The OCtech Library Blog

STEM July: Some Science Stuff!

Have you ever wondered what plants from 32,000 years ago looked and/or smelled like? Well, chances are you won't get to stop and smell these flowers, but in a truly amazing feat, scientists have successfully revived a 32,000-year-old flowering plant from the Siberian permafrost. This isn't the only cool thing coming out of that area of the world- for those who like a little folklore with their science, there are a several of lakes within the area that are known for having their own "loch ness" (frequetly dubbed "Nesskie") type creatures... While reports and legends abound from several lakes in Siberia, one rather famous one is that of the "Brosno Dragon". Some legends even claim it has a habit of consuming entire vessels- Viking ships and Nazi planes. While that seems rather unlikely, surprisingly, it isn't the only story in which aquatic monsters have been given credit for aiding the war effort (the Nazi captain of the submarine UB885 blamed his capture by the British on an aggressive sea monster attack), or the only story from around the time of a creature "unknown to science" being spotted and potentially aggressive towards the machine carrying people in it (another fascinating tale is that of an enormous snake threatening the Belgian pilot Remy Van Lierde's airplane... this one even comes with a picture!) 

Mr. Liede isn't the only military man who seems credible to claim to have seen a monster- apparently there is an American naval captain who also had an interesting experience. While most (if not all) stories of monsters need to be taken with a few grains of salt, some do tend to be more credible than others. And if you are flexible in what you define as a monster (for example, if you apply science to try and figure out what may have actually been seen), there are still some mysteries out there that haven't been fully scientifically resolved yet. For example, is there something strange in Lake Labynkyr (a question that was asked again and investigated as recently as 2014)? Even if we don't necessarily believe that there are monsters, it can be equally fun to try and tease out what someone may have seen by applying your existing ecological and scientific knowledge. Just because it might not be a monster, doesn't make it any less interesting... be it the psychology that might drive a German Uboat captain to blame his capture on a monster, rather than human error, or the tricks that light and movement can play on an untrained eye. And sometimes, even science can't fully account for what was seen (such as the picture that Mr. Liede took).