50 MINUTES AGO: James Webb Captures RIVERS FORMING on Mars in Real Time!

[00:00:00]Recently, scientists have made an astounding [music] discovery that can change the entire course of Mars exploration. Apparently, there are oceans of liquid water on the red planet. So, the future looks bright. We could use this water to support future [music] missions and then even relocate to Mars since we wouldn't need to worry about where to get this precious liquid, right? Well, there's one big problem.

[00:00:25]These oceans of liquid water are in Mars, so deep inside that we aren't likely to get there. [music] At least that's what a new analysis of seismic data collected by the Mars Inside lander claims. Huge reserves of liquid water seem to be the best explanation for some seismic quirks of the red planet. So all [music] this precious water is out of our reach, but we need to find it to solve the puzzle of the aquatic history of our blushing, dusty neighbor. [music] And the first thing we need to do is identify where the water is [music] and how much of it the planet is hiding.

[00:01:01]>> Navigation has confirmed that the parachute has deployed and we are seeing significant deceleration.

[00:01:07]>> Now our rovers are scurrying about on the surface of the red planet, gathering all the available data on the planet's surface geology. And it's getting increasingly obvious that Mars was once [music] covered with water. Many factors from Martian terrains to ancient dry lake beds and deltas suggest that there was a time when the planet was quite sppy. These days, there's still some water on and right below the surface of Mars, but it's in the form of ice and nowhere near what Mars had in the ancient past. To understand how much of it could have been on the red planet billions of years ago, we must know where all this water went. There are two spots where the water could [music] have gone into space or toward the interior of Mars. Then it could have been isolated as either liquid reservoirs [music] or ice deposits. Currently, we don't have any way of measuring how much water once leaked away. But [music] now we finally can find out more about the gooey center of the red planet. All thanks to the Mars Inside lander. It isn't operating anymore, [music] but from November 2018 to December 2022, it was listening to the hums and rumbles and monitoring the activity below its feet.

[00:02:26]The thing is, acoustic waves generated by seismic activity deep inside the planet can change according to the composition and density of the material these waves are moving through. And scientists can get a lot of information analyzing the behavior of seismic waves.

[00:02:44]In this case, they used a model similar to those used to map underground oil fields and aquifers on our home planet.

[00:02:51]Then with the help of this model, they analyzed the data gathered by insight on Mars. They discovered that the best explanation could be that there was a layer of fractured rocks whose cracks were filled with water deep under the surface of the red planet. That layer could be at a depth of 7 to 12 m. That's why it would be extremely tricky for future missions to get to it. And still, the new discovery could help us understand the Martian water cycle.

[00:03:20]Confirming the existence of a large reservoir of liquid water can help us sneak a peak at what the climate on Mars used to be or what it could be like one day.

[00:03:31]And if once Mars had a lot of water, it could have been habitable in the ancient past and might become habitable in the future. Water is crucial for life as we know it. [music] So, underground water reservoirs on the red planet could already be habitable. Maybe while we're talking, tiny microorganisms or even some tentacled creatures are living their lives in the comfort of their underground home. On Earth, super deep mines do host life. And the bottom of the ocean with its immense unbelievable pressures isn't lifeless either. So far, we haven't found any evidence of life on Mars. But for now, it sounds like this place has [music] the potential to sustain life.

[00:04:16]Inside data has shown that there isn't likely to be a lot of water ice in the upper crust of the planet, at least in the region around the lander. But if it turns out that there is a water-rich layer deep below the surface and [music] stretching around the entire globe of the planet, then there would be enough water to fill ancient ocean beds and even more.

[00:04:38]Now, Mars isn't the only place outside Earth where there is water or where we might one day find water. Take the good old moon for example. On Earth's natural satellite, water can be found all over the surface, but it's not the water you might be imagining. On the moon, water remains mostly as ice and it's distributed unevenly. For example, the poles of the moon are the regions that never receive sunlight. This is the reason they're extremely cold and it's no wonder there's a lot of ice there.

[00:05:10]The ice in these areas is often mixed with the lunar soil and hiding deep below the surface. Then there's Encetilus, the sixth largest moon of Saturn. In reality, it's not that large, just [music] 314 mi across. In other words, this moon is small enough to fit inside Arizona. Oo, we should try that.

[00:05:30]Well, interestingly, when the Cassini space probe first arrived at Saturn, researchers were expecting in Settilus to be a frozen ball of ice. But what they saw was plumes of icy particles and water vapor erupting from geysers on the moon's surface. It was clear that there was a massive ocean between the moon's rocky core and its icy shell. [music] Then there's Jupiter's moon Europa.

[00:05:56]Scientists think that this world is one of the most promising places in the solar system when it comes to searching for new life forms. That's because Europa has a huge saltwater ocean as deep as 40 to 100 m. And even though it's under a layer of ice that is likely to be 10 to 20 m thick, it's still potentially habitable. Astronomers believe that plumes of water might erupt from cracks in the ice shell and release [music] the contents of the moon's ocean into space. The temperature, pressure, and chemistry are very different on Europa, and astronomers aren't sure yet how the ice behaves there. That's the main reason they haven't figured out yet how deep [music] or large the water reservoirs on Europa are and how long they need to refreeze.

[00:06:43]But out of all the places where we could find water in the universe, the most bizarre is probably open space. In 2011, two teams of astronomers discovered a cloud of water floating freely among stars. It was the largest and farthest reservoir of water ever detected. So, this massive cloud of water vapor surrounds a black hole. But not just any black hole. This one's a quazar located 12 billion lightyears from Earth. The conditions around this quazar must be really special to create [music] such an enormous amount of water. This cloud contains 140 [music] trillion times the volume of all the water on Earth. That's enough to give every person on the planet a whole planet's worth of water 20,000 times over. Sounds wild, doesn't it? But there's something [music] even cooler. Astronomers think this water cloud formed just 1.6 billion years after the universe began. This discovery is yet another sign that water has been around all over the universe, even in its early days. But here's [music] the kicker. Until they found this, scientists had never detected water vapor so far back in time. Sure, there's water in our Milky Way galaxy, but most of it's frozen solid and ice. This discovery really pushes the boundaries of what we know about water in the universe.

[00:08:08]The soil beneath your feet is red and dry. The place is freezing cold. Rusty colored dust is floating in the air. You make one step, then [music] another.

[00:08:18]It's hard to move because of the thick layer of dust your feet are sinking into. You're on Mars.

[00:08:24]and you've come here after hearing some absolutely incredible news.

[00:08:30]These days, the so-called red planet indeed looks dry and dusty. But scientists think that this world might have [music] been very different a long, long time ago. They have found some evidence of a huge ocean that could have existed on the surface of Mars about 3.5 billion years ago. And this ocean probably covered hundreds of thousands of square miles. It all started with numerous satellite images of the surface of the red planet. They were snapped at different angles. As a result, researchers managed to construct a relief map of the area.

[00:09:05]They charted [music] out more than 4,000 m of specific formations that had most likely been carved by rivers. Those formations could also be channels once carved out on the seafloor.

[00:09:18]Scientists used [music] the data gathered by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in 2007. They analyzed the thickness of the ridges and their angles and location. Their main goal was to explore the topographical depression called Aololis Dorsa.

[00:09:34]It turned out that all those years ago, this part of the red planet had been undergoing a series of constant changes.

[00:09:42]They could have been caused by the rapid movement of rocks pulled around by currents and rivers. as well as noticeable increases in sea level.

[00:09:51]Researchers also noticed a pretty clear boundary that separated the southern highlands of Mars, elevated and highly cratered, [music] from the smooth lowlands of the planet. It looked very similar to a shoreline left by a ginormous ocean.

[00:10:07]This all likely means that in ancient times, there indeed was an ocean on the surface of Mars and a large one at that.

[00:10:16]What is even more [music] exciting, the existence of such an ocean might mean the existence of life.

[00:10:23]This discovery [music] can tell scientists a lot about the ancient climate on the red planet as well as its evolution. We now know there had to be a period on Mars when the planet was quite warm and its atmosphere was thick enough to keep so much liquid water. What's even more incredible, the climate in the northern hemisphere of Mars 3 billion years ago could have resembled the one we have on Earth nowadays. But then where is this ocean now? What happened to it? Perhaps the climate of the red planet was becoming cooler and the surface of the ocean froze.

[00:10:59]There's a theory claiming that these days the ocean remains in its frozen state deep under a layer of rock, debris, and dust under a northern plane called Vastitas Borealis or the ocean's waters could have been lost to the atmosphere and eventually space through the process of atmospheric sputtering. During this process, atoms get knocked away from the atmosphere after colliding with high energy particles coming from the sun.

[00:11:29]Anyway, the theory of an ocean that once covered a substantial part of Mars northern hemisphere hasn't been confirmed yet.

[00:11:37]Scientists are still arguing about its existence.

[00:11:42]As for now, Mars is a very cold world [music] with an average temperature of 80F. The planet's surface is rocky. It's covered with dry lake beds, craters, volcanoes, and canyons.

[00:11:56]The ocean that might have existed on Mars isn't the only awesome thing about this planet. [music] Let's speak about those sandstorms raging on the red planet. In movies, they're depicted as incredibly powerful forces of nature, destroying astronauts camps and tearing their spaceships into pieces, but how much of it is true?

[00:12:18]Mars is indeed infamous for producing dust storms so massive they can be seen by telescopes on Earth. They sometimes cover continent-sized areas and [music] can last for weeks at a time. But besides them, there are much rarer storms [music] that occur once in three Mars years, which is about 5 and 1/2 Earth years.

[00:12:38]Such storms are larger and much [music] more intense than regular ones. They encircle the entire planet. That's why scientists call them global dust storms.

[00:12:47][music] At the same time, it's unlikely that even a global dust [music] storm could cause serious harm to astronauts or their equipment. Even though Martian storms are massive, the wind speed reaches 60 mph tops. That's less than half the speed of most hurricane force winds on Earth.

[00:13:08]Plus, this comparison of wind speeds can be kind of misleading. The atmosphere on Mars is just 1% or so as dense as the atmosphere of our planet.

[00:13:18]It means that the wind there needs to blow much faster to cause any damage or even fly a kite. Now, let's move to the next amazing phenomenon spotted on the red planet. When you look at it from a distance, it looks like an eye. There are even some winding channels that look like veins running through the eyeball.

[00:13:39]But the closer you get, [music] the less the formation looks like an actual eye.

[00:13:43]It's actually a giant crater almost 19 mi in diameter.

[00:13:49]Around the crater, which looks as if it has a pupil, there are other even bigger craters. They likely formed billions of years ago. That's when Mars had to withstand multiple attacks of space rocks.

[00:14:04]But why is the eye crater darker than the surrounding landscape?

[00:14:08]Scientists think that once water filled the ginormous pit. Remember those channels? They were likely carrying that water. And since the crater was filled with water, it stopped some substances and minerals from eroding away.

[00:14:23]Your next destination is Val's Marinys.

[00:14:27]That's an enormous canyon, or rather a canyon system that runs along Mars's equator. It stretches for more than 2,500 m. It's also four times as deep as the famous Grand Canyon on Earth. The thing is so huge it could span the entire continental United States from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean. Most scientists think that Val's Marinys is a huge tectonic crack in the crust of the red planet. [music] It could have formed when the planet was cooling down in the distant past.

[00:15:00]Another breathtaking site on Mars is the largest shield volcano in the entire solar system, Olympus Mons. It's more than 370 mi in diameter, which means it's almost the same size as the state of Arizona. The mountain is also 16 mi high and rimmed by incredibly tall cliffs. To imagine the sheer size of the volcano, let's make some comparisons.

[00:15:25]The largest volcano on Earth is Monaloa, around 2.6 6 mi high and 75 mi across, which actually sounds pretty impressive, but the volume of Olympus Mons is around 100 times larger than that of Mount Aloa. The Martian giant could swallow the whole chain of Hawaiian islands from Kauaii to Hawaii.

[00:15:48]Scientists have been wondering for quite some time why this volcano is so large.

[00:15:53]It might be the result of lower surface gravity and higher eruption rates. Or the reason may be the red planet's crust, which is very different from Earth's. On our planet, the crust is made up of 15 to 20 moving tectonic plates. As plates move over hot spots that [music] produce lava, new volcanoes form, and the already existing ones become extinct. That's why lava can get to the surface through many vents. But on Mars, the crust isn't broken into the same tectonic plates as on Earth, and the lava has nothing to do but pile in one very, very large volcano.

[00:16:31]Now, if you visited Mars and decided to go on an evening stroll, you'd witness a strange phenomenon. It occurs on the red planet after sunset when temperatures fall below 80. A bizarre, mysterious glow spreads across the Martian sky.

[00:16:50]Unfortunately, without special equipment, you wouldn't be able to observe this soft glow. Visible only in ultraviolet light, this night glow is the result of chemical reactions that occur dozens of miles above the surface of the red planet.

[00:17:08]Mars is the Earth's space cousin.

[00:17:10][music] It's the fourth planet in our solar system. about half the size of the Earth. It also has two small moon buddies, Phobos and Damos. These moons are shaped like potatoes. [music] Phobos is the drama king, moving closer to Mars and planning a crash landing in about 50 million [music] years. Damos is much calmer though, hanging out farther away from Mars. Mars got a cool [music] nickname, the red planet, thanks to its rusty red surface. This color was so bright that it was spotted by astronomers many years ago. Even you can sometimes see it in the sky with the [music] naked eye, a small scarlet dot.

[00:17:48]And maybe it has hot vibes. But in reality, Mars is a very cold desert. The temperatures there can drop as low as -240° [music] F. But was Mars always nothing more than a rusty looking desert? Actually, no.

[00:18:04]Scientists [music] believe that perhaps many years ago, this planet was similar to ours.

[00:18:10]Meet Curiosity, the detective rover made by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

[00:18:16]Scientists want to know all about the Martian weather, landscape, and other stuff like that. Curiosity [music] is a pretty heavy car- sized robot. It weighs about 1,985 lb. It embarked on its journey on November 26th, 2011. The rover pulled off a landing on Mars on August 6th, 2012. Originally, Curiosity's mission was supposed to last for 2 years, but it's still going strong.

[00:18:44]Curiosity is basically a space lab on wheels. It's packed with cameras, spectrometers, radiation detectors, and sensors to sniff out the Martian environment.

[00:18:55]As Curiosity roams [music] around, it rewinds Mars history. And during its mission, the rover discovered something incredible. Signs of lakes [music] and rivers from long ago.

[00:19:07]You see, Curiosity's favorite spot to [music] play around is Gail Crater. It's a prehistoric Martian oasis where water might have hung out. There's this huge mountain in the middle called Mount Sharp. This place is taller than 10 Eiffel Towers stacked on top of each other, and it's got layers of rocks that hold Mars's ancient secrets. Recently, scientists spotted something great when studying Curiosity's data. Mud tracks.

[00:19:34]What's so surprising [music] about that?

[00:19:36]Well, these aren't just any old tracks.

[00:19:39]They're like messages from the past.

[00:19:42]They mean that the Martian ground used to get wet and [music] then dry out again. The mud on the ground would shrink and crack during the drying phases, making these T-shaped junctions.

[00:19:52]Moreover, it seems like the ground on Mars went through several wet dry cycles. It happened maybe up to 10 times. This made the junctions turn into Y-shaped cracks. When a bunch of Y-shaped cracks got together, they made a super cool pattern, something like a patchwork of hexagons. [music] It looked just like honeycombs or even a dragon's skin. Each of these [music] hexagons are the size of candy.

[00:20:18]Similar cycles have happened on Earth, and they're linked [music] to the birth of life. When water dries up, it leaves behind concentrated stuff that's great for chemical reactions. And these reactions might be the same ones that kickstart life. These hexagons have been hanging around [music] for a really, really long time, billions of years.

[00:20:37]That means that Mars once [music] had a climate kind of like Earth's and maybe even life.

[00:20:44]In fact, the red planet even [music] has some signs of water right now in the form of hidden ice at the poles. Mars has the [music] north and south poles.

[00:20:53]And just like with the Earth, their red planet's ice caps. Picture the North [music] Cap as a big icy pancake about 620 m wide. The South [music] Cap is a bit smaller, about 220 m wide, but it's got a thicker ice layer, almost like a snowball with a strong shell. [music] When it's winter at the poles, it's an incredibly long nighttime. No sunlight, just chilly darkness. [music] During that time, around 30% of the air turns into frozen CO2. It's dry ice. The same stuff that's often used in horror movies. But when the poles wake up to sunlight, the dry ice turns back into gas. All this freezing and thawing makes clouds and [music] frost just like on Earth. One time, a rover named Opportunity even caught some clouds made of water ice. But it doesn't necessarily mean Mars was once thriving just like the Earth. Life [music] needs more than just wet, dry cycles to pop up. It needs the right atmosphere and other special ingredients. We're not [music] sure if Mars had all of those. And even if it did, there's no guarantee that life actually happened.

[00:22:03]But this raises another very important question. Has Mars ever hosted tiny living creatures?

[00:22:11]Curiosity isn't the only robot that tries to find the answer to that.

[00:22:15]There's also a rover called Perseverance. It's trying to find clues about Martian life. It's digging into an old Martian crater once filled with water. And like a space archaeologist, Perseverance is searching for fossilized signs of ancient [music] critters. And here's the funny thing. Some scientists think that we've stumbled upon it [music] almost half a century ago. The only problem is we might have accidentally destroyed it. It happened even before Curiosity [music] started rolling around Mars. Back in the 1980s, two cool NASA's landers, Viking 1 and Viking 2, made a pit stop on the red planet. These landers took a selfie and then they also did some funky experiments on the Martian soil. All in the name of finding signs of life. What they found is some weird organic stuff called perchlorate. It's a compound that we use in fireworks or rocket fuel. But most results didn't seem that promising.

[00:23:12]They even mixed up some soil with water and nutrients, hoping that if there were Martian microbes, they'd snack on the goodies and return [music] radioactive gas as a result. But unfortunately, that didn't happen. Now, here's the problem.

[00:23:27]Some scientists think that maybe the water they added back then actually destroyed [music] those tiny Martian critters. Poor microbes were just hanging out and suddenly got soaked [music] by a bunch of weird liquid.

[00:23:40]Something like this wouldn't be very pleasant for the Earth microbes. [music] They live inside rocks and they're sucking water from the air. Pouring water on them would result [music] in a total disaster. So, of course, giving them nutrients after that wouldn't do anything. If you've just [music] barely survived a water bath, you're probably not in the mood for a feast. Perhaps these Martian buddies might have something called hydrogen peroxide in their cells. It helps them live in an extreme environment. If that's true, it could explain all the results from the experiments. You see, the instruments [music] heated up the samples, so if there was hydrogen peroxide, it would have gone boom, wiping off the little guys and turning their cozy homes instantly. Imagine how ridiculous it would be if it turns out that we accidentally destroyed the only signs of life on Mars. Ideally, we need a new mission to Mars to [music] test this theory. Let's hope it's not true.

[00:24:36]In any case, the journey isn't [music] over. There are more missions planned for Mars, and humans might even visit [music] this planet someday. The next mission is the Mars Sample Return. It's a super cool teamwork project between NASA and ESA. They're teaming up to bring back souvenirs from Mars, collected by NASA's trusty Mars Perseverance Rover. There's going to be a whole bunch of spaceships. They'll work together to bring these precious Mars samples back. The samples [music] are planned to arrive on Earth in the early to mid 2030s.

[00:25:11]And the fun doesn't stop at Mars. Our Mars [music] missions are a warm-up for an even bigger adventure, exploring icy moons [music] around Saturn and Jupiter.

[00:25:20]These moons have hidden oceans beneath their icy surfaces. [music] And who knows what kinds of space secrets they're hiding. But whether it's Mars, icy moons, or beyond, our quest to find extraterrestrial life [music] continues. In addition, we are slowly starting to find more and more organic materials on Mars. [music] And maybe one day we'll finally find some microbes in our solar system. Let's hope for [music] it and stay tuned.

[00:25:59]What if Martians came to our planet?

[00:26:02][music] What if a Mars rover brought back some unknown organism that began to reproduce and wipe out all life on Earth? Well, we've seen the scenario hundreds of times in movies and read about it in books. But in reality, the situation is the opposite. [music] We are the threat. Humans are the ones that could infect another planet. We are the ones that could become the destroyers of Mars. And to prevent that from happening, countries created an international agreement that forbids us from taking certain actions on our red neighbor in space. [music] It sounds like science fiction, but it's real.

[00:26:42]This agreement is called the Outer Space Treaty. It was signed in 1967 by the Soviet Union, the United States, and the United Kingdom. The treaty states that no country that signs it can claim sovereignty over any celestial body. It also contains many other important rules, but one of them directly addresses how we should search for extraterrestrial life. Now, there's a possibility that certain regions on Mars could potentially host life. However, according to the Outer Space Treaty, exploring these so-called special regions is prohibited. That sounds strange, doesn't it? Searching for life on Mars is one of the main goals of the entire space industry. So, how can these areas be off limits? Well, the reason is contamination. When we explore these regions, we might accidentally bring life there. A tiny but extremely resilient microbe or bacterium could hitch a ride on a spacecraft, land on Mars, and begin to reproduce. But scientists are not only afraid that Earth bacteria will destroy Martian life. There's a possibility that these two types of bacteria will mix [music] and we will not be able to separate one from the other. But what if it occurs that these bacteria were originally from Earth? Imagine NASA spending billions of dollars collecting samples of Martian soil where life has been detected.

[00:28:07][music] The spacecraft brings these samples back to Earth. Scientists analyze them and suddenly realize that these Martian bacteria are actually ours. They had arrived on Mars 10 years earlier when a robotic rover was simply taking pictures of the Martian landscape. Here on [music] Earth, we already know bacteria that can survive extreme pressure, incredibly low and high temperatures, and even the complete absence of oxygen. For such organisms, adapting to Mars conditions might not be that difficult. But what if they change in that environment? What if they mutate and take on new forms? [music] Scientists might believe they've discovered true alien life when in reality it's just Earth microbes that evolved on Mars. There's also a chance that Martian microorganisms could mix with Earth bacteria, making it impossible to separate them. In short, exploring places where life might exist could create massive scientific confusion. And what if contaminating Mars with Earth's life causes it to spread rapidly? What forms would that life take under conditions completely different from Earth's? Mars and the moon can be explored, but it must be done with extreme caution to avoid biological pollution. And don't worry, the Outer Space Treaty also requires us to be careful not to bring potentially harmful Martian life back to Earth. So, what exactly are these special regions on Mars? [music] Well, they're places where conditions might allow microorganisms to survive, which are warm and wet spots. But here's the ironic part. We currently don't know locations on Mars that meet these criteria. [music] But if there are such places, we can't reach them. So, in practice, this law about special regions hasn't really been tested yet. However, scientists also talk about uncertain regions. These are areas that could potentially be classified as special regions [music] after further study. One example is recurring slope lin.

[00:30:13][music] These are dark narrow streaks that appear seasonally on Martian slopes. At first, scientists believe these streaks were signs of liquid water. Later studies showed that RSL are formed by dry granular flows. So, does that mean there's no chance of finding life on Mars anytime soon? Perhaps. But what about all those headlines claiming that water was found on Mars? [music] Couldn't that mean life exists there?

[00:30:40]Yes, scientists have discovered water.

[00:30:43]And it's not just small amounts, but entire oceans. The problem is that this water is buried 7 to 12 m beneath the Martian surface. For comparison, the deepest hole ever drilled on Earth, the Cola Super Deep Boar hole, is about 7 1/2 m deep. We couldn't drill deeper on our own planet. Now imagine how much [music] time, money, energy, and technology would be required to make a giant pit on Mars. For now, such a mission sounds more like sci-fi than reality. [music] But let's say we do find a microbe on Mars and bring it back to Earth. What kind of danger could such a tiny organism pose? Well, science [music] fiction thrillers give us dramatic answers, but there's also a realworld example. Take the fungus known as kitrid. [music] This microscopic organism reduced populations of frogs, salamanders, and other amphibians across the globe, and this biological disaster [music] affected humans as well. Kitrid is not an alien organism, but it story perfectly illustrates what can happen after even a small biological contamination.

[00:31:50]When kitrid infects a frog, it causes a severe disease. The fungus attacks the animal's skin, disrupting [music] its ability to regulate water and electrolytes. Electrolytes are salts and minerals essential for biological functions. [music] When this system breaks, it leads to heart failure. The frog doesn't survive, and the fungus continues to multiply and infect other creatures. The outbreak was first detected in northwestern Costa Rica in the early 1980s. From there, it spread south and east, reaching Panama in the 2000s. More recent research [music] suggests that kitrred originated in East Asia and spread worldwide through the pet trade. [music] How it evolved the ability to devastate amphibians is a story for another video. For now, let's focus on the consequences that [music] still affect us even today. Over several decades, the kitrred epidemic caused massive declines in amphibian populations worldwide. Around 90 species disappeared entirely. The impact was especially severe in Costa Rica and Panama. As amphibian numbers dropped, so did the populations of predators that fed on frogs and salamanders. But that wasn't the main problem.

[00:33:05]Remember what frogs like to eat? They catch mosquitoes and various bugs. So after the fungus pandemic, the insect population increased dramatically. Now, think about what is dangerous about mosquitoes. Yes, they bite and [music] leave an itchy mark on your skin. But some species carry dangerous infections [music] such as malaria. As frog populations decreased, malaria cases among humans increased. Studies showed that infection rates began rising about a year after amphibian decline started.

[00:33:37]Over the next 3 years, the number of malaria cases rose, but then stabilized.

[00:33:43]About 8 years after the Kiddrid outbreak began, malaria rates started to decline and eventually returned to previous levels. [music] Does that mean frog populations recovered? Unfortunately, no. [music] Amphibians are still struggling. It's possible that humans simply took stronger preventative measures against malaria. [music] Or perhaps other animals began feeding on mosquitoes. Either way, the ecosystem never fully [music] returned to its original balance.

[00:34:12]This is the core problem with biological contamination. Damaging one species [music] disrupts an entire system. Like a chain reaction, problems spread from one link to the next. If a simple fungus managed [music] to affect life on Earth, where humans can fight epidemics, imagine what a microbe could do on Mars.

[00:34:31]Even [music] if life exists there, a single Earth organism could wipe it out completely. The reverse is also true. A Martian microbe [music] could cause serious problems on Earth. Imagine a spacecraft returning from Mars and landing in the ocean. A Martian microbe jumps into the water and attaches itself to a shark. The shark begins to change into something terrifying and starts attacking other sea creatures. Fish become more aggressive [music] and begin attacking anything that moves in the water. Mars's bacteria is multiplying. The fish becomes unsuitable for food. Fishing industry [music] suffers losses and many people begin to experience hunger without fish. Marine mammals disappear and things get worse [music] and worse. Okay, let's not be so dramatic, but you get the idea.

[00:35:26]H, it looks like a regular beach, but something sets off an alarm blaring in your head. The sand looks too red. The sun is too bright. The wind is all wrong. It's hard to breathe. And there's no water in the ocean. Panic not. It's [music] normal since you're on Mars.

[00:35:45]For the longest time, we've seen Mars as a dry, lifeless dust ball, a freezing desert where water exists only as ice or vapor. But new research suggests that billions of [music] years ago, it was a totally different place. And instead of endless dust, it may have had something much more familiar to us. Sunny, sandy beaches.

[00:36:06]Scientists from Penn State, UC Berkeley, and Guangha University studied radar data from China's Jurong Rover. It started to roll across Mars in [music] 2021. While exploring the surface of the red planet, it found sloping rock formations that looked strikingly similar to the ones found on Earth's coastlines. Those are called forshore deposits. [music] They form when waves push sand onto a shoreline.

[00:36:30]But Jong wasn't just taking pretty pictures. It also had ground penetrating radar, [music] a tool that allowed it to scan deep below the Martian surface as it traveled 2 km between May 2021 and May 2022. And it found something pretty wild. Layers of sediment sloping down at a 15° angle. This pattern [music] is identical to the ones left behind by waves on Earth. And not this wasn't from wind, volcanoes, or anything else. It looked just like a real beach.

[00:37:02]And that's [music] actually a big deal because if there were waves and tides, there must have been a large body of water. That means Mars may have once had just the right conditions for hosting life. Even after [music] 3.5 billion years, the formations are still incredibly similar to beaches on Earth.

[00:37:21]So, there must have been a time when Mars [music] was much more than just a dusty rock in space.

[00:37:26]After revealing this shocking news, Jirong's radar scanned 79 m deep [music] into the ground, discovering sediment layers. They once formed along a path perpendicular [music] to an ancient shoreline, the one that likely existed 4 billion years ago.

[00:37:42]At the same time, it might not be all that surprising. Back then, Mars wasn't the dry, frozen wasteland we see today.

[00:37:50]It had a thicker atmosphere, a warmer climate, and plenty of liquid water. And I'm not even talking about some tiny puddle.

[00:37:58]Beaches don't form without a massive body of water. For waves to shape the land like this, there had to be rivers flowing into a vast ocean. Powerful currents had to be moving sand around and water had to stick around for a long time. This couldn't be just a brief wet spell. It was a period where Mars was hydraologically [music] active for millions of years, potentially being a place where life could have thrived.

[00:38:22]This discovery [music] gives even more weight to one theory. It has been puzzling scientists since the 1970s.

[00:38:29]That was when NASA's Viking spacecraft [music] snapped images of what looked like a shoreline wrapping around Mars's northern hemisphere. But there was a problem. The shoreline was all over the [music] place with elevations varying by up to 10 km, which is nothing like our flat, mostly consistent shorelines we see on Earth. This difference made scientists [music] doubt that a Martian ocean ever existed.

[00:38:51]For years, scientists have been trying to crack this mystery. [music] In 2007, they suggested that Mars' rotation actually shifted billions of years ago. As the planet's massive Tharsus volcanic region grew, the planet's spin axis tilted, [music] warping the surface. It could explain why the shoreline is so uneven today. In other words, what was once a flat and level landscape got distorted over time.

[00:39:17]Interestingly, Mars has been dropping hints about its watery past for years.

[00:39:21]Curiosity found ancient ripples in Gail Crater. Those were signs of a longgone lake. Perseverance is currently studying a fossilized river delta in Jezero Crater. Now, with Girong's evidence of an ancient ocean, it all comes together.

[00:39:35]Small lakes, check. Rivers, check. A massive ocean covering the northern lowlands. Quite possibly.

[00:39:43]Girong's mission wrapped up in May 2022 after dust blocked its solar panels, but future missions could still explore those ancient shoreline deposits.

[00:39:53]Scientists might send new missions to drill deeper into the ground to retrieve [music] samples, or we could use better radar to map Mars' subsurface in more detail. There's a real hope to excavate those areas in the future and find even more clues about Mars' past.

[00:40:10]At the same time, NASA's Perseverance rover is already working hard in Jezero Crater, collecting samples. Scientists hope that it will bring them back to Earth in the 2030s. While those won't include samples from the ancient ocean, they could still help us find out more about Mars wetter history. For now, the discovery of ancient beaches on Mars gives us a peak into a time when the planet might have looked a lot more like Earth with water, waves, and rivers.

[00:40:39]Now, let's speak about the Perseverance rover that's still working on Mars in more detail. It has a special drill on its arm and uses it to scrape off the dust [music] and top layers of rock, making small 5 cm wide circles in Jezero [music] Crater. Once one of its cameras took a close-up photo, and the image showed that the rock wasn't smooth.

[00:41:00]It was made of tiny interlocking crystals. The rover used two special tools to analyze the rock's chemistry.

[00:41:07]The results confirmed that the rock named Rochett was volcanic. This meant it formed from lava or magma, not from mud and clay like scientists had expected from a former lake bed.

[00:41:18]Perseverance aka Percy landed on Mars in February 2021 along with a small helicopter named Ingenuity. It is the most advanced rover ever sent to Mars, following in the footsteps of Curiosity, Spirit, Opportunity, and others. But Percy has a different mission. While older rovers mainly studied Martian rocks and climate, Perseverance is searching for signs of past life.

[00:41:45]Scientists chose Jezero Crater because it looks like it used to be a lake where tiny life forms could have lived. The rover drills, scrapes, and collects rock samples to study with its science tools.

[00:41:56]It also saves some samples to bring back to Earth in the future for even closer study.

[00:42:02]Perseverance has found some surprising things on Mars. Scientists studying the data it sent back have discovered that Jezero Crater has changed a lot over time. Long ago, this area had flowing lava, a lake that lasted for thousands of years, rivers that carried mud and sand, and even massive floods that brought in rocks from far away.

[00:42:24]It means that Jezero's history is more active and unpredictable than scientists expected. This definitely made it harder to find the sedimentary rocks they were looking for, but it has also revealed new places where ancient life might have existed. Another exciting discovery is that every rock Perseverance has studied so far contains [music] carbon-based materials, the same stuff that life on Earth is built from.

[00:42:49]NASA's Perseverance rover also carries a special tool called Moxy, which has managed to make oxygen from the carbon dioxide in Mars's atmosphere for the first time. Over 16 test runs, Moxy produced about 113 g of oxygen. That's enough to keep an astronaut breathing for about 4 hours. It worked even better than expected, making up to 12 g of oxygen per hour. After running successfully for 2 years, Moxy completed its final test in September 2023.

[00:43:23]It brings us one step closer to sending humans to Mars in the future.

[00:43:28]In any case, back to the discovery of ancient shorelines on Mars. [music] This finding might help us see the red planet with new eyes. Water might have been flowing across its surface for tens of millions of years, carving out lakes, rivers, and [music] even a vast ocean.

[00:43:43]What else have we misunderstood?

[00:43:45]Did Martian dinos stroll across the vast green valleys of the planet? Or were those bizarre marine creatures the likes of which we can't even imagine? We don't know yet. But one thing is very likely.

[00:43:56]Mars had an era of warmth, water, and maybe life.

[00:44:03]Now, it seems there's new solid evidence that Mars once had rainforests, real rainfall, and longlasting rivers. NASA's Perseverance rover found a mineral called Kelanite on the floor of Yzero Crater. Down on Earth, this stuff only forms in warm, wet places with heavy rain that lasts for millions of years.

[00:44:23]And [music] this kind of rain feeds jungles, not deserts. That means Mars had showers for a long time. And that changes everything we thought we knew about the planet. So that [music] mysterious cowani doesn't form from a quick flood or a melting glacier. It forms when liquid water keeps soaking into rock over insanely long periods, breaking it down grain by grain. When Perseverance [music] spotted kalinite pebbles and boulders scattered across Mars, scientists realize Mars once behaved less like Antarctica [music] and more like the Amazon. That tells us that ancient Mars had a stable climate, thick enough for atmosphere, and a [music] functioning water cycle with clouds, rain, and runoff. The place where the Kalanite showed up, Yzro crater, is pretty cool itself. It used to be a massive lake fed by rivers that carved channels you can still see today from orbit. Scientists think those rivers could have washed the kalinite into the crater like a conveyor belt of rainforest soil. Another theory is that a meteor impact blasted the material out of nearby terrain and dropped it there like cosmic shrapnel.

[00:45:35][music] Either way, water clearly moved these rocks around, and moving water is a huge deal [music] because stagnant water doesn't shape landscapes like that. Every form of life we know depends on liquid water, not ice, not vapor, liquid water that sticks around. A warm, wet Mars with rainfall would have had streams, wetlands, and chemical reactions happening non-stop, [music] which are the same ingredients Earth used to kickstart life. Now, this doesn't mean Mars definitely had some creatures waving at the sky, but the planet checked way more boxes for habitability [music] than we ever expected it to. For decades, Mars looked like a planet that maybe thought for 5 minutes [music] and then froze forever.

[00:46:20]Now, it looks more like a world that stayed comfortable for hundreds of millions of years before everything went wrong. Scientists think Mars lost its atmosphere because it lacked a strong magnetic field, which is like a shield that protects planets from the solar wind. A constant blast of charged particles from the sun that can strip a planet bare over time. While all that rainforest talk grabs headlines, [music] Mars keeps stacking surprises. In 2025, scientists spotted skylights on Mars.

[00:46:52]Those are giant holes in the surface of the red planet that drop straight down into underground cave systems [music] which formed long ago on Earth. Caves like this protect life from radiation, temperature swings, and surface [music] chaos, which makes them perfect hiding spots if ancient Martian life ever existed. Some of these caves [music] might be carstic, which means slightly acidic water slowly dissolve the rock, carving out underground chambers [music] over time. That process needs liquid water and patience, [music] which Mars apparently had plenty of back in the day. Scientists suspect these caves could trap ice, preserve [music] chemical fingerprints of life, or even lock away organic material untouched for billions [music] of years, like a time capsule no one has opened yet. The caves [music] sit in a region called Hebra's Val, tucked between an old volcano and a massive plane in Mars' northern half.

[00:47:48]This area doesn't show signs of lava tubes, which scientists [music] already know exist on Mars. Instead, it shows ancient river channels, hydrated minerals, [music] and sediments that only form when water sticks around.

[00:48:02]Scientists spotted eight [music] skylights and knew they weren't impact craters because nothing splashed outward when they formed. The surface simply collapsed into empty [music] space below. Researchers pulled this story together using old Mars mission data, including mineral maps, hydrogen readings that hit it at buried water, and ultrasharp images from orbit. The big deal is this. Caves protect things.

[00:48:26][music] They block radiation, trap ice, and preserve chemical traces far better than the surface ever could. If Mars ever hosted life, even tiny microbes, those caves rank among the best places to find what's left. Now, a year earlier, in July [music] 2024, the Perseverance rover drove along what used to be a river billions of years old.

[00:48:50]After the river [music] dried up, part of a rock face broke loose and fell into the channel. Perseverance found it sitting [music] there untouched for ages. Scientists named it Shayyaba Falls. The rock's surface showed tiny dark spots scientists nicknamed [music] poppy seeds and larger pale blobs with dark rims called leopard spots. When Perseverance zoomed in, it also detected organic molecules. These are carbon based compounds, the same basic ingredient every living thing on [music] Earth uses. Scientists predicted years ago that if Mars ever hosted microbes, rocks like this one would exist. These [music] spots matter because life needs energy. Some organisms use sunlight.

[00:49:35]Others eat chemistry. Microbes can survive [music] by moving electrons between chemicals, kind of like stealing spare batteries to power themselves. At Shayyaba Falls, scientists think [music] microbes could have taken electrons from organic compounds and handed them to iron in the rock. That reaction [music] releases energy that microbes can use to survive. So, Sherlock, [music] the evidence lines up. The dark dots and rims contain a mineral called vivvenite, which only forms when iron gains electrons. [music] When iron changes this way, it loses its rusty red color and turns pale. That explains why the centers of the leopard spots look lighter. [music] Perseverance also found another mineral there called Grigite.

[00:50:20]Grigite needs sulfide to form, and microbes can create sulfide by feeding electrons to sulfate, another chemical found in the rock. Now, scientists can't fully analyze this rock yet. But they already have one tool down on Earth, the kind so small you'd miss them unless you knew exactly how to look. If microbes ever lived in Mars' ancient oceans, it probably didn't leave skeletons or bones. They left chemical fingerprints locked inside minerals. On Earth, microbes showed up in oceans about 3.7 billion years ago, give or take. [music] Mars had water around the same time.

[00:50:59]When water evaporates, it leaves minerals behind, [music] and some of those minerals can trap microorganisms like bugs and amber. On Mars, scientists expect sulfate minerals to play that role. On Earth, gypsum [music] does the same thing. To test this idea, researchers went to a gypsum quarry in Algeria. Millions of years ago, the Mediterranean Sea almost dried up and left thick gypsum layers behind. Those layers preserved ancient bacteria inside them. All this makes the site a perfect Mars standin. The team tested a compact device called limbs, which is an easier way of saying laser ablation ionization mass spectrometer, which I'm only going to say once. A laser zaps a tiny spot on a rock, vaporizes it, and then reads the chemical elements released. [music] Each element leaves a unique signal like a barcode that let scientists spot chemical traces [music] linked to life.

[00:51:57]When they aimed limbs at the Algerian gypsum, scientists found thin thread-like structures already known to be bacteria. They also spotted minerals that microbes [music] help create, like dolomite and certain clays. That matters because microbes don't just leave fossils. They change rocks while they live. Mars makes this harder though. Its environment differs from Earth's and any fossils there would [music] be billions of years old, not millions. Scientists also need to rule out non-living processes [music] that could copy these signals. Now, lots of people think that to find all the answers, [music] humans must go to Mars. And the number one goal for the first human mission to Mars is finding life, not digging up resources [music] or setting flags. Scientists want to know if Mars ever hosted living organisms, if it still does today, or if the planet once [music] ran the chemical experiments that led to life. After that, researchers want to understand where Mars keeps its water and carbon dioxide, [music] how those cycles work, and how they changed over time. Geology [music] comes next because rocks keep the planet's memory. Every layer tells part of Mars' story. Scientists need [music] to understand how Mars affects the human body, the brain, and even group [music] dynamics when people live together in isolation. Long-term plans go even farther. Scientists want to learn how plants, [music] microbes, and animals survive on Mars, how radiation alters DNA, and whether reproduction works across generations. They also want to know if Martian microbes could harm astronauts or equipment.

[00:53:38]Imagine a world where the red [music] barren landscape of Mars is transformed into a lush and verdant garden. A world where water flows freely, carving canyons and creating [music] lakes and oceans. Can we achieve such a world by pouring the Earth's water onto the surface of Mars? And don't rush to say no. [music] Let's explore this possibility.

[00:54:01]All right, let's say we could magically transport all of the water on Earth to Mars. This super sized game of water pong would be crazy in both engineering and logistics. So, how do we even do that? First of all, we're talking about millions and millions of gallons of water, which is no small feat. We would need some really big tanks to get all this water off the Earth. We would also have to figure out how to launch it all into space. This would require some serious rocket technology as well as a lot of fuel.

[00:54:33]We could probably create an entire fleet of spacecraft specifically designed for the task. Just imagine that. A fleet of giant water tankers packed with tons of carefully harvested water blasting off from Earth's surface and hurtling through space at unimaginable speeds.

[00:54:50]Wouldn't that be a cool sight? Now, [music] another way, probably a better one, would be to launch a large number of smaller missions over [music] time, each carrying a smaller amount of water until enough of it has been transported to Mars. So, let's say we manage to do all that. What happens next?

[00:55:08]After we get to Mars, we'd need to [music] distribute this water all across the planet. We could use a network of underground pipes or some special drones to transport the water to different locations.

[00:55:19]This is just some basic things. And as you can see, we already need a lot of planning and resources. Moreover, [music] a crazy operation like this would require a massive coordinated effort from scientists, engineers, and space agencies [music] all over the world. And let's not forget about the costs. No wonder that scientists [music] don't really consider it a viable plan. But the scale of this operation isn't the only problem.

[00:55:45]Hypothetically, let's say that we figured all that out and poured the Earth's water on Mars. Now what? Well, believe it or not, it would be almost completely useless. Our main challenge will be the atmosphere and current climate of Mars. Mars is a dry [music] desert with an atmosphere that's only about 1% as thick as Earth's. This means that any water poured onto the surface would quickly evaporate. It would be pretty hard to create a stable environment when the entire lake can go push in a matter of seconds.

[00:56:17]And if the water [music] doesn't evaporate, then on the contrary, it will turn into ice. Mars's surface temperature is well below freezing. Thin atmosphere only makes things worse.

[00:56:29]Another challenge is that Mars has a very weak magnetic field, [music] which means it has little protection from the solar wind. Solar wind is a stream of charged particles that are constantly flowing [music] out from the sun. These winds are pretty dangerous. They can strip away any water that's put on the Mars [music] surface. Also, the solar radiation on Mars is much stronger than on Earth. This would make it even more difficult to maintain any liquid water there. And finally, don't forget that we also need to purify this water to remove all the bacteria before drinking it. But let's not give up. If we stay super optimistic, we can still try to solve these problems.

[00:57:12]Basically, we need to find a way to maintain liquid water in one [music] place for a long time and make sure that it doesn't freeze or evaporate. So, how do we do it? There are a few ways we can go about it. Number one, insulation. We could wrap all the water containers [music] in insulation materials like foam for example or some reflective materials that can help to keep the water from freezing.

[00:57:37]Number two, heating. We could use various heaters and devices to keep the temperatures above freezing. Even thermal blankets, although this would require a lot of energy and would be [music] a difficult task.

[00:57:52]Number three, underground reservoirs. We could dig a large hole and cover it with a transparent material to allow sunlight to pass through. This would help keep the water warm and insulated.

[00:58:04]Number [music] four, salinity. Adding a small amount of salt or other dissolved minerals to water [music] can lower its freezing point. Although we'll need much more salt for things like lakes, and [music] this method isn't the most efficient.

[00:58:18]And finally, number five, building a greenhouse. We could build a greenhouse or some other structure that can [music] trap heat and create a more earthlike environment. This option is probably the best one. After all, a greenhouse [music] would also help us to grow various plants or other organisms. Yay, life. All right, great. [music] Let's say we've discovered some way to store water on Mars and keep it there in a liquid, lukewarm state. What now? What impact would this have on Mars?

[00:58:50]Actually, this would be great. If we were to pour all this water on Mars, it [music] could have drastically changed the climate of this cold red desert.

[00:59:00]First [music] of all, we could create a so-called greenhouse effect. It's when gases in a planet's atmosphere trap heat, causing the planet's [music] temperature to rise. And yeah, this is pretty bad for Earth, but for Mars, whose temperatures jump between 70 and -200° F, it would be awesome.

[00:59:19]This could cause the atmosphere to thicken and lead to the melting of the polar ice caps. Wouldn't that be awesome? Mars would begin to gradually turn from a lonely desert into Earth 2.0.

[00:59:31]It also means that the planet's atmosphere will change. For example, the weather patterns. Clouds could form on Mars. Rains would begin to fall. And rains, as we know, transfer water from one region to another, which would mean they could water plants if they appeared on Mars. But all of this is pure speculation. We can't be [music] completely sure what kind of impact pouring water on the Martian surface would have on the planet's climate.

[00:59:58]Perhaps to create this greenhouse [music] effect, we would need much more water than what we can transport.

[01:00:05]But if despite all these challenges, we had succeeded with our mission [music] and made Mars much warmer and moist, could life have been finally born there?

[01:00:14]Um, unfortunately, that would still [music] be pretty unlikely. Yes, water is very important for creating life, but that's not all we need. The composition of [music] the Martian soil isn't very conducive to supporting life. The soil is mostly made of minerals called [music] regalith, which are composed mainly of dust, sand, and other materials that aren't very good for plants.

[01:00:37]Theoretically, we could terraform Mars.

[01:00:40]Terraforming is a gradual, slow change of the planet so that it becomes suitable for our life. But this would be a very complex, long, and costly [music] process. Oh, and by the way, what would happen to our Earth after all that? We took quite a lot of water, didn't we?

[01:00:57]From Earth's perspective, transporting water to Mars would require an enormous amount [music] of resources, including energy and different materials. And the amount of water we'd have to spend would be [music] staggering. The loss of such a large amount of water from Earth's own reserves could have [music] a significant impact on our planet, especially in areas where water is already scarce.

[01:01:21]So basically, this is a really bad idea no matter how you look at it. Yeah, it may sound interesting, [music] but it's not a viable plan at all. It would require too many resources, too much money, [music] and it wouldn't even be worth it. That's why scientists and space agencies don't consider this idea seriously. Besides, there are many other more realistic and achievable goals in the [music] field of Mars exploration.

[01:01:47]For example, we can keep studying the planet's geology, atmosphere, and potential for past or present life.

[01:01:53]These studies would help us to find some resources that could support [music] future human exploration.

[01:02:00]Overall, we need to answer many more questions about Mars before we even begin to consider colonizing it. So, let's keep an eye on scientific news and updates.

[01:02:10][music]