Amazing mysteries of nature

04/11/2020

29/10/2020

Valley of falling birds
In Jatinga Valley, India, birds have behaved very unusually for centuries: they circle very low, and some even fall to the ground semi-conscious.

Birds usually find their way by the sun and the magnetic field of the Earth.
The reason for their strange behavior must be in geophysical anomalies.

29/10/2020

Naga fireballs
The Mekong River in Thailand sometimes erupts with crimson fireballs that rise 30-50 feet above the water and disappear.
They usually appear in October, and there’s even a festival dedicated to this phenomenon.
Scientists explain it as inflammation of gases rising from the river; locals believe the balls to be sent by Naga, a half-snake, half-human living in the river.

22/10/2020

Brocken spectre
If you’re in the mountains and look away from the sun, you can sometimes see the shadow of a giant surrounded by a rainbow halo.
This is actually the shadow of the watcher himself cast on the mist.
Small drops fracture the light, which then form the halo around the shadow.

This phenomenon is most frequent on Brocken, a mountain in Germany.
It was once thought to be the doing of witches on Walpurgis Night.

22/10/2020

"Red tide"
Red tide is caused by enormous amounts of tiny red algae near the water’s surface, a phenomenon similar to water blooming.

Red tides are dangerous to sea dwellers because the oxygen content in the water decreases, while hydrogen sulfide and ammonia increase.
A number of scientists connect the red tide with the first plagues of Egypt, where the waters of the Nile turned to blood, killing the fish.

22/10/2020

Sprites
Some thought these red or blue flashes that appear at great heights were alien spaceships.
Only after the phenomenon was caught on camera in 1989 was it proved that the sprites are "distant relatives" of lightning.

22/10/2020

A dancing forest
There is a forest in Russia where trees are strangely bent, and scientists haven’t yet come to a conclusion about this phenomenon.
Some think the reason is parasites, while others blame strong sea winds.
Old-timers think this place is haunted.

22/10/2020

Snow "spaghetti" in one of Finland’s lakes
A man from Hämeenlinna, Finland, discovered snow threads that looked like noodles on the lake near his house.
He later learned that he could take these threads and make snowballs.
The threads may have been shaped by movements of wind and water before the fallen snow melted.

14/10/2020

Light pillars
This beautiful optical phenomenon appears when light from the sun, the moon, or cities reflects from tiny ice particles in the air.

14/10/2020

An Antarctic volcano and its snow pipes
Mount Erebus is one of the largest and most active volcanoes in the Antarctic.
It’s covered with snow pipes made from frozen steam that comes out of fissures.

14/10/2020

St. Elmo’s Fire
Tower spires and mast tops are sometimes lit by ghostly fires, usually during a storm.
Medieval Europeans believed these dancing lights to be the promised gift of St.
Elmo, the patron saint of sailors: legend has it he promised to pray for them and give warnings in the form of lights on masts.

14/10/2020

We may think that human knowledge about the Earth is comprehensive and absolute, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.
We gathered for you some of the rarest and most incredible natural phenomena that prove us almost totally ignorant of our planet.

14/10/2020