- 2 days ago
In Canada, scientists uncovered a perfectly preserved prehistoric armored dinosaur nicknamed the “frozen dragon,” locked in rock for over 110 million years. This fossil, a nodosaur found in Alberta, still has its skin, armor plates, and even traces of pigmentation intact—something almost never seen in dinosaur discoveries. The animal was likely swept into the sea after death, rapidly buried, and sealed away before scavengers or decay could destroy it. Researchers have used this specimen to learn how armored dinosaurs looked, how they defended themselves, and how they lived in the Cretaceous period. 🦖❄️ Animation is created by Bright Side.
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FunTranscript
00:00In a frosty Canadian park, hidden deep beneath layers of thick ice,
00:05scientists discovered a bizarre skeleton they named the Frozen Dragon.
00:10The skeleton had been in the frozen ice for millions of years.
00:14It took experts decades to work out the species of this strange fossil.
00:19It was identified as a new genus of Pterosaur.
00:22Pterosaurs were massive flying reptiles with wingspans of over 16 feet.
00:27Their heads were 3.5 times the size of their bodies.
00:31Pterosaurs lived 76 million years ago when they soared above the dinosaurs.
00:37Scientists described them as the biggest, meanest, and most bizarre animals that ever flew.
00:43The new genus has been named Cryodracon boreus, which translates to Frozen Dragon of the North Winds.
00:51In 2013, a young mountaineer was climbing one of the tallest mountains in Western Europe, Mont Blanc.
00:59He noticed a strange metal box poking out of the snow.
01:03The mountaineer pried the box open and found that it was filled with precious rubies, emeralds, and sapphires.
01:10The climber immediately handed the box to the authorities.
01:13It was discovered that the box likely belonged to a passenger on one of two flights from India that crashed into the mountain over 50 years ago.
01:22The box was valued to be worth over $200,000, and authorities are still searching for the heir to the small box of treasures.
01:31In northwest Siberia, in 2007, a reindeer herder was on an outing with his sons when he noticed something strange in the ice.
01:41The man realized it was a frozen mammoth calf and immediately contacted the local museum.
01:47The calf was named Luba and was the best preserved mammoth mummy in the world at the time of its discovery.
01:54Luba had been in the ice for 41,800 years and is around 30 to 35 days old.
02:01From trunk to tail, the mammoth calf is roughly the same size as a large calf.
02:07If you're interested in seeing for yourself, Luba travels to museums all around the world.
02:13On the frozen continent of Antarctica, covered in layers of ice and snow, is Mount Erebus, the frozen volcano.
02:21The volcano was discovered in the middle of an eruption in 1841 by explorers on an arctic expedition.
02:28The volcano is over 12,000 feet tall and has been active for the last 1.3 million years.
02:35Deep within the middle of the volcano is a huge crater filled with large volumes of molten lava.
02:41The volcano has occasional explosions, which means it's classified as being in continuing eruption.
02:47However, these eruptions are nothing to worry about because they're generally rather small.
02:53Back in 1991, two hikers were traveling across the Italian Alps when they stumbled across a body that they presumed to belong to a recently lost hiker.
03:03The duo trudged back down the mountain to report their unfortunate findings.
03:07Once the remains were recovered, it was clear that the body was not recent at all.
03:12Scientists determined that the Iceman was more than 5,000 years old and named him Otsi.
03:19The discovery was unlike anything scientists had ever before seen because the body was so well preserved.
03:26For years, Otsi was studied by scientists who discovered that our ancestors have a lot more in common with us than we ever knew before.
03:35Otsi was covered in ink body art.
03:37Research done on the contents of his stomach revealed that his last meal was dry-cured meat, similar to the bacon we eat today.
03:46Otsi has at least 19 relatives living today, somewhere in Central Europe.
03:52Scientists were researching ancient squirrel burrows in Siberia when they came across something interesting.
03:58One of the squirrels had hidden away precious seeds deep beneath the ground.
04:02The seeds had been encased in ice for 32,000 years.
04:07The seeds were for the flower Silene stenophilia, which had long since gone extinct.
04:12Amazingly, scientists were able to recover plant tissue from inside the seeds and grow an entire crop of flowers.
04:20They've since reintroduced the previously extinct flower to natural habitats all across the world.
04:26In 1930, a team of Norwegian scientists sailed around the Arctic Ocean, conducting research on the seas and glaciers.
04:35They reached White Island, a dangerous and icy land no human had set foot on before.
04:41Or so they thought.
04:42The scientists were shocked to discover the tip of a small boat sticking out of the snow.
04:47Frozen inside the boat, they found scientific equipment and various personal items, including a jacket monogrammed S.A. André.
04:57They had discovered the wreck of the famous André Arctic Balloon Expedition.
05:02In 1897, Swedish explorers, led by André, attempted to travel to the North Pole by hydrogen balloon.
05:09No one had ever heard from them ever again.
05:12People only found out what happened to them when the wreck was discovered 33 years later.
05:17It turns out that the balloon had crashed on White Island only two days after departing from Sweden.
05:23The explorers traveled along the island on a small makeshift boat, but were unable to make it any further.
05:31The best preserved woolly mammoth ever found was discovered in an area of permafrost in Siberia in 2010.
05:37Scientists named the frozen mammoth Yucca after the small village near where it was found.
05:44Yucca had been frozen for 39,000 years and is thought to have been around 6 to 8 years old.
05:50Because Yucca is so well preserved, it has been studied for years and provided new information about mammoths.
05:56In 2019, scientists reported that they were able to activate cells taken from Yucca's tissue.
06:03Maybe one day, we'll have woolly mammoths roaming the land.
06:05From looking at pictures and videos of Antarctica, the continent appears to be freezing cold, covered in snow, and flat, except for a few small hills.
06:17Scientists believe that too.
06:18When studying the Gombertsev Mountains in the early 2000s, they were shocked to discover that the small rocky hills were actually the peak of a gigantic mountain formation under a mile of snow.
06:30Using radar technology, researchers worked out that the mountains are really around 10,000 feet tall and sprawl across 750 miles.
06:40This is around the same size as the European Alps, except hidden under tons of ice and snow.
06:47At a gold mine in Siberia, a businessman was examining a nearby river when he noticed something interesting in the frost.
06:54It was a small woolly rhino calf that was later named Sasha.
06:58The woolly rhino has been extinct for 15,000 years.
07:02It's thought that Sasha could have been frozen in the ice for up to 39,000 years.
07:07Sasha is unique because it's the only full-body woolly rhino to have ever been discovered.
07:13Glaciers around the northern Italian town of Palo have begun to melt.
07:17Artifacts from decades and even centuries ago have been discovered pouring out of the ice.
07:23Personal belongings from soldiers have been found.
07:26Things like diaries, photographs, and even love letters.
07:29Historians have even uncovered an entire cabin preserved beneath the ice.
07:34The cabin was filled with hard metal helmets and clothes.
07:38In 1845, Sir John Franklin embarked on an ill-fated expedition to the North Pole.
07:43The crew traveled on two ships, HMS Erebus and the ironically named HMS Terror.
07:50The expedition met with disaster, and both ships were lost to the icy waters.
07:56In 2016, the HMS Terror was discovered by a team of researchers.
08:01Despite being lost for 170 years, the freezing cold waters had maintained the ship in pristine condition.
08:09Scientists described the ship as frozen in time.
08:12Dinner plates and glasses were still on shelves, beds and desks were still in order,
08:18and even the passengers' luggage appeared to be in good condition.
08:21The HMS Erebus was also discovered nearby, but due to changing water conditions, the ship wasn't in great shape.
08:29The glacial ice surrounding a mountain passageway in Norway that was notoriously used by the Vikings
08:35has revealed hundreds of ancient artifacts.
08:37One of these artifacts was a giant unopened wooden box that was welded together.
08:43Researchers were beside themselves with anticipation, waiting to open this box.
08:48They believed it would be filled with Viking treasures or artifacts that would give us an insight into ancient society.
08:55When they opened the box, all that was inside was a plain old beeswax candle.
09:00It turns out that this box wasn't actually as old as they thought it was.
09:04By analyzing the candle, they discovered that the box dates back to the 17th century.
09:09The age of the Vikings had ended by the 11th century.
09:13It's likely that the candle box belonged to a farmer who was shipping it from his summer farm to his winter farm to light up the long nights.
09:20In 2021, while drilling about 11 feet beneath the surface of permafrost in northeastern Siberia,
09:29researchers uncovered a 24,000-year-old frozen life form.
09:34And then, they brought it to life.
09:37Before cloning it, or better said, it cloned itself.
09:42This might sound like the beginning of a sinister horror story, but don't worry, it's actually quite the opposite.
09:48What scientists unearthed was a microscopic frozen organism that could fundamentally reshape what we think about evolution and survival.
09:57The uncovered tiny creatures are called bedelloid rotifers,
10:02microscopic animals with little wheel-like mouths that they use both for moving and feeding.
10:08They were first discovered in 1696 and are fairly common in freshwater environments around the world, with a few saltwater species.
10:16They might seem unremarkable, but scientists have been studying them since early microscopes made it possible to actually see them.
10:23Because even though there are only a few dozen microns wide,
10:27they're surprisingly complex, with brains, guts, muscles, and reproductive systems.
10:34Could it be that within that complexity lies the secret to ultimate resilience?
10:40Maybe even for us humans?
10:42Let's break it down.
10:43These creatures are extremophiles.
10:46That means they can survive being completely drained of water at any point in their life cycle,
10:51then lie dormant until rehydrated.
10:54But that's not all.
10:56They can also persevere through some of the harshest conditions on Earth,
10:59or in outer space,
11:02or even being stuck in the Siberian permafrost wasteland for tens of thousands of years.
11:08This is possible because they can enter cryptobiosis,
11:12a condition where organisms pause their metabolism and become nearly inactive.
11:18It may sound science-y, but actually, some of the everyday products we eat are stored in a fridge thanks to this phenomenon.
11:26Take yeast, for example.
11:28Live yeast cells are surrounded by a protective layer made of dead cells and some nutrients.
11:33You can keep yeast at room temperature,
11:37but if cryptobiosis comes into play in the form of your fridge or freezer,
11:41it stores much better and longer.
11:45During cryptobiosis, rotifers accumulate protective compounds like chaperone proteins,
11:51which help them repair and recover once favorable conditions return.
11:55Chaperone proteins are like tiny bodyguards.
12:00Their job is to keep other proteins in the cell from falling apart under pressure.
12:05When the body is stressed,
12:06whether from heat, cold, toxins, dehydration, or just the natural aging process,
12:12the proteins inside our cells can start to misfold.
12:16Proteins need to be folded into very specific shapes to function properly,
12:20and when that structure breaks down, they become useless, or worse, harmful.
12:26Misfolded proteins can pile up and interfere with normal cell function.
12:31In some cases, they clump together in ways that poison the cell.
12:35This kind of damage is even linked to serious health conditions.
12:40So, if rotifers have developed powerful proteins that prevent cellular chaos,
12:46even under extreme conditions,
12:47could we use them to protect human cells from diseases and aging?
12:53By analyzing the age of the ice they were found in,
12:56scientists figured out that these frozen rotifers were at least 24,000 years old.
13:02That's a huge leap from earlier studies,
13:05which showed they could survive frozen for only about 10 years.
13:09Now that's what you call record-breaking.
13:12This period of Earth's history is known as the Late Pleistocene Epoch,
13:16a time dominated by the Ice Age,
13:19which means these invertebrates were lying dormant
13:21when Manny and Cid were having their adventure while roaming the icy landscapes,
13:26along with saber-toothed cats and giant ground sloths.
13:30Fun fact!
13:32Although animated movies like Ice Age show woolly mammoths as huge, towering giants,
13:37they were actually about the same size and weight as today's average African elephant.
13:43Nature and evolution can be so cruel, yet fascinatingly unpredictable.
13:48Massive, menacing beasts that came from the Ice Age couldn't survive it,
13:53yet something tiny and weird, like a bedelloid, could.
13:57But, regarding our unfrozen creature,
14:01after the soil thawed, the organism didn't just begin moving again.
14:05It also started reproducing.
14:08This is thanks to an ability called parthenogenesis,
14:11a specific form of reproduction in which embryos develop from unfertilized eggs,
14:16allowing them to reproduce independently.
14:19It really is like cloning, but it happens naturally.
14:22Many organisms, such as certain insects, reptiles, and even some birds,
14:27are capable of parthenogenesis, at least under specific conditions.
14:32For example, in honeybees, males develop from unfertilized eggs through parthenogenesis,
14:38making them genetic copies of their mother.
14:41However, parthenogenesis is often seen as an evolutionary disadvantage
14:45because it limits genetic diversity,
14:48meaning that most species that reproduce this way eventually face extinction.
14:54Despite this, bedelloid rotifers have diversified into over 450 distinct species over millions of years,
15:02which is extremely rare.
15:05Scientists believe their survival comes down to a few evolutionary adaptations.
15:10They can pause their metabolism through cryptobiosis,
15:13repair their DNA with specialized proteins,
15:16and even borrow useful genes from other organisms,
15:20using a process called horizontal gene transfer.
15:25Unlike most animals, which rely solely on inherited DNA,
15:29these organisms can steal genetic material from bacteria, fungi, and even plants,
15:35splicing foreign genes into their genome to gain new survival traits.
15:40Some studies have shown that up to 10% of their active genome comes from foreign DNA.
15:44This could explain their extraordinary resilience.
15:48They borrow genes for stress resistance, toxin breakdown, or radiation repair,
15:53essentially patching and upgrading their DNA in real time.
15:59It's not like the mind flayer from Stranger Things where the creature absorbs another organism to improve itself and grow.
16:06It's more like a spy stealing a blueprint from a rival lab to learn its secrets.
16:12When cells rupture, for example, when bacteria die nearby,
16:15bedelloids scoop up loose DNA fragments and integrate them into their own genome.
16:20Interestingly, the usual expected lifespan of bedelloid rotifers under normal circumstances is only two weeks.
16:27The soil sample that contained these rotifers also held nematodes, or roundworms,
16:34another group of tiny survivors already known to withstand tens of thousands of years icebound.
16:41This isn't just limited to microscopic animals.
16:45Researchers have successfully regrown Antarctic moss and entire campion plants
16:50from seeds and samples frozen for hundreds or even thousands of years.
16:54In 2016, a team of Japanese scientists brought tardigrades, or simply water bears,
17:00back to life after 30 years in cryptobiosis.
17:05Tardigrades are even more impressive because they can live in a suspended state for up to 30 years,
17:10without food or water, and with temperature swings from deep freeze to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.
17:16These guys can also endure crushing deep-sea pressures, vacuum, microgravity, and intense radiation of space.
17:25Remember when we said earlier that these species can survive the harshest conditions on Earth and beyond?
17:31It wasn't an exaggeration, and now you understand why.
17:36And it's exactly why NASA and its partners sent water bears and bedelloid rotifers into orbit.
17:42They've even been aboard the ISS,
17:45helping scientists understand how these animals handle microgravity, radiation, and stress.
17:50Not only that, but in 2007, the European Space Agency launched a bunch of tardigrades into low Earth orbit,
17:58completely exposed, no suit, no shield, floating in a vacuum.
18:03They were blasted by cosmic radiation, UV light 1,000 times stronger than what hits Earth's surface,
18:09and temperatures near absolute zero.
18:12And when they came back, most of them woke up and reproduced despite the harsh conditions they were exposed to.
18:20This ties into an old theory called panspermia,
18:24the idea that life didn't originate on Earth but arrived here,
18:28locked in space dust or trapped inside a meteorite.
18:31Before, maybe it sounded like a fringe science,
18:35but when organisms can brush off cosmic radiation,
18:38then it doesn't seem so far-fetched, does it?
18:41What about humans?
18:42Does this mean we now fully understand the way hibernation works
18:46and are close to putting humans in this state?
18:50Sorry for spoiling it for you, but it still feels more like science fiction.
18:54However, researching rotifers, water bears, and similar organisms
18:57can lead to massive breakthroughs in other fields.
19:00Their resilience might be a blueprint,
19:03a blueprint for medicine,
19:05for reshaping what it means to age,
19:07maybe even to pause life itself,
19:10or extend it.
19:11We're talking real, practical innovations,
19:14from better preservation of human organs for transplantation,
19:17to drugs that slow aging at the cellular level,
19:21and yes, maybe even cryogenic hibernation,
19:24long enough to make interstellar travel possible.
19:28That's it for today.
19:29So hey, if you pacified your curiosity,
19:32then give the video a like and share it with your friends.
19:35Or if you want more,
19:36just click on these videos and stay on the bright side.
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