July 3, 2012 • 24 mins
An anomaly of geography, the shores of Dead Sea form the lowest dry spot on Earth. It's been visited by millions, including King Herod and Cleopatra, all seeking the health benefits of this saline lake. Learn about this unusual spot with Josh and Chuck.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera.
It's ready. Are you welcome to Stuff you Should Know?
From House Stuff Works dot com? Hey, and welcome to
the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, There's Charles W. Chuck Bryant,
and you put us together and throwing a couple of microphones,
(00:25):
little jar pot pourri, and you've got stuff you should know.
If you get my chocolate and your peanut butter, then
we make a delicious extra large pieces cup extra large
with a lot of body hair. Yeah, you can pick
that out, though you can eat around it. You want
to pick it up before you eat them because of
getting up the chest here, Chuck. Yes, are you familiar
(00:49):
with the Dead Sea? I am, and I really really
want to go get in it one day. Okay, I
would like to too, um, especially because I am particularly
interested in what I've come to term geographical ironies. And
there's no greater geographical irony than the Dead Sea because
(01:12):
it's called the dead Sea but it's dying. Yeah, that's
pretty ironic, it is. And sad well yeah, I mean
that may not have come across my flipped tone, but
I think it's sad. Yeah, and it's not called the
dead Sea because of its properties. I mean, I'm sorry,
it is called the Detchy because properties. It's not called
the Etchy because it's dying. No, but which makes it
(01:34):
irun After thousands and thousands and eons of years, people
have been going to this awesome little spot forever. Um.
It's in real danger and it's of course thanks to humans,
and we'll get to that. But the Dead Sea is
an example of a vanishing tourist attraction. Um. There's a
lot of places that are um have been listed and
(01:57):
identified as this place isn't gonna be around fifty years,
so like, if you're interested, you better go now. The
Dead Sea is definitely one of them. They think that
by it's possible it won't be there. Whatever it is
there is not going to be anything worth visiting. Yes
you want to go cry, I think there is, uh
and fill it with your salty tears. Maybe that's what
(02:18):
we should do. UM. I don't even have the stat
from me, but I believe I read today that it's
it's following by about a meter per year. Yes, that
is correct, right, yeah, um, which is scary because as
everyone who doesn't live in the US knows a meter
is um almost three ft, it's over three ft. It's
(02:39):
a certain amount of feet, it's more than a yard.
All right, let's talk about the Dead Sea as a whole. Well, yeah,
there's a reason why you should care about this. This
is a really interesting, unique place that has some really
awesome qualities to it. So here and we're going to
describe why you should be sad that the Dead Sea
is dying. That's right, Uh it is. First of all,
(03:00):
you're some unique properties of the Dead Sea. It is
feet three below sea level, and its shores that surround
it are literally the lowest points on planet Earth, the
lowest dry point. Yeah right, yeah, sure, it's not like
the bottom of the ocean. But you're basically bathing in
a lake feet below the ocean. And it is a lake.
(03:24):
It's a terminal lake. It's not a sea terminal, meaning
that water flows in and it doesn't flow out. The
only way that water leaves it is by evaporation, which
is super interesting. Well that's what gives it it's um
it's amazing properties. Could tell break the news? Can I
for people that don't know this, thank you very much.
(03:44):
So you have water flowing in its main tributary is
the Jordan River, or for Biblia Files, I guess Bibbla
Files the river Jordan's at the Jordan River. They like
to flip that um. And like you said, it comes in,
but it doesn't go out, but it evaporates. Well, the
Jordan River doesn't just bring fresh water into the Dead Sea.
(04:05):
It brings a lot of salty, brackish water. Okay, So
because this is in one of the hottest places on Earth,
the water evaporates pretty quickly, right, Yeah, otherwise it would
be overflowing, which would be kind of awesome exactly. But
because of this evaporation, the salt crystals are left behind,
mineral salts um and so water that comes in, whether
(04:27):
fresh or otherwise, it just increases in more and more
and more concentration, which is why the Dead Sea is
one of the saltiest places on Earth. Yeah, and have
you seen the photos of the huge accumulations of these minerals,
I guess, just various salt minerals. They like they look
like sculptures almost in places, it looks like crystal outcroppings.
(04:50):
It's about two fifty square miles. It is surrounded by
the West Bank Israel and Jordan's which also makes it.
You know, they're trying to get these neighbors to agree
on how to best manage this place, and it's hard
to get that area to agree on a lot, so
they That's one of the reasons I think that there
(05:10):
are issues. It's hard to get these folks to the
table sometimes agreed. All right, we'll put thank you. Um.
So you've got you've got water coming in, you have
water staying terminally. Did you know? Also Atlanta's original name
was terminus um so, which makes the Dead Sea terminal lake,
like you said, um. And the salt that's coming in
(05:34):
it's not like table salt or anything that it's actually
well known for thirty five mineral salts um that the
sea boasts like calcium, bromi, potassium, magnesium, iodine. But the
thing that makes the Dead Sea so so significant salt wise,
is that the concentrations of this because of the unique
(05:58):
setup of the water flowing in in a vap reading,
it's so salini sealini selin honest um that compared to
an ocean, it just endorfs the salinity of any ocean. Yeah,
I think they the saltiest ocean. Um is somewhere between
three to six um salty and I generally see about
(06:24):
in the dead sea, So, which is six percent for
the saltiest ocean, like the kind of ocean where like yeah,
on the highest level, on the high end, and like
five times that five six times that for the dead sea. Yeah,
it's amazing. As a result of this, so, um, people
are like, well, this is this is just great, this
(06:44):
is healthful. What does this mean? It means a bunch
of things. First of all, it means proven through physics
and just general observation. You float like with no trouble
whatsoever because of the incredible density of the sea water
in the dead sea. And another fun thing you can
do is go to Google images and google dead sea
float and you will see lots of pictures that people
(07:07):
laying virtually on top of the water reading books and newspapers.
And it's pretty funny. It's like it looks like an
illusion almost, it does. It looks like it's been photoshop.
That's right. Um, so you've got the fact that you
can float, But there's a lot of people who claim
like healthful benefits of the dead sea. Um, and I
was looking this up, like there's there's entire companies UM
(07:31):
like UH was the name of it, the Dead Sea
Research Center, dead Sea Works. There's a lot of like cosmetics,
skin care products, all this stuff that are associated with
the Dead Sea and that used dead sea minerals and
all that UM, and they all boast all sorts of
what appeared to be snake oil properties. Emilyash to sell
(07:53):
dead sea mud masks, so but she doesn't anymore. I
think the cost of getting the dead Sea mud was
cost prohibitive for and it wasn't a big seller. It
was it was an economic decision. So, but it wasn't
because it was like fraudulent. Okay, so is it? Well?
I was looking and I couldn't find a lot, but
(08:15):
I did find some stuff where there have been studies
on like Utah Salt Lake UM the effects of that
UM and there's been some studies on the Dead Sea
and they found UM that it does have effects, demonstrable
effects on things like arthritis, arthritis, It reduces UM, the
(08:37):
symptoms of that fibromalogic yes, xema. It's it's been shown
to reduce that UM and UH basically just generally improving
the health of your skin. Yeah, any kind of skin
like psoriasis or anything going on with your skin. It
should help, right, And these were studies that were carried
out by UM Like, they were published in pure viewed journals,
(09:01):
So I mean they're legitimate studies. What's got thirty five minerals,
it's got to be good for you, right, and in
very very high concentrations, so it's not just the minerals.
And in in the dead sea um itself. Like the mud
is well, like you're saying, Emily so Sol the mud
pack mud mask, Yeah, um, Like that's you can just
(09:21):
walk up on the shore in some places and scoop
up the mud and then bam, there's your mud mask
um rich and nutrients. So it's not much of a
surprise that people have kind of flocked to this as
a natural spa for a very very very long time. Yeah.
And I think even before, I mean they did it
back in biblical days, even before we had all these studies,
(09:43):
I think they realized some of the properties. And apparently
the sun there is filtered. The UV rays are filtered
because of the atmosphere. Yeah, is that right? The atmospheric
pressure because it's so far below sea level. Um, it's
it filters a lot of the UV rays out, so
laying out, Um, is I guess better for you laying out?
I remember that back in the day, Go lay out, Yeah, exactly,
(10:07):
work on the dan that's still lay out. Do you
lay out? I believe it. But which is basically just
like napping or reading in the sun exactly, that's what
it amounts to. Yeah, like I don't have like little
goggles baby oil. So what they suggest if you go
to the Dead Sea and you want to revitalize yourself
a bit, um, take a swim or a float, get
(10:31):
in there, get get in the water like itself and
just spend some time in there. Um, apply some of
the some of the mud maybe that you can scoop
up or they're probably selling stuff. Um, thermomineral bath they
say exists there as well. Is that right? Yeah? That
place is amazing it is and um. Then they of
(10:52):
course also suggest optional psychological counseling and follow up consultation
with a medical professional. So that's like a seventh step
special right, it's like good for the mind and body, right,
that's what they say. Um, but yeah, you can apparently
travel to the area and there are plenty of places
where you just show up and you're like, I have
rumored toroid arthritis, and they say, okay, well come with us,
(11:14):
and we're gonna take you to the to the Dead
Sea and put you through these this procedure for bath
salt baths. Yeah. I think it's a lot like um
going to Battle Creek in the nineteenth century. Oh yeah,
you know and hanging out with Dr Kellogg. Oh yeah,
that Battle Creek. Yeah, okay, sure, yeah, they'd be kind
of cool. Yeah, because that means we have a time
machine exactly what we do um another property of the
(11:36):
Dead Sea. And what this um mineral and salt content
does that we haven't mentioned is it kills everything, which
is why it's called the Dead Sea. It kills almost everything,
almost everything. Yes, you're right, Like there's no seaweed in there,
there's no fish in there, and there's no it's scumb
on the top of it. There's no nothing like when
you walk in the Dead Sea like you are one
(11:59):
of the only the only other living beings in there. Yeah.
What does it support like tiny a me butter or something.
Bacteria halophilic bacteria which means salt loving um. And they're
considered extreme of files because the the um. The environment
they live in is so inhospitable to any other life
(12:20):
that the fact that there's this type of bacteria that
can live in there is pretty amazing. But they're they're
like akin to the same types of um life that
live near like sulfuric three D degree undersea events. That
that's an extreme of file. We should do an extreme
file podcast. We totally should, and we will. I think
(12:41):
we should. Uh. I have some other little factoids I
drew up, not myself, but I found UM. When we
said thousands of years, what we really meant was millions
of years. I said, Okay, it's been around for about
three million years. Uh and uh. In the Bible they
actually say that the Dead Sea will one day come
(13:02):
alive and be full of marine life. That would be surprising.
I'm not so sure if that's gonna happen considering the
sailing content. UM, unless what they meant was one day
it's going to dry out completely and they will open
a marine park there or something, because that's about the
(13:22):
only way it's gonna happen. It's really bitter, it's not
gonna taste salty like table salt, and it's kind of stinky.
They used to call it the stinky Sea hundreds of
years ago. Apparently that's what it says. And the Greeks
called it lake uh lake a saphilite as full tight
teas because asphalt will rise to the surface at times,
(13:46):
the natural asphalt, not roads that were built underneath three
million years ago. And Cleopatra was a big fan. Cleopatra
and King Herod built the town of Masada as like
a little dead sea playground for himself, a little resort.
And um, so nothing's living there except people, and it
is dying itself though, And this is when we come
(14:08):
to I guess a sad portion. Well not yet. You
mentioned the Bible. Yeah, um, it definitely has ties to
the Bible. Obviously it's in a pretty biblical region. Um.
But it's a It's also well, the River Jordan is
supposedly where John the Baptist baptized Jesus um and uh,
it's also where the Dead Sea scrolls were found. Of course,
(14:29):
so um. From ninety seven and nineteen fifty eight, this
amazing goat Herder found a bunch of Hebrew manuscripts the
same guy who invented cheese. No, this is a different
one that was France. What if it was the same
dude Tim that that invented cheese. Um, this guy is
a different one, although I wonder if he's related to
(14:50):
the rope forts of France. Um. Anyway, he found a
bunch of scrolls of Hebraic scrolls that were written from
the third century BC to the second century A d
um and they basically were just like, hey, here's what's
going on in this area right now. Uh, we'll just
write it down and hide them for posterity. And apparently
it's like one of the greatest archaeological finds ever as
(15:13):
far as people are concerned, because it gave a real
peek into this time when Christianity was starting out. And
I've read recently there's a lot of controversy over who
they think wrote the Dead Sea scrolls. Um, And I'm
not sure where they've landed on that, but of course
there's controversy anything that old. It's not gonna have a
little author signature on it, right, So Chuck, Now we
(15:36):
get to the depressing part. I know, I just I
was almost excited, but then I remember what we were
talking about. The Dead Sea is actually dying, uh, meaning
the River Jordan's is being diverted along the way, uh,
because they need water in that area to support people
in agriculture. Um, just being diverted via damns and things
(15:57):
like that. To the extent that the Dead Sea is
evaporating more than it's filling up these days, we'll consider this. Um.
In the fifties, the Dead Sea used to get like
one point three billion cubic meters of fresh water a day.
Now it's fifty million. Yeah, that's a sharp drop. Fifty
million compared to one point three billions. That's a lot
(16:20):
of a drop off. So yeah, it's starting to dry
up really really fast. Yeah, and luckily, um, well we'll
see what happens. But luckily there are people and organizations
that are on this big time because of the you know,
not only the cultural significance, but the Dead Sea, despite
(16:40):
it being dead in the water, supports like a really
vast ecosystem around it. And if the Dead Sea went away,
that would not be good for this ecosystem. Yeah. But again,
it's a it's a tough that's a tough one. I mean,
like people people neither drinking water. Yeah, Like we've done
a podcast on how long can you survive without food
and water? And you can go a long time with
out food, but water gets you in a couple of days,
(17:02):
you know. Um, So that's a tough one. And a
lot of people have said, hey, you know what, let's
just build a canal the red seas over there, the
dead seas right here. All we needs like a hundred
and thirty five miles a canal and we'll just flood
the dead sea with red sea. And people want, no, no,
hold on, let's come with something else because the dead
(17:24):
seas um salt content, mineral content would be disrupted at
that point and just wouldn't be what it is. Yeah,
it almost sounds like they're like, well, we'll just let
it die. Well, like we'd rather it die than become
less salty. Yeah, just another inland sea. Like look at
all those people out there float and read their newspaper,
and all of a sudden they dropped the moment that
what are we gonna do that? So what does the
(17:45):
canal slash pipeline? The projects called the Two Seas Canal,
and it is fairly controversial on uh several fronts Um.
One is that it's gonna cost about five billion dollars,
which is not cheap. Uh um it would include a
desalination plant to generate fresh water. And the good news
(18:08):
it would be, you know, it would be a symbol
of cooperation between these often warren warring countries that surround it.
So that would be good. But a lot of environmentalists
are saying that, you know, it's a threatened lake. In
two thousand and six, it was the threatened Lake of
the year. They didn't know they had such a designation.
But I guess it's good they do well. The Global
(18:28):
Nature funded Yeah, and they're one of their project directors said,
we call it the threatened Lake of the Year in
two thousand six, and we could easily do it again
for two thousand ten. Like, don't even don't even make
us right, right. I guess they didn't know because it's
two thousand twelve. Yeah, um, But they are proposing some
(18:49):
alternative alternatives. They're saying that the spokesperson for what is it,
Friends of the Middle East, Yeah, Front of the Earth
in the Middle East, Friends of the Earth in the
Middle East. Um, the Israeli branches saying, you know what,
we can actually return um a lot of water to
the river Jordan's through conservation and less agricultural use. So well,
that's the that's the case everywhere. I mean, remember we've
(19:11):
talked about this before, like of agricultural water uses, um
uh yeah, it goes to evaporation or runoff, like just
it's so inefficient. Agricultural water use is so inefficient. And
then like even like here in our dear town of Atlanta,
like we have the leakiest sewer system in the um
(19:32):
developed the world, and we lose tons of water every
day to it, and it's just like, well it's lost,
you know. Yeah. So a lot of environmentalists are saying
some huge engineering solution is not always the best solution.
I'm not sure how I feel about it. I'd love
to see the Dead Sea saved, but also want the
people in the Middle East to grow crops. Well yeah,
(19:54):
you know and live agreed. Uh. So, I guess right now,
as it stands, um, no one's quite figured out what
to do. Yeah. I think this year actually, um, they
have sunk quite a few million dollars into a pretty
vast study UM on this canal pipeline project and seeing
if it's the best alternative. Cool. So I guess we'll
(20:15):
find out maybe later this year what they're gonna do well,
I would say, get you to the Dead Sea A
S A P. Because if nobody does anything, cut off date, yeah,
and it's just gonna get sadder and sadder. If there's
like if it's like the size of a swimming pool
eventually and there's like two dudes floating in it, yeah,
that would be sad. Um. Okay, well, that's it for
(20:37):
the Dead Sea, right, we got to explain everything. That's
it for the Dead Sea. Potentially, let's it for us
in the Dead Sea. Um. If you want to learn
more about the Dead Sea, you can type dead and
see into the search part how stuff works dot com?
And uh does that bring up? What does that bring up? Man? Uh?
We got a few quick things to plug and then
(20:59):
we will get to listen. Okay, like what all right?
So now listen to maim Yuh Josh, I'm gonna call
this uh Antarctic reply. And it's not about penguins and
polar bears, although she did put that in there, but
I raised that part. Um. Shannon actually lived there for
three summers. I was a technician at a terrestrial Arctic
(21:22):
base in Alaska, and several of my coworkers spent in
the northern Hemisphere working on Antarctica. Actually she was Alaska,
set back the arttic. Yes, that's north, that's right. The
Antarctic is south, that's right. We know that she had
friends that worked in Antarctica. On Antarctica. Man, it's so
(21:43):
picky people, that's so pick uh. From that experience, I
can personally tell you that while life at the polls
is basic, it is far from primitive. Antarctica has stores, bars, saunas,
and even a pair of a t m s. While
many of these amenities are not liable to tourists, doesn't
change the fact that Antarctic bases are designed for comfortable,
(22:04):
long term habitation. Also, there is actually a fair amount
to do there. Every community has trails for walking, skiing,
or snowshoeing. Uh. The larger base just basically the three
kinds of walking. We have three kinds of walking to
do here in the snow. The large bases have exercise areas.
Scientists host lectures, holiday celebrations, and game tournaments. I imagine
(22:28):
they probably play this is the little slide game, shuffle board,
the shuffleboard on ice uh, hockey, yeah, curling, curling, thank you.
The permanent bases have libraries and Honestly, there's always someone
who has an interesting story to tell. The temporary basis.
When they abandon them, they just set the library on fire.
(22:49):
I think so. Um. There, then, the most important part
of polar life is the food. And this doesn't surprise Usually,
when you're stuck like that, you take your food pretty
seriously because it's like the one thing that you can have.
That's what she says. Actually, no food is the lifeblood
of any Antarctic camp or base, and the staff does
our best to make sure that every meal is plentiful
(23:11):
and delicious. UM. On the medical front, at least on
the American side of things, it's not nearly as basic
as you described. Um. In fact, many Antarctic communities have
medical support that is comprehensive and available at towns the
same size, uh that that is available at towns of
the same size in Canada or Alaska. The bases have
equipment to do emergency surgery if needed, and they have
(23:33):
ic us capable of treating everything from burns to hypothermia.
And if you need extra stuff then it can be
air dropped, she said. In the dead of winter, even
you just want to look out that's right, look out ahead.
Above above all right. That is from Shannon Um who
has spent time in Alaska. Knows a bunch of people there.
That's awesome. Knows a bunch of people in Antarctica. That's right.
(23:56):
Thanks a lot for that channel. We appreciate it. UM.
Let's see if you know something about something we've talked about,
that we didn't talk about, or just something you want
to supplement something we've spoken about. If you floated on
the dead seat, I'd like to hear that. That's go one. UM.
You can tweet to us at s y ESK podcast.
You can join us on Facebook dot com slash stuff
(24:16):
you Should Know, or you can send us an email
at stuff podcast at Discovery dot com. For more on
this and thousands of other topics, visit how Stuff works
dot com. M brought to you by the reinvented two
(24:40):
thousand twelve camera. It's ready. Are you
Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera.
It's ready. Are you welcome to Stuff you Should Know?
From House Stuff Works dot com? Hey, and welcome to
the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, There's Charles W. Chuck Bryant,
and you put us together and throwing a couple of microphones,
(00:25):
little jar pot pourri, and you've got stuff you should know.
If you get my chocolate and your peanut butter, then
we make a delicious extra large pieces cup extra large
with a lot of body hair. Yeah, you can pick
that out, though you can eat around it. You want
to pick it up before you eat them because of
getting up the chest here, Chuck. Yes, are you familiar
(00:49):
with the Dead Sea? I am, and I really really
want to go get in it one day. Okay, I
would like to too, um, especially because I am particularly
interested in what I've come to term geographical ironies. And
there's no greater geographical irony than the Dead Sea because
(01:12):
it's called the dead Sea but it's dying. Yeah, that's
pretty ironic, it is. And sad well yeah, I mean
that may not have come across my flipped tone, but
I think it's sad. Yeah, and it's not called the
dead Sea because of its properties. I mean, I'm sorry,
it is called the Detchy because properties. It's not called
the Etchy because it's dying. No, but which makes it
(01:34):
irun After thousands and thousands and eons of years, people
have been going to this awesome little spot forever. Um.
It's in real danger and it's of course thanks to humans,
and we'll get to that. But the Dead Sea is
an example of a vanishing tourist attraction. Um. There's a
lot of places that are um have been listed and
(01:57):
identified as this place isn't gonna be around fifty years,
so like, if you're interested, you better go now. The
Dead Sea is definitely one of them. They think that
by it's possible it won't be there. Whatever it is
there is not going to be anything worth visiting. Yes
you want to go cry, I think there is, uh
and fill it with your salty tears. Maybe that's what
(02:18):
we should do. UM. I don't even have the stat
from me, but I believe I read today that it's
it's following by about a meter per year. Yes, that
is correct, right, yeah, um, which is scary because as
everyone who doesn't live in the US knows a meter
is um almost three ft, it's over three ft. It's
(02:39):
a certain amount of feet, it's more than a yard.
All right, let's talk about the Dead Sea as a whole. Well, yeah,
there's a reason why you should care about this. This
is a really interesting, unique place that has some really
awesome qualities to it. So here and we're going to
describe why you should be sad that the Dead Sea
is dying. That's right, Uh it is. First of all,
(03:00):
you're some unique properties of the Dead Sea. It is
feet three below sea level, and its shores that surround
it are literally the lowest points on planet Earth, the
lowest dry point. Yeah right, yeah, sure, it's not like
the bottom of the ocean. But you're basically bathing in
a lake feet below the ocean. And it is a lake.
(03:24):
It's a terminal lake. It's not a sea terminal, meaning
that water flows in and it doesn't flow out. The
only way that water leaves it is by evaporation, which
is super interesting. Well that's what gives it it's um
it's amazing properties. Could tell break the news? Can I
for people that don't know this, thank you very much.
(03:44):
So you have water flowing in its main tributary is
the Jordan River, or for Biblia Files, I guess Bibbla
Files the river Jordan's at the Jordan River. They like
to flip that um. And like you said, it comes in,
but it doesn't go out, but it evaporates. Well, the
Jordan River doesn't just bring fresh water into the Dead Sea.
(04:05):
It brings a lot of salty, brackish water. Okay, So
because this is in one of the hottest places on Earth,
the water evaporates pretty quickly, right, Yeah, otherwise it would
be overflowing, which would be kind of awesome exactly. But
because of this evaporation, the salt crystals are left behind,
mineral salts um and so water that comes in, whether
(04:27):
fresh or otherwise, it just increases in more and more
and more concentration, which is why the Dead Sea is
one of the saltiest places on Earth. Yeah, and have
you seen the photos of the huge accumulations of these minerals,
I guess, just various salt minerals. They like they look
like sculptures almost in places, it looks like crystal outcroppings.
(04:50):
It's about two fifty square miles. It is surrounded by
the West Bank Israel and Jordan's which also makes it.
You know, they're trying to get these neighbors to agree
on how to best manage this place, and it's hard
to get that area to agree on a lot, so
they That's one of the reasons I think that there
(05:10):
are issues. It's hard to get these folks to the
table sometimes agreed. All right, we'll put thank you. Um.
So you've got you've got water coming in, you have
water staying terminally. Did you know? Also Atlanta's original name
was terminus um so, which makes the Dead Sea terminal lake,
like you said, um. And the salt that's coming in
(05:34):
it's not like table salt or anything that it's actually
well known for thirty five mineral salts um that the
sea boasts like calcium, bromi, potassium, magnesium, iodine. But the
thing that makes the Dead Sea so so significant salt wise,
is that the concentrations of this because of the unique
(05:58):
setup of the water flowing in in a vap reading,
it's so salini sealini selin honest um that compared to
an ocean, it just endorfs the salinity of any ocean. Yeah,
I think they the saltiest ocean. Um is somewhere between
three to six um salty and I generally see about
(06:24):
in the dead sea, So, which is six percent for
the saltiest ocean, like the kind of ocean where like yeah,
on the highest level, on the high end, and like
five times that five six times that for the dead sea. Yeah,
it's amazing. As a result of this, so, um, people
are like, well, this is this is just great, this
(06:44):
is healthful. What does this mean? It means a bunch
of things. First of all, it means proven through physics
and just general observation. You float like with no trouble
whatsoever because of the incredible density of the sea water
in the dead sea. And another fun thing you can
do is go to Google images and google dead sea
float and you will see lots of pictures that people
(07:07):
laying virtually on top of the water reading books and newspapers.
And it's pretty funny. It's like it looks like an
illusion almost, it does. It looks like it's been photoshop.
That's right. Um, so you've got the fact that you
can float, But there's a lot of people who claim
like healthful benefits of the dead sea. Um, and I
was looking this up, like there's there's entire companies UM
(07:31):
like UH was the name of it, the Dead Sea
Research Center, dead Sea Works. There's a lot of like cosmetics,
skin care products, all this stuff that are associated with
the Dead Sea and that used dead sea minerals and
all that UM, and they all boast all sorts of
what appeared to be snake oil properties. Emilyash to sell
(07:53):
dead sea mud masks, so but she doesn't anymore. I
think the cost of getting the dead Sea mud was
cost prohibitive for and it wasn't a big seller. It
was it was an economic decision. So, but it wasn't
because it was like fraudulent. Okay, so is it? Well?
I was looking and I couldn't find a lot, but
(08:15):
I did find some stuff where there have been studies
on like Utah Salt Lake UM the effects of that
UM and there's been some studies on the Dead Sea
and they found UM that it does have effects, demonstrable
effects on things like arthritis, arthritis, It reduces UM, the
(08:37):
symptoms of that fibromalogic yes, xema. It's it's been shown
to reduce that UM and UH basically just generally improving
the health of your skin. Yeah, any kind of skin
like psoriasis or anything going on with your skin. It
should help, right, And these were studies that were carried
out by UM Like, they were published in pure viewed journals,
(09:01):
So I mean they're legitimate studies. What's got thirty five minerals,
it's got to be good for you, right, and in
very very high concentrations, so it's not just the minerals.
And in in the dead sea um itself. Like the mud
is well, like you're saying, Emily so Sol the mud
pack mud mask, Yeah, um, Like that's you can just
(09:21):
walk up on the shore in some places and scoop
up the mud and then bam, there's your mud mask
um rich and nutrients. So it's not much of a
surprise that people have kind of flocked to this as
a natural spa for a very very very long time. Yeah.
And I think even before, I mean they did it
back in biblical days, even before we had all these studies,
(09:43):
I think they realized some of the properties. And apparently
the sun there is filtered. The UV rays are filtered
because of the atmosphere. Yeah, is that right? The atmospheric
pressure because it's so far below sea level. Um, it's
it filters a lot of the UV rays out, so
laying out, Um, is I guess better for you laying out?
I remember that back in the day, Go lay out, Yeah, exactly,
(10:07):
work on the dan that's still lay out. Do you
lay out? I believe it. But which is basically just
like napping or reading in the sun exactly, that's what
it amounts to. Yeah, like I don't have like little
goggles baby oil. So what they suggest if you go
to the Dead Sea and you want to revitalize yourself
a bit, um, take a swim or a float, get
(10:31):
in there, get get in the water like itself and
just spend some time in there. Um, apply some of
the some of the mud maybe that you can scoop
up or they're probably selling stuff. Um, thermomineral bath they
say exists there as well. Is that right? Yeah? That
place is amazing it is and um. Then they of
(10:52):
course also suggest optional psychological counseling and follow up consultation
with a medical professional. So that's like a seventh step
special right, it's like good for the mind and body, right,
that's what they say. Um, but yeah, you can apparently
travel to the area and there are plenty of places
where you just show up and you're like, I have
rumored toroid arthritis, and they say, okay, well come with us,
(11:14):
and we're gonna take you to the to the Dead
Sea and put you through these this procedure for bath
salt baths. Yeah. I think it's a lot like um
going to Battle Creek in the nineteenth century. Oh yeah,
you know and hanging out with Dr Kellogg. Oh yeah,
that Battle Creek. Yeah, okay, sure, yeah, they'd be kind
of cool. Yeah, because that means we have a time
machine exactly what we do um another property of the
(11:36):
Dead Sea. And what this um mineral and salt content
does that we haven't mentioned is it kills everything, which
is why it's called the Dead Sea. It kills almost everything,
almost everything. Yes, you're right, Like there's no seaweed in there,
there's no fish in there, and there's no it's scumb
on the top of it. There's no nothing like when
you walk in the Dead Sea like you are one
(11:59):
of the only the only other living beings in there. Yeah.
What does it support like tiny a me butter or something.
Bacteria halophilic bacteria which means salt loving um. And they're
considered extreme of files because the the um. The environment
they live in is so inhospitable to any other life
(12:20):
that the fact that there's this type of bacteria that
can live in there is pretty amazing. But they're they're
like akin to the same types of um life that
live near like sulfuric three D degree undersea events. That
that's an extreme of file. We should do an extreme
file podcast. We totally should, and we will. I think
(12:41):
we should. Uh. I have some other little factoids I
drew up, not myself, but I found UM. When we
said thousands of years, what we really meant was millions
of years. I said, Okay, it's been around for about
three million years. Uh and uh. In the Bible they
actually say that the Dead Sea will one day come
(13:02):
alive and be full of marine life. That would be surprising.
I'm not so sure if that's gonna happen considering the
sailing content. UM, unless what they meant was one day
it's going to dry out completely and they will open
a marine park there or something, because that's about the
(13:22):
only way it's gonna happen. It's really bitter, it's not
gonna taste salty like table salt, and it's kind of stinky.
They used to call it the stinky Sea hundreds of
years ago. Apparently that's what it says. And the Greeks
called it lake uh lake a saphilite as full tight
teas because asphalt will rise to the surface at times,
(13:46):
the natural asphalt, not roads that were built underneath three
million years ago. And Cleopatra was a big fan. Cleopatra
and King Herod built the town of Masada as like
a little dead sea playground for himself, a little resort.
And um, so nothing's living there except people, and it
is dying itself though, And this is when we come
(14:08):
to I guess a sad portion. Well not yet. You
mentioned the Bible. Yeah, um, it definitely has ties to
the Bible. Obviously it's in a pretty biblical region. Um.
But it's a It's also well, the River Jordan is
supposedly where John the Baptist baptized Jesus um and uh,
it's also where the Dead Sea scrolls were found. Of course,
(14:29):
so um. From ninety seven and nineteen fifty eight, this
amazing goat Herder found a bunch of Hebrew manuscripts the
same guy who invented cheese. No, this is a different
one that was France. What if it was the same
dude Tim that that invented cheese. Um, this guy is
a different one, although I wonder if he's related to
(14:50):
the rope forts of France. Um. Anyway, he found a
bunch of scrolls of Hebraic scrolls that were written from
the third century BC to the second century A d
um and they basically were just like, hey, here's what's
going on in this area right now. Uh, we'll just
write it down and hide them for posterity. And apparently
it's like one of the greatest archaeological finds ever as
(15:13):
far as people are concerned, because it gave a real
peek into this time when Christianity was starting out. And
I've read recently there's a lot of controversy over who
they think wrote the Dead Sea scrolls. Um, And I'm
not sure where they've landed on that, but of course
there's controversy anything that old. It's not gonna have a
little author signature on it, right, So Chuck, Now we
(15:36):
get to the depressing part. I know, I just I
was almost excited, but then I remember what we were
talking about. The Dead Sea is actually dying, uh, meaning
the River Jordan's is being diverted along the way, uh,
because they need water in that area to support people
in agriculture. Um, just being diverted via damns and things
(15:57):
like that. To the extent that the Dead Sea is
evaporating more than it's filling up these days, we'll consider this. Um.
In the fifties, the Dead Sea used to get like
one point three billion cubic meters of fresh water a day.
Now it's fifty million. Yeah, that's a sharp drop. Fifty
million compared to one point three billions. That's a lot
(16:20):
of a drop off. So yeah, it's starting to dry
up really really fast. Yeah, and luckily, um, well we'll
see what happens. But luckily there are people and organizations
that are on this big time because of the you know,
not only the cultural significance, but the Dead Sea, despite
(16:40):
it being dead in the water, supports like a really
vast ecosystem around it. And if the Dead Sea went away,
that would not be good for this ecosystem. Yeah. But again,
it's a it's a tough that's a tough one. I mean,
like people people neither drinking water. Yeah, Like we've done
a podcast on how long can you survive without food
and water? And you can go a long time with
out food, but water gets you in a couple of days,
(17:02):
you know. Um, So that's a tough one. And a
lot of people have said, hey, you know what, let's
just build a canal the red seas over there, the
dead seas right here. All we needs like a hundred
and thirty five miles a canal and we'll just flood
the dead sea with red sea. And people want, no, no,
hold on, let's come with something else because the dead
(17:24):
seas um salt content, mineral content would be disrupted at
that point and just wouldn't be what it is. Yeah,
it almost sounds like they're like, well, we'll just let
it die. Well, like we'd rather it die than become
less salty. Yeah, just another inland sea. Like look at
all those people out there float and read their newspaper,
and all of a sudden they dropped the moment that
what are we gonna do that? So what does the
(17:45):
canal slash pipeline? The projects called the Two Seas Canal,
and it is fairly controversial on uh several fronts Um.
One is that it's gonna cost about five billion dollars,
which is not cheap. Uh um it would include a
desalination plant to generate fresh water. And the good news
(18:08):
it would be, you know, it would be a symbol
of cooperation between these often warren warring countries that surround it.
So that would be good. But a lot of environmentalists
are saying that, you know, it's a threatened lake. In
two thousand and six, it was the threatened Lake of
the year. They didn't know they had such a designation.
But I guess it's good they do well. The Global
(18:28):
Nature funded Yeah, and they're one of their project directors said,
we call it the threatened Lake of the Year in
two thousand six, and we could easily do it again
for two thousand ten. Like, don't even don't even make
us right, right. I guess they didn't know because it's
two thousand twelve. Yeah, um, But they are proposing some
(18:49):
alternative alternatives. They're saying that the spokesperson for what is it,
Friends of the Middle East, Yeah, Front of the Earth
in the Middle East, Friends of the Earth in the
Middle East. Um, the Israeli branches saying, you know what,
we can actually return um a lot of water to
the river Jordan's through conservation and less agricultural use. So well,
that's the that's the case everywhere. I mean, remember we've
(19:11):
talked about this before, like of agricultural water uses, um
uh yeah, it goes to evaporation or runoff, like just
it's so inefficient. Agricultural water use is so inefficient. And
then like even like here in our dear town of Atlanta,
like we have the leakiest sewer system in the um
(19:32):
developed the world, and we lose tons of water every
day to it, and it's just like, well it's lost,
you know. Yeah. So a lot of environmentalists are saying
some huge engineering solution is not always the best solution.
I'm not sure how I feel about it. I'd love
to see the Dead Sea saved, but also want the
people in the Middle East to grow crops. Well yeah,
(19:54):
you know and live agreed. Uh. So, I guess right now,
as it stands, um, no one's quite figured out what
to do. Yeah. I think this year actually, um, they
have sunk quite a few million dollars into a pretty
vast study UM on this canal pipeline project and seeing
if it's the best alternative. Cool. So I guess we'll
(20:15):
find out maybe later this year what they're gonna do well,
I would say, get you to the Dead Sea A
S A P. Because if nobody does anything, cut off date, yeah,
and it's just gonna get sadder and sadder. If there's
like if it's like the size of a swimming pool
eventually and there's like two dudes floating in it, yeah,
that would be sad. Um. Okay, well, that's it for
(20:37):
the Dead Sea, right, we got to explain everything. That's
it for the Dead Sea. Potentially, let's it for us
in the Dead Sea. Um. If you want to learn
more about the Dead Sea, you can type dead and
see into the search part how stuff works dot com?
And uh does that bring up? What does that bring up? Man? Uh?
We got a few quick things to plug and then
(20:59):
we will get to listen. Okay, like what all right?
So now listen to maim Yuh Josh, I'm gonna call
this uh Antarctic reply. And it's not about penguins and
polar bears, although she did put that in there, but
I raised that part. Um. Shannon actually lived there for
three summers. I was a technician at a terrestrial Arctic
(21:22):
base in Alaska, and several of my coworkers spent in
the northern Hemisphere working on Antarctica. Actually she was Alaska,
set back the arttic. Yes, that's north, that's right. The
Antarctic is south, that's right. We know that she had
friends that worked in Antarctica. On Antarctica. Man, it's so
(21:43):
picky people, that's so pick uh. From that experience, I
can personally tell you that while life at the polls
is basic, it is far from primitive. Antarctica has stores, bars, saunas,
and even a pair of a t m s. While
many of these amenities are not liable to tourists, doesn't
change the fact that Antarctic bases are designed for comfortable,
(22:04):
long term habitation. Also, there is actually a fair amount
to do there. Every community has trails for walking, skiing,
or snowshoeing. Uh. The larger base just basically the three
kinds of walking. We have three kinds of walking to
do here in the snow. The large bases have exercise areas.
Scientists host lectures, holiday celebrations, and game tournaments. I imagine
(22:28):
they probably play this is the little slide game, shuffle board,
the shuffleboard on ice uh, hockey, yeah, curling, curling, thank you.
The permanent bases have libraries and Honestly, there's always someone
who has an interesting story to tell. The temporary basis.
When they abandon them, they just set the library on fire.
(22:49):
I think so. Um. There, then, the most important part
of polar life is the food. And this doesn't surprise Usually,
when you're stuck like that, you take your food pretty
seriously because it's like the one thing that you can have.
That's what she says. Actually, no food is the lifeblood
of any Antarctic camp or base, and the staff does
our best to make sure that every meal is plentiful
(23:11):
and delicious. UM. On the medical front, at least on
the American side of things, it's not nearly as basic
as you described. Um. In fact, many Antarctic communities have
medical support that is comprehensive and available at towns the
same size, uh that that is available at towns of
the same size in Canada or Alaska. The bases have
equipment to do emergency surgery if needed, and they have
(23:33):
ic us capable of treating everything from burns to hypothermia.
And if you need extra stuff then it can be
air dropped, she said. In the dead of winter, even
you just want to look out that's right, look out ahead.
Above above all right. That is from Shannon Um who
has spent time in Alaska. Knows a bunch of people there.
That's awesome. Knows a bunch of people in Antarctica. That's right.
(23:56):
Thanks a lot for that channel. We appreciate it. UM.
Let's see if you know something about something we've talked about,
that we didn't talk about, or just something you want
to supplement something we've spoken about. If you floated on
the dead seat, I'd like to hear that. That's go one. UM.
You can tweet to us at s y ESK podcast.
You can join us on Facebook dot com slash stuff
(24:16):
you Should Know, or you can send us an email
at stuff podcast at Discovery dot com. For more on
this and thousands of other topics, visit how Stuff works
dot com. M brought to you by the reinvented two
(24:40):
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