What Lies at Point 0°0′ - Place Where the World Begins

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1:00Some maps show it, some don't bother. It's located at the point where the entire world begins, and it's marked with two zeros and named with what. This is the story of no island, a spot sitting exactly at zero degrees longitude and zero degrees latitude. But, before I can fully explain everything, a brief reminder on how coordinates work. Lines are covered in lines that help with navigation. Those going sideways are called latitude. Covering from east to west, wrapping around the earth kind of like belts. They measure how far north or south you are from the equator. The line right in the middle of the globe, halfway between the poles. Now, longitude lines go from top to bottom north to south. They measure how far east or west you are from the starting line called the Primaridian. You make longitude and latitude cross, and you get two numbers that work like an address for any spot on earth. That's how GPS operates, how planes find their way, and even how shipping routes and satellites

2:06are kept in check. It's a tri- and proven system, so there's no reason to change it. But what makes it interesting is how old this concept actually is. Way back, more than 2,200 years ago, a mathematician named Aratathanes measured Earth's size. He didn't need ships or satellites to do it. He noticed that in one city, the sun cast no shadow at noon. Well, in another city far to the north, the same sun did cast a shadow. By measuring the angle of that shadow, and knowing the distance between the two places, he calculated Earth's circumference. And amazingly, his answer was almost exactly what we still use today. Eventually, he produced the idea of dividing the globe into lines. About a hundred years later, another mathematician Heparchus used a 360-degree circle to assign numbers to every location. Then, sometime during the age of exploration, each country used its own starting point,

3:08which made sailing confusing. This was the case until in 1884. Sierra has all the best active and outdoor brands you need. From athletic stuff, like a full-court pickup game, swish to athletic-ish stuff like a half-mile stroll. Get those steps in! And for morning hikes up the mountain trail, good pace! Tonight, time goes to choice from the camping chair. What a twist! Whatever level of active, Sierra loves it all. Head to Sierra or Sierra.com for the brands you want at the prices that let you do it all. From athletic to athletic-ish, Sierra's got it. Not sure how to tackle your taxes? Are you sweating the small print? You may be experiencing FOMO, the fear of messing up. The answer? Using turbo-tax on into a credit karma, they help you get your biggest refund, and then we help you do more with it, with a personalized plan designed to help you hit your money goals. It's time to take your taxes to the max.

4:10We're filing today in the credit karma app. Important people reach the agreement that the world's zero line of longitude would run through Greenwich, England. Now we've got this one universal grid, zero degrees latitude at the equator, and zero degrees longitude at the prime meridian, and they meet at a single point, which leads us to our mysterious, non-existent island, called Null Island. When zooming in on these coordinates, you won't find land only the ocean. This spot lies in the Gulf of Guinea, about 370 miles off the coast of Ghana. It's part of a busy shipping region, but there's no island waiting for you. And yet, on digital maps, it's possible to see one mark there. It's an imagined place, located at the real location. It's a prank spot made up by map makers. A fake island dropped right at the coordinates, zero zero. It started as an inside joke, but then it became super useful.

5:11Basically, when GPS or mapping software gets confused, it sometimes defaults the mistakes straight to zero zero. Random pins, misplaced facilities, and even hold data sets that clearly don't belong in the middle of the Atlantic. They are digital errors collected in one spot, so the system doesn't break. According to this part of the world, just to see this digital landmark, isn't exactly worth the trip. But right at those same coordinates, at one point, there was something real, a weather boy. This is not a joke. It was part of an important climate project called Pirata, run by scientists from the US, France, and Brazil. This boy gathered ocean and weather data to help predict stuff like rain in Africa or hurricanes in the Atlantic. It was decommissioned in 2021, so we're back to the location being an inside joke. How coincidental that at zero zero, there is literally nothing remarkable. However, there are searchable coordinates with weird, spooky, or amazing stuff that you

6:15can find with Google Earth. Places like Nagoro, Japan. At first glance, it looks like a sleepy, little mountain village, but look closer and you notice that the people there don't move. It's because they're not people at all. There are dolls, more than 350 of them. A local woman placed each one to stand in for a neighbor who had passed away or moved out. One for her father, one for her classmate, one for a farmer in the fields. Now, the dolls outnumber humans and make this place a beautiful, eerie, open air museum of memories. Unless you are scared of life-sized carecrows, in that case, it's more like a horror movie. And there's the blood lake near Baghdad. When it appeared on Google Earth in 2007, it shocked anyone who saw it. The water looked pretty suspicious, garnering all kinds of rumors. The truth was more ordinary. Scientists say the color was likely caused by algae, pollution, or dye from nearby slaughterhouses.

7:19Over time, the lake returned to its normal color. However, the interesting bit is that the exact cause has never been officially confirmed. Even though the reason is probably biological, it's enough for the internet to remember this forever. Now, in Canada, we have a landscape that knows a trick or two. From the ground, it's just badlands. Nothing except eroded hills and valleys. However, if you raise a drone to look from above, you'll see the perfect outline of a human face wearing a Native American headdress. People only started to notice it in the early 2000s when satellite images became available for everyone. For years, locals have been walking and driving by it without thinking anything was out of the ordinary. No one carved it. Wind and rain did the work over felt. The episode is brought to you by Peloton. Break through the busiest time of year with the brand new Peloton Cross Training Tread Plus, powered by Peloton IQ. With real-time guidance and endless ways to move, you can personalize your workouts and train

8:22with confidence, helping you reach your goals in less time. Let yourself run, lift, sculpt, push, and go. Explore the new Peloton Cross Training Tread Plus at 1Peloton.com Azens of years. Or maybe it's just the local spirit showing off. Either way, it's an awesome coincidence. This is similar to the Sudanese Desert, where there's a rock formation nicknamed the Human Lips. From ground level, you see sand and stones. But from above, you can spot an any shape that resembles two perfect lips. It's just regular erosion, but the way it looks is so memorable that satellite pics made it viral online. Some people dubbed it the Kiss of Sudan, showing that even empty deserts can surprise you with a little humor. Meanwhile, in the middle of Turkmenistan's Caracom Desert lies one of the wildest places on the planet, the Gates of Hell. Officially, it's known as the Darva's Accrader, but calling it a crater just doesn't do

9:27a justice. It all kicked off decades ago when the ground caved in, and someone thought it would be smart to set fire to the gas, leaking out to stop it from spreading. The plan was for a few weeks of flames, but here we are, over 50 years later, and it's still blazing away. During the day, it looks like a smoldering pit, but at night, it's like something out of a sci-fi movie. Orange flames flicker against the dark desert, heat waves shimmering into the sky. People still make the journey to see it. There are no guardrails or amenities, just the vast desert and the sound of roaring fire. Some folks even camp out nearby, completely captivated by the glow. The last one is in Australia, and it's another example of nature creating something artistic by coincidence. It's the famous shipwreck of the SSR field. Built in 1911, the ship once carried cargo and even served as a transport vessel.

10:27Decades later, it was abandoned, along with other decommissioned ships in the bay. But after humans left, nature claimed it, and made it breathtaking. Basically, mangrove trees took root inside the ship's hollow frame, turning the wreck into something resembling a floating forest. It became a living landmark that locals now celebrate. There's so much more to explore, but we'll have to save some for another time. Hidden hemograms in the step or airplanes flying silently under turquoise, Bohemian waters. Once upon a time, maps were only used for traveling. But thanks to technology, exploring a 3D map has become a way to travel. It won't replace the real thing, but it can spark ideas for your next adventure or vacation. That's it for today. So, hey, if you've pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your friends. Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the Bright Side. This episode is brought to you by Athletic Brewing Company.

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