1. The impossible EmDrive, which violates the law of conservation of momentum, was first proposed by engineer Roger Scheuer. Last year, NASA Eagleworks laboratory specialists reported the successful testing of a prototype that developed a thrust of 1.2 mN/kW. Chinese scientists claim to be testing the same engine in space.
2. Humpback whales form mysterious supergroups, why is unknown. Typically, these solitary animals rarely gather together more than seven individuals. In March, a record group of 200 whales appeared off the coast of South Africa.
12 scientific discoveries of 2017
3. Astronomers have found evidence of a huge ninth planet on the edge of the solar system, but they have failed to discover it itself, even though NASA recruited thousands of volunteers to do so.
4. Archaeologists discovered a strange cavity inside the Cheops pyramid behind the northern facade of the building, and another one in its upper north-eastern part. It is assumed that there are secret rooms there that have kept their secret from thieves and scientists for thousands of years.
5. The fossil waterfowl Tullymonster with fins like a cuttlefish, eyes on stalks like a crab and a trunk with a jaw is causing controversy among modern scientists. It can be classified as a mollusk, arthropod, invertebrate, and more complex lamprey.
6. We still don't know what caused the fast radio signal detected on February 15, 2015 in Australia. The pulse was so powerful that some scientists suspected aliens. The source of another signal from 1977 was recently revealed, so perhaps we'll learn more about that one soon.
7. Three independent experiments found evidence beyond the standard model of particle physics. The experiments carried out raise, with a high degree of probability, doubt that the existence of tau leptons can be described by this theoretical construction. This means a new model will be required.
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8. "Alien Star" does not want to give up ground. At the end of May, it began to flicker again, chaotically reducing its brightness by 22% instead of the required 1%. Professional astronomers are helping the amateur community, and perhaps we will finally understand what is eclipsing the star KIC 8462852 - a swarm of comets, a fragment of a planet, or some kind of megastructure created by the hands of intelligent beings.
9. The mysterious X-37B unmanned aircraft recently landed after spending a record 718 days in orbit, but we still don't know what it was doing there. However, there are rumors that the military is testing that same EmDrive engine.
10. It would seem that in 11 years the Mars Reconnaissance Satellite should have examined the surface of Mars in every detail, but the image taken at the south pole proved that this was not the case. So far, NASA cannot explain the origin of a strange hole hundreds of meters in diameter.
Incredible facts
This project was started two years ago, when several hundred scientists were surveyed and asked one question: what do you consider the greatest secret of nature and science?
Here's what they said.
What drives evolution?
You've probably heard the answer to this question: natural selection is accepted by scientists as the main driver of the vital functions of organisms and their very functioning. This is one of the most well-tested theories in science. But is evolution through natural selection the only explanation for the complexity of organisms?
“I believe that one of the great mysteries of biology today is whether natural selection is the only explanation for the process of evolution, and therefore the only way to generate the complexity of organisms, or whether there are other properties of matter that also play an important role,” - says Massimo Pigliucci, a specialist in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at Stony Brook University in New York.
What happens inside an earthquake?
In fact, it is very strange that we do not know the processes that occur on our planet right under our feet. Experts can tell you exactly what the epicenter of an earthquake is, what type of earthquake it is, and how long the shaking will last. But they are completely unsure about what is happening inside the planet during this natural disaster. The nature and nature of the forces involved in this process is not yet completely clear.
"The issue of plate displacement during earthquakes is not yet fully understood and is one of the fundamental problems in all of Earth science," says geophysicist Tom Heaton. “To this day, the nature of earthquakes remains a big mystery for physicists around the world.”
Who you are?
The nature of consciousness has long puzzled psychologists and cognitive scientists. Part of the answer to this question, however, is surprisingly simple: most of our actions depend on the functioning of neural circuits. This opinion is shared by Joseph LeDoux, a neurologist at New York University.
“Intuitive ideas about the banality of what is happening, like ‘I control my own behavior,’ are just as wrong as the idea that the Earth is flat,” explains LeDoux. Although we often think of ourselves as independent beings, in reality we are not. Everything we do is influenced by unconscious environmental processes.
How did life appear on Earth?
The earliest evidence of microbial life on Earth dates back to 3 billion years ago. Nobody knows how it came about. Ideas range from the development of chemical reactions occurring on the seabed to the origin of corresponding reactions in rock formations.
“There are many theories about the origin of life on Earth, but since none of them can be either confirmed or disproved, there is no officially accepted theory,” summed up biologist Diana Northup.
How does our brain work?
Of course, we know much more about brain activity today than we did a few decades ago. But still, billions of neurons, each with thousands of connections, is a very complex topic. "We all think we understand the brain, at least our own, through experience. But our own subjective experience serves us very poorly when it comes to questions about how our brains work," said Scott Huettel, a specialist in Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at Duke University.
"We still don't have a good way to study how groups of neurons form functional networks when we learn, remember something, or do anything else, including watching movies, listening to music, etc.," says the university neurologist. California Norman Weinberger. “If we fully understand our brain, we can understand both its potential and its limits for thought, emotion, reasoning, love and everything else.”
Where is the rest of the Universe?
"I call it the dark side of the universe," says University of Chicago cosmologist Michael Turner, referring to the great mysteries of dark matter and dark energy.
In fact, only 4 percent of the matter and energy in the universe has been discovered. The remaining 96 percent remains elusive, but scientists continue to search the farthest reaches and deepest depths of the Earth to solve two dark mysteries.
Why does gravity exist?
You might think that this concept has long been understood, since Newton explained it many years ago. But in reality, everything is much more complicated. Gravity is the least understood force in the Universe, and it cannot be explained using the standard laws of physics.
Theorists believe it's all down to tiny, massless particles called gravitons, which are the creation of gravitational fields. "Gravity is completely different from other forces that follow a standard pattern, because when you do some small calculations of gravitational interactions, you get stupid answers because the math just doesn't work," says theoretical physicist Mark Jackson. Jackson).
Is there a "theory of everything"?
Physics has a good "standard model" that breaks down the known universe into particles to describe every detail, from magnetism to what atoms are made of and how they stay in a stable state. The Standard Model views particles as small points that perform specific functions, some of which carry specific forces.
But the standard model has two serious flaws: it does not explain the process of gravity, and all information loses its relevance when it comes to high energy levels.
If it is possible to develop a theory (many scientists say this will never happen) that explains gravity and can withstand the incredible energetic forces of the early Universe, then a universal theory of physics will become a reality.
Does alien life exist?
Life is everywhere, at least on this planet. Therefore, it is logical to assume that it exists throughout the Universe. But so far we have only managed to carefully study one world.
We know that there are solar systems like ours out there. "Here we are, made of stardust. So it's likely that there are other forms of life in the universe," says Jill Tarter, director of the California Space Research Center.
Moreover, it is very likely that life forms located outside our planet are very smart. "Humankind has made scientific and technological progress only in the last 200 years of the approximately 4.5 billion years of life on Earth," said Frank Wilczek, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "It is therefore likely that there are many scientific and technological civilizations that have existed and developed over many millions or even billions of years."
How did the Universe begin?
This question is perhaps the most exciting. Simply put, all other mysteries lie below this question, because it is paramount. Yes, the theory says it all started with the Big Bang 13.7 billion years ago. In the blink of an eye, the explosion grew to cosmic proportions. The idea, it would seem, is not bad, but there is only one thing bad: this statement cannot be believed.
"The big bang theory is an incredibly powerful idea, but we still don't understand what caused the explosion," says Eric Agol, an astrophysicist at the University of Washington.
Science has already opened many doors for humanity, providing millions of important answers. But today there are still mysteries, the key to understanding which, it would seem, is about to be found. But he's not there yet. The popular science resource tried to figure out what the TOP 10 unsolved, but very interesting secrets might look like. Both eminent scientists and ordinary people who had heard about the issues facing science took part in compiling the list. So, the ten main secrets are...
10. What factor controls evolution?
On the one hand, this question was answered long ago by stating: natural selection. This is one of the most popular theories. Note - theories, not axioms. Many experts are inclined to believe that everything is not so simple, and evolution cannot do without this factor alone.
“I think one of the biggest mysteries in biology today is whether natural selection is really the only determining process responsible for generating the complexity of organisms, or whether there are other factors that also play a role. I suspect that the latter option will be correct,” says Massimo Pigliucci, a specialist in the department of ecology and evolution at Stony Brook University in New York.
9. What happens in the “heart” of an earthquake?
They know a lot about earthquakes: thousands of graphs of seismological activity in different regions of the Earth have been compiled. And it would seem that this issue has no place on the list. However, the accumulated knowledge cannot be called complete. Scientists can predict what territory a cataclysm will hit, how long it will last, how significant its consequences will be... But seismologists are not able to explain exactly what happens during an earthquake inside the planet. “The problem of frictional slip during earthquakes is one of the fundamental problems in Earth science,” says geophysicist Tom Heaton. And he adds that scientists have been working painstakingly for the last 30 years to try to understand the basic “physics” of earthquakes.
8. Who are you?
The nature of consciousness fascinates psychologists and philosophers, as well as other scientists. Part of the answer is already there, and it is surprisingly simple: most of our impulses to this or that action are “written” in nerve connections to which conscious thought does not always have access. And is it necessary? Be that as it may, the unexplored areas today largely include not only the unconscious, but also completely conscious decisions: how are they formed? Where do they come from? Well and all that...
The idea that the mind completely controls behavior is as wrong as the idea that the Earth is flat, scientists say. And although it seems to us that we are leading ourselves, this is due to a lack of knowledge about subconscious motives.
7. How did life appear on Earth?
On the one hand, you can talk about this topic for hours and never repeat it. On the other hand... Theories, theories. No one can really say how microbial life appeared on the planet billions of years ago. The range of assumptions is wide: from chemical reactions in water to reactions in stones.
“Many theories have been proposed, but since they are very difficult to confirm or refute, in fact, none of them have been fully approved,” explains Diana Northup, a biologist from the University of New Mexico.
6. How does the brain work?
Some may say that this question was undeservedly included in the list of mysterious ones, because a lot is known about the brain. Fact. Much is known. But if we compare what we know with what we have no idea about, then, as they say, it becomes excruciatingly painful. Billions of neurons, each of which has thousands of connections... Scientists, however, say that. Well, we'll wait and see.
“We all think we understand the brain. At least your own: through experience. But our subjective experience is a very poor guide to how the brain actually works,” says Scott Huettel of the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at Duke University.
5. Where is the rest of the Universe?
Imagine that you only have a crumb from a huge cake. This is how scientists feel when they study the secrets of the Universe. They say that today cosmologists have located 4% of the matter and energy that exists. The remaining 96% is, in a way, the missing cake...
“I call it the dark side of the Universe,” says cosmologist Michael Turner of the University of Chicago, reflecting on dark matter and energy. In short, a mystery with many unknowns.
4. Where does gravity come from?
Wait, it’s like Newton said a long time ago that... Yes, he really said a lot of the right things, but that doesn’t make the mystery of gravity any less interesting.
Gravity is one of the least understood forces that affect us. “Gravity is completely different from other forces described by standard models,” says Mark Jackson, a theoretical physicist at Fermilab in Illinois.
“When you try to calculate some minor gravitational relationship, you end up with a stupid answer.” The math just doesn't work." Some theorists are inclined to suggest that the answer lies in miniature weightless particles, gravitons, which “radiate” gravitational fields. However, this is not even an answer, but only the beginning of an answer.
3. Are there overarching theories?
Physicists have a “standard model” that “decomposes” the known part of the Universe into particles and explains most phenomena. But this model is weak when it comes to gravity and confusing when applied to high energy. Whether it is possible to derive a theory “for all occasions” is still unknown. Some scientists believe that this will never happen.
2. Does extraterrestrial life exist?
If life is possible on Earth, why shouldn’t it be possible on other planets? The answer “yes” seems much more logical than a categorical “no”.
“Here we are, who came from stardust. So, at a minimum, it's just possible that there are others out there somewhere,” says Fox Mulder... oh, sorry, Jill Tarter: head of a research center in California.
“Humanity has reached the level of scientific and technological civilization only in the last 200 years out of the 4.5 billion that life has existed on the planet. So we can well expect that somewhere there are many scientific and technological civilizations that have had millions, or even billions, of years to develop,” Nobel laureate Frank Wilczek agrees with his colleague.
1. How did the Universe begin?
This question topped the list of the most mysterious. Well, it's only natural. “All other mysteries stem from this one,” says writer and widow of astronomer Carl Sagan, Ann Druyan.
Based on the generally accepted point of view, everything happened after that thundered almost 14 billion years ago. And it all started with a size smaller than the period at the end of this sentence. But in the blink of an eye, the scale increased significantly (oh, so significantly!)... It is “an incredibly powerful theory, but we still have no idea what led to the “swelling”,” explains University of Washington astrophysicist Eric Agol. .
Well, here it is - the top ten secrets of the Universe according to LiveScience experts and readers. Do you think all the worthy riddles are included in this list?
You relieve pain with morphine until the last day of the experiment, and then replace the morphine with saline. And guess what happens? Saline solution relieves pain.
This is the placebo effect: somehow a compound out of nothing can have a very powerful effect. Doctors have known about the placebo effect for a long time. But other than the fact that it apparently has a biochemical nature, we know nothing. One thing is clear: the mind can influence the biochemistry of the body.
2. Horizon problem
Our Universe turns out to be inexplicably united. Look at space from one end of the visible Universe to the other, and you will see that the background microwave radiation in space has the same temperature throughout. This doesn't seem surprising until you remember that these two edges are 28 billion light years apart, and our universe is only 14 billion years old.
Nothing can travel faster than the speed of light, so it is impossible for thermal radiation to travel between the two horizons and balance the hot and cold zones created during the Big Bang, establishing the thermal equilibrium we see today.
From a scientific point of view, the same background radiation temperature is an anomaly. It could be explained by recognizing that the speed of light is not constant. But even in this case, we are still powerless to face the question: why?
3. Ultra-energy cosmic rays
For more than a decade, physicists in Japan have been observing cosmic rays that shouldn't exist. Cosmic rays are particles that travel through the Universe at speeds close to the speed of light. Some cosmic rays come to Earth through violent events, such as a supernova explosion. But we know nothing about the origin of the high-energy particles observed in nature. And even this is not a real secret.
As cosmic ray particles travel through space, they lose energy when they collide with low-energy photons, such as those from the cosmic microwave background radiation. However, the University of Tokyo discovered cosmic rays with very high energy. Theoretically, they could only appear from our galaxy, but astronomers cannot find the source of these cosmic rays in our galaxy.
4. The phenomenon of homeopathy
Madeleine Ennis, a pharmacologist at Queen's University Belfast, is a disaster for homeopathy. She opposed homeopathic claims that a chemical could be diluted to such an extent that a sample contained virtually nothing but water and still have healing powers. Ennis decided to prove once and for all that homeopathy was just talk.
In her latest work, she describes how her group, in four different laboratories, examined the effects of ultra-dilute histamine solutions on white blood cells involved in inflammation. To the surprise of scientists, it turned out that homeopathic solutions (diluted to such an extent that they apparently did not contain even a single molecule of histamine) worked the same way as histamine.
Before these experiments, no homeopathic remedy had ever worked in a clinical trial. But the Belfast study suggests that something is happening. "We," says Ennis, "cannot explain our findings and report them to encourage others to investigate this phenomenon."
If the results turn out to be real, she believes, the consequences could be quite significant: we may have to rewrite physics and chemistry.
5. Dark matter
Take our best knowledge of gravity, apply it to the rotation of galaxies, and you immediately find a problem: according to our knowledge, galaxies should be breaking apart. Galactic matter rotates around a central point as its gravitational pull creates centripetal forces. But there is not enough mass in galaxies to create the observed rotation.
Vera Rubin, an astronomer at the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism at the Carnegie Institution in Washington, noticed this anomaly in the late seventies of the last century. The best answer physicists could come up with was that there is more matter in the Universe than we can observe. The problem was that no one could explain what this "dark matter" was.
Scientists still cannot explain it, and this is an unpleasant gap in our understanding. Astronomical observations suggest that dark matter should make up approximately 90% of the mass of the Universe, and yet we are astonishingly ignorant of what that 90% is.
6. Life on Mars
July 20, 1976. Gilbert Levin sits on the very edge of his chair. Millions of kilometers away, on Mars, the Viking spacecraft took soil samples. Levin's equipment mixed them with a substance containing carbon-14. Scientists involved in the experiment believe that if methane emissions containing carbon-14 are found in the soil, then there should be life on Mars.
Viking analyzers give a positive result. Something takes in nutrients, converts them, and then releases a gas containing carbon-14. But why is there no holiday?
Because another analyzer, designed to identify organic molecules that are essential signs of life, found nothing. Scientists were cautious and declared the Viking's discoveries a false positive. But is it?
Results transmitted from NASA's latest spacecraft show that the surface of Mars almost certainly contained water in the past and was therefore favorable for life. There is other evidence. "Every mission to Mars," says Gilbert Levin, "provides data that supports my conclusion. None of it contradicts it."
Levin no longer defends his views alone. Joe Miller, a microbiologist at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, reanalyzed the data and believes the spikes show signs of a circadian cycle. And this with a high degree of probability suggests the presence of life. Whether these scientists are right is still unknown.
7. Tetraneutrons
Four years ago, six particles were discovered that should not have existed. They were called tetraneutrons - four neutrons that are in a bond that defies the laws of physics.
A team of scientists from Caen, led by Francisco Miguel Marquès, fired beryllium nuclei at a small carbon target and analyzed their trajectories using detectors. Scientists expected to see four different neutrons hitting different detectors. Instead, they detected only one flash of light in one detector.
The energy of this flare showed that all four neutrons hit the same detector. Perhaps it's just a coincidence, and four neutrons accidentally hit the same place at the same time. But this is ridiculously unlikely.
At the same time, such behavior is not unlikely for tetraneutrons. True, some might argue that according to the standard model of particle physics, tetraneutrons simply cannot exist. After all, according to the Pauli principle, in one system there are not even two protons or neutrons that could have the same quantum properties. The nuclear force holding them together is such that it cannot hold even two single neutrons, let alone four.
Marquez and his group were so stunned by the results that they “buried” these data in a scientific work that stated that there was a certain probability of the discovery of tetraneutrons in the future. After all, if you start changing the laws of physics to justify the connection of four neutrons, chaos will arise.
Recognizing the existence of tetraneutrons would mean that the combination of elements formed after the Big Bang is not consistent with what we now observe. And, to make matters worse, the formed elements become too heavy for space. "The universe would probably collapse before it expanded," says Natalia Timofeyuk, a theorist at the University of Surrey in Guildford, UK.
However, there is other evidence that suggests that matter may consist of numerous neutrons. These are neutron stars. They contain a huge number of bound neutrons, which means that when the neutrons gather in masses, forces that are still inexplicable to us come into play.
8. Pioneer Anomaly
In 1972, the Americans launched the Pioneer-10 spacecraft. On board there was a message to extraterrestrial civilizations - a sign with images of a man, a woman and a diagram of the location of the Earth in space. A year later, Pioneer 11 followed. By now, both devices should already be in deep space. However, in an unusual way, their trajectories deviated greatly from the calculated ones.
Something began to pull (or push) them, as a result of which they began to move with acceleration. It was tiny - less than a nanometer per second, equivalent to one ten-billionth of the gravity on the Earth's surface. But this was enough to shift Pioneer 10 off its trajectory by 400,000 kilometers.
NASA lost contact with Pioneer 11 in 1995, but until then it deviated from its trajectory in the same way as its predecessor. What caused this? No one knows.
Some possible explanations have already been dismissed, including software bugs, solar wind and fuel leaks. If the cause was some kind of gravitational effect, then we know nothing about it. Physicists are simply at a loss.
9. Dark energy
This is one of the best known and most intractable problems in physics. In 1998, astronomers discovered that the Universe was expanding at an ever-increasing rate. Previously, it was believed that after the Big Bang the expansion of the Universe slowed down.
Scientists have not yet found a reasonable explanation for this discovery. One of the assumptions is that some property of empty space is responsible for this phenomenon. Cosmologists called it dark energy. But all attempts to identify her failed.
10. The tenth planet
If you travel to the very edge of the solar system, into the cold zone of space beyond Pluto, you will see something strange. After passing through the Kuiper Belt - a region of space riddled with icy rocks - you'll suddenly see empty space.
Astronomers call this boundary the Kuiper rock, since after it the density of the cosmic rock belt decreases sharply. What is the reason? The only answer to this may be the presence of a tenth planet in our solar system. Moreover, in order to clear space of debris in this way, it must be as massive as the Earth or Mars.
But, although calculations show that such a body could cause the existence of the Kuiper belt, no one has ever seen this legendary tenth planet.
11. Cosmic signal WOW
It lasted 37 seconds and came from space. On August 15, 1977, on a printout from a radio telescope in Delaware, recorders wrote: WOW. And twenty-eight years later, no one knows what caused this signal.
The pulses came from the constellation Sagittarius at a frequency of about 1420 MHz. Transmissions in this range are prohibited by international agreement. Natural sources of radiation, such as thermal emissions from planets, cover a much wider range of frequencies. What caused the emission of these pulses? There is still no answer.
The closest star to us in this direction is 220 light years away. If the signal came from there, then it must either be a huge astronomical event, or an advanced extraterrestrial civilization with a surprisingly powerful transmitter.
All subsequent observations on the same part of the sky led to nothing. No such signal as WOW has been recorded.
12. Such fickle constants
In 1997, astronomer John Webb and his team at the University of New South Wales in Sydney analyzed the light coming to Earth from distant quasars. On its 12 billion-year journey, the light passes through interstellar clouds made of metals such as iron, nickel and chromium. The researchers found that these atoms absorb photons of light from the quasar, but not at all what was expected.
The only more or less reasonable explanation for this phenomenon is that a physical constant, called the fine structure constant, or alpha, has a different value when light passes through clouds.
But this is heresy! Alpha is an extremely important constant that determines how light interacts with matter, and it must not change! Its value depends, among other things, on the charge of the electron, the speed of light and Planck's constant. Is it possible that some of these parameters actually changed?!
None of the physicists wanted to believe that the measurements were correct. Webb and his team spent years trying to find errors in their results. But they still haven't succeeded.
Webb's results aren't the only ones that suggest there's something wrong with our understanding of alpha. Recent analysis of the only known natural nuclear reactor, which operated nearly 2 billion years ago at what is now Oklo in Gabon, also suggests that something has changed in the way light interacts with matter.
The proportion of certain radioactive isotopes produced in such a reactor depends on alpha, and therefore analysis of the fission products preserved in Oklo soil makes it possible to determine the value of the constant at the time of their formation.
Using this method, Steve Lamoreaux and his colleagues at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico suggested that alpha had decreased by more than 4% since the Oklo event. And this means that our ideas about constants may turn out to be incorrect.
13. Low temperature nuclear fusion (LTF)
After an absence of sixteen years he returned. Although, in fact, NTS never disappeared. Since 1989, US Navy laboratories have conducted more than 200 experiments to find out whether room-temperature nuclear reactions can generate more energy than they consume (though this is only possible inside stars).
Controlled nuclear fusion would solve many of the world's energy problems. It's no wonder the US Department of Energy is so interested in it. Last December, after a lengthy review of all the evidence, it announced that it was open to proposals for new NTS experiments.
This is a pretty sharp turn. Fifteen years ago, this same department concluded that the initial results on NTS obtained by Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons of the University of Utah and presented at a press conference in 1989 could not be confirmed, and thus they are probably false.
The basic principle of NTS is that immersing palladium electrodes in heavy water (in which oxygen is combined with an isotope of heavy hydrogen) can release large amounts of energy. The catch is that all generally accepted scientific theories believe that nuclear fusion at room temperature is impossible.
It would seem that our world has been studied far and wide and science will certainly have an answer to any question that interests us. However, it’s not like that. There are still many mysterious things and phenomena that have no rational explanation.
Cat purring
Everyone knows that cats always purr when they feel good. However, no one knows how they do it. There is no special organ in the throat of cats to make such sounds. Interestingly, while purring, you cannot listen to the heart or lungs of cats, but the purring itself is continuous, with inhalation and exhalation.
Scientists believe that cats use their vocal cords to produce vibrating sounds that we hear as purrs. Research also revealed that the frequency of purring is in the range necessary to accelerate regeneration and wound healing. So your cat is probably an excellent doctor.
Species appearing out of nowhere
Scientists have been struggling with this mystery for many years. The fact is that many species of animals and plants on our planet simply appeared out of nowhere. They had no ancestors from which to evolve, and this baffles science.
This was the case, for example, with amphibians: the exact stage at which fish gave birth to amphibians is not known. And the very first land animals appeared with developed limbs and a well-defined head. Moreover, there are dozens of different types at once. Then, after the supposed cataclysm (about 65 million years ago), which led to the extinction of the dinosaurs, several different groups of mammals appeared at once.
Magnetic compass in cows
You probably haven't even thought about it. In general, no one thought about it until the advent of Google Earth. It is this service that allowed us to study thousands of photographs of grazing cows (don’t ask why) and discover one strange pattern. About 70% of cows turn their heads due north or south when they eat or drink. Moreover, this is observed on all continents, regardless of terrain, weather and other factors.
What is dark matter made of?
About 27% of the entire Universe is dark matter. This is a thing that does not emit electromagnetic radiation and does not directly interact with it. That is, dark matter does not emit light at all. This property makes it impossible to directly observe it.
The first theories about dark matter appeared about 60 years ago, but scientists still cannot provide direct evidence of its existence, although everything indicates that it exists.
How many planets are there in our solar system?
Since scientists officially excluded Pluto from the club of planets, it is believed that there are only 8 of them left in our solar system. But it’s not like that. Most of our solar system is still unexplored. The region between Mercury and the Sun is too bright, and the region beyond Uranus is too dark.
By the way, right at the outskirts of our solar system, behind Pluto, there is the so-called Kuiper belt, which consists of icy objects. There, scientists discover hundreds of thousands of objects every day, the same size as Pluto, or even larger.
By the way, they noticed a large gap in the Kuiper belt. This suggests that there is another planet the size of Earth or Mars, which has attracted all these rocks around. So scientists will have to rewrite textbooks many times over to explain how many planets there are in our solar system.
Why are people divided into left-handers and right-handers?
Scientists have studied well why most people use their right hand more than their left. However, they still cannot understand what mechanisms work.
It is believed that the majority (from 70 to 95%) are right-handed, the minority (from 5 to 30%) are left-handed. And there is also a percentage of ambidextrous people in whom both arms are equally developed. Although scientists disagree here too.
It has been proven that genes influence left-handedness and right-handedness, but the exact “left-handed gene” has not yet been identified. There is also evidence that the environment can also influence the choice of dominant hand. For example, teachers retrained children to use their right hand rather than their left hand.
Megafauna extinction
The common name for the giant animals that once walked the Earth is megafauna. Megafauna disappeared approximately 10 thousand years ago. And scientists haven't been able to figure out why.
Some believe that megafauna became extinct due to climate change, but there is little hard evidence for this. Another theory is that they simply ran out of food. However, everything is not so simple here either. Scientists in Alaska sometimes find perfectly preserved mammoths with undigested greens in their stomachs and even mouths. This suggests that the animals died literally at the dinner table, all at once. Why this happened, scientists do not know.
Why do we have dreams?
Some people believe that dreams are just random images and brain impulses, while others believe that they carry deeper meanings, these are subconscious desires, problems and experiences. But one way or another, no one will give you an exact answer.
Even techniques such as hypnosis and lucid dreaming do not provide an answer. A special science deals with the study of dreams - oneirology. Scientists in this field are unanimous that dreams symbolize something hidden deep in the psyche of people, although no one can say what exactly.
Cosmic roar
In 2006, while trying to study young stars, scientists encountered a problem: an incomprehensible, mysterious noise that interfered with the study. Researchers still haven't figured out what creates it. Of course, sound cannot travel through space, but radio waves can, but from where? What publishes them? They only managed to find out that these waves do not belong to stars or other cosmic formations and phenomena known to man.
Why do we have different blood types?
Yes, science knows a lot about blood groups, but no less questions still remain unanswered. For example, we still have no idea why they are different and why this is necessary from an evolutionary point of view.
Blood types are differentiated by antigens in the blood cells, these antigens are antibody signals that destroy foreign cells in the body. Scientists don't know why these antigens are different.
There is an assumption that they have something to do with diseases and immunity. For example, it turned out that people with the third blood group are more susceptible to E. coli, and with the zero they have almost complete immunity to one of the forms of malaria.