there are surely more entire worlds in
the observable universe than there are
grains of sand on this one welcome to
watch mojo and today we're counting down
our picks for the top 10 most disturbing
scientific discoveries climate change
has also caused the sea level to rise
just in the last century sea levels have
risen 6.7 inches for this list we'll be
looking at the scariest and strangest
things that scientists have ever
discovered what's the most bizarre
science fact you know share it with us
in the comments
number 10 super volcano under
yellowstone
as the first national park in the united
states yellowstone is known for its
incredible wildlife picturesque
landscapes and stunning geothermal
features specifically geysers old
faithful and the other geysers and hot
springs are the result of volcanic
activity under the park the
yellowstone's super volcano has had
three super eruptions in the past 2.1
million years and scientists believe
that all three events led to extinctions
and changes in worldwide weather
patterns because its eruptions can eject
nearly 250
cubic miles of ash dust and gas while
another super eruption is unlikely to
happen anytime soon and the area is
under constant supervision the next
major event could significantly alter
the world as we know it natural systems
uh can can throw us a lot of curveballs
a lot of things can happen that we're
not really ready for number nine black
holes while black holes were predicted
by einstein's theory of general
relativity even einstein was skeptical
in 1971 however several researchers
confirmed that an astronomical object
discovered in the previous decade was in
fact a black hole it is the
fabric of the space-time continuum
warped back on itself and once you fall
in you are never coming out black holes
are the result of stars exploding into
supernovas at the end of their life
cycles and those supernovas in turn
collapsing in on themselves they are
areas with extraordinary mass and such
powerful gravitational forces that not
even light can escape their pole
the largest kind supermassive black
holes have the same mass as several
million suns these enormous objects are
large enough to absorb stars so it's no
wonder they feature in so many
terrifying science fiction scenes
[Music]
number eight lingering radioactivity
the lingering potency of radioactive
material is pretty disturbing an
extraordinary example comes from the
fate of marie curie a brilliant
scientist who conducted pioneering
research into radioactivity they emit
rays
i have called this
radioactivity the aplastic anemia that
caused her death in 1934 was tied to
long-term exposure to radioactive
materials and x-rays isn't it the most
beautiful thing you've ever seen
and you're sure you're sure of it i'm
certain
yes
it's the most beautiful thing i've ever
seen to this day her cookbooks and
papers from the 1890s are still
considered dangerously radioactive and
can only be handled when wearing special
protective clothing both curie's remains
and her papers are stored in lead lining
due to their lingering radioactivity
it's crazy to think how long
radioactivity can remain but at least we
now have the knowledge and tools to
avoid it in high doses what are you
doing these are radiation bones their
clothes are contaminated
help
me get it all off
number seven germs
the idea that tiny organisms invisible
to the naked eye sneak inside us and
make us sick only achieved widespread
acceptance relatively recently in the
late 19th century so let's say that this
guy has the flu could be any flu and
here's a droplet from his sneeze
containing if we move in and take a
really close look you see each one of
those little purple things is a virus
maybe that's because when you think
about it it's so damn creepy before then
the miasma theory dominated thought
teaching that illness was the result of
bad air now we know that microorganisms
are to blame invading our bodies in
various ways infiltrating our airways or
hitching a lift in our food
from mild colds to devastating illnesses
germs can cause all sorts of maladies of
course now that we know that germs are
there we've been able to develop
effective treatments for many of them
but it's still an unnerving discovery
whoa no germs
number six
scale of the universe
only in the last century have we come to
realize just how old and enormous the
universe is consider this grain of sand
held at arm's length
in that tiny area there are almost ten
thousand entire galaxies that's a
quadrillion stars and as many planetary
systems they say it's a small world but
even our home planet is big enough to
house billions of us our beautiful sun
is massive compared to earth but it's
tiny compared to the rest of the galaxy
which contains over 100 billion other
stars beyond our own milky way there are
several hundred billion other galaxies
across the known universe estimated to
be about 46.5 billion light years across
this is the cosmos on the grandest scale
we know
a network of 100 billion galaxies beyond
that the vastness of space continues
with a total diameter of at least 23
trillion light years just thinking about
it makes our heads spin
i'm freaking out
number five antibiotic resistant
superbugs
antibiotics are without a doubt one of
the most amazing discoveries in medicine
and have saved millions of lives
unfortunately as medicine advances so do
the things that make us sick the bug has
this sort of this intrinsic or innate
programming to try to survive like all
of us that's what we do as living
organisms
and the best way we learn how to survive
is through adaptation antibiotics are
seriously over prescribed and this has
helped germs evolve to become resistant
to their effects clostridium difficile
which causes deadly diarrhea is up 400
percent since 2007
and 67 of salmonella typhi cases are
resistant to at least one antibiotic
while antibacterial products are
incredible the more we use them the
stronger superbugs become we're not
saying you should stop washing your
hands or anything but maybe reach for a
non-antibacterial soap if you can the
next time you lather up
number four the powerful unconscious
mind
we like to think that we're in charge of
our own minds and decisions we don't
really understand what is influencing
our thoughts our perceptions our
feelings our judgments
and so that has a huge effect on our
behavior but in the late 19th and early
20th centuries austrian psychoanalyst
sigmund freud popularized the idea that
a vast unconscious mind directs her
actions what we perceive isn't really
what what the data that it's literally
out there but it's a construction that
our minds makes using our imagination
it's not really what's there in the late
1970s american neuroscientist benjamin
levitt conducted a famous experiment
that seemed to show that unconscious
processes precede conscious decisions of
course advertisers have known this for a
long time taking advantage to create
positive associations with their
products on the upside some studies have
shown that relying on your unconscious
mind can result in better
decision-making especially when it comes
to complex decisions these subliminal
aspects of everything that happens to us
may seem to play very little part in our
daily lives but they are the almost
invisible roots of our conscious
thoughts number three dark matter and
dark energy
scientists believe that dark matter
makes up 27 of the observable universe
and dark energy 68
what are they you ask no one knows
there's something else there there's
something beyond the galaxies that we
see the visible matter we've known about
dark matter since the 1930s when
astronomers realized that galaxies would
behave differently without the
gravitational effects of unseen matter
but we do know dark matter is there in
the same way that we know the wind is
there because we see the trees move we
have so much evidence for it including
the fact that the gravity it generates
is literally holding the cosmos together
our knowledge of dark energy is more
recent in 1998 researchers discovered
that the rate at which the universe is
expanding is accelerating the leading
explanation is that the cause is an
unknown form of energy at the end we
concluded that actually the universe
really isn't slowing down it's actually
speeding up in its expansion that means
that only about five percent of the
universe is made up of something that we
somewhat understand
number two mass extinctions
life finds a way right well not all the
time thanks to the work of
paleontologists we now know that there
have been at least five periods
throughout history where countless
species have disappeared off the face of
the planet the worst that we know about
the permian triassic extinction 250
million years ago killed off ninety
percent of the planet species right
before the biggest extinction event ever
the permian triassic mass extinction
there were huge
diversities of different types of
animals the most recent was the
cretaceous tertiary extinction that
killed off the dinosaurs 65 million
years ago famously there was a big
asteroid impact probably the biggest
asteroid impact in the last half a
billion years many scientists believe
that due to human activity the earth is
currently experiencing a sixth mass
extinction with about 900 species
disappearing in the last five centuries
and one million more now at risk before
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number one climate change
from receding glaciers to more intense
hurricane seasons we see the impacts of
climate change everywhere while earth
does have natural cycles of changing
temperatures this warming cycle is
unlike anything the planet has ever
experienced climate change as we know it
today is characterized by an abrupt
increase in the earth's temperature it
is estimated to have gotten 1.2 to 1.4
degrees fahrenheit warmer in just the
last century human activities such as
burning fossil fuels have released
massive amounts of carbon dioxide and
other greenhouse gases into the
atmosphere causing major changes since
the 19th century the more greenhouse
gases in the atmosphere the more heat
gets trapped strengthening the
greenhouse effect and increasing the
earth's temperature with skyrocketing
greenhouse gases it's no wonder we're
experiencing drastic shifts in the
planet's climate while there are efforts
to reduce the amount of warming we'll
see in the coming years they're
currently not enough to achieve the
goals established by the paris agreement
when it comes to climate change the main
takeaway is that it's real and although
we are part of the cause we can also be
part of the solution do you agree with
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