• Science and research are coming on at a breakneck speed but there’s still some
big questions out there.
Will we ever be able to find the answers from our past?
And what questions will remain forever unanswered.
Here’s the top 15 unsolved mysteries.
15 – Why is there more matter than anti-matter?
• In most physics, it seems like things balance; energy is conserved, forces are equalled
out and so on.
But, not when it comes to matter and anti-matter as there is way, way more matter.
• This is a good thing for us as, if there were equal amounts, they would cancel each
other out and the universe would be a very empty place.
• But, we still don’t have any idea why it’s like this.
14 – Madelaine McCann • On the 3rd of May 2007, 3-year-old British
girl Madelaine McCann disappeared while on holiday in Portugal with her family.
• The parents left Maddie, and her 2-year-old twin siblings, asleep in the ground floor
apartment while they ate just 50 metres away.
At 20:30 she was there but by 20:00 she had gone.
• No trace of her has ever been seen again.
13 – Shroud of Turin • The Shroud of Turin is a 53 square foot
cloth that was supposedly wrapped around the body of Jesus after he was crucified.
• A photographic negative from the end of the 19th century showed there was the imprint
of a man.
And since then, scientific analysis has been unable to prove the shroud is a fake.
• Carbon dating puts it in the 13th or 14th century but only small samples have been taken
and the cloth was repaired at some point.
• What’s more, although it first appears in records in a French church, genetic analysis
shows the strongest correlation with the Middle East.
12 – Who was Shakespeare really?
• Despite his unbelievable influence on the English language and western culture in
general, we know almost nothing about the great bard, William Shakespeare
• He was born in Stratford in 1564, he acted and he married Anne Hathaway and…well, that’s
about it really.
Pretty much all we have on him.
• There have been numerous theories that the works are really by others such as writer
Christopher Marlowe or the late-night scribbling of Elizabeth I. Who knows, maybe the current
Queen of England is secretly writing the 50 Shades of Grey series.
11 – How did life begin?
• Given how we can barely remember anyone’s birthday, it’s no surprise we have some
trouble working out how life began.
• We know how complicated chemistry forms.
We have solid theories on how simple life became more advanced.
But when it comes from the switch over from chemical chain to living organism, nope, no
idea.
10 – How does gravity work?
• Gravity is an incredibly weak force.
It may not seem like that when you’re trying to climb the stairs but you only feel it when
you get to planet sized objects.
But every particle attracts all other particles, through gravity, in the tinniest tinniest
way.
• But we’re still in the dark on where this force of attraction comes from or how
it’s generated.
9 – The Dancing Plague of 1518 • A rave began in the town of Strasbourg
in July 1518.
The only problem was, there was no music, just one woman thrashing about.
But before they condemned her as a witch, more people joined her uncontrollable boogie
until there were about 400 people.
• It continued for over a week and many died of heart attacks and exhaustion.
It was likely some kind of seizure but this is just a guess.
8 - How does homing work?
• Pigeons are famous for their ability to find their way home across hundreds of miles.
And they are far from alone in this skill.
• We don’t even know what sense they are using; some theories are based on smell, others
on ultralow sounds.
• One study on pigeons even concluded that they were just following the roads!
7 - Nampa Figurine • A tiny figurine was found in the South
Idaho town of Nampa, back in 1889.
It is clearly shaped like a human and fits the kind of artistry that we’ve dug up from
about 30,000 years ago • The only trouble is, the figure was found
deep within a clay layer that was 2 million years old, and it was deeply coloured by the
iron oxides that you find at that level.
• It’s certainly very ancient but modern humans are only 200,000 years old, so who
made it?
6 – The Taos Hum • The town of Taos in New Mexico has had
a hum since the early 90s.
The strange thing about it is that those who can hear it, often describe it as a different
sound; to some a buzz, to others a lower vibration.
• No obvious source can be found so can this be explained a mass audio hallucination?
5 – Rommel’s treasure • When German general Rommel lead the Nazi
operations in North Africa, he systematically looted the Jews living in Tunisia.
• However, when they needed to quickly escape Allied advances in 1943, they buried around
200 kilos of gold bullion somewhere along the coast of Corsica.
And it’s still out there so take a snorkel if you’re ever on holiday there.
4 - The Atlas Vampire • Lilly Lindström was a prostitute in the
Atlas district of Stockholm in 1932.
She hadn’t been seen for days so police broke in to her apartment.
• She was found with a used condom in her anus, a fatal beating to her head, saliva
on her neck and body and most of her blood drained.
• There was also a bloody ladle that the so-called vampire could have used to drink
the blood.
3 – Who built Teotihuacan • The ruins of Teotihuacan lie just 30 miles
from Mexico City and famously housed the Aztecs.
• However, they didn’t build this city, with its huge stone pyramid.
It was about a thousand years old by the time they came across it and reinhabited.
• Before the 1400s, it was the largest city in the western hemisphere but it’s builders
are a mystery.
2 – JFK and the babushka lady • The Assassination of JFK is full of conspiracy
theories.
But there is one mystery that is very real and we have never got close to an answer.
• In a handful of photographs from that day is a woman with her head covered, hence
the name “babushka lady”, pointing a camera at the passing car.
She also is on film and acts suspiciously calmly while people race around her.
1 – Why does time only flow one way?
• Maybe the most fundamental law of the universe is the law of entropy.
This states that things always go from being organised to disorganised, on a big scale
at least.
• Smoke never flows back into a cigarette, you can’t unstir the milk from your coffee.
These would only happen if time reversed, but it doesn’t, and we have no solid theory
why.