- 5 weeks ago
NASA has reportedly identified a mysterious crystal on the Moon with extraordinary energy potential. Scientists believe that, if its properties can be harnessed, it could transform power generation, space travel, and life on Earth. But extracting and controlling such an immense source of energy may prove far more difficult—and dangerous—than anyone expected.
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00:01Recently, Chinese scientists discovered something interesting on the Moon, an unusual crystal.
00:07Moreover, they found out that this crystal contains an element that can literally replace nuclear fuel.
00:13Let's find out more.
00:16The composition of the Moon has long remained a mystery to us.
00:20Half a century has already passed since the Apollo mission.
00:23Unfortunately, we haven't traveled to the Moon much since then.
00:26So, it's not surprising that it's not so easy for us to study it.
00:30But, recently, we've made a breakthrough in this area.
00:34In December 2020, Chinese scientists sent the Chang'a 5 probe to the Moon.
00:40The mission was named after the ancient Chinese deity of the Moon, Chang'a.
00:44Quite poetic, isn't it?
00:46Anyway, after the probe went to the nearest side of the Moon,
00:50it spent several days digging through the surface and rocks, and then returned to Earth.
00:54In total, it collected about 4 pounds of various lunar rocks, like basalt, solidified lava, and so on.
01:03And yeah, maybe it doesn't sound too impressive, but it's actually a mini-breakthrough.
01:08After all, we hadn't received any lunar samples since 1976.
01:13And these samples are very important for learning the history of our world.
01:18We've been struggling for many years to find out, for example, how the Moon was born at all.
01:24Yes, there were a lot of theories, but we still couldn't find any proper evidence for any of them.
01:30But thanks to the latest missions and some computer simulations, scientists finally found out the truth.
01:37The Moon was born when some random dwarf planet crashed into our Earth many millions of years ago.
01:43This dwarf planet was slightly smaller than Mars.
01:46The fragments of the Earth went into space, but some of them stayed in our orbit.
01:51Then they stuck together and formed the Moon.
01:55It sounds horrifying, but in reality, the birth of the Moon was the best thing to ever happen to our
02:01planet.
02:01If it weren't for this beautiful satellite, all our oceans would be small puddles.
02:06Life wouldn't have appeared on Earth at all.
02:09So this is already an amazing discovery, but that's still not all.
02:14Studying the collected rocks, scientists from the Beijing Research Institute discovered something unusual.
02:20A rare lunar crystal.
02:23Looks pretty boring, doesn't it?
02:25Just some tiny transparent monocrystal about the thickness of a human hair.
02:29We've already found such things on the Moon before.
02:32These crystals were formed as a result of volcanic activity, just like some garnets on the Earth.
02:38And yep, the place where they discovered these crystals also suffered from volcanoes, 1.2 billion years ago.
02:45That means that this tiny baby is over a billion years old.
02:51But that's not the most important thing.
02:53It's the fact that this crystal is made of a unique material, the one that we've never seen before.
02:59Researchers from the International Mineralogical Association have confirmed that such a composition can't be found anywhere on Earth.
03:07The crystal was named Chongacite, again after the same Moon deity.
03:14And this is another achievement.
03:16This is the sixth previously unknown mineral that we've found on the Moon, and the first one found by China.
03:22Now, it has become the third country in the world to make such a lunar discovery.
03:27However, this tiny crystal still wasn't the only remarkable thing they found.
03:32After studying this gem and about 140,000 other lunar particles, scientists have discovered something else.
03:40They found helium-3.
03:43Why is it so important?
03:45Because this is one of the elements that feed the Sun and other stars in our universe.
03:53We tend to say stuff like, put out the Sun, the Sun is burning, and so on.
03:58And this is one of the reasons why many people actually think that the Sun is a huge fireball.
04:04But it's not.
04:05It's burning is actually a completely different process, which is called nuclear fusion.
04:12The process itself is quite simple.
04:14During this reaction, hydrogen in the star turns into helium.
04:19But this simple process is actually one of the most violent and insane reactions in the universe.
04:25There is a real boiling broth of particles inside the Sun.
04:29The hydrogen nuclei that jump and rush there are constantly repelling each other since all of them are positively charged.
04:37And so they could continue to boil and chill around without bothering anyone if it weren't for the stars.
04:43The stars turned out to be cheaters.
04:46They have such strong gravity that they basically grab billions of these little atoms and squeeze them together.
04:53Combining with each other, these atoms create new heavy elements, like the mentioned helium.
04:58And when this happens, they throw a lot of energy into space.
05:03And that's how the Sun burns.
05:06At the same time, it spreads so much energy that we can't even imagine.
05:11Okay, so what is helium-3?
05:13Well, this is an element to which even the Sun can say,
05:17Whoa dude, you should calm down.
05:19The fusion of helium-3 atoms releases even more energy than in typical nuclear fusion.
05:25And most importantly, it doesn't pollute the atmosphere with harmful things like radiation.
05:32We have very, very little helium-3 on Earth.
05:36Its prevalence in our atmosphere is about one in a million.
05:39And besides, it's constantly trying to escape from us back into space.
05:44Probably feels some bad vibes from us.
05:48However, scientists have recently found out that there's a place that contains a lot of this element.
05:54Yep, you guessed it.
05:56It's the Moon.
05:57We think that there's more helium-3 on the Moon than on Earth because of the solar winds.
06:03The Sun has been hammering on the Moon with its helium-3 for billions of years.
06:08So now, it's all over the place.
06:10It's still not too much if you compare it, for example, with Jupiter or Saturn.
06:15But don't forget how much energy it can release.
06:19For your information, with only 25 tons of helium-3, it's possible to provide America with energy for an entire
06:27year.
06:27Now, there are 35,000 tons of it here on Earth.
06:31And more than a million tons on the Moon.
06:34Only these sources could feed the entire US for thousands of years.
06:39So basically, in the future, helium-3 may become a new source of fuel.
06:45And it's better than nuclear fuel in basically everything.
06:49Helium-3 won't leave any harmful waste and radiation.
06:52It's more powerful and not that dangerous.
06:55In other words, this environmentally friendly and efficient energy could be a revolution for our planet.
07:01Sounds cool, huh?
07:04So, what are we waiting for?
07:06Grab the shovels, you might say.
07:08But there's a little problem here.
07:10Unfortunately, we haven't yet come up with anything as wildly strong and hot as the stars.
07:16To use helium-3, we need crazy temperatures and pressure.
07:21We need a thermonuclear reactor, and we have no idea how to build it.
07:25Yet.
07:26And even if we could heat it up to such temperatures and get the needed pressure,
07:31we still don't really know how to handle helium-3 correctly.
07:35Therefore, even if we have an infinite amount of helium-3, we still won't be able to use it.
07:41But still, there's a great power behind helium-3.
07:44So it's not surprising that different countries have already started a race for nuclear resources.
07:50Now that Chang'a 5 has discovered a new helium-3 deposit on the nearest side of the Moon, this
07:57race can become downright global.
07:59For example, China already plans a new lunar mission in 2024, Chang'a 6.
08:06During this mission, they want to collect the first samples from the far side of the Moon.
08:12As you can see, finding this lunar crystal was very important for us.
08:16These crystals can help us find new ways to create helium-3.
08:20And if we manage to do that, humankind will enter a new era.
08:24But to do this, we still have to solve a number of problems.
08:28How to deliver a bunch of these lunar crystals to Earth.
08:32How to make them produce energy.
08:34And so on.
08:36Let's hope that in the future these issues will be resolved and we'll find a way to produce clean, safe,
08:42unlimited energy.
08:46Earth. The year is 500 million CE.
08:50Two million years ago, the Sun splashed a huge bundle of energy into space.
08:55It destroyed Earth's magnetic field and burned the entire surface of our planet.
09:00Now, our world resembles a lifeless desert.
09:03All the oceans have dried up.
09:05Rivers of magma flow all over the surface.
09:08And the sky is filled with black clouds of ash.
09:12Humans have already colonized other planets, so everything is okay.
09:16In the middle of this apocalypse, a small crystal covered with volcanic dust lies under a thick layer of solidified
09:24magma.
09:25But it's not just a crystal.
09:27It's a five-dimensional memory crystal.
09:30In simple words, this is a very cool flashcard.
09:33But what is it doing here?
09:34And what data is hidden on it?
09:37It stores everything you need to know about humans as a biological species.
09:42The year is 2024 CE.
09:44Scientists have recorded information to a unique memory card.
09:48They've engraved the sequence of the entire human genetic code in the very structure of this 5D crystal.
09:55The invention consists of nanoscale voids in a vitreous silicon dioxide material.
10:00I can continue with other complex scientific words, but let's better focus on the properties of this crystal.
10:08The small flashcard can hold hundreds of terabytes of information, thanks to nanotechnologies, even though all the information about the
10:16human genome is only 800 megabytes of data.
10:19But the coolest thing is the crystal's invulnerability.
10:24You can throw it in an oven with a temperature of 1800 degrees Fahrenheit, which is about the same temperature
10:30of lava.
10:31You can put it in the freezer or leave it in the ice of Antarctica.
10:35You can throw it off a cliff or trample it underfoot.
10:38The information will remain readable.
10:40Of course, reading it requires special equipment, such as an optical microscope or a polarizer.
10:47In any case, if a representative of another civilization finds the crystal, they will probably figure out how to use
10:54it.
10:56Another cool thing is that the crystal material can be stored for many billions of years, which makes it one
11:01of the most reliable information storage systems in the world.
11:05Now, the crystal is stored in Austria, in the memory of mankind archive, along with other important holders of information
11:13about humanity.
11:15We need to preserve all this for future generations, or extraterrestrial civilizations, or in case an apocalypse happens and people
11:23forget who they are and where they come from.
11:25Also, the 5D crystal will help resurrect humanity in case of its destruction.
11:31If some advanced intelligence from another galaxy finds the crystal and reads the information, it will be able to recreate
11:38humankind.
11:39Hopefully, they'll have the technologies capable of creating life.
11:44Take a look at this number.
11:46That's 10 septillions.
11:48This number is many times the age of our universe, and it would take 10 septillion years for the most
11:54powerful computer to solve a problem called random circuit sampling.
11:58This task has no practical purpose and doesn't solve any difficult issues.
12:03Scientists created random circuit sampling to measure the computing power of computer chips.
12:08And here's what it's all about.
12:10Google has created a quantum computing chip called Willow that could solve random circuit sampling in a few minutes.
12:18A stunning result that can significantly accelerate the development of all technologies on Earth in the coming years.
12:26A chip the size of a small mint candy was invented in California.
12:31Already, scientists are confident that Willow is capable of making a huge leap in the field of medicine development.
12:37What will happen next?
12:39The creation of thermonuclear reactors.
12:42The enhancement of AI.
12:44The invention of endless energy sources.
12:47And much more.
12:48For example, quantum computing and AI will be able to read MRI images at the atomic level.
12:55Quantum computers will evolve much faster than traditional ones.
12:59There's a lot of technical data that shows why quantum computers are so superior.
13:04But let's check out one crazy idea that explains quantum computers' advantages.
13:10It says that quantum chips exist in many parallel universes at once.
13:15And this corresponds to the idea that we live in a multiverse.
13:19In simple words, a quantum computer can simultaneously perform more tasks in different states.
13:26It's hard to understand, but here's an example.
13:28Take a rat and put it in a large maze.
13:32It will study every corridor and every corner and spend a lot of time before exploring the maze completely.
13:38But a quantum rat will be able to explore every corner of the maze at the same time as if
13:43it has many clones or one common mind.
13:46A quantum computer does the same thing.
13:49See this robot walking awkwardly around the room?
13:53And here is another robot on wheels that randomly drives from side to side.
13:58Who do you think controls these robots?
14:00A scientist? AI? A program?
14:04The answer is much stranger.
14:06These robots are controlled by mushrooms.
14:10Mushrooms are interconnected through mycelial networks that resemble human brain cells.
14:15They transmit impulses to one another and communicate in ways unknown to us.
14:21But what if they could transfer these impulses to something mechanical?
14:26Scientists from the USA decided to conduct such an experiment.
14:29They took the king oyster mushroom and grew its mycelium into the electronics of a robot.
14:35Of course, its motion was chaotic, but scientists still believe the experiment was a success.
14:41They managed to transfer the electrophysiological activity of the mushrooms to the outside world.
14:47That is, they created a biomechanical device.
14:51Mold and fungi are very tenacious.
14:54They can survive in harsh conditions and adapt to environmental changes,
14:57which is why they are so convenient to use in cybernetics.
15:02Scientists have taken a small step toward big discoveries.
15:05If today, mushrooms can transmit a signal and make a robot move, then, in the future, scientists hope to develop
15:13better ways of communicating with a live system.
15:16With this technology, we will know the reactions of mushrooms to various environmental changes.
15:22For example, mushrooms will be able to react with nerve impulses in places where toxic waste is released.
15:29We will record these signals and neutralize the effects of pollution.
15:34What if mushrooms can also respond to changes inside our bodies?
15:38Imagine swallowing a capsule with mushroom spores that are connected to nanorobots.
15:44Mushrooms enter your organism, scan your body, and transmit information to a computer.
15:49Then, the doctor prescribes treatment for you.
15:53But the coolest thing is that, in the future, the technology could go even further.
15:58What if we could translate mushroom signals into words and communicate with them?
16:03It might sound too psychedelic, but why not?
16:07We all know that plastic is not the best thing for our planet.
16:12The good news is that scientists have created living plastic, which can decompose itself within several months.
16:18In 2016, a special type of bacteria was discovered at a plastic recycling plant in Japan.
16:25The bacteria are capable of degrading a particular type of plastic.
16:30Over the years, scientists have discovered other similar bacteria and upgraded them,
16:34making bacteria eat plastic more greedily with the help of produced enzymes.
16:39It would be awesome if soon people would use self-destructing plastic much more often.
16:46You've probably seen how doctors examine the brain in the movies or in hospitals.
16:51They apply a sticky gel and put a helmet with a dozen electrodes connected to the head of a patient.
16:57These electrodes are, in turn, connected to a computer that displays information about the activity of the human brain.
17:04All this is a rather inconvenient and time-consuming process.
17:09But recently, scientists have found a much easier way.
17:13Temporary electronic tattoos.
17:15A liquid ink applied to the head is as effective and accurate as conventional electrodes.
17:21And unlike them, ink is much easier to customize.
17:25Electronic tattoos are set up faster, and they're more comfortable for the client.
17:29The technology is a real breakthrough in the field of diagnosis and brain monitoring.
17:35The special ink is made from conductive polymers.
17:38Doctors spray it from a custom inkjet printer directly onto the patient's head.
17:43The next step for scientists is to make the ink more convenient so that it can be applied to different
17:49types of hair and hairstyles.
17:52Well, what do you know?
17:54A new study found that icy moons like Europa and Enceladus might have hidden liquid oceans where life could exist.
18:01Scientists are analyzing ice grains from these moons to see if there are any signs of life in the oceans
18:06below the surface.
18:07Now, it's crazy to think that just one tiny crystal could hold the key to discovering life beyond Earth.
18:13With current technology, researchers could even detect microscopic life forms in these harsh conditions.
18:19Using a simple bacterium that thrives in the cold, scientists could imagine what kind of life could be living in
18:25Europa's ocean.
18:26NASA's Europa Clipper mission is ready to explore biomaterials like lipids that could point to the existence of extraterrestrial life.
18:34This study gives us hope that we might find life beyond Earth right here in our own solar system.
18:39Well, hello there!
18:44Recently, scientists have created the first time crystal.
18:48It sounds like something straight out of science fiction, doesn't it?
18:51As if it's some kind of mysterious component for a time machine.
18:55But this isn't quite true.
18:57In reality, time crystals are more like a perpetual motion machine.
19:02But what exactly are they, and how do they work?
19:06Let's find out.
19:08First, let's talk about crystals in general.
19:11Take a regular crystal and examine it under a microscope.
19:15You'll see that it, like everything around us, consists of molecules and atoms.
19:21What makes them special is that their atoms are arranged in a repeating pattern.
19:27For example, let's take a salt crystal.
19:30If we look at it under a microscope, we'll see a repeating pattern inside it.
19:35And this pattern is the same everywhere, no matter how small or large the piece of salt is, or what
19:42shape it is.
19:42In the whole crystal, the pattern will be unchanged.
19:46And it will always remain like this, no matter how much time has passed.
19:50The salt crystal will still have the same repeating pattern of atoms tomorrow, next week, or even next year.
19:58Now let's move on to time crystals.
20:01They're just like regular ones, but with a twist.
20:05You probably know that all atoms around us are constantly moving, even at very, very low temperatures, when everything freezes
20:13and nothing can stop them.
20:15Also, their movement is random, chaotic, and unpredictable, just kind of jiggling in space.
20:22However, in time crystals, everything is different.
20:26Not only are their atoms arranged in a repeating pattern, just like in regular crystals, but they also move in
20:33a looped, endlessly repeating dance.
20:36Now that's weird.
20:38The atoms in time crystals are like an endless, looped dance party, while the guests repeat the same moves in
20:45the same order over and over again.
20:48This dance, or repeating pattern, can be completely different.
20:53The movements can be basic and simple, or very complex and chaotic, but they have to be looped.
21:00Hence the name.
21:01Regular crystals repeat themselves endlessly in space, and time crystals repeat themselves in both space and time.
21:10Now, just to clarify, these crystals aren't the kind we're used to.
21:15They don't look like diamonds, or emeralds, or anything like that.
21:19To be honest, they don't look like much at all.
21:22The beautiful name, time crystal, describes a new, very strange kind of matter that changes in quantum states over a
21:30period of time.
21:31Basically, it's just the dance movements of atoms.
21:37So, unfortunately, you can't just put one on your shelf to jiggle there.
21:41It's not a beautiful piece of quartz.
21:43It's more like a curiosity in physics.
21:47But that doesn't mean that these crystals aren't cool.
21:50Actually, there's something very unusual and interesting about them.
21:56You see, the movements we talked about persist even at absolute zero temperature.
22:02That is, even when in normal materials and objects, atoms would freeze, lose energy, and stop moving.
22:09In time crystals, they continue their endless dance, as if nothing happened.
22:15Oh, and that's just the beginning.
22:17Scientists are also stunned because the existence of time crystals violates the second law of thermodynamics.
22:24This law states that over time, any system becomes random and disordered.
22:29A warm object will distribute its heat and become cold.
22:33A vase balancing on the edge of a table will fall one day, and so on.
22:40But time crystals are like, eh, we don't care about your thermo-something-something.
22:44Not only do they move constantly, in the same pattern, no matter what happens to them,
22:50but they also don't need any energy to do so.
22:53Even if they don't receive energy from anywhere, they don't stop dancing,
22:57and don't become less structured or organized.
23:01Yep, we've created a beautiful, incomprehensible miracle of nature that violates the laws of physics.
23:08Isn't that impressive?
23:11But how is this even possible, and why?
23:14Does it mean that there's nothing that can stop these atoms?
23:18And most importantly, could it be a clue for the secrets of the perpetual motion machine?
23:24Well, it's quite complicated.
23:26Once again, quantum mechanics is blowing up scientists' brains.
23:31This time, with another mystery.
23:34A unique and unusual behavior that we're still trying to understand.
23:38Since it's a relatively new area of research, we aren't yet sure exact work and how we can use them.
23:46By the way, how did we even discover these guys?
23:49And how were they created?
23:52Time crystals were first predicted to exist in 2012 by theoretical physicist Frank Wilczek.
23:59Not all physicists accepted the theory at the time.
24:02Many believed it was impossible to violate the second law of thermodynamics.
24:06But the universe doesn't really care what scientists think, and Frank Wilczek won a Nobel Prize for his work.
24:14However, it took a few more years for scientists to actually create and observe the first time crystals.
24:21It happened in 2016, when scientists from the University of Maryland managed to create one using ions of the rare
24:29earth metal yterbium.
24:30Here's what they did.
24:31First, they took a regular crystal and really, really cooled down the atoms inside it to near absolute zero.
24:39As already mentioned, absolute zero is the temperature at which atoms stop moving.
24:44So far, we don't know how to reach this temperature, but we can get very, very close to it.
24:50We can slow down the atoms so much that they almost stop.
24:53So they took all these atoms and made them move really slow.
24:58And then they started shocking them with lasers.
25:02It made the atoms switch between different states over and over again without absorbing any energy from the laser.
25:09You could say that the laser gave them a beat and made them dance by themselves without anyone's help.
25:16The result was the first ever time crystal.
25:19The Maryland scientists experiment was a major breakthrough and showed that time crystals were a real, observable phenomenon.
25:27It made quite a fuss in the scientific community and was a huge step forward in the strange world of
25:33quantum mechanics.
25:35Unfortunately, there was one problem.
25:38Such perpetual motion only truly exists forever in ideal time crystals.
25:43And since the time crystals in our experiments weren't ideal, they lasted only a few minutes before they melted and
25:50started behaving normally again.
25:52What does it mean?
25:53It means that so far, unfortunately, we can't create a perpetual motion machine.
25:59If we try to do something like that, time crystals will immediately melt.
26:05But this didn't stop the scientists.
26:08And in 2021, we finally made another breakthrough.
26:12Researchers at Google, in collaboration with physicists at Stanford, Princeton, and other universities, used Google's quantum computer, a much bigger
26:21and much more stable time crystal.
26:24You see, quantum computers are different from your typical laptop.
26:28They don't use regular bits and don't work with silicon.
26:32Instead, they work with quantum bits that can exist in multiple states at the same time.
26:39This allows the time crystals to keep oscillating in a repeating pattern, even when all other motion has stopped.
26:46All the previous crystals were short-lived, made a couple of flip-flops, and immediately melted.
26:52But now, scientists have created a crystal bigger and better than ever before.
26:57So, what does this mean for us?
27:00Well, time crystals could hold the key to unlocking new technologies and a deeper understanding of the quantum world.
27:08For starters, they'll help us better explore the world of quantum mechanics.
27:12They challenge our understanding of time and the way that matter behaves.
27:17In classical physics, things are either static or they're moving in a predictable, repeating pattern.
27:22But time crystals don't care.
27:25They enjoy both static and moving at the same time.
27:30They can also help us create cool new technologies.
27:34They can bring us closer to creating full-fledged quantum computers.
27:38Engineers have struggled for years to create something that could serve as memory in quantum computers.
27:43And now they could use time crystals for that.
27:47Their repeating patterns of motion might be able to store information.
27:51Isn't that awesome?
27:54We'll also be able to create many other cool things with them.
27:57For example, we could use their repetitive behavior to create a new kind of ultra-precise clock.
28:05Time crystals are still a relatively new area of research.
28:09Right now, we're mostly trying to understand their unique properties and characteristics.
28:14Scientists are also performing experiments to study their behavior under different conditions.
28:19For example, in different temperatures and magnetic fields.
28:24In other words, this field of research is still in its early stages.
28:28But time crystals are a truly mind-boggling discovery that shows just how strange and wonderful the universe can be.
28:35They're already attracting a great deal of interest and attention from scientists around the world.
28:41I can't wait to see how many exciting and groundbreaking discoveries will come from this area in the future.