1
00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:04,600
The human body is fantastic, but
it's far from perfect.

2
00:00:04,600 --> 00:00:08,360
Millions of years of evolution have
left us with littered with glitches

3
00:00:08,360 --> 00:00:11,080
and flaws, of which I'm just too
painfully aware.

4
00:00:11,080 --> 00:00:15,240
In my opinion, the human body is
long overdue a makeover.

5
00:00:17,520 --> 00:00:19,560
Nobody designed the human body.

6
00:00:19,560 --> 00:00:23,920
It evolved with no plan in mind,
and, like other animals,

7
00:00:23,920 --> 00:00:25,960
we've got useful adaptations -

8
00:00:25,960 --> 00:00:28,680
but we've also inherited plenty of
flaws.

9
00:00:28,680 --> 00:00:31,000
That's why we have ears that go
deaf...

10
00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:34,080
My ears aren't working properly, it
feels as though I need to pop them.

11
00:00:34,080 --> 00:00:36,160
..throats that can choke us,

12
00:00:36,160 --> 00:00:39,040
and skin that is easily damaged.

13
00:00:39,040 --> 00:00:40,080
That is shocking.

14
00:00:42,280 --> 00:00:45,520
But what if we could shed that
evolutionary baggage

15
00:00:45,520 --> 00:00:48,800
and seize the best that nature has
to offer?

16
00:00:48,800 --> 00:00:50,520
There we go, the toes curl round.

17
00:00:51,760 --> 00:00:54,160
Exploring the entire animal kingdom,

18
00:00:54,160 --> 00:00:58,000
I want to find out how evolution has
solved problems we face

19
00:00:58,000 --> 00:00:59,320
in different ways.

20
00:00:59,320 --> 00:01:00,720
Release the guinea fowl!

21
00:01:00,720 --> 00:01:02,640
Go on, go on, go on, go on, go on!

22
00:01:02,640 --> 00:01:05,640
Do apes have the pain-free backs
we've always wanted?

23
00:01:05,640 --> 00:01:07,880
Oh!
SHE LAUGHS

24
00:01:07,880 --> 00:01:11,280
Can an octopus open our eyes to
better vision?

25
00:01:11,280 --> 00:01:12,920
Now, that is much better.

26
00:01:13,960 --> 00:01:17,640
And could a marsupial teach us
something about childbirth?

27
00:01:17,640 --> 00:01:20,440
Having a jelly bean-sized baby,
that's amazing.

28
00:01:21,440 --> 00:01:23,720
Using the best of these animal
designs,

29
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I'm going to create a lifelike model
of me that will be a total rethink

30
00:01:28,120 --> 00:01:29,600
of the human body.

31
00:01:29,600 --> 00:01:33,400
So, you want to do something a
little bit like this?

32
00:01:33,400 --> 00:01:35,120
Oh, wow, look at that!

33
00:01:35,120 --> 00:01:37,920
Each improvement will highlight our
limitations,

34
00:01:37,920 --> 00:01:41,800
and reveal how changing body parts
could mean compromises.

35
00:01:41,800 --> 00:01:46,240
So, the mouth needs air from the
lungs in order for us to speak?

36
00:01:46,240 --> 00:01:49,880
Can I create a body better than
my own,

37
00:01:49,880 --> 00:01:53,680
and what will she look like when I
come face-to-face

38
00:01:53,680 --> 00:01:55,400
with my perfect body?

39
00:02:12,720 --> 00:02:15,800
The human form is incredible -

40
00:02:15,800 --> 00:02:18,400
the result of millions of years of
evolution.

41
00:02:27,280 --> 00:02:31,600
muscle and other tissues working
together in miraculous harmony.

42
00:02:32,680 --> 00:02:37,040
Our bodies have helped make us one
of the most successful species

43
00:02:37,040 --> 00:02:38,240
on the planet.

44
00:02:38,240 --> 00:02:39,760
But are they perfect?

45
00:02:41,520 --> 00:02:46,560
I'm an anatomist, I am fascinated by
the structure of the human body,

46
00:02:46,760 --> 00:02:49,880
but the more I delve into it, the
more I realise

47
00:02:49,880 --> 00:02:54,160
what a cobbled-together, hodgepodge
of bits and pieces it really is.

48
00:02:54,160 --> 00:02:58,160
The human body is far from perfect.

49
00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:07,560
Ironically, our technological and
social progress

50
00:03:07,560 --> 00:03:09,640
has created new problems for us.

51
00:03:11,600 --> 00:03:15,160
Thanks to modern medicine and with
good diet and exercise,

52
00:03:15,160 --> 00:03:18,080
we can expect to live decades longer
than our ancestors.

53
00:03:19,480 --> 00:03:24,520
As we get older, we start to suffer
from bad backs, joint pain,

54
00:03:24,880 --> 00:03:29,840
failing senses, even our hearts can
become unreliable.

55
00:03:29,840 --> 00:03:32,120
And if you focus in on each of those
elements,

56
00:03:32,120 --> 00:03:35,960
you just can't help feeling that
they could be better designed.

57
00:03:38,800 --> 00:03:41,760
I've been writing about this for
some time,

58
00:03:41,760 --> 00:03:45,080
but now my outspokenness has
provoked a response.

59
00:03:47,320 --> 00:03:49,920
I've been summoned to the
Science Museum.

60
00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:57,400
I'm here to see an old friend,
Roger Highfield.

61
00:03:57,400 --> 00:03:59,520
Roger! Hey, Alice!

62
00:03:59,520 --> 00:04:03,080
Hello! Good to see you! But this is
no social call.

63
00:04:03,080 --> 00:04:06,400
You're always complaining about how
the human body

64
00:04:06,400 --> 00:04:09,640
isn't really optimised, how it's
kind of trapped by...

65
00:04:09,640 --> 00:04:12,280
Do I always do that?! ..that we're
not as well-designed,

66
00:04:12,280 --> 00:04:14,240
you know, whinge, whinge, whinge.
So, Alice,

67
00:04:14,240 --> 00:04:16,200
I want you to put your money where
your mouth is,

68
00:04:16,200 --> 00:04:19,520
and look at your own body, figure
out the flaws in it,

69
00:04:19,520 --> 00:04:22,040
and then I want you to rebuild
yourself,

70
00:04:22,040 --> 00:04:25,080
to create a model of yourself, a
perfect Alice.

71
00:04:25,080 --> 00:04:27,040
A physical model? A physical model,

72
00:04:27,040 --> 00:04:30,360
so we can see what perfection
looks like,

73
00:04:30,360 --> 00:04:33,360
and then we want to put that model
on display in this case

74
00:04:33,360 --> 00:04:36,240
for our million or so visitors to
this gallery each year

75
00:04:36,240 --> 00:04:39,040
to have a look at. It's going to be
right there, in the Science Museum?

76
00:04:39,040 --> 00:04:41,560
It's going to be right there.
It's going to be the perfect you.

77
00:04:41,560 --> 00:04:43,840
I'm up for it. I accept the
challenge.

78
00:04:43,840 --> 00:04:45,400
How long have I got?

79
00:04:45,400 --> 00:04:48,000
You've got about three months, so
not that long.

80
00:04:58,600 --> 00:05:02,600
This is an imaginative exercise,
but in tackling this project,

81
00:05:02,600 --> 00:05:04,880
I'm not going to give myself
completely free rein,

82
00:05:04,880 --> 00:05:06,480
because that feels like cheating.

83
00:05:06,480 --> 00:05:09,360
I'm going to stick with biological
materials,

84
00:05:09,360 --> 00:05:13,040
but what I am going to do is allow
myself to rewrite some of that

85
00:05:13,040 --> 00:05:16,400
evolutionary history, or at least to
get rid of the evolutionary baggage.

86
00:05:16,400 --> 00:05:18,800
I think of the human body as a
building

87
00:05:18,800 --> 00:05:21,400
which has been renovated over time,

88
00:05:21,400 --> 00:05:24,480
and some of its features are just a
bit odd now,

89
00:05:24,480 --> 00:05:27,280
so I'm going to take it right back
down to ground level

90
00:05:27,280 --> 00:05:29,240
and build it again, from the
bottom up.

91
00:05:30,880 --> 00:05:34,560
Natural selection only weeds out
anything that reduces

92
00:05:34,560 --> 00:05:37,200
the chances of survival and
reproduction.

93
00:05:37,200 --> 00:05:40,520
It's only perhaps now, as we demand
more quality from life,

94
00:05:40,520 --> 00:05:42,240
that we're aware of our failings.

95
00:05:44,840 --> 00:05:47,920
But the animal kingdom is full of
alternative forms...

96
00:05:49,600 --> 00:05:53,440
..different ways that nature has
tackled the same trials of life

97
00:05:53,440 --> 00:05:54,800
that humans face.

98
00:05:58,440 --> 00:06:01,720
This is quite a challenge that the
Science Museum has set me,

99
00:06:01,720 --> 00:06:04,160
but as I attempt to redesign my
own body,

100
00:06:04,160 --> 00:06:08,720
I have got the entire natural world
to provide me with inspiration.

101
00:06:11,600 --> 00:06:14,120
To keep my design grounded in
reality,

102
00:06:14,120 --> 00:06:17,200
I'm going to call on the talents of
anatomical artist

103
00:06:17,200 --> 00:06:19,520
and designer Scott Eaton.

104
00:06:20,600 --> 00:06:25,560
Scott is an expert at recreating
accurate human and animal anatomy,

105
00:06:25,840 --> 00:06:30,840
producing sculptures or models for
the art world and CGI industry.

106
00:06:30,840 --> 00:06:35,000
He's agreed to help me produce the
blueprint for Alice 2.0.

107
00:06:37,120 --> 00:06:41,120
Well, Scott has asked me to meet him
here at this industrial estate

108
00:06:41,120 --> 00:06:43,800
on the edge of London, and I think
this is the building.

109
00:06:43,800 --> 00:06:45,440
I'm pretty excited about this,

110
00:06:45,440 --> 00:06:47,720
because this is the start of making
the new me.

111
00:06:51,360 --> 00:06:53,360
At this special effects studio,

112
00:06:53,360 --> 00:06:56,400
a bit of hi-tech photographic
wizardry takes place.

113
00:06:59,720 --> 00:07:01,320
Scott? Alice, hi.

114
00:07:01,320 --> 00:07:02,840
Hello. Come in, come in.

115
00:07:02,840 --> 00:07:05,400
Can I come through here? Try,
be careful!

116
00:07:05,400 --> 00:07:08,400
Squeeze in! Well, this is an
amazing rig.

117
00:07:08,400 --> 00:07:09,800
Ah, we have a lot of cameras set up.

118
00:07:10,920 --> 00:07:14,720
To provide a visual base to work
from, Scott must first capture

119
00:07:14,720 --> 00:07:17,360
exactly what I look like in
three dimensions.

120
00:07:17,360 --> 00:07:20,200
Oh, my goodness, OK, how many
cameras have we got here?

121
00:07:20,200 --> 00:07:23,280
Looking around, there are about 130
cameras in this rig.

122
00:07:23,280 --> 00:07:26,400
And each one of them is trained on
this spot in the centre,

123
00:07:26,400 --> 00:07:28,480
so I presume that's where I've got
to stand?

124
00:07:28,480 --> 00:07:31,360
Yep, that will be your position on
the platform,

125
00:07:31,360 --> 00:07:32,880
kind of your little pedestal.

126
00:07:32,880 --> 00:07:35,160
So, 130 eyes all trained on me?

127
00:07:35,160 --> 00:07:36,240
Yep.

128
00:07:39,720 --> 00:07:42,480
OK, Alice, for the first kind of
pose,

129
00:07:42,480 --> 00:07:45,320
we're just going to do a standard
anatomical reference pose,

130
00:07:45,320 --> 00:07:49,080
so elbows out, and try to get your
forearms going down vertical.

131
00:07:49,080 --> 00:07:50,240
Yeah, that's it.

132
00:07:50,240 --> 00:07:51,280
OK, I'm good to go.

133
00:07:53,080 --> 00:07:54,160
Oh!

134
00:07:54,160 --> 00:07:55,920
THEY LAUGH

135
00:07:55,920 --> 00:07:57,640
That was quite bright!

136
00:07:57,640 --> 00:07:58,840
Relax, relax, relax.

137
00:08:00,080 --> 00:08:02,880
OK, in three, two, one.

138
00:08:05,120 --> 00:08:08,400
And the last one I think we'll get
you to do is stretch out,

139
00:08:08,400 --> 00:08:10,280
like you're pushing on a wall.

140
00:08:10,280 --> 00:08:12,440
Like I'm in a case. That's it,
that's it!

141
00:08:12,440 --> 00:08:15,040
Three, two, one.

142
00:08:15,040 --> 00:08:16,400
Good.

143
00:08:16,400 --> 00:08:18,080
Great, thanks, Alice. So weird!

144
00:08:20,880 --> 00:08:25,120
A bit of data crunching and 130
photos are combined

145
00:08:25,120 --> 00:08:27,120
into a single 3-D image.

146
00:08:27,120 --> 00:08:28,640
Alice, so there you are.

147
00:08:29,600 --> 00:08:31,520
What do you think? Oh, that's
amazing.

148
00:08:34,840 --> 00:08:35,920
It's really strange.

149
00:08:39,240 --> 00:08:41,600
It looks like a solid object when
you pull out,

150
00:08:41,600 --> 00:08:43,960
and then when you go in, you realise
that I'm just mapped

151
00:08:43,960 --> 00:08:46,080
as a cloud of individual pixels.

152
00:08:48,040 --> 00:08:49,000
Oh, it's great!

153
00:08:55,200 --> 00:08:59,520
OK, Alice, so we have the data now,
what are we going to do to it?

154
00:08:59,520 --> 00:09:01,960
What I want to do is talk to plenty
of other people.

155
00:09:01,960 --> 00:09:04,440
I want to talk to other anatomists,
I want to talk to surgeons -

156
00:09:04,440 --> 00:09:07,200
who are always patching up the
human body -

157
00:09:07,200 --> 00:09:11,440
and then I'll get back to you with a
wish list of ways of modifying me.

158
00:09:11,440 --> 00:09:12,840
OK, let me know, let me know.

159
00:09:17,520 --> 00:09:19,840
So, where to begin?

160
00:09:19,840 --> 00:09:22,480
Well, since the model is based
on me,

161
00:09:22,480 --> 00:09:25,280
I've decided to get deeply personal.

162
00:09:25,280 --> 00:09:28,120
Well, the best place to start
looking for flaws in the human body

163
00:09:28,120 --> 00:09:29,440
is actually right here,

164
00:09:29,440 --> 00:09:33,160
so I'm going to take an extremely
detailed look inside my body.

165
00:09:36,520 --> 00:09:40,800
I've come to seek the help of a
master at exposing hidden flaws,

166
00:09:40,800 --> 00:09:43,400
consultant radiologist Iain Lyburn.

167
00:09:43,400 --> 00:09:46,680
Iain, I want to have a look inside.
OK.

168
00:09:46,680 --> 00:09:48,600
There are a few areas that I
want to focus on.

169
00:09:48,600 --> 00:09:51,680
Right. And I just want to see how my
body's bearing up, you know,

170
00:09:51,680 --> 00:09:55,080
after 44 years of wear and tear.

171
00:09:55,080 --> 00:09:57,400
OK, so the plan is to get into the
MRI machine... Yeah.

172
00:09:57,400 --> 00:09:59,720
..and sort of slice you, lots of
different slices,

173
00:09:59,720 --> 00:10:03,000
lots of different angles, check out
all the different structures inside,

174
00:10:03,000 --> 00:10:05,360
and make sure you're surviving and
doing well.

175
00:10:05,360 --> 00:10:07,480
So, I'm approaching this with a bit
of trepidation,

176
00:10:07,480 --> 00:10:11,080
there is a possibility that we might
find something unforeseen.

177
00:10:11,080 --> 00:10:14,240
There'll be some sign of something,
some ageing process.

178
00:10:22,320 --> 00:10:25,000
The MRI sees right through me,

179
00:10:25,000 --> 00:10:27,520
collecting data on all the tissues
in my body.

180
00:10:28,640 --> 00:10:32,520
But it's my skeleton, and most
specifically my spine,

181
00:10:32,520 --> 00:10:34,000
that catches Iain's attention.

182
00:10:35,680 --> 00:10:38,240
So, looking at the spine here,
the vertebral bodies,

183
00:10:38,240 --> 00:10:41,040
the bony bits of the vertebrae,
are these squares.

184
00:10:41,040 --> 00:10:42,920
Yes. And then in between them,

185
00:10:42,920 --> 00:10:46,840
we've got the slightly pulpy
cartilage discs.

186
00:10:46,840 --> 00:10:49,680
That's right, yes, yes. They're like
the shock absorbers in between

187
00:10:49,680 --> 00:10:53,400
the vertical bodies, slightly
softer, more spongy discs.

188
00:10:53,400 --> 00:10:55,920
This disc here, I don't like the
look of that.

189
00:10:55,920 --> 00:11:00,600
No. The height is narrowed, so the
disc is slightly squashed,

190
00:11:00,600 --> 00:11:03,400
but also it's lost some of its water
content, so it's dehydrated,

191
00:11:03,400 --> 00:11:05,680
and that's a sign of it being
degenerate.

192
00:11:05,680 --> 00:11:08,080
It's a bit like a doughnut, we talk
about it like a doughnut,

193
00:11:08,080 --> 00:11:10,880
because there's a nice sort of
rounded edge, and in the middle

194
00:11:10,880 --> 00:11:14,160
there's the jam, and it's the jam
that comes out at the back

195
00:11:14,160 --> 00:11:16,920
and squashes onto your nerves and
causes trouble.

196
00:11:16,920 --> 00:11:18,520
OK, so it is pushing out the back,

197
00:11:18,520 --> 00:11:20,960
so this is what we would describe,
surely, as a slipped disc,

198
00:11:20,960 --> 00:11:22,560
or the beginning of a slipped disc?

199
00:11:22,560 --> 00:11:24,000
Very near the beginning of one.

200
00:11:24,000 --> 00:11:25,800
So, it's a slightly protruded disc

201
00:11:25,800 --> 00:11:28,040
but not actually squashing anything
particularly.

202
00:11:29,840 --> 00:11:32,440
This explains my years of back pain.

203
00:11:33,520 --> 00:11:34,920
But I'm not alone.

204
00:11:34,920 --> 00:11:37,600
It turns out that bad backs are
everywhere.

205
00:11:40,000 --> 00:11:43,440
Spinal problems and bad backs are a
huge problem for this country.

206
00:11:43,440 --> 00:11:46,160
We spend well over £1 billion a
year on treatment

207
00:11:46,160 --> 00:11:47,680
for spinal disorders.

208
00:11:47,680 --> 00:11:50,320
Wider than that, it has a huge
implication for the nation

209
00:11:50,320 --> 00:11:54,160
as a whole, with over £12 billion,
£13 billion a year spent

210
00:11:54,160 --> 00:11:58,760
in missed days from work because
of back pain and spinal disorders.

211
00:11:58,760 --> 00:12:02,040
And, in fact, if you look at chronic
pain as an entity,

212
00:12:02,040 --> 00:12:05,200
about 30% to 40% of patients who
suffer with chronic pain,

213
00:12:05,200 --> 00:12:07,160
it's originating from the spine.

214
00:12:07,160 --> 00:12:11,080
So why are our spines so
injury-prone?

215
00:12:11,080 --> 00:12:13,840
The challenge the spine faces is
that it has to move

216
00:12:13,840 --> 00:12:17,800
in many directions, at the same time
it has to bear the weight

217
00:12:17,800 --> 00:12:19,360
of the body and the torso.

218
00:12:19,360 --> 00:12:22,200
This puts huge forces throughout
this structure.

219
00:12:23,880 --> 00:12:26,720
To balance our upper body over
our legs,

220
00:12:26,720 --> 00:12:30,160
our spines evolved a series of
curves.

221
00:12:30,160 --> 00:12:32,880
But this shape created specific weak
points.

222
00:12:34,520 --> 00:12:38,480
We tend to see the wear and tear at
the points within the curves

223
00:12:38,480 --> 00:12:41,560
of the spine where there is the most
amount of movement and flexion

224
00:12:41,560 --> 00:12:44,600
extension, which in the neck is
around the mid-cervical region,

225
00:12:44,600 --> 00:12:47,640
and in the lumbar spine is at the
very base of the spine,

226
00:12:47,640 --> 00:12:49,680
where the curve is at its most
noticeable.

227
00:12:49,680 --> 00:12:52,720
About 95% of spinal problems in fact
originate

228
00:12:52,720 --> 00:12:55,000
from the lower lumbar spine region.

229
00:12:55,000 --> 00:12:58,240
As we get older, the structures
within our spine fail.

230
00:12:58,240 --> 00:12:59,640
That then leads to the pain,

231
00:12:59,640 --> 00:13:01,880
and that then leads to the
disability caused by it.

232
00:13:03,600 --> 00:13:08,600
So, why hasn't natural selection
weeded out bad backs?

233
00:13:09,080 --> 00:13:12,360
Well, back pain doesn't really start
to affect us

234
00:13:12,360 --> 00:13:16,360
until we're in our fifth or sixth
decade, and I'm afraid,

235
00:13:16,360 --> 00:13:18,320
once you've passed your
genes on,

236
00:13:18,320 --> 00:13:21,080
evolution doesn't care quite so much
about you.

237
00:13:23,720 --> 00:13:28,280
The ageing process exacerbates a
fundamental problem in our spines.

238
00:13:28,280 --> 00:13:32,520
But perhaps a close look at our
evolutionary past can provide a path

239
00:13:32,520 --> 00:13:33,920
to a possible solution.

240
00:13:35,080 --> 00:13:38,000
So, I've come here to Twycross Zoo
to meet some of our closest

241
00:13:38,000 --> 00:13:40,440
living relatives in the animal
kingdom,

242
00:13:40,440 --> 00:13:43,880
and to find out more about our own
evolutionary journey.

243
00:13:46,960 --> 00:13:50,040
Here to meet me is Dr Emily
Saunders,

244
00:13:50,040 --> 00:13:53,880
and some monkeys who can take our
backs back in time.

245
00:13:56,160 --> 00:13:59,560
What monkeys represent really nicely
is how we would have been

246
00:13:59,560 --> 00:14:00,800
a long time ago,

247
00:14:00,800 --> 00:14:02,840
so we're going back
40 million years or more,

248
00:14:02,840 --> 00:14:05,680
and so we would have been
small-bodied,

249
00:14:05,680 --> 00:14:09,240
running around the tree tops on
four limbs.

250
00:14:09,240 --> 00:14:12,360
What this does is it brings your
body centre of mass down

251
00:14:12,360 --> 00:14:17,040
lower towards the branch, and lessen
the risk of you swaying,

252
00:14:17,040 --> 00:14:19,480
and over-balancing, and toppling off
the branch.

253
00:14:22,520 --> 00:14:23,960
For millions of years,

254
00:14:23,960 --> 00:14:27,600
our ancestors' spines worked in a
horizontal position.

255
00:14:27,600 --> 00:14:30,720
As our ape ancestors got larger and
heavier,

256
00:14:30,720 --> 00:14:34,520
they held their bodies in a more
upright position, climbing,

257
00:14:34,520 --> 00:14:37,640
and then even standing on two legs,
up in the trees.

258
00:14:37,640 --> 00:14:42,600
But our spine problems really began
around 7 million years ago,

259
00:14:42,600 --> 00:14:45,920
when our ancestors started to do
less clambering in the trees,

260
00:14:45,920 --> 00:14:48,720
and more walking on the ground.

261
00:14:48,720 --> 00:14:50,280
To walk more efficiently,

262
00:14:50,280 --> 00:14:53,680
our lumbar spines lengthened and
became more flexible,

263
00:14:53,680 --> 00:14:56,680
but that made the backbone weaker.

264
00:14:56,680 --> 00:14:59,680
So, our spine is longer and we've
also got this curvature?

265
00:14:59,680 --> 00:15:02,280
Yeah, it's a slight recipe for
disaster,

266
00:15:02,280 --> 00:15:05,320
because we perhaps don't have the
muscle support to be able to support

267
00:15:05,320 --> 00:15:08,400
that part of our spine, so that
causes quite a lot of the problem.

268
00:15:09,840 --> 00:15:14,880
In terms of a durable design, humans
have perhaps taken a wrong turn.

269
00:15:15,000 --> 00:15:18,480
So, maybe we could learn something
useful by studying the alternative

270
00:15:18,480 --> 00:15:21,640
spinal arrangements of our primate
cousins.

271
00:15:21,640 --> 00:15:25,040
What chimpanzees do is they're
moving in a lot of different ways,

272
00:15:25,040 --> 00:15:26,680
in an upright posture...

273
00:15:26,680 --> 00:15:29,000
And then they're clambering, hanging
from their arms,

274
00:15:29,000 --> 00:15:30,480
bearing their weight on their feet?

275
00:15:30,480 --> 00:15:33,320
Yes, and so they're adapting
themselves to that upright posture,

276
00:15:33,320 --> 00:15:35,440
and that comes with a lot of
anatomical changes...

277
00:15:35,440 --> 00:15:36,800
BANG
Oh!

278
00:15:36,800 --> 00:15:38,040
THEY LAUGH

279
00:15:38,040 --> 00:15:40,120
Thank you for that! We're not
popular!

280
00:15:41,520 --> 00:15:45,480
In a chimp, the lumbar spine is
straighter, shorter,

281
00:15:45,480 --> 00:15:48,400
and entrapped by the pelvis on
each side,

282
00:15:48,400 --> 00:15:50,400
making for a more stable structure.

283
00:15:52,440 --> 00:15:55,120
They're flinging themselves around
the trees and doing all these

284
00:15:55,120 --> 00:15:57,520
different behaviours that they need
to do to be able to move

285
00:15:57,520 --> 00:15:58,800
around the forest canopy.

286
00:15:58,800 --> 00:16:01,640
That support might actually be to do
with reducing the injuries

287
00:16:01,640 --> 00:16:04,280
that they might get in that part of
the spine as a result.

288
00:16:05,720 --> 00:16:09,880
I'm now thinking that chimps might
hold the key to the solution here.

289
00:16:09,880 --> 00:16:14,400
We might be better off switching to
a stiffer, shorter lumbar spine.

290
00:16:17,840 --> 00:16:20,760
So, if I was going to re-engineer
the human spine to be more

291
00:16:20,760 --> 00:16:23,800
chimpanzee-like... If you had a sort
of slightly more entrapped,

292
00:16:23,800 --> 00:16:26,200
shorter lumbar spine, that was a bit
straighter,

293
00:16:26,200 --> 00:16:28,600
you'd get a huge amount of support
and stability,

294
00:16:28,600 --> 00:16:32,120
and potentially have reduced risk of
all the different maladies

295
00:16:32,120 --> 00:16:33,640
that come along with that.

296
00:16:33,640 --> 00:16:36,480
You wouldn't be able to walk quite
as nicely as we do,

297
00:16:36,480 --> 00:16:39,080
quite as efficiently as we do,
but chimpanzees,

298
00:16:39,080 --> 00:16:40,800
when they're walking bipedally,

299
00:16:40,800 --> 00:16:44,360
do actually have a little bit of
opposite rotation, in that vein.

300
00:16:44,360 --> 00:16:46,280
And I'd avoid my slipped disc,
I think.

301
00:16:46,280 --> 00:16:48,600
Exactly, yes. You may do, yeah.

302
00:16:48,600 --> 00:16:50,720
Not making any promises!
THEY LAUGH

303
00:16:53,800 --> 00:16:57,440
Time to pass on my first redesign to
artist Scott.

304
00:17:00,240 --> 00:17:02,160
So, this is your den! Hey, Alice!
Come in.

305
00:17:02,160 --> 00:17:04,360
Hello! How are you? Good to see you.

306
00:17:04,360 --> 00:17:06,760
OK, then, Scott, what have you got
for me?

307
00:17:06,760 --> 00:17:10,880
OK, well, I have you loaded into the
computer.

308
00:17:13,200 --> 00:17:15,680
You might recognise yourself,
I hope!

309
00:17:15,680 --> 00:17:18,240
The colour is there, the form is
there.

310
00:17:18,240 --> 00:17:19,560
It's quite freaky!

311
00:17:21,120 --> 00:17:22,440
It's quite... It is strange,

312
00:17:22,440 --> 00:17:24,600
because there's something quite
spooky about it.

313
00:17:24,600 --> 00:17:26,720
I'm obviously used to seeing
photographs of myself,

314
00:17:26,720 --> 00:17:28,520
and I'm even used to seeing myself
on film,

315
00:17:28,520 --> 00:17:30,880
but there's something quite
different about this.

316
00:17:30,880 --> 00:17:32,640
That's the starting point,

317
00:17:32,640 --> 00:17:35,400
and then we can do anything we want
to it, really.

318
00:17:36,920 --> 00:17:39,720
I've got a good idea of where I want
to start with this,

319
00:17:39,720 --> 00:17:41,560
and it's the spine.

320
00:17:41,560 --> 00:17:44,440
I think that there are problems
there that we could try to fix

321
00:17:44,440 --> 00:17:46,280
that are actually quite personal
to me,

322
00:17:46,280 --> 00:17:48,160
but also generally quite important.

323
00:17:48,160 --> 00:17:49,560
I've got a slipped disc.

324
00:17:49,560 --> 00:17:51,800
OK. And this is a really common
problem for humans.

325
00:17:51,800 --> 00:17:54,560
OK. So, I think this is a poor bit
of design

326
00:17:54,560 --> 00:17:56,320
that we could look at fixing.

327
00:17:56,320 --> 00:17:58,320
It's the structure of the spine

328
00:17:58,320 --> 00:18:00,680
which predisposes it to this
problem,

329
00:18:00,680 --> 00:18:02,880
the fact that you've got this curve.

330
00:18:02,880 --> 00:18:05,920
OK, so you want to work on
straightening

331
00:18:05,920 --> 00:18:08,080
some of the lumbar region?

332
00:18:08,080 --> 00:18:12,000
So, you want to do something a
little bit like this?

333
00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:13,080
Wow, look at that!

334
00:18:13,080 --> 00:18:14,960
That is actually moving back.

335
00:18:14,960 --> 00:18:16,720
This is amazing, this is like
some kind of

336
00:18:16,720 --> 00:18:18,320
really radical virtual surgery.

337
00:18:19,600 --> 00:18:23,080
Scott is now able to incorporate
elements of chimpanzee

338
00:18:23,080 --> 00:18:25,040
into my upgraded spine.

339
00:18:26,200 --> 00:18:30,200
We have five lumbar vertebrae.
Chimps have four.

340
00:18:30,200 --> 00:18:32,960
Right. They're also really well
supported at the bottom here,

341
00:18:32,960 --> 00:18:35,360
so you can see the way that the
pelvis comes up on either side.

342
00:18:35,360 --> 00:18:37,120
So what do you think, shall we...?

343
00:18:37,120 --> 00:18:38,640
Can you pull the pelvis up a bit?

344
00:18:38,640 --> 00:18:41,520
OK, so let me, let me just see...

345
00:18:41,520 --> 00:18:44,000
That's amazing. That's a variation,
right there.

346
00:18:45,160 --> 00:18:48,640
It's odd, it's going to make me more
straight-sided...

347
00:18:48,640 --> 00:18:50,960
Yeah, let's see. ..as chimps are.

348
00:18:50,960 --> 00:18:55,320
So, I've lost the small of my back,
I've lost my waist.

349
00:18:55,320 --> 00:18:57,680
It's also going to change
functionality, isn't it?

350
00:18:57,680 --> 00:19:00,680
Bringing the pelvis closer to the
ribcage is going to mean

351
00:19:00,680 --> 00:19:03,040
that I don't have as much rotation
there.

352
00:19:03,040 --> 00:19:06,240
Is that worth it for the
stabilisation of the spine?

353
00:19:06,240 --> 00:19:07,720
Maybe, maybe it is.

354
00:19:07,720 --> 00:19:11,080
We'll see. It looks weird, it looks
completely weird to me,

355
00:19:11,080 --> 00:19:13,160
I'm very familiar with human
anatomy,

356
00:19:13,160 --> 00:19:15,080
I'm very familiar with chimpanzee
anatomy,

357
00:19:15,080 --> 00:19:16,480
and that's a kind of...hybrid.

358
00:19:16,480 --> 00:19:19,360
Well, it'll look even more weird
when we fit your body

359
00:19:19,360 --> 00:19:23,080
to this underlying skeleton. Yeah!
Then it will look weird.

360
00:19:31,840 --> 00:19:35,120
The new me has received its first
modification.

361
00:19:36,360 --> 00:19:41,360
Straightening and strengthening my
lumbar spine is a subtle change,

362
00:19:42,040 --> 00:19:45,040
but it could make life dramatically
more comfortable.

363
00:19:46,280 --> 00:19:48,520
Now, it's time for the next
adaptation.

364
00:19:52,440 --> 00:19:56,440
Our backs aren't the only parts of
our bodies that have suffered

365
00:19:56,440 --> 00:20:00,040
from our ancestors' preference for
walking upright.

366
00:20:00,040 --> 00:20:02,080
As we became more bipedal,

367
00:20:02,080 --> 00:20:05,880
the strain of supporting the body
fell from four legs to just two.

368
00:20:07,600 --> 00:20:10,680
That's a lot of weight passing
through just a few joints...

369
00:20:14,920 --> 00:20:18,400
..as judo competitor Rhys Thompson
knows to his cost.

370
00:20:18,400 --> 00:20:21,000
I planted my foot to try and move my
opponent.

371
00:20:22,640 --> 00:20:26,280
He pulled me in a certain direction,
my foot slipped, replanted,

372
00:20:26,280 --> 00:20:28,440
and his weight came down on my knee.

373
00:20:30,080 --> 00:20:32,560
Initially, I felt, like, a snap.

374
00:20:34,880 --> 00:20:37,080
I thought I'd done something.

375
00:20:37,080 --> 00:20:39,520
I couldn't get up, and then I
struggled to walk after.

376
00:20:45,400 --> 00:20:49,040
Rhys had ruptured his anterior
cruciate ligament,

377
00:20:49,040 --> 00:20:51,640
a key element in the crowded
mechanics of the knee.

378
00:20:52,920 --> 00:20:55,400
The important thing to understand
about the knee joint

379
00:20:55,400 --> 00:20:58,840
is it's a very complicated join, by
comparison to many others.

380
00:20:58,840 --> 00:21:03,880
It moves a little bit like a hinge,
slides backwards and forwards,

381
00:21:04,160 --> 00:21:07,080
but it also turns.

382
00:21:07,080 --> 00:21:09,160
So, it's inherently unstable.

383
00:21:12,320 --> 00:21:15,200
Rhys broke the anterior cruciate
ligament,

384
00:21:15,200 --> 00:21:19,000
which is this ligament in the centre
of the joint at the front.

385
00:21:21,520 --> 00:21:25,440
The way these ligaments break is
usually through a pivoting motion,

386
00:21:25,440 --> 00:21:26,800
so the knee rotates.

387
00:21:28,240 --> 00:21:33,240
The foot is fixed on the ground, and
the body rotates around the joint,

388
00:21:33,360 --> 00:21:35,400
and this explodes.

389
00:21:37,400 --> 00:21:40,600
Sportspeople are especially prone to
ligament damage.

390
00:21:42,720 --> 00:21:45,080
But the forces that the knee
experiences,

391
00:21:45,080 --> 00:21:48,920
and the complexity of its structure,
means there's a lot to go wrong.

392
00:21:50,320 --> 00:21:53,960
The thin layer of protective
cartilage lining the bones

393
00:21:53,960 --> 00:21:55,600
takes much of the punishment.

394
00:21:57,040 --> 00:22:00,880
Two pieces of normal cartilage
rubbing over one another

395
00:22:00,880 --> 00:22:05,200
are more slippery than two ice cubes
rubbing over one another.

396
00:22:05,200 --> 00:22:10,240
The problem is it has no ability to
repair or heal itself,

397
00:22:10,960 --> 00:22:13,680
so over time, it gradually
wears out.

398
00:22:13,680 --> 00:22:17,840
It's only in the last 50 years or so
that we've doubled our life span,

399
00:22:17,840 --> 00:22:21,160
we now live until we're 100, and so
our joints, I'm afraid,

400
00:22:21,160 --> 00:22:22,440
can't quite cope.

401
00:22:26,960 --> 00:22:30,200
When the cartilage wears away, you
get arthritis.

402
00:22:31,840 --> 00:22:35,680
Successful surgery means Rhys is
now on the road to recovery.

403
00:22:35,680 --> 00:22:39,640
OK, head back and relax, I'm just
going to make it move.

404
00:22:39,640 --> 00:22:42,400
But by the time we pass 45,

405
00:22:42,400 --> 00:22:46,040
nearly 20% of us will suffer from
arthritic knees,

406
00:22:46,040 --> 00:22:49,560
rising to almost a quarter by the
time we pass 75.

407
00:23:02,240 --> 00:23:06,480
The knee is clearly a prime
candidate for my next redesign.

408
00:23:08,440 --> 00:23:11,760
If we look at the knee joint,
and explode it,

409
00:23:11,760 --> 00:23:14,040
we can just see how much anatomy
is in there.

410
00:23:14,040 --> 00:23:16,400
All these ligaments, all these bits
of cartilage,

411
00:23:16,400 --> 00:23:19,840
each one of those is another
component that can go wrong.

412
00:23:19,840 --> 00:23:22,080
So, I think we could simplify this
even more.

413
00:23:22,080 --> 00:23:25,680
I think we could make it into a very
simple hinge joint.

414
00:23:27,920 --> 00:23:31,400
However, I think what we need to do
is look at the whole leg.

415
00:23:31,400 --> 00:23:34,000
I don't think we can just pull the
knee out on its own,

416
00:23:34,000 --> 00:23:36,560
I think we've got to look at the
entire lower limb,

417
00:23:36,560 --> 00:23:39,560
and see if there's something quite
radical we could do

418
00:23:39,560 --> 00:23:42,080
to save some of the stress on these
joints.

419
00:23:45,120 --> 00:23:48,880
Could we learn something from other
successful bipeds?

420
00:23:50,280 --> 00:23:52,960
Birds, the descendants of dinosaurs,

421
00:23:52,960 --> 00:23:57,160
have been at this game tens of
millions of years longer than us.

422
00:23:57,160 --> 00:24:00,920
Their legs evolved very differently
to our own,

423
00:24:00,920 --> 00:24:05,160
so could they have discovered a less
damaging way to treat their joints?

424
00:24:07,840 --> 00:24:10,320
I've come to the Royal Veterinary
College campus

425
00:24:10,320 --> 00:24:12,160
to meet Dr Monica Daley.

426
00:24:12,160 --> 00:24:14,800
Hello. Hi. Are you Monica? Yeah, hi.

427
00:24:14,800 --> 00:24:17,040
Hi, nice to meet you.
Nice to meet you, too.

428
00:24:17,040 --> 00:24:19,320
Come and meet my team. This is
Hannah. Hannah, hello.

429
00:24:19,320 --> 00:24:22,560
Monica and her team are bird
locomotion specialists.

430
00:24:22,560 --> 00:24:24,520
Hello. That's a lovely guinea fowl.

431
00:24:24,520 --> 00:24:26,760
This is one of our flock, he's going
to run for us today.

432
00:24:26,760 --> 00:24:28,440
He's a performer? Yes. An athlete?

433
00:24:28,440 --> 00:24:32,320
Yes. I've been working with guinea
fowl for over ten years now,

434
00:24:32,320 --> 00:24:36,560
and I have spent my career trying
to, basically, trip birds,

435
00:24:36,560 --> 00:24:38,280
as they're running!
THEY LAUGH

436
00:24:38,280 --> 00:24:39,440
That sounds really mean!

437
00:24:39,440 --> 00:24:42,440
It does, but they're very, very
good, and it's actually rare

438
00:24:42,440 --> 00:24:45,360
that they ever fall down. Have you
managed to trip them up?

439
00:24:45,360 --> 00:24:48,280
Occasionally. A couple times in a
thousand.

440
00:24:48,280 --> 00:24:51,440
So, if you were to compare us
running with a guinea fowl running,

441
00:24:51,440 --> 00:24:52,840
who's better?

442
00:24:52,840 --> 00:24:54,760
Guinea fowl. Really? Yes.

443
00:24:55,760 --> 00:24:57,640
Monica is keen to rope me in.

444
00:24:58,960 --> 00:25:03,680
An extremely important part of this
experiment involves this,

445
00:25:03,680 --> 00:25:07,400
and I have been commissioned to use
this instrument in order

446
00:25:07,400 --> 00:25:09,040
to make the guinea fowl run,

447
00:25:09,040 --> 00:25:13,320
but no bird will be harmed during
the filming of this sequence.

448
00:25:15,640 --> 00:25:19,240
In the wild, guinea fowl can travel
over 20 miles a day

449
00:25:19,240 --> 00:25:22,800
in search of food, so they are
optimised for running.

450
00:25:22,800 --> 00:25:24,920
Right, release the guinea fowl!

451
00:25:24,920 --> 00:25:27,560
Go on, go on! Run, run, run, run,
run, run, run, run!

452
00:25:27,560 --> 00:25:31,200
The force plates detect the impact
of the bird's feet,

453
00:25:31,200 --> 00:25:34,840
while high-speed cameras capture its
every move.

454
00:25:34,840 --> 00:25:36,320
Go on, go on, go on, go on, go on,
go on!

455
00:25:37,560 --> 00:25:39,240
Ooh!
SHE LAUGHS

456
00:25:39,240 --> 00:25:41,640
Thank you very much. Well done! I'm
sorry about that...

457
00:25:41,640 --> 00:25:43,960
GUINEA FOWL SQUAWKS
I'm sorry. It is just a mop.

458
00:25:45,200 --> 00:25:47,200
It's very disgruntled with me.

459
00:25:47,200 --> 00:25:48,640
GUINEA FOWL SQUAWKS LOUDLY

460
00:25:52,480 --> 00:25:54,720
So, there's the bird running.

461
00:25:54,720 --> 00:25:58,120
And you can see the force plates,
the rectangles, in the runway here.

462
00:25:59,440 --> 00:26:02,680
And you can see the bird running
along, a nice, bouncing gait.

463
00:26:02,680 --> 00:26:04,520
It's beautiful.

464
00:26:04,520 --> 00:26:08,080
The pressure pad data reveals that
bipedal birds proportionately

465
00:26:08,080 --> 00:26:10,960
put their leg joints under far less
stress than we do.

466
00:26:12,600 --> 00:26:16,320
We have the ground reaction forces
here, so this is measuring how hard

467
00:26:16,320 --> 00:26:18,280
the leg is pushing against the
ground,

468
00:26:18,280 --> 00:26:21,160
so in this running guinea fowl,

469
00:26:21,160 --> 00:26:23,840
you see a nice, characteristic
single peak.

470
00:26:23,840 --> 00:26:26,240
Yeah. But it's a nice, slow peak,

471
00:26:26,240 --> 00:26:29,240
so you don't see a very rapid
loading of the leg,

472
00:26:29,240 --> 00:26:31,000
because they have a very soft gait.

473
00:26:31,000 --> 00:26:33,720
If we were to look at a human
running,

474
00:26:33,720 --> 00:26:36,000
how would it vary from this?

475
00:26:36,000 --> 00:26:37,720
If you were to compare this to
humans,

476
00:26:37,720 --> 00:26:39,880
you'd see a very rapid rise in
the force,

477
00:26:39,880 --> 00:26:42,160
so there's very rapid loading of
the bones,

478
00:26:42,160 --> 00:26:44,800
because we have a very straight-leg
posture,

479
00:26:44,800 --> 00:26:46,040
very heavy legs,

480
00:26:46,040 --> 00:26:48,240
so when they come into contact with
the ground,

481
00:26:48,240 --> 00:26:50,560
you see very large and rapid impact
loading.

482
00:26:51,920 --> 00:26:56,320
These powerful, sudden impact forces
are one of the reasons human knees

483
00:26:56,320 --> 00:26:59,480
and ankles are vulnerable to damage.

484
00:26:59,480 --> 00:27:03,600
So, what is it about these birds'
legs that puts such a spring

485
00:27:03,600 --> 00:27:04,640
in their step?

486
00:27:06,480 --> 00:27:08,880
To explore their anatomy in detail,

487
00:27:08,880 --> 00:27:11,480
Monica needs to get something from
the freezer.

488
00:27:16,880 --> 00:27:19,320
So, what's this bird, then, Monica?

489
00:27:19,320 --> 00:27:22,280
Well, this is the left leg of
an emu.

490
00:27:22,280 --> 00:27:23,600
Is it? It's huge!

491
00:27:23,600 --> 00:27:24,920
It's huge. Yeah.

492
00:27:24,920 --> 00:27:28,000
Here you have the calf muscles, and
then ankles down here.

493
00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:31,600
So, that is the equivalent of our
ankle, but it's right up there?

494
00:27:31,600 --> 00:27:33,240
Up in the middle of the leg, yeah.

495
00:27:33,240 --> 00:27:35,240
So, this is all essentially foot.

496
00:27:35,240 --> 00:27:37,720
Right, shall we have a look under
the skin, then? Yes.

497
00:27:38,680 --> 00:27:42,640
Time to make use of my skill as an
anatomist.

498
00:27:42,640 --> 00:27:45,200
It's kind of what you find on
chicken drumsticks, isn't it?

499
00:27:45,200 --> 00:27:48,120
Yeah, well, it's exactly what you
find on chicken drumsticks!

500
00:27:49,320 --> 00:27:54,320
Emus weigh up to 60kg, and can hit
speeds of up to 30mph.

501
00:27:55,480 --> 00:27:58,040
But you rarely hear of them ripping
a cruciate ligament

502
00:27:58,040 --> 00:27:59,840
or twisting an ankle.

503
00:27:59,840 --> 00:28:03,320
Their anatomical secrets are now
exposed.

504
00:28:03,320 --> 00:28:06,760
The fleshy parts of the muscles are
all high up in the leg,

505
00:28:06,760 --> 00:28:10,480
controlling movement lower down via
long tendons.

506
00:28:10,480 --> 00:28:13,840
So, these tendons that start here,
all the way up here,

507
00:28:13,840 --> 00:28:15,360
go all the way out to the toes.

508
00:28:15,360 --> 00:28:17,560
Wow, so look how long those tendons
are, then.

509
00:28:17,560 --> 00:28:19,040
So, I'm going to pull on them here.

510
00:28:19,040 --> 00:28:20,480
OK.

511
00:28:20,480 --> 00:28:22,680
There we go. And the toes curl
round.

512
00:28:25,320 --> 00:28:26,320
Just to prove it.

513
00:28:27,680 --> 00:28:31,480
But, importantly, these tendons also
take pressure off the joints,

514
00:28:31,480 --> 00:28:34,560
acting as enormous shock absorbers.

515
00:28:34,560 --> 00:28:38,840
The Achilles tendon is the tendon we
actually use quite a lot during

516
00:28:38,840 --> 00:28:40,360
running to store elastic energy.

517
00:28:40,360 --> 00:28:42,160
Yeah. But it's much, much bigger
here.

518
00:28:42,160 --> 00:28:44,360
These are springy, aren't they?
They're elastic.

519
00:28:44,360 --> 00:28:46,360
They're stringy, very, very
compliant tendons,

520
00:28:46,360 --> 00:28:47,720
so these stretch a lot.

521
00:28:47,720 --> 00:28:50,040
The leg works almost like a pogo
stick.

522
00:28:50,040 --> 00:28:53,520
The force of each step is absorbed
by the stretching tendon,

523
00:28:53,520 --> 00:28:56,320
which then recoils back to pop the
bird into the air.

524
00:28:58,160 --> 00:29:00,640
It makes running very efficient.

525
00:29:00,640 --> 00:29:02,680
With ankles lifted right up off the
ground,

526
00:29:02,680 --> 00:29:06,640
these birds make the most of their
shock-absorbing tendons.

527
00:29:06,640 --> 00:29:09,360
Being able to respond passively,
like birds can do,

528
00:29:09,360 --> 00:29:14,040
to an unexpected bump means that it
can have an intrinsically fast

529
00:29:14,040 --> 00:29:16,720
response, and it's intrinsically
more stable.

530
00:29:16,720 --> 00:29:18,480
And when you say "responding
passively,"

531
00:29:18,480 --> 00:29:20,480
you're simply talking about the
stretch and...?

532
00:29:20,480 --> 00:29:22,080
Just the stretch of the tendon,

533
00:29:22,080 --> 00:29:24,840
and the response is entirely due to
the stretch of the tendon,

534
00:29:24,840 --> 00:29:28,040
and how that transmits up the leg.

535
00:29:28,040 --> 00:29:30,800
I think I've been tinkering with
human anatomy up to this point,

536
00:29:30,800 --> 00:29:35,280
but I am so persuaded by the
efficiency of this bird design,

537
00:29:35,280 --> 00:29:37,760
this time I'm going to go for
something a bit more radical.

538
00:29:40,920 --> 00:29:44,240
It's time to go back to my designer,
Scott Eaton.

539
00:29:44,240 --> 00:29:47,280
I've got something rather extreme,
so I don't know if it's too extreme.

540
00:29:48,280 --> 00:29:50,240
So, I was wondering about doing
something

541
00:29:50,240 --> 00:29:52,320
which is a bit more birdlike. OK.

542
00:29:52,320 --> 00:29:55,480
So, it's going to be a really
radical departure,

543
00:29:55,480 --> 00:30:00,200
because the human lower limb is
really different from the bird's.

544
00:30:00,200 --> 00:30:03,600
This is a big, complicated redesign.

545
00:30:03,600 --> 00:30:06,760
I think the first thing to do is to
kind of modify the length

546
00:30:06,760 --> 00:30:09,960
of the femur. This is just going to
be kind of an approximate sketch,

547
00:30:09,960 --> 00:30:12,440
and we'll refine this later...
SHE LAUGHS

548
00:30:12,440 --> 00:30:15,360
So, I've kind of imagined all these
in my mind's eye,

549
00:30:15,360 --> 00:30:19,360
and now actually seeing it
happening, it's just bizarre.

550
00:30:19,360 --> 00:30:22,680
We've kind of done a quick
modification of the femur.

551
00:30:22,680 --> 00:30:24,720
We have the tibia in place.

552
00:30:25,920 --> 00:30:28,760
To resolve the rest is going to take
a bit of time.

553
00:30:28,760 --> 00:30:30,760
We're going to have to stretch out
the foot.

554
00:30:30,760 --> 00:30:34,960
This lower segment here is going to
be basically a really lengthened

555
00:30:34,960 --> 00:30:37,280
metatarsal, isn't it? The whole of
that segment there.

556
00:30:37,280 --> 00:30:39,960
A really lengthened and reinforced
metatarsal.

557
00:30:39,960 --> 00:30:42,360
And how many toes am I going to end
up with, do you think?

558
00:30:42,360 --> 00:30:46,080
Three toes? I'm going to estimate
that you end up with three toes.

559
00:30:46,080 --> 00:30:48,480
Yeah. One order for bird legs,
coming up!

560
00:30:51,480 --> 00:30:54,840
The addition of bird legs is a
compromise.

561
00:30:54,840 --> 00:30:59,840
I will lose the mobility of my feet,
so useful in climbing,

562
00:30:59,840 --> 00:31:03,800
but those enormous tendons should
take the pressure off my joints,

563
00:31:03,800 --> 00:31:06,320
keeping me happily mobile for years
to come.

564
00:31:08,160 --> 00:31:09,760
I'll send you some more stuff...

565
00:31:09,760 --> 00:31:13,160
In order to keep me focused on the
science, for the rest of the build,

566
00:31:13,160 --> 00:31:15,880
Scott has banished me from his
studio.

567
00:31:15,880 --> 00:31:17,160
Can you send me updates?

568
00:31:17,160 --> 00:31:19,560
No. No, no, no, it'll be a surprise.

569
00:31:19,560 --> 00:31:21,640
All right, I'm up for that.
Brilliant. All right?

570
00:31:21,640 --> 00:31:24,440
Thanks for stopping by. No, it's
been brilliant, thank you very much!

571
00:31:24,440 --> 00:31:26,840
OK, I'll see you again soon, Alice.
See you soon!

572
00:31:33,800 --> 00:31:36,920
Skeletal weaknesses aren't our only
flaws.

573
00:31:36,920 --> 00:31:40,640
Dig deeper, and you discover more of
evolution's oversights.

574
00:31:44,880 --> 00:31:48,000
The heart is the most active muscle
in our body,

575
00:31:48,000 --> 00:31:51,360
but unlike other muscles, it never
gets tired.

576
00:31:52,720 --> 00:31:54,480
By the time you hit 90,

577
00:31:54,480 --> 00:31:57,520
it will have generated almost
4 billion heartbeats.

578
00:31:59,400 --> 00:32:03,200
But some basic flaws in its design
mean that many of us

579
00:32:03,200 --> 00:32:04,840
won't get that far.

580
00:32:06,960 --> 00:32:09,360
It's time for me to get to the heart
of the matter,

581
00:32:09,360 --> 00:32:11,920
with the help of cardiologist
Dr Alex Lyon.

582
00:32:14,200 --> 00:32:16,640
Alice, here's your heart on the
ultrasound.

583
00:32:16,640 --> 00:32:20,160
So, every pulse you feel, it's due
to this lovely organ,

584
00:32:20,160 --> 00:32:23,600
the heart, contracting to pump the
blood.

585
00:32:23,600 --> 00:32:26,880
You have 100 billion little muscle
cells making up

586
00:32:26,880 --> 00:32:30,280
this pumping chamber, and I can tell
this is lovely and healthy.

587
00:32:30,280 --> 00:32:32,880
Oh, good. It's just amazing to see
it in real-time, isn't it?

588
00:32:32,880 --> 00:32:35,120
It is. It's fantastic. It's a
beautiful structure.

589
00:32:35,120 --> 00:32:37,760
There are a few things that I think
we would like to change,

590
00:32:37,760 --> 00:32:38,800
if we could.

591
00:32:42,400 --> 00:32:43,680
According to Alex,

592
00:32:43,680 --> 00:32:47,080
there's a big problem with the
arteries that supply the heart

593
00:32:47,080 --> 00:32:48,960
itself with oxygenated blood.

594
00:32:50,920 --> 00:32:53,160
One of the biggest problems is
heart attacks

595
00:32:53,160 --> 00:32:55,440
caused by coronary blockages.

596
00:32:55,440 --> 00:32:58,240
We all have two main coronary
arteries,

597
00:32:58,240 --> 00:33:00,440
one on the left and one on the
right,

598
00:33:00,440 --> 00:33:03,560
and our left coronary artery starts
as this common trunk,

599
00:33:03,560 --> 00:33:06,520
and then divides into two important
arteries.

600
00:33:06,520 --> 00:33:09,840
So, we really have three big
arteries supplying our hearts

601
00:33:09,840 --> 00:33:11,080
with all our blood.

602
00:33:11,080 --> 00:33:15,120
Our problem is that every part of
the heart muscle only receives

603
00:33:15,120 --> 00:33:20,200
blood from one artery, so if one of
the big three block off,

604
00:33:20,200 --> 00:33:24,280
then that causes a large heart
attack and the heart muscle dies.

605
00:33:24,280 --> 00:33:27,920
Every seven minutes, someone in the
UK will have a heart attack.

606
00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:32,760
Coronary heart disease remains one
of the biggest killers

607
00:33:32,760 --> 00:33:34,240
in the country.

608
00:33:34,240 --> 00:33:37,960
It does seem crazy to have two
blood vessels supplying the heart,

609
00:33:37,960 --> 00:33:41,200
but for each part of the heart
muscle to only have supply

610
00:33:41,200 --> 00:33:42,800
from one of those vessels.

611
00:33:42,800 --> 00:33:46,240
I agree, and there are some species
which actually have a much

612
00:33:46,240 --> 00:33:50,040
more clever coronary system, with
lots of little connections

613
00:33:50,040 --> 00:33:54,080
between the different arteries,
which we call collaterals.

614
00:33:54,080 --> 00:33:58,520
So, here is an example of the
coronary anatomy of a dog heart,

615
00:33:58,520 --> 00:34:01,440
and you can see that each part of
the heart muscle

616
00:34:01,440 --> 00:34:04,000
gets its blood supply from lots of
different routes,

617
00:34:04,000 --> 00:34:07,320
so if you blocked off one artery it
would still receive the blood

618
00:34:07,320 --> 00:34:08,480
from the other side.

619
00:34:08,480 --> 00:34:10,920
So, that would mean if you had a
clot coming down

620
00:34:10,920 --> 00:34:12,680
this blood vessel here,

621
00:34:12,680 --> 00:34:15,640
it's got branches coming from the
other vessel too,

622
00:34:15,640 --> 00:34:19,320
so it's OK? If we're designing a
perfect heart for you,

623
00:34:19,320 --> 00:34:22,520
I would like your coronaries to have
lots of collaterals,

624
00:34:22,520 --> 00:34:24,160
like a dog's heart,

625
00:34:24,160 --> 00:34:28,240
so that you're protected if you ever
have a blockage of the coronaries

626
00:34:28,240 --> 00:34:30,440
that you don't then suffer a heart
attack.

627
00:34:30,440 --> 00:34:33,160
So, dog-like coronary arteries?

628
00:34:33,160 --> 00:34:34,240
That's right.

629
00:34:37,920 --> 00:34:41,040
So, it turns out we can learn some
useful tricks

630
00:34:41,040 --> 00:34:42,240
from man's best friend.

631
00:34:43,320 --> 00:34:46,760
Like the lumbar spine, this is a
very subtle change,

632
00:34:46,760 --> 00:34:49,560
but one that could transform
countless lives.

633
00:34:54,480 --> 00:34:57,320
This could be a simple redesign,

634
00:34:57,320 --> 00:35:00,400
but there are more structural
additions I could make

635
00:35:00,400 --> 00:35:02,840
to improve the circulation of the
blood.

636
00:35:02,840 --> 00:35:07,200
Our upright bodies make the steady
flow of blood a challenge.

637
00:35:07,200 --> 00:35:09,240
There's the heart, up there.

638
00:35:09,240 --> 00:35:10,920
In red, we're seeing the arteries

639
00:35:10,920 --> 00:35:13,360
which are carrying blood away from
the heart, and in blue,

640
00:35:13,360 --> 00:35:16,600
the veins, which carry blood back to
the heart.

641
00:35:16,600 --> 00:35:18,920
And this is where we get the problem
in the legs, of course,

642
00:35:18,920 --> 00:35:21,720
because the blood's coming all the
way down here to the feet,

643
00:35:21,720 --> 00:35:26,320
and then it's got to get all the way
back up again to the heart.

644
00:35:28,400 --> 00:35:31,200
As we age, the circulatory system
can have trouble

645
00:35:31,200 --> 00:35:34,000
overcoming the force of gravity.

646
00:35:34,000 --> 00:35:38,480
When blood begins to pool in the
legs, it can cause varicose veins,

647
00:35:38,480 --> 00:35:40,400
and deep-vein thrombosis.

648
00:35:42,000 --> 00:35:45,080
It's clear that the circulation
needs some assistance.

649
00:35:47,640 --> 00:35:49,040
It is helped a bit -

650
00:35:49,040 --> 00:35:52,480
the muscles of the calf help to
pump the blood

651
00:35:52,480 --> 00:35:53,680
through the deep veins.

652
00:35:55,160 --> 00:35:57,040
And there are valves in the veins,
as well,

653
00:35:57,040 --> 00:35:58,800
to keep the blood flowing in one
direction.

654
00:35:58,800 --> 00:36:01,040
But I think we could improve this.

655
00:36:01,040 --> 00:36:03,760
I think that rather than just
relying on the muscles

656
00:36:03,760 --> 00:36:07,160
outside the veins, why don't we put
some muscle into the veins?

657
00:36:07,160 --> 00:36:10,680
So, rather than just having these
thin walled veins...

658
00:36:11,880 --> 00:36:14,600
..maybe at a couple of places we
could add a bit of muscle

659
00:36:14,600 --> 00:36:19,640
into the walls, and create what is
effectively another tiny heart.

660
00:36:20,200 --> 00:36:23,880
Add a couple of valves in like this,
then we've got a little pump.

661
00:36:23,880 --> 00:36:27,080
I mean, this is essentially how the
heart forms in the embryo, as well.

662
00:36:27,080 --> 00:36:29,640
It just starts off as a fairly
simple vessel,

663
00:36:29,640 --> 00:36:33,200
with contractile muscle in its walls
to pump the blood through.

664
00:36:33,200 --> 00:36:36,520
So, I think that this is relatively
easy to achieve.

665
00:36:36,520 --> 00:36:41,000
In terms of the exact positioning of
these extra little hearts

666
00:36:41,000 --> 00:36:44,880
in our leg veins, I'm going to leave
that up to Scott.

667
00:36:44,880 --> 00:36:47,160
But I think this could be part of
the solution

668
00:36:47,160 --> 00:36:49,040
to varicose veins and DVT.

669
00:36:51,080 --> 00:36:54,480
I'm banished from his studio, but
Scott is hard at work,

670
00:36:54,480 --> 00:36:56,640
turning my ideas into reality.

671
00:36:57,920 --> 00:37:01,600
The big kind of requirement that the
body always has to fulfil

672
00:37:01,600 --> 00:37:04,920
is it has to protect really
important organs.

673
00:37:04,920 --> 00:37:09,360
So, to protect these new little
pumps that we're putting in,

674
00:37:09,360 --> 00:37:12,680
the obvious place is to put it in
this area

675
00:37:12,680 --> 00:37:16,720
called the femoral triangle, kind of
on the inner surface of your thigh.

676
00:37:16,720 --> 00:37:19,280
And here is the corresponding area
on her.

677
00:37:19,280 --> 00:37:22,760
Depending on how lean she is in her
new form,

678
00:37:22,760 --> 00:37:25,680
you'll be able to make out possible
evidence of it.

679
00:37:25,680 --> 00:37:30,200
So, reasonably well-protected, all
things considered.

680
00:37:33,440 --> 00:37:35,840
Scott is my virtual architect,

681
00:37:35,840 --> 00:37:39,440
but responsibility for building the
Science Museum sculpture

682
00:37:39,440 --> 00:37:43,840
goes to top prosthetics and special
effects expert, Sangeet Prabhaker.

683
00:37:46,240 --> 00:37:48,200
I mainly work in the film industry.

684
00:37:48,200 --> 00:37:52,400
I create creatures and monsters,
fake people,

685
00:37:52,400 --> 00:37:54,480
but I don't think that's quite the
same thing.

686
00:37:54,480 --> 00:37:57,320
I think this is quite a unique
design,

687
00:37:57,320 --> 00:37:59,680
unlike anything that I've done
before.

688
00:37:59,680 --> 00:38:02,280
Scott's virtual designs are
made real

689
00:38:02,280 --> 00:38:04,760
with the help of Sangeet's 3-D
printer.

690
00:38:08,440 --> 00:38:12,160
If we were just working from
drawings provided by Scott,

691
00:38:12,160 --> 00:38:15,320
we would easily spend six or seven
weeks, I think,

692
00:38:15,320 --> 00:38:18,480
just working on the sculpture.

693
00:38:18,480 --> 00:38:20,800
But since we're working with
printers,

694
00:38:20,800 --> 00:38:23,120
we can get something together in
about a week

695
00:38:23,120 --> 00:38:27,200
that is way more accurate than most
human sculptors

696
00:38:27,200 --> 00:38:28,240
could ever achieve.

697
00:38:29,360 --> 00:38:33,440
Sangeet's first challenge is my
spindly bird legs.

698
00:38:33,440 --> 00:38:37,080
They will have to support the whole
structure.

699
00:38:37,080 --> 00:38:41,480
What we have here is our left foot,
and believe it or not,

700
00:38:41,480 --> 00:38:43,120
that is the entire foot.

701
00:38:45,680 --> 00:38:48,760
The tricky thing is getting this to
stand, right?

702
00:38:51,480 --> 00:38:55,560
And not have any visible supporting
structure underneath.

703
00:38:56,800 --> 00:38:59,360
It's a bit of a challenge, but, I
mean, that's what we do, right?

704
00:38:59,360 --> 00:39:01,280
Everything we make is a prototype.

705
00:39:01,280 --> 00:39:04,560
Everything - by definition -
we make hasn't been made before.

706
00:39:04,560 --> 00:39:08,000
So, that's our craft,
it's always being adaptable,

707
00:39:08,000 --> 00:39:11,040
and finding new, efficient ways of
putting things together.

708
00:39:15,600 --> 00:39:19,920
So far, in my imaginary redesign of
the human form,

709
00:39:19,920 --> 00:39:23,200
I've been correcting flaws that
generally only show themselves

710
00:39:23,200 --> 00:39:24,480
with age.

711
00:39:24,480 --> 00:39:27,480
But the problems with our design can
go deeper than that.

712
00:39:28,440 --> 00:39:31,760
The flawed blueprint of the human
body means that some

713
00:39:31,760 --> 00:39:35,120
totally natural processes can be
gravely damaging.

714
00:39:36,600 --> 00:39:40,080
I'm in hospital today for a minor
operation,

715
00:39:40,080 --> 00:39:44,760
and it's to correct a small injury
that was essentially caused

716
00:39:44,760 --> 00:39:47,400
because my body wasn't up to the
mechanical demands

717
00:39:47,400 --> 00:39:48,680
being placed on it.

718
00:39:48,680 --> 00:39:52,480
It's a hernia, and I can show it to
you - it's just here.

719
00:39:52,480 --> 00:39:55,280
I don't know if you can see this
lump just there.

720
00:39:55,280 --> 00:39:56,880
I can certainly feel it,

721
00:39:56,880 --> 00:39:59,480
and I can push it back in.

722
00:39:59,480 --> 00:40:02,600
It's not fatal, but it's
uncomfortable,

723
00:40:02,600 --> 00:40:05,280
and it's quite painful at times.

724
00:40:05,280 --> 00:40:07,000
So, we need to keep it on the
inside.

725
00:40:14,360 --> 00:40:17,560
As far as I'm concerned, this really
is a flaw in the design

726
00:40:17,560 --> 00:40:19,080
of the human body.

727
00:40:19,080 --> 00:40:24,120
It came about as an unfortunate
side-effect of a completely natural

728
00:40:24,440 --> 00:40:29,440
process that up to half of the adult
population can go through -

729
00:40:29,800 --> 00:40:31,480
pregnancy.

730
00:40:31,480 --> 00:40:35,840
As my belly swelled with my second
child inside,

731
00:40:35,840 --> 00:40:40,880
my muscles separated a little bit,
and then the seam between them tore,

732
00:40:41,800 --> 00:40:46,640
and that is the origin of the hernia
that, hopefully,

733
00:40:46,640 --> 00:40:48,120
I'm going to get corrected today.

734
00:40:48,120 --> 00:40:49,560
So, it is fixable,

735
00:40:49,560 --> 00:40:52,560
but wouldn't it be brilliant if it
didn't happen in the first place?

736
00:41:00,200 --> 00:41:03,840
It's estimated that up to 20% of
pregnant women experience

737
00:41:03,840 --> 00:41:07,440
some type of hernia,
but it can be much worse.

738
00:41:10,960 --> 00:41:14,160
Giving birth is perhaps the most
dangerous natural process

739
00:41:14,160 --> 00:41:16,320
experienced by any animal.

740
00:41:16,320 --> 00:41:20,720
For much of history, at least 2% of
women died giving birth.

741
00:41:22,320 --> 00:41:26,400
Our babies' large heads have to fit
through a fairly narrow gap

742
00:41:26,400 --> 00:41:27,680
in the pelvis.

743
00:41:29,200 --> 00:41:32,000
But there's no reason why women
should put up with this...

744
00:41:35,400 --> 00:41:40,200
..because an intriguing alternative
exists in some of our close cousins,

745
00:41:40,200 --> 00:41:42,560
the marsupial mammals of the
southern hemisphere.

746
00:41:46,240 --> 00:41:48,280
I've come to the Natural
History Museum

747
00:41:48,280 --> 00:41:52,040
to meet marsupial expert, Professor
Anjali Goswami.

748
00:41:52,040 --> 00:41:54,200
Hi, Anjali. Hey, Alice.

749
00:41:55,520 --> 00:42:00,120
Anjali is using laser scanners to
create a 3-D virtual catalogue

750
00:42:00,120 --> 00:42:02,200
of this particular group of mammals.

751
00:42:03,480 --> 00:42:06,480
We are trying to gather really
high-resolution data

752
00:42:06,480 --> 00:42:09,440
for a wide variety of marsupials,

753
00:42:09,440 --> 00:42:11,720
to try and reconstruct their
evolutionary history.

754
00:42:11,720 --> 00:42:14,240
And we have a nice fossil record
for them,

755
00:42:14,240 --> 00:42:16,680
going back to 125 million years ago.
That's a long time!

756
00:42:16,680 --> 00:42:19,200
I mean, that's way back into the
time of the dinosaurs.

757
00:42:19,200 --> 00:42:20,240
Absolutely. Yeah.

758
00:42:21,840 --> 00:42:25,040
The most noticeable difference
between marsupials

759
00:42:25,040 --> 00:42:28,600
and placental mammals like us is the
process of birth.

760
00:42:29,880 --> 00:42:31,720
How big are they when they're born?

761
00:42:31,720 --> 00:42:36,200
Maybe a jellybean size would be
appropriate for a kangaroo.

762
00:42:36,200 --> 00:42:38,000
That is minute!

763
00:42:38,000 --> 00:42:40,160
I would have liked to have given
birth to something

764
00:42:40,160 --> 00:42:42,920
the size of a jellybean! I am right
behind you, I absolutely agree.

765
00:42:42,920 --> 00:42:45,080
It seems terribly unfair that we
have this

766
00:42:45,080 --> 00:42:46,720
difficult birthing process,

767
00:42:46,720 --> 00:42:49,840
and yet, you could just have a nice,
little baby that was this big,

768
00:42:49,840 --> 00:42:51,920
and go about your business most of
the time.

769
00:42:53,400 --> 00:42:58,360
These marsupial jellybean newborns
look very underdeveloped,

770
00:42:58,720 --> 00:43:01,800
but Anjali's scans show that parts
of their bodies

771
00:43:01,800 --> 00:43:04,280
are unexpectedly well-developed.

772
00:43:04,280 --> 00:43:07,240
It looks equivalent to about,
I don't know,

773
00:43:07,240 --> 00:43:09,320
a seven-week-old human embryo,

774
00:43:09,320 --> 00:43:13,600
but, at that point, the embryo in
the human has no bone.

775
00:43:13,600 --> 00:43:15,800
So, it's got bone around the jaws,

776
00:43:15,800 --> 00:43:18,960
it's got bone in its little, tiny
forelimbs here.

777
00:43:18,960 --> 00:43:22,840
In many ways, you can think of
placental birth as -

778
00:43:22,840 --> 00:43:26,400
for the embryo, at least, or for the
baby - as really cushy

779
00:43:26,400 --> 00:43:29,600
compared to what a marsupial has to
do at that really early stage

780
00:43:29,600 --> 00:43:30,800
of development.

781
00:43:33,720 --> 00:43:37,320
These newborns must immediately
spring into action,

782
00:43:37,320 --> 00:43:41,160
their arms pull them along as their
noses follow a scent trail

783
00:43:41,160 --> 00:43:43,040
to the safety of their mother's
pouch.

784
00:43:47,200 --> 00:43:49,400
What is the pouch actually made of?

785
00:43:49,400 --> 00:43:51,800
Well, it's essentially a skin flap
that's covering up

786
00:43:51,800 --> 00:43:53,120
the mammary glands.

787
00:43:53,120 --> 00:43:54,600
So, inside the pouch,

788
00:43:54,600 --> 00:43:57,800
the mother will have a certain
number of nipples.

789
00:43:59,600 --> 00:44:04,200
Once they latch on, the newborns are
sustained by energy-rich milk.

790
00:44:04,200 --> 00:44:07,160
But this way of delivering nutrition
isn't as efficient

791
00:44:07,160 --> 00:44:08,600
as our placental system,

792
00:44:08,600 --> 00:44:11,440
especially if you want to grow a
brain like ours.

793
00:44:12,600 --> 00:44:17,040
So, it's not just the equivalent of
human gestation, plus lactation,

794
00:44:17,040 --> 00:44:19,280
it's actually going to be even
longer than that?

795
00:44:19,280 --> 00:44:21,280
Oh, yes, it won't just be nine
months extra,

796
00:44:21,280 --> 00:44:24,000
it'll be years and years extra.

797
00:44:24,000 --> 00:44:26,480
Years of carrying a baby in a pouch?

798
00:44:26,480 --> 00:44:29,440
If you want them to have a big
brain size.

799
00:44:29,440 --> 00:44:32,640
And there is another compromise to
consider.

800
00:44:32,640 --> 00:44:34,640
OK, so I hadn't really
thought about that.

801
00:44:34,640 --> 00:44:38,680
The... The solution,
if we import this into humans,

802
00:44:38,680 --> 00:44:41,480
means that we are probably going to
have to move the nipples down

803
00:44:41,480 --> 00:44:44,120
off the chest, onto the belly,
inside the pouch.

804
00:44:44,120 --> 00:44:48,480
That's probably true. But I still
think the pro of having

805
00:44:48,480 --> 00:44:50,880
a jellybean-sized baby...
That's amazing.

806
00:44:50,880 --> 00:44:51,920
PHONE BUZZES

807
00:44:53,720 --> 00:44:56,720
I've been expecting your call.
So, what do you have?

808
00:44:56,720 --> 00:45:01,400
This time, it's all about the
problems associated with childbirth.

809
00:45:01,400 --> 00:45:02,600
So...

810
00:45:02,600 --> 00:45:05,000
I'd quite like to have a pouch.

811
00:45:05,000 --> 00:45:06,800
Oh, wow!
HE LAUGHS

812
00:45:06,800 --> 00:45:09,560
It means that the baby can come out
when it's really tiny,

813
00:45:09,560 --> 00:45:11,400
and it's just easy to carry it
around.

814
00:45:11,400 --> 00:45:13,080
You can just keep it in the pouch.

815
00:45:13,080 --> 00:45:15,200
Uh, yeah, that's, that's...

816
00:45:15,200 --> 00:45:16,560
Uh...

817
00:45:16,560 --> 00:45:18,880
That is going to have its own
challenges.

818
00:45:18,880 --> 00:45:22,120
If we move the teats down into
the pouch,

819
00:45:22,120 --> 00:45:24,280
then, obviously, I don't need
breasts any more.

820
00:45:24,280 --> 00:45:28,560
Mmm, yes. I knew you were going
in that direction!

821
00:45:28,560 --> 00:45:32,240
I'm not sure how I feel about giving
up breasts, but I think...

822
00:45:33,280 --> 00:45:35,160
..on the whole, it's worth it.

823
00:45:35,160 --> 00:45:38,000
Well, we can do anything, you know,
you just have to ask,

824
00:45:38,000 --> 00:45:40,560
and you just have to bear with the
results.

825
00:45:43,440 --> 00:45:47,840
In my search for perfection,
I've made some dramatic changes.

826
00:45:47,840 --> 00:45:49,360
To strengthen my spine,

827
00:45:49,360 --> 00:45:53,200
I've adopted the more stable design
of the chimpanzee.

828
00:45:53,200 --> 00:45:56,160
I've taken the shock-absorbing legs
of a bird,

829
00:45:56,160 --> 00:45:58,240
and added a few extra hearts.

830
00:45:59,960 --> 00:46:02,760
And now I'm getting a marsupial
pouch,

831
00:46:02,760 --> 00:46:05,400
and saying goodbye to my breasts.

832
00:46:06,480 --> 00:46:10,480
When I finally get to see this new
me, will I even recognise her?

833
00:46:14,760 --> 00:46:16,960
A lot of the changes I've been
making so far

834
00:46:16,960 --> 00:46:19,640
have been about correcting design
flaws in the body,

835
00:46:19,640 --> 00:46:22,080
but there's something else I can
look at doing,

836
00:46:22,080 --> 00:46:27,120
and that is improving function,
enhancing performance,

837
00:46:27,800 --> 00:46:29,400
boosting my abilities.

838
00:46:31,960 --> 00:46:36,080
I've already looked at our skeletal
and circulatory systems,

839
00:46:36,080 --> 00:46:41,120
so to improve athletic performance,
it's time to focus in on our lungs,

840
00:46:41,320 --> 00:46:44,760
and ask the question, are they
really doing a good job?

841
00:46:48,920 --> 00:46:50,600
That's it, keep going...

842
00:46:50,600 --> 00:46:52,320
At Middlesex University,

843
00:46:52,320 --> 00:46:56,560
Dr Lizi Bryant works to help top-end
athletes improve their performance.

844
00:46:58,160 --> 00:47:00,320
OK, ready? And it's going to go up
again now.

845
00:47:00,320 --> 00:47:02,720
Keep pushing, this is a really,
really good effort.

846
00:47:04,080 --> 00:47:05,600
With the VO2 max test,

847
00:47:05,600 --> 00:47:07,680
we are trying to get an athlete or
an individual

848
00:47:07,680 --> 00:47:09,400
to work to their absolute maximum,

849
00:47:09,400 --> 00:47:12,240
and the reason we're doing that is
because we want to know

850
00:47:12,240 --> 00:47:17,240
what that individual's capacity is
to intake oxygen and utilise it

851
00:47:17,240 --> 00:47:18,960
within the muscles.

852
00:47:18,960 --> 00:47:23,200
Oxygen is transported via our blood
to every single cell of the body.

853
00:47:23,200 --> 00:47:24,880
You've got one more in you!

854
00:47:24,880 --> 00:47:28,320
It feeds the chemical reactions that
keep us going.

855
00:47:28,320 --> 00:47:30,280
Keep it going, keep pushing!
Well done.

856
00:47:32,760 --> 00:47:36,400
But the first challenge is to get
oxygen into the blood...

857
00:47:36,400 --> 00:47:39,720
Great effort, well done. ..and that
is the job of the lungs.

858
00:47:41,840 --> 00:47:43,280
You OK? Yeah.

859
00:47:43,280 --> 00:47:44,960
Great effort, well done.

860
00:47:45,960 --> 00:47:48,520
You can improve your lung function
to a certain degree,

861
00:47:48,520 --> 00:47:50,320
but you will definitely hit a
ceiling,

862
00:47:50,320 --> 00:47:52,440
and you won't be able to improve it
any more,

863
00:47:52,440 --> 00:47:55,240
and one of the reasons for that is
because of the mechanisms

864
00:47:55,240 --> 00:47:56,680
of the lungs.

865
00:47:56,680 --> 00:47:59,440
The lungs are trying to perform more
than one function.

866
00:48:00,840 --> 00:48:03,880
The lungs do two jobs, in terms of
they do the ventilation,

867
00:48:03,880 --> 00:48:06,520
bringing the air from the room into
your lungs,

868
00:48:06,520 --> 00:48:08,160
and then they do the respiration,

869
00:48:08,160 --> 00:48:10,760
which is the gaseous exchange from
the oxygen in the air

870
00:48:10,760 --> 00:48:12,520
into your blood.

871
00:48:12,520 --> 00:48:15,400
The way that air flows into our
lungs means they are not

872
00:48:15,400 --> 00:48:16,920
as efficient as they could be.

873
00:48:19,040 --> 00:48:22,320
The tidal flow basically means we
bring air into our lungs

874
00:48:22,320 --> 00:48:24,080
and we take air out of our lungs.

875
00:48:24,080 --> 00:48:27,280
By constantly having to reverse the
process of bringing air

876
00:48:27,280 --> 00:48:29,320
in and out of the same channels,

877
00:48:29,320 --> 00:48:33,800
we are unable to get that constant
stream of oxygen into the blood.

878
00:48:33,800 --> 00:48:37,000
We have to get rid of the air with
the carbon dioxide in,

879
00:48:37,000 --> 00:48:38,840
and then we can replace the oxygen.

880
00:48:38,840 --> 00:48:42,800
So, it limits the amount of oxygen
that we can get into our blood.

881
00:48:42,800 --> 00:48:45,320
For the most efficient system,

882
00:48:45,320 --> 00:48:48,520
for us to be able to perform at
high intensities,

883
00:48:48,520 --> 00:48:51,880
I think if we could have a mechanism
where we had maybe

884
00:48:51,880 --> 00:48:56,640
a one-way system, that we could have
a constant supply of oxygen,

885
00:48:56,640 --> 00:49:01,120
therefore our muscles are getting a
faster supply of oxygen, as well,

886
00:49:01,120 --> 00:49:03,360
then that would be definitely more
efficient.

887
00:49:07,400 --> 00:49:12,440
Having lungs like this, with a
tidal, bidirectional flow of air

888
00:49:12,440 --> 00:49:16,640
through them is something that we
share in common with all mammals.

889
00:49:16,640 --> 00:49:19,880
But a little bird told me it doesn't
have to be that way.

890
00:49:22,760 --> 00:49:26,920
Flight demands a constant effort
from wing muscles,

891
00:49:26,920 --> 00:49:29,560
needing an uninterrupted high level
of oxygen...

892
00:49:30,680 --> 00:49:33,960
..and birds achieve this through an
ingenious design.

893
00:49:38,680 --> 00:49:41,560
I've returned to see Monica Daley at
the Royal Vet College,

894
00:49:41,560 --> 00:49:44,320
where she's brought something else
out of the freezer.

895
00:49:49,320 --> 00:49:51,160
OK, Monica, what have we got
this time?

896
00:49:51,160 --> 00:49:53,280
A swan. A swan?

897
00:49:54,600 --> 00:49:57,360
Monica shows me something
intriguing.

898
00:49:57,360 --> 00:50:01,240
Squeezing the abdomen of the bird
has a weird result.

899
00:50:01,240 --> 00:50:03,840
So, if we pull this up a little bit
and compress...

900
00:50:03,840 --> 00:50:05,200
SWAN WHEEZES

901
00:50:05,200 --> 00:50:06,840
..you can hear it breathing.

902
00:50:08,000 --> 00:50:09,280
SWAN WHEEZES

903
00:50:09,280 --> 00:50:11,960
Oh, my goodness, that's so strange!

904
00:50:14,040 --> 00:50:17,080
To find out what's happening, we're
going to have to look inside.

905
00:50:17,080 --> 00:50:19,600
I'm painfully aware that we're
dissecting a swan here,

906
00:50:19,600 --> 00:50:21,880
does that mean we're in trouble with
the Queen?

907
00:50:22,960 --> 00:50:25,040
No, we'll be OK!

908
00:50:25,040 --> 00:50:28,400
This swan was donated to us from a
wildlife park.

909
00:50:29,480 --> 00:50:33,680
On inspection, a key part of its
anatomy seems to be missing.

910
00:50:33,680 --> 00:50:35,760
This is just so odd.

911
00:50:35,760 --> 00:50:39,160
So, I can identify the heart easily,
there's the liver down there,

912
00:50:39,160 --> 00:50:41,880
but, in a mammal, I'd expect to see
the lungs wrapping around,

913
00:50:41,880 --> 00:50:44,360
so where are they?
They're actually quite small,

914
00:50:44,360 --> 00:50:46,600
so they're all the way at the back
here.

915
00:50:46,600 --> 00:50:49,760
These lungs are tiny! The lungs are
quite compact and small,

916
00:50:49,760 --> 00:50:52,640
because they don't inflate and
deflate during breathing.

917
00:50:53,800 --> 00:50:57,480
Monica reveals the source of the
swan's strange wheezing.

918
00:50:57,480 --> 00:51:00,000
Its body is full of air sacs.

919
00:51:00,000 --> 00:51:03,120
If you look here, you can see the
sort of deflated balloon tissue.

920
00:51:03,120 --> 00:51:04,760
It's very thin.

921
00:51:04,760 --> 00:51:06,280
See that air sac, there?

922
00:51:06,280 --> 00:51:07,640
Let's open that up, then. OK.

923
00:51:09,480 --> 00:51:11,480
Oh, deflated the balloon...

924
00:51:12,680 --> 00:51:15,680
There we go. And we're into another
air sac. Just very thin-walled.

925
00:51:15,680 --> 00:51:18,080
Yeah, and it's lined with this
incredibly thin membrane,

926
00:51:18,080 --> 00:51:19,840
which is like clingfilm, isn't it?

927
00:51:19,840 --> 00:51:23,160
Their entire body cavity is filled
with these air sacs,

928
00:51:23,160 --> 00:51:26,120
and they act like bellows to
ventilate the lungs.

929
00:51:26,120 --> 00:51:29,760
And it's the breastbone rocking
forward and back

930
00:51:29,760 --> 00:51:33,160
that ventilates the system, and acts
as a bellows,

931
00:51:33,160 --> 00:51:35,280
inflating and deflating these
air sacs,

932
00:51:35,280 --> 00:51:37,040
pumping the air over the lungs.

933
00:51:39,080 --> 00:51:43,320
The air sacs do the job of moving
the air around the system,

934
00:51:43,320 --> 00:51:46,240
pushing it in one direction through
the lungs...

935
00:51:47,960 --> 00:51:51,440
Meaning that gas exchange is much
more efficient

936
00:51:51,440 --> 00:51:53,280
than in mammalian lungs.

937
00:51:55,200 --> 00:51:57,960
In a mammalian lung, you're
inflating and deflating,

938
00:51:57,960 --> 00:52:00,040
you can never get all of the air
out,

939
00:52:00,040 --> 00:52:02,680
so that you're always mixing old
air and new air.

940
00:52:02,680 --> 00:52:04,120
Birds don't have that problem.

941
00:52:04,120 --> 00:52:07,440
If I was to redesign a human body
along these lines,

942
00:52:07,440 --> 00:52:10,200
then I'd end up with smaller,
more efficient lungs,

943
00:52:10,200 --> 00:52:12,640
but I would have to accommodate
air sacs.

944
00:52:12,640 --> 00:52:14,600
Room for air sacs, yeah.

945
00:52:14,600 --> 00:52:17,200
PHONE VIBRATES

946
00:52:17,200 --> 00:52:20,440
Hello, Alice. So, this time,
it's the respiratory system.

947
00:52:20,440 --> 00:52:24,200
I've been looking at how other
animals do it, in particular, birds,

948
00:52:24,200 --> 00:52:27,160
and they've got a series of
air sacs,

949
00:52:27,160 --> 00:52:28,880
which feed into the lungs.

950
00:52:28,880 --> 00:52:30,960
OK, that's interesting.

951
00:52:30,960 --> 00:52:35,000
So, maybe a slight increase
in the chest cavity?

952
00:52:35,000 --> 00:52:39,600
Who knows? I think there might be a
slight increase, but, on the whole,

953
00:52:39,600 --> 00:52:41,720
gas exchange is going to be much
more efficient.

954
00:52:46,200 --> 00:52:49,040
These lungs, combined with my
bird legs,

955
00:52:49,040 --> 00:52:51,760
will make me quite the long-distance
runner.

956
00:52:59,520 --> 00:53:02,640
Improving lung function is all
very well,

957
00:53:02,640 --> 00:53:06,080
but our breathing arrangements are
not without other pitfalls.

958
00:53:09,720 --> 00:53:13,280
We often think about how we've
evolved from apes and monkeys,

959
00:53:13,280 --> 00:53:16,320
but we can understand even more
about the human body

960
00:53:16,320 --> 00:53:18,680
if we go back further,

961
00:53:18,680 --> 00:53:22,520
to a time when our ancestors were
all swimming in the oceans.

962
00:53:28,000 --> 00:53:32,040
The air-breathing lung didn't
evolve from nowhere.

963
00:53:32,040 --> 00:53:36,160
Inside many fish is an air sac -
the swim bladder.

964
00:53:36,160 --> 00:53:41,200
It's a natural buoyancy device, and
it buds off the digestive tract.

965
00:53:41,200 --> 00:53:43,800
It fills with gas, which it derives
from the blood.

966
00:53:46,120 --> 00:53:49,400
As air-breathing amphibians evolved
from fish,

967
00:53:49,400 --> 00:53:52,560
other sacs budded off from the
digestive tract,

968
00:53:52,560 --> 00:53:54,200
the origin of our lungs.

969
00:53:57,840 --> 00:54:00,720
But it's not all happy ever after.

970
00:54:00,720 --> 00:54:04,600
The fact that our lungs are an
offshoot of our digestive systems

971
00:54:04,600 --> 00:54:07,080
means that, occasionally,
it can all go wrong.

972
00:54:11,560 --> 00:54:14,960
The digestive tract and the
respiratory tract -

973
00:54:14,960 --> 00:54:17,080
your windpipe leading
into your lungs -

974
00:54:17,080 --> 00:54:19,720
are intimately related to each
other.

975
00:54:21,240 --> 00:54:23,880
They meet at a junction in the
throat,

976
00:54:23,880 --> 00:54:28,040
and it's guarded by a trap-door
valve called the epiglottis.

977
00:54:28,040 --> 00:54:30,600
This valve closes tight
as we swallow,

978
00:54:30,600 --> 00:54:33,120
and it's the main barrier stopping
food or drink

979
00:54:33,120 --> 00:54:34,560
dropping into our lungs.

980
00:54:35,680 --> 00:54:38,280
So, this is a recipe for choking.

981
00:54:42,040 --> 00:54:44,160
At the Wellington Hospital
in North London,

982
00:54:44,160 --> 00:54:47,600
I've come to meet Professor Martin
Birchall, and his patient,

983
00:54:47,600 --> 00:54:48,640
Angela Phillips.

984
00:54:50,280 --> 00:54:53,480
Angela's trap-door valve was
gravely compromised

985
00:54:53,480 --> 00:54:56,480
when she suffered brain damage four
years ago.

986
00:54:56,480 --> 00:55:01,520
I had a subarachnoid haemorrhage,
and then I had a stroke after that.

987
00:55:03,680 --> 00:55:08,680
For two years, I couldn't eat
anything, or drink anything.

988
00:55:10,200 --> 00:55:12,320
Because of her problems with
swallowing,

989
00:55:12,320 --> 00:55:14,440
Angela had to be fed through a tube.

990
00:55:15,480 --> 00:55:18,680
Angela, in effect, by having a
stroke that's affected

991
00:55:18,680 --> 00:55:22,760
this key crossing point in the
railroads

992
00:55:22,760 --> 00:55:25,320
between the airway and the
swallowing pathway,

993
00:55:25,320 --> 00:55:29,560
highlights this innate weakness in
the human body.

994
00:55:31,440 --> 00:55:35,200
Martin is keen to examine how the
mechanics of Angela's throat

995
00:55:35,200 --> 00:55:37,800
are working, four years on from
her stroke.

996
00:55:39,160 --> 00:55:43,120
He's asked her to drink a contrast
medium of barium sulphate,

997
00:55:43,120 --> 00:55:45,680
which reflects X-rays differently
to human tissue.

998
00:55:45,680 --> 00:55:48,360
Are you OK with this image?

999
00:55:48,360 --> 00:55:51,640
On this moving X-ray, the liquid
shows up as a black fluid.

1000
00:55:52,840 --> 00:55:56,080
With this scan, Angela's problem is
still all too clear.

1001
00:55:57,520 --> 00:56:00,360
We can see a lot of it actually does
go down the gullet,

1002
00:56:00,360 --> 00:56:01,960
does go down the right way.

1003
00:56:01,960 --> 00:56:03,960
We can see it going down the
right way there,

1004
00:56:03,960 --> 00:56:07,200
but quite a lot of it is being held
up in this top area here.

1005
00:56:07,200 --> 00:56:09,200
So, the epiglottis isn't doing its
job, is it?

1006
00:56:09,200 --> 00:56:10,880
It's not behaving like a trap door,

1007
00:56:10,880 --> 00:56:14,560
and we're getting some of this black
contrast fluid coming right down

1008
00:56:14,560 --> 00:56:16,720
into the entrance of the larynx, the
voice box.

1009
00:56:16,720 --> 00:56:19,160
The trap-door effect of the
epiglottis

1010
00:56:19,160 --> 00:56:21,200
is just not happening for her.

1011
00:56:23,040 --> 00:56:25,080
And do you think there's any more
you can do, then,

1012
00:56:25,080 --> 00:56:26,560
to help her, at this stage?

1013
00:56:26,560 --> 00:56:28,960
We've already identified,
just from today's exercise,

1014
00:56:28,960 --> 00:56:31,760
that turning her head slightly to
the left does improve

1015
00:56:31,760 --> 00:56:33,400
certain textures going down.

1016
00:56:34,880 --> 00:56:37,880
Angela's condition illustrates an
extreme version

1017
00:56:37,880 --> 00:56:39,760
of the design problem we face.

1018
00:56:39,760 --> 00:56:44,160
So, perhaps it would be better if we
get rid of this junction altogether.

1019
00:56:44,160 --> 00:56:48,400
You might think that dolphins have
come up with a solution.

1020
00:56:48,400 --> 00:56:51,200
They breathe through nostrils on the
top of their heads,

1021
00:56:51,200 --> 00:56:54,760
but, on the inside, they've got the
same problem as us.

1022
00:56:54,760 --> 00:56:59,040
The airway passes through a junction
with the digestive tract.

1023
00:56:59,040 --> 00:57:04,040
I need to go for a completely new
design, never seen before in nature.

1024
00:57:04,280 --> 00:57:06,480
This should be easy to fix, surely?

1025
00:57:06,480 --> 00:57:09,000
It's a ridiculous design
that we've got the airway

1026
00:57:09,000 --> 00:57:11,040
and the passageway for food
crossing over.

1027
00:57:11,040 --> 00:57:13,080
We should be able to separate
them out.

1028
00:57:13,080 --> 00:57:16,760
My idea is for a throat bypass.

1029
00:57:16,760 --> 00:57:18,960
So, we could completely separate
them,

1030
00:57:18,960 --> 00:57:21,400
the food's coming down from the
mouth into the oesophagus,

1031
00:57:21,400 --> 00:57:23,680
the air is going from the nasal
cavity,

1032
00:57:23,680 --> 00:57:26,640
down through these double trachea
into the lungs.

1033
00:57:28,080 --> 00:57:32,480
Yeah. The mouth has a dual function,
though.

1034
00:57:32,480 --> 00:57:36,760
We use it primarily for keeping
ourselves alive by eating,

1035
00:57:36,760 --> 00:57:40,320
but we also, as humans,
use it for speech.

1036
00:57:40,320 --> 00:57:43,640
If you put the windpipe somewhere
else, it's not going to do that.

1037
00:57:43,640 --> 00:57:47,400
So, the mouth needs to have air
from the lungs coming through it,

1038
00:57:47,400 --> 00:57:50,040
in order for us to speak? Yeah.

1039
00:57:50,040 --> 00:57:52,240
If we're going to speak like human
beings, yeah.

1040
00:57:52,240 --> 00:57:54,760
It does. Surely, we'd be better
off with gills...

1041
00:57:54,760 --> 00:57:56,600
So, if we're going to keep talking,

1042
00:57:56,600 --> 00:57:58,600
it's going to have to be a
compromise.

1043
00:57:58,600 --> 00:58:00,680
So, I've got an idea for how to
do this.

1044
00:58:00,680 --> 00:58:03,880
So, here's a tiny little valve -
it can be very small,

1045
00:58:03,880 --> 00:58:06,640
it's a one-way valve, so that you
can, if you want,

1046
00:58:06,640 --> 00:58:09,560
force air out through here, and it
can come out through the mouth,

1047
00:58:09,560 --> 00:58:12,280
and you can speak. Absolutely, I
don't see why not.

1048
00:58:12,280 --> 00:58:14,640
You know, I've actually thought of
something else

1049
00:58:14,640 --> 00:58:16,640
that this would work
really well for.

1050
00:58:16,640 --> 00:58:18,560
Speaking as a middle-aged man,

1051
00:58:18,560 --> 00:58:22,280
this would be really helpful in
avoiding snoring,

1052
00:58:22,280 --> 00:58:23,840
which is a massive problem.

1053
00:58:25,040 --> 00:58:28,080
We can separate the airways from the
oesophagus...

1054
00:58:28,080 --> 00:58:30,200
We've solved snoring.

1055
00:58:30,200 --> 00:58:32,040
So, I think we've done it.
I think we have.

1056
00:58:34,920 --> 00:58:36,720
We're pretty pleased with this new
design.

1057
00:58:37,840 --> 00:58:42,040
But Scott is not so sure, because
the neck is already jam-packed.

1058
00:58:43,240 --> 00:58:45,680
You have food, you have air,

1059
00:58:45,680 --> 00:58:48,760
you also have veins and arteries,
and it's all coming through

1060
00:58:48,760 --> 00:58:52,720
this really constricted passageway,
and then,

1061
00:58:52,720 --> 00:58:54,440
to complicate things further,

1062
00:58:54,440 --> 00:58:58,160
that same passageway has a huge
amount of mobility

1063
00:58:58,160 --> 00:59:00,720
so that you can flex and extend
your neck,

1064
00:59:00,720 --> 00:59:04,400
and also a huge amount of rotation
to both sides.

1065
00:59:04,400 --> 00:59:09,000
I would honestly have to look at all
the mechanisms more closely

1066
00:59:09,000 --> 00:59:11,280
to see if it's the best way.

1067
00:59:15,160 --> 00:59:18,240
By retaining the lower single
windpipe,

1068
00:59:18,240 --> 00:59:21,640
and adding optional bypasses just
around the throat,

1069
00:59:21,640 --> 00:59:24,920
Scott has found a compromised but
workable solution.

1070
00:59:35,840 --> 00:59:38,120
With less than three weeks to go

1071
00:59:38,120 --> 00:59:40,160
before the Science Museum's
deadline,

1072
00:59:40,160 --> 00:59:43,400
Sangeet and his team are making
progress.

1073
00:59:43,400 --> 00:59:46,520
Here, we've now joined all the
printed elements,

1074
00:59:46,520 --> 00:59:50,720
so what we're now doing is using a
filler paste to go over

1075
00:59:50,720 --> 00:59:54,400
the joins of each of the printed
pieces, to create a nice,

1076
00:59:54,400 --> 00:59:57,320
seamless transition between all
these elements.

1077
01:00:00,480 --> 01:00:04,520
As a team here, we are experienced
in creating lots

1078
01:00:04,520 --> 01:00:08,120
of famous creatures
and monsters for movies,

1079
01:00:08,120 --> 01:00:11,760
so it's nice to do something that's
neither entirely human

1080
01:00:11,760 --> 01:00:13,960
nor entirely animal.

1081
01:00:13,960 --> 01:00:16,640
The design itself is pretty
impressive.

1082
01:00:16,640 --> 01:00:21,360
I think Scott's done a beautiful job
of designing this, so it's nice.

1083
01:00:23,800 --> 01:00:25,920
All that's left now is the head.

1084
01:00:29,480 --> 01:00:30,520
The eye.

1085
01:00:32,400 --> 01:00:37,440
Often touted as the prime example of
refined biological engineering...

1086
01:00:38,840 --> 01:00:41,840
..but perhaps it's not all
it's cracked up to be.

1087
01:00:42,880 --> 01:00:44,280
OK, here's an experiment,

1088
01:00:44,280 --> 01:00:46,800
and this one requires some audience
participation.

1089
01:00:46,800 --> 01:00:49,160
So, please stand up,

1090
01:00:49,160 --> 01:00:52,440
and now, cover your right eye
with your right hand,

1091
01:00:52,440 --> 01:00:54,400
and stare at this cross.

1092
01:00:54,400 --> 01:00:56,120
Don't look at me, look at the cross,

1093
01:00:56,120 --> 01:00:59,160
and I want you to move back and
forwards in front of the screen,

1094
01:00:59,160 --> 01:01:02,480
and, eventually, you'll find
that my head disappears.

1095
01:01:03,600 --> 01:01:05,560
So, this is very strange indeed.

1096
01:01:05,560 --> 01:01:07,840
You've discovered a blind spot.

1097
01:01:07,840 --> 01:01:09,040
Don't worry.

1098
01:01:09,040 --> 01:01:13,040
Everybody's got it, it's perfectly
normal, but it's odd.

1099
01:01:13,040 --> 01:01:14,760
What is going on here?

1100
01:01:18,120 --> 01:01:21,320
I've come to Moorfields Eye
Hospital to get a closer look

1101
01:01:21,320 --> 01:01:23,320
at what's causing this visual flaw.

1102
01:01:24,520 --> 01:01:26,200
I'm handing my eyes over

1103
01:01:26,200 --> 01:01:29,640
to consultant ophthalmic surgeon
Badrul Hussain.

1104
01:01:29,640 --> 01:01:31,720
Mr Hussain? Yeah! Dr Roberts,
nice to meet you.

1105
01:01:31,720 --> 01:01:33,720
Hello. I'm Badrul, please, please.
Alice.

1106
01:01:33,720 --> 01:01:36,120
Let's get through, we'll start doing
our tests.

1107
01:01:37,800 --> 01:01:39,600
If you pop your chin on the
chinrest,

1108
01:01:39,600 --> 01:01:41,680
and your forehead against the bar,
please. OK.

1109
01:01:41,680 --> 01:01:43,880
OK. Can you see the light? Yeah.

1110
01:01:43,880 --> 01:01:46,400
Very good. OK, stay as you are.
Very, very good.

1111
01:01:46,400 --> 01:01:49,120
Wide, wide, wide. There's going to
be a flash.

1112
01:01:49,120 --> 01:01:51,960
Whoa! Yeah. Very good.
OK, very good.

1113
01:01:51,960 --> 01:01:53,360
Well done. You can sit back.

1114
01:01:53,360 --> 01:01:54,600
Ooh, that was quite bright.

1115
01:01:54,600 --> 01:01:55,600
Thank you.

1116
01:01:57,880 --> 01:02:02,280
Badrul's team has taken a photo of
the back of my eyeball - my retina.

1117
01:02:04,520 --> 01:02:07,480
The retina is the innermost layer of
the eyeball.

1118
01:02:09,160 --> 01:02:13,920
Buried inside it are light-detecting
cells, known as rods and cones,

1119
01:02:13,920 --> 01:02:15,040
that allow us to see.

1120
01:02:16,800 --> 01:02:19,680
But they're not distributed evenly.

1121
01:02:19,680 --> 01:02:22,440
There is one particular
concentration.

1122
01:02:22,440 --> 01:02:25,280
So, this is where you've got that
density of colour receptors.

1123
01:02:25,280 --> 01:02:28,880
Yeah, yeah, so the macular is the
tiny little spot here

1124
01:02:28,880 --> 01:02:31,360
with this concentration of
light-sensitive cells.

1125
01:02:31,360 --> 01:02:33,320
That's where most of your vision
comes from,

1126
01:02:33,320 --> 01:02:35,640
your clear, detail vision.

1127
01:02:35,640 --> 01:02:39,240
But close to the highly-sensitive
macular is an area

1128
01:02:39,240 --> 01:02:41,400
that looks a complete mess.

1129
01:02:41,400 --> 01:02:43,480
A nexus of crazy pipework.

1130
01:02:44,720 --> 01:02:48,320
Both the blood supply and the nerves
connecting the light-detecting cells

1131
01:02:48,320 --> 01:02:51,080
to the brain run across the front of
the retina,

1132
01:02:51,080 --> 01:02:53,320
and pass through a hole at the back.

1133
01:02:53,320 --> 01:02:55,000
This area that you see here,

1134
01:02:55,000 --> 01:02:58,960
this is where all the wiring exits
the eye to get to the brain.

1135
01:02:58,960 --> 01:03:01,000
There are no photoreceptors in this
area,

1136
01:03:01,000 --> 01:03:04,240
so that you've effectively got no
vision in that area.

1137
01:03:04,240 --> 01:03:08,160
This is the cause of our mysterious
blindspot.

1138
01:03:08,160 --> 01:03:12,440
We don't usually notice, as our
brains cleverly fill in the gap,

1139
01:03:12,440 --> 01:03:15,640
but, clearly, our retina is wired
back to front.

1140
01:03:18,040 --> 01:03:19,960
I think this is a design flaw.

1141
01:03:19,960 --> 01:03:22,720
I think it's ridiculous to have the
wires coming off...

1142
01:03:23,800 --> 01:03:28,280
..in front of the retinal
light-detecting cells,

1143
01:03:28,280 --> 01:03:30,600
and then having to pile over here.

1144
01:03:30,600 --> 01:03:33,120
Pile up in such a way that there's
actually no room

1145
01:03:33,120 --> 01:03:34,760
for any photoreceptors at that
point,

1146
01:03:34,760 --> 01:03:36,720
and so you've got a whole area of
the retina

1147
01:03:36,720 --> 01:03:38,240
where you cannot detect light.

1148
01:03:50,120 --> 01:03:54,440
We share this back-to-front design
of our retina with all the other

1149
01:03:54,440 --> 01:03:57,240
vertebrates - fish, reptiles,
amphibians, birds, mammals,

1150
01:03:57,240 --> 01:03:58,960
we've all got it this way.

1151
01:03:58,960 --> 01:04:02,480
It goes very deep in our
evolutionary history,

1152
01:04:02,480 --> 01:04:04,040
but it doesn't have to be this way.

1153
01:04:05,960 --> 01:04:08,480
More than 500 million years ago,

1154
01:04:08,480 --> 01:04:13,120
the spineless ancestors of squid and
octopi evolved eyes

1155
01:04:13,120 --> 01:04:14,760
completely independently.

1156
01:04:15,840 --> 01:04:19,560
Evolution led their eyes to form a
very similar structure

1157
01:04:19,560 --> 01:04:24,120
to that of the vertebrates, but the
retinae of these cephalopods

1158
01:04:24,120 --> 01:04:27,920
are the right way round, so no blind
spots for them.

1159
01:04:29,200 --> 01:04:32,520
By adopting the retinal design of
the cephalopods,

1160
01:04:32,520 --> 01:04:36,640
I will be rectifying an evolutionary
glitch that has been hanging

1161
01:04:36,640 --> 01:04:38,920
around for 500 million years.

1162
01:04:43,040 --> 01:04:46,920
But perhaps our vision has bigger
problems than blind spots,

1163
01:04:46,920 --> 01:04:51,120
because modern habits are stretching
our eyes to their design limit.

1164
01:04:51,120 --> 01:04:56,200
We evolved from monkeys and apes who
were active during the day.

1165
01:04:56,440 --> 01:05:00,800
But, increasingly, we seem to be
spending a lot more time awake

1166
01:05:00,800 --> 01:05:05,760
at night, and our eyes are just not
very good at dealing with low light.

1167
01:05:05,920 --> 01:05:10,200
Now, we can modify our environment,
but that causes light pollution,

1168
01:05:10,200 --> 01:05:13,600
so what if we were to modify
ourselves instead?

1169
01:05:20,120 --> 01:05:22,360
Now, that is much better.

1170
01:05:24,520 --> 01:05:29,160
Image intensifiers work by turning
infrared light into visible light,

1171
01:05:29,160 --> 01:05:31,560
giving objects instant luminescence.

1172
01:05:34,000 --> 01:05:36,040
But by changing the design of
our eyes,

1173
01:05:36,040 --> 01:05:38,560
we could achieve this with visible
light.

1174
01:05:38,560 --> 01:05:40,440
It's simply a matter of scale.

1175
01:05:42,560 --> 01:05:45,560
As they evolve to live or hunt in
semi-darkness,

1176
01:05:45,560 --> 01:05:49,720
nocturnal animals often have
noticeably larger eyes.

1177
01:05:49,720 --> 01:05:52,840
Their enlarged pupils allow more
light to hit the retina,

1178
01:05:52,840 --> 01:05:54,680
increasing visual sensitivity.

1179
01:06:01,200 --> 01:06:03,480
Hey, Alice. So, here's another
one for you, then.

1180
01:06:03,480 --> 01:06:07,040
I've been looking at eyes and I
think our eyeballs could be better,

1181
01:06:07,040 --> 01:06:10,760
so they could let more light in and
we could trap more light, as well.

1182
01:06:10,760 --> 01:06:15,800
And I think the eyeballs need to be
about 20-25% larger than they are

1183
01:06:15,800 --> 01:06:17,360
at the moment. I... You know,

1184
01:06:17,360 --> 01:06:22,360
I think that's just big enough that
they will look really interesting.

1185
01:06:24,040 --> 01:06:25,480
There's no doubt about it.

1186
01:06:25,480 --> 01:06:27,680
You're going to have
big old cartoon eyes.

1187
01:06:34,920 --> 01:06:37,200
Our distant relations,
the Neanderthals,

1188
01:06:37,200 --> 01:06:39,120
actually had bigger eyeballs
like this.

1189
01:06:40,720 --> 01:06:43,800
But we'll be the first vertebrates
ever to operate

1190
01:06:43,800 --> 01:06:45,200
without a blind spot.

1191
01:06:51,600 --> 01:06:55,160
Sight isn't the only sense I want to
tinker with.

1192
01:06:55,160 --> 01:06:58,800
As we age, our hearing is often
the most vulnerable to failure.

1193
01:07:00,920 --> 01:07:03,400
Perhaps this shouldn't be
surprising.

1194
01:07:03,400 --> 01:07:07,160
The ears of our hominem ancestors
evolved to help them survive

1195
01:07:07,160 --> 01:07:09,600
and communicate on quiet grasslands.

1196
01:07:13,120 --> 01:07:16,120
Ears haven't developed to deal
with the high-decibel noises

1197
01:07:16,120 --> 01:07:18,600
we now encounter on a daily basis.

1198
01:07:18,600 --> 01:07:20,240
TRAFFIC ROARS

1199
01:07:20,240 --> 01:07:23,960
The African savannah was never
THIS loud.

1200
01:07:23,960 --> 01:07:25,000
TRAFFIC ROARS

1201
01:07:30,240 --> 01:07:32,720
I've come to the University of
Salford to check on

1202
01:07:32,720 --> 01:07:34,720
the true state of my own ears,

1203
01:07:34,720 --> 01:07:38,880
seeking the help of acoustic
engineer Professor Trevor Cox.

1204
01:07:40,800 --> 01:07:42,960
Trevor, I want to find out about my
hearing,

1205
01:07:42,960 --> 01:07:45,160
and I'd like to test how good it is.

1206
01:07:45,160 --> 01:07:47,160
Well, you need a really quiet place
to do that,

1207
01:07:47,160 --> 01:07:48,640
and I've got just the room for you.

1208
01:07:48,640 --> 01:07:51,600
So, after you. In this room here?
Yeah, it's this peculiar space.

1209
01:07:53,120 --> 01:07:55,640
Whoa, where are you taking me,
Trevor? This is bizarre.

1210
01:07:55,640 --> 01:07:57,200
What on earth is this room?

1211
01:07:57,200 --> 01:07:59,400
Well, welcome to the anechoic
chamber.

1212
01:07:59,400 --> 01:08:01,240
This is an acoustic isolation room.

1213
01:08:02,240 --> 01:08:04,120
I feel like I'm underwater.

1214
01:08:04,120 --> 01:08:06,360
It feels as though my ears
aren't working properly.

1215
01:08:06,360 --> 01:08:08,360
It feels as though
I need to pop them.

1216
01:08:08,360 --> 01:08:10,360
Well, if you really want to hear
how weird it is,

1217
01:08:10,360 --> 01:08:12,040
you need to really close the doors,

1218
01:08:12,040 --> 01:08:14,120
to block out the outside world
entirely.

1219
01:08:16,080 --> 01:08:20,440
It's very strange. The silence
when we are not talking is dead.

1220
01:08:20,440 --> 01:08:23,440
All the foam wedges you can see
above you and around you

1221
01:08:23,440 --> 01:08:26,480
and even on the floor
are absorbing everything I say,

1222
01:08:26,480 --> 01:08:28,480
and, normally,
when you listen to my voice,

1223
01:08:28,480 --> 01:08:30,920
you hear not just the voice
coming direct from me to you,

1224
01:08:30,920 --> 01:08:33,760
you hear reflections from the walls
and the floors and the ceiling.

1225
01:08:33,760 --> 01:08:36,600
People come in here
and it's a really peculiar sense,

1226
01:08:36,600 --> 01:08:38,320
a bit like almost being travel sick,

1227
01:08:38,320 --> 01:08:40,960
and it's because you can see a room,
but you can't hear it,

1228
01:08:40,960 --> 01:08:43,280
and your brain, your two senses
are a bit out of kilter. Yeah.

1229
01:08:43,280 --> 01:08:45,160
And, therefore, people kind of go,

1230
01:08:45,160 --> 01:08:47,200
"No, this is a bit unpleasant,
can I go?"

1231
01:08:47,200 --> 01:08:49,640
Yeah, I am not entirely
happy in here, I must admit.

1232
01:08:49,640 --> 01:08:51,600
It is a bit unpleasant.

1233
01:08:51,600 --> 01:08:53,800
I wouldn't want to spend much time
here,

1234
01:08:53,800 --> 01:08:57,200
but it's the perfect environment
to check my ears.

1235
01:08:58,360 --> 01:09:00,960
So, how are you going to
test my hearing, then?

1236
01:09:00,960 --> 01:09:03,840
We're going to do a really simple
test where we start off with a tone

1237
01:09:03,840 --> 01:09:06,080
and move it gradually
up in frequency

1238
01:09:06,080 --> 01:09:08,640
and see how high a frequency
you can hear.

1239
01:09:08,640 --> 01:09:11,560
OK, so I have to tell you
when I can't hear it?

1240
01:09:11,560 --> 01:09:13,680
Yeah, I want you to say
when you can no longer hear it.

1241
01:09:13,680 --> 01:09:15,600
So I'll start it off. All right.

1242
01:09:15,600 --> 01:09:16,920
BEEP

1243
01:09:16,920 --> 01:09:18,680
I can hear that.

1244
01:09:18,680 --> 01:09:20,680
So, that is right in the middle of
the speech range.

1245
01:09:20,680 --> 01:09:22,480
And I will just keep dialling it up.

1246
01:09:22,480 --> 01:09:24,120
HIGHER-PITCHED BEEP

1247
01:09:24,120 --> 01:09:27,360
Can still hear it.

1248
01:09:28,720 --> 01:09:30,000
Yeah, I can still hear it.

1249
01:09:30,000 --> 01:09:31,240
HIGHER-PITCHED BEEP

1250
01:09:31,240 --> 01:09:34,040
Yeah. Yeah.

1251
01:09:34,040 --> 01:09:35,800
Yep, I can still hear that.

1252
01:09:37,320 --> 01:09:38,520
Can still hear that.

1253
01:09:39,920 --> 01:09:42,160
It's weird,
but I can still hear it.

1254
01:09:44,000 --> 01:09:45,080
It's gone.

1255
01:09:46,600 --> 01:09:49,600
So you could hear
almost 15,000 hertz.

1256
01:09:49,600 --> 01:09:51,960
Is that good?
Well, when you were 20,

1257
01:09:51,960 --> 01:09:54,600
you probably could hear
up to 20,000 hertz.

1258
01:09:54,600 --> 01:09:56,080
The problem is, with hearing,

1259
01:09:56,080 --> 01:09:58,080
you have this age-related
hearing loss

1260
01:09:58,080 --> 01:10:00,800
where the inner ear slowly loses
some of its sensitivity

1261
01:10:00,800 --> 01:10:03,240
and it starts at high frequencies
and works down.

1262
01:10:03,240 --> 01:10:05,640
You're better than I am.
I stopped at about 10,000 hertz,

1263
01:10:05,640 --> 01:10:07,000
I couldn't hear it any more,

1264
01:10:07,000 --> 01:10:09,640
because I'm probably about
ten years older than you are.

1265
01:10:09,640 --> 01:10:12,640
The inability to hear
like my younger self

1266
01:10:12,640 --> 01:10:15,320
comes down to
the anatomy of the ear

1267
01:10:15,320 --> 01:10:19,800
and, in particular, to the cells
that turn vibrations into sound,

1268
01:10:19,800 --> 01:10:23,520
inside the snail-shaped organ
known as the cochlea.

1269
01:10:23,520 --> 01:10:25,680
Hair cells inside
the beginning of the cochlea

1270
01:10:25,680 --> 01:10:28,680
are responsible for detecting
high-frequency sound.

1271
01:10:29,880 --> 01:10:34,680
But they also bear the brunt of all
sound waves entering the inner ear.

1272
01:10:34,680 --> 01:10:37,480
As a result, they're usually
damaged before the rest

1273
01:10:37,480 --> 01:10:41,080
and that's why we lose
high-frequency hearing first.

1274
01:10:41,080 --> 01:10:44,000
But according to Trevor,
there could be a simple solution.

1275
01:10:45,480 --> 01:10:48,200
There is a way
I can make it audible to you.

1276
01:10:48,200 --> 01:10:50,080
What I can do is turn up the volume.

1277
01:10:50,080 --> 01:10:52,040
OK.

1278
01:10:52,040 --> 01:10:54,080
HIGH-PITCHED BEEP

1279
01:10:54,080 --> 01:10:55,920
Yes. Yeah, OK.

1280
01:10:55,920 --> 01:10:57,880
I can hear that quite clearly now.

1281
01:10:57,880 --> 01:11:00,480
If you can't, well, sorry -

1282
01:11:00,480 --> 01:11:02,840
I'm afraid your hearing
is even worse than mine.

1283
01:11:04,240 --> 01:11:06,080
So, what you have
is a loss of sensitivity,

1284
01:11:06,080 --> 01:11:09,040
so when the sound is loud enough,
you can hear it,

1285
01:11:09,040 --> 01:11:11,960
and that's what hearing aids
essentially do, they amplify things,

1286
01:11:11,960 --> 01:11:15,080
so you can get it into a range
where you can actually hear things.

1287
01:11:18,040 --> 01:11:21,200
There is a natural way that we could
increase the volume of sound

1288
01:11:21,200 --> 01:11:25,360
without a hearing aid, and that's by
increasing the size of our ears.

1289
01:11:25,360 --> 01:11:29,440
The more sound waves we can trap,
the louder the sound we hear.

1290
01:11:29,440 --> 01:11:31,440
And that is Trevor's suggestion.

1291
01:11:31,440 --> 01:11:33,720
It also has the advantage of focus.

1292
01:11:35,360 --> 01:11:37,400
So, Trevor, what's this all about?

1293
01:11:37,400 --> 01:11:39,560
So, this is a typical problem
you have.

1294
01:11:39,560 --> 01:11:42,040
You are in a noisy cafe or bar

1295
01:11:42,040 --> 01:11:43,720
and you are trying to
pick out the speech

1296
01:11:43,720 --> 01:11:45,120
from the noise that is around,

1297
01:11:45,120 --> 01:11:46,920
and I can see you are
slightly struggling.

1298
01:11:46,920 --> 01:11:50,200
I think I am actually only
really hearing every other word,

1299
01:11:50,200 --> 01:11:53,600
and I'm filling in gaps, but I'm
struggling without looking at you.

1300
01:11:53,600 --> 01:11:55,640
But in front of you
you've got these devices -

1301
01:11:55,640 --> 01:11:58,720
if you were to put those on,
does my voice become more clear,

1302
01:11:58,720 --> 01:12:01,760
with the headphones and funnels on,
than it does without?

1303
01:12:01,760 --> 01:12:03,000
OK.

1304
01:12:03,000 --> 01:12:05,680
As I talk quietly, can you hear the
difference as you put those on?

1305
01:12:05,680 --> 01:12:08,280
Maybe my speech will suddenly
become... Oh, that's...

1306
01:12:08,280 --> 01:12:10,680
Yeah, that's...
That's really different.

1307
01:12:10,680 --> 01:12:11,960
I'm just going to pick up this,

1308
01:12:11,960 --> 01:12:15,680
because this is a parabolic
microphone, so the viewers,

1309
01:12:15,680 --> 01:12:18,400
the listeners at home will be able
to hear a similar thing

1310
01:12:18,400 --> 01:12:19,840
to what I'm experiencing.

1311
01:12:19,840 --> 01:12:22,960
And if you were to rotate that,
so it's not facing me any more,

1312
01:12:22,960 --> 01:12:26,840
so it hasn't got that...
VOICE FADES OUT

1313
01:12:26,840 --> 01:12:28,960
..and that volume level
should drop off,

1314
01:12:28,960 --> 01:12:30,400
and if you point it back to me

1315
01:12:30,400 --> 01:12:33,960
and then it should focus and amplify
the sound and it should be louder.

1316
01:12:36,320 --> 01:12:38,320
So, I'm really won over
by this idea.

1317
01:12:38,320 --> 01:12:40,520
This is making quite a big
difference to my hearing.

1318
01:12:40,520 --> 01:12:42,320
But I do need to come up
with something

1319
01:12:42,320 --> 01:12:43,760
that is slightly less ridiculous.

1320
01:12:47,280 --> 01:12:50,880
Mobile ears are a common adaptation
in the animal kingdom,

1321
01:12:50,880 --> 01:12:54,120
and one that's more feasible in
humans than you might have thought.

1322
01:12:57,000 --> 01:12:59,280
Scott's aware of an anatomical
secret

1323
01:12:59,280 --> 01:13:01,920
that could make them
a simple adaptation.

1324
01:13:03,400 --> 01:13:06,760
The interesting thing
about our ears is that,

1325
01:13:06,760 --> 01:13:10,080
kind of looking at
our evolutionary past,

1326
01:13:10,080 --> 01:13:15,080
we have a set of ear muscles kind of
left over that we no longer use,

1327
01:13:15,520 --> 01:13:20,560
but if we brought those back into
play and kind of rewired them,

1328
01:13:20,680 --> 01:13:23,800
and maybe augmented them,
we could, you know,

1329
01:13:23,800 --> 01:13:27,040
quickly kind of reintroduce
mobility in our own ears.

1330
01:13:31,080 --> 01:13:34,200
With large mobile ears,
I will collect more sound

1331
01:13:34,200 --> 01:13:36,640
to compensate for
my hair cells' decline,

1332
01:13:36,640 --> 01:13:40,120
and have an enhanced ability to
focus on sounds I'm interested in.

1333
01:13:44,120 --> 01:13:46,320
It's time for my final touch.

1334
01:13:46,320 --> 01:13:49,800
The largest organ of all - the skin.

1335
01:13:49,800 --> 01:13:52,880
Our skin is an incredible
protective sheath -

1336
01:13:52,880 --> 01:13:57,040
elastic, waterproof
and temperature controlling.

1337
01:13:57,040 --> 01:14:00,400
It is a fantastic shield,
but it has its limits.

1338
01:14:01,640 --> 01:14:04,600
Especially when assaulted
by UV light,

1339
01:14:04,600 --> 01:14:06,880
the high-energy component
of sunlight.

1340
01:14:08,880 --> 01:14:11,320
To see how my skin
has been bearing up,

1341
01:14:11,320 --> 01:14:13,680
I've come to a specialist
London clinic

1342
01:14:13,680 --> 01:14:17,440
where I will be checked out by
Dr Anita Sturnham,

1343
01:14:17,440 --> 01:14:20,160
who is going to give me
a hi-tech facial scan.

1344
01:14:22,760 --> 01:14:25,200
OK, if you remove yourself
from the scanner.

1345
01:14:25,200 --> 01:14:26,720
Your scan is now done,

1346
01:14:26,720 --> 01:14:28,880
so we're looking at the deeper
layers of your skin.

1347
01:14:28,880 --> 01:14:30,960
This is hidden damage.

1348
01:14:30,960 --> 01:14:36,000
And so this is your UV damage
in the deeper skin layers.

1349
01:14:36,120 --> 01:14:37,560
That is shocking.

1350
01:14:38,800 --> 01:14:43,440
You have a distribution of UV damage
throughout the facial region.

1351
01:14:43,440 --> 01:14:46,120
You have slightly more damage
than you should for your age.

1352
01:14:46,120 --> 01:14:48,000
So, that's over the last six months?

1353
01:14:48,000 --> 01:14:49,760
And that is over winter? Exactly.

1354
01:14:49,760 --> 01:14:53,160
So we must remember that it's not
just about summer protection,

1355
01:14:53,160 --> 01:14:54,440
it's all year round.

1356
01:14:55,840 --> 01:15:00,000
High-energy UV rays from the sun
can cause havoc to our cells,

1357
01:15:00,000 --> 01:15:04,160
attacking their DNA, causing
dangerous mutations to develop,

1358
01:15:04,160 --> 01:15:05,880
which can lead to cancer.

1359
01:15:07,200 --> 01:15:09,880
So, that picture of the damage
in the dark layers of my skin

1360
01:15:09,880 --> 01:15:12,040
looks horrendous.
So, what does it represent?

1361
01:15:12,040 --> 01:15:13,280
When you have UV damage,

1362
01:15:13,280 --> 01:15:15,560
what's happening is those UV rays
enter the skin,

1363
01:15:15,560 --> 01:15:17,360
they penetrate through
the epidermis,

1364
01:15:17,360 --> 01:15:19,560
which is like your protective
brick wall,

1365
01:15:19,560 --> 01:15:21,320
and they enter this layer here,

1366
01:15:21,320 --> 01:15:23,400
called the dermo-epidermal junction.

1367
01:15:23,400 --> 01:15:26,320
You have immune cells
called melanocytes -

1368
01:15:26,320 --> 01:15:29,280
their job is to protect your skin
from UV damage.

1369
01:15:29,280 --> 01:15:31,760
When they get a signal
that there's damage happening,

1370
01:15:31,760 --> 01:15:33,160
you get melanin production.

1371
01:15:34,840 --> 01:15:38,480
When you tan, you're experiencing
an immune-like reaction

1372
01:15:38,480 --> 01:15:41,000
to the damage being wreaked
by UV light.

1373
01:15:42,040 --> 01:15:45,560
The brown pigment, melanin,
acts as a physical shield,

1374
01:15:45,560 --> 01:15:49,480
but it's slow to appear and not
highly effective.

1375
01:15:49,480 --> 01:15:51,680
Does that mean that any tan at all

1376
01:15:51,680 --> 01:15:54,760
is actually going to be
associated with damage?

1377
01:15:54,760 --> 01:15:58,200
Absolutely.
Any tan at all is bad for you.

1378
01:15:58,200 --> 01:15:59,840
The fairer skin types, we know,

1379
01:15:59,840 --> 01:16:02,760
are more at risk of that damage
becoming more severe,

1380
01:16:02,760 --> 01:16:05,760
so you're more likely to get burned
rather than tanned,

1381
01:16:05,760 --> 01:16:08,920
you are more likely then to get
an increased risk of skin cancer,

1382
01:16:08,920 --> 01:16:11,720
particularly the severe skin
cancers like melanoma.

1383
01:16:11,720 --> 01:16:15,200
Because of the danger of UV
in the Tropics,

1384
01:16:15,200 --> 01:16:19,480
our African ancestors
were all dark-skinned originally.

1385
01:16:19,480 --> 01:16:23,800
But as some human populations moved
north to less sunny latitudes,

1386
01:16:23,800 --> 01:16:26,440
the evolutionary pressure
for dark skin lessened.

1387
01:16:27,880 --> 01:16:32,920
So, in some ways, it seems annoying
that paler skin ever evolved.

1388
01:16:34,160 --> 01:16:36,440
We'd have been better off
staying with dark skin.

1389
01:16:36,440 --> 01:16:39,520
Absolutely. From a UV damage
perspective, yes.

1390
01:16:39,520 --> 01:16:43,000
We know, from some studies, that
the paler the skin tone you are,

1391
01:16:43,000 --> 01:16:45,520
the more effective you are
at making things like vitamin D

1392
01:16:45,520 --> 01:16:46,960
versus darker skin tones,

1393
01:16:46,960 --> 01:16:51,000
so there are some evolutionary
benefits to being paler, as well.

1394
01:16:55,440 --> 01:17:00,440
If dark skin confers some protection
against UV and skin cancer,

1395
01:17:01,600 --> 01:17:06,440
but, at the same time, perhaps makes
vitamin D synthesis less efficient,

1396
01:17:06,440 --> 01:17:09,920
then wouldn't it be brilliant
to be able to turn it on and off?

1397
01:17:09,920 --> 01:17:14,480
So, if I was trying to make vitamin
D, I could make my skin paler,

1398
01:17:14,480 --> 01:17:19,200
and if I were wanting to protect
myself from the UV, I could go dark.

1399
01:17:22,200 --> 01:17:26,360
Some cephalopods and reptiles have
colour-changing capabilities,

1400
01:17:26,360 --> 01:17:29,080
used mainly for camouflage
and communication.

1401
01:17:34,280 --> 01:17:36,920
But there's another type of animal
that may have developed

1402
01:17:36,920 --> 01:17:39,480
the perfect sunshade system
I'm looking for.

1403
01:17:40,880 --> 01:17:42,720
London Zoo's Dr Chris Michaels

1404
01:17:42,720 --> 01:17:45,840
has a few lurking at the back of
one of his tanks.

1405
01:17:49,120 --> 01:17:51,720
Frogs change colour
for lots of different reasons.

1406
01:17:51,720 --> 01:17:54,080
Sometimes it could be camouflage,

1407
01:17:54,080 --> 01:17:57,440
sometimes it could be
to attract the opposite sex.

1408
01:17:57,440 --> 01:18:00,080
And, sometimes, it's to protect
themselves from sunlight,

1409
01:18:00,080 --> 01:18:02,520
specifically UVB radiation.

1410
01:18:03,920 --> 01:18:05,880
To protect themselves from sunlight,

1411
01:18:05,880 --> 01:18:09,280
amphibians use the same
melanin pigment as we do,

1412
01:18:09,280 --> 01:18:14,320
but it's contained in a unique type
of cell called a melanophore.

1413
01:18:15,000 --> 01:18:18,600
So, this is a Majorcan midwife toad,

1414
01:18:18,600 --> 01:18:21,920
and you can see on its skin
these dark spots,

1415
01:18:21,920 --> 01:18:26,360
and the dark spots are where
the melanin-containing cells,

1416
01:18:26,360 --> 01:18:30,280
the melanophores,
are especially densely packed.

1417
01:18:30,280 --> 01:18:34,960
Amphibians can rapidly adjust
the apparent colour of their skin

1418
01:18:34,960 --> 01:18:37,120
by changing the size of those cells.

1419
01:18:38,480 --> 01:18:43,480
Our melanocytes only produce melanin
slowly when stimulated by UV light.

1420
01:18:44,160 --> 01:18:48,360
But the amphibian melanophore cells
are always filled with melanin.

1421
01:18:48,360 --> 01:18:50,400
They simply inflate like balloons.

1422
01:18:52,000 --> 01:18:54,440
In order to make them go darker,

1423
01:18:54,440 --> 01:18:57,360
all they have to do
is expand those cells.

1424
01:18:57,360 --> 01:18:59,640
Those then expand and the frog is
immediately darker

1425
01:18:59,640 --> 01:19:01,840
because that melanin is on show,

1426
01:19:01,840 --> 01:19:05,760
and that can happen over hours
rather than over days to weeks

1427
01:19:05,760 --> 01:19:08,520
as you would get in people.

1428
01:19:08,520 --> 01:19:10,920
It's really, really quick to occur,

1429
01:19:10,920 --> 01:19:13,400
so whereas humans
may get skin burns,

1430
01:19:13,400 --> 01:19:16,440
in that same time the frog
would have gone brown already.

1431
01:19:18,440 --> 01:19:20,960
And the system works just as well
in reverse.

1432
01:19:25,880 --> 01:19:29,200
If we had these amphibian
melanophores in our skin,

1433
01:19:29,200 --> 01:19:32,120
we could provide ourselves
with an instant shield

1434
01:19:32,120 --> 01:19:33,920
from the worst of UV light,

1435
01:19:33,920 --> 01:19:37,680
whilst also allowing for
optimal vitamin D production -

1436
01:19:37,680 --> 01:19:40,920
the perfect skin
for a globetrotting modern human.

1437
01:19:46,920 --> 01:19:49,560
This improvement comes just in time,

1438
01:19:49,560 --> 01:19:53,000
as Sangeet is reaching
the end of the sculpting process.

1439
01:19:53,000 --> 01:19:55,240
The brief I have been given is

1440
01:19:55,240 --> 01:19:58,200
to create kind of
adaptive froglike skin

1441
01:19:58,200 --> 01:20:01,600
that can very quickly change colour.

1442
01:20:01,600 --> 01:20:04,240
I have gone for a kind of look

1443
01:20:04,240 --> 01:20:08,920
that suggests she started off
as a light-skinned person,

1444
01:20:08,920 --> 01:20:13,000
and I suppose the idea is she
has got a very healthy skin tan,

1445
01:20:13,000 --> 01:20:16,200
but what I'm trying to do
is just localise that,

1446
01:20:16,200 --> 01:20:20,840
to suggest that she is able to tan
very quickly in some areas

1447
01:20:20,840 --> 01:20:24,320
and yet in other areas
I'm keeping it much lighter.

1448
01:20:27,800 --> 01:20:30,600
Paintwork takes a couple of weeks,
at least, really.

1449
01:20:30,600 --> 01:20:34,280
To give you an estimate of, you
know, how little paint we're using,

1450
01:20:34,280 --> 01:20:38,560
there's probably less than
half a cup of paint

1451
01:20:38,560 --> 01:20:41,840
spread out this entire model.

1452
01:20:41,840 --> 01:20:44,200
And the best part about it is

1453
01:20:44,200 --> 01:20:46,800
knowing that when I am
done with this, the job is done.

1454
01:20:54,160 --> 01:20:56,120
With the model almost complete,

1455
01:20:56,120 --> 01:20:59,840
artist Scott has come to Sangeet's
studio to get a sneaky peek.

1456
01:20:59,840 --> 01:21:03,240
Hi, Scott, how you doing?
How's it going? Yeah, very well.

1457
01:21:03,240 --> 01:21:05,760
Good. All good. She's outside,
do you want to come and look?

1458
01:21:05,760 --> 01:21:07,320
All right. Let me put my bag down.

1459
01:21:09,720 --> 01:21:11,520
So, here we are.

1460
01:21:13,360 --> 01:21:15,040
Wow, look at that.

1461
01:21:16,720 --> 01:21:18,080
HE LAUGHS

1462
01:21:18,080 --> 01:21:19,640
The marsupial pouches.

1463
01:21:21,360 --> 01:21:23,280
It is a thing of its own, isn't it?

1464
01:21:23,280 --> 01:21:24,960
The hands look great.

1465
01:21:24,960 --> 01:21:26,960
The hands are beautiful.
That looks amazing.

1466
01:21:28,440 --> 01:21:29,720
Here's the last piece.

1467
01:21:36,200 --> 01:21:41,080
Wow. I am really looking forward to
seeing Alice's reaction to it.

1468
01:21:41,080 --> 01:21:45,360
She will have kind of the shock of
seeing her in a different way.

1469
01:21:45,360 --> 01:21:48,200
I think she is going to fall in love
with her new legs.

1470
01:21:48,200 --> 01:21:51,520
I think she's going to like it.
I think she is going to like it.

1471
01:21:51,520 --> 01:21:53,920
Yeah, I think she's going to
really like it.

1472
01:21:59,080 --> 01:22:00,800
It's been three short months

1473
01:22:00,800 --> 01:22:04,280
since the Science Museum
set me this challenge,

1474
01:22:04,280 --> 01:22:07,760
and now, the night of the big reveal
has arrived.

1475
01:22:07,760 --> 01:22:12,280
As the crowds gather, it's time to
finally meet the new me.

1476
01:22:14,960 --> 01:22:17,080
I have not seen anything of it.

1477
01:22:17,080 --> 01:22:20,480
I haven't seen any photographs,
I haven't seen anything

1478
01:22:20,480 --> 01:22:22,520
since very early on in the project

1479
01:22:22,520 --> 01:22:24,960
when I was talking to Scott
in his studio.

1480
01:22:24,960 --> 01:22:28,800
And it's over there with a veil
over it.

1481
01:22:28,800 --> 01:22:31,680
So, I'm intrigued,

1482
01:22:31,680 --> 01:22:34,880
but I'm also slightly fearful
about what it actually looks like.

1483
01:22:40,240 --> 01:22:41,840
Hundreds of people have turned up.

1484
01:22:46,120 --> 01:22:49,360
This experiment has clearly
sparked the interest of the public.

1485
01:22:55,200 --> 01:22:57,880
APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

1486
01:22:57,880 --> 01:22:59,600
Hello, everyone.

1487
01:22:59,600 --> 01:23:01,520
Welcome to the Science Museum.

1488
01:23:01,520 --> 01:23:04,160
Alice came into this gallery,
met me,

1489
01:23:04,160 --> 01:23:08,640
we were talking about something that
she has complained about endlessly

1490
01:23:08,640 --> 01:23:11,720
in articles and books,
and it sort of struck me,

1491
01:23:11,720 --> 01:23:15,680
well, why doesn't she come up with
the perfect Alice?

1492
01:23:15,680 --> 01:23:19,360
Now, I can't wait to see
what is behind that curtain.

1493
01:23:19,360 --> 01:23:21,760
It's now time to introduce...

1494
01:23:21,760 --> 01:23:23,440
Alice Roberts.

1495
01:23:25,480 --> 01:23:27,320
Thanks, Roger.

1496
01:23:27,320 --> 01:23:30,200
So, this has been
an extraordinary project.

1497
01:23:30,200 --> 01:23:33,360
I have been terribly excited
about this for a month.

1498
01:23:33,360 --> 01:23:35,240
But I'm also really nervous,

1499
01:23:35,240 --> 01:23:38,280
and I'm interested to see
what you think, as well.

1500
01:23:38,280 --> 01:23:40,680
OK, right, help me with this, then.

1501
01:23:40,680 --> 01:23:43,960
Five, four, three,

1502
01:23:43,960 --> 01:23:46,040
two, one...

1503
01:23:47,160 --> 01:23:48,680
SHE SQUEALS

1504
01:23:55,960 --> 01:23:57,280
Oh, my goodness.

1505
01:23:57,280 --> 01:23:59,040
Oh.

1506
01:24:01,480 --> 01:24:03,480
No, I can't look at her.

1507
01:24:05,480 --> 01:24:07,400
Oh, this is really strange.

1508
01:24:09,520 --> 01:24:14,320
She's so different,
and yet in some ways so realistic.

1509
01:24:14,320 --> 01:24:16,320
The thing I find weirdest
is the face, actually,

1510
01:24:16,320 --> 01:24:17,880
because it does look like my face,

1511
01:24:17,880 --> 01:24:20,960
but those eyes have changed
the geometry of it.

1512
01:24:20,960 --> 01:24:22,880
No, it's not the weirdest thing,
is it?

1513
01:24:22,880 --> 01:24:25,760
The baby is the weirdest thing.
That is the weirdest thing.

1514
01:24:25,760 --> 01:24:28,360
But it's very, very cute
at the same time.

1515
01:24:29,880 --> 01:24:30,880
Ohh!

1516
01:24:34,560 --> 01:24:38,080
Alice 2.0 is amazing.

1517
01:24:38,080 --> 01:24:42,680
To counter the faults of our flawed
transition to standing upright,

1518
01:24:42,680 --> 01:24:45,400
she has got a chimp's
sturdy lower back

1519
01:24:45,400 --> 01:24:48,720
and the shock-absorbing legs
of an emu.

1520
01:24:50,600 --> 01:24:55,600
To improve blood circulation, she
has got tiny pumps in her thighs.

1521
01:25:00,040 --> 01:25:02,800
and the graceful lungs of a swan.

1522
01:25:02,800 --> 01:25:06,040
Her neck houses
a choke-proof windpipe.

1523
01:25:06,040 --> 01:25:09,520
And to ensure
a pain-free childbirth,

1524
01:25:09,520 --> 01:25:12,920
she nurtures her baby
in a marsupial pouch.

1525
01:25:12,920 --> 01:25:15,560
Her senses have been transformed.

1526
01:25:15,560 --> 01:25:20,560
with large mobile ears and
light-sensitive super-sized eyes.

1527
01:25:21,760 --> 01:25:24,880
This could be a human
fit for the future.

1528
01:25:27,960 --> 01:25:31,040
I am blown away
by the artistry here.

1529
01:25:31,040 --> 01:25:33,280
I mean, both of you.
It's just astonishing.

1530
01:25:33,280 --> 01:25:36,120
It's weird, I'm...
I think it is coherent.

1531
01:25:36,120 --> 01:25:41,000
Yeah. There's enough structure that
it would be mechanically sound.

1532
01:25:41,000 --> 01:25:43,280
She looks like
she could just walk away.

1533
01:25:43,280 --> 01:25:46,560
Yeah, for a moment you are able to
suspend your disbelief and... Yeah.

1534
01:25:46,560 --> 01:25:49,320
..get wrapped up in something
that you can see in front of you.

1535
01:25:49,320 --> 01:25:52,280
It's lovely. I can't believe
how absolutely brilliantly well

1536
01:25:52,280 --> 01:25:54,320
it's all come together,
and it's down to you.

1537
01:25:54,320 --> 01:25:55,480
So thank you so much.

1538
01:25:59,240 --> 01:26:01,240
But what does the public think?

1539
01:26:02,600 --> 01:26:04,360
I don't think, in our culture,

1540
01:26:04,360 --> 01:26:07,360
that is what you imagine
the perfect body to look like.

1541
01:26:07,360 --> 01:26:10,520
But maybe it should be. Exactly.

1542
01:26:10,520 --> 01:26:13,840
See that first thing in the morning,
I would run a mile,

1543
01:26:13,840 --> 01:26:16,120
faster than an ostrich.

1544
01:26:16,120 --> 01:26:19,320
If I were to think about the
favourite part of her,

1545
01:26:19,320 --> 01:26:21,600
I would have to think long and hard,

1546
01:26:21,600 --> 01:26:25,400
and it definitely wouldn't be
the massive eyes looking at me.

1547
01:26:25,400 --> 01:26:28,560
I would probably do a lot
to spare the sheer horror

1548
01:26:28,560 --> 01:26:31,080
of what I expect childbirth
to be like,

1549
01:26:31,080 --> 01:26:34,440
therefore the pouch
is a winner for me.

1550
01:26:34,440 --> 01:26:36,680
Same with me.

1551
01:26:36,680 --> 01:26:41,000
I think the part I disliked most,
if I can say that, is the legs,

1552
01:26:41,000 --> 01:26:44,040
because they look so very different,
so animal-like.

1553
01:26:44,040 --> 01:26:46,760
When I saw the legs,
I was astonished.

1554
01:26:48,400 --> 01:26:52,400
I think the legs were just
so different, so amazing,

1555
01:26:52,400 --> 01:26:57,240
something I wouldn't have thought
about. And exciting!

1556
01:27:03,280 --> 01:27:06,480
Creating the new me has been
a fantastic journey.

1557
01:27:07,640 --> 01:27:11,120
But along the way, I've had to make
a whole series of compromises.

1558
01:27:12,200 --> 01:27:16,400
I've provided stability and
durability to my spine and legs,

1559
01:27:16,400 --> 01:27:18,280
but I've sacrificed mobility.

1560
01:27:19,280 --> 01:27:21,440
I've made childbirth easier,

1561
01:27:21,440 --> 01:27:24,880
but I'll be carrying this baby and
producing milk for it for years.

1562
01:27:26,200 --> 01:27:29,400
And with those powerful
and reliable new organs,

1563
01:27:29,400 --> 01:27:32,640
I may have created
a corresponding new set of maladies

1564
01:27:32,640 --> 01:27:34,720
that I can only begin to imagine.

1565
01:27:36,280 --> 01:27:39,480
This journey has given me
a renewed appreciation

1566
01:27:39,480 --> 01:27:43,360
of the true complexity
of designing a working body

1567
01:27:43,360 --> 01:27:45,360
and of evolution itself.

1568
01:27:46,680 --> 01:27:50,160
I set out trying to
achieve perfection,

1569
01:27:50,160 --> 01:27:53,280
and I'm not sure
that's what we have done.

1570
01:27:53,280 --> 01:27:56,240
We've looked at all those
different problems

1571
01:27:56,240 --> 01:27:58,920
that are in our bodies
and tried to fix them,

1572
01:27:58,920 --> 01:28:03,120
but every single time we nudged
something in a particular direction,

1573
01:28:03,120 --> 01:28:04,800
we lost something else.

1574
01:28:04,800 --> 01:28:07,000
So, it's been a lesson
in trade-offs.

1575
01:28:07,000 --> 01:28:09,120
It's also been a lesson in...

1576
01:28:09,120 --> 01:28:12,680
Actually, what evolution
has provided us with

1577
01:28:12,680 --> 01:28:14,600
is a package that works.

1578
01:28:14,600 --> 01:28:18,320
You can't take those
individual elements out,

1579
01:28:18,320 --> 01:28:20,640
fix them, and put them back in.

1580
01:28:20,640 --> 01:28:23,120
It has to work as a coherent whole.

1581
01:28:23,120 --> 01:28:26,080
But, nevertheless, I think we've
created something

1582
01:28:26,080 --> 01:28:28,280
which is different,

1583
01:28:28,280 --> 01:28:31,120
which is beautiful in its own way,

1584
01:28:31,120 --> 01:28:33,960
and deeply, deeply strange.