20 Scientific Mysteries We’re Dying to Get Solved

We need to know what causes a megacryometeor
20 Scientific Mysteries We’re Dying to Get Solved

Science has been around for a long time, so you’d think we’d have pretty much everything figured out by now. Sure, there are depths of the universe that we can’t explore at our current level of sciencing, but the earth, humans, animals, why objects behave the way they do under various circumstances — these are all studies we’ve exhausted. Absolutely nothing left to know about them. Right? RIGHT?

It turns out we don’t know shit about any of those things, comparatively. Like, did you know the vast majority of the ocean is unexplored? Or that we’re still finding new species of dinosaurs every week? Even the stuff we do know about, we have no idea why it works the way that it does. It’s enough to make you throw up your hands and say, “Oh my god, Karen, you can’t just ask things why they work.” 

Instead, r/arkitect asked r/AskReddit, “What is your favorite unsolved scientific mystery?”

Alphy11 10y ago How the fuck did monkeys get to South America? We don't have fossil evidence until after it split from Africa, and we know they didn't come down from North America. The most logical explanation is that they swam/island hopped, but seriously?
kjtest21 10y ago We don't how labor starts. We have been birthing babies for millions of years, and we have no idea what goes on. We especially have no idea why pre-mature labor starts either. Just a bonus
10y ago Bicycles. While we know the basics of the bicycle (leverage, gears, brakes, etc), we still don't have a reason why we can balance on a bicycle. Or, more specifically, why it's easier to stay balanced while moving than just sitting there. There was a theory that it could be explained the same way that a top stays spinning, but bike's don't have rotational momentum in the same way. There's also been some pseudoscience bs about how balance is actually the 6th sense or something like that. Still no idea.
OhTheHugeManatee 10y ago Why, every time I'm in the shower, the curtain sneaks up to stick to my ass. Seriously, this is unsolved. Most people think first of a convecting air current as the water heats the air. But it happens with any temperature of water. There's quite a complex theory about static electrical properties of water droplets, apparently receiving some charge as they leave a metal head. There's also a theory that it's a Bernoulli effect, or a coanda effect... But computer models don't bear it out. I think about it every morning. Science is waiting for the next
CatherineConstance 10y ago Okay well this is not as serious as some of the others on here, but THE FUCKING DEVIL'S KETTLE FALLS! It's a waterfall that splits in two in Minnesota, one half goes to Lake Superior but the other half just disappears down a hole and no one knows how deep it is or where it goes. People have dropped dyes, ping pong balls, etc down the hole and checked surrounding lakes and rivers but nothing ever turns up. It drives me crazy.
IFeelSorry4UrMothers 10y ago Megacryometeor. Giant ice rocks falling from the sky. They are similar to hail, but formed under different atmospheric conditions. These things are huge, and heavy. Many of weather-related phenomenon are still completely unknown.
specterofthepast 10y ago That bridge in Scotland that dogs commit suicide off of. I mean what is up with that? I'm assuming there is a scientific explanation.... I mean I guess it could be a doggie siren.
JonBanes 10y ago Often times pine trees will be twisted. This is easy to see when the bark is stripped off, common here in Colorado. Almost always the spiral is a right handed one, but rarely (1 in 10,000, I think) the handedness is left. No one really knows why and it's not like there is a clamor to fund that kind of research. Not a glamorous mystery but one that I think about often due to where I live.
HypotheticalMadman 10y ago Kepler 78b. It's a planet that sits extremely close to a sun. It's so close that it is astronomically impossible for it to still exist. It's interesting as fuck, look it up.
oberynsface 10y ago That we still don't know what the colour of a dinosaur is. I mean seriously, for all we know, a T-rex could be pink!
bazookareversefired 10y ago Edited 10y ago Gravity. How does it work and why is it an attraction-only force. Can there be a particle with negative gravity. That shit will repel everything away from it.
10y ago By far my favorite is the Fermi Paradox. If extraterrestrial civilizations exist in our galaxy, galaxy cluster or the greater visible universe, why haven't we detected them? Why aren't we getting spammed by millions of civilizations?
flarkenhoffy 10y ago Dark matter and dark energy. Essentially they're just placeholders. We can only infer their existence indirectly. Also, together they account for 95.1% of all content in the universe and are causing the expansion of the universe to grow at an increasing rate. So, you know, what the fuck.
dewittboo 10y ago What causes Lou Gehrig's disease.
themobyone . 10y ago I think ball lightning must be a good example of a fairly normal natural phenomenon that has not been explained by science.
mikejohnno 10y ago The lack of Lithium in the Universe. Should be loads of it.
Charzarll 10y ago We still don't know what keeps the ocean's salinity at 3.4 percent. We have some good ideas, but nothing that really holds up yet.
10y ago I'm a geologist. This is maybe not nature's greatest unanswered question (which probably lies in the fields of physics or biology), but my vote goes to the question of when and how did plate tectonics initiate on Earth. I've seen some interesting models-- especially in relation to whether plate tectonics could occur on other planets such as Super Earths, but there's no real consensus on an answer.
Popsnacks2 . 10y ago The Wow signal 1977- Nasa picks up in audible radio like transmissions coming into our atmosphere. The scientist who picked this signal up wrote down on a note that got passed to the higher ups wow! Giving it it's name. The source was never to be discovered and may have been the first ever connection to an e.t. Although highly unlikely.
10y ago A sperm whale can dive down to 3 kilometers deep, which is a record in the animal kingdom. They primarily eat squid. They've also been found to have giant suction marks on their body, suggesting there's something really, really big down there. I want to see it.

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