Even after hundreds of years and advanced technology Mother Nature continues to keep us puzzled. Unexplainable lights in the sky, strange signals from outer space, and weird sights on Earth continue to baffle even the smartest minds in the world.
It’s these enigmas that inspire us to be curious about the world around us and to remember that we still have so much to learn. So here are 10 nature mysteries that science hasn’t been yet able to explain.
Ball lightning
When you hear the word lightning, you probably picture a quick flash of electricity. Ball lightning is different because it is spherical and can hover around for up to thirty seconds before disappearing with a “pop.”
Some scientists believe that when lightning hits the ground, it superheats mineral silicon in the soil and creates a vapor that ignites and glows as it burns in air. Others believe ball lightning is merely electrical activity causing a hallucination in the brain. But it has been photographed too many times to be written off as such.
The Taos hum
To the few residents of Taos, New Mexico who hear it, the Taos Hum sounds like a large truck idling at the end of your street. It never stops, you can hear it anytime, and it often seems louder inside your house than outside.
But when authorities bring super-accurate microphones to Taos to find the noise, they never pick it up. It could be infrasound (sounds so low we sense them through our body than our ears) coming from oceans or shifting tectonic plates.
It could also be that only certain people’s ears can translate radio waves or electromagnetic signals from electrical equipment.
Star jelly
For centuries, people have been finding blobs of translucent Jell-O like substance on their lawns after meteor showers. Scientists cannot prove it’s from space because by the time the gooey substance is collected and analyzed, it has mysteriously dissolved or evaporated.
It could be frog eggs regurgitated by birds. It might be certain types of algae that swell up when wet. But the reason it seems to appear right after shooting stars remains a strange coincidence that hasn’t been fully linked.
Earthquake lights
Before some earthquakes, people have spotted multicolored clouds or blue flames shooting out of the ground. Scientists thought these were hallucinations until witnesses took video that proved the lights were real.
Experts think that similar to a clicker-lighter, squeezing certain crystals together creates a spark. It seems that pressure squeezing crystals inside mountains causes them to spark, like when you crank a clicker-lighter.
Researchers think miles of squeezed rock generate electricity that travels to the surface where the sparks ignite in the air.
Singing sand dunes
Sliding down sand dunes in certain deserts will create not only a sand crunching sound, but an orchestral booming note. The noise can sound like a cello being played backward or a plane engine. Scientists have discovered that not all sand makes this sound.
To create this music, you need specific-sized sand particles and just the right amount of moisture. Similar to rubbing a violin string, when two layers of sand slide over each other, it creates vibration. But we still don’t know why millions of tiny grains of sand synchronize to vibrate at the exact same frequency to create one audible note.
Catatumbo lightning
One tiny spot on Earth has more lightning than any other place. Every night, without fail, billions of bolts crackle over Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela for hours at a time. Lightning storms come and go, but this storm has raged in the same spot for hundreds of years.
Scientists think geography is the cause: a cliff where cold air from the mountain blasts into warm air cascading off a lake. Others speculate that methane gas evaporating from marshes lubricates the storm, making it easier for lightning to jump.
The Placebo effect
If a doctor gives you a “medicine” that is actually just a sugar pill, but you truly believe it is real, your body can sometimes actually heal itself. Tiny electric currents in your brain can convince your body to release hormones that decrease swelling, reduce blood pressure, or dim the volume on pain receptors.
Your brain tricks itself into secreting natural painkillers called endorphins when you believe you are taking medicine. We have proven it happens, but we haven’t found the “missing link” that tells your body to heal itself just because you think so.
Hessdalen lights
Every few months, weird glowing orbs that look like flying cars soar through the night sky in Norway. When they appear, they can shoot across the sky at impossible speeds for scientists to catch on film. Most people don’t travel through the valley where they appear often.
Scientists think it might have something to do with the valley’s unique river; one side of the riverbed is covered in copper ore and the other in zinc. The two metals combined create a sort of battery, and researchers think when acidic gases are released from the water and rise into the air, they can combust and create the floating lanterns. We haven’t discovered what ignites them though.
Dark matter & dark energy
When you look at a galaxy, there isn’t enough gravity from all the stars to hold it together. It should blast apart like water shooting off a tire that is spinning too fast. Therefore, we know there is an “invisible” substance with gravity holding galaxies together.
We also know there is another invisible force acting like fuel to cause the universe to expand. We cannot see, touch, or smell this “dark” stuff, and we only know it exists because we see its gravity pulling on the stars we can see. It’s probably a particle that we haven’t discovered with our technology in 2026.
The Wow! signal
On August 15, 1977, a radio telescope picked up the strongest pulse of radio waves it had ever recorded. Not only was it powerful, but the 72-second broadcast was coming from the direction of the Sagittarius constellation.
Normally scientists can write off mysterious space noises as pulsars or dying stars, but this one was concentrated and powerful. The astronomer who discovered it was so excited when he saw the reading, he circled it on his computer printout and wrote “Wow!” in the margin.
It has never been heard since, and scientists in 2026 still don’t know exactly what it was. Most chalk it up to a passing comet or solar flare, but none of those theories can explain how it was strongest in one direction and looked so deliberate.
The following sources were consulted in the preparation of this article:
