Shadowing Practice: Crazy Things Science Still Can't Explain - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Common things science still can't explain.

Fingerprints.

That's right, the first entry on this list is something that we all have access to at our fingertips.

And that's because it literally is our fingertips.

Or more specifically, our fingerprints.

I think we all know that everybody has fingerprints, and beyond that we all have unique fingerprints.

And we also know that the fingerprints your cousin leaves on the glass in every device is really annoying.

But beyond the existence and uniqueness of fingerprints, what is there not to know?

And the answer is, well, the purpose of fingerprints to begin with.

Interestingly, we actually know a lot more about the origin of fingerprints rather than the purpose of fingerprints.

Obviously, in modern times, the fingerprint is an extremely useful tool, most commonly used in forensics investigations and also while opening your iPhone 6.

And while those are definitely interesting use cases for our fingertips,

the human body didn't spend hundreds of thousands of years just to develop fingerprints for biometric data purposes.

And like the title of this video suggests, the true purpose of fingerprints is still relatively unknown, although there is two primary theories.

But before we get into those, I want to actually explain quickly how we even get fingerprints in the first place.

When you were a little fetus in your mother's womb, your fingerprints surprisingly were one of the earliest defining features developed on your entire body.

Obviously after your arms and hands.

And these unique designs are carved into your fingertips through the pressure of amniotic fluid in your mother's womb.

The pressure of this fluid, coupled with the growth rate of your fingers and other unique factors,

are what cause the consistently unique design of your fingerprint.

Which is really interesting.

Your fingerprint isn't genetic whatsoever and identical twins do not share the same fingerprint.

And that same fingerprint you develop early on in your mother's womb, you will keep until the day you die.

Which is also super interesting.

But not quite as interesting as the two running theories on why we even have fingerprints in the first place.

The first theory is that we have fingerprints to improve grip.

This theory states that the grooves on your finger act like tread on a tyrant

and are intended to allow you to grip, hold, and throw things easier.

And this theory makes sense and is definitely valid, and there is even evidence to support this claim.

And the other primary theory for why we have fingerprints is actually for tactile reasons.

This theory states that we have fingerprints to help us sense vibrations and to feel textures more fully and effectively, enhancing our sense of touch.

And once again, there is evidence to support this claim as well.

And while both of these theories are valid and seem extremely logical, and both share evidence that can back up their claims,

there's not yet any concrete evidence proving a specific purpose for your fingerprint.

Alzheimer's.

If you're watching this video, it's likely that you don't have Alzheimer's.

But if you do have Alzheimer's, then it's likely you've seen this video before and just don't remember it.

Regardless, Alzheimer's is unfortunately more common than you think, and most people watching this video have likely experienced Alzheimer's in one way or another.

The reality of Alzheimer's is horrifying and truly upsetting, and that is coming from a bystander's perspective.

I can only imagine the experience of somebody dealing with the trauma firsthand.

But for how common Alzheimer's is and how much awareness is being brought to it these days

There are still so many things that are just completely unknown

when it comes to Alzheimer's I think it's important to note first

and foremost that Alzheimer's and dementia are not the same thing

And while they are related, they're not interchangeable

And on top of that, Alzheimer's is not a natural part of human progression

While cognitive decline is normal as you age, the rapid and detrimental decline that happens with Alzheimer's is nowhere near normal

And for that reason, it's not called old timers, it's called Alzheimer's And I'm not even making this up,

when I was a kid I swear to god I thought it was called old timers because old people got it.

And I'm just really hoping I'm not the only one who thought that.

But tossing my own personal cognitive decline to the side, what is the cause of Alzheimer's?

And the answer is complicated.

As of today, the most common theory is that a combination of age -related brain changes,

genetic factors, and environmental and lifestyle influences play a role in the development of Alzheimer's.

Although the exact biological root cause of the disease is still unknown.

Basically meaning that there's a lot of ways you could potentially get Alzheimer's, like smoking all your life,

or working shift work and having a bad circadian rhythm, or potentially being genetically predisposed.

And while all of these may be a contributing factor, there's not yet one underlying causality.

But with that being said, as of now there are still two primary biomarkers that are believed to be tied to Alzheimer's.

The first is amyloid beta plaques.

And what amyloid beta plaques are are actually buildup of amyloid beta, which is a part of amyloid precursor protein.

What does amyloid precursor protein do in the brain, you might ask?

Science doesn't know that either.

But it's believed, but not proven, to have something to do with brain development.

Regardless, patients with Alzheimer's will see this amyloid beta protein not being properly absorbed in the brain, causing it to clump together and create plaques,

causing the eventual rapid decline in cognition.

And the reason for this is

because these amyloid plaques are actually toxic to the brain and cause cell death within your brain, which is why, typically in Alzheimer's patients,

you will see brains with massive holes in them which honestly just adds a whole new layer of disturbing to this disease.

But even the role of these amyloid plaques are debated, because recently there have been medications specifically designed to destroy these amyloid plaques in the brain,

and unfortunately these tests have not bred positive results,

which has caused scientists to question whether or not this plaque is the root cause or simply a byproduct of a deeper, more unknown root cause.

Oh yeah, and the other biomarker associated with Alzheimer's is another protein used in the brain known as tau.

And similar to the other protein we just discussed,

for patients with Alzheimer's, the tau in the brain is not used properly and is not absorbed and becomes tangled and creates,

once again, toxic clumps in the brain, causing cell death and cognitive decline.

So yeah, although it may seem like we know quite a bit about Alzheimer's, there is

so much more we have to learn before we are able to make any sort of meaningful development in prevention

and hopefully cure animal migration.

Migration by far is one of the most underrated animal superpowers.

Like seriously, just imagine being able to be anywhere and being able to then navigate to a specific location, usually across an entire continent, just because.

Migration is a necessary survival mechanism for countless species of animals.

And it's actually really well understood why certain species migrate.

The reason depends on the species, but the most common reasons for migration are either to feed, breed, or to escape harsh climates,

like cold winters or hot summers.

And that is simple and something we truly understand.

But it's not the why of migration that's unexplained.

It's the how.

Like, just think about it.

How do these animals know consistently year over year not only when to go, but exactly where to go?

You could give a lot of people today a car and a physical roadmap,

and they would still get lost trying to go to a specific location.

But if you just tell a butterfly that they've got to fly 2 ,000 miles to get laid,

they're already gone before you could even tell them what direction to go.

And it's so amazing, in fact, that we still, to this day, don't understand how animals know where to migrate.

Or more specifically, how to get to their point of migration.

Birds, whales, sea turtles, and even insects are all examples of animals that migrate.

And for most of them, the places they go to migrate are rather specific.

Although, where they may be living in their off -season is kind of random.

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However, every year, they consistently know, no matter where they are, where to go.

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And that phenomenon is truly amazing.

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And while in 2025 humans have GPS, Google Maps, and now self -driving cars, we still get lost a lot.

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And this thought process has led researchers to believe that animals have something that we don't.

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And recent studies have shown that this could potentially be true.

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And one example that research has recently shown was that some species of birds, specifically pigeons, were able to sense the Earth's magnetic field.

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And first of all, I'm just curious how they even found this out in the first place.

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Like, I can only imagine two scientists just sitting a pigeon down in the lab, looking at him, and just asking, do you feel anything?

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With the pigeon only to respond, North.

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And this is a skill known as magnetorception.

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And I'll be honest, I wish I had magnetorception, because that sounds cool as hell.

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Regardless, with the discovery of pigeons being able to sense the Earth's literal magnetic field, this one answer has led to many more questions.

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Like, how many other animals share this ability?

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And what other abilities exist in the animal kingdom that we don't even know about yet?

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And for animals with this ability, how do they even use this knowledge of the magnetic field to navigate properly and accurately?

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It's truly amazing.

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And I guess the human equivalent of this would be trying to understand how your broke,

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drunken uncle always makes his way down to Florida every time winter comes in Michigan.

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Like, your drunken uncle could be anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere for seven months out of the year.

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But somehow, as soon as it just gets a little chilly, he teleports to Florida.

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But nobody knows how he got there.

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It's just like that.

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The placebo effect.

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The placebo effect is a staple in modern medicine testing because of how prevalent this effect is.

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To summarize the placebo effect, it's essentially just suggestibility.

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It's your mind believing something to be true and your body kind of following suit.

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And while that's a bit of an oversimplification, the results of the placebo effect are amazing, but also mysterious.

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The placebo effect is so strong and so common that any time a new drug is tested to bring to market,

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They literally have to test the new drug that's being proposed against a placebo to make sure

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that the drug is actually effective and not just seeming effective due to the placebo effect.

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For example, let's just say you're trying to develop a new drug that helps people with stomach pain.

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Now, let's say for a study, you find 100 people that have frequent stomach pain.

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You divide this group into two smaller groups, a treatment group and a placebo group.

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All 50 people in the treatment group receive the actual medication you're testing.

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And all 50 people in the placebo group receive, well, a sugar pill, a placebo, a drug that does nothing.

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It's not even a drug.

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Now here's the kicker.

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Everybody in this test is under the assumption that they are actually taking the active medicine.

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And after consistently taking the medicine for, let's say, a week, you have to review the results.

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And this is where the placebo effect actually comes into play.

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Because let's say after a week of taking the placebo,

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25 out of the 50 people in the placebo group say that they noticed less stomach pain.

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That is kind of the benchmark that the treatment group has to surpass.

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Meaning that if the treatment group also reports a 25 % decrease in stomach pain, it's actually not proven effective.

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In that case, it's about as effective as a placebo.

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For this medication for stomach pain to be proven effective,

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there has to be more people in the treatment group that feel better than people in the placebo group.

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And this oversimplified, poorly explained explanation is what's known as a double -blind placebo study,

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and it's kind of the gold standard for eliminating bias when it comes to testing brand new medications.

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Now here's the thing, with all of this being said, how does the placebo effect even work?

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And the answer is, we actually don't know that much about it researchers

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that have been studying the placebo effect from a psychological and neurological angle,

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both kind of believe that this effect is linked to a brain's release of endorphins

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and other chemicals in the anticipation of a positive effect, essentially meaning that because your body is expecting to feel better,

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it already kind of feels better in advance.

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But this isn't proven, and is really only a going theory.

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And despite there being literally decades of study on the placebo effect up until this point, the exact mechanisms behind the placebo effect are completely unknown,

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making one of the staples of modern medicine testing, an effective and life -saving mystery.

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The Twilight Zone.

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No, not that Twilight Zone.

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This Twilight Zone.

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Home of this, this, this, and this.

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The Twilight Zone is located 200 to 1000 meters below the ocean's surface.

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And it's known as the Twilight Zone because it is a region underwater where sunlight barely penetrates.

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It's too dark for any sort of photosynthesis, but it's not quite pitch black yet.

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And it's this unique region that is one of the least explored habitats on all of planet Earth.

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One notable resident of this area is the lanternfish, which is pretty cool, but also completely insane.

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It kind of goes to show how weird this area is.

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Like we all know that jellyfish are like just weird creatures, but deep sea jellyfish are on a whole nother level.

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Like I was just watching a documentary where some jellyfish literally asexually reproduce

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and basically just spawn new jellyfish kind of like plants.

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And jellyfish as a whole are just kind of crazy entities.

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Like they're alive, but they're not.

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It's just so wild.

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But that's not the mystery here.

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It has nothing to do with jellyfish per se.

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The Twilight Zone, like I mentioned, is one of the least explored areas.

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And for good reason, too.

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The pressure that deep underwater is immense.

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And coupling that pressure with the sheer darkness and travel time

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and specialized equipment required to even navigate through this area makes any sort of Twilight Zone exploration extremely expensive and difficult.

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And because there's not really a major financial incentive to explore the Twilight Zone, research is definitely a bit slow.

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But not only is the Twilight Zone extremely harsh to get to and be in, but it's also extremely vast,

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making exploring and documenting it nearly impossible fully.

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And because the Twilight Zone is so massive, it's actually speculated

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that there may be more fish in the Twilight Zone alone than all other fish on the entire Earth combined.

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And while this is kind of a fruitless thought experiment, at this point it's also extremely possible.

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But not only is it possible, it's a scary thought, because the fish that live in the Twilight Zone are completely weird looking,

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and probably the closest thing we have to aliens at this time.

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Like these fish are literally creating their own light, which is kind of dope.

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I don't know, I think bioluminescence is just cool to begin with, but I also like to think that fish just got

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so fed up of being in the dark that they literally created their own organic light.

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But it's not just seeing cool fish that light up that makes the Twilight Zone interesting.

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It's also the impact that the Twilight Zone has on the Earth's climate, because the Twilight Zone is a massive ecosystem.

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And ocean and marine ecosystems specifically play a major role when it comes to carbon storage, which obviously has a direct impact on the Earth's climate.

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Which definitely gives merit to wanting to explore the Twilight Zone more.

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But yeah, that's kind of all there is to say about it.

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The Twilight Zone is one of the most common ecosystems in all of the world, technically speaking.

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Although it's one of the ecosystems we know the least about.

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And maybe that's for the better.

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Ball lightning.

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Admittedly, ball lightning isn't all that common.

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But lightning is relatively common.

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And I think most of us have heard about ball lightning, and honestly, I just thought it was cool and wanted to discuss this interesting phenomenon.

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Ball lightning sightings have gone back all the way to the 1600s, and continue to be reported today.

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It's interesting because even today, in 2025, we don't know a ton about ball lightning.

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So I can only imagine what they thought about ball lightning in the 1600s.

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Ironically, we do know what they thought about ball lightning in the 1800s, as there was a few recorded accounts of experiences with ball lightning,

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and they basically just described ball lightning as smelling like sulfur

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and being the work of the devil which I think is fitting for the time period.

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In case you're unfamiliar, ball lightning is typically described by witnesses as a glowing, floating sphere of light, and,

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like regular lightning, typically only appears during thunderstorms.

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Some people have stated that these balls are only as small as a marble, while others have said that they've been multiple feet long and wide,

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and the colors that the ball lightning has been reported in is almost as vast as the size, with some people claiming that it was white,

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yellow, orange, or even blue.

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But in case ball lightning wasn't unpredictable enough, the way it behaves is also completely unpredictable.

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Ball lightning can last anywhere from a split second to multiple minutes long.

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And during the duration of its stay, it typically moves slowly through the air and can even pass through windows or walls,

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typically causing no damage whatsoever.

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And in some cases, ball lightning simply vanishes silently.

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And in other cases, it literally explodes with a loud bang.

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And already, ball lightning seems like one of the most amazing and also terrifying things you could witness in person.

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And I can only imagine what witnessing it would be like if you didn't know what ball lightning was.

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There's actually a video of a Belarusian train station that shows a ball of lightning crossing over all of the train tracks,

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and it's just amazing to see.

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And in the comments of this video, there's a ton of people talking about their experience with - ball lightning

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and how the first time they saw it they thought it was an angel

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or a ghost or something else that was typically supernatural.

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Which I don't blame them for.

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If I just saw this thing in front of me in person,

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I would literally believe I was losing my mind or something really bad was happening.

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Like I would not be in awe, I would be in terror.

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But that's just me, if I don't know about something, I typically lean towards being scared about it.

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But no matter how cool or interesting or terrifying ball lightning may seem, it's more mysterious than anything else.

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Obviously, scientists don't have a concrete answer on what ball lightning is or what even causes it.

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But there are a few interesting theories I'd like to share with you.

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A couple popular theories that try to explain why ball lightning happens include plasma, burning particles in the air, and even electromagnetic fields.

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And honestly, they're all kind of vague explanations and potentially could be partially true, but like I mentioned, we just don't know.

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And one of the biggest reasons why we don't know is because of how rare ball lightning is.

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It's almost impossible to replicate in a controlled environment, meaning that we're at the mercy of nature providing it to us to study it.

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And as you can imagine, ball lightning doesn't roll into a lot of labs all that often.

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And well -equipped scientists typically don't run into ball lightning all that often either,

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leaving a lot of the thought around ball lightning to be up to speculation and based off of reviewing videos posted online.

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And if you've made it this far in the video, let me know.

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If you saw ball lightning out in the wild, would you be terrified or would you be intrigued?

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I think the honest answer is both.

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And I guess, while we're being honest, let me ask you, do you like watching

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Trust Me Bro videos?

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Because if you do, feel free to subscribe.

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We make videos every single week.

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Now, let's get on to the last section.

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Slime mold.

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Slime mold, or scientifically known as Fisarum polycephalum, is not mold, nor slime, nor fungi.

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It's actually known as a protist.

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And what makes it unique is that it's actually a single -celled organism.

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That's right, this jelly -looking, goo -looking thing is actually one organism.

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Although, it is full of nuclei.

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That's right, it might be a single cell, but this one cell has so many nuclei within it.

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And all of these nuclei actually will come in handy later.

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Now you might be asking, what's the significance of this yellowy, greeny goo?

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And is it even common?

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I've never seen that.

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And let me answer both of those questions.

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First of all, is it common?

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Yeah.

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If you've gone on a walk in a forest after a rainy day, you have definitely walked past some sort of slime mold.

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And to answer your first hypothetical question, why does it matter?

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Well, slime molds are extremely intelligent.

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So intelligent, in fact, that we don't know how they're so smart or why they're so smart.

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And that is both interesting and terrifying.

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How smart is slime mold, you may ask?

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Well, slime molds have been shown time in and time out to solve mazes consistently.

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And how they do this is by basically filling up the entire maze with their gooey body, and once they find the exit of the maze,

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or in the case of the research test,

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finding the food, they will then retract everything else that isn't directly connecting the start of the slime mold to the food,

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allowing them to essentially reverse engineer the maze.

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And these mazes aren't simple either.

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Some studies have actually been able to have slime molds recreate major transportation networks, like the Tokyo subway system for example.

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But not only can slime mold navigate to find food, they have also shown to have some sort of memory by anticipating reoccurring events.

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And how this is shown is by having them readjust their behavior based off of previous events

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that have happened in previous studies.

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Proving that these single -celled organisms have some sort of memory, even though they have not one neuron.

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That's right, slime molds have no brain, no nervous system, no complex organs, but they still seemingly can solve problems,

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make decisions, and even remember past events.

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And I'll be the first to say it.

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I'm impressed with this little ball of goo.

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And this little ball of goo might even be smarter than you.

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But if you think the ball of goo is not smaller than you, then for who the ball of goo is not smaller than you too?

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Okay, it is currently 1 .53am and I thought that was funny.

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You know, I didn't even think that was funny, I just said it.

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Regardless, the ways in which slime molds achieves any sort of intelligence to scientists is completely unclear.

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Although, like some of the other entries on this list, the scientists have their theories.

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And what's currently believed is

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that the network -like structure of neurons within the slime mold allows the slime mold to process information through chemical signals.

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Essentially allowing it to have a brain without having a brain.

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And this method of thinking

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or I guess thoughtlessness on the slime molds part has actually inspired scientists in specific fields like robotics

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and computing to try to use slime molds to find clues on how to build more efficient self -organizing systems,

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seeing as the slime mold is pretty good at doing that.

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And while there's not much more known about the slime mold's intelligence at this time,

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The fact that this single -celled organism can seemingly think without a brain has definitely inspired engineers and scientists alike.

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But for now, the mind of this little ball of goo is an enigma.

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But with that, ladies and gentlemen, that's really all the time we have for today in this episode, but I'll make a deal with you now.

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If you guys enjoyed this video and want a part two, I'd be more than happy to make it.

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And I actually have a lot of honorable mentions I want to discuss.

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For example, what happened to the planet Venus?

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Why do we dream?

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What happens after we die?

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How is the universe created?

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What is dark matter and why does it make up 95 % of the universe?

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And how long does it take to go get milk?

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All great questions that I'd love to answer if you guys would like to hear me talk about them.

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But that's all for now.

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If you enjoyed this video about things that are still unsolved,

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then you might enjoy this video on screen now about ancient mysteries that are actually recently solved.

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That video might be a bit more satisfying than this one, considering that one has conclusive endings to every entry.

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I highly recommend checking it out.

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Thank you so much for watching this video.

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And as always, trust me, bro.

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44 sentences

Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “Crazy Things Science Still Can't Explain”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: ball, lightning, fingerprint, placebo, slime. This video has 318 sentences and 4381 words to shadow. The speech runs for 20:06. The speaker talks fast, about 218 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 82% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
lightning noun	/ˈlaɪt.nɪŋ/	A flash of light produced by short-duration, high-voltage discharge of electricity within a cloud, between clouds, or between a cloud and the earth.
mold noun	/moʊld/	A natural substance in the form of a furry or woolly growth of tiny fungi that appears when organic material lies for a long time exposed to (usually warm and…
migration noun	/maɪˈɡɹeɪʃ(ə)n/	An instance of moving to live in another place for a while.
plaque noun	/plæk/	Any flat, thin piece of clay, ivory, metal, etc., used for ornament, or for painting pictures upon, as a dish, plate, slab, etc., hung upon a wall; also, a…
stomach noun	/ˈstʌmək/	An organ in animals that stores food in the process of digestion.
decline verb	/dɪˈklaɪn/	To move downwards, to fall, to drop.
explore verb	/ɪkˈsploɹ/	To examine or investigate something systematically.
consistently adverb	/kənˈsɪstəntli/	In a consistent manner.
maze noun	/ˈmeɪz/	A labyrinth; a puzzle consisting of a complicated network of paths or passages, the aim of which is to find one's way through.
regardless adverb	/ɹɪˈɡɑɹd.lɪs/	Without attention to warnings or indications of bad consequences.
essentially adverb	/ɪˈsɛnʃəli/	In essence: by nature.
potentially adverb	/pəˈtɛnʃ(ə)li/	In a manner showing much potential; with the possibility of happening in a given way.
beta noun	/ˈbeɪtə/	The second letter of the Greek alphabet (Β, β), preceded by alpha (Α, α) and followed by gamma, (Γ, γ). In modern Greek it represents the voiced labiodental…
medication noun	/mɛdɪˈkeɪʃən/	A medicine, or all the medicines regularly taken by a patient.
navigate verb	/ˈnæv.ɪ.ɡeɪt/	To plan, control and record the position and course of a vehicle, ship, aircraft, etc., on a journey; to follow a planned course.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Meaning
back up verb	To move backwards, especially for a vehicle to do so.
cross over verb	To pass from one side or area, physical or abstract, to another.
fill up verb	To make (something) completely full.
get on to verb	To contact (someone) in order to raise or discuss a certain matter.
go back verb	To return to a place or state after having been there at a previous time.
light up verb	To illuminate, to bring light to something, to brighten.
pass through verb	To go through, to travel through, to transit or lie across a place or from one place to another.

Sentences worth repeating

Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:

What does amyloid precursor protein do in the brain, you might ask?
Which I don't blame them for.
How smart is slime mold, you may ask?
I'm impressed with this little ball of goo.
Why do we dream?

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result	if you guys would like
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	you've seen · have likely experienced · have been
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	are carved · are intended · being brought
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	one who thought · beta, which is · brain, which is

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 57 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, they're, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “sh” and “zh” sounds: migration /maɪˈɡɹeɪʃ(ə)n/, essentially /ɪˈsɛnʃəli/, potentially /pəˈtɛnʃ(ə)li/, medication /mɛdɪˈkeɪʃən/, harsh /ˈhɑɹʃ/
Long words — get the stress right: consistently /kənˈsɪstəntli/, essentially /ɪˈsɛnʃəli/, potentially /pəˈtɛnʃ(ə)li/, medication /mɛdɪˈkeɪʃən/, ecosystem /ˈikoʊˌsɪstəm/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like lightning, mold, migration.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: Crazy Things Science Still Can't Explain - Learn English Speaking with Video

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