- 4 months ago
Deep beneath Antarctica’s frozen surface, scientists began detecting strange sounds they couldn’t immediately explain. At first, they thought it was natural ice movement—but the patterns didn’t quite match anything they’d recorded before. What those signals revealed has left researchers both puzzled and deeply unsettled.
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00:00A vast expanse of white snow, freezing winds, lifeless landscapes, and weird, eerie signals seemingly coming from within Earth.
00:10These radio pulses occur in Antarctica, and no one can figure out what they are and where they're coming from.
00:18You see, scientists are running an experiment called ANITA, short for Antarctica Impulsive Transient Antenna.
00:25Basically, it's a bunch of detectors strapped to giant balloons and floating way up above the South Pole.
00:31Their job is to detect extremely high-energy neutrinos.
00:36How do they spot them?
00:38Right at the moment when neutrinos come into contact with ice and produce an intense, short burst of radio waves.
00:46Now, neutrinos are these tiny, almost massless particles that don't have an electric charge.
00:52They're everywhere, and billions of them are flying through you every second, even while you're watching this video.
01:00Neutrinos come from all over the place.
01:03From the Sun, exploding stars, deep space, even from under your feet.
01:08The Sun pumps them out non-stop as it fuses hydrogen into helium.
01:13Stars that are going off blast out huge bursts of neutrinos during supernova explosions.
01:19When high-energy cosmic rays hit our atmosphere, they make new neutrinos that rain down on us, too.
01:26And some even come from radioactive stuff decaying inside Earth.
01:31The oldest neutrinos have been flying through the universe since the Big Bang.
01:36But they're practically invisible, because they almost never react with anything.
01:42That's why scientists use unbelievable experiments like ANITA to try and catch even a few of them.
01:49But let's get back to that fateful day when everything changed.
01:54Normally, the radio signals produced by neutrinos bounce off the ice and fly upward.
02:00That's where ANITA can catch them.
02:03This is the whole point of the experiment.
02:05To study neutrinos and learn more about distant cosmic events, like supernovas or whatever's happening light-years away.
02:13But then something really weird happened.
02:16The detectors picked up radio waves that weren't bouncing off the ice at all.
02:20They looked like they were coming from below the horizon.
02:23From under the ice.
02:24Now, this shouldn't even be possible.
02:28According to everything we know about physics, signals can't just travel upward through solid rock and ice.
02:35One of the researchers, Stephanie Wiesel from Penn State, also said that those radio waves were coming in at super
02:42-steep angles, like 30 degrees below the surface.
02:46The only way that could happen is if the signal had passed through thousands of miles of solid rock before
02:52hitting the detector.
02:53But if that were true, the rock would have completely absorbed it.
02:57So something just didn't add up.
02:59The team ran all the numbers and still got no clear answer.
03:03But for them, it was an interesting problem, since they didn't actually know what those anomalies were.
03:10What they did know was that they were probably not neutrinos.
03:15That's because if the team does detect a neutrino, that means it's traveled an insane distance without bumping into anything,
03:22possibly all the way from the edge of the observable universe.
03:27So, whatever Anita has picked up, it's not behaving like anything scientists have seen before.
03:32It might mean there's some totally new type of particle out there, or maybe something else is going on that
03:37we just don't understand yet.
03:39They published the findings in physical review letters, but the mystery remains unsolved.
03:45No one really knows what's going on under that Antarctic ice.
03:48Just that something out there isn't playing by the rules.
03:52Now, if scientists actually manage to detect and trace where those crazy fast particles come from, they can learn tons
03:59of stuff about the universe.
04:01Way more than even the biggest, most expensive telescopes allow us to see.
04:06You see, neutrinos basically zip through space almost at the speed of light, barely bumping into anything.
04:13It means they can carry untouched data about events that happened millions or even billions of light years away.
04:19That's why WISL and a bunch of other researchers around the world have been building these insanely sensitive detectors to
04:27catch neutrino signals.
04:29Even the tiniest ones are super important.
04:31Because in this field, one tiny blip of data can hold a treasure chest of information.
04:38So, researchers have been designing setups in both Antarctica and South America to catch these rare particles.
04:46ANITA is one of those detectors, and Antarctica's the perfect spot for it.
04:51There's hardly any radio noise, there are no cities, no traffic, and no random interference.
04:57The setup is actually pretty cool.
05:00They attach a cluster of radio antennas to a giant balloon, send it a few dozen miles up into the
05:06sky,
05:07and make it float over the endless stretches of white ice.
05:10From up there, it points downward, listening for faint radio signals coming from deep inside the ice.
05:16When one of those super-rare neutrinos, specifically a tau neutrino, hits the ice,
05:22it creates another particle called a tau lepton.
05:25That lepton then shoots out of the ice and starts breaking down, losing energy and turning into smaller bits.
05:31That decay process gives off what's called an air shower,
05:34kind of like a spray of invisible sparks flying through the air.
05:38If we could actually see those air showers with our eyes,
05:42they'd look like someone waving a sparkler through the dark,
05:45bright streaks trailing behind as it moves.
05:49Studying the direction and pattern of these signals,
05:52the ones from the ice, ice showers,
05:55and the ones in the air, air showers.
05:58Scientists can figure out where the original particle came from.
06:02Usually it's super precise,
06:04kind of like bouncing a ball off the ground.
06:06You can predict where it'll go.
06:09But these weird new signals don't bounce the way they're supposed to.
06:14The angles are all wrong way steeper than anything the models can explain.
06:19So, the team dug deeper.
06:21First, they looked at all the data from ANITA's multiple balloon flights.
06:25Then they compared it against tons of computer simulations of cosmic rays and neutrinos
06:30and filtered out all the usual background noise.
06:33They even cross-checked their results with other experiments like the ice cube detector,
06:38which is also located in Antarctica,
06:41and the Pierre Auger Observatory in Argentina.
06:44They wanted to see if anyone else had picked up similar upward-going air showers.
06:49And guess what?
06:51Things got even weirder.
06:52They found...
06:54nothing.
06:55No other detectors had picked up anything that could explain what ANITA had seen.
06:59That's why the researchers ended up calling the whole situation anomalous.
07:03It basically means,
07:05yeah, we have no idea what this is,
07:07but it sure isn't behaving like a neutrino.
07:10Whistle explained that the signals just didn't fit into the usual picture
07:13of how particles were supposed to act.
07:15Some people have floated ideas,
07:17like maybe it's some new kind of physics,
07:20or a hint of dark matter.
07:22Dark matter is basically that invisible stuff
07:25that keeps the universe from falling apart.
07:27It's everywhere.
07:28We just can't see it.
07:30Scientists have been trying to figure out what it actually is for almost a century,
07:34and it's still one of the biggest mysteries out there.
07:38Everything we can see,
07:39like stars, planets, people, dogs,
07:42makes up only about 5% of the universe,
07:44and dark matter makes up around 27%.
07:47The rest is something even stranger,
07:50called dark energy.
07:52Scientists think dark matter is what gives galaxies their shape,
07:56and holds everything together like cosmic glue.
07:59Without it, the universe would look totally different.
08:02It would be totally amazing to find out that this theory is true.
08:06But since Ice Cube and Augur haven't caught the same thing,
08:09that really limits the possibilities.
08:12Penn State has been in the neutrino-detecting game for almost a decade now,
08:17building detectors and analyzing all kinds of cosmic signals.
08:20And the team is already working on their next big project,
08:24a brand new detector called Pueo.
08:26It's going to be bigger, more sensitive,
08:28and way better at spotting those elusive neutrino signals.
08:32For now, this remains just one of those long-running cosmic mysteries
08:36that keep scientists awake at night.
08:38But the team is optimistic.
08:40When Pueo goes up, it'll have better sensors,
08:43which means if there really are more of these anomalies out there,
08:47this time, they'll catch them.
08:49And maybe then, we'll finally figure out what's behind them.
08:55Welcome to one of the most mysterious and unexplored places on Earth.
09:00Um, but what's so special about that?
09:03It's just some icy peaks and the endless snowy expanse of Antarctica.
09:07Yeah, that's right.
09:09But there's still a planetary scale mystery here.
09:12No matter how hard you try, you won't see a hidden mountain range,
09:16giant, unexplored land where no human has ever set foot.
09:20And it lies under another layer of mountains.
09:24It's like a nesting doll, but the size of a continent.
09:28These mountains hide Antarctica secrets.
09:31And these secrets can tell us something awesome
09:34about the ancient history of our planet.
09:38This gigantic, unexplored territory in Antarctica
09:41is called the Gambritsev Subglacial Mountains.
09:44And the layer of ice above keeps this place untouched by nature and people.
09:50It's like a land inside another land.
09:53And it hides more than just mountains.
09:55There are valleys, hills, and plains.
09:58The whole area is similar to the European Alps.
10:01But unfortunately, we can't enjoy the view.
10:05Those mountains were first discovered in 1958 using seismological instruments.
10:10More than half a century has passed since then.
10:14And this place still remains one of the most poorly studied tectonic objects on Earth.
10:19Why?
10:20Because it's ice.
10:21A lot of ice.
10:24Who knows?
10:25Maybe there are some unknown ancient artifacts lying there.
10:28What if they're hiding a secret city or spaceships?
10:31It's unlikely, of course, but it would still be interesting to look there.
10:35Think about it.
10:36Hundreds or even thousands of miles of land that have remained unchanged for hundreds of millions of years.
10:44Even if no new species of animals or remains of an ancient civilization are there, this place still has a
10:51history.
10:52The history of the formation of continents on our planet.
10:56And scientists have already figured out some of this story.
11:01The mountains buried in Antarctica were originally like ordinary mountains.
11:06But as a result of a planetary scale event, they just...
11:09Wait a minute.
11:10Have you ever wondered how mountain ranges are formed?
11:13We see them in real life.
11:15In movies.
11:16In photos on the internet.
11:18We climb them.
11:19But how did they appear?
11:21Mountains have not always existed on the planet in this form.
11:24They appeared as a result of a large-scale collision of tectonic plates.
11:28Two giant solid chunks of ground are moving toward each other, then crash, and boom!
11:35Millions of tons of the Earth's crust pile on top of each other, mix, and form ledges and gorges.
11:43And all this can last for millions of years.
11:47Yes, it's a disaster, but it's very slow.
11:51Some tectonic plates are still colliding.
11:53For example, the Himalayas continue to grow because the Indian and Eurasian plates are still ramming into each other.
12:00And this process began about 50 million years ago.
12:05The Gambertsev Mountains under ice experienced a similar event, only much earlier.
12:10An article in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters says that they appeared during the formation of the supercontinent
12:17Gondwana.
12:19Two giant pieces of land were separated by a boundless ocean.
12:24But then, about 700 million years ago, they collided and formed Gondwana.
12:30This supercontinent included the territories of modern Africa, South America, Australia, India, and Antarctica.
12:38The giant pieces crashed into each other and released a stream of hot, partially molten rock.
12:45This mess grew bigger and bigger, forming mountains.
12:48The temperature of those mountains grew, their mass increased, and at some point, Gondwana became unstable.
12:55The supercontinent began to collapse under its own weight.
13:00The hot rocks below the surface began to flow sideways as a result of a process called gravitational spreading.
13:07Take toothpaste and start squeezing it out of the tube.
13:11Approximately the same thing happened with billions of tons of red hot rock.
13:16Ancient mountains in Antarctica appeared right during this catastrophic event.
13:21You've just watched a visual simulation of global events that took place hundreds of millions of years ago.
13:28It looks cool, but how did scientists figure it out?
13:31How did they see this planetary scale destruction?
13:35If the Gambertsev Mountains under ice is one of the most unexplored places in the world,
13:40then how could people find out its origin?
13:43The answer is simple.
13:45Tiny particles of rock have told us about the changing landscape of the planet.
13:51These are zircons, but scientists also call them time capsules.
13:56This mineral is very handy and resistant to mechanical and chemical influences.
14:01It's difficult to crush, it doesn't get affected by erosion, and it doesn't dissolve in water.
14:07And there's uranium inside it.
14:10This chemical element shows scientists the age of the rock.
14:14The fact is that uranium always decays into lead at the same rate.
14:19Scientists look at the ratio of uranium and lead and determine the age of minerals with great accuracy.
14:26Okay, this sounds a bit complicated.
14:29Here's a simple example.
14:30Imagine that each mountain belt is a clock that starts ticking at the moment of its formation.
14:36That is, after the collision of tectonic plates.
14:39After the rock forms, uranium begins its slow decay.
14:43The more time passes, the more uranium turns into lead.
14:48The rate of this decay is always the same.
14:51This decay can last for billions of years.
14:54The less uranium is in zircons and the more lead, the older the rock is.
14:59And this is how it happens in practice.
15:02Geologists take several rock samples.
15:05In a lab, they crush it to extract crystalline zircons.
15:10Geologists then dissolve the particles in acid to separate uranium from lead.
15:15Then, they use a special device.
15:17A mass spectrometer that accelerates atoms and sorts them by mass.
15:21This is a rather complicated process, but the bottom line is that this device shows scientists the amount of uranium
15:29and lead.
15:30They look at the ratios of these two elements and calculate the age of the rock.
15:36Geologists took zircons from sandstones near the Gambertsev Mountains, studied those particles,
15:42looked at the level of uranium, and calculated the chronology of mountain formation.
15:47Then, they compared the data obtained with the history of our planet and realized that the mountains buried in Antarctica
15:54appeared during the formation of the supercontinent Gondwana.
15:58But how did they find out that the supercontinent included Australia, India, and Africa?
16:04Zirconia from those Antarctic rocks turned out to be very similar to zirconium from those countries.
16:10That is, a long time ago, these three continents were together.
16:15So, the Gambertsev Mountains began to grow about 650 million years ago.
16:21About 580 million years ago, they reached the height of the Himalayas.
16:25And 80 million years later, they experienced the melting of the Earth's crust.
16:30And while most of the mountain ranges on the planet were changing and collapsing,
16:35the Gambertsev Mountains under ice remained untouched.
16:40Water, soil, wind, earthquakes, gravity, and other natural forces destroy mountain belts.
16:47This process is called erosion.
16:49But mountains buried in Antarctica haven't experienced anything like this.
16:53The cold temperature and the ice sheet around them kept this range unchanged.
16:58It's one of the best-preserved ancient mountain belts on the planet.
17:01Okay, but why do we need to explore these mountains?
17:05What difference does it make that the supercontinent Gondwana collapsed in the past?
17:10It's possible that plants, frozen bodies of insects, or ancient bacteria have remained preserved under thick layers of ice.
17:18What about ancient animals?
17:20Many species could have lived on Gondwana.
17:23Studying ancient mountains in Antarctica can show us what the planet looked like about a half a billion years ago.
17:30When Antarctica was a green continent, what lived on it?
17:33What happened to this life?
17:35Is it possible to revive those ancient creatures after so many years?
17:40If scientists were able to calculate the date of the supercontinent's appearance using tiny particles,
17:45then imagine what they could find after examining this hidden mountain range.
17:50It all sounds very interesting.
17:53But there's one problem.
17:55To take a small piece of this unknown world, you need to drill through a lot of ice.
18:00You need to deliver heavy equipment to one of the most inaccessible continents in the world,
18:05build stations, obtain an energy source, and conduct large-scale research.
18:10It sounds incredibly expensive, so this hidden territory will probably remain a mystery for a long time.
18:17Let's just hope that some billionaire will want to find out Antarctica's secrets and arrange a large-scale expedition there.
18:25Giant vase-like sponges, otherworldly jellyfish, segmented worms covered with bristles, and large octopuses are the newest Antarctica discovery.
18:37Scientists found them after a giant iceberg had broken away, and it turned out to be a treasury of ancient
18:44life under ice.
18:47In January 2025, a huge iceberg the size of Chicago called A84 broke off from Antarctica's George VI ice shelf,
18:57which is a large ice shelf about 280 miles long, 12 to 43 miles wide, and around 820 feet thick.
19:07In the summer, which lasts from November to late February, the ice shelf melts at the surface, and meltwater ribbon
19:15lakes form.
19:16They're elongated and ribbon-like. That's how they got their name.
19:21Anyway, when the iceberg floated away, it left part of the ocean floor wide open, and it was a spot
19:27no one had ever seen before.
19:30Scientists on the research ship Falkor 2 were nearby in the Belling-Schauzen Sea.
19:36As soon as they heard about the iceberg, they immediately changed their plans.
19:40They understood that it was a super rare chance to check out something unknown and amazing,
19:46like lifting a rock in the forest to see what's hiding underneath.
19:51The researchers used an underwater robot named Subastian and explored the deep sea for 8 days.
19:58They went as deep as over 4,200 feet.
20:02Down there, they found a hidden ecosystem.
20:05There were big corals and sponges literally packed with sea animals.
20:10A whole world under the ice.
20:13The researchers thought they'd find some life down there, but they didn't expect to see so much.
20:18And this underwater ancient life wasn't just surviving.
20:22It had been thriving in that harsh, icy place for a really long time.
20:27Anemones that looked like fluffy little trees, sea spiders, ice fish, octopuses.
20:32The research was live-streamed to scientists from all over the world.
20:37And those live-streams are actually in open access.
20:41The coolest thing was that some discovered creatures seem to be new species.
20:46Yes, there are probably new species in Antarctica in 2025.
20:50And some might only live in this region.
20:54That's because Antarctica isn't just really far away.
20:57It's been cut off from the rest of the world for millions of years.
21:01The Antarctic circumpolar current surrounds it, like a big water moat surrounding a castle.
21:07But even if it turns out that those species are not new,
21:11the scientists have still found snails, worms with bristles, crustaceans,
21:16like tiny crabs and shrimp, and a species of the phantom jellyfish.
21:21Those are super rare and look otherworldly.
21:25Their official name is too complicated, so let's just call them the giant phantom jelly.
21:30This jellyfish is huge.
21:32Its bell, the round umbrella part on top, can be more than 3 feet wide.
21:38It has four long arms that trail behind it.
21:41Each one as long as 33 feet, about as long as a school bus.
21:46Scientists first caught one way back in 1899,
21:49but it took them 60 years to realize it was a totally new kind of jellyfish.
21:55The phantom jellyfish has a see-through, purplish body that looks kind of ghostly.
22:01Instead of normal jellyfish tentacles,
22:04it has these ribbon-like arms that help it catch food
22:07and pull it into its mouth right in the middle.
22:11Even though jellyfish don't have brains like we do,
22:14researchers watching the giant phantom jelly noticed something surprising.
22:18The otherworldly creature seemed to move its arms very carefully and with control,
22:23especially when swimming through tight spaces on the seafloor.
22:27It looked like it was being very cautious and deliberate.
22:31Ugh, creepy.
22:33Another sentient being?
22:37Jellyfish have a simple nerve net instead of a brain,
22:41which helps them sense the world around them.
22:43But the way this phantom jelly moved made scientists think
22:47it might be smarter or more coordinated than other jellyfish.
22:51Studying it can help scientists learn how animals without brains
22:55still manage to explore and survive in tricky places underwater.
23:01Another cool find was little worms called bristle worms.
23:05Scientists call them polychaetes.
23:08But let's stick with bristle worms because it kind of sounds fun.
23:13Lots of different kinds of them live in super-cold, deep parts of the ocean.
23:18Bristle worms have bodies made of many segments,
23:20and they have tiny little bristles all along their sides.
23:24These bristles help them move around,
23:27feel what's near them, and even protect themselves from danger.
23:31One cool example is the Antarctic scale worm.
23:34It's a type of bristle worm that lives in really cold, deep waters
23:38and has shiny, golden bristles that make it look pretty fancy.
23:42During Antarctic deep-sea exploration,
23:45the team also found giant sponges shaped like vases.
23:49Usually, sponges grow very slowly.
23:52So to get that huge, they must have been growing there for a really long time,
23:58maybe even hundreds of years.
24:00Their size shows that the deep-sea animals living around them
24:04didn't just move in recently.
24:06Those sea creatures have been there for decades
24:08and managed to form thriving communities under the ice.
24:12So, it really was ancient life hiding under all that ice.
24:17And that surprised scientists a lot.
24:20In older studies, people used to drop cameras through holes in the ice
24:25or visit iceberg areas long after the ice had broken off
24:28to explore hidden ecosystems.
24:31Back then, they mostly saw bare, empty seafloor with just a few living things.
24:36But this time, the team arrived just weeks after the giant iceberg broke away
24:41and they got to see what was hiding right underneath it.
24:45The first nine miles behind the ice shelf can hide rich and busy ecosystems.
24:51The area is dark, cold, and hidden for ages.
24:54And still, all kinds of creatures lived there.
24:58This shows that life can survive in places that seem too harsh or frozen for anything to live.
25:04On the other hand, finding all this life down there isn't super surprising.
25:09Lots of animals live in dark, cold places underwater,
25:13so it makes sense that they'd be under the ice shelf too.
25:16The ice kind of hides them and keeps them safe from anything going on above.
25:20But what's weird is how many different kinds of creatures live there,
25:25even though it used to be a really closed-off space.
25:28It actually looks a lot like the seabed in parts of Antarctica that don't have ice on top.
25:34How can that be?
25:36Usually, tiny plants called phytoplankton grow near the surface where sunlight hits.
25:42Little shrimp-like animals called krill eat those plants at night.
25:46When krill get full, they sink down and bring food and nutrients to the ocean floor.
25:52Even their waste helps feed the deep-sea creatures.
25:55But if there's a huge ice cap above, sunlight can't get through.
25:59So no plants can grow there, and no krill bring food down that way.
26:04Scientists thought this would mean less food and fewer animals down there.
26:08But they found a lot of life anyway.
26:11Turns out, food and nutrients probably sneak in under the ice, carried by underwater currents,
26:18kind of like rivers flowing under the ocean.
26:21Scientists found some animals that lived a long time.
26:24So it looks like those currents, which mostly come from melting glacier water,
26:29bring enough food to keep the ecosystem healthy and full of life.
26:34No one really knows what's going to happen to all that deep-sea life now that the iceberg has floated
26:39away.
26:40Those creatures have lived under the thick ice for who knows how long,
26:44in super-stable, pitch-black conditions.
26:48Obviously, they're not exactly fans of change.
26:50So losing that icy roof might totally mess with their whole setup.
26:56One of the scientists mentioned that the ice shelf the iceberg came from has been creeping backward,
27:03like 25 miles over the last 50 years.
27:06That's a part of a bigger pattern.
27:09Antarctica's ice is melting faster and faster, which pushes sea levels up around the world.
27:15That's why this Antarctica discovery matters.
27:17The team's trying to figure out not just what's happening now,
27:21but how this hidden ecosystem fits into the bigger picture.
27:26If we can understand how this place is changing over decades or even centuries,
27:31maybe we can predict what's coming next.
27:34And it's pretty amazing that breaking ice can tell us so much, right?
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