1. EARTHQUAKE LIGHTS: Ethereal lights that appear in the sky before and during a quake
For mystery, controversy and epic scale, nothing beats earthquake lights the unexplained illuminations in the sky that can accompany a seismic shudder. For mystery, controversy and epic scale, nothing beats earthquake lights the unexplained illuminations in the sky that can accompany a seismic shudder. The various theories include heat caused by friction, radon gas and piezoelectricity an electric charge accumulating in quartz rocks as tectonic plates move
The mystery: what causes them? The controversy: do they even exist? And the epic status? Well, it’s like an earthquake and a lightning storm all rolled into one. It’s beyond Biblical. The original article appears in issue 2 of the brand new science magazine, Science Uncovered, on sale now
Italian physicist Cristiano Ferugia assembled a complete account of earthquake light reports dating back to 2000BC. For a long time, however, geoscientists remained sceptical about the strange phenomenon. It wasn’t until 1966 that hard evidence emerged, in the form of photos from the Matsushiro earthquake in Japan. Now, of course, you have only to head to the internet to come across hundreds of pages full of earthquake light photos, many of dubious authenticity.
But the lights appear in so many different colours and forms – from red to white to blue, and in globes, flickers and glows – that it’s difficult to spot a fake. The various theories include heat caused by friction, radon gas and piezoelectricity – an electric charge accumulating in quartz rocks as tectonic plates move. In 2003, NASA physicist Dr Friedemann Freund carried out lab experiments, which suggested that earthquake lights are caused by electrical activity in rocks. He said shockwaves from earthquakes can change the electrical properties of silicon and oxygen-containing minerals, allowing them to transmit currents and emit light.
But Professor David Brumbaugh, at the Arizona Earthquake Information Center in Flagstaff, Arizona, thinks the theory can be considered only a ‘possible explanation’ at best. ‘Although Freund’s theory seems promising, the answer may be a bit more complicated,’ he said. Brumbaugh, however, admits he’s not aware of any new research that would be as useful as Freund’s.
2. THE NAZCA LINES: Vast shapes drawn in the Peruvian sand by an ancient population but no one knows why
Covering a 450km expanse of coastal desert, the Nazca Lines are oversized artworks etched into the Peruvian plains, pictured. They are thought to have been created by the Nazca people over a 1,000-year period between 500BC and 500AD, but no one knows why
Covering a 450km2 expanse of coastal desert, the Nazca Lines are oversized artworks etched into the Peruvian plains. Including large geometric designs as well as pictures of animals, plants and rarer human-like figures, they are visible from the air as giant line drawings. They are thought to have been created by the Nazca people over a 1,000-year period between 500BC and 500AD, but no one knows why.
Despite World Heritage status, the Peruvian authorities have trouble protecting the Lines from squatters. According to Peruvian law, which protects the landless, squatters only have to stay for a single day in order to be able to stake a claim. Last year, reports emerged of Peruvians raising pigs on the artworks. In their view, the site is simply an expanse of wasted space in a region with a rapidly growing poor population.
Meanwhile, archaeologists are trying to study the Lines before they are destroyed. Early claims that the designs formed part of an astronomical calendar have been discredited and, since 1997, researchers working as part of a Peruvian-German collaboration have turned their attention to the history and culture of the people who created how they lived and what happened to them. In 2012, Yamagata University, in Japan, announced that it would open a research centre at the site as part of a 15-year project to study more than 1,000 drawings.
3. INCREDIBLE BUTTERFLY NAVIGATION: Monarch butterflies find their way thousands of miles to specific mountains
Millions of monarch butterflies, pictured, migrate 2,000 miles every year. In 1976, zoologists found them at the top of the ‘Mountain of Butterflies’ in Mexico. While scientists know the monarchs target 12 to 15 Mexican mountain sites, they don’t know how they navigate there
Each year, millions of North American monarch butterflies migrate 2,000 miles south for winter. For years, no one knew where they ended up. Then, in the 1950s, Norah Urquhart and her husband Fred, a zoologist, began tagging and tracking the creatures. In 1976, tipped off by a local woodcutter, they climbed to the top of the ‘Mountain of Butterflies’. All the butterflies in North America, it seemed, were in a mountain forest in Mexico.
That’s not where the story ends. While we know the monarchs target just 12 to 15 Mexican mountain sites, we don’t know how they navigate there. Studies suggest they use the position of the Sun to fly south, adjusting for the time of day through circadian clocks in their antennae. But the Sun only gives them a general direction. What guides them towards the Michoacan mountains? ‘They are funnelled in, probably by landmarks as they reach the overwintering site,’ said Professor Steven Reppert, a monarch expert at the University of Massachusetts. ‘But how they home in is still a mystery.’
Landmarks such as the Gulf of Mexico couldn’t provide enough information to take butterflies all the way, so they must use other short-range navigation systems. One theory is that a geomagnetic force attracts them, although, says Reppert, ‘that’s never really panned out’. Scientists only recently acquired some of the genetic tools needed to probe the details of their navigation systems. Now they have a full genetic code, they are starting to knock out genes to see how this affects the animals’ sense of direction.
4. BALL LIGHTNING: Spheres of light that appear during or after a thunderstorm.
The phenomenon of ball lightning has generally been described as being a luminous sphere that appears during or after a thunderstorm. Some theories suggest ball lightning, pictured, is a plasma, others that it is the result of a chemiluminescent process – light that occurs due to a chemical reaction
Nikola Tesla, the physicist who invented AC power, supposedly created ball lightning in his lab. He wrote in 1904 that he ‘never saw fireballs, but…succeeded in determining their formation and producing them artificially’. It was a surprising claim then, and is perhaps even more surprising now given that modern scientists have struggled to reproduce the results.
What’s more, many in the scientific community remain sceptical about the existence of ball lightning, full stop. However, eye witness reports of naturally occurring ball lightning were made as far back as the era of the ancient Greeks. In modern times, the phenomenon of ball lightning has generally been described as being a luminous sphere that appears during or after a thunderstorm. There have also been reports of lightning balls passing through window panes and down chimneys.
Some theories suggest ball lightning is a plasma, others that it is the result of a chemiluminescent process – light that occurs due to a chemical reaction. In August 2013, researchers at the US Air Force Academy in Colorado made and photographed bright white plasmoid balls in their lab. The balls were generated from high-power electric sparks, discharged by electrodes partly submerged in electrolyte solutions. Even the researchers couldn’t be sure that what they had created was ball lightning. Therefore, they refer to the phenomenon as “ball-lightning-like atmospheric pressure plasmoids”. Slightly less exciting than Tesla’s fireballs, perhaps, but it’s certainly the closest that anyone has come to repeating his work.
5. WANDERING ROCKS OF DEATH VALLEY: Stones that slide across the ground under some kind of mysterious force
At Racetrack Playa in the Death Valley, California, pictured, heavy rocks appear to move across the floor while no one is looking. Scientists believe the movement may be caused by the ice stuck to the bottom of the stones, which are then moved in the wind. However, no-one has caught the stones in the act
At Racetrack Playa in the Death Valley National Park, California, strange forces are at work. Forces capable of pushing heavy rocks across the flat surface of a dried-out lake while no one is looking. Scientists have scratched their heads over the trails left by these sliding stones since early in the 20th Century. In the 1960s, Californian geologists started a rock monitoring programme. They tracked 30 stones, weighing up to 25kg, 28 of which moved during a seven-year period – some more than 200m. Analysis of the stones’ trails suggested speeds of 1m per second. In most cases, the stones travelled in winter. In the decades that followed, theories about ice and wind gained support. Others involved algal slime and seismic vibrations.
So what’s happening? Are the stones sliding around in bad weather? ‘We think so,’ says Dr Gunther Kletetschka, of the Academy of Science of the Czech Republic and Charles University in Prague, who led a 2013 study on the stones. His team’s research describes what happens when water on the Playa surface freezes. According to their theory, ice stuck to the stones remains frozen longer than the surrounding ice – because rock conducts heat away faster. This reduces the force between the rocks and the Playa surface, so they can be pushed by the wind.
No one has yet caught the stones in the act, and they’ve been strangely still of late. Kletetschka thinks this is due to water levels. ‘The reason for stones not moving recently is the presence of an artificial trench, draining the excess water from the Playa,’ he says.
Wed Jun 10 2015, 08:51 by 
Subject: 5 Bizarre Phenomena That Still Have Scientists Baffled 
