9.
Lost Vehicle
Crossing an unforgiving polar environment can be both time-consuming and life-threatening.
Exploring these landscapes became much easier and safer with the invention of specially-built
vehicles designed for the intense conditions, but the earliest designs weren’t exactly
the greatest.
One colossal failure of a machine ended up being abandoned simply because it was easier
than trying to drive it anywhere.
In 1937, the United States Antarctic Service Expedition brainstormed to figure out exactly
what type of vehicle would be best for their exploration.
They settled on plans for a massive machine they called the Antarctic Snow Cruiser.
Nicknamed the “Penguin,” it would be able to cruise across the continent’s 5,000 miles
(8,047 km) of rugged terrain while doubling as a living quarters for its five-man crew.
Explorer Thomas Poulter designed the 56-foot-long (17 meters) vehicle after becoming trapped
at a remote Antarctic base, which made him realize the potential benefits of a mobile
base.
After two years of planning, the Antarctic Snow Cruiser was built in just 11 weeks.
It housed a control cabin, machine shop, storage room, kitchen, and living quarters., Making
it a sort of Antarctic RV.
Equipped with two powerful diesel engines, it reached speeds of up to 30 miles per hour
(48.3 km/hr).
The wheels on this gigantic beast measured 10 feet (3 meters) in diameter, and it was
capable of raising and lowering its suspension.
These features certainly made the Antarctic Snow Cruiser seem like it was capable of effortlessly
gliding across the continent’s surface in even the most inhospitable conditions.
But the reality turned out to be much different.
In fact, things fell apart right from the moment the vehicle arrived in Antarctica.
First, it collapsed a wooden deck while disembarking from the ship that delivered it.
Then, it proved entirely useless in the snow and on the ice.
The cruiser was too heavy, and its tires were too smooth, even with chains on them.
It was so difficult to drive that its crew converted it into a stationary base after
months of struggling with it.
At the onset of World War II, the U.S. government summoned its personnel in the Antarctic for
more pressing duties elsewhere.
The Antarctic Snow Cruiser was abandoned and became buried in snow.
It was rediscovered in 1958, when a crew saw its signal poles sticking up out of the snow.
They dug it out using a bulldozer and left it in place.
Since then, the Ross Ice Shelf has calved (or split) several times, dropping large icebergs
into the sea.
While passing by in 1963, a ship’s crew noticed debris that might have belonged to
the Antarctic Snow Cruiser.
It’s possible that the vehicle plunged to a watery grave during one of these calving
events.
Two researchers are pretty certain that they’ve pinpointed its general location, but for now,
its presence along the seafloor is only a theory.
8.
A Massive Cargo Plane
A C-130 Hercules cargo aircraft called Juliet Delta 321 took an unexpectedly long break
from flying in late 1971 due to mechanical problems.
The plane had just delivered supplies to a scientific expedition in Antarctica when one
of the rockets used for takeoff malfunctioned.
It crash-landed on the ice, and its landing gear collapsed.
Thankfully, nobody was injured, but recovering the plane would be too complicated and expensive.
Juliet Delta 321 was stripped of its radios, instruments, and other navigational equipment
and was abandoned at the crash site.
Recovering the plane started to seem more realistic after two other C-130 planes were
salvaged in Antarctica in the years immediately following the crash.
Plans to retrieve Juliet Delta 321 were finally drawn up in 1986, 15 years after the accident.
A six-man crew spent five weeks digging the aircraft out from under 20 feet (6.1 meters)
of snow.
Then, they removed the engines and sent them for repairs.
The following season, another crew went to the plane and performed repairs on-site.
Juliet Delta 321 took to the skies again in early 1988, over 16 years after it came to
rest on the ice.
7.
Giant Prehistoric Viruses
Let’s face it: as the global COVID-19 pandemic rages on, many of us are far more terrified
of viruses than we used to be – and with good reason.
So it may seem kind of crazy that after discovering two huge ancient viruses in the Siberian permafrost,
scientists wanted to bring them back to life.
But that’s exactly what they did in 2014 after discovering the prehistoric pathogens
frozen 100 feet (30.5 meters) underground.
Dubbed Pithovirus sibericum and Mollivirus sibericum, these so-called “giant viruses”
are big enough to be seen under a standard microscope.
They became infectious very quickly after they were revived.
Thankfully, as simple, single-celled organisms, they don’t pose much of a threat to humans.
But the study emphasized the sobering reality that we are not safe from ancient viruses
and bacteria, especially as global temperatures rise and permafrost thaws, threatening to
release the pathogens into the environment.
This is especially concerning as climate change makes the Siberian shore more accessible to
the drilling and mining industries.
It’s entirely possible that the first viruses to infect humans in the Arctic could reemerge,
as well as viruses that infected other hominins, like the Neanderthals and other pre-human
species.
The ability to revive long-frozen viruses challenges the idea that a virus could possibly
be eradicated from the planet.
Society has developed a false sense of security when it comes to assuming things previously
eradicated are no longer a threat, and we can now say that this is a lesson we’ve
learned firsthand.
6.
A Missing Man
Russia’s Yakutia region is the coldest populated area on Earth.
Even during the summer, temperatures can drop as low as minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit (-20
Celsius).
Winters are much more brutal – during the month of January, for example, the average
temperature is minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit (-40 Celsius).
When 45-year-old father of three Yegor Krivoshapkin vanished in Yakutia in August, the outlook
was grim.
As the days turned into weeks, the odds of him being found alive grew extremely thin.
When it comes to surviving in the harsh Siberian wilderness, the deck is stacked against even
the most seasoned experts.
Authorities gave up on their search after six weeks and told Krivoshapkin’s family
that they needed to be realistic – that they needed to understand that it was almost
impossible for him to still be alive.
But they refused to give up hope and did everything in their power to try finding him.
Two months after disappearing, Krivoshapkin appeared at a remote campsite belonging to
a reindeer breeder.
He was disoriented and confused, and had somehow ended up 190 miles (306 km) from where he
vanished.
He wasn’t exactly frozen in the ice, but he might as well have been after sleeping
under trees and wandering the Siberian tundra for weeks on end.
The community was shocked to learn that Krivoshapkin was alive, and that he’d managed to avoid
freezing to death or being eaten by bears or wolves.
What’s even more surprising is that frostbite is the only injury he seems to have sustained.
Luckily, he’s still able to walk.
At last update, Krivoshapkin was recovering at a hospital in stable condition.
Krivoshapkin told his sister that he had lost touch with reality and experienced blackouts
as he traversed the terrain.
He had survived on tinned food that had been dropped by Soviet aircraft some 40 years earlier.
This was the second time the man went missing.
Two years earlier, he became disoriented by forest fires and got lost.
Krivoshapkin was found two months later, 75 miles (121 km) from where he disappeared.
Hopefully, it doesn’t happen again, because he may not be so lucky next time.
5.
Fecal Fuel
Polar explorer Jørgen Brønlund died in a cave, frostbitten and starving, during an
expedition to Greenland’s northern coast in November 1907.
The Greenland-born Inuit was the last member of the expedition’s three-man team to perish,
and the only one whose remains were ever found.
While he lay in the cave dying, Brønlund recorded his final thoughts in a diary containing
a heavy black smudge on one of its pages.
For a long time, experts were unable to determine what the material was.
A recent analysis of the mysterious substance using new technology detected traces of oil,
burned rubber, and feces, leading researchers to suspect that he desperately tried using
anything he could to light a petroleum burner.
But his attempts at obtaining life-saving warmth failed, and he succumbed to the harsh
conditions he was trapped in.
Brønlund met his fate over inland ice during the team’s return trip to the base camp.
By the time he found shelter in the cave, expedition members Mylius-Erichsen and Niels
Peter Høeg Hagen had already died from exposure and exhaustion.
The diary contains details about where the men’s bodies were, but nobody ever found
them.
Another expedition discovered Brønlund’s body and belongings in 1908.
They buried him where he died and kept the diary – which, as you can see, researchers
are still learning new things about today.
Yuck.
What would you do if you became lost in a frozen landscape?
Would you resort to using anything as fuel?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below and don’t forget to like and subscribe
for more fascinating videos.
4.
Wreckage Lost in Time
In 1952, an Anchorage-bound U.S. Air Force cargo plane crashed into Alaska’s Mount
Gannett, claiming all 52 souls aboard.
It was en route from Washington State when it ended up several miles off-course.
Civil Air Patrol Lieutenant Terris Moore discovered the wreckage six days later.
The plane was practically unrecognizable, with only its tail remaining intact.
The crash had triggered a major avalanche which, combined with glacial movement, encased
the plane in snow and ice.
Within a year, over 50 feet (15 meters) of snow had piled on top of the wreck.
Nobody saw the downed aircraft again until 2012, when an Army National Guard Helicopter
spotted debris while flying overhead.
At first, officials assumed it was a crash that hadn’t been reported yet, but a ground
search revealed the plane’s true identity.
In the 60 years since it crashed, the wreckage had traveled 13 miles (21 km) from where the
accident occurred.
A volunteer military crew recovered what they could during the one month it’s safe to
travel to the site.
They amassed a growing collection of personal effects, including uniforms, dog tags, wedding
rings, wallets, and more.
The crew has also uncovered the remains of 37 people who died in the disaster.
Airplane parts and artifacts continue to surface as the team painstakingly explored the wreck.
Air Force officials blamed the crash on a pilot navigational error resulting from poor
weather and unsophisticated instruments.
3.
Resurrected Worms
In 2018, scientists attempted to revive two species of microscopic nematode worms that
were found in the Siberian permafrost.
They had spent tens of thousands of years frozen, in what researchers suspected was
a state of suspended animation.
The team analyzed two soil samples containing nematodes from different parts of Siberia.
They separated and defrosted the females, and soon enough, the worms were moving around.
The experiment was a groundbreaking success, marking what the team described as the first
known example of multicellular organisms returning to life after spending so long in a deep freeze.
Nematodes are just one millimeter long on average.
Such a small creature naturally doesn’t seem very hardy, but they’re incredibly
resilient, as the study proved.
Some are found living as far as 0.8 miles (1.3 km) underground – deeper than any other
multicellular organisms.
And while nematodes are extremely adept at surviving in a variety of environments, their
ability to come back to life after over 30,000 years later was a serious game-changer in
our understanding of just how long some creatures can spend in suspended animation.
2.
The Long Ago Person
Back in 1999, a group of Canadian sheep hunters discovered human remains on a melting glacier
in British Columbia, near the Yukon border.
A walking stick, bones, and a fur garment lay nearby.
The discoverers notified the authorities about the body, and representatives of the local
Champagne and Aishihik First Nations territory reported to the scene.
There, they found an incomplete male skeleton with a missing skull.
They named him Kwäday Dän Ts'ìnchi, which means “Long Ago Person Found” in their
traditional language.
The First Nations and the British Columbia government agreed to work together to study
the body, ensuring that scientific research could be carried out while respecting indigenous
values and customs.
Researchers determined that Kwäday Dän Ts'ìnchi lived around 1700 A.D., or roughly 300 years
ago.
He was a young, healthy man between the ages of 17 and 22 when he died, indicating that
an unexpected accident took his life.
The iron blade knife and spear thrower discovered alongside him suggest he was a hunter.
Kwäday Dän Ts'ìnchi’s other personal belongings included a robe made from 95 gopher
skins, a beaver skin bag, a walking stick, and a spruce root hat.
Digestive tract analysis showed that he ate beach asparagus and shellfish during his last
hours, meaning he likely started his journey near saltwater.
In fact, he consumed shellfish for most of his life, only switching to meat a month or
two before he perished.
Scientists theorize that he grew up near a coast, spent some of his last months in Canada’s
interior, then once again relocated to the coast shortly before his death.
DNA evidence traced Kwäday Dän Ts'ìnchi to 17 of his living relatives.
But researchers are uncertain of his journey’s purpose and destination.
In 2001, scientists returned the man’s remains to the Champagne and Aishihik Nations, who
cremated him and returned the ashes to his original resting place.
1.
Message in a Bottle
In 1959, during a time when shrinking glaciers weren’t a major focal point among scientists,
American geologist Paul T. Walker developed a curiosity about the matter.
He wanted to know if a glacier on Ward Hunt Island in Canada’s High Arctic was retreating,
but the only way to do that would be to revisit it in the future and take measurements.
Since Walker knew he might not be back in the area anytime soon, he figured that maybe
future visitors could help him out.
He placed a handwritten message in a bottle asking the reader to measure the distance
between the glacier and the cairn that he left the bottle in.
The note also requested for the person to mail the information to Walker’s lab.
Most of the geologist’s contemporaries expected the glacier to grow, if anything.
Walker was certainly unorthodox for entertaining the possibility that it could shrink.
Little did his colleagues at the time know, Walker’s thinking was way ahead of their
time.
Sadly, the forward-thinking scientist passed away just months after he left the bottle,
and his experiment was left unfinished.
Fifty-four years later in 2013, researchers Warwick Vincent and Denis Sarrazin found the
bottle and its note.
They honored the late geologist's wish and calculated that the glacier had retreated
233 feet (71 meters) since 1954.
Thanks for watching!
Which one of these discoveries was the coolest to you?
Let us know in the comments below and don’t forget to subscribe if you haven’t already!
See you next time!
Bye! :)