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(playful music)

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Did you know, the surprising number

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of objects that you use every day...

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(coach crashing)

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Are thanks to accidents.

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Let me show you what I mean.

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(air whooshing)
(playful music)

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In this episode, we learn how a Swiss chemist

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unintentionally invented hippies.

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He's really beginning to believe

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that he's gone completely mad, and he can see why.

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How a bid to help cotton farmers

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is responsible for America's favorite sandwich.

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It's kinda hard to imagine a world without it.

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And the way a failed experiment helps feed

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the world, but also almost destroys it.

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(playful music)

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"Oops, I changed the world!"

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Turn on, tune in, drop out.

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August 14th, 1969,

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the decade that shook America is coming to a close.

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We've got racial rights, women's rights,

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gay rights, and the Vietnam war.

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Thousands of angry young people are heading

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to the streets, ready to fight for their rights.

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A wave of counterculture is rising,

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and at the crest of that wave

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comes a music festival like no other.

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(upbeat rock music)

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Woodstock.

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It's the soundtrack to a cultural revolution sweeping

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across America and beyond.

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And there's one mind-bending chemical fueling it all.

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Lysergic acid diethylamide, also known as LSD.

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It goes by many names; acid, Lucy,

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California sunshine, blue heaven.

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This stuff is really potent.

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Not that I would know anything about that or anything.

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The LSD experience is a religious experience.

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The LSD kick is religious ecstasy.

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LSDs world changing...

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And mind-altering.

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And mind-altering story

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takes us on a psychedelic bike ride

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from medieval madness to chemical warfare,

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and the explosion of counterculture.

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Sounds like it's gonna be quite a trip.

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(yodeling)

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Our accidental hero is Albert Hofmann, Swiss-born,

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who has an idyllic childhood,

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it's all chocolate, fondue and yodeling.

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(upbeat music)
(yodeling)

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He graduates from the University of Zurich in 1929,

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with a doctorate in medicinal chemistry,

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and gets a job at Sandoz Laboratories in Basel.

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He's a regular guy, tasked with working

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on a very irregular fungus; ergot.

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Ergot is a fungus that grows on rye crops.

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Its proper name is Claviceps purpurea.

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Their fruiting bodies emerge as these long,

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dark finger-like protrusions from the ear of the grain.

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It's extremely poisonous.

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One of its toxic effects is a form

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of gangrene called holy fire.

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People felt a terrible fiery sensation

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in their limbs, and the loss of blood

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to their extremities eventually lead into,

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basically, their hands and feet dropping off.

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It also causes convulsions, seizures

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and vivid hallucinations.

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So imagine you're just snacking on some rye bread

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or maybe an avocado toast and, hmm, tastes good, hm.

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The next thing you know, you're on the ground,

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you're rolling around, your limbs are falling off

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and you're convulsing in pain.

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People actually did think that their limbs

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were being burned to charcoal,

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which is a pretty bad thing to happen from eating bread.

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(solemn music)

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In the 10th century, there's an outbreak of this disease

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which claims about 40,000 lives in Southern France.

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So you can imagine how terrified people must have been.

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Holy fire is a scourge across Europe

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for many centuries.

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But over time, doctors discover that ergot has medical uses.

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In the 1500s it's noted that sows

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that consume ergot go into labor.

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So midwives think that a woman who has a stalled pregnancy

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just needs a little bit of the fungus.

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So it's interesting that ergot goes

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through this whole PR transformation,

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from this poison into something that houses a whole host

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of potential solutions to problems.

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(upbeat music)
(yodeling)

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Back to Albert Hofmann

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and the scientists at Sandoz.

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Who, in 1918, managed to isolate

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a compound called ergotamine.

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Sandoz commercialize ergotamine

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to treat post childbirth bleeding and migraines.

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But Albert's not done yet.

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Hofmann, that wants to keep working on ergot

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and identify more useful molecules.

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He focuses his studies on lysergic acid,

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one of the chemicals found in ergot.

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Hoffman looks at the chemical structure

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and realizes that by adding a specific chemical group

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to lysergic acid, he can create a molecule

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that has very similar structure to a drug used

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as a circulatory and respiratory stimulant.

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In 1938, he produces this analogous derivative,

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it's a 25th compound in the series,

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lysergic acid diethylamide, abbreviated to LSD-25.

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Hofmann tests LSD-25 on a group of rats,

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but it's not as effective

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as existing respiratory stimulants.

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He looks like a failure.

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The test does note that the rats

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become restless during the trial, but that's it,

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the drug is apparently useless and is shelved.

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(explosion thunders)

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April 16th, 1943,

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World War II rages throughout Europe,

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everywhere, except good old neutral Switzerland, that is.

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Where Hofmann is still busy working away with lysergic acid.

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Hofmann has this nagging feeling about LSD-25,

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like there's something more to it

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that's worth taking another look.

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(liquid burbling)

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Hofmann creates a new LSD-25.

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He's going through the last few steps of the process

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when he starts to feel a little bit funny.

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(feelgood music)

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(air whooshing)

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He starts to feel kinda restless and dizzy.

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He says he experienced an extremely stimulated imagination

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and that he perceived an uninterrupted stream

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of fantastic pictures, extraordinary shapes

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with intense kaleidoscopic play of colors.

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Hofmann is basically having the world's first LSD trip.

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And what do you do if you accidentally absorb

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a chemical that makes you hallucinate?

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Well, if you're Hofmann, you take it again, of course.

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For science, you understand.

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(tranquil rock music)

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Hofmann figures a dose or a 1/4 of a milligram

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should be safe.

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A milligram is 1/1000 of a gram.

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So this is like a tiny fraction of a grain of salt.

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Within 40 minutes, Hofmann records

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his first observations.

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(tranquil rock music continues)

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Hoffman wrote down in his lab book

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that he experienced visual distortions,

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symptoms of paralysis, a desire to laugh.

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He really was struggling to physically write the last words.

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He says to his assistant, "I'm going home,

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I can't handle this."

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Now, ordinarily, you'd think he'd be bundled

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into a car and driven back by his assistant,

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but he doesn't do that.

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Instead, he attempts to cycle back home.

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So Hofmann is riding his bicycle

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and the world around him is distorting like a curved mirror.

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He has this sensation that he's not moving,

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but his lab assistant said that they

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were going really, really fast.

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Hoffman makes it to his bed,

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where he slips deeper and deeper into his mind.

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This sounds insane, but everyday objects,

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like furniture, are transforming

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into these grotesque creatures.

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His next door neighbor comes over to check in on him

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and they take the form of a malevolent witch wearing

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a colored mask.

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So Hofmann has what I think we can call a bad trip.

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He's really beginning to believe

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that he's gone completely mad, and he can see why.

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Eventually, the hallucinations wear off,

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and Hofmann feels better than ever.

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What's really odd is that Hoffman doesn't experience

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any kind of come down or hangover,

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and he even says that he's experiencing the world

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with a new kind of clarity.

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Hofmann is left with no doubt LSD

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is a powerful psychoactive drug.

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The applications in neurology and especially psychiatry,

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it could be huge.

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Before they can do anything else,

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they tested on a menagerie of animal subjects.

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To bring about any noticeable changes in behavior,

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they have to give relatively high doses.

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So, mice lick themselves differently.

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Cats space out and get frightened of mice.

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In a chimpanzee community, the group freaks out

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because the test subject doesn't adhere

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to the social hierarchy.

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Hofmann and the team approve LSD

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for human trials, and begin distributing the drug

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to medical practitioners for further tests.

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Hofmann is convinced that it can help

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with psychological disorders.

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So he encourages psychiatrists to try LSD themselves,

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because he believes it can offer a window

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into the mind of someone suffering psychosis.

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News of LSD's transformative property

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soon spreads, eventually finding its way

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to the US government.

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(upbeat suspenseful music)

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The US military wants to know if LSD can be weaponized,

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they start by dosing regular soldier.

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Two hours later, the squad that took LSD,

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the results were chaotic.

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Ordered to leave the field, he refused to go.

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Then the CIA gets in on the act.

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Spies, you know of that?

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Only, we call them agents.

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Then they see, in LSD,

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a potential mind controlling substance,

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and they start conducting experiments

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under the code name MK-Ultra

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(upbeat suspenseful music)

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Beginning in 1953,

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MK-Ultra is conducted in secret,

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using a combination of CIA-funded academic studies

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and some seriously dodgy practices.

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They secretly administer the drug

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to unsuspecting people on the street

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and monitor the results.

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And the CIA is basically dosing medical staff,

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prisoners, you name it, in order to find out

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whether LSD has mind controlling properties.

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San Francisco, the cosmopolitan city,

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truly the city of many wonders.

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At a California psychiatric hospital,

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a young writer called Ken Kesey

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is volunteering as a guinea pig on an MK-Ultra project.

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The experience has a profound effect on him.

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Ken Kesey is determined to get the word out about LSD

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and its mind-altering properties.

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He hires the Grateful Dead to play the Acid Tests,

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a series of parties where they play trippy music

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and hand round LSD like its candy.

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At about the same time,

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Harvard psychologist, Timothy Leary,

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is also investigating psychedelic drugs.

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Professor Leary is doing controversial experiments

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with another fungus-derived psychedelic

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that's called psilocybin.

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Harvard's not very impressed when they discover

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that professor Leary is also taking the drugs himself,

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and he's also administering them

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to students outside of the experiment.

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Leary is fired from Harvard in 1963,

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but that doesn't stop him experimenting with psychedelics.

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If anything, it spurs him on,

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and he becomes more and more vocal

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about the benefits of psychedelics.

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We are now, whether we like it or not,

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in the psychochemical age.

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And he's remembered for the phrase that he comes up with,

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that becomes a kind of a chant of the '60s.

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Turn on, tune in, drop out.

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(tranquil music)

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The CIA has unwittingly help propel LSD

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from a laboratory curiosity

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to the epicenter of counterculture.

268
00:12:37,830 --> 00:12:40,230
This is the now generation,

269
00:12:40,230 --> 00:12:43,420
they feel disenchanted with the world around them,

270
00:12:43,420 --> 00:12:44,900
while they may, for the most part,

271
00:12:44,900 --> 00:12:47,490
be outside the mainstream of American life.

272
00:12:48,990 --> 00:12:51,920
Plenty of iconic bands have admitted

273
00:12:51,920 --> 00:12:55,290
to the use of LSD, and these include Pink Floyd,

274
00:12:55,290 --> 00:12:57,730
Rolling Stones, and of course the legendary,

275
00:12:57,730 --> 00:12:59,320
and late, Jimmy Hendricks.

276
00:12:59,320 --> 00:13:02,980
And it really expanded their musical horizons.

277
00:13:05,110 --> 00:13:07,800
Paul, how often have you taken LSD?

278
00:13:07,800 --> 00:13:10,110
About four times.

279
00:13:10,110 --> 00:13:11,810
Don't you believe that this was a matter

280
00:13:11,810 --> 00:13:14,220
which you should have kept private?

281
00:13:14,220 --> 00:13:15,290
You know, I'm quite prepared to keep it

282
00:13:15,290 --> 00:13:19,320
as a very personal thing, if you will too.

283
00:13:19,320 --> 00:13:21,560
If you'll shut up about it, I will.

284
00:13:21,560 --> 00:13:25,000
A wave of LSD washes over American society

285
00:13:25,000 --> 00:13:27,830
at a critical time in US history.

286
00:13:27,830 --> 00:13:30,660
There's growing unrest about the Vietnam War,

287
00:13:30,660 --> 00:13:33,820
the civil rights movement is gaining momentum,

288
00:13:33,820 --> 00:13:35,900
and people are starting to realize

289
00:13:35,900 --> 00:13:37,930
what's really important to them.

290
00:13:37,930 --> 00:13:41,980
We are everywhere! We are everywhere!

291
00:13:41,980 --> 00:13:45,060
It seems that it's actually unbrainwashing people

292
00:13:45,060 --> 00:13:47,150
from any government messaging.

293
00:13:47,150 --> 00:13:49,560
Just as ergot induces labor,

294
00:13:49,560 --> 00:13:52,880
LSD speeds up the birth of the counterculture.

295
00:13:52,880 --> 00:13:55,280
It's an anti-establishment movement,

296
00:13:55,280 --> 00:13:57,440
and as you can imagine, the government,

297
00:13:57,440 --> 00:13:58,720
they don't like it very much.

298
00:13:58,720 --> 00:14:02,190
(upbeat rock music)

299
00:14:02,190 --> 00:14:03,920
We must wage, what I have called,

300
00:14:03,920 --> 00:14:06,980
total war against public enemy number one

301
00:14:06,980 --> 00:14:10,020
in the United States, the problem of dangerous drugs.

302
00:14:10,020 --> 00:14:12,730
The US government thought it could weaponize LSD,

303
00:14:12,730 --> 00:14:15,600
but instead, it blew up in their face.

304
00:14:15,600 --> 00:14:18,820
Obviously, now, they wanna put it back in the box.

305
00:14:18,820 --> 00:14:21,650
A blanket ban on LSD across America

306
00:14:21,650 --> 00:14:23,810
goes into effect in 1970.

307
00:14:24,680 --> 00:14:27,790
The US successfully encourages the United Nations

308
00:14:27,790 --> 00:14:29,110
to follow suit.

309
00:14:29,110 --> 00:14:31,250
It's a bitter blow for scientists,

310
00:14:31,250 --> 00:14:33,140
because it becomes next to impossible

311
00:14:33,140 --> 00:14:35,600
to get LSD for research purposes.

312
00:14:35,600 --> 00:14:38,780
This research could lead to life-changing therapies,

313
00:14:38,780 --> 00:14:40,360
but it just fizzles out.

314
00:14:40,360 --> 00:14:41,970
Some have used these drugs

315
00:14:41,970 --> 00:14:45,770
to journey into the uncharted tunnels of the mind.

316
00:14:45,770 --> 00:14:48,870
For four decades, LSD remained in the shadows

317
00:14:48,870 --> 00:14:52,120
of illicit recreational use and fringe studies.

318
00:14:53,500 --> 00:14:56,210
But the man can't keep a good thing down forever.

319
00:14:58,430 --> 00:15:01,770
In 2016, researchers at Imperial College, London,

320
00:15:01,770 --> 00:15:04,210
published the first scans of a brain on LSD.

321
00:15:05,320 --> 00:15:07,710
This is a groundbreaking moment,

322
00:15:07,710 --> 00:15:09,580
using cutting edge technology

323
00:15:09,580 --> 00:15:13,630
to finally see exactly how LSD works.

324
00:15:13,630 --> 00:15:17,050
In the control subjects, all of the activity remains

325
00:15:17,050 --> 00:15:19,960
in the back of the brain, near the visual cortex.

326
00:15:19,960 --> 00:15:24,690
However, on LSD, this activity spreads throughout the brain.

327
00:15:24,690 --> 00:15:28,340
Every part of the brain is firing and contributing

328
00:15:28,340 --> 00:15:32,110
to these incredibly vivid, wild images.

329
00:15:32,110 --> 00:15:34,220
And the hope is that LSD can be developed

330
00:15:34,220 --> 00:15:36,080
to treat psychological disorders

331
00:15:36,080 --> 00:15:38,900
like depression and anxiety.

332
00:15:38,900 --> 00:15:41,930
There's no doubt that Hofmann and his unplanned trip

333
00:15:41,930 --> 00:15:45,650
on LSD changed the world in profound ways.

334
00:15:46,530 --> 00:15:47,780
And I'm sure he'd be happy to know

335
00:15:47,780 --> 00:15:50,620
that the research into LSD continues.

336
00:15:50,620 --> 00:15:53,280
(playful music)

337
00:15:55,000 --> 00:15:57,350
Coming up, how a failed yellow dye

338
00:15:57,350 --> 00:15:59,700
explodes in popularity.

339
00:15:59,700 --> 00:16:00,930
Here we go.

340
00:16:00,930 --> 00:16:01,760
Literally.

341
00:16:01,760 --> 00:16:02,590
(explosion thunders)

342
00:16:02,590 --> 00:16:04,420
And, when cutting edge science

343
00:16:04,420 --> 00:16:06,780
meant keeping a fridge full of pee.

344
00:16:06,780 --> 00:16:08,570
Now this is something you don't wanna mix up

345
00:16:08,570 --> 00:16:09,800
with your apple juice.

346
00:16:09,800 --> 00:16:13,190
But first, you do know your nuts, don't you?

347
00:16:13,190 --> 00:16:15,770
(wind howling)

348
00:16:17,040 --> 00:16:18,860
April 25th, 1988.

349
00:16:21,740 --> 00:16:24,930
A team of nine Soviet and four Canadian skiers

350
00:16:24,930 --> 00:16:26,230
approach the North Pole.

351
00:16:27,240 --> 00:16:28,680
They are traveling from Siberia

352
00:16:28,680 --> 00:16:33,000
to Canada via the north pole, carrying 110-pound bags

353
00:16:33,000 --> 00:16:34,130
the whole way.

354
00:16:34,130 --> 00:16:37,230
It is an incredibly tough journey.

355
00:16:37,230 --> 00:16:41,040
And it's cold, like, really, really cold.

356
00:16:41,040 --> 00:16:44,910
On these expeditions, you really need over three times

357
00:16:44,910 --> 00:16:46,690
your normal caloric intake.

358
00:16:46,690 --> 00:16:50,360
You're burning so much fat just to stay warm,

359
00:16:50,360 --> 00:16:51,660
you need to pig out.

360
00:16:51,660 --> 00:16:54,010
With the risks involved, you really gotta be a little

361
00:16:54,010 --> 00:16:57,000
bit nuts to trek all the way to the pole.

362
00:16:57,000 --> 00:16:58,860
Funny you should say that.

363
00:16:58,860 --> 00:17:01,020
As it turns out, in the Arctic,

364
00:17:01,020 --> 00:17:03,750
your best friends are nuts, if you see what I mean.

365
00:17:05,080 --> 00:17:07,170
So the Canadians are jumping on three ounces

366
00:17:07,170 --> 00:17:08,190
of peanut butter a day.

367
00:17:08,190 --> 00:17:10,880
They say it taste great, it's full of energy

368
00:17:10,880 --> 00:17:12,450
and fat as well.

369
00:17:12,450 --> 00:17:14,510
But the Canadians preferred fuel

370
00:17:14,510 --> 00:17:17,830
is completely new to their Soviet counterparts.

371
00:17:17,830 --> 00:17:20,570
At first, the Soviets are quite suspicious

372
00:17:20,570 --> 00:17:23,780
of this substance, but they take it with vigor.

373
00:17:23,780 --> 00:17:25,830
Oh, come on, Natasha,

374
00:17:25,830 --> 00:17:28,320
everyone knows you have it with jelly, not vigor.

375
00:17:28,320 --> 00:17:31,380
(dog whining)
(dramatic music)

376
00:17:31,380 --> 00:17:33,430
The good thing is, in that Arctic temperatures,

377
00:17:33,430 --> 00:17:35,290
it doesn't stick to the roof of your mouth,

378
00:17:35,290 --> 00:17:37,940
it's so cold that the viscosity of it changes.

379
00:17:40,240 --> 00:17:42,310
(bright music)

380
00:17:42,310 --> 00:17:44,170
We're all familiar with peanut butter

381
00:17:44,170 --> 00:17:47,260
as a beloved national food, spread on sandwiches

382
00:17:47,260 --> 00:17:49,070
from California to New York.

383
00:17:51,160 --> 00:17:53,910
It's kinda hard to imagine a world without it.

384
00:17:53,910 --> 00:17:56,150
But a world without it, there was.

385
00:17:56,150 --> 00:17:58,470
Peanut butter's rise to fame comes down

386
00:17:58,470 --> 00:18:01,860
to the unlikely story of a legendary scientist,

387
00:18:01,860 --> 00:18:05,970
the world's weirdest recipe book, and a huge world fair.

388
00:18:07,480 --> 00:18:09,190
I hope there's a nutty professor.

389
00:18:09,190 --> 00:18:10,910
There's a nutty professor, right?

390
00:18:10,910 --> 00:18:12,590
Well, after a fashion.

391
00:18:12,590 --> 00:18:13,990
(air whooshes)
(bright music)

392
00:18:13,990 --> 00:18:16,930
The story starts in the late 1870s.

393
00:18:18,430 --> 00:18:20,480
Cotton production in the south has recovered

394
00:18:20,480 --> 00:18:23,730
to pre-war levels, which is a great achievement.

395
00:18:26,640 --> 00:18:30,100
But it's not quite as good as it sounds.

396
00:18:30,100 --> 00:18:32,000
Flooding the market with cotton only serves

397
00:18:32,000 --> 00:18:33,510
to depress the price,

398
00:18:33,510 --> 00:18:36,630
putting more financial pressure on farmers.

399
00:18:36,630 --> 00:18:38,170
And if that's not enough,

400
00:18:38,170 --> 00:18:41,300
the intensive farming of this single crop

401
00:18:41,300 --> 00:18:43,050
is about to wreak havoc.

402
00:18:43,050 --> 00:18:44,940
(concerned music)

403
00:18:44,940 --> 00:18:47,940
The big problem with repeatedly growing cotton

404
00:18:47,940 --> 00:18:50,670
is that it takes a terrible toll on the soil.

405
00:18:53,100 --> 00:18:55,590
It pulls out a nutrients, and farmers now have

406
00:18:55,590 --> 00:18:59,280
to spend their precious cash to put them back in.

407
00:18:59,280 --> 00:19:01,410
And another problem, if you're only growing

408
00:19:01,410 --> 00:19:04,040
one type of crop, is disease.

409
00:19:06,190 --> 00:19:08,760
In the early 1900s, the boll weevil,

410
00:19:08,760 --> 00:19:10,540
a beetle that feeds on cotton,

411
00:19:10,540 --> 00:19:13,260
migrates north, through the US, from Mexico.

412
00:19:15,270 --> 00:19:17,680
It's really tiny, it's less than 1/4 of an inch,

413
00:19:17,680 --> 00:19:19,960
but the damage is massive.

414
00:19:22,210 --> 00:19:25,380
Boll weevil is devastating for southern farmers,

415
00:19:25,380 --> 00:19:28,430
and the cotton crop drops by 50%.

416
00:19:28,430 --> 00:19:32,140
American cotton production is faltering pretty badly.

417
00:19:34,510 --> 00:19:35,480
(exalted trumpeting)

418
00:19:35,480 --> 00:19:38,350
Enter, one George Washington Carver,

419
00:19:38,350 --> 00:19:41,150
an agricultural scientist who's climbed his way up

420
00:19:41,150 --> 00:19:42,250
from the bottom of the heap.

421
00:19:42,250 --> 00:19:44,650
(downbeat music)

422
00:19:44,650 --> 00:19:47,900
Carver's backstory is pretty incredible.

423
00:19:47,900 --> 00:19:49,940
He's born in Newton County, Missouri,

424
00:19:49,940 --> 00:19:51,930
towards the end of the Civil War.

425
00:19:52,800 --> 00:19:56,040
His parents are enslaved by plantation farmers.

426
00:19:56,040 --> 00:19:59,730
(downbeat music continues)

427
00:19:59,730 --> 00:20:01,820
His father is killed in a farming accident

428
00:20:01,820 --> 00:20:02,940
before he's born.

429
00:20:03,970 --> 00:20:06,790
Then, he and his mother are kidnapped

430
00:20:06,790 --> 00:20:09,200
by marauding bushwhackers,

431
00:20:09,200 --> 00:20:13,430
but a search party is only able to recover young George.

432
00:20:13,430 --> 00:20:15,290
Carver is fostered by a couple

433
00:20:15,290 --> 00:20:18,330
who encourage his thirst for knowledge.

434
00:20:18,330 --> 00:20:20,430
But getting the education he craves

435
00:20:20,430 --> 00:20:22,450
is a battle against segregation.

436
00:20:22,450 --> 00:20:25,640
(bright music)

437
00:20:25,640 --> 00:20:27,730
George was the first black student

438
00:20:27,730 --> 00:20:29,590
at Iowa State University.

439
00:20:29,590 --> 00:20:34,100
He was born into slavery and now he's in higher education.

440
00:20:36,350 --> 00:20:38,890
Being the only black student, at that time,

441
00:20:38,890 --> 00:20:40,910
must've been extremely tough.

442
00:20:40,910 --> 00:20:43,450
But the fact that he was able to not just survive,

443
00:20:43,450 --> 00:20:46,910
but do so well, shows a lot about the kind

444
00:20:46,910 --> 00:20:48,480
of character that he had.

445
00:20:50,610 --> 00:20:51,970
George's determination

446
00:20:51,970 --> 00:20:53,960
and genius shine through.

447
00:20:53,960 --> 00:20:57,660
And on gaining his masters in agriculture, in 1896,

448
00:20:57,660 --> 00:20:58,760
he's in demand.

449
00:20:59,730 --> 00:21:00,850
Carver gets an offer

450
00:21:00,850 --> 00:21:04,390
from African American educator, Booker T. Washington.

451
00:21:04,390 --> 00:21:06,990
He set up a new agricultural school

452
00:21:06,990 --> 00:21:09,460
at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama,

453
00:21:09,460 --> 00:21:11,840
and wants it to be run by black academics.

454
00:21:15,560 --> 00:21:17,870
Carver seizes the opportunity.

455
00:21:17,870 --> 00:21:19,720
Remember those cotton sharecroppers,

456
00:21:19,720 --> 00:21:21,840
plagued by pests and poor soil?

457
00:21:21,840 --> 00:21:23,530
(determined music)

458
00:21:23,530 --> 00:21:26,200
He wants to use the 10-acre site at Tuskegee

459
00:21:26,200 --> 00:21:28,870
to try and solve these problems.

460
00:21:28,870 --> 00:21:31,560
At this time, fertilizers were just too expensive,

461
00:21:31,560 --> 00:21:34,360
and Carver wanted to find a more cost-effective way

462
00:21:34,360 --> 00:21:35,870
of improving the soil.

463
00:21:35,870 --> 00:21:38,280
So he investigated rotating the crop.

464
00:21:38,280 --> 00:21:41,340
So basically, switching from a soil-depleting crop,

465
00:21:41,340 --> 00:21:44,510
like cotton, to a soil-enriching legume crop,

466
00:21:44,510 --> 00:21:46,360
like peas and beans.

467
00:21:46,360 --> 00:21:49,490
(determined music continues)

468
00:21:49,490 --> 00:21:51,640
Legumes are nitrogen-fixing plants.

469
00:21:51,640 --> 00:21:54,320
They bring nitrogen compounds into the soil.

470
00:21:54,320 --> 00:21:57,170
Nitrogen is a critical nutrient for both plant,

471
00:21:57,170 --> 00:21:59,350
and therefore, cotton growth.

472
00:21:59,350 --> 00:22:00,670
(curious music)

473
00:22:00,670 --> 00:22:02,220
Carver sets about searching

474
00:22:02,220 --> 00:22:04,450
for the ultimate nitrogen-fixing legume.

475
00:22:05,760 --> 00:22:09,590
Beans have fewer than 100 nitrogen-fixing nodules

476
00:22:09,590 --> 00:22:12,580
on their roots, soya beans will have several hundred.

477
00:22:12,580 --> 00:22:16,400
But there's one plant that produces over 1000 nodules.

478
00:22:16,400 --> 00:22:18,340
(playful music)
(air whooshing)

479
00:22:18,340 --> 00:22:19,460
The peanuts.

480
00:22:19,460 --> 00:22:21,710
They can introduce several hundred pounds

481
00:22:21,710 --> 00:22:26,070
of nitrogen, in an acre of land, per season.

482
00:22:26,070 --> 00:22:31,000
But peanuts are a nut, not a bean, right?

483
00:22:31,000 --> 00:22:32,070
Wrong!

484
00:22:32,070 --> 00:22:33,290
(upbeat country music)

485
00:22:33,290 --> 00:22:36,420
Peanuts are actually more pea than nut.

486
00:22:36,420 --> 00:22:38,920
Although they may look and taste like a nut,

487
00:22:38,920 --> 00:22:41,660
they're actually legumes, with the unique distinction

488
00:22:41,660 --> 00:22:44,340
that their pods grow underground.

489
00:22:44,340 --> 00:22:46,080
Peanuts grow underground?

490
00:22:46,080 --> 00:22:47,970
Yep, they sure do.

491
00:22:47,970 --> 00:22:50,680
In fact, they're also known as the groundnut.

492
00:22:51,640 --> 00:22:55,260
Carver proves that by rotating peanuts and cotton

493
00:22:55,260 --> 00:22:56,670
you improve the health of the soil

494
00:22:56,670 --> 00:23:00,690
and you also increase the yield of cotton produced overall.

495
00:23:00,690 --> 00:23:01,670
To get the word out,

496
00:23:01,670 --> 00:23:04,020
Carver goes on tour in a horse-drawn wagon

497
00:23:04,020 --> 00:23:06,110
with all the mod cons.

498
00:23:06,110 --> 00:23:09,490
Farming supplies, lecturing materials,

499
00:23:09,490 --> 00:23:10,780
that sort of thing.

500
00:23:10,780 --> 00:23:13,220
This traveling school is really instrumental

501
00:23:13,220 --> 00:23:17,400
in breaking this continuous cycle of cotton crop planting,

502
00:23:17,400 --> 00:23:19,640
and showing farmers that there's another way

503
00:23:19,640 --> 00:23:21,140
to improve the soil.

504
00:23:21,140 --> 00:23:23,680
But Carver and the wagon success,

505
00:23:23,680 --> 00:23:25,350
highlights a major flaw.

506
00:23:26,680 --> 00:23:29,410
The peanut crop is improving the health of the soil,

507
00:23:29,410 --> 00:23:31,370
but the farmers don't exactly know what to do

508
00:23:31,370 --> 00:23:34,250
with all of these peanuts that they have grown.

509
00:23:34,250 --> 00:23:35,860
It seems the crop itself

510
00:23:35,860 --> 00:23:38,870
is worth, well, peanuts.

511
00:23:38,870 --> 00:23:42,490
In terms of economics, the supply outstrips the demand.

512
00:23:42,490 --> 00:23:46,400
People don't see peanuts as an attractive product to buy.

513
00:23:46,400 --> 00:23:49,660
You end up with barns full of peanuts going moldy,

514
00:23:49,660 --> 00:23:50,980
and frustrated farmers.

515
00:23:50,980 --> 00:23:52,690
(determined rock music)

516
00:23:52,690 --> 00:23:54,290
Carver does what he does best,

517
00:23:54,290 --> 00:23:56,350
and sets to work on the problem.

518
00:23:56,350 --> 00:23:58,580
So Carver gets busy in his laboratory trying

519
00:23:58,580 --> 00:24:01,790
to figure out different ways to commercialize peanuts.

520
00:24:01,790 --> 00:24:03,560
Now, he doesn't come up with just one

521
00:24:03,560 --> 00:24:06,390
or two or three products, no,

522
00:24:06,390 --> 00:24:09,640
he comes up with over 300 products.

523
00:24:10,990 --> 00:24:13,400
The list is as varied as it is long.

524
00:24:13,400 --> 00:24:16,520
Peanut coffee, mock chicken, cheese, tutti-frutti,

525
00:24:16,520 --> 00:24:18,860
shaving foam, axle grease, paper, glue,

526
00:24:18,860 --> 00:24:20,790
the list goes on and on.

527
00:24:22,290 --> 00:24:25,560
In 1916, he publishes a bulletin for farmers called,

528
00:24:25,560 --> 00:24:29,210
"How to Grow the Peanuts: And 105 Ways of Preparing It

529
00:24:29,210 --> 00:24:31,250
for Human Consumption."

530
00:24:31,250 --> 00:24:33,630
Carver's timing is impeccable.

531
00:24:33,630 --> 00:24:36,100
The bulletin helps solidify the humble peanut

532
00:24:36,100 --> 00:24:38,010
as a useful cash crop.

533
00:24:38,010 --> 00:24:40,100
By 1917, the farmers have produced

534
00:24:40,100 --> 00:24:42,420
over a million bushels of peanuts,

535
00:24:42,420 --> 00:24:46,400
raking in over $5 million worth,

536
00:24:46,400 --> 00:24:48,790
in today's money, over a $100 million.

537
00:24:50,120 --> 00:24:51,900
(air whooshing)
(determined rock music)

538
00:24:51,900 --> 00:24:54,310
Carver set out to save cotton,

539
00:24:54,310 --> 00:24:56,470
but in doing so, he accidentally creates

540
00:24:56,470 --> 00:24:59,000
a whole new southern farming industry.

541
00:24:59,910 --> 00:25:02,380
And the peanut is here to stay.

542
00:25:02,380 --> 00:25:05,450
But there's one thing that Carver didn't think of.

543
00:25:05,450 --> 00:25:06,490
Peanut butter.

544
00:25:06,490 --> 00:25:10,330
(film reel whirring)
(elated music)

545
00:25:10,330 --> 00:25:12,870
Ladies and gentlemen, step right up,

546
00:25:12,870 --> 00:25:16,500
it's the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair,

547
00:25:16,500 --> 00:25:18,900
featuring the latest and greatest products

548
00:25:18,900 --> 00:25:21,980
and innovations from around the globe.

549
00:25:21,980 --> 00:25:25,170
(elated music continues)

550
00:25:25,170 --> 00:25:27,520
It's the biggest world fair of its time,

551
00:25:27,520 --> 00:25:30,500
and it is an absolute spectacle.

552
00:25:30,500 --> 00:25:33,040
Most rural people haven't been to a big,

553
00:25:33,040 --> 00:25:35,890
busy city like St. Louis, let alone experience

554
00:25:35,890 --> 00:25:38,960
the culture of all of these other countries.

555
00:25:38,960 --> 00:25:41,680
Food is a major part of the display.

556
00:25:41,680 --> 00:25:44,410
The ice-cream cone, burgers, and Dr. Pepper

557
00:25:44,410 --> 00:25:47,730
are launched into the public eye at this fair.

558
00:25:47,730 --> 00:25:50,190
In the middle of it all, C.H. Summer,

559
00:25:50,190 --> 00:25:52,060
who's got a concession stand selling

560
00:25:52,060 --> 00:25:53,850
his own type of peanut butter.

561
00:25:53,850 --> 00:25:56,410
To say it's popular is an understatement.

562
00:25:56,410 --> 00:26:00,960
He sells $705.11 worth.

563
00:26:00,960 --> 00:26:04,210
That's over $20,000 in today's money.

564
00:26:04,210 --> 00:26:06,620
(feelgood music)

565
00:26:06,620 --> 00:26:10,600
Today, 13 states produce over 6 billion pounds

566
00:26:10,600 --> 00:26:12,020
of peanuts a year.

567
00:26:12,020 --> 00:26:16,430
Over 50% of this crop is then turned into peanut butter.

568
00:26:16,430 --> 00:26:18,820
Peanut butter is so popular in America

569
00:26:18,820 --> 00:26:23,240
that the average person consumes around seven pounds a year.

570
00:26:23,240 --> 00:26:25,040
And why do Americans consume

571
00:26:25,040 --> 00:26:26,810
so much peanut butter?

572
00:26:26,810 --> 00:26:28,460
The PB and J.

573
00:26:28,460 --> 00:26:31,050
(gentle music)

574
00:26:33,340 --> 00:26:35,040
(elegant music)

575
00:26:35,040 --> 00:26:39,000
World War II, Grapelade and peanut butter

576
00:26:39,000 --> 00:26:41,120
are on the US army ration list,

577
00:26:41,120 --> 00:26:43,500
and American soldiers quickly figured out

578
00:26:43,500 --> 00:26:46,390
that the Holy Trinity of sliced bread, jelly

579
00:26:46,390 --> 00:26:49,590
and peanut butter is a dish sent from one high.

580
00:26:51,300 --> 00:26:53,620
After the war is over, American soldiers bring back

581
00:26:53,620 --> 00:26:55,420
this revelatory new snack,

582
00:26:55,420 --> 00:26:57,700
and sales a peanut butter skyrocket.

583
00:26:57,700 --> 00:27:00,460
If you like peanuts, you'll like Skippy.

584
00:27:01,310 --> 00:27:02,940
Skippy peanut butter.

585
00:27:02,940 --> 00:27:07,280
Today, the average American eats around 1500 peanut butter

586
00:27:07,280 --> 00:27:09,940
and jelly sandwiches before they even graduate

587
00:27:09,940 --> 00:27:10,880
from high school.

588
00:27:10,880 --> 00:27:13,090
(elegant music continues)
(equations blipping)

589
00:27:13,090 --> 00:27:14,320
Yeah, that kinda checks out.

590
00:27:14,320 --> 00:27:16,250
But peanut butter is more

591
00:27:16,250 --> 00:27:18,810
than just a go-to snack for hungry students.

592
00:27:18,810 --> 00:27:20,290
(bright music)

593
00:27:20,290 --> 00:27:23,750
In 2004, doctors tested a new therapeutic food based

594
00:27:23,750 --> 00:27:25,530
on peanut butter in Niger.

595
00:27:25,530 --> 00:27:28,220
A third of children with malnutrition were dying,

596
00:27:28,220 --> 00:27:32,000
but after eating the paste, the death rate dropped to 5%.

597
00:27:32,000 --> 00:27:34,670
(bright music continues)

598
00:27:34,670 --> 00:27:36,410
Today it's used across the globe's,

599
00:27:36,410 --> 00:27:38,720
it's probably saving millions of lives.

600
00:27:40,690 --> 00:27:42,670
(anxious music)

601
00:27:42,670 --> 00:27:44,620
Carver could never have predicted

602
00:27:44,620 --> 00:27:46,820
his efforts to save the cotton industry

603
00:27:46,820 --> 00:27:49,610
would've had such a profound impact on the world

604
00:27:49,610 --> 00:27:50,890
long after his death.

605
00:27:53,560 --> 00:27:55,560
Albert Einstein considered Carver one

606
00:27:55,560 --> 00:27:58,290
of the 10 greatest scientist of his time.

607
00:27:58,290 --> 00:28:00,380
Martin Luther King honors Carver

608
00:28:00,380 --> 00:28:03,280
by saying, "What an incredible example he is,

609
00:28:03,280 --> 00:28:05,230
raising himself from such paralyzing

610
00:28:05,230 --> 00:28:07,110
conditions of circumstance."

611
00:28:08,110 --> 00:28:10,620
Carver receives many honors.

612
00:28:10,620 --> 00:28:13,520
President Roosevelt gives him his own national monument,

613
00:28:13,520 --> 00:28:16,090
which is a first for an African American.

614
00:28:16,090 --> 00:28:18,870
He's inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame

615
00:28:18,870 --> 00:28:22,370
and of the US Department of Agriculture's Hall of Heroes.

616
00:28:22,370 --> 00:28:24,970
Carver is a true American icon.

617
00:28:24,970 --> 00:28:27,640
(intense music)

618
00:28:29,290 --> 00:28:31,960
(playful music)

619
00:28:33,810 --> 00:28:34,990
Still to come,

620
00:28:34,990 --> 00:28:37,860
we look at what happens when the mentally unstable

621
00:28:37,860 --> 00:28:39,750
meet the morally questionable.

622
00:28:39,750 --> 00:28:41,180
The guinea pig snuffed it.

623
00:28:42,070 --> 00:28:44,740
But first, an altogether less treatable

624
00:28:44,740 --> 00:28:46,680
form of crazy.

625
00:28:46,680 --> 00:28:49,370
(concerned music)

626
00:28:49,370 --> 00:28:50,620
March 1st, 1954, on an island paradise in the Mid-Pacific.

627
00:28:54,990 --> 00:28:55,960
(explosion thunders)

628
00:28:55,960 --> 00:28:56,790
Zero seconds,

629
00:28:56,790 --> 00:28:58,940
and the unbelievable explosion detonated.

630
00:29:00,070 --> 00:29:02,580
The Castle Bravo hydrogen bomb

631
00:29:02,580 --> 00:29:04,690
obliterates Bikini Atoll.

632
00:29:04,690 --> 00:29:06,670
The shock wave visibly roared across

633
00:29:06,670 --> 00:29:08,790
the ocean and hit the camera ship miles away

634
00:29:08,790 --> 00:29:10,440
from ground point zero.

635
00:29:10,440 --> 00:29:13,020
(solemn music)

636
00:29:18,320 --> 00:29:21,220
It's just mesmerizing, isn't it?

637
00:29:21,220 --> 00:29:24,100
It's just so much power on display.

638
00:29:25,020 --> 00:29:27,980
The radiation is what sets the trees on fire,

639
00:29:27,980 --> 00:29:29,340
just the radiation.

640
00:29:30,750 --> 00:29:33,420
(air whooshing)

641
00:29:37,480 --> 00:29:40,290
Within one second it forms a fireball

642
00:29:40,290 --> 00:29:42,560
over four miles wide.

643
00:29:42,560 --> 00:29:47,110
The mushroom cloud reaches 130,000 feet high,

644
00:29:47,110 --> 00:29:49,670
touching the edge of the Earth's atmosphere.

645
00:29:49,670 --> 00:29:53,170
It's the largest bomb that the US has ever detonated,

646
00:29:53,170 --> 00:29:55,810
and it was 1000 times greater than the one

647
00:29:55,810 --> 00:29:57,030
that went off at Hiroshima.

648
00:29:57,030 --> 00:29:59,520
The 1954 H-bomb detonation

649
00:29:59,520 --> 00:30:01,240
was another grim reminder to the world

650
00:30:01,240 --> 00:30:02,800
of the horror that an atomic war

651
00:30:02,800 --> 00:30:04,200
might bring to civilization.

652
00:30:04,200 --> 00:30:06,470
It would be a long time before the area of the test

653
00:30:06,470 --> 00:30:08,150
could be called safe enough for any kind

654
00:30:08,150 --> 00:30:09,450
of life to resume there.

655
00:30:09,450 --> 00:30:11,420
The earth have received its warning.

656
00:30:13,480 --> 00:30:15,190
At the heart of these mega weapons

657
00:30:15,190 --> 00:30:18,840
is a detonator that uses a conventional explosive,

658
00:30:18,840 --> 00:30:23,690
accidentally created over 150 years ago, trinitrotoluene.

659
00:30:25,280 --> 00:30:27,090
Aka TNT.

660
00:30:27,090 --> 00:30:28,890
(suspenseful music)

661
00:30:28,890 --> 00:30:31,970
(explosion thunders)

662
00:30:33,150 --> 00:30:35,570
To find out how TNT got inside

663
00:30:35,570 --> 00:30:37,560
the world's most powerful weapon,

664
00:30:37,560 --> 00:30:40,750
we've got to wind the clock back to 1863.

665
00:30:41,810 --> 00:30:44,390
(bright music)

666
00:30:45,250 --> 00:30:49,400
This is the University of Gottingen, central Germany.

667
00:30:49,400 --> 00:30:52,530
It's a scientific powerhouse in a country renowned

668
00:30:52,530 --> 00:30:53,950
for its organic chemistry.

669
00:30:54,860 --> 00:30:57,570
A lot of focus is the input on coal tar,

670
00:30:57,570 --> 00:31:02,310
a dark syrup by-product of making a fuel called coke.

671
00:31:02,310 --> 00:31:05,920
It's a complex mixture of organic molecules,

672
00:31:05,920 --> 00:31:08,740
and German chemists are experts at using

673
00:31:08,740 --> 00:31:11,810
these molecules to produce synthetic dyes.

674
00:31:13,370 --> 00:31:15,090
It's a dye that a young chemist

675
00:31:15,090 --> 00:31:17,230
called Julius Wilbrand is looking for

676
00:31:17,230 --> 00:31:20,300
when he mixes a component of coal tar, called toluene,

677
00:31:20,300 --> 00:31:22,950
into a mixture of sulfuric and nitric acid.

678
00:31:22,950 --> 00:31:26,680
(clock ticking)
(curious music)

679
00:31:26,680 --> 00:31:28,590
He leaves the concoction bubbling away

680
00:31:28,590 --> 00:31:30,740
and carefully purifies the product,

681
00:31:30,740 --> 00:31:33,820
creating this yellow crystal form.

682
00:31:33,820 --> 00:31:37,190
It looks like Wilbrand has made another synthetic dye.

683
00:31:37,190 --> 00:31:39,300
But it turns out it's not that good

684
00:31:39,300 --> 00:31:41,100
and it fades over time.

685
00:31:41,100 --> 00:31:44,790
So basically, he leaves it on the laboratory shelf.

686
00:31:44,790 --> 00:31:46,430
We don't know much about Wilbrand

687
00:31:46,430 --> 00:31:47,820
after this little incident.

688
00:31:49,040 --> 00:31:52,540
It seems that he went off to become a chemistry teacher.

689
00:31:52,540 --> 00:31:55,920
But what he doesn't know is this stuff packs a punch.

690
00:31:56,830 --> 00:31:58,250
Wilbrand has no idea

691
00:31:58,250 --> 00:32:00,440
that he's just created what will become

692
00:32:00,440 --> 00:32:02,590
one of the most mass produced explosives

693
00:32:02,590 --> 00:32:04,480
in history, trinitrotoluene.

694
00:32:09,590 --> 00:32:12,140
30 years later, and political tensions

695
00:32:12,140 --> 00:32:14,190
are a breaking point throughout Europe.

696
00:32:15,120 --> 00:32:17,360
The German Empire has been up and running

697
00:32:17,360 --> 00:32:19,290
for a few decades, and it's really trying

698
00:32:19,290 --> 00:32:23,230
to nudge its way through onto the world's stage,

699
00:32:23,230 --> 00:32:26,260
and part of that involves building its naval power

700
00:32:26,260 --> 00:32:29,150
against Great Britain, in particular.

701
00:32:29,150 --> 00:32:31,230
Germany's excellence in organic chemistry

702
00:32:31,230 --> 00:32:33,510
gives it an advantage in the development

703
00:32:33,510 --> 00:32:34,910
of new types of explosives.

704
00:32:35,830 --> 00:32:39,390
There's about two dozen explosive products

705
00:32:39,390 --> 00:32:41,240
that are invented around this time,

706
00:32:41,240 --> 00:32:44,740
so it's a magnificent era for blowing things up.

707
00:32:44,740 --> 00:32:47,430
(explosion thunders)
(upbeat music)

708
00:32:47,430 --> 00:32:49,880
Enter the second hero in our story,

709
00:32:49,880 --> 00:32:52,290
Carl Hausman, he's a leader

710
00:32:52,290 --> 00:32:55,100
in Germany's synthetic dye industry,

711
00:32:55,100 --> 00:32:58,160
and has just been invited by the Prussian War Ministry

712
00:32:58,160 --> 00:32:59,950
to work as a consulting chemist

713
00:32:59,950 --> 00:33:02,070
to the Royal Powder Mills in Henlow.

714
00:33:03,610 --> 00:33:08,530
Hausman is aware of this yellow solution called TNT.

715
00:33:08,530 --> 00:33:11,490
Now, he knows that it's a mediocre dye,

716
00:33:11,490 --> 00:33:14,290
but he's also well aware that its structure

717
00:33:14,290 --> 00:33:17,400
is packed with nitrogen, which, traditionally,

718
00:33:17,400 --> 00:33:20,620
comes in pretty handy when you're talking about explosives.

719
00:33:20,620 --> 00:33:22,080
(cannon fires)

720
00:33:22,080 --> 00:33:24,420
And Hausman knows that a similar chemical

721
00:33:24,420 --> 00:33:26,930
called picric acid is already being used

722
00:33:26,930 --> 00:33:30,520
in artillery shells, but it has one big drawback.

723
00:33:30,520 --> 00:33:34,050
The trouble with picric acid is that it has a tendency

724
00:33:34,050 --> 00:33:37,210
to react with metals, at which point

725
00:33:37,210 --> 00:33:38,900
it spontaneously explodes.

726
00:33:38,900 --> 00:33:43,830
(explosion thunders)
(upbeat music)

727
00:33:43,830 --> 00:33:46,280
Hausman must be thinking that TNT

728
00:33:46,280 --> 00:33:48,970
could also have explosive potential,

729
00:33:48,970 --> 00:33:51,250
but it's inherently more stable.

730
00:33:51,250 --> 00:33:53,550
I mean, Wilbrand didn't blow up, right?

731
00:33:54,600 --> 00:33:56,400
So Hausman wants to see whether he can put

732
00:33:56,400 --> 00:33:59,640
a detonator charge into TNT to see whether

733
00:33:59,640 --> 00:34:01,580
that's enough to make it go bang.

734
00:34:01,580 --> 00:34:03,690
He's pulling up the plunder.

735
00:34:03,690 --> 00:34:04,990
Here we go.

736
00:34:06,150 --> 00:34:07,030
(explosion thunders)

737
00:34:07,030 --> 00:34:08,850
The results are impressive.

738
00:34:08,850 --> 00:34:12,690
The explosion is huge, with a blast wave traveling

739
00:34:12,690 --> 00:34:16,690
at 15,000 miles an hour, which is supersonic.

740
00:34:16,690 --> 00:34:19,350
The chemistry of TNT is the secret

741
00:34:19,350 --> 00:34:21,000
to its explosive power.

742
00:34:21,000 --> 00:34:24,050
When TNT is detonated, the carbon oxygen

743
00:34:24,050 --> 00:34:27,680
and nitrogen within the compound react really quickly,

744
00:34:27,680 --> 00:34:30,060
producing huge amounts of gases.

745
00:34:30,060 --> 00:34:32,440
The total volume of the gases produced

746
00:34:32,440 --> 00:34:35,940
is 1000 times that of the starting material,

747
00:34:35,940 --> 00:34:38,500
so you get this huge explosion.

748
00:34:38,500 --> 00:34:41,280
The Germans begin to realize that TNT

749
00:34:41,280 --> 00:34:44,740
could be the wonder substance that they've been looking for.

750
00:34:44,740 --> 00:34:49,700
(explosion thunders)
(solemn music)

751
00:34:49,700 --> 00:34:54,300
Then, in 1914, European tensions erupt,

752
00:34:54,300 --> 00:34:56,340
it's all out war, the likes of which

753
00:34:56,340 --> 00:34:57,800
the world has never seen.

754
00:34:58,770 --> 00:35:02,930
World war I really changes the rules of warfare,

755
00:35:02,930 --> 00:35:05,210
it introduces modern warfare.

756
00:35:05,210 --> 00:35:08,160
Up until then it's all been cavalry charges

757
00:35:08,160 --> 00:35:11,960
and shrapnel exploding all over approaching infantry,

758
00:35:11,960 --> 00:35:15,200
but now it's soldiers digging trenches.

759
00:35:15,200 --> 00:35:17,940
And the question is, how many shells do you need

760
00:35:17,940 --> 00:35:21,710
to bombard those trenches into submission?

761
00:35:21,710 --> 00:35:25,380
Well, Tony, it turns out the answer is a lot.

762
00:35:26,540 --> 00:35:28,430
Both sides in the First World War

763
00:35:28,430 --> 00:35:31,950
now have to ramp up production of TNT.

764
00:35:31,950 --> 00:35:33,360
But Britain's main problem is that

765
00:35:33,360 --> 00:35:37,220
they can't get enough toluene to make the TNT they need.

766
00:35:38,350 --> 00:35:43,110
600,000 tons of coal only produces 720 tons of toluene.

767
00:35:43,950 --> 00:35:47,800
It's about 0.1%, which is so small.

768
00:35:47,800 --> 00:35:51,430
Germany is in an even worse position.

769
00:35:51,430 --> 00:35:54,470
Although it controls vast coal reserves,

770
00:35:54,470 --> 00:35:56,490
Germany's reliant on imports

771
00:35:56,490 --> 00:35:59,360
for that crucial end part of TNT.

772
00:36:00,410 --> 00:36:02,810
The key material they need is ammonia,

773
00:36:02,810 --> 00:36:04,650
to make the nitric acid.

774
00:36:04,650 --> 00:36:07,660
With the Royal Navy controlling the high seas,

775
00:36:07,660 --> 00:36:10,780
it can't get access to those raw materials.

776
00:36:12,120 --> 00:36:16,090
But clever German chemists figure out a solution.

777
00:36:16,090 --> 00:36:18,390
A German scientist, in a laboratory

778
00:36:18,390 --> 00:36:21,730
in Karlsruhe, works out a system of catalysts

779
00:36:21,730 --> 00:36:25,030
and high pressure devices that can produce ammonia,

780
00:36:25,030 --> 00:36:27,500
drop by drop, from the air.

781
00:36:27,500 --> 00:36:30,710
Fritz Haber figures out a way to convert nitrogen,

782
00:36:30,710 --> 00:36:32,990
in the air, into ammonia.

783
00:36:32,990 --> 00:36:34,620
It really is genius.

784
00:36:34,620 --> 00:36:36,880
The air is 80% nitrogen.

785
00:36:36,880 --> 00:36:38,280
Haber's got the process,

786
00:36:38,280 --> 00:36:40,690
but he hasn't got the processing power.

787
00:36:40,690 --> 00:36:44,210
You're never going to create enough ammonia on a lab bench.

788
00:36:44,210 --> 00:36:47,570
This is where chemical engineer Carl Bosch comes in.

789
00:36:47,570 --> 00:36:51,300
By 1918, Haber and Bosch had scaled up the process

790
00:36:51,300 --> 00:36:54,650
to the point where they were creating 650 tons

791
00:36:54,650 --> 00:36:56,760
of ammonia each day.

792
00:36:56,760 --> 00:36:58,270
That ammonia pours

793
00:36:58,270 --> 00:37:00,520
into Germany's artillery shells,

794
00:37:00,520 --> 00:37:02,730
but in the end, it isn't enough.

795
00:37:02,730 --> 00:37:04,850
The United States joining the war proves

796
00:37:04,850 --> 00:37:09,850
to be the final straw for the German Empire and its allies,

797
00:37:09,960 --> 00:37:12,380
and the whole thing collapses for them,

798
00:37:12,380 --> 00:37:14,300
the kaiser surrenders.

799
00:37:14,300 --> 00:37:16,790
And Britain, France and the United States

800
00:37:16,790 --> 00:37:18,540
have won the First World War.

801
00:37:18,540 --> 00:37:21,290
(crowd cheering)

802
00:37:22,360 --> 00:37:24,460
By the Second World War, TNT is being used

803
00:37:24,460 --> 00:37:25,910
in most explosives.

804
00:37:26,850 --> 00:37:29,790
And this war, too, is ended by TNT.

805
00:37:29,790 --> 00:37:32,340
(explosion thunders)
(solemn music)

806
00:37:32,340 --> 00:37:35,380
When it detonates the thermonuclear devices dropped

807
00:37:35,380 --> 00:37:37,350
on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

808
00:37:40,630 --> 00:37:44,560
But, before we condemn Wilbrand, Houseman, Harbor and Bosch

809
00:37:44,560 --> 00:37:46,800
for the unimaginable misery their work's

810
00:37:46,800 --> 00:37:50,870
been used to inflict, there's more to this story.

811
00:37:50,870 --> 00:37:54,840
Because, the quest to mass-produce TNT also leads

812
00:37:54,840 --> 00:37:58,190
to perhaps the world's biggest game-changing innovation,

813
00:37:59,040 --> 00:38:01,760
a chemical solution to the soil depletion,

814
00:38:01,760 --> 00:38:04,330
those pre-peanut cotton farmers suffered.

815
00:38:07,880 --> 00:38:09,810
Remember the Haber-Bosch process that was used

816
00:38:09,810 --> 00:38:12,560
to make ammonia, well that has contributed

817
00:38:12,560 --> 00:38:16,230
to the huge scale production of fertilizer.

818
00:38:16,230 --> 00:38:20,890
We produced 160 million tons of ammonia a year.

819
00:38:20,890 --> 00:38:23,710
More ammonia means more fertilizer,

820
00:38:23,710 --> 00:38:26,880
and more fertilizer means that more crops can grow,

821
00:38:26,880 --> 00:38:30,080
sustaining an ever-growing human population.

822
00:38:31,000 --> 00:38:33,030
About half of the world's food

823
00:38:33,030 --> 00:38:36,160
now relies on ammonia fertilizer to grow.

824
00:38:36,160 --> 00:38:38,580
The Haber-Bosch process is so fundamental

825
00:38:38,580 --> 00:38:41,890
to food production that it's estimated that 50%

826
00:38:41,890 --> 00:38:45,830
of the nitrogen in every human body comes from fertilizer.

827
00:38:45,830 --> 00:38:48,870
Ever since the rollout of the Haber-Bosch process

828
00:38:48,870 --> 00:38:52,010
the human population has been growing rapidly,

829
00:38:52,010 --> 00:38:53,760
taking us to where we are today,

830
00:38:53,760 --> 00:38:57,540
with 7.5 billion people on the world and counting.

831
00:38:58,450 --> 00:39:00,480
So, somewhat ironically,

832
00:39:00,480 --> 00:39:02,730
the accidental creation of an explosive,

833
00:39:02,730 --> 00:39:05,740
used to end life on an industrial scale,

834
00:39:05,740 --> 00:39:09,650
also enables us to feed an ever-growing human population.

835
00:39:10,490 --> 00:39:12,720
Not bad for a so-so dye.

836
00:39:12,720 --> 00:39:15,390
(playful music)

837
00:39:16,760 --> 00:39:17,850
(explosion thunders)

838
00:39:17,850 --> 00:39:21,990
1942, three years before the atomic bomb brings

839
00:39:21,990 --> 00:39:25,180
the deadliest war in history to a shuddering close.

840
00:39:26,070 --> 00:39:28,530
Interred in a Japanese prison of war camp

841
00:39:28,530 --> 00:39:31,940
is a doctor whose discovery of a new mental health treatment

842
00:39:31,940 --> 00:39:34,260
will transform the lives of millions.

843
00:39:34,260 --> 00:39:36,800
(dramatic music)

844
00:39:36,800 --> 00:39:37,630
Lithium.

845
00:39:40,210 --> 00:39:41,740
(bright music)

846
00:39:41,740 --> 00:39:43,090
It all starts in Singapore.

847
00:39:45,470 --> 00:39:47,820
The fall of Singapore in the Second World War

848
00:39:47,820 --> 00:39:51,510
was a huge blow to the allies, and it included

849
00:39:51,510 --> 00:39:56,510
the capture of 15,000 Australian service personnel,

850
00:39:56,880 --> 00:40:01,820
by the Japanese, who were then held at the Changi camp.

851
00:40:03,000 --> 00:40:06,570
Among the prisoners is Major John Cade.

852
00:40:06,570 --> 00:40:09,080
Cade was the son of a psychiatrist

853
00:40:09,080 --> 00:40:11,600
and grew up around the grounds of mental asylums,

854
00:40:11,600 --> 00:40:13,480
eventually following in his father's footsteps

855
00:40:13,480 --> 00:40:15,940
and becoming a psychiatrist himself.

856
00:40:15,940 --> 00:40:18,610
So it's no surprise then that when Cade was captured,

857
00:40:18,610 --> 00:40:20,640
that he was put in charge of the psychiatry section

858
00:40:20,640 --> 00:40:21,950
of the camp's hospital.

859
00:40:23,030 --> 00:40:25,610
(gentle music)

860
00:40:26,760 --> 00:40:29,180
He notices a connection between the lacking

861
00:40:29,180 --> 00:40:33,040
of B vitamins and how this causes a disease

862
00:40:33,040 --> 00:40:35,590
to form in the body known as beriberi,

863
00:40:35,590 --> 00:40:38,730
which affects both the heart and the brain function.

864
00:40:40,970 --> 00:40:44,710
And for the first time he suspects that mental illnesses,

865
00:40:44,710 --> 00:40:46,760
which he's been surrounded by all his life,

866
00:40:46,760 --> 00:40:50,140
may also have a chemical cause.

867
00:40:50,140 --> 00:40:51,940
(anxious music)

868
00:40:51,940 --> 00:40:54,340
Over centuries of medical science,

869
00:40:54,340 --> 00:40:56,360
mental health has famously been one

870
00:40:56,360 --> 00:40:59,470
of the most misunderstood facets of the human condition.

871
00:41:00,810 --> 00:41:03,040
For the whole of human history people

872
00:41:03,040 --> 00:41:05,400
have suffered from mental illness,

873
00:41:05,400 --> 00:41:07,870
but in the past it was just shrugged off

874
00:41:07,870 --> 00:41:11,840
with the term insanity or madness.

875
00:41:11,840 --> 00:41:13,680
In extreme cases, people who suffered

876
00:41:13,680 --> 00:41:15,480
with their mental health would be suspected

877
00:41:15,480 --> 00:41:19,500
of demonic possession, a diagnosis reached with exorcism.

878
00:41:19,500 --> 00:41:21,740
(demon screeching)

879
00:41:21,740 --> 00:41:24,560
(chuckles) If you think exorcism sounds bad,

880
00:41:24,560 --> 00:41:27,990
then wait until you hear about the alternatives.

881
00:41:27,990 --> 00:41:30,460
Archeologists have found skulls with the evidence

882
00:41:30,460 --> 00:41:34,150
of holes drilled into them, a practice called trepanning,

883
00:41:34,150 --> 00:41:36,470
and this is something that we think ancient humans did

884
00:41:36,470 --> 00:41:40,350
to alleviate bad spirits and to release them from the brain.

885
00:41:40,350 --> 00:41:42,410
(concerned music)

886
00:41:42,410 --> 00:41:44,590
In the 20th century, the drilling a hole

887
00:41:44,590 --> 00:41:46,970
in your head technique gets an upgrade.

888
00:41:46,970 --> 00:41:48,880
How does poking a stick in the brain sound?

889
00:41:48,880 --> 00:41:49,920
(Betty moaning)

890
00:41:49,920 --> 00:41:51,310
(broom thuds)
(Betty shrieks)

891
00:41:51,310 --> 00:41:55,170
Whether it was depression, OCD or schizophrenia,

892
00:41:55,170 --> 00:41:57,670
the lobotomy was used as a treatment

893
00:41:57,670 --> 00:41:59,250
in all these conditions.

894
00:42:00,790 --> 00:42:02,970
A borehole is placed in the coronal suture

895
00:42:02,970 --> 00:42:04,790
by means of successive drills.

896
00:42:06,330 --> 00:42:09,080
So basically, going into the human head,

897
00:42:09,080 --> 00:42:11,650
cutting connections in the brain,

898
00:42:11,650 --> 00:42:14,340
and in a small number of cases it seems

899
00:42:14,340 --> 00:42:17,390
to have kinda worked, but in a lot of cases

900
00:42:17,390 --> 00:42:20,190
it left people stupefied, and sometimes

901
00:42:20,190 --> 00:42:23,310
just completely unable to look after themselves.

902
00:42:24,760 --> 00:42:27,460
This, and other questionable ethical practices,

903
00:42:27,460 --> 00:42:31,550
like electroshock therapy and permanent incarceration

904
00:42:34,620 --> 00:42:37,370
are a reflection of the extremely limited research

905
00:42:37,370 --> 00:42:39,860
carried out into mental health.

906
00:42:39,860 --> 00:42:44,270
But all that is about to change, thanks to John Cade.

907
00:42:44,270 --> 00:42:46,740
Cade sees his patients mental health deteriorate

908
00:42:46,740 --> 00:42:50,030
before his eyes, and on those patients that do pass away

909
00:42:50,030 --> 00:42:51,920
he starts to perform autopsies

910
00:42:51,920 --> 00:42:55,730
and notices that there are certain physical traits

911
00:42:55,730 --> 00:42:59,890
in their brains that are correlated with their symptoms.

912
00:42:59,890 --> 00:43:01,170
(upbeat music)

913
00:43:01,170 --> 00:43:02,800
The work Cade started in

914
00:43:02,800 --> 00:43:05,490
the prisoner of war camp would inspire his research

915
00:43:05,490 --> 00:43:08,360
as he returns to Melbourne after the war.

916
00:43:08,360 --> 00:43:11,230
Cade is working with a number of ex soldiers,

917
00:43:11,230 --> 00:43:12,510
and who are suffering from a variety

918
00:43:12,510 --> 00:43:15,420
of mental health conditions, including mania,

919
00:43:15,420 --> 00:43:18,290
which is characterized by hyperactivity

920
00:43:18,290 --> 00:43:20,750
and excessive euphoria.

921
00:43:20,750 --> 00:43:22,930
(solemn music)
(fist thudding)

922
00:43:22,930 --> 00:43:25,610
In 1948, John Cade gets the idea

923
00:43:25,610 --> 00:43:27,580
that mania could be caused by an excess

924
00:43:27,580 --> 00:43:28,830
of chemicals in the body.

925
00:43:30,400 --> 00:43:34,070
While depressive episodes were linked to chemical deficits.

926
00:43:34,970 --> 00:43:37,880
So he begins to investigate by asking the nurses

927
00:43:37,880 --> 00:43:40,810
if he can have samples of urine from the patients,

928
00:43:40,810 --> 00:43:43,640
and then keeps them in his refrigerator at home.

929
00:43:43,640 --> 00:43:45,440
Now, this is something you don't wanna mix up

930
00:43:45,440 --> 00:43:47,190
with your apple juice.

931
00:43:47,190 --> 00:43:49,790
I don't imagine it smelled nice either.

932
00:43:50,700 --> 00:43:54,330
Cade has no access to advanced chemical analyst tools,

933
00:43:54,330 --> 00:43:56,330
so he devices his own experiment.

934
00:43:57,770 --> 00:44:00,010
No, don't drink it. Tony!

935
00:44:00,970 --> 00:44:03,710
What he does is actually worse.

936
00:44:03,710 --> 00:44:06,070
(scientist cackling)

937
00:44:06,070 --> 00:44:09,250
He takes the urine, puts it in syringes

938
00:44:09,250 --> 00:44:13,710
and injects it into the abdominal cavities of guinea pigs.

939
00:44:13,710 --> 00:44:17,260
I'm talking about real, fluffy guinea pigs.

940
00:44:17,260 --> 00:44:20,260
(upbeat jazz music)

941
00:44:21,100 --> 00:44:24,120
And he keeps upping the dose of these injections

942
00:44:24,120 --> 00:44:26,450
until the poor guinea pigs die,

943
00:44:26,450 --> 00:44:29,260
and then he just calmly notes, in his notebook,

944
00:44:29,260 --> 00:44:32,080
at what stage it was the guinea snuffed it.

945
00:44:32,080 --> 00:44:34,260
(guinea pig groans)

946
00:44:34,260 --> 00:44:36,480
(air whooshing)
(chalk rasps)

947
00:44:36,480 --> 00:44:38,110
I dunno where to begin with this.

948
00:44:38,110 --> 00:44:40,780
Collecting bodily fluids without the patient's permission,

949
00:44:40,780 --> 00:44:42,540
unregulated animal testing,

950
00:44:42,540 --> 00:44:44,650
unsupported experimental methods.

951
00:44:44,650 --> 00:44:46,150
Yeah, not great.

952
00:44:47,530 --> 00:44:50,260
Cade discovers that the guinea pigs that received the urine

953
00:44:50,260 --> 00:44:52,870
from the manic patients died much sooner

954
00:44:52,870 --> 00:44:54,780
than those from the other patients.

955
00:44:55,680 --> 00:44:58,020
So what does it have to say?

956
00:44:58,020 --> 00:45:01,530
The patients who had some type of mental health problem

957
00:45:01,530 --> 00:45:03,350
had more toxic urine.

958
00:45:04,740 --> 00:45:06,160
(solemn music)

959
00:45:06,160 --> 00:45:08,370
Cade's next move is to try and reduce

960
00:45:08,370 --> 00:45:10,980
the toxicity in the manic patients urine

961
00:45:10,980 --> 00:45:14,190
using a tried and tested bladder medicine, lithium.

962
00:45:15,670 --> 00:45:17,680
Doctors have been prescribing lithium salts

963
00:45:17,680 --> 00:45:20,430
for renal problems, meaning, stuff to do with

964
00:45:20,430 --> 00:45:23,210
the kidneys, and bladder and gallbladder,

965
00:45:23,210 --> 00:45:24,710
since the 19th century.

966
00:45:24,710 --> 00:45:26,360
(air whooshing)
(bright music)

967
00:45:26,360 --> 00:45:29,340
So, Cade treats the toxic manic urine

968
00:45:29,340 --> 00:45:31,340
with medicinal lithium salts

969
00:45:31,340 --> 00:45:34,440
and tries again with the guinea pig injections.

970
00:45:34,440 --> 00:45:36,540
Where is he getting all these guinea pigs from?

971
00:45:36,540 --> 00:45:39,520
It's not as though they're running around underfoot.

972
00:45:39,520 --> 00:45:42,460
As Cade hoped, the lithium salts do decrease

973
00:45:42,460 --> 00:45:45,790
the toxicity of the urine, and it takes a greater dose

974
00:45:45,790 --> 00:45:48,180
to prove fatal to the guinea pigs.

975
00:45:48,180 --> 00:45:51,380
But, the lithium salts also have another consequence

976
00:45:51,380 --> 00:45:53,620
that Cade hadn't anticipated.

977
00:45:53,620 --> 00:45:55,320
(feelgood music)

978
00:45:55,320 --> 00:45:56,720
Turned out that the guinea pigs start

979
00:45:56,720 --> 00:46:01,720
to become a little bit more relaxed, quiet, subdued.

980
00:46:01,720 --> 00:46:03,530
Looking at the relaxed rodents

981
00:46:03,530 --> 00:46:05,200
gives Cade an idea.

982
00:46:05,200 --> 00:46:08,630
He wonders if the lithium might help his patients.

983
00:46:09,690 --> 00:46:12,260
For all his questionable ethics in animal testing,

984
00:46:12,260 --> 00:46:14,440
John Cade was a religious man of honor,

985
00:46:14,440 --> 00:46:16,800
and couldn't bring himself to test something on his patients

986
00:46:16,800 --> 00:46:18,690
that he hadn't yet tested on himself.

987
00:46:18,690 --> 00:46:22,350
Oh, suddenly the man has a conscience.

988
00:46:22,350 --> 00:46:24,670
So what does he do? He tries it on himself.

989
00:46:24,670 --> 00:46:26,630
He takes lithium salts for several weeks

990
00:46:26,630 --> 00:46:28,490
to see if anything bad happens.

991
00:46:28,490 --> 00:46:30,290
When he didn't curl up and die or develop

992
00:46:30,290 --> 00:46:31,770
any other disturbing symptoms,

993
00:46:31,770 --> 00:46:35,300
he decided it would be ethical to try it on his patients.

994
00:46:35,300 --> 00:46:37,970
Cade selects his first human guinea pig

995
00:46:37,970 --> 00:46:42,370
from the Bundoora Mental Hospital, one Bill Brand.

996
00:46:42,370 --> 00:46:46,210
Bill Brand had been psychotic for something like 30 years,

997
00:46:46,210 --> 00:46:50,220
and he'd been an inmate at Bundoora for much of that time.

998
00:46:50,220 --> 00:46:55,090
Now, he showed all the symptoms of psychosis and mania.

999
00:46:55,090 --> 00:46:57,990
He used to rummage around in the rubbish bins,

1000
00:46:57,990 --> 00:47:00,060
he tried to escape, obviously,

1001
00:47:00,060 --> 00:47:03,660
and he even cut the tips off two of his fingers.

1002
00:47:05,080 --> 00:47:07,610
Cade starts to give Bill Brand lithium,

1003
00:47:07,610 --> 00:47:10,410
administered daily, in liquid form.

1004
00:47:10,410 --> 00:47:13,650
After about three weeks on this course of lithium,

1005
00:47:13,650 --> 00:47:16,640
Brand's behavior actually starts to improve.

1006
00:47:16,640 --> 00:47:19,570
For a start, he stops rummaging around the bins,

1007
00:47:19,570 --> 00:47:23,810
his speech slows down, he starts to look after himself,

1008
00:47:23,810 --> 00:47:25,640
so the signs are good.

1009
00:47:27,200 --> 00:47:28,950
After two months on lithium,

1010
00:47:28,950 --> 00:47:31,050
Bill is able to leave Bundoora,

1011
00:47:31,050 --> 00:47:34,440
leave the place that he called home for three decades.

1012
00:47:34,440 --> 00:47:36,120
(backdrop whistles)
(playful upbeat music)

1013
00:47:36,120 --> 00:47:39,220
And creates a more normal life for himself,

1014
00:47:39,220 --> 00:47:41,450
on the outside, finds a mainstream job.

1015
00:47:42,670 --> 00:47:45,080
When nine further patients shows similar signs

1016
00:47:45,080 --> 00:47:48,400
of recovery, Cade declares his lithium treatment

1017
00:47:48,400 --> 00:47:50,500
an outstanding success.

1018
00:47:50,500 --> 00:47:52,780
Great. Have a cigar.

1019
00:47:52,780 --> 00:47:54,910
Start the press, we'll put out a message.

1020
00:47:54,910 --> 00:47:57,520
Now this is all very exciting for Cade,

1021
00:47:57,520 --> 00:47:58,910
but it might not actually be

1022
00:47:58,910 --> 00:48:01,600
the groundbreaking new treatment he thinks it is.

1023
00:48:01,600 --> 00:48:03,380
Lithium has been prescribed for people

1024
00:48:03,380 --> 00:48:05,390
with mental health problems before.

1025
00:48:05,390 --> 00:48:06,730
Sorry, what?

1026
00:48:06,730 --> 00:48:09,530
In 1870, lithium bromide was used

1027
00:48:09,530 --> 00:48:12,110
for a more hypnotic purpose, to actually start

1028
00:48:12,110 --> 00:48:14,530
to ease or relax a patient.

1029
00:48:15,380 --> 00:48:16,290
Although it's not clear what guided

1030
00:48:16,290 --> 00:48:19,430
this 19th century investigation into lithium

1031
00:48:19,430 --> 00:48:22,790
for mental disorders, it is a popular remedy for a time.

1032
00:48:24,450 --> 00:48:26,340
Other physicians across the United States

1033
00:48:26,340 --> 00:48:28,480
prescribe lithium for mania.

1034
00:48:28,480 --> 00:48:30,530
But that literature is then promptly

1035
00:48:30,530 --> 00:48:32,590
and inexplicably forgotten.

1036
00:48:32,590 --> 00:48:35,270
So did all of those guinea pigs die for nothing?

1037
00:48:35,270 --> 00:48:38,720
(curious music)

1038
00:48:38,720 --> 00:48:40,910
No, those guinea pigs did not die for nothing,

1039
00:48:40,910 --> 00:48:43,290
because if John Cade didn't rediscover

1040
00:48:43,290 --> 00:48:46,570
the use of lithium for mental illness,

1041
00:48:46,570 --> 00:48:48,660
then it would've ended up, maybe,

1042
00:48:48,660 --> 00:48:51,820
staying a forgotten therapy for who knows how long?

1043
00:48:54,370 --> 00:48:56,460
Unfortunately, Cade's high hopes

1044
00:48:56,460 --> 00:48:59,770
come crashing back down when Bill Brand is readmitted

1045
00:48:59,770 --> 00:49:01,620
to Bundoora Hospital.

1046
00:49:01,620 --> 00:49:04,390
Bill, it seems, has stopped taking his treatment.

1047
00:49:05,920 --> 00:49:08,640
Unfortunately, once he's off the lithium,

1048
00:49:08,640 --> 00:49:11,620
he regresses badly back into the condition

1049
00:49:11,620 --> 00:49:13,290
that led him into the psychiatric institution

1050
00:49:13,290 --> 00:49:14,970
in the first place.

1051
00:49:14,970 --> 00:49:16,410
(determined music)

1052
00:49:16,410 --> 00:49:18,210
Cade's revolutionary findings

1053
00:49:18,210 --> 00:49:21,180
go largely unnoticed by the medical community.

1054
00:49:21,180 --> 00:49:23,830
That is, until Mogens Schou stumbles across

1055
00:49:23,830 --> 00:49:25,860
the paper in 1952.

1056
00:49:26,870 --> 00:49:29,830
Schou is a Danish psychiatrist with a bit more

1057
00:49:29,830 --> 00:49:33,630
of a formal approach to medical experimentation.

1058
00:49:33,630 --> 00:49:36,240
Schou conducts his own study, which is a lot closer

1059
00:49:36,240 --> 00:49:38,330
to how medical trials are performed today.

1060
00:49:38,330 --> 00:49:39,740
He did an example of what we would call

1061
00:49:39,740 --> 00:49:42,290
a single blind trial.

1062
00:49:42,290 --> 00:49:43,690
So, he rolled the dice

1063
00:49:43,690 --> 00:49:47,350
and half his patients got lithium, the other half didn't.

1064
00:49:48,570 --> 00:49:53,410
He found an 87% drop-off of manic and depressant episodes

1065
00:49:53,410 --> 00:49:57,280
in the group that underwent the lithium treatment.

1066
00:49:57,280 --> 00:49:59,890
Lithium was now offering a new lease of life

1067
00:49:59,890 --> 00:50:03,490
to patients who were seriously mentally unwell.

1068
00:50:05,770 --> 00:50:08,090
Today, Schou is recognized all over the world

1069
00:50:08,090 --> 00:50:10,290
for his pioneering work into producing

1070
00:50:10,290 --> 00:50:12,840
a viable treatment for bipolar disorder.

1071
00:50:13,930 --> 00:50:17,010
But, despite the evidence that lithium does work,

1072
00:50:17,010 --> 00:50:20,640
doctors still aren't sure exactly how it works.

1073
00:50:20,640 --> 00:50:22,270
Oh, well that's reassuring.

1074
00:50:22,270 --> 00:50:24,820
It's understood that lithium affects the brain

1075
00:50:24,820 --> 00:50:28,000
and also the spinal cord, and it increases

1076
00:50:28,000 --> 00:50:30,250
the connection between cells.

1077
00:50:31,730 --> 00:50:34,620
Neurological studies of bipolar patients

1078
00:50:34,620 --> 00:50:37,270
have revealed that they tend to have much lower volumes

1079
00:50:37,270 --> 00:50:39,660
of gray matter in the areas of the brain

1080
00:50:39,660 --> 00:50:41,470
that are linked to mood regulation.

1081
00:50:42,770 --> 00:50:44,140
But after lithium treatments,

1082
00:50:44,140 --> 00:50:46,690
brain scans show an increase in the gray matter

1083
00:50:46,690 --> 00:50:48,630
in the brain, in the areas that deal

1084
00:50:48,630 --> 00:50:51,790
with emotional processing and cognitive control.

1085
00:50:51,790 --> 00:50:53,140
(gentle feelgood music)

1086
00:50:53,140 --> 00:50:56,780
Now, some 70 years after his pioneering work,

1087
00:50:56,780 --> 00:50:59,200
John Cade is still remembered for his discovery

1088
00:50:59,200 --> 00:51:01,790
of lithium for mental health.

1089
00:51:01,790 --> 00:51:03,810
It's kind of incredible to be held up

1090
00:51:03,810 --> 00:51:07,190
as this amazing medical pioneer when he wasn't actually

1091
00:51:07,190 --> 00:51:09,300
the first person to make this discovery.

1092
00:51:09,300 --> 00:51:10,500
The discovery features some

1093
00:51:10,500 --> 00:51:12,370
pretty questionable medical ethics,

1094
00:51:12,370 --> 00:51:15,440
and not all of this treatments actually worked.

1095
00:51:15,440 --> 00:51:17,470
Yes, yes, okay, Simon.

1096
00:51:18,620 --> 00:51:21,100
Nevertheless, Cade's work has arguably had

1097
00:51:21,100 --> 00:51:23,570
the most far-reaching effects of any discovery

1098
00:51:23,570 --> 00:51:26,860
in psychological medicine made by an Australian.

1099
00:51:26,860 --> 00:51:29,280
Weirdly specific, but okay.

1100
00:51:29,280 --> 00:51:30,810
I like to think that Bill Brand

1101
00:51:30,810 --> 00:51:33,280
and those poor guinea pigs would be happy to know

1102
00:51:33,280 --> 00:51:35,650
that their participation in medical history

1103
00:51:35,650 --> 00:51:39,070
has helped the lives of millions of people across the world.

1104
00:51:39,070 --> 00:51:41,650
(playful music)
(injection pops)

1105
00:51:41,650 --> 00:51:44,900
(gentle playful music)

1106
00:52:12,340 --> 00:52:14,840
(logo chimes)