WEBVTT - S05 Episode 15 Extra: Feeding Off the Scraps 0:00:10.440 --> 0:00:14.680 Welcome to Unexplained Extra with me Richard McClain smith, where 0:00:14.720 --> 0:00:17.239 for the weeks in between episodes, we look at stories 0:00:17.239 --> 0:00:19.920 and ideas that, for one reason or other, didn't make 0:00:19.960 --> 0:00:23.560 it into the previous show. In last week's episode, it 0:00:23.600 --> 0:00:26.960 Came from Above, we looked at the strange story involving 0:00:27.000 --> 0:00:30.200 a mysterious object said to have crashed near the town 0:00:30.240 --> 0:00:34.320 of Downa Gorsk in far eastern Russia in January nineteen 0:00:34.360 --> 0:00:38.159 eighty six. The object is believed by some to be 0:00:38.200 --> 0:00:43.000 nothing less than an alien artifact, potential evidence of technology 0:00:43.360 --> 0:00:47.159 that is not of this world. Whether true or not, 0:00:47.560 --> 0:00:51.360 I find the idea of alien artifacts immense fun, and 0:00:51.479 --> 0:00:54.520 it would have been impossible to discuss the idea without 0:00:54.600 --> 0:01:01.080 mentioning the strange celestial body known as Omuamua. This classified 0:01:01.160 --> 0:01:05.080 vaguely as an interstellar object due to its unusual properties, 0:01:05.560 --> 0:01:08.480 is perhaps the closest we've come to seeing an object 0:01:08.520 --> 0:01:12.640 whose potential alien provenance remains an open discussion within the 0:01:12.680 --> 0:01:18.080 mainstream scientific community. Most, it should be said, are unconvinced 0:01:18.080 --> 0:01:20.920 by the idea, and in all likelihood there will be 0:01:20.959 --> 0:01:27.520 a fascinating but decidedly non intelligent design explanation for its existence. However, 0:01:27.959 --> 0:01:30.720 much like the roadside picnic analogy I made in the 0:01:30.800 --> 0:01:34.200 last episode. In a twenty nineteen interview with The New 0:01:34.280 --> 0:01:39.960 Yorker magazine, Abraham Loebe, who's written extensively about Amoamoor's potential 0:01:40.000 --> 0:01:43.360 alien origins, made the point that even if we saw 0:01:43.400 --> 0:01:48.160 evidence of an advanced technological civilization, there's no guarantee that 0:01:48.240 --> 0:01:51.880 we'd recognize it as such. As he said, if you 0:01:51.920 --> 0:01:55.000 were to show a smartphone to a prehistoric human, they 0:01:55.000 --> 0:01:58.520 would have absolutely no context or frames of reference to 0:01:58.640 --> 0:02:01.920 even begin to understand it as anything other than an 0:02:01.960 --> 0:02:14.399 unusual rock. In a November twenty eighteen article in Scientific American, 0:02:15.000 --> 0:02:20.119 Abraham Lobe summarized six unusual facts about O'mohamoah that make 0:02:20.200 --> 0:02:24.840 for compelling reading. One was that, due to the objects 0:02:24.960 --> 0:02:28.240 relatively slow speed of motion, rather than thinking of it 0:02:28.280 --> 0:02:31.680 as something that moved through the Solar System, it might 0:02:31.760 --> 0:02:34.280 be better to think of it as the other way round, 0:02:35.040 --> 0:02:39.520 that the Solar System was moving past it. In this sense, 0:02:39.639 --> 0:02:43.919 as Lobe suggests, we might imagine O'mooamuah like a boy 0:02:44.080 --> 0:02:47.360 on the surface of the ocean, moving slowly through space, 0:02:47.880 --> 0:02:51.040 and the Solar system, as a large ship moving toward 0:02:51.080 --> 0:02:55.760 it might o'mooamuah have in fact been some kind of 0:02:55.880 --> 0:02:59.560 data gathering beacon positioned in space as part of a 0:02:59.600 --> 0:03:05.400 wider network of similarly placed beacons. Another interesting point is 0:03:05.440 --> 0:03:07.920 that since astronomers weren't able to get a picture of 0:03:07.960 --> 0:03:11.800 the object, despite many artists impressions of it suggesting it 0:03:11.840 --> 0:03:15.600 looks not too dissimilar to a cigar shaped asteroid, there's 0:03:15.639 --> 0:03:19.639 no definitive answer and what it actually looks like. Lobe 0:03:19.639 --> 0:03:22.799 suggests it could just as easily be flat and round, 0:03:23.480 --> 0:03:28.000 like a pancake. The most unusual fact for Lobe was 0:03:28.080 --> 0:03:31.240 how the object, as he says, deviated from an orbit 0:03:31.360 --> 0:03:34.600 that is shaped purely by the gravitational force of the Sun, 0:03:35.400 --> 0:03:38.720 which is to say, with no evidence of ice evaporating 0:03:38.760 --> 0:03:42.200 from it as you might expect from a comet. Something 0:03:42.280 --> 0:03:47.680 extremely unusual must be propelling it. One theory proposed by 0:03:47.720 --> 0:03:50.720 Lobe is that the object is some kind of solas 0:03:50.760 --> 0:03:53.320 sale using the heat of the Sun to keep it 0:03:53.360 --> 0:03:56.440 in motion. In order for this to be the case, 0:03:56.720 --> 0:03:59.240 it would have to be comprised of a material only 0:03:59.320 --> 0:04:04.880 millimeters thick, something he believes only a technological civilization would 0:04:04.920 --> 0:04:09.960 be able to manufacture. Despite some ambitious plans to build 0:04:10.000 --> 0:04:13.880 a spacecraft to chase after Omuamua, it is likely this 0:04:13.920 --> 0:04:17.680 object will forever remain a mystery, with it expected to 0:04:17.760 --> 0:04:20.920 return to interstellar space at some point in the next 0:04:21.000 --> 0:04:26.599 twenty or so years. Some, however, like the scientists in 0:04:26.680 --> 0:04:30.280 Russia who examined the object that crashed near down a Gorsk, 0:04:30.880 --> 0:04:34.320 might argue there's no need to travel into space to 0:04:34.360 --> 0:04:45.680 find evidence of alien artifacts. In nineteen seventy five, in 0:04:45.760 --> 0:04:49.520 West Ukraine, a quarry worker was digging out a section 0:04:49.560 --> 0:04:53.039 of clay about eight meters below the surface when he 0:04:53.160 --> 0:04:57.919 noticed an unusually spherical object embedded in it. Rubbing the 0:04:57.960 --> 0:05:01.440 clay away with his hands exposed what appeared to be 0:05:01.520 --> 0:05:05.520 a black ball of glass, like a giant marble, unlike 0:05:05.560 --> 0:05:10.480 anything he'd seen before. After pulling it free, he struck 0:05:10.480 --> 0:05:14.080 it against a metal bucket, and sure enough, a small 0:05:14.120 --> 0:05:18.400 fragment of what appeared to be glass chipped off. The 0:05:18.480 --> 0:05:21.440 man took the mysterious sphere home as a gift for 0:05:21.480 --> 0:05:24.760 his son, who in turn took it to school, where 0:05:24.760 --> 0:05:27.480 his teacher offered to get it looked into more closely. 0:05:27.920 --> 0:05:30.800 Eventually lending it to a local museum, where it was 0:05:30.880 --> 0:05:35.520 kept for a further three years. In nineteen seventy eight 0:05:35.760 --> 0:05:40.480 that teacher's son, Boris Nowmenko, who was by then working 0:05:40.520 --> 0:05:43.880 for the Earth Physics Institute of the Soviet Union's Academy 0:05:43.880 --> 0:05:47.839 of Sciences, took an interest in it. Not only was 0:05:47.839 --> 0:05:50.880 the object unusual in its shape, but since it was 0:05:50.960 --> 0:05:53.360 found in a seam of clay thought to be close 0:05:53.440 --> 0:05:56.159 to ten million years old, there was a good chance 0:05:56.240 --> 0:06:01.240 the object was also millions of years old. In October 0:06:01.320 --> 0:06:04.560 nineteen seventy nine, now Menko lent the ball to a 0:06:04.640 --> 0:06:08.760 doctor Valentine Fomenko, a senior research fellow of the Sawyer's 0:06:08.960 --> 0:06:12.960 Scientific and Industrial Association, in an effort to determine its 0:06:13.000 --> 0:06:17.560 true age and physical make up. However, since now Menko 0:06:17.680 --> 0:06:21.520 didn't want to damage the object, doctor Fomenko was restricted 0:06:21.640 --> 0:06:26.839 to using only non destructive methods in his investigation. Despite 0:06:26.880 --> 0:06:30.920 the limited conditions, Formenko was nonetheless able to make some 0:06:31.000 --> 0:06:36.600 intriguing findings. Firstly, the ball was not actually a perfect sphere, 0:06:37.240 --> 0:06:41.080 but rather slightly ovoid by the finest of margins, with 0:06:41.120 --> 0:06:45.200 the longer axis measuring three millimeters more than its midsection. 0:06:46.400 --> 0:06:48.800 With the use of a halogen light held up to 0:06:48.839 --> 0:06:52.520 its surface, Formenko was also able to see it was 0:06:52.600 --> 0:06:55.960 made from a black glass like substance that was so 0:06:56.160 --> 0:07:01.320 dark the light was unable to penetrate it. Then, after 0:07:01.480 --> 0:07:05.640 X raying the object, Famenko made the startling discovery that 0:07:05.760 --> 0:07:09.520 there was in fact something else inside it and in 0:07:09.560 --> 0:07:12.840 a core shaped like half an egg that appeared to 0:07:12.880 --> 0:07:16.800 absorb X rays four times less intensely than the material 0:07:16.920 --> 0:07:26.360 surrounding it. And that wasn't all. If there's ever been 0:07:26.400 --> 0:07:28.600 a year to make the mums in your life feel 0:07:28.600 --> 0:07:32.080 loved and appreciated on Mother's Day, it's this one. Having 0:07:32.120 --> 0:07:34.400 had a baby last year, I know how hard it's 0:07:34.400 --> 0:07:36.680 been for my mum not being able to share the 0:07:36.720 --> 0:07:38.800 moment with us in the ways we would like to 0:07:38.840 --> 0:07:41.239 have done, which is why I'll be honoring my mum 0:07:41.240 --> 0:07:45.160 with a heartfelt, sentimental gift the whole family can cherish 0:07:45.200 --> 0:07:48.800 together forever with story Worth. Story Worth is an online 0:07:48.800 --> 0:07:51.880 service that helps you and anyone special in your life 0:07:51.920 --> 0:07:55.640 to share stories through thought provoking questions about their memories 0:07:55.640 --> 0:07:59.280 and personal thoughts. Every week, story Worth emails your loved 0:07:59.320 --> 0:08:02.119 one with a different story prompt questions you've never thought 0:08:02.120 --> 0:08:05.000 to ask, like what is the best advice their mother 0:08:05.080 --> 0:08:07.880 ever gave them? Or what was alike to watch Neil 0:08:08.000 --> 0:08:11.480 Armstrong's first steps on the Moon. Story Worth has helped 0:08:11.560 --> 0:08:14.880 numerous families learn about each other in profound special ways, 0:08:15.080 --> 0:08:18.480 and their testimonials will practically move you to tears. After 0:08:18.560 --> 0:08:22.680 one year, story Worth will compile all the stories, including photos, 0:08:22.840 --> 0:08:26.200 into a beautiful keepsake book that shipped for free. Give 0:08:26.240 --> 0:08:28.840 your mum the most meaningful gift this Mother's Day with 0:08:28.960 --> 0:08:32.319 story Worth. Get started right away with no shipping required. 0:08:32.480 --> 0:08:36.360 By going to storyworth dot com slash unexplained, you'll get 0:08:36.360 --> 0:08:40.240 ten dollars off your first purchase that storyworth dot com 0:08:40.360 --> 0:08:48.680 slash unexplained for ten dollars off. Having discovered the inner COREPS, 0:08:48.760 --> 0:08:52.439 a noninvasive test was carried out to determine the object's 0:08:52.480 --> 0:08:58.760 overall density, which left Famenko and his team dumbfounded. According 0:08:58.760 --> 0:09:02.960 to their calculations, the inner core appeared to have a 0:09:03.080 --> 0:09:08.119 negative mass. If this were true, the material that comprised 0:09:08.120 --> 0:09:11.640 it would be in complete violation of what most scientists 0:09:11.800 --> 0:09:14.880 consider to be one of the fundamental laws that govern 0:09:14.960 --> 0:09:19.360 all known matter in our universe, as recognized in all 0:09:19.400 --> 0:09:24.599 classical theories concerning gravity, including Einstein's theory of general relativity, 0:09:25.240 --> 0:09:29.520 all energy and by extension, matter exists in a positive state, 0:09:30.280 --> 0:09:33.360 in the sense that it is something that increases cumulatively 0:09:33.679 --> 0:09:36.880 as more and more energy or matter is added to it. 0:09:38.000 --> 0:09:42.920 Something with negative mass would do the opposite. Very crudely, 0:09:43.160 --> 0:09:45.680 that would be like putting a kilogram of material on 0:09:45.720 --> 0:09:49.720 a weighing scale, then adding another material that, despite looking solid, 0:09:50.080 --> 0:09:54.200 actually reduced the combined overall weight of the objects placed 0:09:54.240 --> 0:09:58.120 on the scale. Since weight is actually a measure of 0:09:58.160 --> 0:10:01.680 the force of gravity on an object, as opposed to mass, 0:10:02.040 --> 0:10:04.760 which is simply how much matter is in an object, 0:10:05.240 --> 0:10:08.480 this could theoretically be achieved by a substance that had 0:10:08.559 --> 0:10:14.480 anti gravitational properties, despite no conclusive evidence that such a 0:10:14.520 --> 0:10:18.320 thing exists in our universe. The concept of negative mass 0:10:18.559 --> 0:10:23.080 has been applied to numerous hypothetical technologies, such as time 0:10:23.120 --> 0:10:27.000 travel devices and machines that might one day be able 0:10:27.000 --> 0:10:32.240 to artificially construct a traversible wormhole. After a number of 0:10:32.280 --> 0:10:35.680 further tests, including one that revealed the dimensions of the 0:10:35.720 --> 0:10:39.080 object to be based on a base twenty four number system, 0:10:39.400 --> 0:10:42.040 as opposed to Base ten as we tend to use. 0:10:42.720 --> 0:10:45.839 Famenko was left in little doubt that the strange black 0:10:45.920 --> 0:10:51.000 sphere had been manufactured by an alien intelligence, possibly containing 0:10:51.000 --> 0:10:56.920 a material with anti gravitational properties or even antimatter. A 0:10:57.000 --> 0:11:00.640 week after receiving the object, however, just as Flemenko and 0:11:00.679 --> 0:11:04.680 his team were starting to make headway, Boris now Menko 0:11:05.080 --> 0:11:08.599 demanded the urgent return of the object, and the investigations 0:11:08.679 --> 0:11:12.120 were brought to a swift end. It would be another 0:11:12.160 --> 0:11:23.200 two years before doctor Farmenko heard of it again, as 0:11:23.240 --> 0:11:27.120 reported by Vladimir Rubsov in the March twenty fifteen edition 0:11:27.320 --> 0:11:31.880 of The Fourteen Times. In February nineteen eighty one, two 0:11:32.000 --> 0:11:36.080 years after doctor Farmenko's experiments, an article appeared in the 0:11:36.120 --> 0:11:42.040 popular Russian newspaper Izvestia titled A Mysterious Ball in the 0:11:42.160 --> 0:11:48.319 Lebyanka Sellers. The article, written by doctor Yuri Kolodny, alleged 0:11:48.360 --> 0:11:52.560 that shortly after Fermenko published his findings, his results made 0:11:52.559 --> 0:11:55.760 their way to the Military Industrial Commission of the Soviet 0:11:55.880 --> 0:12:00.080 Union's Council of Ministers. The Council in turn alert to 0:12:00.120 --> 0:12:03.680 the Committee for State Security also known as the KGB, 0:12:04.200 --> 0:12:08.080 and instructed them to find the object and confiscate it immediately, 0:12:08.880 --> 0:12:12.080 and if Fermenco's results were found to be correct, to 0:12:12.240 --> 0:12:16.720 neutralize it in an echo of the hexham head story 0:12:16.880 --> 0:12:20.000 that I covered in Season one. Since being returned to 0:12:20.040 --> 0:12:23.600 Boris Nowmenko, the ball had apparently been passed between a 0:12:23.679 --> 0:12:26.920 number of individuals and was eventually found in the possession 0:12:27.080 --> 0:12:32.520 of a man named mister d'ev dev, a parapsychologist, was 0:12:32.559 --> 0:12:36.160 convinced the ball possessed some kind of unknown energy that 0:12:36.280 --> 0:12:40.960 he'd been trying to harness. After being confronted by the KGB, 0:12:41.520 --> 0:12:43.920 he agreed to lend it to them on the condition 0:12:44.000 --> 0:12:48.000 that they returned it to him afterwards. The ball was 0:12:48.040 --> 0:12:51.640 then given to a team of scientists, including doctor Colodney, 0:12:51.800 --> 0:12:56.360 who wrote the nineteen eighty one article about it. Colodney 0:12:56.400 --> 0:12:59.040 claimed that on opening the sphere, they found it to 0:12:59.040 --> 0:13:02.320 be comprised of green glass with a brown colored core 0:13:02.720 --> 0:13:05.920 that was also little more than glass, although it was 0:13:06.000 --> 0:13:09.000 unusual for having virtually no sodium in it and a 0:13:09.120 --> 0:13:14.439 high concentration of strontium. The team also found a number 0:13:14.440 --> 0:13:17.760 of fine cracks on the sphere's surface, suggesting there was 0:13:17.800 --> 0:13:20.800 no way it could have contained antimatter, since it was 0:13:20.840 --> 0:13:26.240 not even airtight. Sadly, they found also that doctor Fermenko's 0:13:26.320 --> 0:13:30.120 negative mass calculations had been made in error due to 0:13:30.160 --> 0:13:34.679 a mistake in calculating the ball's center of gravity. Having 0:13:34.679 --> 0:13:38.440 had the object formally carbon dated, Colodney revealed it was 0:13:38.480 --> 0:13:41.480 not millions of years old at all, but something much 0:13:41.520 --> 0:13:51.840 closer to a few hundred years old. After consulting with 0:13:51.880 --> 0:13:55.480 a Ukrainian historian that specialized in the history of glass, 0:13:56.000 --> 0:13:58.880 doctor Colodney and the rest of the team concluded that 0:13:58.920 --> 0:14:02.520 the mysterious black sphere was nothing more than a gallow, 0:14:03.400 --> 0:14:07.480 a large glass ball often constructed from waist glass that 0:14:07.640 --> 0:14:10.320 in the past would be heated up and used as 0:14:10.360 --> 0:14:15.600 an iron for pressing clothes. The mystery then appeared to 0:14:15.640 --> 0:14:20.400 have been solved. After making a copy of the artifact, 0:14:20.640 --> 0:14:23.560 Colodney wrote that what was left of the original sphere 0:14:24.000 --> 0:14:27.640 was then returned to mister Diev to use however he pleased, 0:14:28.560 --> 0:14:34.440 and that was almost that. After the article was published, 0:14:34.680 --> 0:14:37.760 it soon came to the attention of doctor Famenko, who 0:14:37.800 --> 0:14:42.119 carried out the original analysis of the object. His confusion 0:14:42.160 --> 0:14:44.920 at what he read prompted him to write a letter 0:14:44.960 --> 0:14:48.600 to the newspaper's editor, as he went on to explain 0:14:49.200 --> 0:14:53.360 the sphere he'd examined had been undeniably black, not green 0:14:53.440 --> 0:14:57.120 as doctor Colodney stated, nor were there any cracks on 0:14:57.160 --> 0:15:02.160 it at all. Furthermore, he knew mister d'ev had enclosed 0:15:02.160 --> 0:15:05.480 the ball in a block of epoxy resin, from which 0:15:05.480 --> 0:15:08.440 it would have been virtually impossible to extract it without 0:15:08.520 --> 0:15:12.320 damaging it. It was also odd he thought that Colodney 0:15:12.360 --> 0:15:15.000 said it had been carbon dated, since if it was 0:15:15.080 --> 0:15:17.880 nothing but glass, there'd be no carbon in it with 0:15:18.000 --> 0:15:21.680 which to date it. There could only be one explanation, 0:15:21.840 --> 0:15:25.520 he argued, the ball that KGB had taken from mister 0:15:25.600 --> 0:15:29.360 d'ev had not been the original sphere, but rather a 0:15:29.440 --> 0:15:32.960 genuine glass gallow that he used to palm them off. 0:15:34.680 --> 0:15:38.720 Doctor Famenko left his contact details on the letter, hoping 0:15:38.720 --> 0:15:41.920 that doctor Colodney would write back to him to explain 0:15:42.000 --> 0:15:52.880 his findings further, but Colodney never replied. If you enjoy 0:15:53.000 --> 0:15:55.400 Unexplained and would like to help support us, you can 0:15:55.480 --> 0:15:58.720 now do so via patroon. To receive access to add 0:15:58.760 --> 0:16:02.280 three episodes us go to patron dot com Forward slash 0:16:02.440 --> 0:16:05.480 Unexplained pod to sign up, or if you'd like to 0:16:05.480 --> 0:16:08.320 make a one time donation, you can go to Unexplained 0:16:08.360 --> 0:16:12.840 podcast dot com Forward Slash Support. All donations, no matter 0:16:12.880 --> 0:16:16.680 how large or small, are greatly appreciated. Unexplained, the book 0:16:16.720 --> 0:16:20.200 and audiobook, featuring ten stories that have never before been 0:16:20.240 --> 0:16:23.680 covered on the show, is now available to buy worldwide. 0:16:23.960 --> 0:16:27.360 You can purchase through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Waterstones, 0:16:27.520 --> 0:16:32.520 among other bookstores. All elements of Unexplained, including the show's music, 0:16:32.640 --> 0:16:36.160 are produced by me Richard McClain smith. Please subscribe and 0:16:36.240 --> 0:16:39.120 rate the show wherever you listen to podcasts, and feel 0:16:39.120 --> 0:16:41.560 free to get in touch with any thoughts or ideas 0:16:41.560 --> 0:16:44.560 regarding the stories you've heard on the show. Perhaps you 0:16:44.600 --> 0:16:46.680 have an explanation of your own you'd like to share. 0:16:47.120 --> 0:16:50.520 You can reach us online at Unexplained podcast dot com 0:16:50.800 --> 0:16:55.640 or Twitter at Unexplained Pod and Facebook at Facebook dot com, 0:16:55.920 --> 0:16:58.400 Forward Slash Unexplained Podcast