In 2022, many famous programs were republished by netizens, such as " today's statement ". Netizens even listed must-see programs. "This program starts with a horror film and ends with a comedy!" Speaking of the must-see "Electronic Pickle", netizens have ridiculed a program that likes to start with horror stories passed down from rural areas orally. After continuous exploration, it finally uses scientific means to explain supernatural phenomena. It is " Approaches Science ".
Throughout the ages, people have been pursuing ridiculous and interesting anecdotes. When the truth is discovered, the fun is gone.
In fact, isn't this the reality? When people know nothing about it, they feel that these things are full of mystery and weirdness. Once they understand the mystery behind them, they feel that they are just ordinary things.
Fortunately, nature is mysterious, and its mysteries are endless. We have been exploring, but we can never exhaust the mysteries.
We can always discover new species and learn new laws of nature, but we will always have endless questions about why.
my country's land of 9.6 million square kilometers has various terrains such as deserts, grasslands, and wetlands. It has many large and small rivers, including the Yellow River and the Yangtze River . It also has plateaus, basins, and lakes.
The vast land and rich climatic conditions make our country very rich in species. However, deep in the mountains and in no-man's land, these areas that we have not yet set foot on, there are also species that we are not aware of.
Many magical natural phenomena also occur in the vast land, many of which we have cracked, such as thunder and lightning.
However, there are also phenomena that we have not cracked. This is where the mythical stories produced under our country's long history and culture come in handy.
We often like to use legends and ghosts to explain, especially in rural areas, where science and technology are underdeveloped, and we prefer to use these legends to explain natural phenomena;
Compared with boring science, people are more interested in folklore.
Looking for stones and finding strange rocks
Today’s story starts with an old farmer going up the mountain to pick up stones.
Life in rural areas often involves using local materials. You don’t spend money if you can. You grow your own vegetables, raise your own chickens and ducks, and collect firewood from the mountains.
Many people who grew up in reinforced concrete cities know about rural life from many videos about rural life.
For example, the video produced by Li Ziqi . In her videos, nothing is bought. From firewood, rice, oil, salt, to vegetables and fruits, there seems to be nothing that rural areas cannot make themselves.
Even the tableware and chairs can be made by cutting bamboo yourself.
Young people may have lost these rural life skills, but the older generation still insists that the necessities in life come from nature.
This is the case for this old farmer who lives by the sea in Liaoning. In 2004, when he was repairing his house and pig pen, he found that there was a lack of raw materials, so he went to pick up stones with a basket on his back.
In a deserted place near the sea, the old farmer saw a white thing in front of him, and suddenly felt a chill behind him - it looked like a white-haired human head!
But he was old and had never seen anything before. He encouraged himself and boldly took a closer look.
turned out to be a stone with white hair! Even the old farmer who grew up in the mountains and fields and has seen all kinds of weird things feels weird.
Our first impression of stones is that they are hard, cold, and lifeless. All things are born in the soil, but nothing has ever grown out of stones (the stone monkeys in myths and legends are not included).
Stone is a collection of various minerals in nature. It is extremely dense and almost impossible to breed life.
What happened to the stone with white hair that the uncle picked up?
Is this hair, growing out of a stone, or is it just a prank and artificially pasted on?
The stone that the uncle picked up had a head of flowing white hair. At first, the uncle thought that these white hairs were attached to the surface of the stone, similar to moss or something moldy.
But after the uncle carefully picked up the stone and observed it, his suspicion was shattered. The uncle was surprised to find that these white hairs grew on this stone!
Because the uncle couldn’t pull it off after rubbing it with something. When the uncle pulled it, he needed to use force, and there was a strong resistance. He couldn’t pull it off without exerting force, and there was no trace of sticking.
Therefore, the uncle is more convinced that these white hairs grow on the rocks and are not attachments as he thought. The discovery of
made the well-informed old man very confused and curious about what it was.
In line with the principle of breaking the casserole and asking the truth, the old man had nothing to fear, so he took the stone home.
"It's such a rare thing. Take it back and think about it carefully. You can also ask other people. Just because I haven't seen it doesn't mean that others haven't seen it before. Maybe someone knows what it is."
On the way home, the uncle was worried about the bumpy mountain road, so he took the stone in his hand. The feel of the stone with white "hair" was obviously different from other stones.
It is not as dry and hard as other stones. Instead, it feels a little wet. After thinking about it, the uncle felt that the moss-like feeling came back.
Moss grows in moist places. Could these white hairs be rare moss?
just felt that it was similar to moss with his hands, so he put it in a bucket at home to see if there would be other changes in these things.
The next day, the uncle went to see the stone thrown into the bucket. It was still the same as when he put it in, with no other obvious changes.
In his busy life, the uncle gradually put this stone in the back of his mind, and as he forgot, this stone has always been left in the bucket.
After the busy time passed, the uncle accidentally saw his head of white hair, and suddenly remembered the stone with white "hair" that he picked up at the beach more than half a month ago.
So he recalled carefully, and finally remembered that he threw the stone in the bucket, and hurriedly went to see what happened to this strange stone.
This trip made the uncle see a scene that will be unforgettable in this life.
The white hair that originally grew on the stone grew longer, and even popped out of a bucket. From a distance, it looked like a head of white hair soaked in a bucket. This sight horrified the uncle, and his heart skipped several beats in such horror.
After realizing that this white "hair" could grow and might be a living creature, the uncle was even more surprised and determined to find out what it was.
Uncle’s social circle is within the village, and everyone’s knowledge level and knowledge are similar.
asked around, and the others were even more confused. They thought this long-haired stone was very strange, but no one could answer the uncle's doubts.
The old man, who walked around and found nothing, returned home with the stone.
The uncle thought of his son. His son was well-informed and had read books, so he must know what this was. The uncle quickly called his son to explain this strange white stone.
"Son, please go home and help me take a look. What on earth is this?"
After hearing this, the son was also very curious about what kind of stone could scare his father, so he hurried home to check.
was also surprised when he saw the stone, but he had never heard of such a creature, and the curiosity of the two became more and more intense.
After discussion, the father and son agreed that this white stone that they had never seen before was probably a treasure, so they thought of asking an expert to identify it. The expert must know what it is.
Ask experts to answer questions
Biological experts came as scheduled. I had no expectations at first. I just thought it was rural people making a fuss. It was probably an ordinary thing, or even an oolong. How could there be hair growing out of stones?
When the expert first saw the stone, he was very surprised. Regardless of the uncle and his son's inquiries, he immediately called the local police station and asked to seal off the entire village.
The uncle and his son were startled when they saw this posture, and hurriedly asked: "Isn't this strange thing something dangerous?" Why did
blockade their village? They urgently need to get the answer. Only then did the experts explain the reason to the father and son.
It turns out that the white hairs on the stones are higher invertebrates that live specifically attached to stones and shells, not plants.
This thin tube-shaped animal feeds on tiny organisms in the ocean. This creature is called Cephalomes . It fixes itself to the stone through the disc-shaped adsorption body on its head, hence its name.
"It is an extremely rare ancient creature that is of great research value for studying the evolution of the entire animal kingdom. It has never been found alive in China before, but this time it was finally found!"
Therefore, experts asked the police to seal off the village to find out if there were any traces of this creature in the village.
After hearing the expert's explanation, the father and son finally breathed a sigh of relief. It turned out that it was just a creature they had never seen before, and it was not something dangerous.
Cephalosporium is an extremely rare organism, and its structure is also very strange. It looks like a thin tube and a white hair;
grows through the accumulation of protein , fat, carbohydrate and other substances secreted by itself.
Discoid worm is not like other marine creatures that will die after leaving the ocean. Instead, it has extremely strong vitality. Even if it is dried in the sun, it can still cell division . This can also explain why the uncle can still grow after placing stones in the water.
Discoideum cerevisiae existed only in fossils and data records in my country before.
However, the cephalosporium on the stone that the uncle picked up can still grow and have vitality. Experts speculate that there must be other cephalosporium groups around and in the village. The more
finds, the more valuable it will be for our research, so that’s why we blocked the village.
People often say, "A thousand-mile horse often exists, but a Bole does not always exist." The key to realizing the ultimate value of many items lies in meeting someone who understands them.
For the uncle, this long-haired stone is just a piece of waste material that is a bit strange and has not been used to build a pig pen;
But for scientists, it is indeed a precious animal specimen and has extremely high research value. Through scientific research on it, it can help us understand the unexplored mysteries of nature.
Therefore, the expert said to the uncle: "I hope the uncle can hand over this stone to the country and to scientific research institutions for research!"
The uncle was not willing at first. He always felt that precious things meant they were valuable. How could he just give it to others and get nothing? He even wanted to cash it out.
But except for experts who are eager to conduct scientific research, who would be interested in such a stone?
After his son’s persuasion and the expert’s patient explanation, the uncle finally decided to hand over this stone to someone who understands it better to create more value. He can also be regarded as having contributed to the development of our country’s scientific cause.
We all don’t believe that stones are alive, but the worms attached to them, like stones with white hair, will shake our understanding, but in the end we can all explain it clearly.
The cracking of strange things
There are always many things in nature that can break our conventional understanding, and there is also such a strange thing in the remote Qaidam Basin .
The Qinghai Geological Survey Team discovered many oxidized "iron pipes" next to a lake in the Qaidam Basin. The main component is iron oxide .
Everyone agreed: "How could there be a metallurgical industry in such a remote no-man's land?"
"How could metallurgical technology that is only available in civilized society have been available hundreds of thousands or even tens of millions of years ago?"
Some people say that humans in ancient times did not have such wisdom. This must have been left by aliens.
It is widely circulated that aliens left "iron pipes". It seems that there is no other explanation for why there was a high degree of civilization in ancient times?
In order to find out the origin of the iron pipe, we found many experts in related fields.
Wang Xiaolin, a researcher at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, does not agree with such nonsense as extraterrestrial intelligence. He believes that these "iron pipes"-like things may be fossils of ancient biological remains. The
survey team did not agree with this guess at first.
Faced with doubts, he explained that in certain strata rich in certain elements, fossils rich in this element are often formed.
The so-called "iron pipes" made by aliens are probably just tubular sedimentary fossils.
Tens of thousands of years ago, there were some mollusks living in the lakes here. These molluscs like to drill holes in the soil and sand. The mucus they secrete will make the soil and sand stick together to form a structure similar to steel concrete.
When they die, these former houses will form empty pipes, also known as iron pipes.
The sediments of this period are rich in iron from volcanic eruptions. Over the long years, a large amount of iron elements continued to adhere to the walls of these "houses", eventually forming the iron pipes we see today.
Many mysterious things have been explained by scientists, and have lost their most vivid supernatural color.
People keep chasing novels, but when they discover the secrets, they find them boring and turn away.
Nowadays, there are fewer and fewer secrets that we cannot explain, and we are discovering more and more mysteries of nature. Nature has created wonderful things, of which we can only glimpse one or two in our limited life.
Loving nature, cherishing nature, and respecting nature are the principles we should keep in mind.
-end-
editor | Ayan
