Top 10 Science Mysteries That Have Actually Been Solved

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Here, we discuss scientific puzzles so frequently that one might assume scientists are not very good at what they do. That is obviously untrue. Science is ... read more...

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    Yeti

    Over the years, there have been various theories put up about the Yeti, a giant humanoid, ape-like monster thought to live in the upper Himalayas. Even though anecdotal accounts and local legend have mentioned this creature for much longer—the Lepcha people even revere it as a deity of the forest beasts—it wasn't until 1951 that it gained international attention due to a photograph of what many believed to be the creature's footprint.


    Since then, mountaineers from all over the world have shared their own encounters with the Yeti, along with what they believe to be pieces of the creature's skin, hair, teeth, or other artifacts.


    Although no such monster has ever been found in the area, the mystery has persisted. In reality, a team of scientists discovered evidence of bears as a potential explanation for all the Yeti sightings when they put some of those samples through a DNA test. Bears are far more dangerous and elusive than Yetis. Except for one, which came from a domestic dog, all of them were samples taken from Himalayan black or brown bear species.

    Image by  Daniel Frankvia pexels.com
    Image by Daniel Frankvia pexels.com
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    Image by Luca Nardone via pexels.com

  2. Scientists have long been puzzled by the fact that aquatic creatures can hold their breath underwater for far longer periods of time than we can. After all, much like many other sections of their anatomy, their lungs are the same as ours. But, whether you're a Navy SEAL or a world-class swimmer or diver, some whale species have been known to stay underwater for as long as over two hours, whereas the most of us can manage is a few minutes.


    It was still a mystery in 2013 when a team of academics from the University of Liverpool decided it was time to figure it out. Myoglobin, an oxygen-binding protein present in the lungs of all mammals, was shown to be present in extremely high concentrations in the lungs of aquatic mammals, including whales, beavers, muskrats, and others. The myoglobin molecules found in aquatic mammals possess a larger electrical charge than their land-based counterparts, allowing them to store a higher amount of oxygen and for longer periods of time. Whereas huge concentrations of protein tend to stay together.

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    Image by Jeremy Bishop via pexels.com
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    Image by Guillaume Hankenne via pexels.com
  3. The sole known proof of the presence of extraterrestrial life was discovered by astronomers working at Ohio State University's Big Ear telescope in August 1977. The signal, which lasted exactly 72 seconds, was so strong that one of the observers, Jerry Ehman, scrawled "Wow!" next to the data. They didn't know where it originated from, but it had the same frequency as hydrogen.


    The puzzle wasn't answered until the end of 2016, when a group of astronomers considered comets as a potential explanation because comets typically have hydrogen clouds surrounding them. Indeed, they located two of them, P/2008 Y2(Gibbs) and 266/P Christensen, both of which had not yet been detected but had been in the area when the signal was captured. As scientists observed one of them from the end of 2016 to the beginning of 2017, 266/P, it even produced signals that were similar to those of the Wow! signal.

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    Image by Andrea Piacquadio via pexels.com
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    Image by mohamed abdelghaffar via pexels.com
  4. The Windsor hum was first noted in 2011, when locals in the Canadian city of Windsor in the province of Ontario suddenly began to hear a persistent, almost audible hum. Since then, a variety of theories have been put out to explain it by both professional scientists and conspiracy theorists, but with little success.


    The mystery persisted until the Covid epidemic drove several manufacturers throughout the US to halt production in April 2020. A US Steel plant was among them, and it was situated on Zug Island in Detroit, just across the river from Windsor. It turns out that the hum was caused by the plant's overworked blast furnaces, which in turn caused the metallic foundation to shake and create a persistent, low-frequency hum that is difficult to hear. When the furnaces were turned off, the noise stopped.

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    Image by Kris Schulze via pexels.com
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    Image by Sonya Livshits via pexels.com
  5. All owl species can bend their heads back up to 270 degrees without experiencing any negative effects. If we did that, we'd probably faint and, if we're lucky, end up in the hospital with severed arteries. Only a few other species have this particular adaption, such as the Southeast Asian species of island-dwelling primates known as tarsiers.


    From an evolutionary perspective, it also makes perfect sense. Due to the fact that their eyes are stuck in one position, owls must glance around by rotating their heads. The anatomical processes that enable that kind of mobility, however, remain a mystery to us.


    The ground-breaking discovery was done in 2013, when scientists at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore mapped out the structure of three owl species distributed throughout the Americas using cutting-edge imaging techniques and other approaches. It appears that their heads are made to be rotated at extraordinarily sharp angles. Their major artery is housed in a chamber in their neck that is around ten times larger than that of humans, giving them incredible head-turning mobility. Also, they have unique blood reservoirs right below their jawlines for continuous blood flow, preventing a stroke-like condition every time they swivel their heads to look behind them.

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    Image by Jean van der Meulen via pexels.com
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    Image by Pixabay via pexels.com
  6. The Tunguska event is the name given to a significant explosion that took place in east Siberia, Russia, in 1908. Local eyewitnesses reported that it displayed all the characteristics of an asteroid. Even though the first scientists to arrive at the scene did not find any evidence of a meteor, the explosion was preceded by a massive ball of fire that was seen streaking across the sky before it exploded in the forest, killing a number of reindeer and instantly leveling an estimated 80 million trees.


    Despite the fact that the mystery has persisted since, a study that was published in the journal Planetary and Space Science offers unmistakable proof that the explosion was caused by a meteorite. With the use of contemporary research methods, scientists examined numerous samples from that era and discovered signs of substances that could only have been created by a meteorite explosion. It may have been the size of a 25-story structure and appears to have dissolved in the atmosphere as it was moving at an angle.

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    Image by Simon Berger via pexels.com
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    Image by Alexander Nerozya via pexels.com
  7. The appropriately titled Inaccessible Island is located in the South Atlantic Ocean, midway between the enormous continents of Africa and South America. Even though the bird truly has no reason to be there, Atlantisia rogersi, a subspecies of rails native to the island, calls it home.


    Biologists have been baffled as to how this particular rail ended up on an island as remote as Inaccessible Island ever since it was first discovered in the late 1800s, despite the fact that rails are known to be a diverse, widely dispersed bird species found on every known continent (aside from Antarctica).It may have entered through Atlantis before it was purportedly submerged, according to one well-liked hypothesis, which is how it got its name.

    It continued up until November 2018, when a study carried out by experts from Sweden's Lund University put the issue to rest. The DNA of the birds was examined using cutting-edge sequencing techniques, and the origins of the species were discovered to be 1.5 million years ago in South America.

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    Image by Griffin Wooldridge via pexels.com
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    Image by Lisa Fotios via pexels.com
  8. Since their initial discovery in the early 1900s, the enigmatic sailing stones of Death Valley, California, have drawn the interest of both serious scientists and conspiracy theorists. The stones appear to be moving, as their name would imply, and they typically leave behind long, distinct tracks. Nobody knew why they did it for a very long time because the winds in the valley were not powerful enough to dislodge huge rocks. Some speculated aliens, although it was unclear why they would appear inconspicuously to move rocks in a secluded valley in California named "Death Valley."


    That was before two researchers, Richard D. Norris and his relative James M. Norris, used GPS to set their own pebbles and record them for more than two years starting in 2011. By the end of 2013, they had discovered the root of the problem: a thin layer of wintertime ice that developed at night and broke off during the day, causing the stones to slide off and leave traces. The rocks could move more than 15 feet per minute on their finest days.

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    Image by Jim LaMorder via pexels.com
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    Image by Ray Bilcliff via pexels.com
  9. Every autumn, monarch butterflies depart from North America on one of the longest natural migration paths. They migrate almost 3,000 miles, beginning in southern Canada and parts of the United States, to the mountains of central Mexico to spend the winter before returning in March. No one monarch butterfly makes the entire voyage, and it may take up to four generations to finish it.


    While some butterfly species do migrate, such as the monarch butterfly on other continents, their migration paths are typically much more restricted. The evolutionary origins of monarch butterflies, the only butterfly species that makes such a difficult, generation-spanning trek solely to spend the winter, are still somewhat a mystery. But according to a study from 2016 headed by a mathematician at the University of Washington, we now know how they accomplish it.


    He rebuilt the internal compass that butterflies use to navigate by mapping the brain activity of butterflies with the help of other experts, such as neurobiologists. He discovered that butterflies go southward and northward throughout the day without the aid of outside cues by using the position of the sun in conjunction with their internal clocks.

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    Image by Cindy Gustafson via pexels.com
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    Image by Katie Burandt via pexels.com
  10. If we may use the analogy, a few years ago, bee-related news stories flooded the Internet. Beekeepers and biologists reported that worker bee populations had abruptly began to decline throughout North America, Europe, a small portion of Asia, Africa, and South America, and no one knew why. They weren't actually dying, either; all they were doing was disappearing, leaving their hives and queens behind—a process known as Colony Collapse Disorder.


    It turns out that there was never any mystery surrounding the situation in the first place. Neonicotinoids, a class of insecticides used in nearly all major crops in North America, were to blame for various bug illnesses that led worker bee populations to abruptly leave their hives and disappear.


    Several studies from as recently as 2013 have demonstrated that these toxins severely impair the nerve and motor function of the bees and also increase their susceptibility to virus and fungi diseases.

    Neonicotinoids
    have harmful impacts on numerous insect species worldwide, not just bee populations, which is why they were formally outlawed in Europe in 2013. Pharma corporations have persisted in their efforts to keep these drugs lawful in the United States and Canada, including supporting research projects that paint the issue as complex and multifaceted and engaging in political lobbying.

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    Image by Pixabay via pexels.com
    Image by Pixabay via pexels.com
    Image by Pixabay via pexels.com




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