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Scientists have recently uncovered strange and unexplained holes in Lake Michigan, sparking curiosity about their origin. Meanwhile, a remarkable lake in Finland has been found to perfectly mirror the shape of the country itself, adding to the intrigue of Earth's natural wonders.
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00:00Lake Michigan is one of the largest and most mysterious freshwater lakes in the United States.
00:06And now, deep inside it, scientists have stumbled upon something unexplainable.
00:11Vast, round craters scattered all across the lake's floor.
00:16It all started in 2022.
00:19A team of researchers wanted to map the lake's bottom and look for some shipwrecks.
00:24At first, they were sure it's going to be just some typical rocky terrain or sandy patches.
00:30But what they saw on their sonar screens stopped them cold.
00:34Strange, circular shapes that looked almost too perfect to be natural.
00:40They were hiding about 500 feet beneath the surface, in places where the water turns dark and impenetrable.
00:47Those guys are huge, ranging from 300 to 600 feet wide.
00:53They also plunge nearly 40 feet deep.
00:56And there are dozens of them, neatly arranged like some footprints.
01:00But the team had no idea what these things were.
01:04Then, in August 2024, the mystery only deepened.
01:09Using a remotely operated vehicle, they got a closer look at these formations.
01:14There were about 40 of them.
01:16No one had ever seen anything quite like this before in the Great Lakes.
01:21What could have created those craters?
01:24Could they be ancient?
01:25Perhaps remnants of some geological event lost to time?
01:29If that's the case, it's weird how long these holes have likely been sitting there, undisturbed.
01:36Theories started popping up.
01:38One possibility was that they could be sinkholes, or dolenes.
01:42Those are basically holes that suddenly appear in the ground when the surface layer collapses.
01:48The rock beneath the surface, often made of limestone, gets slowly dissolved by water over time, creating voids underground.
01:57When the surface of those voids can no longer hold its own weight, it caves in.
02:02And this forms a hole.
02:04Think of it like when you poke a straw through the lid of a drink.
02:09Sinkholes can be small dips, or huge, spanning up to 2,000 feet.
02:14They can happen gradually, or all at once.
02:17Sometimes they can swallow entire cars, or even buildings.
02:22And Lake Michigan sits on limestone bedrock.
02:25It erodes pretty easily when water flows through it.
02:29Sinkholes like these have already been found in Lake Huron, and they look kinda similar.
02:35But there are some plot holes, no pun intended, with this theory.
02:39For example, it's wild how they all would be so huge.
02:44It's also weird, and pretty rare, for sinkholes to occur in a lake bed.
02:49They also kinda resemble a straight pattern.
02:52They seem to extend generally southward, forming a loose line, which is pretty weird.
02:59If these are sinkholes, then they're definitely not playing the usual geological rules.
03:04Though it might be some new, unusual process at play beneath the lake's surface that we haven't discovered yet.
03:12There's another theory, though.
03:14Glaciers.
03:16Glaciers are wild rivers of ice.
03:19They covered much of the earth during the last ice age, and they're incredibly powerful.
03:24While they might move slowly, sometimes only a few inches per day,
03:29they have such immense weight that they can reshape entire landscapes over thousands of years.
03:37Glaciers can grind and scoop the land beneath them.
03:40They're basically like colossal bulldozers.
03:43Their weight, combined with the slow but steady movement, grounds down everything beneath them.
03:49Rocks, soil, even bedrock.
03:52This can create deep gouges in the earth's surface, called glacial troughs.
03:58During the last ice age, there were lots of glaciers all over the northern U.S., including the Great Lakes
04:05region.
04:06If they moved across what is now Lake Michigan, they could have carved out these deep holes.
04:12Glaciers often move in a pretty straight path.
04:14As they move, they cause terrain to erode, but the resulting erosion varies based on terrain.
04:22Sometimes, there are places where the bedrock is softer or fractured, and these places are more easily carved and crushed
04:29by the glacier.
04:30That could explain why some holes could be bigger and deeper than others.
04:35Harder bedrock is less affected.
04:37But usually, this leads to rounded, crescent-shaped depressions, known as chatter marks.
04:43Those marks are more like grooves rather than circular, big craters like those in Lake Michigan.
04:50Once the glaciers melted, the Great Lakes themselves formed.
04:54If the craters were formed by them, they may have filled with water, becoming part of the Michigan Lake.
05:01Though this theory is more like a speculation, so we need more evidence.
05:05But there's another layer to this mystery.
05:08The craters are not just curious geological formations.
05:12They actually may hold valuable clues about early life on Earth.
05:18Parts of Lake Michigan, especially dark ones, are relatively low in oxygen.
05:23It's like a lighter version of deep ocean environments that often have very little of this element.
05:29For example, hydrothermal vents deep in the ocean.
05:33Underwater openings in the Earth's crust with some hot, mineral-rich water that are often very low in oxygen.
05:40But some organisms love places like these.
05:44For example, opossum shrimp.
05:47Teeny-tiny shrimp-like creatures that love cold, deep waters.
05:51They get their name because they have a pouch to carry their young until they're ready to be on their
05:55own, like an opossum.
05:58Or deep-water sculpin fish.
06:00Small, bottom-dwelling fish that also enjoys cold lakes.
06:05They're well-adapted to living in dark waters and usually stay close to the lake bed.
06:10And weird organisms like invasive quagga mussels, which kind of look like shells.
06:16These are small, freshwater mussels that have spread there to the Great Lakes.
06:21They attach themselves to hard surfaces and can cause problems for ecosystems by competing with native species for food and
06:28space.
06:29All these guys could be in Lake Michigan, and even more.
06:33There might be microbes or even bacteria that are specially adapted to these harsh conditions, just like it was in
06:40Lake Huron.
06:43There's only a handful of creatures that could survive deep within these craters.
06:48And studying them could give us insight into how life once flourished in Earth's ancient, oxygen-poor oceans.
06:56That's because it's in places similar to these, where some of the earliest life forms thrived.
07:02Early Earth had an atmosphere with little oxygen, although it was much more hot and ancient microbes adapted to this.
07:10The Great Lakes, especially Lake Michigan, have always had a bit of a ghostly reputation.
07:16Like even this mission was organized to study the shipwrecks.
07:20There were about 6,000 of them in the Great Lakes.
07:24Many of these wrecks are still sitting on the lake beds, preserved by the cold, fresh waters.
07:29And shipwrecks aren't the only strange things tied to the Great Lakes.
07:34Over the years, there have been stories of unexplained disappearances.
07:38Boats and even planes have vanished without a trace.
07:41The lakes, often calm on the surface, can suddenly turn dangerous with unpredictable storms and massive waves, leading to these
07:50mysterious events.
07:53Not even mentioning all the creepy stuff people noticed there over the centuries, such as ghostly lights above water, or
08:00bizarre weather patterns, like eerie, sudden fogs that seem to appear out of nowhere.
08:06In 2007, they even discovered some prehistoric structure that looks like Stonehenge there.
08:12Well, it was way smaller, but still.
08:15It lay about 40 feet below the surface, in the heart of Grand Traverse Bay, and it's speculated to be
08:21about 9,000 years old, way older than Stonehenge.
08:25Looks like this is a print of those who lived in the area thousands of years ago.
08:30These massive stones are arranged in a careful, winding pattern stretching over a mile.
08:36They range in size from basketballs to compact cars.
08:39But one, in particular, stands out.
08:43A boulder 3 1⁄2 to 4 feet tall, 5 feet wide.
08:47It's etched with the image of a mastodon, a creature that roamed the Earth about 11,000 years ago, before
08:54it went extinct.
08:56It probably sank there during the end of the last ice age we mentioned.
09:00This period had reshaped the region.
09:02This place is underwater now, but back in the day, it was still dry land.
09:08So, the stones were probably created by people who lived there, though we're not sure why.
09:13Were they used as hunting blinds?
09:16Or was it some sort of an ancient calendar?
09:18Who knows?
09:20Only about 15% of the Great Lakes' floors have been explored.
09:25Now, scientists are gearing up for a deeper dive into this mystery, both literally and figuratively.
09:31They want to analyze the lake beds surrounding the craters, hoping that maybe something in the environment around them might
09:39have caused them to appear.
09:41They have initiatives like Lake Bed 2030.
09:44These missions should map the entire underwater landscape.
09:48This would help us learn tons of interesting stuff about Lake Michigan and our planet's past.
09:54Who knows what other secrets these dark waters hide?
09:59Now, the next time you travel the world on Google Maps, check out this lake in Finland that is shaped
10:04just like the country itself.
10:06This lake was modified by humans in the north of the country and is an exact model of the country
10:12on a 1,000 to 10,000 scale.
10:14In the 1980s, Arctic tourism and skiing above the Arctic Circle was booming.
10:19A local company decided to build a hotel and plenty of holiday cabins here.
10:24The pond, shaped like Finland, was supposed to bring more tourists to the area.
10:28They managed to finish it in just one week with two excavators, a tape measure, and a few sticks.
10:35And I must say, they did a great job!
10:38If you don't like long elevators, head to Hanover, Germany.
10:42One of the outdoor elevators there only travels for a few inches, and the whole experience takes a few seconds.
10:48It has become a real star on social media after some tourists posted footage of it.
10:53So, you might have to wait in line to enjoy your short ride.
10:57In case you're wondering what's the point of this elevator, well, it's installed at the local train station.
11:03Every inch counts when you're traveling with heavy luggage or have limited mobility.
11:07So, it's a good way to navigate within the station.
11:11Gummy bear fans, you might want to know that your favorite chewy treat has enough energy in it to start
11:17a fire show.
11:18If you drop one gummy bear into an ignition tube with a small amount of molten potassium or sodium chlorate
11:25in it,
11:25it will quickly disappear in a ball of fire with an impressive fume cloud.
11:30First, potassium chlorate melts.
11:32Then, the melted potassium chlorate breaks down and releases oxygen.
11:36The sugar in the gummy bear burns quickly, turning into carbon dioxide in water, which gives off a lot of
11:42energy.
11:43After everything cools down, you can look at what's left.
11:46The black stuff is unburned carbon, the white solid is potassium chloride,
11:51and the caramel-looking stuff is partially burned sugar.
11:54So, we only have six muscles in our outer ear, and cats have an impressive 32.
12:00That's why they can rotate their ears 180 degrees and use them to show their current mood.
12:07If you see the ears are upright and facing forward, you have one happy cat.
12:12If the ears are rotated to the sides, sort of like airplane wings or angled backward,
12:17your kitty must be really stressed or afraid of something.
12:20Ears held low or rotated to the sides could be a sign the cat is sick, so watch out for
12:27those.
12:28A stray dog in Brazil got a job as a paw-fessional car consultant at a local Hyundai dealership.
12:35The company manager noticed a stray pup next to the dealership and started leaving food and water for his new
12:41friend.
12:42Other staff members also fell in love with the pup and finally decided to adopt him.
12:47The doggy got a home, a job, and the name Tucson, after Hyundai's popular compact SUV.
12:54Tucson's job includes wearing a tie, getting behind the wheel, and winning over the hearts of customers.
13:00You can see from the company's social media that he excels at all these tasks.
13:06In Mexico, they like to spice up mango and citrus fruits with salt and chili pepper.
13:11You can try mango with a shrimp taste in the Philippines and salted watermelon in the southern states.
13:17When you're eating a sweet fruit sprinkled with salt, you'll notice the salty flavor with the first bite,
13:23and the sweet, fruity taste follows a bit later.
13:26And when you get used to it, it feels as juicy and amazing as ever.
13:30It's most likely because salt affects the sweet taste receptor for sugar,
13:34and then the real magic happens on a molecular level.
13:38You can try and put salt on any fruit you like, but the effect will be different.
13:42Salt can make sweeter fruits like cherries and strawberries even sweeter
13:46and balance the flavor of grapefruit, pineapple, and watermelon.
13:51Now back in 1956, long before the first dating apps were a thing, or apps in general,
13:57a Swedish sailor named Ake Viking decided to ask the sea for help to find a soulmate.
14:02He put a short message to someone beautiful and far away in a bottle and let it travel the world.
14:09Two years later, he received a reply from a girl named Paolina from Sicily.
14:14She wrote that she wasn't really beautiful,
14:17but she thought it was super cool that the bottle had covered such a huge distance.
14:21That's why she decided to let the sender know she had found it.
14:24Well, they became pen pals, and after a while, you guessed it.
14:28Viking moved to Sicily to marry his one and only Paolina.
14:34That unique pattern on your fingertips stays with you for your entire life.
14:38If you happen to damage your fingerprints somehow or develop some skin condition that can change them,
14:44they'll still grow back within a month.
14:46As you grow older, the skin on your fingertips becomes less elastic and the ridges get thicker.
14:52But the pattern still doesn't change.
14:54It just becomes harder to scan.
14:56If you work as a bricklayer, though, or have to handle certain chemicals,
15:00you might lose some details in your beautiful natural pattern.
15:04But no worries.
15:05Once you stop doing those activities, you'll get your fingertips back.
15:09Unless maybe you're a meat cutter.
15:13If you still believe in the 5-second rule, there's some bad news for you.
15:18When your food hits the floor, it instantly becomes a bacteria magnet.
15:22Researchers discovered that moisture, surface type, and contact time
15:27all play a role in how badly contaminated your food will get.
15:30Food with high moisture levels, like juicy watermelon, are more likely to get in trouble fast.
15:37In a different study, researchers swabbed the floors around the University of Illinois
15:41in a lab, hall, dormitory, and cafeteria to see how many organisms they could find.
15:48Even on dry, sterile surfaces, germs relocated onto cookies and gummy bears in less than 5 seconds.
15:55For some foods, it took less than 1 second for the transfer to begin.
16:00The first Barbie doll was made in 1959, but her great-great-great-grandmother comes from ancient Rome.
16:08Archaeologists found some incredible sarcophagi during construction work in Rome in the 19th century.
16:14One of those had a 9-inch-long doll next to its owner.
16:17The head and body were made from a single piece of ivory.
16:21Its arms and legs were separate and connected with a clever nail mechanism, allowing them to move.
16:26Its face was so detailed that it looked like a tiny portrait.
16:30The doll even wore a tiny gold ring with a key on its finger and had a small ivory box
16:36full of jewels,
16:37tiny mirrors, bone combs, and the remnants of accessories.
16:41But Ken was nowhere to be found.
16:44In case you're looking for a new job and you love to cuddle, there might be an opening for you.
16:49As weird as it sounds, a professional snuggler is a real job.
16:54There are several companies that provide cuddling services and look for staff members who are ready to give hugs and
17:00snuggles
17:00and listen and support people who really need it.
17:03Now, anyone can give hugs to others, but you need to be trained in professional cuddling to make money out
17:09of it.
17:09You will need to learn to set boundaries with your future clients without hurting their feelings
17:14and to mentally care for others without giving away too much of your own personality.
17:20Famous scientist Nikola Tesla knew that the whole world would go wireless back in 1900.
17:26He mentioned that devices no larger than a watch would be able to transfer signals precisely.
17:32Back then, it was a revolutionary idea the scientist got while conducting experiments at one of his labs.
17:38Tesla was so confident about the success of his idea that he even convinced famous banker J.P. Morgan to
17:45invest money in his project.
17:47The world wireless system involved a tower shaped like a mushroom on the shores of Long Island.
17:53It was supposed to transmit messages, phone calls, and images to ships across the Atlantic Ocean.
17:59Sadly, because of financial issues, the tower was never finished.
18:04Oh well, it all turned out now, didn't it?
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