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Scientists are unlocking eerie ocean sounds in Antarctica and investigating hidden mysteries beneath Yellowstone. These discoveries could change what we know about our planet!
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00:01Ooh, you're diving into the dark and icy waters of Antarctica.
00:05The eerie blue darkness is enveloping you, reminiscent of the vast expanse of open space.
00:11In these depths, where you least expect to encounter any living creature,
00:16you suddenly hear a loud, strange sound.
00:20A quacking noise, as if a giant duck was hidden in the deep.
00:26In 1960, researchers first recorded this sound.
00:30And named it Bio-Duck. Clever.
00:32For decades, they tried to unravel the mystery of its source.
00:36Was it a giant kraken?
00:38An extraterrestrial spaceship that had crashed into the ocean?
00:42A mysterious sea monster?
00:44Or perhaps, an enormous duck?
00:47There were many versions, one more bizarre than the other.
00:51Oceanographers detected similar sounds in other locations as well.
00:55Off the western coast of Australia, and near New Zealand,
01:00they recorded similar, but higher-pitched signals, which they named Bio-Goose.
01:06It seems the creepy atmosphere of the story disappears with such names.
01:11Anyways, these sounds were not isolated incidents.
01:14They happened multiple times with consistent intervals.
01:17Many initially thought the source must be mechanical, given the regularity of the sounds.
01:22However, studying the oceans in the latter half of the 20th century was challenging, because of limited technologies.
01:30Nevertheless, scientists persisted in collecting data on Bio-Duck and Bio-Goose, driven by their insatiable curiosity.
01:39As more data accumulated, so did the theories.
01:43But scientists eventually uncovered the mystery.
01:46Bio-Duck turned out to be a form of communication with a biological origin.
01:51When researchers analyzed the repeating sounds, they noticed that the signals never overlapped.
01:57One source would speak, while the others remained silent, suggesting a form of communication.
02:03The question remained, which ocean creature possessed such an extraordinary method of communicating through varied frequency sounds?
02:11The answer, as many have guessed, is whales.
02:16Scientists compared the Bio-Duck sound from Antarctica with the calls of minke whales, and found striking similarities.
02:24The Bio-Goose sounds from the waters off Australia and New Zealand likely belonged to other species or very young
02:30minke whales.
02:32This discovery, however, only deepened the mystery.
02:35What purpose did these sounds serve?
02:37Were the whales discussing their dinner plans, laughing at the humans recording their voices, or perhaps sharing deep insights about
02:45the universe?
02:46The possibilities were endless.
02:48But the most astonishing revelation was that humans might one day learn to communicate with these magnificent creatures.
02:57Communicating with whales is no longer a far-fetched idea.
03:00Scientists from the University of California have already established contact with a humpback whale named Twain.
03:07In a groundbreaking experiment, researchers conducted a 20-minute conversation with a marine mammal.
03:14Here's how they did it.
03:16The specialists went on a marine expedition to the coast of Alaska, where they recorded the sounds of a group
03:22of humpback whales.
03:24Then they played these sounds through speakers, sending the signals back into the ocean.
03:29The recorded sounds resembled a greeting like, hey, what's up, but in the whale language.
03:35These greetings are used by whales to call each other or indicate their location.
03:40Now, soon after sending the signals, the researchers received a response.
03:45Twain approached the boat, circled it, and replied with a hey of its own.
03:49This marked the beginning of the first-ever human-whale conversation.
03:54For 20 minutes, the scientists sent 36 signals to Twain, and each time, the whale responded.
04:01Moreover, it waited for time intervals before answering.
04:04That is, the team received a response from the whale, waited 10 seconds, and turned on the sound again.
04:11Researchers then waited 10 seconds and answered.
04:14It seems that Twain was a very delicate interlocutor.
04:17Maybe it was a gentleman in the whale world, who knows?
04:21Or maybe it was simply intrigued by the unusual interaction.
04:26The signals used in this communication belong to a group of whales that included Twain.
04:31It's likely that the researchers had recorded Twain's own sounds and used them to communicate with it.
04:37In a sense, Twain was conversing with itself.
04:42Now, let's continue our journey and venture into the deepest oceanic trench on Earth, the Mariana Trench.
04:48A quick reminder, the Mariana Trench is a colossal chasm in the ocean floor,
04:53stretching over 1,500 miles south of Japan and reaching a depth of nearly 36,000 feet at its deepest
05:00point.
05:01To put that into perspective, the height of the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building,
05:05is like one-tenth of the Mariana Trench's depth.
05:09Now, imagine this.
05:11In this deep, dark abyss, scientists recorded a strange sound.
05:21Unlike Bioduck, this sound resembled something from a science fiction movie.
05:27A low rumble.
05:30Followed by a metallic ping.
05:34Reminiscent of the sounds made by spaceships in sci-fi movies.
05:38Researchers named this mysterious phenomenon bio-twang noises.
05:43Scientists first detected this strange sound in 2014 during an acoustic survey of the Mariana Trench.
05:50And they quickly identified its source.
05:52Whales.
05:54Specifically, bride's whales.
05:56Using artificial intelligence, researchers analyzed around 200,000 hours of audio recordings from the ocean
06:03and found matches with a group of bride's whales.
06:07Like other animals, these whales use sounds as a form of communication.
06:12Now, did you know what else was found at the bottom of the Mariana Trench?
06:16A plastic bottle.
06:18It's unlikely it was done by a kraken or a whale or some type of monster.
06:22Everything is simpler here.
06:24The bottle ended up there because of a human.
06:26But that's a topic for another video.
06:30Okay, let's deal with one more sound.
06:33No whales this time.
06:34Just a mysterious sound in the loneliest place on Earth.
06:37This place is called Point Nemo.
06:39And that's why it's so lonely.
06:42Located in the South Pacific Ocean, Point Nemo is the most remote spot from any land.
06:47The nearest island is 1,450 nautical miles away.
06:51It's about the same long distance from land in all other directions.
06:55Moreover, here, there's almost no marine life, since few water currents reach this spot.
07:01And therefore, few nutrients are supplied.
07:03In a sense, it's a water desert.
07:07And so, in 1997, oceanographers recorded a very strange and frightening sound
07:12coming from the depths in the area of Point Nemo.
07:21It was something gigantic and scary.
07:23People called it the Bloop.
07:26As soon as journalists found out about this phenomenon,
07:29people around the world began to invent the most fantastic versions.
07:33The most popular of them was that the sound source was a giant sea monster,
07:38kraken, or some other creature.
07:41The hype around the Bloop didn't last very long.
07:45Scientists managed to find out the nature of the mysterious noise.
07:48It turned out it belonged to an iceberg.
07:53When they crack and collapse, they create powerful ultra-low-frequency sounds that can be heard from a very long
07:59distance.
08:01To confirm this version, scientists recorded the sounds of other icebergs and heard something similar to the Bloop.
08:09By the way, Point Nemo is so lonely that space agencies drop out-of-surface satellites here.
08:16Space objects just fall in the water.
08:19There's a 99% chance that no animal or human will be harmed by falling debris in this lonely place.
08:25That's why many people call it the satellite cemetery.
08:29But what if, someday, a spaceship from another planet falls here?
08:34What if it has already fallen in Point Nemo and sometimes emits an emergency signal that breaks through the ocean?
08:41Ooh.
08:43All the mysteries you have heard have already been solved.
08:46How about we end this video with a mystery that still baffles scientists?
08:51Meet Upsweet.
08:57One of the most mysterious sounds ever recorded in the ocean.
09:01It's not just noise.
09:02It's a series of sharp ascending tones repeated at intervals of several seconds.
09:07It was first discovered in 1991 using hydrophones installed in the Pacific Ocean.
09:13At first, oceanographers suggested that upsweep could be associated with volcanic activity or underwater earthquakes.
09:21But the seasonal nature of the sound and its intensity change depending on the time of year, which rules out
09:28these versions.
09:29People began to consider hypotheses related to the biological life of the ocean.
09:35They studied the migration routes of marine animals and their behavior at different times of the year.
09:40However, despite all efforts, the sound source has not been identified.
09:45Some studies suggest that upsweep may be associated with certain species of fish or other marine animals that make sounds
09:53for communication or navigation.
09:54But no one has been able to prove it.
09:58We all know that space missions come with a hefty price tag.
10:02To break it down, a ticket to space for an astronaut starts at around $20 million and can soar up
10:08to $50 million.
10:10NASA may be a well-funded organization, but you can bet they're always on the lookout to cut costs and
10:16save millions wherever they can.
10:18Plus, NASA has long realized they do not need to go to Saturn's moon to study if there's life there.
10:24We already have the suitable conditions for extraterrestrial life in Wyoming.
10:29If that resonates with you, then you already understand why NASA is so interested in Yellowstone.
10:36To explore life beyond Earth, we need to study environments that mimic extraterrestrial conditions.
10:42That's where all those hot springs come into play.
10:45Now, it's not the entire park that piques NASA's interest.
10:49Let's leave the bears, moose, and other earthlings to our local biologists.
10:53The real hot spot is the geysers, where microbial life flourishes.
10:57Oh, by the way, Yellowstone has more geysers and hot springs than the rest of the world combined.
11:04In some of them, water can reach temperatures as high as 192 degrees Fahrenheit.
11:10You might think, hey, that's only good for steeping tea.
11:13But here's the thing.
11:14Life in the form of microbes not only survives, but thrives in these extreme conditions, having adapted specifically to them.
11:23So, could these microbes help us find life on other planets?
11:27Absolutely.
11:28Now, let's shine the spotlight on the real superstar, the Grand Prismatic Spring.
11:34It's packed with silica, which gives it that stunning color.
11:38Silica reflects sunlight, especially the blue wavelengths, which is why it looks so vibrant.
11:44The coolest part, though, is not the color, but the fact that this spring can teach us a lot about
11:50how life evolved.
11:51Way back around 4.5 billion years ago, I wasn't around then, living things didn't know how to harness energy
11:59from sunlight yet.
12:00So, they were using chemical processes instead, just like they do now at the Grand Prismatic Spring.
12:06But, why are we talking about other planets?
12:10Well, if life on Earth kicked off in a comparable way to what we see in Yellowstone, there's a good
12:15chance we could find something similar elsewhere in the universe.
12:19And, if we could nail down exactly how life started here, we could really fine-tune our search for life
12:25on other planets.
12:28Geysers, very similar to those in Yellowstone, can be found on moons like Insetilus, which orbits Saturn, and Triton, which
12:36is a moon of Neptune.
12:37But, how do they compare to the geysers we see in Yellowstone?
12:41Well, back in 1989, NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft made a groundbreaking discovery when it spotted geysers on Triton.
12:50This was the first time anyone had seen a geyser outside of Earth, not counting the volcanic eruptions on Jupiter's
12:56moon, Io, that were found by Voyager 1 in 1979.
13:00Since then, more geysers have been found on other moons in our solar system.
13:05Geysers on some of the outer moons get their heat from tidal forces, the gravitational pull from the big planets
13:12they orbit.
13:12You know how ocean tides on Earth are affected by the moon and the sun?
13:16Well, these moons experience something similar, but on a much larger scale.
13:22Beneath the icy surfaces of these moons are warm, salty oceans that stay liquid because the thick ice above keeps
13:29them insulated.
13:29As the moons move closer and further from their parent planets, the constant tugging creates heat,
13:36causing the warm water below to shoot out into space whenever there's a crack in the ice.
13:42This icy crust and the warm water underneath are a bit like a frozen pond on Earth.
13:48But could there be light swimming around in these hidden oceans, just like there are critters thriving beneath the ice
13:54of a pond?
13:55That's something scientists want to find out.
13:59NASA hopes to send advanced spacecraft to explore these distant moons and look for signs of life.
14:04But those warm oceans are buried miles beneath the frozen surface.
14:09So, how do we reach them?
14:11The answer may lie in geysers.
14:15In February 2019, a group of planetary scientists decided to visit Yellowstone in the winter
14:21to study the similarities between Earth's geysers and those in space.
14:25They know that Yellowstone's geysers are home to some tough little microbes called extremophiles,
14:31which thrive in extreme conditions like hot or acidic water.
14:35The researchers wanted to learn as much as they could about these microbes and the environments they live in.
14:41They brought along a bunch of scientific tools to measure things like temperature, pH levels, and oxygen in the water.
14:48They also used special instruments to analyze the chemicals in the ice and rocks and sniff the air for gases.
14:55Plus, they collected samples of rock, ice, and water from the geysers,
14:59catching tiny droplets on sheets of foil coated in geyser spray.
15:05Their main target was the Great Fountain Geyser in Yellowstone's Midway Geyser Basin,
15:10which puts on a spectacular show two to three times a day.
15:13However, visiting in winter posed some challenges.
15:17Some scientists were delayed by snowy weather, arriving late at night right before they were supposed to enter the park.
15:23Then their SUV got stuck in a snowdrift and had to be rescued by a snowplow.
15:30The next day, riding in a snow coach, the team had to trudge through deep snow for nearly a mile
15:36to reach the geyser,
15:37keeping an eye out for elk, bison, and even bears.
15:41As they made their way to the Great Fountain Geyser, they took breaks to gather samples and measurements from other
15:47interesting pools along the way,
15:49like Lemon Pool and Surprise Pool.
15:52Even though Yellowstone feels remote, it's not nearly as far away as places like Insetilus and Triton.
15:58It's a unique natural laboratory that can teach us a lot about life on Earth and potentially beyond.
16:05Oh, as for labs, the Great Prismatic Spring may count as one.
16:10Look at these guys.
16:11Under the microscope, they look like matches.
16:14Their official Latin name is Thermus aquaticus.
16:17They live in this hot spring, and these bacteria have saved millions of people's lives.
16:22Now, if you're skeptical about what I just said, then you need to know that these bacteria helped to create
16:28the basis of PCR tests,
16:30widely used in today's medicine to give fast and precise diagnosis.
16:34Back in the 60s, a microbiologist named Thomas Brock was exploring the park's superheated thermal pools and stumbled upon something
16:43amazing.
16:44Brock was super interested in bacteria that could thrive in extreme conditions.
16:48During his 10-year journey studying geysers and thermal springs,
16:53he found a microbe in a spring called Mushroom Pool that could survive in nearly boiling water.
16:59This little guy, Thermus aquaticus, turned out to be a game-changer for science.
17:05Why?
17:06Well, it's crucial for a technique called PCR, also known as polymerase chain reaction,
17:12which is used to quickly make copies of DNA samples.
17:15Before Brock's discovery, this process was tricky.
17:18Because the heat could damage the enzymes that hold DNA together.
17:22But thanks to Thermus aquaticus, scientists could now heat and cool DNA samples without breaking them down,
17:29making everything faster and easier.
17:31It all happened because researchers had purified an enzyme called TAG polymerase out of this organism.
17:39Those Yellowstone microbes could also be your new go-to for a delicious and sustainable breakfast.
17:45A unique microbe was discovered there during some NASA-funded research.
17:49And it's now being transformed into tasty vegan breakfast patties and cream cheese.
17:55Originally found in a hot spring, this little wonder is called Fusarium strange flavolapsus.
18:01And it caught the attention of space enthusiasts as a powerful protein source for long space missions.
18:07Plus, it requires way less water and land than beef, making it a smart choice for the planet.
18:14Researchers initially looked at this microbe for biofuel,
18:17but soon realized it could be cultivated into a complete protein with a texture reminiscent of chicken.
18:24Marked as FY, it can be turned into a variety of food products,
18:28all thanks to a fermentation process that keeps it free from contaminants.
18:33Oh, almost forgot.
18:34NASA is even working on a bioreactor to grow FY in space.
18:39Ooh, stay tuned!
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