Science in The World presents you: life questions that not even scientists could answer!
We all had different life questions that seemed impossible to answer, and it’s human nature to be curious about different things. We might put our faith in scientists to help us with the information we need and crave, but it’s not an easy job for them either.
They need the courage and the knowledge to venture into some of the most far-flung places, such as inside the human brain, at the bottom of the oceans, at the scary tops of mountains, and even at the end of time, if that’s possible.
I’ve always been curious about different life questions, and I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one, which is why I decided to write this article and share it with all of you.
So if you’re curious about the life questions scientists have no idea how to solve, you’ve come to the right place! Let’s dive into the science world, because there are some juicy things to talk about!
1. What’s in the ocean’s “twilight zone”?
You’ve probably heard about or even watched the “Twilight” series, but have you ever heard about the twilight zone? As you dive deeper and deeper into the massive ocean, you’ll notice that there’s less and less sunlight shining through, and when you finally go 200 meters (656 feet) beneath the surface, you reach a zone known as the twilight zone.
Basically, as the sunlight fades and it is almost impossible to see any light, another thing that starts becoming more and more unknown is our knowledge about these dark depths.
Experts say that the twilight zone is extremely important for ocean life because there’s a big possibility that there are more fish living in that area than in the rest of the ocean combined. Besides that, the creatures that thrive in the dark ocean play a key role in regulating the climate, so we can say that this is one of the life questions that we need an answer to.
2. What makes up the giant universe?
The second one of these series of life questions is what actually makes the universe. There were plenty of times I asked myself and my school teachers this, and while it’s a simple question, it’s still very hard to give a complex answer.
So what is the universe actually made of? As it turns out, experts say that all the stars in all the galaxies that exist are still not enough to cover all the things that exist. That’s because most of the matter in the universe is actually not visible or touchable and is still undiscovered. We only know that it’s called dark matter, but although researchers spent a lot of time searching for it, it’s still part of the life questions that we have no answers to.
3. Was Venus like Earth?
Okay, this might be something that is not that popular, but did you know that some researchers believe that Venus used to be a liveable planet, just like Earth?
Venus, known for the fact that it is the second planet from the sun and also one that is visible to the human eye, is described by scientists as the “Hellscape”. The temperature there is 900 degrees Fahrenheit, which makes it the hottest planet in our solar system, and its atmosphere is mostly made of carbon dioxide.
Another thing you should know about Venus is that the pressure on its surface is approximately 92 times the pressure you’d feel if you were at sea level on Earth.
Even though the temperature is totally different compared to the one we experience on Earth, some scientists say that Venus is Earth’s sibling. They also suspect that once upon a time, this planet was pretty much like ours. They say that it’s possible that Venus had a liquid-water ocean comparable to the ones that support life on our dear planet.
But the life questions continue: if Venus is so similar to Earth, then why is there no possibility for any form of life to exist there? Well, regardless of the fact that these two planets were basically created at the same time, Venus is rather apocalyptic, while Earth is a living paradise.
There are two hypotheses that are still life questions without a specific answer: the sun is so strong and so close to Venus that it cooked it to death. The other idea says that volcanoes were the ones that ruined every possibility of life on Venus. So I guess we’ll never know for sure what actually happened, right?
4. Are long-haul symptoms only seen in COVID-19?
There were millions of people infected with one of the deadliest viruses that have ever existed, COVID-19. But what made this health condition so problematic even for people who got better was the fact that some symptoms were there to stay.
Many patients have dealt with the new coronavirus, but they experienced symptoms and side effects even weeks and months after the initial infection. For instance, one of my friends couldn’t smell or taste anything for six months, although she wasn’t infected with SARS-CoV-2 anymore.
What’s interesting about this fact is that some researchers say that these long-haul symptoms that people generally felt after this respiratory infection aren’t exactly unique to COVID-19.
Instead, sources say that many other types of viral infections could actually leave patients with long-term side effects, which generally go unrecognized in medicine. So back to the life questions topic: what do all of these symptoms actually have in common?
As you can guess, we have no exact answer to that, but we do know that scientists work toward finding more information on this and also look for ways to treat the side effects without causing any harm to the patient.
Do you think that we’ll ever receive scientific explanations for any of these life questions?
5. What does ball lightning mean?
Ball lightning is known as one of the most popular weather mysteries. Life questions have always been a subject of curiosity and an occasion to tell different stories, and many people are also passionate about things that glow, hover, or crackle during scary thunderstorms.
These bizarre spheres of light that glow have been spotted in rural areas as well as cities, in people’s homes, and even passing through windows. While they seem out of this world and only the result of an active mind, scientists believe that they could actually be real.
We only know that this weird phenomenon is known as ball lightning, but we have no idea when it’ll show up to make us scared. You can’t track it, you can’t catch it, and it only lasts for a couple of moments.
However, it’s very rare, and the majority of people haven’t seen it or have no idea about its existence. Scientists are still looking for plausible reasons why something like this exists, but they still can’t find where it comes from. They replicated a ball of lightning in their labs in order to gather some information and probably come up with some explanations, but we still didn’t receive any, so we have to wait and see.
If you want to discover more life questions and maybe find the much-needed answers you were looking for, I recommend you check out this fantastic science book, called “The Vital Question: Energy, Evolution, and the Origins of Complex Life“! Trust me, it’s one of the best on the market!
If you want to read something else from us, then you have to check out this article because it’s fantastic: 5 Random Facts You Learned in School That Are No Longer True!
