Buzz
The once-confounding world around us has become slightly less puzzling in recent times. 2018 has proven to be a breakthrough year for resolving mysteries that have haunted humanity for decades, centuries, and even millennia. With each passing day, more of the unknown is uncovered.
However, there is still so much left to explore. For now, we have uncovered a few answers to mysteries related to ancient civilizations, disappearances, cryptic codes, our planet, and the vast universe surrounding us.
10. Who Was Joseph Chandler?
In 2002, a 76-year-old man named Joseph Chandler, living in Eastlake, Ohio, tragically took his own life. Authorities initially believed it was a straightforward suicide, but when they tried to contact his family, they made a shocking discovery: the man was not the real Joseph Newton Chandler III. The real Chandler had died in 1945, when he was just eight years old.
This mystery remained unsolved for 16 years until June 2018, when investigators announced that the man was actually Robert Ivan Nichols. Through DNA testing and genealogical research, they were able to trace his son and confirm his true identity.
Robert Nichols, a decorated Navy veteran of World War II, had a seemingly normal life with his wife and three children. He worked as a draftsman for General Electric. However, in 1964, Nichols suddenly disappeared, leaving only a cryptic message: his family would understand why in time. In 1978, he reappeared under the name Joseph Chandler, obtaining a new birth certificate, social security card, and job. What he did during the 14 missing years is still unknown.
Those who knew him as Joseph Chandler described him as an eccentric, brilliant recluse. He kept a suitcase packed, ready to leave at any moment, and would often vanish for days or even weeks. Authorities are still piecing together his past, and many suspect that Nichols had a dark reason for running. One popular theory even suggests that he might have been the infamous Zodiac Killer.
9. What did the Spanish king say to his general?
King Ferdinand II of Aragon, a pivotal figure in Spanish history, played a crucial role in the Reconquista. His marriage to Queen Isabella I was a cornerstone for the Spanish monarchy. Together, they also backed Christopher Columbus' first journey. Recently, Spain’s intelligence service cracked a 500-year-old secret code that Ferdinand used to communicate with his general.
This cipher was used in letters exchanged between King Ferdinand and General Gonzalo de Cordoba during Spain’s conflict with France over the Kingdom of Naples. With documents taking up to 15 days to travel between them, the code was a security measure in case they were intercepted by enemies.
The code was made up of 237 combined letters and 88 unique symbols. Each true letter was formed from two to six of these characters, written without spaces between words or phrases. For centuries, it stumped historians. When the letters were displayed at the Army Museum in Toledo, professionals were enlisted for assistance. Expert codebreakers from the National Intelligence Center (CNI) cracked the system after six months, deciphering four letters. Historians are optimistic that the remaining documents will eventually be decoded.
8. Why is Tracy melting so quickly?
In Greenland, two neighboring glaciers, Tracy and Heilprin, both flow into the Inglefield Gulf. Despite their close proximity, one is losing ice nearly four times faster than the other.
For over 120 years, humans have sporadically studied these glaciers. Though they appear to be experiencing the same environmental conditions, Tracy has receded over 15 kilometers (9.5 mi) upstream, while Heilprin has only retreated by 4 kilometers (2.5 mi). What could be the cause of this disparity?
Thanks to NASA's Oceans Melting Greenland (OMG) project, launched in 2015 to track Greenland's glacier ice loss, we now know the answer. NASA's oceanic data revealed that warm water flows beneath Tracy, while colder water is found in front of Heilprin.
Another significant difference between the glaciers is that Tracy extends much deeper beneath the ocean surface—approximately 600 meters (2,000 ft), while Heilprin reaches only 350 meters (1,100 ft). Interestingly, the top ocean layer around Greenland is colder than the deeper waters, which are brought up through currents from the south. As a result, a deeper glacier like Tracy is exposed to more warm water, accelerating its melting compared to its shallower counterpart.
7. What happened to Louise Pietrewicz?
It's been 51 years since Louise Pietrewicz disappeared without a trace from a small farming community on Long Island. Finally, her remains have been found, and we may now be able to uncover the mystery of her final days.
The story was that Louise, 38 years old at the time, ran away with her then-boyfriend, police officer William Boken. She was trapped in an abusive marriage, so she withdrew all her savings, and he quit his job. Together, they vanished without a trace. The story was convincing enough that no one was ever arrested, and the case gradually faded from public memory.
A renewed interest in the case surfaced late last year, following an in-depth investigation published by the Suffolk Times. The increased attention prompted a woman to step forward with new information, ultimately helping to solve the mystery. She was William Boken’s ex-wife and claimed that he had buried a body beneath the basement of their former home in Southold, New York.
She was correct. Using ground-penetrating radar, police discovered skeletal remains inside a burlap sack. A medical examiner collected a DNA sample, which was later confirmed to match Louise’s daughter. Further analysis revealed that Louise had been shot, likely by Boken, who passed away in 1982. However, no explanation has been provided about how his ex-wife knew of the body or why she waited until now to come forward.
6. Where did the Embrithopods come from?
The recent discovery of the oldest fossils of an extinct group of animals called Embrithopoda has shed light on the origins of this mysterious species.
The extinction of the dinosaurs created an ecological void, quickly filled by large mammals that became the dominant terrestrial creatures. Among them was the Embrithopoda, an order of animals related to elephants. The most famous member of this group was Arsinoitherium, a colossal, rhino-like creature with two massive horns above its nose.
A significant discovery was made at a Moroccan quarry, where paleontologists unearthed 55-million-year-old fossils from a new genus of embrithopod named Stylolophus. This discovery appears to settle the long-standing debate about whether the order originated in Africa or the Middle East. Previously, the oldest-known fossils were 48 million years old, found in both Northern Africa and Turkey.
Following this new finding, some paleontologists have proposed reclassifying embrithopods within the broader Afrotheria group. This clade consists of mammals from Africa, including modern species like elephants, tenrecs, sea cows, aardvarks, and hyraxes.
5. Who was Lyle Stevik?
In 2001, a young man in his twenties checked into a motel in Amanda Park, Washington, using the name Lyle Stevik. A few days later, he was found dead from hanging. Despite efforts by authorities to identify him, Lyle Stevik remained an unsolved mystery.
His story struck a chord with the online community, making his case widely discussed among amateur internet detectives. Various theories were suggested about his past or intentions. Stevik took his life shortly after 9/11, which led many to believe that there was a link between the two events. Some speculated that he could have been a hijacker who had second thoughts or possibly a planner overcome by guilt. Others thought he might have been a spy or a member of a cult. Without concrete evidence to solve the mystery, people allowed their imaginations to run wild.
In May 2018, Lyle Stevik's identity was revealed by the DNA Doe Project, a nonprofit organization focused on solving cases of unidentified individuals. They utilized a genealogy database, a method that has recently gained widespread attention.
Authorities have withheld Stevik’s real name to protect the privacy of his family. His story turned out to be far less mysterious and more tragic than the theories that had been speculated. He wasn’t a terrorist or a spy, but simply a troubled young man who had run away from home.
4. Why Is The Great Pyramid Lopsided?
The Egyptian pyramids are an awe-inspiring feat of ancient engineering, so impressive that many believe they could only have been built by extraterrestrial beings. However, it turns out that the Great Pyramid of Giza isn’t as flawless as expected. The west side of the pyramid is actually longer than the east side, making it slightly lopsided. This discrepancy is likely the result of a small construction error made over 4,500 years ago.
Surprisingly, despite the extensive research done on the Great Pyramid, this particular discovery wasn't made until 2016. Teams from the Ancient Egypt Research Associates (AERA) and the Glen Dash Research Foundation were conducting a survey to understand how the ancient builders originally laid out the pyramid's base. To do this, they needed to trace the outline of the base as it stood thousands of years ago.
This task proved difficult because the pyramid was originally covered in an outer layer of white limestone, which was removed long ago. The researchers searched for markings to identify where these stones had once been placed. They found 84 key points, which helped them determine the pyramid's original edges. By using a method called linear regression, they calculated the lengths of the sides. The measurements came out to approximately 230.295 to 230.373 meters (755.561–755.817 ft) on most sides, but the west side measured between 230.378 and 230.436 meters (755.833–756.024 ft). This small discrepancy, a simple mistake, was enough to make the pyramid slightly lopsided. While the Great Pyramid is still a remarkable structure, one might expect more precision from a hyper-advanced extraterrestrial civilization.
3. When Did Our Testicles Descend?
A recent study published in PLOS Biology seeks to uncover the origins of descended testicles. Did early mammals possess this unique characteristic, or did we acquire it over time?
Currently, animals in the Afrotheria group exhibit a trait called "testicondy," where their testicles remain inside their abdomen. The question arises: Is this simply an evolutionary oddity, or is it a relic of our ancient mammalian ancestors?
Since testes are soft tissue, they don’t fossilize well, leaving no physical evidence for analysis. However, a group of genomicists from the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden, Germany, approached the issue from a genetic standpoint.
In the past, scientists have identified two genes, INSL3 and RXFP2, which are responsible for the downward movement of testicles before birth. To explore this further, the team studied the genomes of 71 mammalian species. Interestingly, four Afrotherian species with testicondy still contained inactive versions of these genes.
The researchers were also able to estimate when these genes were lost by counting the mutations in their genetic sequences. These changes occurred between 23 and 83 million years ago. Since the Afrotherian lineage split around 100 million years ago, it suggests that the first Afrotherians had descended testes. The scientists concluded that early mammals possessed this trait and that Afrotherians independently evolved undescended testicles on four separate occasions.
2. What Causes The Lightning Of Jupiter?
The existence of lightning on Jupiter was a subject of speculation for centuries, but it wasn’t until 1979, when Voyager 1 passed by the massive planet, that we got concrete proof. Over the years, while many questions persisted, some of them were finally addressed with the help of Juno.
For nearly four decades, scientists were under the impression that Jupiter’s lightning was unlike Earth’s, as it seemed to fall within the kilohertz range of the radio spectrum. However, Juno's Microwave Radiometer (MWR) detected 377 lightning events that spanned the megahertz and gigahertz ranges, similar to Earth’s lightning. This discovery revealed that our previous technological limitations, rather than a unique phenomenon on Jupiter, were the cause of the mystery.
That being said, Jupiter’s lightning is not exactly the same as Earth’s. Shannon Brown, a scientist at JPL, explained that the lightning distribution on Jupiter is "inside-out relative to Earth." Unlike Earth, where most lightning occurs around the equator, Jupiter has a higher concentration of lightning activity at its poles.
This difference in lightning patterns is believed to be linked to how each planet is heated. Earth gets the majority of its heat from the Sun, causing the equator to be significantly warmer than the poles. This leads to the rise of warm, moist air, which generates lightning. Jupiter, on the other hand, receives 25 times less sunlight. The equator gets just enough heat to stabilize the atmosphere, preventing warm air from rising, whereas the poles still experience powerful lightning storms.
1. What Killed The Unluckiest Man In Pompeii?
Not long ago, archaeologists working in the ruins of ancient Pompeii made an extraordinary discovery: a newly uncovered skeleton. What made this find especially noteworthy was the man’s bizarre and tragic death, which bore a striking resemblance to something from a Looney Tunes cartoon. A colossal 270-kilogram (595 lb) stone block had crashed down upon his body, apparently decapitating him. This unfortunate figure quickly gained attention online, where he was dubbed ‘the unluckiest man in the world.’
However, it turns out that his fate may not have been any more tragic than that of the many others who perished when Mount Vesuvius erupted nearly 2,000 years ago. After further examination, archaeologists uncovered the missing parts of his body. His cause of death was revised from ‘crushed by a falling object’ to ‘asphyxiation from the pyroclastic flow.’
The man’s skeleton was found atop a Bourbon-era tunnel that had collapsed at some point. His skull, chest, and upper limbs were dislodged and found about a meter (3.3 ft) below the rest of his body. The skull was mostly intact, with most of the teeth still present, and despite some fractures, it wasn’t crushed by a massive stone. While the circumstances of his death have become clearer, researchers are still trying to piece together how his body came to rest in such an unusual position. They suspect that the stone block may have been part of a doorframe, though its exact fall remains a mystery.
