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Once upon a time, there was a tiny,
neglected plant.

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A plant capable of working wonders.

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An ingenious and resilient plant.

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Long underestimated.

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It is a plant that excites the
passions of the scientists

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working to unveil its mysteries.

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It grows everywhere on the planet.

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It transcends the landscape.

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And gives us a glimpse of surprising
magical worlds.

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This small organism tells a marvellous
story about our world.

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Mosses are essential to life on Earth,

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and they have been reshaping our
planet since the dawn of time.

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In Japan, mosses are revered.

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The Japanese look upon them

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as Westerners might look upon a
heavenly constellation,

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with the same awe and wonder.

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Here, the forces of nature,

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such as the wind, the rivers,

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animals, and moss

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are venerated. They are careful not to
disturb the plant

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and let it cover sacred sites.

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They care for the mosses with endless
skill and patience.

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They go out of their way to protect
and contemplate the mosses.

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Every detail is important.

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Anything that might disturb or harm
the moss is meticulously removed,

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as if each sprig were a priceless
treasure.

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The garden at Kokedera,

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also known as the Moss Temple,

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is an extraordinary sanctuary.

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It is home to more than 120 species of
moss.

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Unlike the complex Latin names used in
Europe,

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the Japanese give mosses more
delicate, intuitive names

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like Spiral Moss...

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..Whip Moss...

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..Shining Branch...

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..White Hair...

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..and Grandfather's Beard.

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Mould Moss is very easy to locate.

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All you have to do is bend down,

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take a sniff,

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and let yourself be guided by its
characteristic odour.

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HE SNIFFS

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Other mosses give off the aroma of
peppers, cucumbers or oysters.

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In this temple, each sprig of moss

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is treated like a precious jewel,

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fragile and delicate.

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But there are other, less hospitable
places

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where the mosses can show off their
exceptional capacities for survival.

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The volcanic highlands of Lakagigar in
Iceland

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reveal some of the superpowers of
moss.

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How did our frail little mosses

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manage to invade these lunar
landscapes scorched by lava flows?

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In 1783, one of the most violent
volcanic eruptions

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of the last 10,000 years happened
here.

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Magnea Magnusdottir is an enthusiastic
biologist.

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She's studying the grey, velvety moss

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that covers the surface of this area -
the Racomitrium.

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It has taken over two centuries

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for nature to produce this fragile
coat of moss.

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60 centimetres thick,

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it covers this vast, ten-metre-high
lava field.

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Over time, the moss has grown thicker.

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It has created a fertile, stable
topsoil

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that allows flowering plants and
shrubs to grow.

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The moss is a pioneer plant.

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It has taken hold where no-one
expected it to -

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in this harsh, inhospitable landscape.

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To understand how that was possible,

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we have to go back to a key moment in
our planet's history.

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450 million years ago, the oceans
underwent an enormous upheaval.

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Algae took advantage of the tidal ebb
and flow to move onto the land,

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gradually adapting and evolving into
mosses.

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Their spread provided a layer of soil
over the volcanic rock.

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These very first terrestrial plants

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were one of the main sources of oxygen
in the atmosphere,

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enabling other forms of life to evolve
and thrive.

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Mosses have colonised nearly the
entire surface of the Earth,

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transforming an arid planet into a
lush planet.

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Mosses grow nearly everywhere on the
Earth.

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We have discovered close to 25,000
species.

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The conditions in the gorges of the
Toul-Goulic in Brittany

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are ideal for mosses.

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The light is filtered by leafy
branches.

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And it is always humid.

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Moss grows everywhere.

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Moss specialists, or bryologists,

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come from near and far to study these
mosses, or bryophytes.

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Vincent Hugonnot is one of France's
leading bryologists.

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He never goes anywhere without his
favourite tool.

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Grasping the beauty of mosses

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is first of all learning how to look
at them.

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Observing them reveals surprising and
widely varying forms.

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Because what bryologists like best is
recognising and naming mosses,

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detecting the rarest species and
immersing themselves

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in anatomical detail.

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Close observation of the mosses

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transforms them into lush jungles

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inhabited by fantastic creatures.

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An invaluable network of living beings
which spread,

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decompose and regulate the microflorae
of the ground.

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These miniature forests are home to
crawling springtails,

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curious hairy moss mites

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and slimy roundworms.

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If we look even more closely...

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..we can make out these unusual micro
shrimps, called rotifers,

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and strange little eight-legged
creatures

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that browse on the surface of the
mosses -

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tardigrades, or water bears.

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These amazing creatures are quite
resourceful.

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They can slow down their metabolism to
withstand drought,

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a fascinating adaptation that they
share with mosses.

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This heightened tolerance to drought
and the moss' capacity to revive

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when conditions become favourable
again are major assets.

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They allow mosses to withstand extreme
conditions

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better than any other plants,

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even in the harshest environments.

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A British ecologist came face-to-face
with this phenomenon,

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called reviviscence,

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on an expedition to the South Pole to
study global warming.

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This is Peter Convey.

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In 2014, he revived a moss plant
embedded in the frozen soil.

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His discovery sent a shock wave
through the scientific community.

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- What we were trying to do was to
sample a core

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through one of these deep peat banks.

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So several cores were taken

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to be analysed for various chemicals

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that are indicators of climate.

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But we took an extra core

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simply because we wanted to analyse

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the biological properties

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of the core itself.

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So, not the chemistry, not the climate
reconstruction.

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We simply wanted to see, was there any
life within the core itself?

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We wrap it up carefully and cleanly.

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We pack it into boxes and we carry it

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round about an hour and a half's walk
back to the station

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where we can put it in freezers, and
that's all we do with it.

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On the station, we store them in
freezers

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until we can get them back to the UK.

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- Peter Convey came to analyse the
soil chemistry.

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This moss sample was not the primary
focus of his expedition.

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But because he was interested in the
characteristics of bryophytes,

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his attention was drawn to the
exceptional thickness

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of the moss sample he took.

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- We have a very clear clue that these
moss banks are old,

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for the very simple reason that in the
Antarctic

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mosses grow about half a centimetre a
year.

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So if you've got a two-metre-thick
moss bank,

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you've got many centuries of moss at
the bottom,

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you know it's going to be old. The
only way to test how old it is

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is to use radiocarbon dating.

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So the key thing, if we know we've got
a metre of moss -

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we had a metre and a half of the moss
in this core -

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we know that the bottom of that is
many centuries old.

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So the next question was to find out
how many centuries old.

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- The thawed out moss immediately
showed signs of life,

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and thanks to carbon-14 dating, Peter
made a remarkable discovery.

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He had revived a 1,500-year-old moss.

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It was around when the Roman Empire
was on the decline.

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- I was rather excited! I mean, that
really...

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It was a brand-new discovery.

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This moss was happily growing away on
Signy Island

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a millennia and a half before we
discovered Antarctica.

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It's a step change in our
understanding

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of how long something can survive for.
It obviously was alive,

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we haven't created life, but we've
stimulated it back into growth

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and it's by far the oldest one I'm
aware of that that's happened to.

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- Could it be that mosses have
discovered

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the secret of immortality?

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What is for certain is that they are
still full of mysteries.

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And what about these colonies of moss
called glacier mice?

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They can survive on ice.

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Their most surprising characteristic
is not their tolerance for cold,

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but their capacity to move two and a
half centimetres a day.

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Neither wind nor gravity explain this
phenomenon.

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So how do they do it?

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One explanation is that our glacier
mouse

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protects the ice beneath it from the
sun.

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When the ice around it melts,

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the moss is left perched on a little
ice island

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it has protected from the sun's
ultraviolet rays.

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It eventually tips over and the
process starts again,

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slowly transforming the moss into a
rolling ball.

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So much for the old saying

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a rolling stone gathers no moss.

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Mosses are discreet, but grow all over
the world.

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They can cope with extreme temperature
swings

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ranging from
-40 to +70 degrees Celsius.

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Bryophytes include mosses that can
survive

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in the hot springs in Iceland.

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Like this moss, the Solenostoma,

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that clings to rocks in scorching
Icelandic rivers.

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Bryophytes are one of the organisms
most capable of adapting

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to climate change.

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How can a plant be so resilient?

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How has it managed to grow everywhere
on the planet?

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What is it secret?

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The moss' extreme resilience lies in
its simplicity.

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It is an organism that has no flowers,
no seeds and no roots.

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The moss does not draw the nutriments
it needs from a soil,

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but from direct contact with air and
water.

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THUNDER RUMBLES

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A few drops of water

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are enough to trigger the moss'
reproductive cycle.

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Water activates the spermatozoids,

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which swim to the female gamete.

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Fertilisation takes place.

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And a fairy-like ballet begins.

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After three weeks, the miraculous
cycle of life gets under way.

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Long filaments rise towards the sky.

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They are topped by small pods which
swell and open.

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They explode, releasing thousands of
spores, like a firework display,

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giving life to a new generation of
baby mosses.

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Mosses have retained features

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inherited from their aquatic origins.

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As they evolved,

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they survived on a planet with no
atmosphere,

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bombarded by the radiation from the
sun and space.

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This could help explain their
resistance to the radioactivity

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in the contamination zone around
Fukushima in Japan.

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Professor Masaki Shimamura

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is the director of the Bryological
Society of Japan.

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He has been studying the impact of the
nuclear catastrophe on mosses.

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BEEPING

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This bioaccumulation by the mosses

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has led Professor Shimamura to
conclude

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that the forests and dams are the most
contaminated areas.

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Rainwater soaks down to the bottom of
the valley,

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where record levels of radioactivity
can be observed.

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The radioactivity is then captured by
the mosses.

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Lacking the protective cuticle found
on the surface of most plant leaves,

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the water is absorbed into the
interior of the moss,

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which then stores the contaminants.

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Bryophytes are very sensitive

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and respond quickly to environmental
changes.

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BEEPING

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Mosses are reliable early warning
systems which allow us to measure

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the quantity of radioactive pollution
in contamination zones.

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If their DNA is damaged by pollutants,

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they continue to develop, even after a
nuclear catastrophe.

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But that is not all.

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Mosses can also auto-regenerate

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from a piece of stem or a damaged
leaf.

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This miracle is possible thanks to a
cell only found in ferns, algae

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and moss, which is capable of
reprogramming itself very quickly,

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like a stem cell.

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Like the heads of the mythical Hydra,

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00:30:48,260 --> 00:30:51,220
each tiny, ripped off fragment of moss

249
00:30:51,220 --> 00:30:54,460
can give birth to multiple autonomous
clones.

250
00:31:00,340 --> 00:31:03,060
A major asset when it comes to
expanding

251
00:31:03,060 --> 00:31:05,460
and conquering new territories.

252
00:31:08,660 --> 00:31:13,180
But this depends on our little moss
encountering no new pollutants.

253
00:31:18,260 --> 00:31:23,100
Otherwise, it can become very
vulnerable, like here in Iceland,

254
00:31:23,100 --> 00:31:25,020
near this geothermal plant

255
00:31:25,020 --> 00:31:29,740
that uses volcanic energy to heat the
capital Reykjavik.

256
00:32:16,060 --> 00:32:21,580
To withstand the poisonous Gaussian
plumes, the mosses need help.

257
00:32:21,580 --> 00:32:26,100
Magnea has come to their rescue with
an original recipe.

258
00:32:26,100 --> 00:32:28,780
It took her several years to perfect
it.

259
00:32:32,940 --> 00:32:35,700
First, pick sprigs of moss,

260
00:32:35,700 --> 00:32:38,180
taking care not to leave any holes.

261
00:32:48,300 --> 00:32:50,860
Place the moss in a container

262
00:32:50,860 --> 00:32:53,620
and carefully disentangle it.

263
00:32:56,980 --> 00:32:58,780
Roughly cut the moss.

264
00:32:58,780 --> 00:33:01,380
A garden strimmer may be used.

265
00:33:06,260 --> 00:33:09,900
Pour in gallon after gallon of
fermented milk

266
00:33:09,900 --> 00:33:11,460
and stir thoroughly

267
00:33:11,460 --> 00:33:15,060
until you have a unique moss soup.

268
00:34:00,780 --> 00:34:02,260
INDISTINCT CHATTER

269
00:34:12,420 --> 00:34:16,260
The mixture is transported to the site
of the damage

270
00:34:16,260 --> 00:34:18,300
and applied by hand.

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00:34:28,260 --> 00:34:31,380
A milky crust develops,

272
00:34:31,380 --> 00:34:34,460
holding the chopped sprigs in place,

273
00:34:34,460 --> 00:34:35,980
and they rapidly multiply.

274
00:34:47,780 --> 00:34:50,500
Thanks to Magnea's magic potion...

275
00:34:53,900 --> 00:34:57,340
..and the capacity of the moss to
regenerate,

276
00:34:57,340 --> 00:35:01,140
it will take less than two years to
restore this site.

277
00:35:08,860 --> 00:35:10,340
BIRDS TWEET

278
00:35:22,500 --> 00:35:25,180
Iceland is a sanctuary for nature.

279
00:35:37,340 --> 00:35:41,380
The country boasts some strange
species of moss.

280
00:35:52,620 --> 00:35:54,660
One of them even breathes.

281
00:35:55,940 --> 00:35:58,940
But is it actually a moss?

282
00:36:03,260 --> 00:36:07,860
The golden plover has a very special
relationship with the mosses

283
00:36:07,860 --> 00:36:11,700
that grow on the Icelandic heath.

284
00:36:11,700 --> 00:36:14,020
This bird lays its eggs in the ground

285
00:36:14,020 --> 00:36:16,980
in a little hollow dug by the male.

286
00:36:16,980 --> 00:36:21,460
At birth, the chicks' down mimics the
moss and its environment.

287
00:36:23,980 --> 00:36:27,860
The golden plovers' adult plumage is
dynamic,

288
00:36:27,860 --> 00:36:31,780
but the chicks remain carefully
camouflaged on the heath.

289
00:36:49,300 --> 00:36:53,780
In Vietnam, the mimicry is even more
marked in the mossy frog.

290
00:36:53,780 --> 00:36:57,340
There are no soft, velvety feathers
here,

291
00:36:57,340 --> 00:37:00,380
but a slimy, knobbled epidermis.

292
00:37:06,300 --> 00:37:09,740
When in danger, this amphibian freezes

293
00:37:09,740 --> 00:37:13,380
and imitates a bryophyte to hide from
its predators.

294
00:37:24,500 --> 00:37:29,180
The fox is also a valued friend to a
certain species of moss

295
00:37:29,180 --> 00:37:31,420
that only grow on fox excrement.

296
00:37:41,500 --> 00:37:46,340
Tetraplodon belongs to one of the most
elegant moss families on Earth,

297
00:37:46,340 --> 00:37:49,580
but has a taste for faeces and
putrefaction.

298
00:37:52,060 --> 00:37:55,260
It is also capable of olfactive
mimicry,

299
00:37:55,260 --> 00:37:59,140
giving off a perfect imitation of fox
excrement odour...

300
00:38:01,100 --> 00:38:03,900
..to attract coprophagic flies.

301
00:38:03,900 --> 00:38:07,340
This is an effective collaboration
with the insect,

302
00:38:07,340 --> 00:38:11,220
allowing the moss to spread its spores
by proxy into the wild.

303
00:38:11,220 --> 00:38:13,300
A unique feature amongst mosses

304
00:38:13,300 --> 00:38:15,980
and a fine example of collaboration

305
00:38:15,980 --> 00:38:19,180
and co-evolution between species.

306
00:38:26,980 --> 00:38:31,500
It reveals an aptitude in mosses to
adapt in order to survive...

307
00:38:33,940 --> 00:38:37,420
..provided they do not run into any
obstacles.

308
00:38:44,980 --> 00:38:47,940
Humans are hindering the spread of
mosses

309
00:38:47,940 --> 00:38:50,300
and have declared war on them.

310
00:38:50,300 --> 00:38:52,340
In many countries,

311
00:38:52,340 --> 00:38:55,740
they are considered parasitic plants

312
00:38:55,740 --> 00:38:59,740
associated with mould and decay.

313
00:38:59,740 --> 00:39:03,500
They eliminate the mosses with
chemical herbicides,

314
00:39:03,500 --> 00:39:10,020
which are also toxic for the wider
environment and even for humans.

315
00:39:17,820 --> 00:39:21,980
A researcher at the Sorbonne
University in Paris

316
00:39:21,980 --> 00:39:25,380
may have found a formula that could
change this approach.

317
00:39:27,220 --> 00:39:32,140
Emmanuel Baudouin is working on a
patent for a natural herbicide.

318
00:39:56,180 --> 00:40:01,060
The adventure began in 2017 when
Bastien Nay, a chemist,

319
00:40:01,060 --> 00:40:03,420
asked Emmanuel Baudouin to work with
him

320
00:40:03,420 --> 00:40:08,300
on a naturally occurring molecule -
Radulanin A.

321
00:40:10,340 --> 00:40:15,260
It comes from Radula, a common moss
found in our forests.

322
00:40:15,260 --> 00:40:17,620
They discovered that this molecule

323
00:40:17,620 --> 00:40:20,780
possesses amazing herbicidal
properties.

324
00:40:54,660 --> 00:40:59,300
Emmanuel Baudouin chose a tiny
flowering plant

325
00:40:59,300 --> 00:41:01,820
as a subject for his experiment.

326
00:41:03,300 --> 00:41:06,780
Thale cress. It is considered a weed.

327
00:41:10,260 --> 00:41:14,580
He asked his team to mix the Radulanin
molecule from the moss

328
00:41:14,580 --> 00:41:18,380
with the samples of thale cress in a
liquid solution.

329
00:41:19,980 --> 00:41:24,940
The objective of the experiment was to
test the herbicidal properties

330
00:41:24,940 --> 00:41:28,180
of Radulanin A on the cress plant.

331
00:42:16,340 --> 00:42:18,980
It is an ironic twist that this moss

332
00:42:18,980 --> 00:42:23,620
could someday contribute to the
elimination of other mosses.

333
00:42:23,620 --> 00:42:25,740
Even though we cannot explain why,

334
00:42:25,740 --> 00:42:30,220
it possesses the same devastating
capacities as glyphosate.

335
00:42:31,620 --> 00:42:34,940
Mosses, long overlooked by science,

336
00:42:34,940 --> 00:42:37,860
are gradually yielding up their
secrets,

337
00:42:37,860 --> 00:42:41,780
and new fields of exploration are
opening up for researchers.

338
00:42:50,340 --> 00:42:54,620
On the majestic, wild Japanese island
of Yakushima,

339
00:42:54,620 --> 00:42:57,700
the mosses communicate with the trees.

340
00:43:02,940 --> 00:43:08,340
The mountain is covered by a forest of
1,000-year-old trees,

341
00:43:08,340 --> 00:43:10,900
and is home to the yakusugi...

342
00:43:13,300 --> 00:43:16,540
..giant cedar trees which are
considered sacred.

343
00:43:19,300 --> 00:43:21,540
It is also a realm of mosses.

344
00:43:27,740 --> 00:43:31,780
A pilgrimage site for bryologists from
all over the world.

345
00:43:35,580 --> 00:43:41,340
In this fairy tale undergrowth
inhabited by deer and macaques...

346
00:43:42,740 --> 00:43:47,060
..the mosses absorb considerable
quantities of water

347
00:43:47,060 --> 00:43:51,060
which they redistribute to the roots
of the tall trees.

348
00:43:52,980 --> 00:43:56,620
The thousands of species of moss
thriving here

349
00:43:56,620 --> 00:43:58,980
still have many secrets to reveal.

350
00:44:02,540 --> 00:44:06,220
Some protect the giant cedar trees
from pathogenic bacteria

351
00:44:06,220 --> 00:44:09,460
thanks to their antibacterial
properties.

352
00:44:09,460 --> 00:44:11,100
Like guardians,

353
00:44:11,100 --> 00:44:16,100
they have a considerable effect on the
habitat that they colonise.

354
00:44:17,500 --> 00:44:21,860
This antibacterial action shows just
how much science could learn

355
00:44:21,860 --> 00:44:26,460
from these mosses in the search for
new medicines.

356
00:44:26,460 --> 00:44:30,740
These tiny plants, too long
overlooked,

357
00:44:30,740 --> 00:44:36,340
could play a pivotal role in
unexpected fields of science.

358
00:44:47,060 --> 00:44:50,860
In one of Europe's oldest
observatories in Copenhagen,

359
00:44:50,860 --> 00:44:53,860
astrophysicist Jophiel Wiis

360
00:44:53,860 --> 00:44:56,820
and his colleagues on the SpaceMoss
programme

361
00:44:56,820 --> 00:44:59,380
have genetically modified a moss.

362
00:45:06,220 --> 00:45:09,260
His goal is to study the moss'
capacity to survive

363
00:45:09,260 --> 00:45:12,580
in the hostile environment on Mars.

364
00:45:16,820 --> 00:45:18,500
- When you do space travel,

365
00:45:18,500 --> 00:45:21,540
every kilo that you bring into orbit

366
00:45:21,540 --> 00:45:24,660
or to another planet is immensely
expensive.

367
00:45:24,660 --> 00:45:28,020
And just the medicine alone for a
three-year journey

368
00:45:28,020 --> 00:45:30,380
where you want to make sure that
people are healthy

369
00:45:30,380 --> 00:45:33,700
and come back safe, you need so much
medicine,

370
00:45:33,700 --> 00:45:37,540
so much food, so much equipment and
supplies, so much of everything.

371
00:45:37,540 --> 00:45:42,900
And if we can make a moss that is
capable of producing

372
00:45:42,900 --> 00:45:47,180
certain types of medicine, then you
just have to bring a little patch

373
00:45:47,180 --> 00:45:49,900
of the moss that can produce
penicillin

374
00:45:49,900 --> 00:45:53,380
or whatever compound you're after.

375
00:45:55,100 --> 00:45:58,500
- In the near future, moss could
produce medicine

376
00:45:58,500 --> 00:46:01,740
that astronauts could cultivate on
Mars.

377
00:46:01,740 --> 00:46:05,820
On the condition, of course, that
Wiis' genetically modified moss

378
00:46:05,820 --> 00:46:09,420
survives the Martian environment.

379
00:46:09,420 --> 00:46:13,860
So how can the moss' resistance be
tested on Earth?

380
00:46:13,860 --> 00:46:16,340
The members of the SpaceMoss
laboratory

381
00:46:16,340 --> 00:46:20,580
at the National Institute of
Copenhagen came up with a solution.

382
00:46:26,100 --> 00:46:27,860
They designed a machine

383
00:46:27,860 --> 00:46:31,820
that artificially reproduces the
Martian environment.

384
00:46:34,740 --> 00:46:39,620
- On Mars you need something that's
very, very harsh and resilient.

385
00:46:39,620 --> 00:46:43,540
Mosses can survive a lot of extreme
situations.

386
00:46:43,540 --> 00:46:47,220
They don't grow very fast, but...

387
00:46:47,220 --> 00:46:50,700
..they just stick around when other
things die.

388
00:46:50,700 --> 00:46:54,340
And that's something you need if you
want to go to space.

389
00:46:54,340 --> 00:46:57,140
OK, so we have the moss.

390
00:46:57,140 --> 00:46:58,940
And the Mars Chamber.

391
00:46:58,940 --> 00:47:01,220
And then we have the sluice here.

392
00:47:01,220 --> 00:47:04,100
Which is the entrance to the Mars
volume.

393
00:47:04,100 --> 00:47:09,380
And in here we can place the moss...in
the sluice.

394
00:47:14,340 --> 00:47:16,460
Then we can go over here.

395
00:47:18,380 --> 00:47:19,700
The sluice port...

396
00:47:25,980 --> 00:47:31,060
Get the moss into the main chamber.

397
00:47:31,060 --> 00:47:34,860
Close up the sluice port again, all
the way.

398
00:47:37,780 --> 00:47:39,900
- When the airlock closes,

399
00:47:39,900 --> 00:47:43,140
the chamber becomes completely
airtight.

400
00:47:43,140 --> 00:47:46,060
The moss then experiences a simulation

401
00:47:46,060 --> 00:47:49,580
of extreme atmospheric conditions on
Mars.

402
00:47:52,220 --> 00:47:56,700
- Pump in a lot of CO2 in order to
simulate the Martian atmosphere.

403
00:47:56,700 --> 00:47:59,020
That's over here.

404
00:47:59,020 --> 00:48:00,420
And on...

405
00:48:05,820 --> 00:48:09,260
That creates a vacuum inside of the
tiny chamber.

406
00:48:09,260 --> 00:48:11,540
So we have the Martian atmosphere in
the whole chamber

407
00:48:11,540 --> 00:48:15,140
and then we have a tiny volume where
you also have the pressure,

408
00:48:15,140 --> 00:48:17,140
or the lack of pressure.

409
00:48:20,180 --> 00:48:25,420
That's the UV lamp turning on. And
then we have a Martian atmosphere.

410
00:48:25,420 --> 00:48:28,140
Inside the chamber, we have the
Martian pressure,

411
00:48:28,140 --> 00:48:30,500
the Martian radiation, the
temperature,

412
00:48:30,500 --> 00:48:33,940
and if we also want Martian soil and
perchlorates,

413
00:48:33,940 --> 00:48:38,500
we can put it under the sample that we
put into the chamber.

414
00:48:41,580 --> 00:48:46,620
- It is as if Jophiel's moss has been
transported 70 million kilometres,

415
00:48:46,620 --> 00:48:49,980
and he can observe all the effects of
the Martian environment

416
00:48:49,980 --> 00:48:51,780
on the moss plant.

417
00:48:56,500 --> 00:48:59,900
- And that's a very good simulation of
Mars.

418
00:49:04,300 --> 00:49:08,740
- Jophiel's modified moss survive
temperature swings found on Mars,

419
00:49:08,740 --> 00:49:12,220
which can range from +25 degrees

420
00:49:12,220 --> 00:49:17,660
to -120 degrees Celsius in a single
night.

421
00:49:17,660 --> 00:49:20,580
The first stage of the research has
been completed.

422
00:49:26,020 --> 00:49:29,460
NASA is interested in the SpaceMoss
programme

423
00:49:29,460 --> 00:49:32,740
and has contacted the laboratory.

424
00:49:32,740 --> 00:49:37,180
Jophiel is a candidate to join the
European Space Agency

425
00:49:37,180 --> 00:49:41,940
and one day hopes to test his mosses
in outer space.

426
00:49:43,620 --> 00:49:45,980
- So we think of the Earth as the blue
planet

427
00:49:45,980 --> 00:49:47,860
and we think of Mars as the red
planet.

428
00:49:47,860 --> 00:49:50,700
But I think it would be so cool if, in
hundreds of years,

429
00:49:50,700 --> 00:49:53,700
we would be looking up at Mars and
thinking about it

430
00:49:53,700 --> 00:49:57,380
as the green planet, because mosses
had covered the entire surface.

431
00:49:57,380 --> 00:50:01,900
It may or may not happen, but I think
it would be awesome.

432
00:50:01,900 --> 00:50:06,100
But to me, personally, I think
travelling into space

433
00:50:06,100 --> 00:50:07,780
and going to other planets

434
00:50:07,780 --> 00:50:12,060
and becoming a multiplanetary species
is just...

435
00:50:12,060 --> 00:50:14,100
..such a romantic idea.

436
00:50:25,180 --> 00:50:30,260
- For Jophiel, mosses might help open
doors to interplanetary travel.

437
00:50:31,500 --> 00:50:36,100
These were the first plants to
successfully colonise our planet.

438
00:50:37,980 --> 00:50:41,420
Could this scenario repeat itself
elsewhere?

439
00:50:47,900 --> 00:50:51,780
In the course of evolution, mosses
have acquired the capacity

440
00:50:51,780 --> 00:50:57,380
to resist extreme temperatures,
pollution and radiation.

441
00:51:02,820 --> 00:51:06,460
Understanding their versatility and
resistance

442
00:51:06,460 --> 00:51:09,580
could lead us towards future
discoveries

443
00:51:09,580 --> 00:51:15,060
and allow us to imagine new scientific
perspectives.

444
00:51:15,060 --> 00:51:18,660
These magical mosses work wonders

445
00:51:18,660 --> 00:51:23,620
and we are only beginning to
understand their secrets.