7 Chilling Mysteries Still Unsolved by Scientists

There are still several fascinating mysteries of our universe unsolved by scientists even after decades and even centuries of research! Join Olivia Gordon for a new episode of SciShow and learn about these seven weird phenomena that remain a mystery!

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Ball Lightning
Skyquakes
Fast Radio Bursts
Star Jelly
Forest Rings
Hessdalen Lights
Desert Varnish

Images:

[marsylas]

You know, i didn't know there was a scientific term for an orb like light floating around. I saw one years ago while unloading garbage cans at work and i thought i had just hallucinated or something, but after watching this i'm sure that's what i saw. Thank you SciShow for enlightening me on this. SCIENCE RULES!

[colorbugoriginals]

When I was in my late teens, my family and I experienced ball lightning IN OUR KITCHEN. It was late 90s, during a big thunder storm. There was some water on the floor beneath it from melted ice cubes our baby sister had been playing with there but don't know if that was a coincidence. Many electronics in our house were destroyed simultaneously, including a TV and an answering machine. Our doorbell started ringing and had to be turned off manually from the control panel for it (was a fancy one that played lots of different tunes, our dad was an electrician techy). Still one of the most amazing experiences of my whole life, some 20 years later. I was so excited and startled I cried and laughed at the same time and it took a while to calm down!

[laudydorado]

My father who used to work on ships abroad stated he saw those "ball lightnings" floating on the night time on their ships. It's just glowing on thin air before it disperses. He called them "santelmo" (something supernatural and similar to the Will-o'-the-wisp legend) like how we call them in our country.

[BangleWish]

Could Olivia please explain ALL of the scary things in my life so comfortingly?

[SamanthaVimes]

I've seen ball lightning outdoors on a sunny day. It came into existence with a pop at an intersection, crossed the road and disappeared. I wondered it the electrical system for the traffic lights interacted with some static charge in the air, but it was truly a strange thing and I was glad someone was with me to say, "Did you see that?"

[amcat]

"The more we know, the more we know we don't know."
-Somebody probably said this but I dont know who

[RangerRuby]

Most of these were strand weather phenomena or unknown things from outer space and it is a nice reminder that even though we have come a long way compared to our knowledge from even only 100 years ago, it is still not everything. We will never know everything, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try getting closer.

[somethingwolfish]

So the ocean farts and the sky tells everyone about it.... Neat.

[bakkerem]

"The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know." Albert Einstein.

[puzzleperson]

I LOVE science mysteries!!! I was always disappointed as a child when something potentially mysterious was explained with ease. (Disappointed because, well...everyone loves a mystery) we are all (sometimes ) looking for something exciting like out of a book or movie. And it is soooo much fun when science mysteries have that....like quantum physics. Sometimes the most mysterious things have the most amazing answers. It is enjoyable to conjecture the possibilities. My absolute number one science mystery is the double slit experiment. A friend of mine who is a physicist once repeated a quote to me that i adore...”if you say that you understand quantum physics, then it is obvious that you know nothing about quantum physics.”

[nathanfisher]

One of my grandmothers got to see many instances of ball lightning, which were very common on the farm where she grew up. They had a "party line" phone circuit like most people in the country did at the time, and when there was a thunderstorm, her mother told everyone to keep their distance from the phone. Occasionally, after a nearby lightning strike, (presumably on the phone line on the poles nearby) a dim blue ball would come out of the phone. There was no indication of where it came out of the phone, the first you'd see it, it was just floating away from the phone. (so it may have appeared near the phone and not like IN it or attached to it or emerging from it)

This spooked everyone and nobody would go near them. It would float around slowly (probably on air currents in the house?) occasionally bouncing off things like walls, and then after about ten seconds it would just suddenly disappear without a sound. (they were silent) She said they were usually around the size of a grapefruit. Nobody dared to touch them or even go near them, though no one knew of anyone with experience in them being dangerous.

Though the lightning did get a piece of her in the end. She was on the phone during a storm years later when the line got hit. No ball lightning and no shock, but the sound from the earpiece was so loud that it permanently damaged her hearing in that ear.

[tsugaru_solos]

"Unlike crop circles, forest rings aren't created by people."

I'm so glad the whole crop circle thing has been solved.

[pilisjose]

Very curious... In my country (Colombia), there is a Myth called "La bola de fuego" ("The fire ball") and you find people that saw this phenomenon. Most of them think this is some kind of spirit...
Just some info, for those who like to learn about foreign folklore.

[jerotoro]

All of the ideas for forest rings don't explain why they are in perfect circles though. My immediate thought is that these are ancient impact craters that have been completely worn away by erosion, leaving some sort of deposit around the edge of it that is making the soil in that ring less fertile. Could be a chemical compound, could be slightly radioactive material, or something else. But yeah, it's a very old crater.

[DynamicUnreality]

So actually just in the last couple weeks or so there has been a second repeating Fast Radio Burst announced. Im excited to find out what they are, it is a massive amount of energy.

[colinp]

We know that the answer is 42 but we just don't understand the question. Maybe we should start asking the white mice?

[jaredf]

"Stimulated emission" yes, I'm familiar with that.

[soupsgord]

I’ve been binging on unsolved mysteries lately and I have to say these 7 were the most interesting! I hadn’t heard of some and had forgotten a few. Thanks! Great content!

[jspin]

I saw ball lightening when I was a boy. It looked like a sun in the sky. It was there for a few second and then it made the loudest sound I’ve ever heard. That was 20 years ago and I remember it like yesterday. Absolutely brilliant to see and a cherished memory of mine.

[personaslates]

She's not saying it's aliens... But it's aliens.