In keeping with the Halloween season, here
are ten spooky scientific concepts and discoveries that may have implications that not only do
we not currently fully understand, some of them may never be understandable at all. 10. The Anthropic Principal Human life exists. That's something we cannot refute, because,
well, we're certainly here. That means that our universe is fine tuned
just so that it allows for human life and, perhaps most importantly, consciousness to
exist. We're not sure why this is, and attempts by
science to determine some underlying process that governs why the universe is the way it
is have been fruitless. It's not perfect for life for any particular
reason, it just is. This is known as the fine-tuning problem. There are a number of different values in
the universe that are very narrow, they must be tightly defined for the universe to work
at all. The trouble is, there doesn't appear to be
a reason for why these values are set the way they are. For example, if the strong nuclear force were
just a bit stronger or just a bit weaker, then none of this could exist as it does. What set that value? We don't know. And there are quite a few other values that
seem to be set just right. So what does this mean? It probably means one of two things. On the one hand, it could indicate that there
are many universes making up a multiverse where we just happen to be in the one where
things are just right, but most of the others are probably lifeless and radically different. This seems to fit with advanced physics, such
as string theory, and there may indeed be potential indicators of other universes, more
on that in a minute. But on the other hand if this is the only
universe then we live in statistically almost impossible conditions. You have a better chance of winning the lottery
ten times in a row over ten consecutive weeks than for this universe to just happen to be
the way it is for no reason. This would support something called simulation
theory, which posits that we're all some sort of A.I. living within a computer simulation. This theory has its merits, see my video "Is
the Universe Real? Or is it a Computer Simulation". But if it is a Simulation, then who created
it? 9. Mass Extinction We all know about the potential possibility
that an asteroid could strike the earth and we could go extinct as a result. Increased attention on this threat has led
to efforts to track near earth asteroids and, if we're smart, we'll develop ways to move
asteroids and ensure that this scenario never happens. And while Earth's history has seen a number
of mass extinctions, the most famous of which killed the dinosaurs, what a lot of people
don't realize is that we're actually in the middle of a mass extinction right now. Called the Holocene Extinction, this ongoing
event affects almost every family of plants and animals and is the greatest loss of biodiversity
since the cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event that killed the dinosaurs along with
three quarters of the species living on Earth at the time. That event is thought to have been due to
an asteroid that had the effect of several million nuclear warheads detonating at once. This new extinction event is nothing close
to an asteroid. But it's unique among the extinctions because
we're causing it. And we have been for thousands of years. We are linked with the extinction of the earth's
megafauna, such as the mammoths, at the end of the last ice age and to this day we continue
to impact the environment in such a way as to continue the extinctions. In short, as far as threats to life in general
are concerned, we are deadly. But there is a silver lining here. Science and intelligence. And, using genetics, science does allow us
to eventually bring those species back from the dead and restore, plan and manage earth's
biodiversity. Ethical questions aside, the mammoth someday
may walk the earth once more. 8. You are not alone. One of the most interesting theories within
science is that there could be alternate parallel universes in addition to our own. One variant of this theory allows for universes
to occupy the same space, hovering just inches away but existing in a kind of higher vibration
that makes them invisible. While highly speculative, it's possible that
just inches away from you could be another universe. Perhaps another earth exists in that universe
occupying the same space. There could be people or other creatures that
you can't see in the same room with you at all times and you'd never know it. 7. Gravity is not of this universe One of the most elusive mysteries in science
is the nature of gravity. Einstein himself spent much of his later career
trying to understand it to no avail. And now, years later, we still do not have
a successful quantum theory of gravity. That's led to much speculation within science
that steps outside of the boundaries of quantum physics and into some place else. One potential theory of gravity suggests that
the reason gravity is so difficult to understand is because it's not native to our universe
at all, and is simply leaking into it from a parallel universe that we know nothing about. 6. The Great Void There is a strange 330 million light-year
region of space that is almost completely devoid of galaxies. Voids in space are not unheard of, galaxies
attract each other through gravitation and areas empty out. But none of them are anywhere near as big
as the great void. In fact, it's so large that there hasn't been
enough time since the Big Bang for such a huge void to form. So what caused it? One theory is that it formed as a group of
smaller voids coalesced. That's probably the case, but there is another
theory that takes us into strange territory indeed. It is possible, though beyond highly unlikely,
that the void could be due to a Kardashev type III civilization expanding outward building
Dyson Spheres. As they build them, the stars inside would
appear to blink out. This could explain the void's remarkably spherical
shape, however such a civilization would be easily detected by searching the void for
infra-red radiation consistent with Dyson's spheres. So far, this has not been detected, nor has
the question of the viability of completely encasing a star in a Dyson shell been settled. 5. The End of the Universe Can the universe simply blink out of existence
one day? Frighteningly, it may be possible. There are two ways for the universe to just
go away. The first is the false vacuum theory. This somewhat complicated theory is based
on a question we don't know the answer to. If the universe exists in its lowest energy
state, then it won't happen. If it doesn't, then the universe could suddenly
tunnel into a lower energy state and the false vacuum state collapses. This would potentially alter our universe
instantaneously to a state where matter can no longer exist. Everything would simply cease to exist in
less than the blink of an eye. The second involves Simulation theory. If this is all a computer simulation, whoever
is running it can presumably shut it down any time they wish. 4. The Great Cold Spot The Great Void may not be alone in the universe. In the constellation Eridanus lies a strange,
very cold region of space where the cosmic background radiation is very weak. We don't know why this is, most generally
accepted theoretical models don't allow for it. Yet there it is. One unlikely possibility is that it formed
during the Big Bang, but there are problems with that. Another possibility is that a huge void is
causing it, similar to the Great Void mentioned earlier, but there are problems with this
theory as well. But one theory takes things a step further. It has been suggested that the cold spot could
be an imprint from a parallel universe beyond our own. This is actually an attractive possibility
because it would support string theory, and it may be testable to determine if this is
evidence of parallel universes. The theory goes that there should be a similar
cold spot at the opposite end of the universe. This has not been observed, but complex computer
modeling shows that it should be there. 3. The slate-wiping extraterrestrial virus If there is other life in the universe it's
safe to assume that the vast majority of it will be microbial in nature. Because of this, since the early days of space
exploration NASA has gone to great lengths to ensure that our astronauts returning from
the moon and any samples from space have been quarantined just in case there was life hiding
within them. There is an excellent reason for this. Such things, like their earthly counterparts,
could make us sick or even extinct. There is really no way to know what might
happen if alien viruses escaped containment. They might not do well in our environment
and be killed off by earth life war-of-the-worlds style, or be incompatible with all forms of
life on earth, or they may be favored by our environment and life on earth becomes easy
pickings with no hope of developing immunity. Unfortunately for us, there is one area of
this question where we have no defenses. Meteorites. In theory, meteorites can ferry living organisms
from planet to planet. And, unlike asteroids, we really can't predict
when or where they are going to fall. Tons of them fall every month, most of them
plunging into the ocean, any one of them carrying potential contamination. 2. Dark Matter and Dark Energy Dark matter is invisible. It does not interact with light and cannot
be directly seen, despite being a large portion of the existing matter and energy in the universe,
about 26.8 percent. How we see it is through its gravity acting
on the universe, which has profound effects on the structure of galaxies and the formation
of the universe. While we have some ideas on what dark matter
might be, such as weakly interacting subatomic particles, ultimately they are just that,
ideas and other than gravity we know almost nothing about this stuff and what implications
it might have on the universe long-term. Even stranger is dark energy. It seems to permeate space itself and drives
and accelerates the expansion of the universe. And there's a lot of it, making up nearly
70 percent of the energy in the universe. Whether this energy can be used, or what implications
it has on the universe's future remain largely unknown. 1. Dark Flow This phenomenon may well be the weirdest in
the universe, if it exists at all -- that is somewhat disputed. At first glance, it just appears to be a certain
movement seen in galaxy clusters. They seem to move in a common direction. Standard models say that this should not be
so, the motion should be random in all directions. But it's not. There are several possible explanations. The motion may be an effect of something that
happened before the 380,000 year brick wall where before that we can't see what happened
during the big bang. But it could also be something very different. Scientists at NASA's Goddard Space Center
proposed that the flow could be due to another universe tugging on the galaxies, or perhaps
an area of space time that is significantly different than what we're used to that runs
on a completely different set of rules. We simply do not know what is out there. Thanks for listening. I am futurist and science fiction author John
Michael Godier, currently nibbling on the Halloween candy I'm supposed to be giving
out to kids later tonight, and be sure to check out my books at your favorite online
retailer and subscribe to my channel for regular, in-depth explorations into the interesting,
weird and unknown aspects of this amazing universe in which we live.
