Day 51 of "Figuring it Out" - Explaining Unsolved Mysteries with Science

Kia Ora friends and whānua! Happy Saturday! How's your day going so far? Melbourne weather is starting to warm up, but it's still not just t-shirt weather (which, as I keep saying, I can't wait for - fingers crossed for tomorrow). Anyway, this morning I had a bit of a sleep-in as I had a rough sleep last night. Sometimes Luke takes up most of the bed and I can't move him over when he sleeps like a brick haha - sorry Luke, exposing you today. I think it's also because I heard lots of late-night traffic and it sounded super windy so I couldn't really focus on getting to sleep. But the sleep-in this morning helped. We made our regular weekend staple of poached eggs on toast for brekkie and Luke got us a coffee from across the road. Yum! We also spent the morning doing some cleaning and got the majority of it done before Luke went off to cricket for the day.

PIN IT

I've also managed to get a small walk in this morning and have been watching some YouTube. Just some random ghost-hunting videos. Although some things still creep me out, I think because I've watched so many, I've started to get densensitised to them. I also worked on some of my writing such as guided meditation and I think it's starting to get there - but when it comes to things like that, I'm such a perfectionist. I'm really surprised that I barely proof read my blog on here - I guess that's part of the whole parasocial relationship though and putting yourself online, is being your authentic "online" self. I was sitting downstairs earlier watching TV but I put the dishwasher on and I just couldn't focus on anything. I don't know why but I just couldn't drain the dishwasher noise out today and usually I can. Anyway, I moved upstairs to try and get some peace and quiet but I can still hear the traffic. I don't know why sounds seem so heightened to me today. Maybe there's a ghost around or it's a sign or it's likely a migraine coming on after my headache. I dunno. Probably not. Or could there be? Hmmm.. I also hear random footsteps all the time and I don't know if it's a) my brain playing tricks on me, b) the neighbours are REALLY loud walkers or c) something paranormal.

Anyway, tonight I believe we're going to make some chorizo and gnocchi when Luke gets back. I'm doing okay today health-wise, I only woke up with a headache (which now seems to be turning into a migraine, ugh) and lack of energy but my tummy doesn't hurt at the moment (but, I did have to sit down a few times during cleaning lol). Ah well, I'll get there soon! In backtracking, I did struggle a bit last night feeling quite dizzy around 8pm and just had to go and lie down and get in bed early. Hopefully, this next week is a good week for my birthday week as we've got so much on and I want to be able to enjoy it.

Also in good news, I made my first sale with one of my digital prints (it was Luke and he was testing it for me to see if it works LOL) but it's pretty cool that that happened nonetheless! If you want some cool desktop wallpapers, please please please check out my shop on here! I'm currently unemployed so anything would help me out rn! They're cheap AF too and I'll keep adding to it as I take more epic photos. You can shop "here." I'm also going to keep using Canva for my "asheydesigns" Instagram account and maybe add some of those designs as digital prints too as some of you have suggested I sell those as well. Maybe we'll dabble in things like calendars and whatnot too, but I gotta get more of my brain juices flowing. That sounds gross. Anyway! Let's move on to something more interesting.

I know I'm always excited to talk about creepy things and unsolved mysteries but today I thought I'd explore Unsolved Mysteries that are easily explained by science. I took inspo from this "Reader's Digest" article so it might be quite similar to that, but let's get into it!

So how can we explain unsolved mysteries by science?

1. We're all familiar with the Bermuda Triangle right? The urban legend on an area of the North Atlantic Ocean where people many boats, aircrafts, and people have just vanished. I think I also discussed it in a previous blog post. Well, what if I told you that said missing people, boats, and aircrafts are likely just ALL to do with human error? According to the United States Coast Guard (USGC), many of these disappearances are linked/connected to unsafe conditions in the vehicles or storm activity in the area. They go on to suggest that in reviewing a lot of the disappearances in the past, there is nothing to suggest that it was more than just physical causes. In conclusion, the Bermuda Triangle is no more dangerous than the depths of the ocean.

2. Why did the Mayan Civilisation collapse? The period of Mayan Culture is said to have been from 250 CE to around 900. This was a Mesoamerican civilisation that developed in the Maya region (today, known as South Eastern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and the Western parts of Honduras and El Salvador) and was I don't know the right word here but quite advanced. There has also been MANY conspiracy theories about this civilisation and mostly to do with "aliens" as well as theories of the world ending in 2012 when their calendar ended. However, there was never any evidence from the Mayans to suggest that the world was going to end with a cataclysm in 2012. Anyway, one of the mysteries was why did the society become abandoned so rapidly? Well, scholar Jared Diamond's theory in his book 'Collapse' may have some answers. Diamond theorises that the Mayan civilisation collapsed because there was a prolonged drought followed by "ill-advised" deforestation, Mayans were forced to abandon their cities. This new-found theory was put together in a series of studies published in academic articles. You can read more deeply about the studies "here."

3. The mysteries of Death Valley - it has such an ominous name doesn't it? Death Valley. It definitely sounds super sinister and it's so famous because of the extreme temperatures it gets to (it is the desert after all). Some articles even dub it as one of the most dangerous national parks in the world with temperatures surpassing 110 degrees Fahrenheit (approx 43 C) and 3.4 deaths per million visitors (around 41 deaths between 2010 and 2020). But what about the "sailing stones" aka the stones that move around without animal/human intervention. The stones take a long time to move and they don't really move that far. One of the "most likely" explanations for the sailing stones is a combination of water and wind temperature. Water collects on the surface of the land (I know it's a desert but it DOES sometimes still rain there and there's also snowfall from mountains - I don't know why I'm writing this like I'm mad at someone). Anyway, when there is water present and temperature falls below freezing (shocking I know), a thin sheet of ice is made which would allow rocks to move on their own (well with the help of the ice b/c slippery). You can read more about the science with more scientifical terms in this article "here." It's really interesting.

4. The Yeti! This one I'm quite excited about because the concept is just so random to me but when we think of a Yeti, we think of a giant ape-like creature said to inhabit the Himalayan Mountains (also known as the Abominale Snowman). However, Yeti loosely translates to "that thing there". There is also what we call "Bigfoot/Sasquatch" said to inhabit North America. I'm not sure if this research relates to Bigfoot as well but today we'll just focus on the Yeti. A team of scientists ran a few tests on some "Yeti Samples" and found that the DNA was related to a Himalayan Brown Bear and also a Black Bear (meaning that sightings of the Yeti could have just been sightings of an endangered bear). You can read more about the study "here." Bears are cool.

5. One last "unsolved mystery" explained by science I want to explore today is the world's infrared glow. I had no idea about this until today (which you probably find odd because I like taking photos of the night sky, but anyway. The infrared glow is just the phenomenon that the universe is filled with faintly glowing infrared light that many people have been trying to figure out what causes it. In 2018, an article was published explaining that the infrared light is caused by a chemical known as benzonitrile that permeates every part of the universe. You can learn more "here!"

Anyway that brings me to the end of today's blog post! I hope you enjoyed learning all the things I learned about the world today! For today's question, I want to know, what are you most thankful for today? Let me know in the comments below. Today, I'm most thankful for clean water and yummy food!

Ka kite,

Much love,

Ash xx