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Scientists have discovered a new natural cycle that could change our understanding of Earth's systems, while certain places on Earth continue to baffle us by defying the laws of physics. These phenomena challenge everything we thought we knew about the natural world and its mysteries.
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00:00Thousands of years ago, a huge meteor weighing 2 million tons crashed into Earth at a speed
00:06of around 56,000 miles per hour.
00:10Sounds like a big deal, and it was.
00:12It actually created Lunar Lake in Maharashtra.
00:15When you see it from above, it might look like any other lake, but the sand there is
00:21magnetic, and it makes compasses go haywire.
00:24First off, it's a soda lake.
00:26Nah, it's not filled with coke.
00:28It's just another name for an alkaline lake.
00:30The pH levels there vary from 9 to 12, whereas humans enjoy ranges from 6.5 to 8.5.
00:38So it's not really advisable to bay there, not to mention to drink such water.
00:43There's a little round dip about 2,300 feet away from the main lake, which folks think
00:48was made by a piece of the main meteor.
00:51Near this lake, there is a Hanuman temple that has an idol carved from rock, and it's said
00:57to have some pretty strong magnetic vibes.
01:00Also, local farmers are draining water from Ambar Lake.
01:04Sometimes, people refer to this lake as Chota Lunar, which means Little Lunar.
01:09This nearly perfect oval is one of only two natural craters in the world made entirely from basalt,
01:16a dark, finely textured volcanic rock.
01:19The water there is seven times saltier than ocean water, and sometimes, the lake can turn
01:25pink due to particular bacteria.
01:28Whenever you open up a tap to fill a glass of water, water goes from top to bottom, because
01:34gravity, duh.
01:35It's hard to imagine it acting the other way around, but turns out there are many waterfalls
01:41that can defy gravity and go in the opposite direction.
01:45That's called a reverse waterfall, and it happens when super strong winds whip through a waterfall,
01:51pushing the water back up.
01:52It's especially common for those windy fall and winter months.
01:57You usually need winds of at least 46 miles per hour to see this cool trick in action.
02:02It's actually not as rare as one may think, and you can find these wild reverse waterfalls
02:07all over the globe, from Australia to India, Japan, the UK, and the US.
02:12In Australia, in areas like Sydney, the Central Coast, and Royal National Park, winds around
02:1843 miles per hour have been known to turn waterfalls upside down.
02:23Yep, it's all about the wind going this fast.
02:26Please put aside all those weird myths about Australia being in the Southern Hemisphere,
02:31like the one about the water in the toilet flushing in the opposite direction.
02:35This is nothing but an urban myth.
02:37In India, near Mumbai, and in places like Sandan Valley and Amboli Hills,
02:42waterfalls get blown upward during the monsoon.
02:45And if you're ever in the Faroe Islands, you can witness this unique phenomenon happen regularly
02:50due to the region's geography and fierce winds from the North Atlantic.
02:55Magnetic Hill in Ladakh, India, is a fascinating spot,
02:59sitting at about 14,000 feet high, right along the Srinagar-Le Highway,
03:04just 16 miles from Leh City.
03:07It's known for a quirky gravitational trick where parked cars mysteriously roll uphill when left in neutral,
03:14defying logic and catching the attention of visitors from all over.
03:19Locals have their own myths, viewing it as a path between heaven and earth.
03:23You'll want to stop by between June and September when the weather is just right
03:27and the optical illusion effect is at its peak, typically from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
03:34In Brazil, there's this street called Rua do Amendoim that seems to defy the laws of physics,
03:40leaving many puzzled as they walk or drive down it.
03:43Locals affectionately call it Peanut Street, and there's never a shortage of parking spots.
03:48That's mainly because if a car is parked without the emergency brake,
03:52it starts to roll uphill all on its own,
03:55picking up speed as it goes.
03:57People have all sorts of wild theories about why this happens.
04:01Some say the hill is haunted,
04:04while others think there's a huge iron ore deposit beneath it pulling cars up like a magnet.
04:08But believe it or not, the truth is that this strange occurrence is just an optical illusion.
04:14The street looks steep, but it actually has a slight dip.
04:17So, while it seems like cars are rolling uphill, they're really just going downhill.
04:23Still, that hasn't stopped folks from filming countless videos of this quirky sight.
04:30Located on the beautiful Black Sea coast,
04:33Ureki is a chill beach resort town,
04:36known for its unique magnetic sands that are all about health and wellness.
04:41These sands have been getting attention for their healing powers since the 1800s,
04:45helping people tackle various health issues.
04:48Ureki's magnetic sand is packed with minerals like magnetite and quartz.
04:52It's got an unusual magnetic content of about 23%,
04:56making its magnetic field way stronger than that of regular sand.
05:02The Hestalen lights are mysterious glowing orbs seen in a seven-mile stretch of the Hestalen Valley in central Norway.
05:09These lights have been popping up since at least the 1930s and can be spotted both day and night.
05:16They usually shine in bright white, yellow or red,
05:19and can hover, move quickly, or sway gently.
05:22Their appearances can last from a few seconds to over an hour.
05:28Though there were many sightings, especially between 1981 and 1984,
05:33the frequency has gone down to about 10 to 20 a year as of 2010.
05:38Various groups, like Project Hestalen, have tried investigating these lights since 1983,
05:44using methods ranging from field studies to scientific research.
05:48As for what these lights actually are, no one really knows for sure.
05:51Some sightings have been explained away as things like car headlights or astronomical objects.
05:57One theory suggests they might come from a chemical reaction involving airborne dust from local mines.
06:03Another idea is that they could be clusters of particles interacting in a specific way due to the area's geology.
06:10Some researchers have even proposed that the lights might be a result of piezoelectricity
06:15due to certain rock types in the valley.
06:18Other theories include complex interactions between electromagnetic waves and dust,
06:23which could explain the light's unique shapes and colors.
06:28Saharan dust, which once even made its way to parts of the UK and left a red layer on cars,
06:34is full of naturally magnetic materials.
06:37On September 7, 2023, some folks noticed their cars were covered in reddish flecks
06:43because of the dust blown from the Sahara.
06:46A video making the rounds on Facebook showed someone using a magnet to lift the dust off their car.
06:52One commenter even got pretty heated, saying,
06:55If you want to know what fell down last night, just grab a magnet and check this out,
07:00insisting it was metal, not sand.
07:04Naturally, this sparked chatter about how the dust's magnetic properties could be linked to chemtrails.
07:09But guess what? Experts are clear that magnetism is actually normal for Saharan dust.
07:16According to Professor Barbara Marr from the Center for Environmental Magnetism and Paleomagnetism at Lancaster University,
07:24the dust carries a mix of particles from the African ground and some air pollution as it heads to Europe
07:30and the UK.
07:31The red color is due to hematite, a weakly magnetic mineral.
07:35Sure, the dust can pick up some human-made magnetic particles along the way,
07:40but scientists say those are usually way less abundant than the naturally occurring ones.
07:45The whole chemtrails idea, which suggests planes are intentionally spraying harmful substances,
07:50is based on conspiracy theories that have been thoroughly debunked.
07:54In short, the presence of magnetic particles in Saharan dust,
07:57like that of hematite giving its reddish tint,
08:00doesn't back up the chemtrail theory at all.
08:04Not having the internet in 2024 seems sort of abnormal, right?
08:09When we talk about internet access, it primarily comes down to wired connections,
08:14mobile networks, and satellites.
08:16Fiber-optic cables connect most of the world, except Antarctica, and many small islands.
08:22Mobile networks are also widespread, even in remote areas like the Sahara.
08:28For people in rural spots, satellite internet is often the best bet, even if it's slower.
08:35Still, there are a few truly isolated spots left.
08:39Deep caves, like Georgia's Kerbera Cave, are internet-free due to their depth.
08:44And under the ocean, signals struggle to get through,
08:47making internet access poor or non-existent.
08:52Salt makes our chips and popcorn taste yummy, but it turns out, that's not all.
08:57It's used in household and industrial products, from cosmetics to fertilizers,
09:02from water treatment to road gridding.
09:05All over the globe, around 300 tons of salt are produced every year.
09:10But there's a problem.
09:12That's too much salt for our planet.
09:14You see, salt rises to Earth's surface from deep oceanic rocks gradually,
09:19and this process is quite balanced, or it used to be.
09:23Humans are pushing this balance out of whack.
09:26Our demand keeps increasing, and we're releasing too much salt into the soil, air, and sea.
09:32And if this process continues unchecked, we might face an existential threat.
09:38Yep, it's as serious as that.
09:40And a recent study conducted by the University of Maryland confirms this.
09:44There is this thing called the natural salt cycle.
09:48It's existed for thousands of years.
09:50Salt naturally rises to our planet's surface via geologic uplift and rock weathering.
09:56Some time later, rocks break down and release salt ions into the soil.
10:01Some of these ions are absorbed by plants and organisms.
10:05Others are washed away into rivers, which transport them into oceans.
10:09Salt also gets into the atmosphere.
10:11It happens through salt dust in dry regions and sea spray in coastal areas.
10:17It's crucial for humans because our bodies need salt, just like animals and plants do.
10:23Simply put, we're electrical systems controlled by salts.
10:28Soil needs salt because otherwise it won't clump together.
10:32Plants also need small amounts of salt,
10:34since those allow them to have proper metabolism and synthesize enough chlorophyll.
10:40At the same time, too much salt isn't a great thing.
10:43And nowadays, human activity is messing with the natural salt cycle,
10:48bringing salt to the planet's surface much more quickly than before.
10:52That's the conclusion researchers made after combining data from different sources,
10:56including the U.S. Geological Survey's Mineral Yearbook
10:59and Global Records of River Compositions and Salinity Measurements.
11:04The main factor bringing about these changes is salt mining for food and other products.
11:10Then there are also acid rains.
11:12Those increase the rate of rock weathering.
11:15These and other factors speed up the generation of salt at the surface of our planet.
11:20At the moment, the concentration of salt in the world is too high.
11:24The soil, plants, and animals can't use all of it.
11:28Even worse, some essential species can't survive with all this extra salt.
11:33Their demise changes biodiversity and can lead to the appearance of invasive species,
11:39such as phragmites.
11:40Those are tall, reedy plants taking over coastal areas.
11:44Then there's also zooplankton, an important ocean species regulating algae.
11:50It's extremely sensitive to salt.
11:53If this species starts to decline, it might mess with the world's food webs.
11:58Too much salt also turns farmlands into wastelands.
12:02Recent reports have shown that around 833 hectares of land are already affected.
12:08And that's the area around four times the size of India.
12:13In some countries, huge areas become infertile because of over-salination.
12:19Plus, excess salt is bad for our health.
12:21The thing is, all that extra salt gets into groundwater, making it too salty for human consumption.
12:29It's particularly bad for people with sodium-restricted diets.
12:32And I'm not only talking about table salt or sodium chloride.
12:36No, other calcium and magnesium-based salts are seeping out too,
12:41usually from the production of fertilizers and building materials.
12:44It's like a chemical cocktail of different salts coming from various sources.
12:50And scientists don't know yet the effects such a cocktail can have on us humans and our health.
12:57So, maybe now you're sitting and thinking,
13:00oh, it's time to cut back on my salt intake.
13:03Perhaps, but don't cut it all out.
13:05In the 1930s, Dr. Robert McCants from Cambridge University's Department of Experimental Medicine
13:12found four volunteers and asked them to go 10 days completely without salt.
13:18First, they had to sweat out the salt that still remained in their bodies.
13:21And after that, the scientists literally desalinated everything they were allowed to eat and drink.
13:27Soon after, the participants started to experience weird sensations.
13:32They realized that they didn't taste much flavor in anything they consumed.
13:37It got worse.
13:38Fatigue set in, and the volunteers soon got too tired to even eat.
13:43They began to show the signs of hyponatremia.
13:46It occurs when the concentration of sodium in your blood is dangerously low.
13:51And that's when a person's blood cells swell because there's not enough salt in the blood
13:56to regulate how much water a cell should and will consume.
14:01If this condition is left untreated, it can not only result in seizures,
14:05but also have much, much worse consequences.
14:08At the end of the trial period, participants got some salty foods.
14:13And miraculously, within a few minutes, they could taste again.
14:16And their energy seemed to be replenished almost immediately.
14:21Honestly, it sounds kind of terrifying.
14:23If that's what a mere 10 days without salt are,
14:27imagine what catastrophe it would be if salt just ceased to exist.
14:31We wouldn't be able to last long, that's for sure.
14:34And it would be a never-ending drama, not only for us, but for plants and animals too.
14:39They need salt as much as we do.
14:42If our oceans suddenly lost all the salt,
14:45it would wipe out all underwater algae,
14:47cutting photosynthesis on Earth almost in half.
14:50Land-based plants would follow suit.
14:53So, soon after the disappearance of salt, we'd face a huge issue.
14:58Too much carbon dioxide and not nearly enough oxygen.
15:02Our climate would start fluctuating between extremely hot and cold temperatures,
15:06and hurricanes would become insanely powerful and super destructive.
15:11Luckily, we still have salt at our stores and the natural salt cycle might get more or less stable again.
15:18By the way, humanity has known of and appreciated salt for many centuries.
15:23For example, it was used as offerings and to preserve mummies in ancient Egypt.
15:28It was a valuable commodity, traded between the Phoenicians and their Mediterranean Empire.
15:34In ancient China, people knew of more than 40 types of salt and used it for medicinal purposes.
15:41In medieval continental Europe, Venice gained power through its salt monopoly.
15:46The production and transportation of salt led to the appearance of new cities and the construction of roads.
15:53Salzburg, the city of salt in Austria, is a great example of that.
15:58Even these days, salt continues to surprise us.
16:02For example, recently, researchers from the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science
16:09have discovered rare deep-sea brine pools in the Gulf of Acaba.
16:14That's a northern extension of the Red Sea.
16:17Those salty underwater lakes are likely to hold secrets about the way oceans on Earth formed all those millions of
16:24years ago.
16:24They might also give us some clues to life on other planets.
16:29Brine pools are some of the most extreme environments on Earth.
16:33And still, despite their ultra-high salinity, somewhat exotic chemistry, and total lack of oxygen, they're teeming with life.
16:42Researchers have even found bioactive molecules with potential anti-cancer properties in brine pool microbes in the Red Sea.
16:51These super-salty, zero-oxygen brine pools are located close to the coast and might preserve information on tsunamis,
16:58earthquakes, and flash floods that took place in the Gulf of Acaba thousands of years ago.
17:05Salt has even made its way into space.
17:08Well, kind of.
17:09You see, the moon is like a comet soaring through the cosmos.
17:12Our natural satellite is followed by a slender tail consisting of irradiated matter.
17:17And our planet passes directly through this tail once a month.
17:21Well, according to a study published in the journal JGR Planets,
17:26this lunar tail is made of millions of sodium atoms.
17:30And as you already know, the chemical formula of salt is sodium chloride.
17:35Those atoms get blasted out of the lunar soil by meteor strikes
17:40and then pushed thousands of miles downstream by solar radiation.
17:45For several days a month, when the new moon is located between Earth and the Sun,
17:49the gravity of our planet drags that sodium tail into a long beam,
17:54which wraps around our planet's atmosphere.
17:56The tail itself is harmless and invisible to the unaided eye.
18:00But during those new moon days,
18:03high-powered telescopes can detect the faint orange glow of sodium in the sky.
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