# How much of the world has yet to be discovered?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-the-world-has-yet-to-be-discovered/414225
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [August 3, 2007, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-the-world-has-yet-to-be-discovered/414225 "2007-08-03T01:27:33Z")
**Posts on this page:** 18
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@late664](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/late664)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2007, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-the-world-has-yet-to-be-discovered/414225/1 "2007-08-03T01:27:33Z")
It’s something most of us don’t think about… but I was sitting around wondering about everything that has yet to be discovered. For instance, the ocean. How deep has man been able to explore? What secrets lie hidden in mountains? So many questions, so little answers… 😕
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### Author:  [@Caught\_Work](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caught_Work)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2007, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-the-world-has-yet-to-be-discovered/414225/2 "2007-08-03T01:55:50Z")
We’ve been to the bottom of the Marianas Trench I think.
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### Author:  [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2007, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-the-world-has-yet-to-be-discovered/414225/3 "2007-08-03T02:09:34Z")
[QUOTE=Caught@Work]
We’ve been to the bottom of the Marianas Trench I think.
[/QUOTE]
Only for about twenty minutes.
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### Author:  [@Shamozzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shamozzle)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2007, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-the-world-has-yet-to-be-discovered/414225/4 "2007-08-03T02:33:27Z")
Define “discovered”.
To what extent does a remote valley need to be explored for it to count as discovered? And how many people need to participate?
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### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2007, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-the-world-has-yet-to-be-discovered/414225/5 "2007-08-03T02:45:26Z")
Satellite imagery covers much if not all the planet and is constantly being analyzed, not least by the spy boys.
The ocean bottoms, many say, are less known than the surface of the Moon or Mars. They’ll probably stay that way, since it is so difficult to send humans there and little economic incentive to do so. Remote sensing has been on the increase for years, however.
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### Author:  [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2007, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-the-world-has-yet-to-be-discovered/414225/6 "2007-08-03T08:46:07Z")
[QUOTE=Squink]
Only for about twenty minutes.
[/QUOTE]
In 1960.
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### Author:  [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2007, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-the-world-has-yet-to-be-discovered/414225/7 "2007-08-03T08:50:39Z")
I’ve often wondered how much land area there is left where nobody has ever set foot in a given square mile, say. I guess that’s similar to the OP’s question.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2007, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-the-world-has-yet-to-be-discovered/414225/8 "2007-08-03T08:59:47Z")
[QUOTE=Malacandra]
In 1960.
[/QUOTE]
Once.
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### Author:  [@Mr.Goob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Goob)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2007, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-the-world-has-yet-to-be-discovered/414225/9 "2007-08-03T12:29:47Z")
What about the Rio?
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### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2007, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-the-world-has-yet-to-be-discovered/414225/10 "2007-08-03T12:47:07Z")
Parallel to the “discovery” of new points on the surface of the planet, those things beneath the surface, to no telling what depths, will likely stay “undiscovered” until there’s some major incentive to dig or dive or spelunk or whatever it takes to get there.
It has been a pet suspicion of mine for as long as I can remember that the true origins of mankind, civilization, Atlantis, and no telling wht all else, lie beneath the ice in Antarctica. The idea that Antarctica was once in a temperate climate supports this fantasy and I’m just hoping that before my days are out that somebody will find a reason to go digging down there.
I note that Russia has planted their flag beneath the North Pole just recently. Maybe their fantasy is like mine, just at the wrong end of the globe.
And wasn’t it just within the past year or two that a previously unknown tribe of human beings was located in a remote area of either the Amazon or one of the New Guinea islands?
More to come, I’m sure.
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### Author:  [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2007, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-the-world-has-yet-to-be-discovered/414225/11 "2007-08-03T13:10:22Z")
[QUOTE=Zeldar]
those things beneath the surface, to no telling what depths…
[/QUOTE]
[Giant crystal caves](http://www.crystalinks.com/mexicocrystals.html)
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### Author:  [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2007, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-the-world-has-yet-to-be-discovered/414225/12 "2007-08-03T13:14:08Z")
[QUOTE=Squink]
[Giant crystal caves](http://www.crystalinks.com/mexicocrystals.html)
[/QUOTE]
That’s just a publicity still from _Superman_, right? 😃
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### Author:  [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2007, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-the-world-has-yet-to-be-discovered/414225/13 "2007-08-03T15:21:36Z")
[QUOTE=Zeldar]
I note that Russia has planted their flag beneath the North Pole just recently. Maybe their fantasy is like mine, just at the wrong end of the globe.
[/QUOTE]
The only Russian fantasy involved is trying to lay claim to about 10 billion barrels (?) of oil thought to be under that shelf. Their act isn’t going to be recognized as valid by any other country - it violates a UN treaty stating that nothing above a certain latitude will be owned by any nation.
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### Author:  [@recessiveMeme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/recessiveMeme)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2007, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-the-world-has-yet-to-be-discovered/414225/14 "2007-08-03T17:13:22Z")
[QUOTE=Zeldar]
It has been a pet suspicion of mine for as long as I can remember that the true origins of mankind, civilization, Atlantis, and no telling wht all else, lie beneath the ice in Antarctica.
[/quote]
Actually, if you must know, the thing under Antarctica is just an outpost.
You see, The Ancients (or “Gate Builders” if you prefer) abandoned their civilization (Atlantis) in the Pegasus galaxy millions of years ago and traveled here to Earth in an effort to spread the seeds of humanity and avoid further confrontation with The Wraith. Of course, the good news is that the eventual discovery of the outpost will pay-off big time in our upcoming confrontation with the Goa’uld.
…what?
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### Author:  [@Cerowyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerowyn)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2007, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-the-world-has-yet-to-be-discovered/414225/15 "2007-08-03T19:18:17Z")
[QUOTE=recessiveMeme]
Actually, if you must know, the thing under Antarctica is just an outpost.
You see, The Ancients (or “Gate Builders” if you prefer) abandoned their civilization (Atlantis) in the Pegasus galaxy millions of years ago and traveled here to Earth in an effort to spread the seeds of humanity and avoid further confrontation with The Wraith.
[/QUOTE]
Actually, **returned** to Earth after having to abandon their outpost in the Pegasus Galaxy…[/nitpick]
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### Author:  [@recessiveMeme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/recessiveMeme)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2007, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-the-world-has-yet-to-be-discovered/414225/16 "2007-08-03T19:31:43Z")
Tek’ma’tae, **Cerowyn**. Of course, you are correct.
…Though I was really hoping someone would be intrigued enough to subscribe to my newsletter.
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### Author:  [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2007, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-the-world-has-yet-to-be-discovered/414225/17 "2007-08-03T20:05:52Z")
[QUOTE=Cerowyn]
Actually, **returned** to Earth after having to abandon their outpost in the Pegasus Galaxy…[/nitpick]
[/QUOTE]
…[/nitpick back] The way that it was revealed to me in ceremony as a child is that the cradle civilization ossilates back and forth between the earth and the outpost in the Pegasus Galaxy every million years or so. You are correct that the body known as the heavenly body most celebrated in scared song and limerics is the earth but it is difficult to draw clean lines over time and some members have been left behind during the scheduled migrations to live free and morph into other being or to form a dead-end society whose traces are only rarely found (like the strange rock I found on September 23, 1983). Over time we have found that the cradle bodies are easilly damaged by things like atmospheric pollutants or nuclear explosions. However, given enough time, they will heal just a pimple that was squeezed to hard and has started to fester. The 1 million year migration schedule gives enough time for the cradle bodies to heal completely and become healthy again similar to the idea behind crop rotation. It is still 121 years before the return to Pegasus and it can’t come soon enough for me.
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### Author:  [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2007, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-the-world-has-yet-to-be-discovered/414225/18 "2007-08-03T20:49:19Z")
[QUOTE=Shagnasty]
…[/nitpick back] The way that it was revealed to me in ceremony as a child is that the cradle civilization ossilates back and forth between the earth and the outpost in the Pegasus Galaxy every million years or so. You are correct that the body known as the heavenly body most celebrated in scared song and limerics is the earth but it is difficult to draw clean lines over time and some members have been left behind during the scheduled migrations to live free and morph into other being or to form a dead-end society whose traces are only rarely found (like the strange rock I found on September 23, 1983). Over time we have found that the cradle bodies are easilly damaged by things like atmospheric pollutants or nuclear explosions. However, given enough time, they will heal just a pimple that was squeezed to hard and has started to fester. The 1 million year migration schedule gives enough time for the cradle bodies to heal completely and become healthy again similar to the idea behind crop rotation. It is still 121 years before the return to Pegasus and it can’t come soon enough for me.
[/QUOTE]
Now\*\* there’s\*\*some ideas that intrigue me! (Sorry **recessive** )
I hope your newsletter will talk more of the frightened songs!