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Explore fascinating stories of unique cultures, untold histories, and secrets from the past. From the Bajau tribe's underwater way of life to mysterious writers and hidden truths about famous figures, these videos reveal the lesser-known sides of our world.
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00:00These people can spend more than 5 hours a day underwater, and this must be the closest thing we have
00:06to actual mermaids.
00:08Meet the Bajau tribe from Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines.
00:12This tribe developed an extraordinary mutation, which helps them to almost live in the sea.
00:18Known as the Nomads of the Sea, they've been living near the waters of the Sulu Sea by the Philippines
00:24for nearly a thousand years.
00:26Looks like Moana's got competition.
00:28Look at their houses. They're built on stilts, and there's a reason for it.
00:32These are the traditional Lanza houseboats, which are great for getting to the water as often as possible.
00:38These little huts can fit a family of 5 and sometimes a community with up to 30 roommates.
00:44They're super easy to build. One hut can be completed in only 3 weeks.
00:49This also allows the Bajau to move freely across the seas.
00:53Since they lived in such a watery climate for generations, thriving on spearfishing and collecting shellfish, they started getting unusual
01:02mutations.
01:05You're probably thinking about super-powered lungs.
01:08But no. They actually developed bigger spleens than the rest of the world.
01:13It's one and a half the size of a normal human.
01:17Why is it important?
01:18Because the spleen helps store oxygenated red blood cells, so having a bigger one is like having a natural scuba
01:25tank.
01:25This adaptation is similar to what happens in deep-diving seals, which also have large spleens.
01:32Scientists found that they have a special gene called PDE10A that's responsible for this.
01:39Bajau can hold their breath for about 10 minutes.
01:42For comparison, a regular human can do that for about 30 to 90 seconds.
01:46And the world record is 24 minutes and 37 seconds.
01:50They also spend up to 60% of their day under water.
01:56And you'll never guess what diets they have.
01:59Of course, they eat a variety of sea creatures, especially lobsters, snails, and sea cucumbers, which are known for being
02:06very nutritional and even medicinal.
02:09They build their boats themselves, fish using traditional methods, and trade their surplus catch with the mainlanders for essential supplies.
02:17They also use this money to buy cassava and prepare their cultural dish called cassava pangikai.
02:25Since they don't have fridges, they line up tons of caught fish and sun-dry it.
02:30Thanks to this technique, the fish can last for weeks.
02:34People from this tribe are yet to develop gills and scales, but they have their underwater quirks.
02:39When they hold their breath and dive, their bodies go into a special mode where their heart rate slows down
02:45and their spleen squeezes out extra oxygen into their bloodstream.
02:50Usually, Bajau uses traditional wooden goggles and weighted belts.
02:54They also have incredible freediving skills.
02:57They've conquered depths of over 230 feet.
03:00They start learning how to swim at about 8 years of age or even younger.
03:05At the same time, they learn to hunt and survive in general.
03:09The Bajau people also make their own sunscreen.
03:12It's an everyday sunscreen called Borak Buas.
03:15It's mostly based on turmeric and rice powder, and women use it to protect their skin from the strong sun
03:21rays.
03:21It's a simple and cheap way to protect beauty, so it's especially popular among unmarried Bajau women who want to
03:28attract a potential spouse.
03:30But it's not all smooth sailing.
03:32In the 1950s, the Malaysian government put the Bajau in a pretty difficult legal position.
03:38After living for centuries as unrestricted nomads, now they have to carefully navigate its journeys across national borders and bureaucratic
03:47hurdles.
03:47This means that they're not fully stateless, but they're not officially recognized citizens of any country.
03:54Today, only a few hundred Bajau families live near Samporna, Malaysia, but it's getting harder to live such a life.
04:01The resources are scarce, and recently, some new restrictions appeared on cutting trees for boat repairs.
04:08All these things are slowly pushing them towards a more settled yet uncertain life on land.
04:14They're forced to resettle in places like the Bangao-Bangao settlement, but without citizenship, they essentially have no formal rights
04:21for things like getting jobs or education.
04:24Modern life poses tons of challenges for them.
04:28Imagine seeing millions more colors than everyone else.
04:31That's what tetrachromats can do.
04:34Tetrachromacy is a condition where someone has an extra type of cell in the back of their eye.
04:39This allows them to see a broader range of colors.
04:42If an average healthy person sees about 10 million, then tetrachromats might see 100 million.
04:49The extra cone enhances their ability to differentiate between subtle shades that others might not notice.
04:55This mutation requires two X chromosomes, so it actually happens to women.
05:00And it's not like this is a super rare thing either.
05:03The study says that about 12% of women possess this unique condition, and that's a huge number.
05:10Most tetrachromats don't even know they have this super vision.
05:15They might not realize they're seeing more colors than an average person.
05:19This makes spotting tetrachromats and studying them kind of tricky.
05:23And since scientists themselves usually can't see more than about 10 million colors, it's also pretty hard to test people
05:30for this condition.
05:31But they think that, like with X-Men, after some special training, tetrachromats might unlock the full potential of their
05:38ultra abilities.
05:40Marfan syndrome is a genetic condition that affects the body's connective tissues, making them more elastic.
05:47This can make you unusually tall, have elongated limbs, and often be extremely flexible.
05:53And some people use this as an advantage in their careers.
05:57Javier Botet was diagnosed with Marfan syndrome at a young age, but he made a name for himself in the
06:04horror film industry.
06:05He can contort his body in such an eerie and unsettling way that this has landed him roles in numerous
06:11films, such as Mama, The Conjuring 2, It, and Slender Man.
06:17But Marfan syndrome is a spectrum disorder.
06:20While some people with the condition can live relatively normal lives, others may face serious health issues.
06:27Do you sometimes wish that there was less sleep so you'd have more time?
06:31Well, some of us got that blessing.
06:33While most adults need 7 to 9 hours of sleep each night, some people can function well on only 4
06:40or 6 hours.
06:41This genetic mutation, found in a gene called DEC2, actually influences many different species, not only humans.
06:50For example, it also works on mice and fruit flies.
06:55DEC2 helps regulate circadian rhythms, the natural biological clock.
06:59This mutation affects the production of orexin, which is a hormone involved in wakefulness and maintaining the sleep-wake cycle.
07:08Basically, it helps release morning hormones earlier than usual and fades away before dawn.
07:14They discovered this gene in a family of natural short sleepers.
07:18It was a bunch of people who go to bed at a normal time, 11pm to midnight, but wake up
07:24at 5 in the morning without any issue.
07:26It's a super rare mutation.
07:29It might sound like something out of a comic book, but humans can actually have super strength.
07:34Turns out, some accidental mutations can unleash titanic strength without any crazy workout routines.
07:43There are two proteins in our body, myostatin and activin A, that usually are secreted by muscle cells to suppress
07:50excessive growth.
07:52In other words, these two help regulate the size and number of your muscle cells, so you don't end up
07:58accidentally looking like Schwarzenegger.
08:00But as you can guess, some do end up like that.
08:03People with this genetic condition don't produce these proteins.
08:07Without hitting the gym, they can naturally grow their muscles extraordinarily large, resulting in super strength.
08:14It's called myostatin-related muscle hypertrophy.
08:17Sounds kind of dangerous, right?
08:19And it is.
08:20When you become a Superman, there's also the risk of muscle imbalance, heart and joint issues, and other problems.
08:27Joanne Rowling is known to the world as the creator of the most famous young wizard, Harry Potter.
08:33But it looks like her magic doesn't end there.
08:36J.K. can transform into a different persona, all out of her free will.
08:41The name of that guy is Robert Galbraith, and Rowling has been using this pen name since 2013.
08:48That year, she released the first book under the pseudonym, The Cuckoo's Calling.
08:52Once the fan found out Galbraith never existed, and the author behind the crime novel is J.K. herself, the
08:58book instantly became a bestseller.
09:01But why would one of the most famous writers of all time want to hide her real name?
09:05As Rowling explained herself, she did it to avoid any hype or expectation that would otherwise come with the book.
09:11She just wanted to focus on writing, and she regrets that the fans had found out her secret so soon.
09:16She chose a male persona to go as far away from her own personality as possible.
09:21Although she didn't feel like it affected her writing style.
09:24It's just a different genre we're talking about.
09:27Rowling chose the name Robert because it's one of her favorites, and she never gave it to any of her
09:32Harry Potter characters.
09:33The last name Galbraith comes from her younger years when the writer, for some reason, was dreaming to be called
09:39Ella Galbraith.
09:40She never knew anyone under that last name, so it was just an odd wish.
09:47Another writer who wanted to disguise himself was Stephen King.
09:51Another reason for that was that publishers back then thought releasing more than one book per year under a big
09:56name was oversaturating the market.
09:58He wanted to write more.
09:59So, in 1977, the first book under the pen name Richard Bachman came out.
10:04For eight years, he was successfully hiding under that name, publishing books like Rage, The Long Walk, and Thinner.
10:10He registered the book's copyrights under his agent's name.
10:14The mysterious Richard Bachman would probably live on but for one bookstore clerk, writer, and fanzine publisher.
10:21Steve Brown from Washington, D.C. had read enough Stephen King to understand that Bachman's books were too much like
10:26King's.
10:28So, the clerk decided to send a letter to King's agent, asking how they wanted to go about it, with
10:33at least one person knowing the secret.
10:36He then got a call from King himself, asking what he wanted to do with that knowledge.
10:40And that was the beginning of the end for Bachman, who stopped existing soon after.
10:53Sometimes, finding the writer's true identity in real life can be a whole mystery with plot twists itself.
10:58When publishing House Valancourt books wanted to reprint The Beehive by Margaret O'Donnell,
11:04they spent months trying to find the author and get their official permission.
11:07O'Donnell is a really popular last name in Ireland, which only made the task tricker.
11:12They searched public documents and newspaper archives,
11:15and even used the data from the book's dust jacket like her university name to locate the mysterious author.
11:20There was another woman with the same name mentioned in a bibliography found on Google Books,
11:25but it turned out to be the wrong Margaret Jane O'Donnell, which only made things worse.
11:30Finally, they had to use Twitter for help.
11:32It was a risky move because it was like openly admitting the book rights were up for grabs.
11:37The publishing House wanted to reprint it because they felt like The Beehive could be relevant again
11:42when they saw a mention of it in an article online.
11:45First, they had to find the book itself.
11:48A university library helped out with that.
11:54And then, the detective work began, which was nothing new for Valancourt Books.
12:00All they had was the name Margaret O'Donnell,
12:02and a mention of her husbands and sons only by the first name.
12:06Years later, a woman who claimed to be her granddaughter left a comment about the book on Goodreads,
12:11but all she left was a first name and no contact data.
12:15Luckily, Twitter really saved the day.
12:17After some wrong leads within 24 hours,
12:20someone sent the obituary for the right Margaret O'Donnell.
12:24Turned out that she had passed away in 2019,
12:26and her son had become the executor of her estate.
12:29When Valancourt reached out to him just days later,
12:32he was really happy that his mother's work would live on,
12:35and he was sure his mother would have been thrilled about it too.
12:42If you have one of the many books in the Nancy Drew series at home,
12:45it should have the name Carolyn Keene on the cover.
12:48In reality, there's a whole group of ghostwriters hiding under that name.
12:52American writer Edward Stratemeyer,
12:55Stratemeyer,
12:56created the character and wrote the outlines for the first book.
12:59Then he passed over the pen to Mildred Wirt Benson.
13:02She wrote 23 of the first 30 Nancy Drew novels.
13:06Mildred granted Nancy Drew many of her own traits of character
13:09and shaped the personality of the famous teen detective.
13:12Independent, brave, and feisty.
13:15She enjoyed reading adventure and action stories from an early age.
13:19When he was 13,
13:20her short story got published in a popular magazine for young readers.
13:24There weren't many career choices for girls in the rural part of Iowa at that time,
13:28but luckily for Benson,
13:30her parents supported her wish to become a writer.
13:32She got a degree in English and traveled to New York.
13:35There, she met a businessman named Edward Stratemeyer,
13:38whose company employed ghostwriters to write popular books.
13:41He asked her to help him work on the Nancy Drew series.
13:44The young amateur detective became a dream image and role model for several generations.
13:49After Benson, several ghostwriters kept the story alive.
14:00You've probably never heard of Marianne Evans,
14:03one of the most successful writers of the Victorian time.
14:06That's because she became famous as George Eliot.
14:09Before writing novels,
14:10she worked as a freelance writer in London
14:12with projects like the Westminster Review.
14:15Through the work signed, George Eliot,
14:17she brought the world a groundbreaking method
14:19of psychological analysis in contemporary fiction.
14:23Marianne fell in love and started living with a philosopher,
14:26who was officially married but separated.
14:28It was a huge no-no at that time,
14:30and all the eyes were on her.
14:32To dodge those judgmental eyes of society
14:34and not associate her work with the scandal,
14:37she chose a male pseudonym.
14:38And that's how George Eliot was born,
14:41a perfect blend of George in honor of her love affair
14:43and Eliot,
14:44a last name she found easy to pronounce.
14:50We all know Agatha Christie
14:52as the genius behind Hercule Poirot in Miss Marple,
14:55dishing out twisty mysteries
14:56that keep us on the edge of our seats.
14:58But Christie had a secret identity.
15:01She decided to don the disguise of Mary Westmacott.
15:04She didn't want to be pigeonholed
15:05into just writing mysteries
15:07and tried to explore the depths of human psychology
15:09through a different lens.
15:10Under the name Mary Westmacott,
15:12she penned six captivating novels
15:14that delved into the human soul.
15:16The name itself wasn't just random.
15:19Mary was Agatha's middle name,
15:20and Westmacott was a name that ran in the family.
15:23Her fans didn't catch on for almost two decades,
15:26and even after that,
15:27she still published two final novels
15:29under the pen name.
15:30When she was invited to an event
15:32celebrating her work,
15:33she thanked the organizers
15:34for asking her to meet Agatha Christie.
15:36She also added that she was planning
15:38to bring her old friend Mary Westmacott with her.
15:45The real name of George Orwell,
15:47the literary mastermind behind 1984 and Animal Farm,
15:50was Eric Arthur Blair.
15:52When he wrote his first book,
15:54Down and Out in Paris and London,
15:56it was a deeply personal account
15:57of his life in poverty.
15:59To keep it secret from his family,
16:01he chose to write under a pseudonym.
16:03Another possible reason for that
16:05was his fear of failure
16:06and the fact that he disliked the name Eric.
16:09He mixed the name George,
16:11the Guardian of England,
16:13the country he loved a lot,
16:14with the River Orwell,
16:16his favorite hangout spot.
16:18He let down his mother's dreams
16:20and never became a farmer
16:21like she wanted him to.
16:23His relations with other people
16:24were so complicated
16:26that he was alone his entire life.
16:28He was interested in alchemy
16:30and became one of the most famous scientists
16:33of all time.
16:35Yes, I'm talking about Isaac Newton,
16:37the English physicist and mathematician
16:39who shaped modern physics as we know it.
16:43Newton was born in a small settlement
16:46of Woolsthorpe in 1643.
16:48He never got to meet his father,
16:50also named Isaac Newton,
16:52who passed away before his son was born.
16:55Around the same time,
16:56over in Florence,
16:57Galileo Galilei,
16:59another brilliant scientist,
17:01took his last breath.
17:03Little did Newton know,
17:04He would later take up Galileo's ideas
17:06and make them legendary.
17:09Back in his very first days,
17:11little Isaac had to struggle to survive
17:12as he came into this world prematurely.
17:15He was so small
17:16that he could fit inside a big mug.
17:18His mom remarried soon after he was born,
17:21and his stepdad took her to another village
17:23to raise his own family.
17:25Newton ended up at his grandma's,
17:27separated from his mom for a good nine years.
17:30The boy would mostly spend time alone.
17:33This left an impact on his entire life.
17:36Years later,
17:37when he was making a journal of his wrongs,
17:39he even confessed to some fiery thoughts
17:42about his stepdad,
17:43like wanting to burn down the house.
17:48On the bright side,
17:50he became interested in books
17:51on mechanics and technology.
17:53He created a detailed system of sundials
17:56that were super accurate at telling time.
17:58His uncle and his school headmaster
18:01saw his intellectual potential.
18:03Years later,
18:04when his mother became a widow again
18:05and wanted Isaac to run the family property,
18:08the headmaster and the uncle
18:10managed to convince her
18:11it wasn't the best idea.
18:13Instead of tending to cows and crops,
18:15the future science star
18:16would curl up under a tree
18:18with a good book.
18:19His mother finally gave up,
18:21and the young man went back to grammar school.
18:24At 18,
18:25he was ready to enroll
18:26at Trinity College, Cambridge.
18:28To pay for his education,
18:30Newton was doing a sort of a
18:32work and study program,
18:34waiting on tables
18:34and taking care of other students' rooms.
18:37At the time he arrived there,
18:40the world was witnessing
18:41groundbreaking discoveries.
18:41The new concepts of nature
18:44and the universe.
18:46But, like at most universities,
18:48Newton was taught
18:49the old Aristotelian philosophy.
18:52He felt like the standard curriculum
18:54wasn't enough for him,
18:55and he spent his spare time
18:57reading modern philosophers
18:58and studying new mathematics.
19:01He put down his findings
19:02in a notebook entitled
19:04Certain Philosophical Questions.
19:06And although he graduated
19:08without honors,
19:09it was the starting point
19:10for his brilliant scientific career.
19:15In 1665,
19:16the plague hit,
19:17shutting down the whole university.
19:20Newton was stuck at home
19:21for the next couple of years,
19:22and his brain went into overdrive.
19:25He was cooking up
19:26groundbreaking ideas
19:27from the comfort of his own home
19:29and laid the groundwork
19:30for what we now call calculus.
19:32And he didn't stop there.
19:34The genius took
19:35a previous insight he had
19:37and expanded it
19:38into an essay called
19:39Of Colors.
19:41It contained loads
19:42of mind-bending ideas
19:44that later found their way
19:45into his famous work
19:47called Optics,
19:48uncovering the secrets
19:49of light and colors.
19:51He denied that light
19:53was simple and homogenous.
19:55He found it to be
19:56a really complex phenomenon.
19:58He also stated that light
20:00is separated into different colors
20:02by a prism.
20:03And it was during this shutdown
20:05that the famous
20:06Newton versus an apple episode happened.
20:08There's no proof
20:09that the fruit actually dropped
20:11on the scientist's head.
20:12But he did spend time
20:14in the orchard
20:15and watching an apple drop
20:16made him wonder
20:17why apples always fall
20:19straight to the ground,
20:20not sideways or upwards.
20:23Now, that might not sound like much,
20:25but that little tidbit
20:26became the cornerstone
20:28of the law
20:28of universal gravitation.
20:30The world had no clue
20:32about these mind-blowing discoveries
20:34happening in Newton's brain, though.
20:37Once the shutdown was over,
20:40the bright mind
20:40got a minor fellowship
20:41at Trinity College.
20:43He started teaching there
20:44when he was 26.
20:46Newton was still not exactly
20:48the communicative type,
20:50had few close friends,
20:51and often forgot to eat
20:53because all his thoughts
20:54were focused on work.
20:56He wasn't the student's
20:57favorite lecturer
20:58and is said to have taught
20:59an empty class
21:00when no one showed up.
21:02It didn't bother
21:03the scientist, though.
21:04He always preferred
21:05doing his own research
21:06to teaching others.
21:08At that stage of his career,
21:10Newton wrote a treatise
21:11which he shared with friend
21:13and mentor Isaac Barrow.
21:14This was the first time
21:16when the mathematics community
21:17noticed and recognized
21:19Newton's work.
21:20Soon after,
21:22Barrow resigned from Cambridge
21:23and left Newton in charge
21:25of the chair.
21:26His findings and works
21:28became famous in the world
21:29thanks to the Royal Society
21:31of London.
21:32They recognized him
21:33and got interested in Newton
21:34when they found out
21:35about his invention,
21:37the first known
21:37successful reflecting telescope.
21:40Previous telescopes
21:41used lenses to focus light
21:43and the image got distorted.
21:45Newton's invention
21:46used a mirror
21:48which made the images
21:49much clearer.
21:53The scientist
21:55couldn't stand
21:55any criticism
21:56and never forgave
21:57people who dared
21:58to speak badly
21:59about his work.
22:00At some point,
22:01the criticism of others
22:02made him spend
22:03six years of his life
22:05in complete solitude.
22:07His probably biggest
22:09intellectual rival
22:10was scientist
22:11and philosopher
22:12Gottfried Liebnis.
22:13The two couldn't decide
22:14which of them
22:15had invented calculus.
22:16Newton had developed
22:18his version back
22:19in the 1660s
22:20but he was so secretive
22:21that he decided
22:22not to share it
22:23with the world.
22:24A decade later,
22:25Liebnis formulated
22:26his own version
22:27of calculus
22:28and went on to publish it
22:29another year later.
22:31Newton accused Liebnis
22:32of straight up
22:33plagiarizing
22:34his unpublished writings.
22:36Liebnis claimed
22:37that he had independently
22:38reached his results
22:39and suggested
22:39that Newton was actually
22:41the one stealing
22:42from his published work.
22:43Liebnis,
22:44in an attempt
22:45to defend himself,
22:46appealed to the Royal Society.
22:48the prestigious
22:48scientific organization.
22:50And guess who was
22:51the president
22:52of the society?
22:53You guessed it,
22:54Newton himself.
22:55He stacked the committee
22:57that was to make
22:57the decision
22:58with his own supporters
22:59and even wrote
23:00the committee's report
23:01himself.
23:02In the end,
23:03Newton's version of events
23:04was the one
23:05publicly credited
23:06but Liebnis's system
23:07of calculus
23:08is the one
23:08commonly used today.
23:11When Isaac Newton
23:12passed away,
23:13he left behind
23:14no will
23:14and a massive pile
23:16of work
23:17around 10 million words
23:18which is enough
23:19to fill a whopping
23:20150 novel-length books.
23:23These correspondences,
23:25notes,
23:25and manuscripts
23:26contained page
23:27after page
23:28of mind-blowing
23:29scientific
23:30and mathematical brilliance.
23:31And they also revealed
23:33another side of Newton
23:34that his family
23:35desperately tried
23:36to keep under wraps.
23:38Alongside his
23:39groundbreaking scientific work,
23:40Newton was knee-deep
23:42into alchemy
23:43and theology.
23:44The man was determined
23:45to decode
23:46divine prophecies.
23:48Newton didn't have
23:49any offspring
23:50so the husband
23:51of his half-niece
23:52became his heir.
23:53He didn't want
23:54the world to discover
23:55that side
23:56of the scientific star.
23:57For centuries,
23:58they kept Newton's work
23:59hidden from prying eyes.
24:02Only in the late 1800s
24:04the papers finally
24:05made their way
24:06to Cambridge.
24:07They were chaotic
24:08and unsorted.
24:09A total nightmare.
24:10The university
24:11assigned John Couch Adams,
24:14the co-discoverer
24:15of Neptune,
24:16and George Stokes,
24:17another brilliant physicist,
24:19to sort Newton's works.
24:20The scientists
24:21decided to procrastinate
24:23for 16 years.
24:24But when they finally
24:26faced the daunting task
24:27of going through
24:28the papers,
24:28they were in
24:29for a shock.
24:30Imagine being confronted
24:32with the works
24:33of this scientific hero
24:34only to discover
24:35that he was writing
24:36about alchemy.
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