the foundations for extraterrestrial life,
16:15and all thanks to the same icy process
16:17that creates these fingers of death here on Earth.
16:20One way scientists describe brinacles
16:24is by comparing them to chemical gardens.
16:28Have you ever done one of those experiments
16:30where you mix metal salts into a solution
16:32and watch them produce plant-like structures?
16:36Well, you can observe a similar chemical process
16:39when a brinacle is in action.
16:41In the cold, saline-rich brine of a brinacle,
16:44certain reactions could kick off
16:45to create amino acids or other building blocks of life.
16:49It's wild to think that something so dangerous
16:52could have also helped shape our world
16:54or could be creating other forms of life elsewhere.
16:59In both cases, whether on Earth or another planet,
17:03these icy chemical reactions
17:05might be the first step toward the formation of simple life forms.
17:09It's a kind of alchemy where ice and salt water mix
17:13to create something more than the sum of their parts.
17:17This is one reason why scientists are so eager to study brinacles.
17:21Each one could hold a tiny clue
17:24about how life begins, survives,
17:27or fails under extreme conditions.
17:29Something as mesmerizing and weird,
17:33but at the same time simple as brinacles,
17:35hints at bigger questions.
17:38How did life start on Earth?
17:40What are the conditions needed for life
17:41to survive in extreme environments?
17:44Could icy structures like these
17:45exist in other parts of our solar system or beyond,
17:49creating similar conditions
17:50that might one day give rise to alien life?
17:52As much as they look like a silent threat
17:56reaching out from the ice,
17:58brinacles are also reminders
18:00of how beautifully complex
18:02and interconnected our world is.
18:04They may seem like simple fingers of ice,
18:07but they hold secrets that touch on everything
18:10from ecology to chemistry
18:11to the origins of life itself.
18:15So next time you hear about the ocean,
18:17remember that deep below
18:18in the darkest, coldest waters,
18:20something incredible
18:22and a little bit terrifying
18:24is happening right at this moment.
18:29That's it for today.
18:30So hey, if you pacified your curiosity,
18:32then give the video a like
18:34and share it with your friends.
18:35Or if you want more,
18:36just click on these videos
18:37and stay on the bright side.
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