Stuff You Should Know - Is the Dead Sea dead?

Episode Date: July 3, 2012

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. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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and what I call the New Survivors' Movement. It's a movement that centers healing and speaks truth to power. Listen to Survivors' Heal, available on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. Brought to you by the reinvented 2012 Camry. It's ready. Are you? Welcome to Stuff You Should Know from HowStuffWorks.com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. There's Charles W. Chuck Bryant, and you've put us together and thrown a couple microphones, little jar of potpourri, and you've got Stuff You Should Know. If you get my chocolate and your peanut butter, then we make a delicious extra large Reese's Cup. Extra large with a lot of body hair. Yeah,

you can pick that out though. Yeah. You can eat around it. You want to pick it up before you eat that because it's getting off the tummy system. Chest hair. Chuck. Yes. Are you familiar with the Dead Sea? I am, and I really, really want to go get in it one day. Okay, I would like to too. Yeah. Especially because I am particularly interested in what I've come to term geographical ironies, and there is no greater geographical irony than the Dead Sea because 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 in my flip 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 Dead Sea because of properties.

It's not called the Dead Sea because it's dying. No, but which makes it ironic. After thousands and thousands and eons of years, people have been going to this awesome little spot forever. 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. There's a lot of places that have been listed and identified as this place isn't going to be around in 50 years. So if you're interested, you'd better go now. Agreed. The Dead Sea is definitely one of them. They think that by 2050, it's possible. It won't be there. Whatever it is there is not going to be anything worth visiting unless you want to go cry. I think there is, and fill it with your salty tears. Maybe that's what

we should do. Yeah. I don't even have the stat in front of me, but I believe I read today that it's it's falling by about a meter per year. Yes, that is correct. Is that right? Yeah, which is scary because as everyone who doesn't live in the US knows, a meter is almost three feet. It's over three feet. It's 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. It has some really awesome qualities to it. So herein, we're going to describe why you should be sad that the Dead Sea is dying. That's right. It is, first of all, here are some unique properties of the Dead Sea. It is 1,300 feet, 396 meters below sea level,

and it's 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 1,300 feet below the ocean. And it is a lake. 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 its amazing properties. Yes. Break the news for people that don't know this. Thank you very much. So you have water flowing in its main tributaries, the Jordan River, or for bibliophiles, I guess bibliophiles, the River Jordan, not the Jordan River. Yeah, sure. They like to flip that. 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 in to the Dead Sea. It brings a lot of salty brackish water as well. Yeah, big time. 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. Yeah. And so water that comes in, whether fresh or otherwise, 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?

Mm-hmm. I guess just various salt minerals. Yeah. They look like sculptures almost in places. Yeah. It looks like crystal outcroppings. Yeah. In a lot of ways. It's about 250 square miles. Yeah. It is surrounded by the West Bank, Israel, and Jordan, 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. Yeah. So that's one of the reasons, I think, that there are issues. It's hard to get these folks to the table sometime. Agreed. All right. Well put. Thank you.

So you've got water coming in. You have water staying terminally. Did you know also Atlanta's original name was Terminus? I did. So which makes the Dead Sea a terminal lake, like you said. And the salt that's coming in is not like table salt or anything. It's actually well known for 35 mineral salts that the sea boasts, like calcium, bromine, potassium, magnesium, iodine. But the thing that makes the Dead Sea so significant salt-wise is that the concentrations of this because of the unique setup of the water flowing in and evaporating. It's so saline-y, saline-y, saline-yonish that compared to an ocean, it just adores the salinity of any ocean. Yeah. I think the saltiest ocean is somewhere between

three to six percent salty and 28 to 35 percent. I generally see about 33 percent in the Dead Sea. So six percent for the saltiest ocean. Like the kind of ocean where you're like, pull up. Yeah. On the highest level. Yeah. On the high end. And like five times that, five, six times that for the Dead Sea. Yeah. It's amazing. Oh, as a result of this, so people are like, well, this is just great. This is healthful. Yeah. What does this mean? It means a bunch of things. Oh, first of all, it means proven through physics and just general observation. You float with no trouble whatsoever because of the incredible density of the sea water in the Dead Sea. Yeah. And another fun thing you can do is go to Google Images and Google

Dead Sea Float. And you will see lots of pictures of people laying virtually on top of the water reading books and newspapers. And it's pretty funny. Yeah. It looks like an illusion almost. It does. Yeah. It looks like it's been photoshopped. That's right. 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. And I was looking this up, like there's entire companies like, what's the name of it? The Dead Sea Research Center. Dead Sea Works. There's a lot of like cosmetic skincare products, all the stuff that are associated with the Dead Sea and that use Dead Sea minerals and all that. And they all boast all sorts of what appear to be snake oil properties. Emily used to sell Dead

Sea Mud Masks. But she doesn't anymore. How come? I think the cost of getting the Dead Sea Mud was cost prohibitive for her. And it wasn't a big seller. It was an economic decision. But it wasn't because it was like fraudulent. No. Okay. So I was looking and I couldn't find a lot. But I did find some stuff where there have been studies on like Utah Salt Lakes. Yeah. Sure. The effects of that. And there's been some studies on the Dead Sea. And they found that it does have effects, demonstrable effects on things like arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis. It reduces the symptoms of that. Fibromyalgia. Yes. Eczema. Yeah. It's been shown to reduce that. And 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 like published in peer reviewed journals. Yeah. So I mean, they're legitimate studies. It's got 35 minerals. It's got to be good for you. Right. And in very, very high concentrations too. Sure. So it's not just the minerals in the Dead Sea itself. Like the mud is like you're saying Emily sold a mud pack. Yeah. Mud mask. Yeah. Like that's, you can just walk up on the shore in some places and scoop up the mud and then bam, there's your mud mask. Yeah. It's got rich in nutrients. Yeah. 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, I think they realized some of the properties. Right. 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. It filters a lot of the UV rays out. So laying out is, I guess, better for you. Laying out. I remember that. Yeah. Back in the day. Yeah. Go lay out. Yeah, exactly. Work on the tan. Let's still lay out. Do you lay out? Oh, yeah. I believe it. 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 or anything like that. Baby oil. Yeah. Or a sock.

The war on drugs impacts everyone, whether or not you take drugs. America's public enemy number one is drug abuse. This podcast is going to show you the truth behind the war on drugs. They told me that I would be charged for conspiracy to distribute 2,200 pounds of marijuana. Yeah. And they can do that without any drugs on the table. Without any drugs. Of course, yes, they can do that. And I'm a prime example of that. The war on drugs is the excuse our government uses to get away with absolutely insane stuff. Stuff that'll piss you off. The property is guilty. Exactly. And it starts as guilty. It starts as guilty. Cops. Are they just like looting? Are they just like pillaging? They just have way better names for what they call like what we would call a jack

move or being robbed. They call civil asset for it. Be sure to listen to the war on drugs on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. Where were you in 92? Were you bouncing your butt to surmix a lot? Wondering if you like Billy Ray Cyrus could pull off a mullet? Yes. 1992 was a crazier for music and a crazy time to be alive. And now iHeart has a podcast all about it. I'm Jason Launfier and on my new show, Where Were You in 92, we take a ride through the major hits, One Hit Wonders, and irresistible scandals that shape what might be the wildest, most controversial 12 months in music and pop culture history. They were angry at me. They thought I was uncontrollable and wild. I wanted to burst open.

The president came after me. Everybody, I'm Warner with madness. Can you imagine trying to put a record like that out right now? We canceled before it made it to the post office. Featuring interviews and special guests like surmix a lot, ice tea, Tori Amos, and Vanessa Williams, this podcast poses the question, what was it about 1992 that made it so groundbreaking and so absolutely fabulous? So buckle up and tune in to Where Are You in 92. New episodes drop every Wednesday. Listen and follow on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcast or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. So what they suggest if you go to the Dead Sea and you want to revitalize yourself a bit, take a swim or a float, get in there, get in the water like itself and just spend some time

in there. Apply some of the some of the mud maybe that you can scoop up or they're probably selling stuff. Thermo mineral bath they say exists there as well. Is that right? Yeah. That place is amazing. It is. And then they of course also suggest optional psychological counseling and follow up consultation with a medical professional. So that's like a seven step special, right? It's like good for the mind and body. Right. That's what they say. 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've rheumatoid arthritis. Yeah. And they say, okay, well come with us and we're going to take you to the Dead Sea and put you through this procedure. Sulphur bath, salt bath. Yeah. I think

it's a lot like going to Battle Creek in the 19th century. Oh yeah. You know, and hanging out with Dr. Kellogg. Oh yeah, that Battle Creek. Yeah. Okay, sure. Yeah, that'd be kind of cool. Yeah. Because that means we'd have a time machine. Exactly. What we do. Another property of the Dead Sea and what this 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. No, there's no fish in there. There's no scum on the top of it. No, there's no nothing. Like when you walk in the Dead Sea, like you are one of the only the only other living beings in there. Yeah. What does it support? Like tiny

amoeba or something? Bacteria. Bacteria. Halophilic bacteria, which means salt loving. And they're considered extremophiles because the environment they live in is so inhospitable to any other life that the fact that there's this type of bacteria that can live in there is pretty amazing. Yeah. They're akin to the same types of life that live near like sulfuric 300 degree undersea vents. That's an extremophile. We should do an extremophile podcast. We totally should. And we will. I think we should. I have some other little factoids I drew up, not myself, but I found. When we said thousands of years, what we really meant was millions of years. I said eons. I did you? Yeah. Okay.

It's been around for about three million years. And in the Bible, they actually say that the Dead Sea will one day come alive and be full of marine life. That would be surprising. I'm not so sure if that's going to happen considering the sailing content. Unless what they meant was one day it's going to dry out completely and they will open a marine park there or something. Maybe. Because that's about the only way it's going to happen. It's really bitter. It's not going to taste salty like table salt. Yeah. And it's kind of stinky. They used to call it the stinky sea hundreds of years ago, apparently. Did they really? That's what it says. Huh. And the Greeks called it Lake Asaphalite.

Asphaltedes. Huh. Because asphalt will rise to the surface at times. The natural asphalt. Gotcha. 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. Yeah. Like a little resort. Yeah. And so nothing's lived in there except people. And it is dying itself though. And this is when we come to, I guess, a sad portion. Well, not yet. You mentioned the Bible. Yeah. It definitely has ties to the Bible. Obviously, it's in a pretty biblical region. But it's also, well, the river Jordan is supposedly where John the Baptist baptized Jesus. Yeah. And it's also where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found.

Oh, yeah. Of course. So from 1957 to 1958, 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? That was great. Timmy Rokefort that invented cheese. That's right. Right. This guy is a different one, although I wonder if he's related to the Rokeforts of France. Anyway, he found a bunch of scrolls of hebraic scrolls that were written from the third century BC to the second century AD. And they basically were just like, Hey, here's what's going on in this area right now. We'll just write it down and hide them for posterity. And apparently, it's like one of the greatest archaeological finds ever, as far as people are concerned,

because it gave a real peek into this time when Christianity was starting out then. Sure. And I've read recently, there's a lot of controversy over who they think wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls. Yeah. And I'm not sure where they've landed on that. But of course, there's controversy. Anything that old. Yeah. It's not going to have a little author's signature on it. Right. So Chuck, now we 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, meaning the River Jordan is being diverted along the way, because they need water in that area to support people in agriculture, just being diverted via dams and things like that, to the extent that

the Dead Sea is evaporating more than it's filling up these days. Well, consider this. In the fifties, the Dead Sea used to get like 1.3 billion cubic meters of fresh water a day. Wow. Now it's 50 million. Yeah, that's a sharp drop. 50 million compared to 1.3 billion. Yeah. That's a lot of drop off. Yeah. So yeah, it's starting to dry up really, really fast. Yeah. And luckily, 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 it being dead in the water, supports like a really vast ecosystem around it. Yeah. And if the Dead Sea went away, that would not be good for this ecosystem. Yeah. But again, it's a tough one. I mean, like people need to drink in 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 without food, but water gets you in a couple of days. Yeah. You know? So that's a tough one. And a lot of people have said, Hey, you know what? Let's just build a canal. Yeah. The Red Sea's over there. The Dead Sea's right here. All we need is like 135 miles of canal. And we'll just flood the Dead Sea with Red Sea. And people went, No, no, hold on. Let's come with

something else. Yeah. Because the Dead Sea's salt content and mineral content would be disrupted at that point and just wouldn't be what it is. Yeah. It almost sounds like they're like, We'll just let it die. We'd rather it die than become less salty. Yeah. Just another inland sea. Like look at all those people out there floating, reading their newspaper. And all of a sudden, they drop the moment that canal starts. What are we going to do then? So it is a canal slash pipeline. The project's called the Two Seas Canal. And it is fairly controversial on several fronts. And one is that it's going to cost about $5 billion, which is not cheap. It would include a desalination plant to generate freshwater. And the good news, it would be,

you know, it would be a symbol of cooperation between these often worn, worn countries that surround it. That would be awesome. So that would be good. But a lot of environmentalists are saying that, you know, it's a threatened lake in 2006. It was the threatened lake of the year. I didn't know they had such a designation, but I guess it's good they do. Well, the Global Nature Fund did. They call it that. Yeah. And one of their project directors said, we call it the threatened lake of the year in 2006. And we could easily do it again for 2010. Like don't even make us. Right. Don't try to call my bluff. I guess they didn't know because it's 2012. Yeah. But they are proposing some alternative

alternatives. They're saying that the spokesperson for what is it, Friends of the Middle East. Yeah. Friends of the Earth in the Middle East. Friends of the Earth in the Middle East. The Israeli branch is saying, you know what, we can actually return a lot of water to the River Jordan through conservation and less agriculture use. So Well, that's the, that's the case everywhere. I mean, remember, we've talked about this before. Like 93% of agricultural water use is like, yeah, it goes to evaporation or runoff. Yeah. 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 leaky sewer system

in the developed world and we lose tons of water every day to it. And it's just like, well, it's lost. You know, yeah. So the environment, 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 of the Middle East to grow crops. Well, yeah, you know, and live. Agreed. So I guess right now as it stands, no one's quite figured out what to do. Yeah, I think this year actually, they have sunk quite a few million dollars into a pretty vast study on this canal pipeline project and seeing if it's the best alternative. Well, cool. So I guess we'll find out maybe later this

year what they're going to do. Well, I would say get you to the Dead Sea ASAP because if nobody does anything 2050 cut off date. Yeah. And it's just going to 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. Yeah. Okay, well, that's it for the Dead Sea, right? We've got to explain everything. That's it for the Dead Sea potentially. That's it for us in the Dead Sea. Oh, sure. If you want to learn more about the Dead Sea, you can type dead and see into the search bar at howstuffworks.com. And does that bring up? What does that bring up, man? We got a few quick things to plug and then we will get to listen now. Okay. Like what? The war on drugs impacts everyone,

whether or not you take America's public enemy. Number one is drug abuse. This podcast is going to show you the truth behind the war on drugs. They told me that I would be charged for conspiracy to distribute 2200 pounds of marijuana. Yeah, and they can do that without any drugs on the table. Without any drugs, of course, yes, they can do that. And on the prime example, okay. The war on drugs is the excuse our government uses to get away with absolutely insane stuff. Stuff that'll piss you off. The property is guilty, exactly. And it starts as guilty. It starts as guilty. The cops, are they just like looting? Are they just like pillaging? They just have way better names for what they call like what we would call a jack move or being robbed. They

call civil answer for it. Be sure to listen to the war on drugs on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. Where were you in 92? Were you bouncing your butt to Sir Mix-A-Lot? Wondering if you, like Billy Ray Cyrus, could pull off a mullet? Yes. 1992 was a crazier for music and a crazy time to be alive. And now iHeart has a podcast all about it. I'm Jason Launvie, and on my new show, Where Were You in 92, we take a ride through the major hits, One Hit Wonders, and irresistible scandals that shape what might be the wildest, most controversial 12 months in music and pop culture history. They were angry at me. They thought I was uncontrollable and wild.

I wanted to burst open. The president came after me. Everybody, I'm Warner with madness. Imagine trying to put a record like that out right now. We'd be canceled before it made it to the post office. Featuring interviews and special guests like Sir Mix-A-Lot, Ice-T, Tori Amos, and Vanessa Williams, this podcast poses the question, what was it about 1992 that made it so groundbreaking and so absolutely fabulous? So buckle up and tune into Where Were You in 92. New episodes drop every Wednesday. Listen and follow on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. All right, so now listen to her now. Yes. Okay. Josh, I'm going to call this

Antarctic Reply, and it's not about penguins and polar bears. Thank goodness. Although she did put that in there, but I raised that part. Shannon actually lived there. For three summers, I was a technician at a terrestrial arctic base in Alaska. Awesome. And several of my co-workers spent in the Northern Hemisphere working on Antarctica. Actually, she was in Alaska to step back. That's the Arctic. 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. Okay. It's so picky people. It's so picky. From that experience, I can personally tell you that while life at the poles is basic, it is far from primitive. Antarctica has stores, bars, saunas, and even a pair of ATMs.

While many of these amenities are not available to tourists, it doesn't change the fact that Antarctic bases are designed for comfortable long-term habitation. Also, there is actually a fair amount to do there. Every community has trails for walking, skiing, or snowshoeing. The larger base looks like just basically these 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. Cool. I imagine they probably play the little slide game. Shuffleboard? No, the shuffleboard on ice. 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 bases, when they abandon them, they just set the library on fire? I think so. 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 that's like the one thing that you can have. Right. And food penguins are delicious. That's what she says, actually. Food is the lifeblood of any Antarctic camp or base, and the staff does their best to make sure that every meal is plentiful and delicious. On the medical front, at least, on the American side of things, it's not nearly as basic as you

described. In fact, many Antarctic communities have medical support that is comprehensive and available at towns of the same size, 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 ICUs capable of treating everything from burns to hypothermia. And if you need extra stuff, then it can be airdropped, she said, in the dead of winter, even. Yeah, if you just want to look out. That's right. Look out ahead above. Above. All right. That is from Shannon, who has spent time in Alaska and knows a bunch of people there. That's awesome. Knows a bunch of people in Antarctica. That's right. Thanks a lot for that, Shannon. We appreciate it. 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 float it on the Dead Sea, I'd like to hear that. That's a good one. You can tweet to us at syskpodcast. You can join us on facebook.com slash stuff you should know, or you can send us an email at stuffpodcast at discovery.com. For more on this and thousands of other topics, visit howstuffworks.com. Brought to you by the reinvented 2012 Camry. It's ready. Are you? Hi, everybody. I'm Tyler Florence. I'm Wells Adams. We're the hosts of the new podcast, Two Dudes in a Kitchen. You might be asking yourself, why do these guys have a podcast? Because we love food. We got a chance

to cook together on television, on Food Network Back in the Day, connecting with fantastic techniques, and having a great time while you're doing it. This is a podcast for you, for you to call into, give us your feedback, and we're here to answer your questions, kind of get those kitchen burners fired up. Listen to Two Dudes in a Kitchen on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. When my daughter ran off to hop trains, I was terrified I'd never see her again. So I followed her into the train yard. This is what it sounds like inside the box car. And into the city of the rails. There I found a surprising world so brutal and beautiful that it changed me. But the rails do that to everyone.

There is another world out there, and if you want to play with the devil, you're going to find them there in the rail yard. I'm Denelle Morton. Come with me to find out what waits for us in the city of the rails. Listen to City of the Rails on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts, or cityoftherails.com.