The race to colonize Mars is ongoing. However, it is not as easy as sending over people to live in igloo cities. We’ve already discussed the obstacles that astronauts must overcome on a voyage to Mars. But there’s far more to mystify us and conquer once we get there.

The Red Planet’s geology is not fully understood, and the bits known by researchers include deadly phenomena capable of crushing the dream of human settlements. Apart from highlighting the harsh landscape, this mind-blowing world comes with epic geological mysteries and unique finds.

10 The Strange Cloud

In 2018, the Mars Express orbiter sailed past the Martian equator. Among the images beamed back was the odd photo of a cloud. The white streak stood out starkly against the red world and measured 1,500 kilometers (930 mi) long.

More curiously, it appeared to originate above a volcano. The possibility of an eruption was zero—Arsia Mons was a long-extinct volcano. In fact, the last time that Mars saw any kind of eruption was millions of years ago.

However, there was a chance that Arsia Mons spawned the vapor. Clouds often shroud the dead volcano, but the only ones resembling the 2018 fog trail are found on Earth.

Called orographic clouds, they form on the downwind side of mountains. Air gets pushed uphill where it spreads, cools, and condenses on dust particles. Oddly, clouds resembling this phenomenon have appeared near Arsia Mons’s peak every three years since 2009. The 2018 cloud fit this pattern perfectly.^[1]

9 First Wind Recording

The InSight lander touched down on Mars in 2018. The high-tech device’s main purpose was to find out more about the planet’s interior. After arriving, the lander had some free time while adjusting to its new surroundings. Scientists decided to listen to the wind on Mars, and for the first time, they managed to do so successfully.

The ultrasensitive equipment and sensors picked up sounds audible to humans as well as frequencies in the infrasound range. NASA recorded both, and the result was eerie. One researcher described it as a mix of Earth’s wind, an ocean roaring, and something else that gave it an otherworldly quality.

The wind gusts came from the northwest and blew across the lander’s solar arrays at 24 kilometers per hour (15 mph) and 16 kilometers per hour (10 mph). The recordings were made by Insight’s air pressure sensor and seismometer. When the lander’s real job began, researchers reversed their wind study and used the sensor to cancel the windy commotion because it interfered with the seismometer’s ability to probe inside the planet.^[2]

8 Fire Opals

In 1911, a Martian meteorite hit Egypt close to the village of El Nakhla El Bahariya. Thus called Nakhla, the space rock found a home at the Natural History Museum in the UK. In 2015, scientists reexamined it and found a first for Mars. The meteorite contained fire opals.

On Earth, these breathtaking gems have a warm, flame-like tint. They only form in the ocean around hydrothermal vents. This type of opal is useful to scientists because it traps microbes during formation.

This opened another avenue for looking for life on Mars. Previously, surface samples from the Red Planet suggested that opals could form in certain regions, but Nakhla provided the first direct gems.

Under a powerful microscope, the Martian opals showed that they were a couple of million or billion years old and very similar to Earth’s. Unfortunately, the slivers were too small to look for life. Future expeditions could target Mars’s opal regions for larger samples.^[3]

7 Mysterious Blueberries

In 2004, NASA’s Opportunity rover cruised around Mars. After a few months, it encountered something curious—tiny spheres—which scientists do not understand to this day. Working with false-color photographs that turned the spheres blue, researchers puzzled over the mysterious “blueberries” scattered around the Martian surface.

Which geological forces created them, and what did that reveal about the planet’s past environment?

Recently, researchers pounced on the nearest places that resembled the red wonder—Mongolia and Utah. To everyone’s excitement, they found something similar. The minuscule globes on Earth had calcite cores encased in iron and were likely shaped by a lengthy exposure to moving water. The “river pebble” look suggested that a lot of water had flooded the blueberry region.^[4]

Scientists cannot be sure of the chemical makeup of the Martian spheres. If they can crack that riddle, it might reveal the chemistry of the water that crafted them and whether the region was habitable. In other words, they may discover if the water encouraged any form of life.

6 Missing Methane

The world of space news lit up with exciting news in 2003. NASA announced the discovery of methane on Mars. The following year, this was independently confirmed by the European Space Agency (ESA).

It seemed like a done deal in 2014 when NASA’s Curiosity rover found more of the gas on the Martian surface. The atmosphere of Mars was packed with methane. Scientists were excited because this type of organic molecule suggested the presence of life.

However, in the years that followed, the methane-rich atmosphere disappeared. In 2016, the first sobering realization happened when the ESA sent their ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) to the planet. It was outfitted with ultrasensitive sensors capable of picking up trace amounts of methane.^[5]

As Mars had previously emitted copious amounts, nobody thought that TGO would report the methane missing. Two years later while still in orbit around Mars, it never detected any. TGO is not faulty, and a lot of its new data awaits crunching. It could still reveal the answer to the missing (or hidden) methane.

5 Medusae Fossae Formation

The Opportunity rover was forced into hibernation during 2018. The reason: Lethal dust storms had completely engulfed Mars. This event highlighted an old mystery. The Red Planet has too much dust.

Back on Earth, dust is the by-product of natural processes like rivers, volcanic activity, and moving glaciers. None of these are active on the Red Planet. Yet, about 3 trillion kilograms (6.6 trillion lbs) of the powdery stuff appears every year.

In 2018, researchers found the source of the endless dust. Most of it came from the Medusae Fossae Formation. When the formation was first discovered in the 1960s, nobody really knew what it was.

The massive geological formation, measuring 1,000 kilometers (620 mi) long, was identified as volcanic, which made it the biggest volcanic deposit in the solar system. Incredibly, the formation was once half the size of the United States.

Around 80 percent of its porous material had already eroded, which created an unbelievable amount of powder. This was confirmed when dust everywhere on Mars chemically matched the Medusae’s trademark sulfur-to-chlorine ratio.^[6]

4 Earthlike Water Cycle

In 2018, scientists investigated a site for a lander to park in 2020. This spot, Hypanis Valles, was once an ancient river system. During the check, the area revealed something amazing: Mars likely had a hydrological cycle that closely matched Earth’s—including a massive ocean.

The study found the largest river delta ever discovered on the Red Planet. It left trademark deposits at the mouth of the river system which could only have formed if moving water had flown into a sea. One large enough to cover a third of the planet’s north.

The presence of such big water bodies in the region had always been among the most critical mysteries regarding the geology of Mars. An ocean means that the desertlike world once had a water cycle supported by lakes, rivers, seas, and vast oceans.^[7]

Scientists believe that this system was global and worked in the same way as Earth’s until 3.7 billion years ago. A rapid decline of some sort destabilized the cycle until it failed for good. Today, the Martian surface is devoid of liquid water.

3 Curiosity’s Legacy

After years of exploring the Martian landscape, NASA’s Curiosity rover made history in 2018 and possibly solved the planet’s methane mystery. First, the samples it provided finally proved that there were biological compounds on Mars. Second, the rover’s observations gave a fair idea of where the methane went. Both developments were hailed as breakthroughs in astrobiology.

The geological samples came from mudstone regions in the Gale crater, aged around 300 million years old. They revealed organic chemistry that was nearly identical to Earth’s mudstone but came from larger, more complex materials.^[8]

Curiosity also found a pattern: The methane appeared and disappeared. Analysis showed the exciting results: The changes matched the Martian seasons. In the northern hemisphere, methane spiked in the summer and vanished during winter.

Although the dynamics remain mysterious, one theory matched the rhythm. Crystalline water structures called clathrates could be causing the annual methane shift as they seasonally lock the gas in ice and then thaw.

2 Babies On Mars

Scientists have a serious fixation about Mars colonies. The idea is to create a sustainable population and make humans a multi-planetary species. To be successful, generations must be born and raised on Mars. Nobody knows if that is even possible. The two biggest hurdles are radiation and gravity.

Astronauts already endure space radiation, and their exposure is carefully monitored. The effects on a delicate fetus could be disastrous, resulting in serious abnormalities.^[9]

Also, gravity on Mars is only 38 percent of Earth’s. Frankly, researchers do not have a clue how this might affect an unborn baby or a growing child. Tests on animals fail to yield consistent results.

Mammalian reproduction in space is proving so complex that the best theories mean nothing. Not until people have babies on Mars or human embryos are tested in space can the real effects be gauged. However, this will cause so much ethical resistance that progress in that department is basically nonexistent.

1 Martian Terraforming Is Out

If humans want to walk and breathe on Mars, the planet needs to be terraformed. This means that the extremely cold temperatures and thin atmosphere must be manipulated to suit Earthlings. The first step would be to make Mars toastier with carbon dioxide.

A 2018 study crushed that dream. There is simply not enough of the greenhouse gas. The study did a thorough check on all the planet’s carbon dioxide reservoirs locked away in rock and ice and found that, even if we released them all, it would still not be enough. Combined, the amount of gas would only triple the atmosphere’s thickness—a mere one-fiftieth of that required for terraforming.^[10]

Another hurdle is our current tech level. Even if there was enough CO₂ sealed away in the Martian landscape, humans do not have the expertise to perform what would amount to major alterations to the surface.

There is still another obstacle: Mars does not have a magnetic field strong enough to hold onto an atmosphere. Whatever CO₂ is released eventually drifts into space.

Deep under the waves, the ocean is not just a dark place. The underwater landscapes hold ancient events, mysterious animal behavior, and vast gardens of glass and octopuses.

Each contributes new facts and riddles to this incredible aquatic world. However, the ocean also has a scary side—from wrecking the weather on land to blowing giant holes in the seafloor and countries.

10 The Loudest Fish

One can be forgiven for not associating fish with noise. More often than not, they are mute. One species, however, can be very vocal during reproduction. The Gulf corvina is a large, silver fish about the size of a snowboard.

During spring, when the tides and lunar phases are perfect, shoals migrate to the Colorado River Delta. The event is an unforgettable one and worth seeing. When corvinas gather, they pack together in a sheet that can span for miles.

In 2014, scientists followed the spawning shoal and used underwater equipment to record their sounds. The loudest noise captured during the study hit a deafening 150 decibels, which is a record among fish.

Additionally, the sound also rated among the loudest ever recorded underwater—and very capable of damaging the hearing of other creatures, including sea mammals. Researchers believe that male corvinas are responsible for the chorus. Similar to frogs and crickets, the boys produce a throaty croak to attract females.^[1]

9 Return Of The Blob

“The blob” is not as adorable as it sounds. This massive anomaly—a patch of hot water in the Northeast Pacific—affects the weather in extreme ways. The blob was blamed for the persistent California drought (2013–2015), Seattle’s hottest year (2015), and the freakish polar vortex intrusions of two winters (2013–2014 and 2014–2015).

In 2018, the return of the oceanic hot spot was caused by unusually warm weather in Alaska during the fall. Though the blob is famously crabby, it remains hard to predict the phenomenon’s moods.

When it made another appearance in 2016, the spot showed many signs of troubling times ahead but faded away before anything could go wrong. The latest manifestation leans toward weakening in the same way, but even the experts admit that nothing is certain when it comes to the blob.

Either way, Alaska has already suffered notable damage. The southeastern rain forest is in the grip of a persistent drought, and snowfall showed a record delay.^[2]

8 Rectangular Iceberg

In 2018, an unusual photo turned an iceberg into a social media star. A far cry from the usual mountain-shaped behemoths, this icy wonder was almost perfectly rectangular and flat.

As it turns out, this shape is not unknown to scientists. Called “tabular icebergs,” they form during calving (when pieces dislodge from a parent iceberg). The rectangles commonly occur after an ice shelf extends too far and then breaks off at the tip. This gives them a geometric shape.^[3]

A whopping 90 percent of the tabular iceberg remains hidden underwater. This unseen part is usually perfectly angular, too. In this case, the sheet came from the Larsen C ice shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula.

Even though these floating tabletops are known to science, this one was unusual. For once, it was almost short enough to be a square. The size of the object remains unknown. But judging from the image, it could be as long as 1.6 kilometers (1 mi).

7 Largest Octopus Nursery

Most octopuses live solitary lives. This made the discovery of about 100 nesting together near Costa Rica a sensational find. However, this nursery paled in comparison to another found by accident in 2018.

Off the coast of California, marine biologists steered a remotely operated vehicle at a depth of 3.2 kilometers (2 mi). The goal was to study an underwater volcano called the Davidson Seamount.

As the vehicle turned a corner, it happened across the world’s biggest deep-sea octopus garden. The species was Muusoctopus robustus, and over 1,000 huddled together. Nearly 99 percent were females guarding eggs between the volcano’s cracks.^[4]

Their unprecedented conglomeration is not the only unanswered question about the Davidson group. Researchers do not know why the water appears to shimmer around the octopuses.

One theory suggests that heat is behind the glitter, which could explain why the creatures gathered at Davidson to successfully incubate their eggs. Since the volcano is extinct, the heat could be coming from an unknown source.

6 Canyon That Removes CO₂

The Porcupine Bank Canyon is an underwater trench marking the border of Ireland’s continental shelf. In 2018, an effort was made to map the sheer cliffs and contours. Near the canyon’s edge, the research drone discovered something amazing: The underwater trench removed carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere using two species and death.

Porcupine Bank came fringed with corals snacking on dead plankton. While dwelling near the surface, living plankton grow by packing their bodies with CO₂ from the atmosphere. When they die, they sink down into the ocean, taking the CO₂ with them.

In turn, the corals eat the plankton and use that carbon to build their own structures. When the coral perishes, it tumbles deeper into the canyon. Researchers found a massive amount of dead coral inside the canyon, all with CO₂ locked up inside them.^[5]

Sadly, this process cannot stop climate change. But at least, it showed that nature has ways to remove some of the greenhouse gas from the air.

5 Garden Of Glass

When the deepest volcano was found in 2015, it was not just a cone-shaped mountain lower than the rest. It was anything but plain—and very unexpected. A deep-sea submersible was investigating the Mariana Trough in the Pacific Ocean when it reached a depth of 4,500 meters (14,700 ft). There, it encountered an environment straight out of a Gothic novel.

An underwater volcano had released intertwined and blackened lava tendrils, which scientists likened to “a nightmarish garden of glass.” Inside a 4.5-kilometer-deep (3 mi) trench, cold water had rapidly cooled the lava into a glassy substance. The frozen twists and turns covered an area 7.3 kilometers (4.5 mi) long.

The visuals are heart-stopping, but something else turned the discovery into a scientific gem. The deepest volcanic eruption on Earth was also fresh. Only a few months old, the undamaged site can advance knowledge about volcanoes on land, how eruptions affect ocean chemistry, and when different species colonize a lava field.^[6]

4 White Shark Cafe

Once a year, a group of sharks confused biologists. Known as the northeastern Pacific great whites, they normally cruise California’s coast, a region rich with prey.

In December, the sharks journey into the Pacific and stop about halfway to Hawaii. Satellite studies suggested that the place, nicknamed “White Shark Cafe,” was a marine desert without prey. Despite this, the predators gathered in droves and stayed for winter and spring.

In 2018, scientists wanted to know how the sharks survived and why they found the location so attractive. They followed the whites and also tagged a few. When the research boat arrived at the cafe, they found the place teeming with fish, squid, phytoplankton, and jellyfish.^[7]

These critters took daily trips up and down from the depths. The tagged sharks showed that the predators did the same thing. During the day, they hunted up to 450 meters (1,500 ft) down. At night, they kept to shallow dives, about 200 meters (650 ft).

An unusual gender mystery turned up. During April, the males dramatically stepped up their activity to around 140 dives a day. Researchers do not understand why this behavior is displayed by only one gender.

3 Methane Craters

Recently, scientists visited craters lining the seafloor between the archipelago of Svalbard and Norway. First discovered in the 1990s, they were huge but few. Upon arrival, the team was shocked to find hundreds of previously unrecorded holes.

In a single area near one of Svalbard’s islands, the floor was pockmarked with more than 100. Astoundingly, they had been blown from solid bedrock. The sheer force created craters that measured up to 1,000 meters (3,280 ft) in diameter. The culprit was methane gas from the last ice age.

In the past, enormous ice layers kept the trapped methane in place. Once these melted, the gas exploded. The largest pockets blew 12,000 to 15,000 years ago, but some remain intact and could punch large holes south of Svalbard.^[8]

Satellite images showed that pingos, hills with ice cores, preceded most of the craters. Researchers suspect that the Norwegian pingos had frozen gas instead of normal ice and were possibly instrumental in an explosion. Incredibly, once scientists knew what to look for, they found 7,000 gas-filled pingos in thawing permafrost.

2 Lost Volcanic World

In 2018, scientists investigated something that would not raise many eyebrows—the link between the East Australian Current’s nutrient levels and how phytoplankton behaved. Part of this study included mapping the seafloor. A stunning discovery followed—a lost world dominated by dramatic volcanic peaks.

Some were sharp, while others resembled immense plateaus. Smaller cones made up the rest. Located near the east coast of Australia, the extinct volcanoes towered 3 kilometers (1.9 mi) high.

The depth of the valleys likely contributed to how this underwater wonderland avoided detection for so long. The highest parts of the mountains were still 2 kilometers (1.2 mi) below the surface.

Years of research are required to understand a large geographical area that is seen for the first time. However, researchers are positive about one exciting suspicion—this was the spot that helped Australia and Antarctica to separate 30 million years ago.^[9]

The birth of the volcano chain was pivotal to crumble the Earth’s crust in preparation for continental division. The landscape also hosts a breathtaking ecosystem, including a huge pod of at least 60 pilot whales.

1 Brewing Eruption Underneath Japan

Researchers are well aware that an ancient, underwater volcano lurks underneath Japan. The Kikai Caldera is prone to super-eruptions and, in the past, experienced three devastating episodes. The last time was 7,000 years ago. The eruption was one of history’s biggest and destroyed a vast area of the Japanese archipelago.

In 2018, several expeditions using a wide array of equipment all came to the same conclusion. Underneath the Kikai Caldera was a massive lava dome. The giant bubble held over 32 cubic kilometers (8 mi³) of magma.

Analysis showed that the dome contained lava chemically different from the last eruption. This meant that the giant structure was not a leftover of the event that razed the Japanese archipelago but a completely new formation.

For thousands of years, the magma continued building up inside this new reservoir—something scientists view as a preparation for the next super-eruption. Earlier research indicated that the probability of a caldera catastrophe in the next 100 years was about 1 percent.

The discovery of the active dome was not so comforting. Should Kikai erupt, 110 million people would be in danger.^[10]

Mankind’s love of records left behind countless documents. Needless to say, some are so common that the very sight of them makes people regret going to the museum.

Then there are the secret codes and oaths, unique manuscripts, and caves marked with people’s fear. Text-obsessed scholars are talking in dead tongues and admit once again that the ancient Egyptians did some amazing things.

The world of rare words and pictures is a magnetic one. Sometimes, it’s even downright funny.

10 Oldest Near-Death Case

In 1740, a French doctor called Pierre-Jean du Monchaux described a curious case. An unconscious patient had recovered, only to describe a light so pure and white that the man was convinced he had stood with one shoe in Heaven. The case was included in the doctor’s book, Anecdotes de Medecine.

It might have gone unnoticed if not for Phillippe Charlier, who recently riffled through an antique shop. Ironically, he was also a French doctor. He found the book by chance and bought it for less than $1.

When he read about the case, Charlier realized he was looking at the world’s oldest report of a near-death experience. It was a time when people leaned on religion to explain such things, but the ancient physician stayed professional. He suggested a medical reason—too much blood rushing to the brain.

Monchaux’s assessment nearly matched modern explanations. Today, researchers think a lack of blood flow and oxygen to the brain cause the sensations of a near-death experience.^[1]

9 The Mysterious Devourer

In 2017, archaeologists took their shovels to a shrine-like building. The small structure stood at Zincirli in Turkey and soon yielded a pot. The stone vessel originally held cosmetics but was reused to display an incantation.

A story was carved over the surface, describing the capture of something called a “devourer” which was said to bring “fire” to its victims. The only way a person could recover was to use the devourer’s own blood.

The incantation did not specify how the blood was to be administered or the creature’s identity. Illustrations suggested that it was either a centipede or a scorpion. The “fire” sounds like a painful sting.

The author was a magician called Rahim, who carved the advice in Aramaic 2,800 years ago. This made it the oldest Aramaic incantation ever found. Archaeologists believe that the incantation was important enough to preserve after the magician’s lifetime because the inscription was already over a century old by the time the temple was built.^[2]

8 Dirty Bathroom Jokes

Ancient bathrooms with floor mosaics are rare. When one was found in 2018 in Turkey’s ancient city of Antiochia ad Cragum, it was a cause for celebration. However, the images were not beautifully rendered legends or geometric patterns. The tiny tiles told dirty jokes.

As Roman men visited the latrine around 1,800 years ago, they would have been amused by the antics of Narcissus and Ganymede. Both men belonged to real myths. Narcissus was in love with his own image. Ganymede was kidnapped by the god Zeus as a slave but also as a love interest.

The mosaics twisted the stories, first by giving Narcissus an ugly nose. Instead of admiring his reflection, he appeared to be fixated on his genitals. Ganymede’s scene was even more detailed. He was getting his private parts sponged clean by a heron. The type of sponge was usually reserved for cleaning toilets, and the bird represented Zeus.^[3]

The unusual theme stunned archaeologists but at least proved that bathroom humor is nothing new.

7 The Creswell Marks

The border of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire is marked by a limestone gorge. Called Creswell Crags, the site is historically significant. Apart from past discoveries of ancient remains, Creswell holds the only Ice Age art in Britain.

After years of investigations, the caves managed to deliver a big surprise in 2019. A tour group stumbled upon the country’s largest collection of apotropaic marks. The engravings had nothing do to with the Ice Age gallery. The latter were thousands of years older, while the newfound carvings were from medieval times until the 19th century.

Historians recognized several of the symbols. Also called witches’ marks, their purpose was to protect the living from bad supernatural influences. Among the most popular was “VV,” invoking the Virgin Mary. Others—like boxes, mazes, and diagonal stripes—captured whatever mysterious evil brought diseases and made the crops fail.^[4]

Dense clusters of symbols lined the ceilings and walls of the caves, a testament to the local people’s fear of the unknown.

6 The Nag Hammadi Library

Around 1,400 years ago, a jar was buried in Egypt. Containing 13 codices, the vessel was rediscovered in 1945 near the town of Nag Hammadi. The rolls contained Gnostic records of Jesus. The Gnostic tradition, an early and sometimes mystical branch of Christianity, is considered to be heretical by mainstream Christians. Most were traditionally penned in Coptic, a language that was spoken in Egypt for centuries.^[5]

In 2017, researchers in Texas found that one codex was different. Instead of Coptic scribbles, the text was Greek. This was exceptional. The work in question, the First Apocalypse of James, had never been recovered in ancient Greek before. The piece covered a conversation between Jesus and James, the latter taking instructions on how to continue teaching after Jesus’s death.

Another feature that set the scroll apart was little dots that divided the text into syllables. This rare technique is known from educational texts, which suggested the writer used the heretical gospel to teach Greek to students.

5 Unique Palimpsest

Centuries ago, writing material was expensive. Sometimes, an old manuscript would be scraped clean and inked with new information. These recycled documents are known as palimpsests.

In 2018, Dr. Eleonore Cellard assessed fragments containing Quran script. She noticed ghostly letters behind the eighth-century Arabic text and identified several Bible passages. Written in Coptic, they belonged to the Old Testament’s Book of Deuteronomy.

The find was extraordinary. Quran palimpsests are rare enough, but never before had a Christian document been erased to make space for the Islamic holy book. The writing style dated the Arabic text, but the Coptic was more difficult to place.^[6]

The fragility of the manuscript prevented carbon dating. Even if the document was strong enough, the technique can only date the paper and not the writing. Once again, the style was the only clue.

Unfortunately, it was a very broad one. The original Coptic was not written before the seventh century. Despite the dating issue, the palimpsest remains invaluable for its uniqueness.

4 Earliest Record Of Algol

The star Algol is actually a 3-in-1 deal. Officially discovered in 1669, the three suns move around each other, causing the “star” to dim and brighten. A papyrus studied in 2015 suggested that the ancient Egyptians discovered it first.

Called the Cairo Calendar, the document guided each day of the year, giving auspicious dates for ceremonies, forecasts, warnings, and even the activities of the gods. Previously, researchers felt the ancient calendar had a link to the heavens, but they never had any proof.

The study found that the calendar’s positive days matched Algol’s brightest days as well as those of the Moon. The appearances of one deity, Horus, also matched the star system’s 2,867-day cycle.

This strongly suggests that the ancient Egyptians were the first to follow Algol around 3,200 years ago. More remarkably, they did so without a telescope even though the system was almost 92.25 light-years away.^[7]

3 Unique Ninja Oath

In Japan, rumors of a written ninja oath persisted for almost 50 years. If true, this was a historic gem. Unlike movie ninjas, the real guys used stealth to gather intelligence and rarely used weapons. Most of their traditions and training were passed down verbally from master to student. A written document, especially an oath, would be a first.

In 2018, the piece finally surfaced. It was donated to a museum by the Kizu family, once a ninja clan from the town of Iga. The donated cache consisted of 130 ancient documents, but the oath was the most remarkable. Written by a man called Inosuke Kizu, he thanked his masters for the ninjutsu training and vowed to never reveal the secret knowledge. Not even to his immediate family.

The 300-year-old paper also captured the penalty of sharing ninja techniques with outsiders. The author accepted that his betrayal would cause his descendants to be tortured by the gods for generations. The letter was probably handed to his masters and returned to the Kizu family after his death.^[8]

2 Ferdinand’s Code

To safeguard military information from his enemies, King Ferdinand of Spain wrote in secret code. It was a little too effective. His correspondence with a commander named Gonzalo de Cordoba went undeciphered for 500 years.

Ferdinand sponsored Christopher Columbus’s trips to the Americas and fought several enemies. He recaptured Spain from the Moors in 1492 and battled France for the Mediterranean.

The letters promised interesting insights into the war king’s mind. Spain’s intelligence agency picked up the challenge. Ferdinand’s alphabet had 88 symbols, 237 letters, and six accompanying characters (such as numbers and triangles) that made each letter’s meaning more complex. In addition, the “language” ran continuously without breaks to indicate words.^[9]

In 2018, after six months, the agency cracked enough of the code to read four pieces of correspondence. They revealed details ranging from instructions on troop deployment in Italy to berating the commander for making decisions without Ferdinand’s approval. The breakthrough is a good step toward cracking the rest of the royal mail.

1 Extinct Language Spoken Again

A Cambridge academic loved ancient Babylonian so much that he decided to learn the language. Not just to read it but to speak it correctly. Babylonian went extinct around the time that Jesus was born.

Nearly 2,000 years of silence did not deter Dr. Martin Worthington, who already spoke Sumerian, Assyrian, English, Italian, and French. For over 20 years, he dove into ancient scripts and compiled a unique archive of research.

After gleaning correspondence, treaties, letters, and scientific reports written in Babylonian, Worthington arrived at a point where he could speak it. He was the first to admit that the project was not perfect. Although he could give a speech in the lost language, he was not fluent.

Worthington now teaches the language to Assyriology students, mainly to bring them closer to the ancient world they chose to study. Interestingly, if the two were to meet, ancient Babylonians might understand modern speakers because the language is related to Hebrew and Arabic, which replaced Babylonian as the Middle East’s dominant language.^[10]

Humans are the product of millions of intricate processes that shape their lives from the moment of conception until their last breath. Most of the time these processes go on without a hitch, but other times they go awry. This list compiles some of the rarest and most bizarre disorders that afflict both infants and adults.

10 Epidermolysis

Known as an incredibly rare birth defect, epidermolysis (also known as the Butterfly Disease) causes the skin to basically slough off when disturbed. Because of the skin’s fragility, it’s common for sufferers to be covered in painful blisters and open wounds. These wounds frequently become infected, filling with pus and mucus. The skin is so sensitive that even something as simple as a temperature change can cause debilitating damage.

Children that suffer from the Butterfly Disease tend to look like burn victims because of their bodies’ inability to produce collagen. If this disease doesn’t already sound horrible enough, the disorder isn’t exclusive to only the body’s outside tissue. Places like the mouth, esophagus, and stomach can be infected too, which keeps many sufferers from being able to eat and function properly. The disease is hereditary, but affects only about one in 50,000 babies. Aside from the obvious symptoms of epidermolysis, not much is known about the disorder and there is currently no cure for it.

9 Ectopia Cordis

Every one in 100,000 babies are born with the birth defect known as ectopia cordis, where the baby’s heart is basically born outside the body. One of the oddest things about those who suffer from the disease is their appearance. In this disease, the functional, beating heart develops outside the chest cavity and is therefore prey to any number of risks and dangers.

Unfortunately, many sufferers don’t have very long life expectancies, if they are even born at all. There is one miracle case of a man known as Christopher Wall, who was able to live and function properly with the condition for an incredible 33 years. Most cases of ectopia cordis can be diagnosed prior to birth via ultrasound, though some cases do slip past. There is unfortunately no cure and no possibility for surgery due to the delicate nature of the heart.

8 Hydrocephalus

Translated as “water on the brain,” hydrocephalus is a condition where cerebrospinal fluid accumulates in the ventricles of the brain. With the increase of fluid, the pressure on the brain and skull is increased as well. This usually results in skull enlargement, mental retardation, seizures, and tunnel vision. There have been several treatments developed to decrease the amount of fluid in the brain, though there is still no way to cure it completely.

In India, an extreme case of hydrocephalus has been reported in a girl named Roona Begum, whose head has swollen to 94 centimeters (37 in) in circumference. Just for reference, the circumference of an average baby’s skull is about 35.5 centimeters (14 in). Her head got to the point where she could barely move, because she was carrying an extra five liters of fluid in her head.

She was being taken care of in a two-room hut in India by her 18-year-old father, who was making a little more than $2 a day. Her head had grown so large she was unable to see because her eyelids had stretched so far upwards. Thankfully, over $60,000 has since been raised for Roona to receive the necessary surgery to release the liquid in her head.

7 Uner Tan Syndrome

Uner Tan syndrome is a rather recent and rare disorder that was first seen in a case study of the Ulas family in Turkey. There have been some critics of the disorder, who claim that it’s not medically valid. Despite that, the symptoms of the Ulas family can’t seem to be explained. It was named after evolutionary biologist Uner Tan, who claimed this disorder to be one of evolutionary origins. Those afflicted with this disease tend to crawl on all fours like an animal, speak in grunts, and suffer from severe mental retardation. It’s also thought that people with Uner Tan syndrome actually suffer from cerebellar ataxia, though their sustained tendency to walk on all fours doesn’t fit the symptomology.

Another odd aspect of those who suffer from Uner Tan syndrome is that it affects the whole family unit, and they seem to have adapted unnaturally well to walking on all fours. All four families that suffer from the syndrome can be found in Turkey, and there is still research being done to learn more about the disorder. A documentary was also filmed for BBC in 2006 known as The Family That Walks on All Fours to show their story to the public.

6 Lesch-Nyhan Syndrome

Lesch-Nyhan syndrome in and of itself isn’t particularly remarkable, but the behaviors that it causes in those who are afflicted make it a very interesting disease. Lesch-Nyhan syndrome is a hereditary disorder with no known cure that’s characterized by a build-up of uric acid in all bodily fluids. This build-up leads to gout, bad muscle control, and kidney problems. Motor disturbances similar to those experienced by people with Huntington’s disease are also seen in people who suffer from this disorder.

But the most remarkable behavior is the uncontrollable acts of self-mutilation that it causes. This behavior isn’t apparent in all cases of Lesch-Nyhan syndrome, but it is very common and behaviors range from head banging to severe forms of nail, finger, and lip biting. Sometimes the self-injurious behavior becomes so bad that patients must have their nails or teeth removed for their own safety.

People with Lesch-Nyhan Syndrome have also been observed gouging out their own eyes and scratching or hitting their faces. Thankfully, this is a very rare disorder that effect only one in about every 380,000 live births. With the correct restraint, precautions, and treatments, Lesch-Nyhan Syndrome can be controlled reasonably well.

5 Hypohidrotic Ectodermal Dysplasia

Also known as the vampire disorder, people who suffer from Hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia often have pointed teeth, making them look eerily similar to the blood-sucking creatures of fiction. This disorder can also affect hair, skin, and nails. Severe cases of HED are characterized by thin, pale bodies with dark circles under and around the eyes, pointed or missing teeth, no hair, and signs of premature aging.

Most people who suffer from HED must constantly manage and check their body temperature, while remaining out of the sunlight and heat for long periods of time due to their lack of sweat glands. This is the most common form of ectodermal dysplasia, affecting one in every 17,000 people, including actor Michael Berryman.

4 Lamellar Ichthyosis

Lamellar ichthyosis is a rare birth defect that causes babies to shed their skins like a reptile. When the babies with this disorder are first born, they are covered in a shiny, smooth skin known as a collodion membrane, which they later shed—leaving behind their actual skin, which is scaly and cracked. Risk of infection, dehydration, or hypothermia is high in babies with this disorder because of their lack of a protective outer layer and normal sweat glands.

The scales—which closely resemble those of fish—tend to increase as the child grows older and cluster around places like the armpits and groin. While this doesn’t seem to put the baby in any sort of pain, it can have lasting psychological effect on the child due to their bright red, scaly skin. The disorder can also cause ectropion in the sufferer, which is the outward turning of the lips and eyelids.

While this is a very rare skin disease, an even rarer form of it, known as bathing suit icthyosis, is showing up in people in South Africa. So far there have been less than 20 known cases. In bathing suit icthyosis, sufferers develop the same scaly lesions, though instead of appearing in the soft joints like the armpits, genitals, or elbows, they appear on much larger parts of the body, like the stomach, back, and head. There’s no known cure for this hereditary disorder, and more research is still being done to try and treat it.

3 Harlequin Ichthyosis

Harlequin ichthyosis, the most severe form of ichthyosis, is when the keratin layer of the baby’s skin hardens and cracks. Most of the infant’s limbs may also be contracted or missing completely. This can also happen to the ears, nose, eyes, and penis. Because of the large scales of cracked skin, much of the baby’s range of motion is limited. There’s usually a very grim prognosis for those that are diagnosed with harlequin ichthyosis due to complications with infections that develop in the fissures.

If the infants don’t die from infection or their inability to move, they usually succumb to dehydration or respiratory failure. In some rare cases, there are sufferers that make it past infancy, which is a feat in and of itself. A girl named Hunter Steinitz has made it to the remarkable age of 18 with this disease, though every day is a battle. She must constantly keep her skin moisturized with oils to decrease the cracking, and there is no cure for this hereditary condition.

2 Polymelia

Polymelia is a bizarre disorder in which the sufferer is born with an unusual number of limbs. There have been cases of these limbs being useful as well as non-functioning. Polymelia can occur for a number of reasons, including the incorrect splitting of limbs or the reabsorbance of a conjoined twin back into the body. Now, an extra arm or leg here and there may not seem like anything to get particularly excited about, but it’s the more extreme cases of polymelia that make it such a fascinatingly bizarre disorder.

In Pakistan there was a case of a baby born with six legs, which was the result of a parasitic twin. Polymelia can result in an unusual number of any extremity—including the penis, in some cases—and proves to be a hassle for most sufferers. There are surgeries to remove the extra limbs, but some people find that their extra extremities—especially fingers—are actually quite useful. This condition can also be found in several types of animals.

1 Pseudomamma

Pseudomamma is basically when breast tissue develops in places other than the breast. This will usually occur along the milk line or other spots of the abdomen. In rare cases, however, pseudomamma will occur on stranger parts of the body—like the face. Recently, a very odd case of pseudomamma surfaced when a 22-year-old girl went to the doctor complaining of an odd growth on the bottom of her foot. Upon closer examination, the doctors found the growth to be a nipple, complete with an areola, hair, eccrine, and sebaceous glands.

Most growths have no negative effects on their hosts, though they are usually removed for aesthetic purposes. Not all cases of pseudomamma are present at birth, and some develop randomly over a lifetime.

Shelby is an undergraduate at Arizona State University studying psychology, biology, criminal justice and medicinal biochemistry. She is constantly fascinated by the mysteries of the world around her. She hopes to go on to medical school once she graduates to be able to search for and solve these mysteries.

Bones record history in their own way. Whether they splinter, show up in odd places, or provide DNA, ribs and all the rest are packed with information.

In recent years, archaeologists handled fascinating rarities, some seen for the first time. Some of the skeletons displayed the ironic fate of one of history’s cruelest physicians, a weird Roman town, and duels at the bottom of a lake. Individual bones also revealed stories from prehistory, tools made from humans, and the reason why ancient women could have beaten the championship-level rowers of today.

10 The Butchered Sloth

In 2000, a farmer found bones at Campo Laborde in Argentina. They belonged to an extinct species of sloth. This was not the modern kind that hangs on a branch all day. Megatherium americanum weighed over 4 tons and stood 3 meters (10 ft) tall.

Archaeologists found evidence, including a butchering knife, that the animal had been hunted and slaughtered at the site. Although it was suspected that humans preyed on giant sloths, Campo Laborde presented the first proof.

Additionally, the sloth’s age was important. It belonged to a group of ultra-large mammals called megamammals. Around 12,000 years ago, about 90 percent died out. The wave of extinction was epic, sweeping through all the continents except for Africa.

When dating techniques placed the sloth at 9,700 to 6,750 years old, it appeared that the species had managed to escape the die-off. In 2016 and 2017, the bones were redated with more sophisticated equipment. The new date of 12,600 years old suggested that sloths got crushed with the rest and humans were among the factors that drove the wave.^[1]

9 Epic Pig Roasts

In 2019, a study was released about pigs that failed to survive barbecues. The swine in question lived in Britain during the Stonehenge era (2800–2400 BC). When researchers analyzed the bones, they found something unexpected.

The fact that pork roasts happened at ceremonial sites around Stonehenge is old news. Leftovers at places like Durrington Walls and Marden proved that the epic feasts happened, but the new study wanted to know where the pigs came from. In turn, this would reveal more about those who owned them.

For a long time, it was assumed that the animals started out as local piglets. Nobody truly believed that pig drives were possible, as was done with cattle over a long distance. However, when the barbecued bones were analyzed, results showed that the vast majority of pigs were born elsewhere, including Scotland and Wales.

Researchers were never sure of the barbecues’ true purpose, but this gave a strong clue. The feasts tightened the social networks from all over the island. Since the pig drives demanded considerable effort, researchers believe that these meetings—and pork—were important to those who attended.^[2]

8 The Speared Rib

There is plenty of evidence that people grazed on mammoth meat. However, there was no direct evidence of hunting. Head-scratching theorists suggested that ice age tribes trapped the animals or drove them off cliffs. These were likely scenarios considering that mammoths were not exactly sheep-sized.

In 2002, researchers rooted around in a mammoth bonanza. Over the years, Krakow, Poland, had churned out around 110 mammoths. Among the remains, aged between 30,000 and 25,000, was a rib. Stuck in the bone was a flint fragment. Despite what it suggested, the bone was not properly analyzed until 2018 when it became the first proof that mammoths were hunted with weapons.

The flint belonged to the tip of a light spear called a javelin. Measuring 7 millimeters (0.3 in) long, the depth showed that the weapon was thrown with immense force. Even so, it was not the death blow. Other hunters were probably present and brought the animal down with more spears.^[3]

7 Surprising Iberian Ancestry

The Iberian Peninsula was the ancestral melting pot for modern-day Spain and Portugal. During a recent study, scientists analyzed the bones of almost 400 ancient Iberians. Together, the skeletons represented 8,000 years’ worth of genetic information.

The goal was to chart when the different cultures arrived and mingled. This history turned out to be unexpectedly complex, but most surprising was a migration that occurred 4,500 years ago.

The genes they brought were not unknown. They hailed from the steppes near the Caspian and Black Seas. There is an old “Steppe Hypothesis” supporting the notion that these people spread to Asia and Europe at the same time.

The study of the 400 skeletons showed that the steppe people—mostly men—also made it to the Iberian Peninsula. They had a massive impact on the region’s genetics. By 2000 BC, their male Y chromosome had nearly replaced everyone else’s. Additionally, they might have brought bronze as the region’s Bronze Age began when the first steppe genes appeared in Iberians around 2500 BC.^[4]

6 Human Bone Tattoo Kit

Archaeologists cannot always identify artifacts. This was the case with ancient tattoo equipment. Only from 2016 onward did a few oddities reveal themselves as inking tools. This included volcanic glass from the Solomon Islands, turkey bones from Tennessee, and cactus spines from Utah.

In 1963, the same thing happened. A set of four small combs was found on the island of Tongatapu in Tonga. At the time, their purpose was unknown. The kit was placed in storage at an Australian university but was assumed to be lost after a fire.

In 2008, the combs were found intact. Analysis identified seabird bones as the material used to make two of them, while the rest were crafted from human remains. The tests also gave the kit’s age as 2,700 years old, placing it among the oldest in the world.^[5]

There is good reason to believe that the combs were used as tattoo “needles.” When Captain James Cook wrote about tattooing in 18th-century Tonga, he described a similar bone tool used to insert color under the skin.

5 The Deviant Cemetery

Roman burials placed the deceased on their backs with the bodies neatly arranged. Valuable grave goods were often placed inside the caskets. For burials done differently, archaeologists have an interesting term—“deviant” graves. In every third or fourth Roman cemetery, one can expect to trip over one deviant.

In 2019, archaeologists investigated an area earmarked for construction in Suffolk, England. Great Whelnetham used to be a Roman settlement, but it was long assumed that the region’s sandy soil could not preserve any bones.^[6]

Incredibly, they found a pristine fourth-century graveyard. Even more startling was the high number of deviant burials, 35 out of 52. Men, women, and children were all decapitated. Some heads were missing, while others were next to the bodies or at their feet.

Since the skulls were removed neatly after death, archaeologists doubt that these people were executed. Instead, the locals probably had a reason for burying family in a way not normal for Romans. It remains a mystery why this town was different.

4 The Unlaid Egg

In 2018, paleontologists examined a fossil. The bird had been discovered in northwest China a few years earlier. The new species, Avimaia schweitzerae, was around 115 million years old.

In a fossil first, the bird was pregnant with an egg. In some places, the shell had as many as six layers. This could be why the hen died. In modern birds, trauma can delay a female from nesting. Her body retains the egg and wraps unnecessary layers of shell around it. Known as “egg binding,” it smothers the embryo and often kills the mother.

Finding reproductive disorders in a fossil is great, but the skeleton might also include a medullary bone. This is the holy grail for scientists obsessed with bones and bird pregnancy.

When a bird prepares for egg-making, she stacks up on calcium in the medullary—something that has never been positively identified in a fossil bird. Avimaia‘s medullary region showed all the right signs. If confirmed, it would provide a unique link between avian reproduction and this bone.^[7]

3 Ancient Women’s True Strength

In 2017, researchers compared the arms of prehistoric and modern women—a scientific first. The ancient group included skeletons from Europe’s Neolithic, Bronze, and Iron Ages (5300 BC–AD 850). The living women included sedentary individuals and athletes from Cambridge, including champion rowers.

The arm and leg bones were scanned and then checked for signs of physical activity. Labor intensity as well as physical strength can be gleaned from the shape and density of a bone.^[8]

The study revealed something remarkable. Previous studies were more male oriented, and female leg bones that were analyzed showed strength that varied. (The latter also held true in the 2017 study.) For this reason, the real arm strength of prehistoric women remained hidden.

However, the scans showed that the older gals had arms stronger than elite rowers. The toughness resulted from rigorous manual labor that lasted for thousands of years, proving that women contributed extensively when people switched from being hunter-gatherers to farmers.

2 Fish That Hunted Pterosaurs

Pterosaurs were flying reptiles. During the dinosaur age, they were the top aerial predator. However, in 2012, scientists found a remarkable example of predation on pterosaurs. A lake once existed in Bavaria where the smaller fish attracted pterosaurs and the flying reptiles attracted bigger fish.

When researchers examined the site, they found five drowned pterosaurs, aged around 120 million years old. They belonged to the same species, the long-tailed Rhamphorhychus. Each skeleton had a wing near or inside the mouth of a large fish. The latter also belonged to a single species, an armored fish called Aspidorhynchus that measured 65 centimeters (25.6 in) long.

A closer look suggested that all the creatures died during similar duels. In every case, Aspidorhynchus probably lurched through the surface to grab a low-flying pterosaur by the wing. It was a mistake. The reptiles were too large to swallow, and Aspidorhynchus‘s abundant teeth got caught on the wing membrane.

The struggle to get free would have exhausted both to the point of collapse. They sank to the bottom where low oxygen levels suffocated the fish and drowned the reptile.^[9]

1 Mengele’s Skeleton

After World War II, Josef Mengele became synonymous with the horrors of Auschwitz. As one of the Nazi doctors who worked at the infamous concentration camp, his thirst for knowledge drove him to experiment on prisoners. Mengele killed so many people that he became known as the “Angel of Death.” His crimes made him a wanted man, but he eluded international efforts to capture him for almost 40 years.

In 1979, Mengele died in Brazil. His remains were exhumed in 1985, and DNA analysis in 1992 confirmed the physician’s identity. However, his family refused to bring the body back to Germany, and the bones were stored at Sao Paulo’s Legal Medical Institute.

Pathologist Daniel Munoz was among the experts who helped identify the body. Munoz, who was also a lecturer at the medical school of the University of Sao Paulo, recently realized that the skeleton could be used in the classroom.

The result was ironic. This time, Mengele became the object of those seeking medical knowledge from somebody without their consent. These days, his skeleton teaches students how to find and match forensic details on bones with the person’s records.^[10]

The past few years saw an unprecedented slew of remarkable fossils. It is not always the biggest dinosaurs that are the most valuable to science. More important are the fragments that reveal behavior, extinct diets, missing ancestors, and the answers to tough puzzles.

New finds can also introduce intriguing mysteries about unknown human species and animals. They can be dramatic, too, showing for the first time the creatures that died minutes after the dinosaur-killing asteroid struck Earth.

10 Comb Jelly Ancestor

Some researchers love their jellies. The predatory and gelatinous kind, not the wobbly dessert. Recently, a scientist from the United Kingdom visited colleagues in China. When he was shown a particular fossil, he got very excited over the creature’s tentacles. The fossil, later named Daihua sanqiong, sprouted 18 whips around its mouth.

Each tentacle had robust ciliary hairs, something only found on comb jellies. The latter is alive today. This bizarre creature uses “combs” of cilia to travel through seawater. The comb jelly was a bit of an orphan. Nobody can follow its evolutionary progress on the tree of life.

However, the 518-million-year-old fossil shared enough characteristics with comb jellies and other ancient creatures that researchers could tentatively build the entire early lineage of comb jellies. It even gave the Oliver Twist of the jelly world a few likely cousins—corals and anemones.^[1]

9 Bandicoots Were Nimble

Pig-footed bandicoots went extinct in the 1950s. Like most marsupials, they were delightfully different in their own way. These bandicoots looked like they had been assembled from pieces taken from a deer, a kangaroo, and an opossum. Weighing about the same as a basketball, bandicoots were among the tiniest grazers that ever lived.

As there are no living animals, researchers turned to the aboriginal community for insights about the creature’s behavior. Done in the 1980s, the interviews revealed something surprising. The ungainly animal could gallop quite fast.

What made this fact so unexpected was the structure of the bandicoot’s feet. Each front leg had two functional toes, and bizarrely, the hind legs had one each. This arrangement appeared unstable. But according to witnesses, the herbivores zoomed into the distance like the Road Runner when they were startled.

Interestingly, in 2019, a DNA analysis was performed on the last remaining 29 skeletons in museums. It revealed that what researchers thought was one species, Chaeropus ecaudatus, was in fact two. The new species was called Chaeropus yirratji to honor a local aboriginal name for the animal.^[2]

8 Worm City

In 2018, rocks were analyzed from Canada’s Mackenzie Mountains. Nobody had worms on the brain while preparing the rocks for another study. However, during the grinding and sawing, unusual colorations prompted a look—and it changed a big belief.

To find out what caused the unfamiliar shades, samples were scanned and digitally enhanced. Almost instantly, a crowding network of tunnels appeared. Previously invisible, the tunnels were made by a thriving community of worms. This may sound torture-level normal, but it showed life where none was expected.

The rocks dated back 500 million years when the region was a seafloor. Most experts agreed that it was a dead zone due to no oxygen. But some rocks were so tunneled that they resembled the highways of a busy city. This proved that the dead zone harbored more life—and definitely more oxygen—than anyone had guessed.^[3]

7 Step Closer To Ancestor X

Ancestor X is the mysterious focus of a scientific argument. It involves the early evolutionary tree of vertebrates, animals that include humans. Ancestor X is not a primate but a fish. This aquatic grandparent, so to speak, was identified in absentia when researchers had a look at some the oldest vertebrates alive today.

Most felt that the boneless hagfish and lampreys belonged at the bottom of the tree. This suggested that X looked similar to the two eellike species. Fossil finds supported this theory. DNA tests did not.

Genetic analysis suggested that lampreys and hagfish had an ancestor that branched off much earlier. The debate swung in the DNA’s favor when a fossil was discovered in Lebanon in 2011. It was an early type of hagfish that was around 100 million years old.

Considering that hagfish have no bones, finding one was “like finding a sneeze in the fossil record” as one scientist put it. The rare discovery had features suggesting that Ancestor X was not some squishy eel but more probably looked more like a fish.^[4]

6 Unique Fingerprints

Around 1 percent of tracks revealed that dinosaurs had skin on their soles. As skin forms patterns, dinosaur feet could stamp “fingerprints” unique to each individual. However, none of the fossils in question had more than a few traces of skin.

Fingerprint-obsessed scientists thirsted for just one measly fossil fingerprint, and then they got five. Few people have heard of Minisauripus, the smallest theropod. The larger theropods were the type of bipedal carnivores that often chase people in movies. Tyrannosaurus rex is the most famous.

Although Minisauripus is not dramatic enough to hit Hollywood, one of these creatures gave the world footprints unlike any ever seen before. Around 120 million years ago, it left tracks in modern-day Korea.

Discovered in 2019, the exquisitely preserved feet measured 2.5 centimeters (1 in) long. The paws were entirely covered in “fingerprints.” The pattern was surprising. Tiny scales wove together like fabric, producing a pattern that resembled those of Chinese bird fossils. It was something that the team had expected from a much bigger theropod.^[5]

5 Ancient Diet And Digestion

When paleontologists want to know what extinct species ate, they have limited options. The shape of teeth and chemical deposits in bones can suggest an animal’s diet. However, to narrow things down, researchers really prefer to find fossilized stomach contents. Unfortunately, soft tissues like the stomach and a digesting meal do not preserve well.

In 1965, a pterosaur fossil (161 to 146 million years old) was unearthed in Southern Germany. The significance of the find was not immediately recognized. In 2015, scientists reviewed the flying reptile at its home museum in Canada. Thankfully, the fossil was in great condition.

Among the well-preserved details were clues about its diet. Inside the guts was something resembling the skeleton of a fish. Best of all was a lump near the base of the pterodactyl’s spine. It was likely a coprolite, or fossilized feces.

Coprolites are rare enough, but finding one inside a pterodactyl would be a first. Analysis of the possible poop revealed what the reptile snacked on. There were spiny remnants suggestive of a marine invertebrate like a sponge or starfish-like prey.^[6]

4 Whale Ancestor With Hooves

Whales began as land mammals and evolved until they permanently took to the seas. There are gaps in this story, but in 2011, a crucial piece was recovered. A 42.6-million-year-old whale fossil turned up in Peru. The creature had four legs.

Each foot had a hoof and was webbed like an otter. This odd combination suggested that the animal had walked on land and swum very well. Other whale fossils from this time were too fragmented to suggest how whales went from land to marine mammals.

The flipper-hoofed thing, technically named Peregocetus pacificus, provided a valuable gem. It proved that early whales sometimes lived on land, probably to mate and have young, but could also stay in the water for weeks. It was an extreme semiaquatic lifestyle for a crossover species.^[7]

The 4-meter-long (13 ft) animal also provided crucial information about how and when whales spread to the Americas. The Peruvian fossil suggested that they crossed the South Atlantic, which was 50 percent smaller than today, and came from somewhere near India.

3 Cache Of 50-Plus New Species

In 2019, scientists were trudging along China’s Danshui River when they hit the jackpot. The team encountered hundreds of ancient remains, which were duly ogled and discussed.

The fossilized bodies of 101 animals were recovered. Astoundingly, over half were unknown species. Ironically, the researchers sat down to have lunch when they made the discovery.

While eating, somebody noticed telltale signs of ancient mudflows. These are great preservers of fossils, but the Danshui batch blew everyone away. The creatures were so well-preserved that soft tissues and animals that normally did not fossilize appeared to be freshly pressed. There were perfect jellyfish, eyes, gills, digestive systems, soft-bodied worms, and sea anemones, to name but a few.

The cache dated to the Cambrian Period (490 million to 530 million years ago) when animal life diversified at an uncommon pace. The new species present the perfect opportunity to better understand this strangely fruitful time.^[8]

2 A New Human

Modern humans are the only survivor of the hominid “family tree.” Cousins like the Neanderthals, Australopithecus, and Homo erectus are long gone. It is not often that a new human species is identified.

But in 2007, a bone turned up in the Philippines. Part of a foot, it was 67,000 years old and the most ancient human fragment in the Philippines. In 2019, 12 more bones were found nearby. Together, they outlined an unknown miniature species of human beings.

This part of the world is already famous for the 2004 discovery of Homo floresiensis, an unrelated tiny hominid nicknamed the “hobbit,” in Indonesia. The newly named Homo luzonensis shared traits with H. sapiens, H. erectus, and Australopithecus.

This mix proved that it was a new species, but a lack of viable DNA obscured evolutionary links with the others. The discovery also contradicted the belief that the first hominins out of Africa were H. erectus, followed by H. sapiens around 40 thousand to 50 thousand years ago.

The small human was outside of Africa almost 10,000 years earlier. Incredibly, their Australopithecus traits are much older. Australopithecus remains have never been found outside Africa, but some specimens are three million years old.^[9]

1 The Day The Dinosaurs Died

The K-Pg boundary is a terrible grave marker. Discovered in the 1970s, this layer can be found in rock separating the Cretaceous and Paleogene eras. It is filled with iridium from a massive asteroid that hit near Mexico about 66 million years ago.

The impact left a crater 145 kilometers (90 mi) wide and killed three out of four species, including the dinosaurs. Despite the mass extinction that followed, known as the K-Pg event, no fossils reflected the disaster right after it happened.

In 2019, ancient fish turned up at Hell Creek, North Dakota. They were the first group of large species found at the K-Pg boundary. Even better, the fish had glass spheres in their gills. Caused by the impact, the glass rained down at Hell Creek minutes after the asteroid struck and before the fish were buried in mud, together with animals, plants, and insects.

It was the glass-smothered fish that proved the group had died within a short period from direct consequences of the impact. To view the Hell Creek fossils is to see the day the dinosaurs died.^[10]

Compared to many other species, all humans have incredibly similar genomes. However, even slight variations in our genes or environments can cause us to develop traits that make us unique. These differences can manifest in ordinary ways, such as through hair color, height, or facial structure, but occasionally, a person or population develops a characteristic that distinctly sets them apart from the rest of the human race.

10Can’t Get High Cholesterol

While most of us have to worry about limiting our intake of fried foods, bacon, eggs, or anything that we’re told is on the “cholesterol-raising list” of the moment, a few people can eat all these things and more without fear. In fact, no matter what they consume, their “bad cholesterol” (blood levels of low-density lipoprotein, associated with heart disease) remains virtually non-existent.

These people were born with a genetic mutation. More specifically, they lack working copies of a gene known as PCSK9, and while it’s usually unlucky to be born with a missing gene, in this case, it seems to have some positive side effects.

After scientists discovered the relationship between this gene (or lack thereof) and cholesterol about 10 years ago, drug companies have worked frantically to create a pill that would block PCSK9 in other individuals. The drug is close to getting FDA approval. In early trials, patients who have taken it have experienced as much as a 75-percent reduction in their cholesterol levels.

So far, scientists have only found the mutation in a handful of African Americans, and those with it have the benefit of a 90-percent reduced risk of heart disease.

9Resistance To HIV

All sorts of things could wipe out the human race—asteroid strikes, nuclear annihilation, and extreme climate change, just to name a few. Perhaps the scariest threat is some type of super-virulent virus. If a disease ravages the population, only the rare few who are immune would have a chance of survival. Fortunately, we know that certain people are indeed resistant to particular diseases.

Take HIV, for example. Some people have a genetic mutation that disables their copy of the CCR5 protein. HIV uses that protein as a doorway into human cells. So, if a person lacks CCR5, HIV can’t enter their cells, and they’re extremely unlikely to become infected with the disease.

That being said, scientists say that people with this mutation are resistant rather than immune to HIV. A few individuals without this protein have contracted and even died from AIDS. Apparently, some unusual types of HIV have figured out how to use proteins other than CCR5 to invade cells. This type of resourcefulness is why viruses are so scary.

Folks with two copies of the defective gene are most resistant to HIV. Currently, that includes only about 1 percent of Caucasians and is even more rare in other ethnicities.

8Malaria Resistance

Those who have an especially high resistance to malaria are carriers of another deadly disease: sickle cell anemia. Of course, no one wants the ability to dodge malaria only to die prematurely from malformed blood cells, but there is one situation where having the sickle cell gene pays off. To understand how that works, we have to explore the basics of both diseases.

Malaria is a type of parasite carried by mosquitoes that can lead to death (about 660,000 people per year) or at the very least make someone feel at death’s door. Malaria does its dirty work by invading red blood cells and reproducing. After a couple days, new malaria parasites burst out of the inhabited blood cell, destroying it. They then invade other red blood cells. This cycle continues until the parasites are stopped through treatment, the body’s defense mechanisms, or death. This process causes a loss of blood and weakens the lungs and liver. It also increases blood clotting, which can spark a coma or seizure.

Sickle cell anemia causes changes in the shape and makeup of red blood cells, which makes it difficult for them to flow through the blood stream and deliver adequate levels of oxygen. However, because the blood cells are mutated, they confuse the malaria parasite, making it difficult for it to attach and infiltrate the blood cells. Consequently, those who have sickle cells are naturally protected against malaria.

You can get the anti-malaria benefits without actually having sickle cells, so long as you’re a carrier of the sickle cell gene. To get sickle cell anemia, a person has to inherit two copies of the mutated gene, one from each parent. If they only get one, they have enough abnormal hemoglobin to resist malaria yet will never develop full-fledged anemia.

Because of its strong protection against malaria, the sickle cell trait has become highly naturally selected in areas of the world where malaria is widespread, with as much 10–40 percent of people carrying the mutation.

7Tolerance For Coldness

Inuits and other populations who live in intensely cold environments have adapted to an extreme way of life. Have these people simply learned how to survive in these environments, or are they somehow biologically different?

Cold-dwellers have different physiological responses to low temperatures compared to those who live in milder environments. And it appears there might be at least a partial genetic component to these adaptations, because even if someone moves to a cold environment and lives there for decades, their bodies never quite reach the same level of adaptation as natives who have lived in the environment for generations. For instance, researchers have found that indigenous Siberians are better adapted to the cold even when compared to non-indigenous Russians living in the same community.

People native to cold climates have higher basal metabolic rates (around 50 percent higher) than those accustomed to temperate climates. Also, they can maintain their body temperatures better without shivering and have relatively fewer sweat glands on the body and more on the face. In one study, researchers tested different races to see how their skin temperatures changed when exposed to cold. They found that Inuits were able to maintain the highest skin temperature of any group tested, followed by other Native Americans.

These types of adaptations partly explain why aboriginal Australians can sleep on the ground during cold nights (without shelter or clothing) with no ill effects and why Inuits can live much of their lives in subzero temperatures.

The human body is much better suited at adjusting to heat than to cold, so it’s rather impressive that people manage to live at all in freezing temperatures, let alone thrive.

6Optimized For High Altitude

Most climbers who’ve made it to the summit of Mt. Everest wouldn’t have done so without a local Sherpa guide. Amazingly, Sherpas often travel ahead of the adventurers to set ropes and ladders, just so the other climbers have a chance of making it up the steep cliffs.

There’s little doubt that Tibetans and Nepalese are physically superior in this high-altitude environment, yet what is it exactly that allows them to work vigorously in oxygen-depleted conditions, while ordinary folks have to struggle just to stay alive?

Tibetans live at an altitude above 4,000 meters (13,000 ft) and are accustomed to breathing air that contains about 40 percent less oxygen than at sea level. Over the centuries, their bodies compensated for this low-oxygen environment by developing bigger chests and greater lung capacities, which make it possible for them to inhale more air with each breath.

And, unlike lowlanders whose bodies produce more red blood cells when in low oxygen, high-altitude people have evolved to do the exact opposite—they produce fewer red blood cells. This is because while an increase in red blood cells might temporarily help a person get more oxygen to the body, it makes blood thicker over time and can lead to blood clots and other potentially deadly complications. Similarly, Sherpas have better blood flow in their brains and are overall less susceptible to altitude sickness.

Even when living at lower altitudes, Tibetans still maintain these traits, and researchers have found that many of these adaptations aren’t simply phenotypic variances (i.e., would reverse at low altitudes) but are genetic adaptations. One particular genetic change occurred in a stretch of DNA known as EPAS1, which codes for a regulatory protein. This protein detects oxygen and controls production of red blood cells and explains why Tibetans don’t overproduce red blood cells when deprived of oxygen, like ordinary people.

The Han Chinese, the lowland relatives of the Tibetans, do not share these genetic characteristics. The two groups split from each other about 3,000 years ago, which means these adaptations occurred in only about 100 generations—a relatively short time in terms of evolution.

5Immunity To A Brain Disease

In case we needed another reason to avoid cannibalism, eating our own kind is not a particularly healthy choice. The Fore people of Papua New Guinea showed us as much in the mid–20th century when their tribe suffered through an epidemic of Kuru—a degenerative and fatal brain disease spread by eating other humans.

Kuru is a prion disease related to Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) in humans and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease). Like all prion diseases, kuru decimates the brain, filling it with sponge-like holes. The infected suffers through a decline in memory and intellect, personality changes, and seizures. Sometimes, people can live with a prion disease for years, but in the case of kuru, the afflicted usually die within a year of showing symptoms. It’s important to note that, although very rare, a person can inherit a prion disease. However, the illness is most commonly spread by eating an infected person or animal.

Initially, anthropologists and medical doctors didn’t know why kuru was spreading across the Fore tribe. Finally, in the late 1950s, it was discovered that the infection was being transmitted at mortuary feasts, where tribe members would consume their deceased relatives out of respect. Mostly women and young children participated in the cannibalistic ritual. Consequently, they were the ones predominantly affected. Before the funerary practice was banned, some Fore villages had virtually no young women remaining.

But not all who were exposed to kuru died from it. Survivors had a novel variation in a gene called G127V that made them immune to the brain disease. Now, the gene is widespread among the Fore and surrounding people, which is surprising because kuru only popped up in the area around 1900. This incident is one of the strongest and most recent examples of natural selection in humans.

4Golden Blood

Although we’re often told that type O blood is a universal blood type that anyone can receive, that’s not the case. In fact, the whole system is a bit more complicated than many of us realize.

While most of us are aware of the eight basic blood types (A, AB, B, and O—each of which can be positive or negative), there are currently 35 known blood group systems, with millions of variations in each system. Blood that doesn’t fall into the ABO system is considered rare, and those who have such blood may find it challenging to locate a compatible donor when in need of a transfusion.

Still, there’s rare blood, and then there’s really rare blood. Presently, the most unusual kind of blood is known as “Rh-null.” As its name suggests, it doesn’t contain any antigens in the Rh system. It’s not that uncommon for a person to lack some Rh antigens. For instance, people who don’t have the Rh D antigen have “negative” blood (e.g. A-, B-, or O-). Still, it’s extremely extraordinary for someone to not have a single Rh antigen. It’s so extraordinary, in fact, that researchers have only come across 40 or so individuals on the planet who have Rh-null blood.

What makes this blood even more interesting is that it totally beats O blood in terms of being a universal donor, since even O-negative blood isn’t always compatible with other types of rare negative blood. Rh-null, however, works with nearly any type of blood. This is because, when receiving a transfusion, our bodies will likely reject any blood that contains antigens we don’t possess. And since Rh-null blood has zero Rh, A, or B antigens, it can be given to practically everyone.

Unfortunately, there are only about nine donors of this blood in the world, so it’s only used in extreme situations. Because of its limited supply and enormous value as a potential lifesaver, some doctors have referred to Rh-null as “golden” blood. In some cases, they’ve even tracked down anonymous donors (a big no-no) to request a sample.

Those who have the Rh-null type undoubtedly have a bittersweet existence. They know that their blood is literally a lifesaver for others with rare blood, yet if they themselves need blood, their options are limited to the donations of only nine people.

3Crystal-Clear Underwater Vision

Most animals’ eyes are designed for seeing things underwater or in air—not both. The human eye, of course, is adept at seeing things in air. When we try to open our eyes underwater, things look blurry. This is because the water has a similar density to the fluids in our eyes, which limits the amount of refracted light that can pass into the eye. Low refraction equals fuzzy vision.

That knowledge makes it all the more surprising that a group of people, known as the Moken, have the ability to see clearly underwater, even at depths up to 22 meters (75 ft).

The Moken spend eight months of the year on boats or stilt houses. They only return to land to get essential items, which they acquire by bartering foods or shells collected from the ocean. They gather resources from the sea using traditional methods, which means no modern fishing poles, masks, or diving gear. Children are responsible for collecting food, such as clams or sea cucumbers, from the sea floor. Through this repetitive and consistent task, their eyes are now capable of changing shape when underwater to increase light refraction. Thus, they can easily distinguish between edible clams and ordinary rocks even when many meters below water.

When tested, the Moken children had underwater vision twice as sharp as European children. However, it seems that this is an adaptation that we might all possess if our environment demanded it, since researchers have trained European children to perform underwater tasks as successfully as the Moken.

2Super-Dense Bones

Getting old comes with a host of physical problems. A common such issue is osteoporosis, a loss of bone mass and density. This leads to inevitable bone fractures, broken hips, and hunched spines—not a pleasant fate for anyone. Still, it’s not all bad news, as a group of people have a unique gene that may hold the secret to curing osteoporosis.

The gene is found in the Afrikaner population (South Africans with Dutch origins), and it causes people to gain bone mass throughout their lives instead of losing it. More specifically, it’s a mutation in the SOST gene, which controls a protein (sclerostin) that regulates bone growth.

If an Afrikaner inherits two copies of the mutated gene, they develop the disorder sclerosteosis, which leads to severe bone overgrowth, gigantism, facial distortion, deafness, and early death. Obviously, that disorder is far worse than osteoporosis. However, if they only inherit one copy of the gene, they don’t get sclerosteosis and simply have especially dense bones throughout their lives.

Although heterozygous carriers of the gene are currently the only ones enjoying the benefits, researchers are studying the DNA of Afrikaners with hopes of finding ways to reverse osteoporosis and other skeletal disorders in the general population. Based on what they’ve learned so far, they’ve already started clinical studies on a sclerostin inhibitor that’s capable of stimulating bone formation.

1Need Little Sleep

If it ever seems like some people have more hours in their day than you do, it turns out they just might—at least more awake hours. That’s because there are unusual individuals who can operate on six or fewer hours of shut-eye a night. And they aren’t simply getting by—they thrive on this limited amount of sleep, while many of the rest of us are still dragging ourselves out of bed after snoozing for eight solid hours.

These people aren’t necessarily tougher than the rest of us, and they haven’t trained their bodies to function on less sleep. Instead, they have a rare genetic mutation of the gene DEC2, which causes them to physiologically need less sleep than the average person.

If normal sleepers were to stick to six or fewer hours of slumber, they’d start experiencing negative impacts almost immediately. Chronic sleep deprivation can even lead to health problems, including serious ones like high blood pressure and heart disease. Those with the DEC2 mutation don’t have any of the problems associated with sleep deprivation, despite the limited time their heads are on the pillow. While it might seem odd that a single gene could change what we believe is a basic human need, those studying the DEC2 mutation believe it’s helping people to sleep more efficiently with more intense REM states. Apparently, when we have better sleep, we need less of it.

This genetic anomaly is exceedingly rare and is only found in less than 1 percent of self-proclaimed short-sleepers. So, chances are, even if you think you have it, you probably don’t.

Content and copy writer by day and list writer by night, S. Grant enjoys exploring the bizarre, unusual, and topics that hide in plain sight. Contact S. Grant here.

The natural world has a few hiccups; from stacked trees to square seas, the results can be weird. However, sometimes, the quirks in nature evolved due to survival.

It is the reason why America has a goldfish plague and an extinct bird made a comeback. Some oddities remain mysterious, like sea life trapped in amber and the night a weather team tracked something huge until it vanished.

SEE ALSO: 10 Recent Stories That Prove Mother Nature Is Screwing With Us

10 Beluga-Narwhal Hybrids

During the 1980s, an Inuit hunter shot three whales in Greenland. One sank from his reach. The other’s remains were left on the beach and eventually washed away. The man kept the skull of the third.

He was confused by the creatures. They were unfamiliar—with gray bodies, strangely sideways teeth, fins like belugas, and tails like narwhals. The confusion spread to the scientific world when a visiting researcher brought the skull back to a museum in Denmark. Nobody had seen anything like it, and although a beluga-narwhal hybrid was suspected, it could not be proven.

Recently, scientists relied on modern research techniques to find the answer. They extracted DNA from the teeth and found that their predecessors were correct. The genes revealed that the creature was male with a narwhal mother and a beluga father.

It lacked the unicorn-like tusk of male narwhals, its head was bigger than both its parents, and chemical analysis showed that it had a different diet. Perhaps due to its unusual teeth, this creature foraged at the bottom of the sea while belugas and narwhals never do.^[1]

9 Blue-Eyed Coyotes

Coyotes look at the world with golden brown eyes. For this reason, it came as a shock when five coyotes in California turned up with piercing blue eyes. When the photographic evidence was shown to experts of eye color in wildlife, nobody had seen anything like it. Two of the animals trotted around in Point Reyes while the rest lived in Santa Cruz and Sacramento.

In wild animals, eye color remains consistent. This drastic change is still unsolved, but at least researchers have ruled out interbreeding with dogs. Domestic dogs sometimes have blue eyes, and they do have puppies with coyotes. However, these crossbreeds have distinctive faces and coat colors but never blue eyes.^[2]

A genetic mutation is more likely. The suspicion is that a single coyote was born with blue eyes a few generations ago and the California five could be this animal’s descendants.

8 Goldfish Invasion

In 2019, a goldfish was pulled from the Niagara River in New York. At 36 centimeters (14 in) long, it was enormous. The creature, which could have been an abandoned pet, was not the biggest to be captured in the US wild.

In 2013, California’s Lake Tahoe produced a 61-centimeter-long (24 in) goldfish weighing 2 kilograms (4 lb). It’s not clear how this member of the carp family got into the waterways as they are native to Asia.^[3]

However, fish that were flushed down the toilet or illegally released as well as goldfish escaping from bait buckets must all have contributed to the growing problem. They are hardy, breed prolifically, and often outcompete native species.

As far as anyone can tell, this popular aquarium fish is now a serious invasive species that was first noticed in New York’s waterways in 1842. The orange plague spread, and today, the Great Lakes ripple with tens of millions of goldfish.

7 Three-Eyed Snake

The rangers suspected that he had two heads which had fused together during development. However, the images clearly showed that this was not the case. Instead, Monty had one skull with three eye sockets. Even more astoundingly, the eyeball seemed to work. For this to happen, the python had to grow an extra optic nerve and undergo major changes to the brain, likely while Monty was still an embryo.

Although he eventually died at two months old, it was still longer than most snakes born with bone deformities. They usually perish within days. In Monty’s case, his abnormal skull made eating difficult and that could have contributed to his death.^[4]

6 The Bug Blob

One night in 2019, a meteorologist in California noticed a blip on the radar. It indicated that something enormous was moving over San Bernardino County, which was confusing. The air was supposed to be clear and free of radar blobs like rain and thunderstorms. Whatever it was, it measured 130 kilometers (80 mi) by 130 kilometers (80 mi).

The team dispatched people on the ground to have a look the old-fashioned way—with their eyes. They found no rain despite the radar showing that the mass consisted of raindrop-sized objects. Instead, there was a swarm of ladybugs.

Although it was in the right place, the cloud of beetles did not match the mysterious blob’s size. Even though the main mass of the swarm occupied an area of just 16 kilometers (10 mi) across, the ground spotters concluded that the insects were responsible.

Several ecologists and insect experts did not agree, but they were surprised that so many ladybugs had gathered when their numbers were supposed to be low. The reason for the mass migration remains unsolved. The blob also vanished from the radar, taking any explanations with it.^[5]

SEE ALSO: 10 Weird And Wonderful Oddities Of Nature

5 A Blonde Zebra

In 2019, Sergio Pitamitz waited near a watering hole in Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park. The wildlife photographer wanted pictures of migrating zebras. When he noticed a pale zebra arrive with its herd, Pitamitz thought the animal was just dusty. However, when it entered the water and the “dust” stayed, he knew he was looking at something special.

So-called “blonde” zebras remain a mystery. While they exist in captivity, these suspected albinos were a rumor in the wild until the Pitamitz photographs. The extremely rare condition is thought to be partial albinism, resulting in pale yellow stripes and manes.

Captive zebras are skittish, making genetic tests difficult. But thus far, the blonde animals behave like normal black-and-white zebras. They are fully accepted by their herds, with whom they bond and even reproduce.^[6]

As the specimen in Tanzania proved, they can also survive into adulthood in the wild. As researchers cannot agree about the reason for zebra stripes, they do not yet know if yellow zebras face any special challenges because of their condition.

4 A Tree On A Tree

Nestled between the towns of Casorzo and Grana in the Piemonte region of Italy stands a natural oddity. Locals call it the Bialbero de Casorzo. It is a cherry tree standing on a mulberry tree. The latter is an old, gnarly customer, and the cherry’s growth had somewhat flattened the mulberry’s crown.

This phenomenon calls the top tree an “epiphyte.” Such passengers are not parasitic and do not feed on the tree below. Instead, they get their energy from the sun, the rain, and the debris surrounding their roots.

What makes the cherry tree so unusual is its good looks. Normally, epiphytes are short-lived and stunted because they struggle to get the nutrients they need.

The cherry tree is fully grown and handsome with health, resembling its brethren that grow on land. Its roots likely snaked down the mulberry’s hollow trunk and grew into the soil below. It remains a mystery as to how the two trees merged. The most plausible theory suggests that a bird dropped a cherry pip onto the mulberry.^[7]

3 Sea Life In Amber

Myanmar amber from Asia is the Rolls Royce of amber. It often produces rare fossils from 100 million years ago that look like they died a few seconds ago. In 2019, a piece of Myanmar amber outperformed every expectation.

Until then, all the fossils had been land creatures. However, this one contained sea life. Barely as long as somebody’s thumb, the chunk was packed with 36 land species. They included mites, spiders, and insects. This was already an astonishing concentration of organisms. From the ocean, there were four snails, a marine ammonite, and up to seven tidal isopods. There were also grains of beach sand.

Amber forms from tree resin, something that will never solidify underwater. Somehow, the sea creatures got trapped with the other species on land. Some of the shells were eroded, and none had soft tissues.

This suggested that the ocean bits had long since died by the time they ended up in the pine forest. Although a tsunami could have carried them into the forest, it was more likely that the trees were close to the beach and dropped resin onto the sand, capturing both land creatures and the old shells.^[8]

2 A Bird That Evolved Twice

Nobody knows why the birds left Madagascar. This ancient migration ended when the white-throated rails (Dryolimnas cuvieri) found a new home among the Seychelle Islands. They landed on a reef called the Aldabra atoll, a circular haven free of predators.

As time went by, the peaceful existence caused the birds to lose their ability to fly. Around 136,000 years ago, floods engulfed the atoll and the flightless rails became extinct. For 36,000 years, the reef remained submerged. But as an ice age arrived and water levels dropped, the atoll resurfaced.

Incredibly, sometime later, the same thing happened. White-throated rails left Madagascar, landed on Aldabra, and evolved to be flightless—thousands of years after the first clutch. For a single species to evolve in an identical manner twice and independently is known as “iterative evolution.” The phenomenon is rare, and the fossils from the reef remain unique.^[9]

1 Square Waves

A “cross sea” is an unforgettable sight. This rare phenomenon seems to break the rules on how waves work. Instead of rolling in one direction or toward the shore, a cross sea looks like somebody took a pen and drew squares on the water. The “squares” are formed by waves coming from different directions.

For instance, one set of waves follows the normal pull toward the shore but a strong wind creates an extra set of waves going against them. This forms the perfectly square pattern.

As spellbinding as it appears, a cross sea is hazardous. Two opposing swells hitting a swimmer or boat can be dangerously destabilizing. Another factor making the waves deadly is that they can appear within minutes.^[10]

Worse, they often coincide with rip tides. The latter are powerful currents that few swimmers are able to escape. To top it off, a cross sea is more likely to develop near shallow coastal areas where people swim, surf, and enjoy the day in small boats.

The story of France goes back thousands of years. Unsurprisingly, the region is packed with ancient remains. Certain villages contain secret codes, weird graveyards lurk inside kindergartens, and some towns even turn out to be lost cities.

History also has a dark side. From shackled bodies to massacres, the violence of ancient France left a disturbing trail throughout the archaeological record.

10 Oldest Muslim Graves

In 2016, excavations in Nimes uncovered around 20 graves. Found at Roman ruins, the graves were too disorderly to be a cemetery. Further investigation also found three unexpected individuals. Several clues suggested that the medieval burials were Muslim. Their faces were turned toward Mecca, and the socket shape of their tombs matched other Muslim graves.

Historically, the medieval Arab-Islamic conquest left traces around the Mediterranean and the Iberian Peninsula. In France itself, Muslim graves had already been found at Marseille and Montpellier.

However, those burials dated to the 12th and 13th centuries, respectively, while the graves at Nimes were dug between the seventh and ninth centuries. This made them the oldest Muslim graves in France.

As surprising as the burials were, their presence was not entirely out of place. Records showed that Muslims were in France during that time. As to the identities of the three men, DNA tests suggested that they were Berbers, a North African group that had adopted the Arab religion during the early Middle Ages.^[1]

9 The Kindergarten Bones

In 2006, playtime for a group of toddlers took a gruesome turn. An adult noticed that the kids were pulling human bones from the ground and alerted the police.

It turned out that the kindergarten in the town of Saint-Laurent-Medoc was sitting on an ancient burial mound. Archaeologists identified 30 skeletons that likely belonged to a Bronze Age group called the Bell-Beaker culture.

A recent study reviewed the so-called Le Tumulus des Sables burial mound and found an extraordinary mystery. For reasons unknown, people returned to the mound for 2,000 years (3600 BC to 1250 BC) to bury their dead. Archaeologists cannot understand why the shallow, unadorned site remained in use for so long.^[2]

The analysis also showed that only six individuals were from the Bell-Beaker culture. Unexpectedly, they appeared to have been born as locals. Most Bell-Beaker remains indicate a people constantly on the move throughout Europe.

Another oddity was their diet. Dental chemicals showed that they ate no fish or seafood despite the region’s proximity to estuaries, rivers, and the Atlantic Ocean.

8 Shackled Skeletons

In 2014, researchers returned to a cemetery they had found a year earlier. The necropolis was constructed centuries ago by the Romans near the town of Saintes.

The team uncovered hundreds of graves, including several individuals who were in chains. They were not just temporarily cuffed, either. Three men had iron shackles fused permanently around their ankles.

Another adult, whose gender could not be determined, wore a metal “bondage collar.” This type of restraint resembled a large ring fastened around the neck. Sadly, the body of a child showed similar treatment. The youngster had been buried with a restraint around the wrist.^[3]

No grave goods accompanied the shackled skeletons, suggesting that their social status must have been low in life. Although nothing is known about them, they were likely kept as slaves by the Romans during the second century AD.

7 The Arago Tooth

In 2015, Valentin Loescher volunteered at an archaeological dig. The 20-year-old was assigned to Arago cave in southwestern France. The site had already produced the famous Tautavel man, a Neanderthal ancestor who died around 450,000 years ago.

While brushing away dirt, Loescher found a large human tooth. A single snapper sounds like a worthless find, but it is immensely useful. A fossil tooth’s wear and tear can reveal things about a person’s diet and health. Teeth also contain DNA, which can add genetic information like gender and ethnicity.

While future studies could paint the profile of the person who lost the tooth, dating tests showed that it was around 560,000 years old. That alone made it a major discovery. Not only did it predate Tautavel man by over 100,000 years but it also could reveal more about somebody who lived during a time that left few human traces in Europe.^[4]

6 The Aurochs Slab

There are many ancient rock shelters in France. In 2012, archaeologists applied their craft in a shelter located in the southwestern part of the country. While investigating the cave, they found a block of limestone on the floor. When they turned the piece over, it showed what could be among Europe’s oldest art.

Around 38,000 years ago, an artist drew the now-extinct cattle called aurochs. The person also added dots numbering in the dozens. The decision to dig at the cave, called Abri Blanchard, was based on the fact that the region—and the shelter itself—had already produced carved slabs and art in the past.

Abri Blanchard would have been a winter shelter for the first Homo sapiens who arrived in Europe. Known as the Aurignacians, one of them would also have created the dotty aurochs. While similarly aligned spots are known from other Aurignacian artifacts, researchers called the mix of an animal figure with the geometric decorations “exceptional.”^[5]

5 The Hidden Fossil

Near the town of Toulouse, a farmer found something unusual in 2014. The enormous skull resembled that of an elephant, but instead of two tusks, the fossil had four. Fearing that the discovery would cause his land to be trampled by amateur fossil hunters, he decided to keep it a secret.

However, a few years later, he approached the town’s Natural History Museum. The delighted staff identified the fossil as Gomphotherium pyrenaicum, an elephant relative that bore the usual two tusks with an additional pair curving out of the lower jaw.

This species is painfully rare in the fossil record and known only from tusks found 150 years ago in the same region. The creatures, which roamed Toulouse around 12 million years ago, were faceless until this skull popped up. This made the fossil priceless to researchers. For the first time in millennia, the species had a face again.^[6]

4 The Secret Code

In northwest France is a village named Plougastel-Daoulas. A few years ago, somebody walked on a nearby beach and found a rock with carvings. The symbols included a sailing vessel and a heart. The boulder also carried the capital letters “ROC AR B . . . DRE AR GRIO SE EVELOH AR VIRIONES BAOAVEL . . . R I OBBIIE: BRISBVILAR . . . FROIK . . . AL.”

Some letters were not clear enough to read. But overall, nothing made sense.

The facts are sparse. Around 230 years ago, somebody chiseled the marks, which are only visible during low tide. The age was determined from the dates 1786 and 1787, both of which were clearly inscribed into the rock.

Around that time, artillery batteries were being constructed to protect a local fort. However, it remains unclear whether there is a link between the builders and the puzzle. In 2019, the village offered 2,000 euros ($2,240) to anyone who could decipher the inscription.^[7]

3 The Body Pit

In 2012, archaeologists stumbled upon 60 silos, or pits dug in the ground. Situated near Bergheim, a French village near Germany’s border, one pit was horrific. Stuffed with human remains, the nearly 6,000-year-old silo contained amputated arms, fingers, hands, and seven bodies.

Whatever brutal event transpired, children were not spared. One arm was hacked off a child aged between 12 and 16. Four of the bodies were those of children, and another belonged to a small infant barely a year old.

A middle-aged man had a particularly violent end. His arm was cut off, and he had suffered several blows, including a vicious swipe to the head that probably killed him. The man’s remains were at the bottom of the 2-meter-deep (6.5 ft) pit.^[8]

At the top, things looked a little different. Centuries after the slaughter, it appeared that the silo was used again as a grave. A woman was interred, but unlike the rest, her body showed no signs of violence. Researchers speculated that the Stone Age group was punished for some transgression or died during warfare.

2 A Fire-Preserved Neighborhood

In 2017, a suburb in Sainte-Colombe was earmarked for a new housing complex. The standard practice called for archaeologists to survey the area first, and what they found was astounding.

As excavations continued, a Roman neighborhood from the first century AD revealed itself. There were 7,000 square meters (75,000 ft²) of houses, artifacts, shops, mosaics, the largest Roman market square discovered in France, a warehouse, a temple, and what could have been a school of philosophy.

It was so well-preserved that the site quickly earned the nickname of “Little Pompeii.” The neighborhood was used for at least 300 years, during which the residents faced two great fires.

The first occurred during the second century AD, but another from the third century killed the settlement. It was so catastrophic that families fled, leaving almost everything behind. However, there was a silver lining—for researchers, at least. The extreme heat of the fires was the thing that preserved the site so well.^[9]

1 A Lost City

The city of Ucetia was known only from an inscription found in Nimes, another ancient city in France. The name “Ucetia” was listed on a stela along with 11 other Roman settlements in the region.

For some time, researchers suggested that Ucetia was modern-day Uzes, a town north of Nimes. In 2016, plans to erect a boarding school at Uzes prompted archaeologists to sweep the area. Fearing that new buildings could forever cover the lost city, excavations began in earnest. Sure enough, they found Ucetia.

By the 2017 excavation season, the area uncovered had reached 4,000 square meters (43,056 ft²) and revealed immense structures. Ucetia’s origins were thousands of years old. The oldest buildings dated to over 2,000 years ago, well before the Romans conquered France.^[10]

The city also showed signs of activity as recently as the Middle Ages (seventh century). Mysteriously, it was temporarily abandoned between the third and fourth centuries. But the most surprising find was floor mosaics done in a style thought to have been invented about 200 years later during the first century AD.

A modern wonder is imaging and our ability to share pictures globally within seconds. People alive today can surf the web and see the most incredible scientific sights without ever having to step inside a laboratory.

Pictures showing freshly solved mysteries and violent things in space are fascinating, but they pale next to unusual world firsts. In recent years, photographers have captured extinct animals, shock waves, and the most powerful light in the universe flashing right here on Earth.

10 The Dutch Shipwreck

In 2019, metal salvagers searched for shipping containers that had been recently lost in the North Sea. They snapped a sonar image of something near the Dutch island of Terschelling. Hoping that the anomaly was a steel container, the crew sent down a retrieval arm. Instead of scrap metal, the grab returned with ship timbers and 5 tons of copper sheets.

Incredibly, the salvagers had snagged a piece of what could be the oldest ship discovered in the region. The wood belonged to a 500-year-old vessel. Measuring 30 meters (100 ft) long, it carried a cargo of copper. The sheets were likely destined for Antwerp to become some of the Netherlands’ earliest copper coins. Indeed, their chemical signature was identical to copper coinage introduced in the 1500s.

The vessel was also tentatively called a “missing link” in the history of Dutch shipbuilding. The hull displayed an intermediate structure used when builders started to abandon an old style called “clinker” for the more successful “carvel” style that strengthened Dutch ships and allowed them to trade globally.^[1]

9 A Colombian Weasel

The Colombian weasel is known from only six animals and had never been photographed alive. In 2011, an architect stumbled upon the rarest carnivore in South America by accident. It was not a glorious moment, as befitting for the first encounter with a long-lost creature. The black weasel was perched on top of a toilet.

When Juan M. de Roux, an amateur naturalist, saw the creature at his parents’ house, he initially thought it was the common long-tailed weasel. He took several snaps before releasing the frantic animal. It had become trapped after slipping into the bathroom through the roof or flooring, both of which were being renovated.

After de Roux uploaded the images to the iNaturalist app, a database for citizen scientists, the truth emerged. He learned of the existence of the Colombian weasel, and experts confirmed that it was a living specimen.

Considering that some believed the species was extinct, this came as a welcome surprise. The de Roux house was near Colombia’s National Natural Park Farallones de Cali. The discovery suggested that a big population of Colombian weasels live in the park.^[2]

8 The Ghost Plane

Late in 2018, Robert Morton found something on Google Earth. At the coordinates 55 degrees 57 minutes 26 seconds north latitude and 3 degrees 05 minutes 35 seconds west longitude was a plane. The image showed what appeared to be an airliner in the sea near Edinburgh in Scotland.

He reported it to the Mirror Online, and the tabloid published the weird image. A Google spokesperson stood ready with an easy explanation. The ghostly plane was not a real aircraft.

Sure, when the original photograph was taken, the subject was a nuts-and-bolts airliner. However, Google uses a blend of several images in a composite technique that gives the sharpest resolution.

The images are drawn from satellites and aerial photography. Sometimes, one of them captures a passing object—like a plane. The latter got a bit shuffled, blurred in Google’s patching process, and ended up looking like a flight disaster.^[3]

7 Biggest Underwater Eruption

Geologists have grappled with a mysterious event since May 10, 2018. A seismic occurrence was detected near the island of Mayotte in the Indian Ocean. Its nature was epic enough to cause rumbles and earthquakes that were felt around the world. The source was unknown, but scientists figured the culprit was a monster volcano that had lost its temper somewhere on the seafloor.

When a research vessel sailed for the coast of Mayotte, it was not just to gather data. The island was inhabited and continued to experience disturbances. To solve the mystery and safeguard the locals, scientists studied the area.

Incredibly, they found a volcano that had not been on the seabed six months before. It was not a tiny hill, either. The thing was 800 meters (2,624 ft) high and 5 kilometers (3.1 mi) wide.

Tellingly, its location matched the hot spot where the shakes and rumbles were coming from. Estimates now credit the still-active feature with the biggest underwater eruption ever recorded. In 2019, a remarkable sonar image captured the volcano in a colorful way.^[4]

6 A Star Battle

R Aquarii is a binary star system consisting of a red giant and a smaller white dwarf. The two companions are at the end of their lives. A star’s death is never a subtle event, but a binary star has the potential to be extraordinarily violent. This is because its partner often interferes—with volatile results. R Aquarii is a good example of how two stars’ death throes can destroy each other.

In 2018, a stunning photo was taken of the system. It showed the red giant shedding its outer layer and the dwarf star cannibalizing it. It was a dangerous meal. The material consumed by the dwarf repeatedly led to thermonuclear explosions on the smaller star’s surface. The blasts flung the dwarf’s own material out into space alongside the red giant’s outer layer.^[5]

Taken by the European Southern Observatory, the image highlighted the devastation in the shape of swathes of matter surrounding the stars. Located around 650 light-years from Earth, the system will probably terminate with a mind-blowing explosion classified as a Type Ia supernova.

5 Hidden Amazonian Tribe

There are around 19 hidden tribes in the Brazilian state of Amazonas. Their isolation is not because they think the world is a giant rain forest. It appears that they chose not to contact “civilization.”

This is understandable. Several tribes have been massacred by mercenaries employed by colonists, miners, and farmers who want the land but not the natives. This is because indigenous communities come with rights, and these rights interfere with financial opportunities.

Those fighting to safeguard the tribes must also keep their distance. Some tribes are aggressive and can also die from communicable diseases carried by outsiders.

In 2017, an expedition produced the first photographs taken by a drone of an Amazonian community. The chosen group had been known for years to Brazil’s National Indian Foundation (Funai), which also operated the camera. The photos showed a clearing and a few individuals. They seemed unaware of the drone, which was a good thing. Researchers want to learn their ways but discreetly so.^[6]

4 Albino Panda

In 2019, a camera trap was activated. Such devices are used by researchers to take photographs of animals with a tendency to hide deep in the wilderness. Usually, an animal’s movement triggers an automatic photo session. This particular trap was located in a forest in the Wolong national nature reserve in China.

When the image was viewed for the first time, it must have been a heart-stopping moment. It showed a rare wild panda. There was no sign of the species’ trademark black body bands, ears, or eye patches. In fact, the bear was entirely white. A close analysis of the image showed the creature had reddish eyes. This explained the unusual coat color—the creature was an albino.

It also appeared to be a strong, healthy individual around one or two years old. The giant panda is already the rarest bear on the planet, but finding an albino is exceptional. Managing to take a photo of one is even more remarkable, and indeed, the Wolong image appears to be the first of its kind.^[7]

3 First Terrestrial Gamma Rays

When it comes to what type of light holds the most energy, nothing beats gamma rays. They explode from bursting suns and colliding stars and even radiate from black holes. These rays glow with such intensity that all other light in the vicinity dims into obscurity.

Naturally, scientists are keen to study gamma rays. The good news is that sometimes they appear on Earth. However, the most powerful flashes in the universe are also exceptionally brief. As they last about a millisecond, their locations can be difficult to catch or predict. At least, researchers know that they appear in massive thunderclouds due to electron interactions, but the exact science remains mysterious.

In 2017, an ambitious project launched a special observatory to the International Space Station. The aim was to catch the elusive phenomenon by viewing storms from space.^[8]

On June 18, 2018, a thunderstorm loomed over Borneo, an island in Southeast Asia. In a world first, a gamma ray that erupted from the storm was captured as an image. The observatory also showed that the flashes happen frequently on Earth. During the project’s first year, astronomers captured over 200 bursts.

2 Supersonic Shock Waves

One of the most breathtaking images recently came from NASA, where scientists have spent years trying to photograph shock waves. Researchers want to silence airplanes because their noise and sonic booms are undesirable over residential areas.

Sonic booms happen when a plane goes so fast that molecules cannot move out of the way quickly enough. They gather in front of the craft, and when the latter exceeds the speed of sound, the barrier snaps loudly. This change in pressure is called a shock wave.

To capture the waves, NASA spent over a decade developed an imaging system. In 2019, it was placed aboard a NASA B-200 King Air and photographed T-38 US Air Force jets flying below. In a world first, scientists caught shock waves streaming off supersonic jets and saw how the waves influenced each other.

One plane was in the wake of the other, and they were about 9 meters (30 ft) apart. The rear T-38’s shock waves were curvier due to the leading jet’s related forces. The high quality of the images could help unravel the nature of shock waves and, perhaps, even find a way to silence them.^[9]

1 The Roosevelt Objects

In 2014, the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt arrived at the East Coast. Aboard was a squadron training for deployment in the Middle East. The planes had decades-old radars, and after an upgrade, the screens started showing false trails.

The pilots soon realized that the “glitches” were physical things—especially after one jet’s missile locked onto an object. The same pilot also experienced another blip on his radar and decided to maneuver his plane beneath it. He should have been able to see it, and radar confirmed the presence of something. But there was nothing there.

They remained invisible except for remarkable performances on radar recordings. For example, supersonic speeds reached heights of 9,144 meters (30,000 ft) and showed no visible engine or infrared exhaust trails.

The objects arrived on most days and performed maneuvers fatal to human pilots—like sudden stops while flying at a great speed. At some point, one nearly collided with a jet. It zipped past the cockpit so closely that it became visible. It looked like a cube with a sphere inside it.^[10]

The pilots who went public could not explain the experience but also refused to link it to extraterrestrials. The sightings stopped when the Roosevelt sailed for the Persian Gulf in 2015.