• From cloud formations to one of the biggest mysteries of all time, we count 10 natural
phenomena that science can’t explain.
10 – Naga Fireballs*, • These are red glowing balls of energy
that apparently naturally rise up to two-hundred metres above the Mekong river before disappearing.
• Locals in Thailand have reported up to thousands per night, but it has yet to be
explained by any scientist with any sort of convincing reasoning.
• Some say it might be soldiers shooting flares, but the locals have never heard any
gunshots that would have to go with this reason.
• A more convincing, yet still not quite right explanation is that it’s phosphine
gas created by the marshy environment, but these fireballs wouldn’t last nearly as
long as even one-hundred metres. 9 – Taos Hum,
• The Taos hum is a low-frequency noise that sounds like a distant diesel engine idling
and is heard by 2% of Taos residents in a radius up to 48km and it causes serious frustration
to most that can hear it.
• A similar effect was heard in a Canadian town and was proven to be mechanical in nature,
but no one has managed to locate the source of the hum in the town of Taos and it seems
to be at a different frequency.
• Some people suggest it’s a mental disorder, since behavioural therapy can lead to people
no longer hearing the sound at all, however such a mass hysteria is very unlikely.
8 – Star Jelly, • Star Jelly is a gooey substance found
in grass and trees and it has been around for centuries; folklore explains it as a residue
caused by meteor showers, but no science supports this theory in any way.
• Most, if not all scientific theories on the subject suggest it to be biological in
source, it has been proven to be non-toxic, but other than that the theories vary from
bird vomit to blue-green algae.
7 – Earthquake Lights, • These colourful lights have been sporadically
seen in the sky during earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions since 1888 and possibly
much earlier.
• Scientists are looking into this phenomena to this very day, some suggest it’s an electric
field caused by quartz being located at the source of the tectonic agitations.
• The most resent explanation suggests that it’s the release of charged oxygen caused
by the tectonic activity breaking molecular bonds and this is the most well-regarded,
albeit yet unproven, theory.
6 – Mammatus Clouds, • Literally meaning mammary clouds, these
are bulbous cells of cloud that hang from the base of a cloud and they appear during
severe thunderstorms or volcanic activity.
• Most theories are related to differences in wetness, pressure and heat, but some include
something as cosmic as gravitational waves.
• There are so many different theories that it’s pretty clear that no-one really understands
how, or why they happen.
5 – The Hessdalen Lights*, • These are bright, yellow-tinted lights
that have been reported in the Hessdalen valley in Norway since the 1930s and multiple scientists
have been looking seriously into the matter since 1983.
• There’s little to no doubt of their existence since they were especially frequent
during the early eighties, sometimes being viewed up to 20 times a week.
• The most hole-proof theory is that it’s plasma dust caused by radon decay in the atmosphere
and pretty much all of the phenomenon’s attributes can be explained by plasma, although
we’re still not sure it’s possible.
4 – Ball Lightning, • Ball Lightning appears during thunderstorms
and they last long enough for you to get your phone out and photograph them; they’re between
the size of a pea and several metres and some sources say they explode at the end and cause
fatalities and leave a scent of sulphur.
• Until the sixties most scientists believed this to be an urban legend, but it has been
long since proved that it actually happens, although the explosive nature is yet to be
confirmed.
• Many theories exist, some made in the 1800s are still possible, some theories suggest
that it’s actually a highly-charged ball of matter others go so far as to say they’re
caused by mini-black-holes entering our atmosphere.
3 – Raining Fish, • The legend of raining aquatic animals
dates back to the Old Testament, but there are more recent observations that make many
scientists scratch their heads trying to come up with an answer.
• One theory says that it’s caused by waterspouts picking up and throwing fish high
into the air, with them then falling down, usually being killed by the impact.
• Another person thinks that they never actually rain down at all and are instead
flooded onto the streets, when people walk outside they just assume that they fell from
the sky.
2 – Jordkast, • This is a strange phenomenon that happens
in Sweden where a large block of ice is somehow lifted out of the ground and thrown several
metres aside, what’s left is a giant hard to explain hole in the ice.
• One geologist noticed that it dislodged earth as well and suggested that it was caused
by a lightning strike, another theory suggests it was caused by impure water being frozen,
but this doesn’t explain how such a large chunk could be moved.
1 – Life Itself • Easily one of, if not the, biggest question
that humanity faces is how on Earth does Earth have life?
• Most agree that all life evolved from a single common ancestor from 3,900 million
years ago, but what caused that to happen is up to debate.
• An interesting and surprisingly possible theory is that a chunk of another life-holding
planet’s waste landed on Earth and we evolved from there, but that just moves the question
back one step.
• The most logical, but also most boring theory is that we just had the right molecules
and climate for chemicals to react and form the building blocks of life, which then combined
together to form a very basic lifeform.