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2021, a year packed with news breaking advances

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in science and technology.

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Historic breakthroughs unfolding around the globe.

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Fire.
<v ->Fire.

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Shattering barriers and questioning assumptions

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and turning ideas on their head.

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I can see our beautiful, beautiful Earth.

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Stories that take a leap into the future

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or follow footprints to the past.

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Startling discoveries from a prehistoric nursery

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to a magic bullet that could contain the pandemic.

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Accomplishments like harnessing a star in a bottle

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or mapping invisible parts of the universe.

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Join us on an exclusive hyper tour

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of the, "Top Science Stories of 2021."

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(upbeat music)

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We begin with telltale clues

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of who walked the land before us and when.

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The recent dating of footprints

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found in White Sands New Mexico

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may reset the timeline of ancient man in the Americas.

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(gentle upbeat music)

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In the last few years, tracks of human ancestors

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were discovered in the vast swath of arid land.

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Even more incredible,

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the footprints show clear interaction between humans

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and the giant beasts of the era.

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But what's most shocking is the carbon date of these prints,

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22,000 years old,

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10,000 years earlier than when humans were believed

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to have crossed from Asia into the Americas.

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The footprints also reveal clues

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about early humans behavior,

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how they hunted, gathered and even played,

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and how they interacted with the flora

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and fauna of their day.

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These new findings will impact our previous and future study

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of ancient peoples.

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(gentle upbeat music)

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More evidence has been unEarthed

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about our prehistoric roots.

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Our closest evolutionary relatives

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may not be who we thought they were.

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They may be an entirely new species.

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The story starts with a large elongated skull,

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hidden in a well for 85 years outside of Harbin, China.

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Only recently, was it salvaged

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and given to a team of Chinese, British

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and Australian researchers.

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Some of my Chinese colleagues

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felt that this fossil was so distinctive

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{\an8}that it should be called it's own species, Homo longi.

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Some researchers, date Homo Longi's skull

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to 146,000 years ago.

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But Chris's team believes it's actually 300,000 years old.

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We obviously don't have the rest of the skeleton,

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but to judge from the size of this fossil,

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this would have been a very large individual,

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very big body size, which is adaptive in cold conditions.

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The Chinese scientists nickname him Dragon Man,

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after the nearby Dragon River,

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where the skull was originally found.

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This is a lineage that lived in China

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for hundreds of thousands of years.

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It had it's own evolutionary path, it's own adaptations.

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And we can start to look at the questions

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of how this relates to us, to the Neanderthals.

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The prevailing view

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is that Homo sapiens split off from Neanderthals

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around 600,000 years ago,

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but we actually may have split off from Homo longi instead.

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The proof is in the skulls.

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So here we've got replicas

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of four different human populations.

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So here's the Harbin fossil, a replica of that

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and next to it, we've got a recent Homo sapiens.

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Even without a lower jaw.

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Dragon Man's skull shows uncanny similarities.

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The face is flat

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and the cheekbones even have a slight hollow in it.

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Things we find in the face of Homo sapiens,

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the faces is tucked under the brain case,

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very similar to the way the face

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is tucked under in modern humans.

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The team hopes

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to retrieve possible DNA from the skull,

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but drilling into inner ear bone could cause damage.

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Even if there's no DNA,

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it could be fossil protein material in the bone or teeth.

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Proteins can give you at least a rough assignment

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of whether this is closer to Neanderthals

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or to modern humans or to these other ancient people

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called the Denisovans.

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The goal is to map Homo longi's entire genome,

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which would confirm his place in our evolutionary tree.

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To have a genome to go with it

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would make this one of the greatest finds

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in human evolution, ever.

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We leave the past and jump to the present

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where modern Homo sapiens make history in space.

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We are starting the straighten up

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and fly right maneuver.

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(gentle upbeat music)

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Now has radar locked on the ground.

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Current velocity is about a hundred meters per second.

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(gentle upbeat music)

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After traveling nearly 300 million miles,

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NASA's Perseverance spacecraft

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reached it's destination, Mars.

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Tango, Delta.

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Touchdown confirmed,

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Perseverance safely on the surface of Mars.

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(all cheering)

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On February 18th,

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the Rover touched down right on target in Jezero Crater,

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after fiery entry and dramatic descent and landing.

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Captured for the first time ever from multiple cameras.

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Are we alone?

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I don't think so.

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{\an8}If we find ancient life on Mars,

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{\an8}it really changes everything.

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And Perseverance may just help

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answer these questions.

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As long as the carefully chosen landing site

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hosted water long ago.

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We're going right here

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to a place called Jezero Crater,

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which once, when Mars was warmer and wetter, hosted a lake.

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Perseverance is armed with a battery

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of seven instruments and 23 cameras

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that address questions about life in the past

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and the present and the future.

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And with two microphones on board,

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the world has now heard the first gust of wind

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from the red planet.

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{\an8}(wind gushing)

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If something ever lived here,

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Perseverance can find evidence of it's bio-signature.

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{\an8}A drill, shares the turret with the scientific instruments.

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The drill bores holes and extracts core samples.

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This is the first view of a cored sample of Martian rock

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in it's titanium tube.

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A future mission will collect the cache

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and bring the samples back to Earth.

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(gentle upbeat music)

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{\an8}We have a lot to learn, life or no life,

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{\an8}about the evolution of our solar system, about our planet,

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{\an8}by looking in depth at rocks, brought back from Mars.

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Probably the most exciting experiment of all

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is Perseverance's companion dubbed Ingenuity,

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the first ever Martian helicopter.

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This really is a Wright Brothers moment,

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{\an8}it's a start of a whole new kind of planetary exploration.

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Just incredible.

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With each subsequent flight,

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the engineers collect more data

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to help push the chopper further

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in both distance and duration.

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Being able to fly will enable us to get to places

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that we cannot get to with rovers and astronauts,

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like sides of steep cliffs,

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{\an8}deep inside crevices, areas of high scientific interest.

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It will be game changing.

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The mission is scheduled to last,

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at least one Martian year, about 687 Earth days.

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If Ingenuity marks the beginning of other world and flight,

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it's just a precursor to NASA's most ambitious mission yet,

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Titan.

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(gentle music)

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In 2027, NASA is planning to launch

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a one of a kind spacecraft.

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{\an8}Dragonfly is a rotorcraft lander

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{\an8}that's going to Saturn's moon Titan,

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which is one of the most interesting places

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in the solar system,

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but I'm pretty biased.

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If all goes according to plan,

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Dragonfly will touch down on Titan in the 2030s

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and spend years exploring this unknown landscape.

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A rotorcraft is the very best way to explore Titan

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{\an8}because it allows us

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{\an8}to both do pinpoint landings and inspection,

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{\an8}and also cover large distances

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to be able to see vastly different locations on the surface.

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With Ingenuity, NASA is able

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to give direct commands to the drone

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via an orbiting spacecraft.

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Dragonfly we'll have no such luxury.

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The lander will need to essentially fly itself down

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on it's very first flight to a world

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{\an8}that we don't have very many images.

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During it's nearly three year mission,

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Dragonfly will explore diverse environments

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from organic dunes to the floor of an impact crater

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where liquid water once existed.

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The evolution of Titan may hold clues to our own past.

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We think that before biology

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really took over here on the Earth,

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it might've had an atmosphere that was kind of hazy,

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similar to Titan's today.

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That Hayes might've been what helped seed

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wherever life really took off.

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(gentle music)

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If the Mars Ingenuity

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and Dragonfly perform well,

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space choppers consumed begin leaving Earth

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in relatively large numbers.

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It's the start of a whole new kind

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of planetary exploration,

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launching Perseverance landing Perseverance,

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and now deploying and flying the helicopter.

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Just incredible.

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While Titan may be the where

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and Dragonfly may be the how,

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the what becomes a different matter altogether,

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dark matter to be more precise.

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Although dark matter makes up close to 95%

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of all matter in the universe.

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Because it isn't made of atoms,

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it can't be measured with traditional instruments.

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But now for the first time ever scientists

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have mapped where dark matter exists in the universe.

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There's two reasons why we believe dark matter exists.

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{\an8}Firstly, we feel it's presence from it's gravity.

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So the motions of galaxies and clusters of galaxies

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are governed by something that's very, very massive

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that we can't see.

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Secondly, gravitational lensing,

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the bending of light, by massive objects

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enables us to chart how much dark matter there is

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and also where it is.

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(gentle music)

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Scientists

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from the Dark Energy Survey Collaboration created the map

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using the Victor M. Blanco Telescope in Chile.

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They collected data from a hundred million galaxies

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and observed where and how much light has been distorted.

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This indicated the highest concentrations of dark matter.

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This map is a paradigm shift

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in how the universe is perceived

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in both it's present and past states.

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And even turns Einstein's theory of relativity on it's head.

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Why?

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Because the map shows less correlation

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between mass and gravity than Einstein predicted.

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The universe is not expanding slower, it's expanding faster.

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(gentle music)

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Back on Earth, three new fossil finds

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provide a fuller picture of dinosaurs

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that once roamed the planet.

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{\an8}Far away in the Australian Outback,

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{\an8}a man and his son made a startling prehistoric discovery.

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My son actually was 14 at the time,

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{\an8}he picked up a funny looking rock in 2004.

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Queensland Museum had a verified as dinosaur bone,

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went to the site, found some more of that particular bone.

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Something switched in there, I mean,

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{\an8}how often do you get that opportunity

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{\an8}to have dinosaurs in your backyard?

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The bones belong to what may be

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an entirely new species of mega dinosaur.

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It's Australia's largest dinosaur,

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Australotitan Cooperensis.

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{\an8}Now Australotitan means Southern Titan.

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{\an8}And Cooperensis means from the Cooper Creek

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of Queensland, in Southwest Queensland,

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where this gigantic dinosaur was discovered.

268
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Australotitan

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was the size of a basketball court,

270
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as tall as a two story house and weighed up to 80 tons.

271
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(gentle music)

272
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Paleontologists need to be sure that Australotitan

273
00:14:07,600 --> 00:14:10,415
was indeed a different species.

274
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(gentle music)

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The team uses new digital technology

276
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to make 3D scans of each bone and compared them

277
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to Australotitan's closest relatives, Sauropods.

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Australotitan, it's in the top 10 to 15,

279
00:14:24,380 --> 00:14:25,847
largest in the world.

280
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Our study looked at dinosaurs from not just Australia,

281
00:14:29,110 --> 00:14:30,343
but across the world.

282
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Australotitan is officially a new species

283
00:14:34,530 --> 00:14:39,530
of Sauropods with four legs, long necks and tails.

284
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These herbivores lived 92 million to 96 million years ago.

285
00:14:46,338 --> 00:14:47,850
You can actually pick up it's a bone,

286
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and start figuring out what animal it is

287
00:14:50,560 --> 00:14:52,950
and what part of the body the bones are coming from.

288
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That's pretty exciting.

289
00:14:54,100 --> 00:14:55,150
That's very exciting.

290
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{\an8}On the other side of the Pacific,

291
00:14:58,530 --> 00:15:01,490
{\an8}someone else picks up an unusual rock

292
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{\an8}that turns out to be a major find.

293
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{\an8}(gentle music)

294
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{\an8}California's Sierra Nevada Mountains

295
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formed at least 40 million years ago.

296
00:15:13,310 --> 00:15:17,253
Through the ages, the ecosystem here has definitely changed.

297
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Hiking along the mountain's foothills,

298
00:15:20,960 --> 00:15:23,420
naturist ranger, Greg Fransek

299
00:15:23,420 --> 00:15:27,283
discovers pieces of the ancient past, quietly underfoot,

300
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when he stumbles upon a partially buried stone tree.

301
00:15:32,750 --> 00:15:35,290
(gentle music)

302
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From a forest between five and 10 million years old,

303
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containing fossils of the creatures that lived in it

304
00:15:42,810 --> 00:15:47,810
during Earth's Miocene Epoch, a giant tortoise shell,

305
00:15:48,990 --> 00:15:50,520
the jaw of a Taper

306
00:15:52,710 --> 00:15:55,933
and bones from relatives of modern day elephants,

307
00:15:56,780 --> 00:15:59,310
like the four tusk Gomphothere

308
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and an 8 million year old Mastodon skull.

309
00:16:02,870 --> 00:16:06,310
Experts believe these are the first Mastodon fossils

310
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found in California since 1947.

311
00:16:09,704 --> 00:16:11,430
(gentle upbeat music)

312
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Russell Shapiro from California's Chico State University

313
00:16:15,310 --> 00:16:16,563
oversees the dig.

314
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{\an8}What I didn't comprehend at the time

315
00:16:19,800 --> 00:16:21,430
{\an8}was the amazing fact

316
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that I was looking at the bones of great beasts

317
00:16:23,970 --> 00:16:26,620
that had roamed this landscape millions of years ago.

318
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The dig is a huge treasure trove

319
00:16:30,480 --> 00:16:32,240
that offers a unique glimpse

320
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into North America's distant past.

321
00:16:35,193 --> 00:16:37,860
(gentle music)

322
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{\an8}Near Alaska's desolate Arctic Circle,

323
00:16:43,670 --> 00:16:46,033
{\an8}the cries of babies were once heard.

324
00:16:47,350 --> 00:16:49,960
Dinosaur babies, that hatched,

325
00:16:49,960 --> 00:16:53,773
in what scientists are calling a prehistoric maternity ward.

326
00:16:54,870 --> 00:16:57,540
How could these animals that we normally associate

327
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with being in a tropical environments,

328
00:16:59,920 --> 00:17:02,540
{\an8}so how can they possibly have survived

329
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under polar conditions?

330
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A joint research team

331
00:17:06,760 --> 00:17:11,550
found tiny fossilized bones and baby teeth from dinosaurs

332
00:17:11,550 --> 00:17:14,313
dating back to more than 70 million years ago.

333
00:17:17,050 --> 00:17:19,160
My research team has been working up there,

334
00:17:19,160 --> 00:17:21,040
digging up dinosaurs out of the Coleville River,

335
00:17:21,040 --> 00:17:24,333
and this is about oh 20 miles from the Arctic Ocean.

336
00:17:26,220 --> 00:17:28,000
Given the long incubation time

337
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of dinosaur eggs, three to six months,

338
00:17:31,040 --> 00:17:33,110
scientists believe these dinosaurs

339
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were year-round Arctic residents,

340
00:17:35,990 --> 00:17:37,733
not just seasonal visitors.

341
00:17:39,060 --> 00:17:42,900
Which means they've endured punishing winters, snow

342
00:17:42,900 --> 00:17:45,163
and months of unending darkness.

343
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{\an8}Apparently the Arctic

344
00:17:47,540 --> 00:17:50,460
{\an8}was a really great place to have babies.

345
00:17:50,460 --> 00:17:54,640
{\an8}So we were not only surprised to find some baby dinosaurs,

346
00:17:54,640 --> 00:17:57,730
but actually several species of dinosaurs

347
00:17:57,730 --> 00:18:00,143
that we now realize were nesting in the Arctic.

348
00:18:01,150 --> 00:18:03,270
Researchers used dental tools

349
00:18:03,270 --> 00:18:06,080
to scrape through the sediment of the riverbank,

350
00:18:06,080 --> 00:18:08,140
looking for fossils.

351
00:18:08,140 --> 00:18:11,130
{\an8}We found hatchlings of just about every dinosaur we know

352
00:18:11,130 --> 00:18:11,963
that's up there.

353
00:18:11,963 --> 00:18:14,700
That includes the hatchlings of giant tyrannosaurus,

354
00:18:14,700 --> 00:18:17,453
honed dinosaurs and little raptors, you name it.

355
00:18:18,550 --> 00:18:20,350
Our image of dinosaurs,

356
00:18:20,350 --> 00:18:23,920
as cold-blooded creatures craving tropical temperatures

357
00:18:23,920 --> 00:18:26,260
is a relic of the past.

358
00:18:26,260 --> 00:18:28,120
Dinosaurs are actually warm-blooded animals

359
00:18:28,120 --> 00:18:30,633
or endotherms, more like birds or mammals.

360
00:18:32,870 --> 00:18:34,180
Polar dinosaurs

361
00:18:34,180 --> 00:18:36,020
adapted to the punishing winters

362
00:18:36,020 --> 00:18:40,120
by regulating their body heat, just like mammals,

363
00:18:40,120 --> 00:18:42,013
or by hibernating underground.

364
00:18:44,330 --> 00:18:47,310
Baby dinosaurs may have been adorable,

365
00:18:47,310 --> 00:18:50,690
but like their parents, they all vanished from the Arctic

366
00:18:50,690 --> 00:18:52,073
when disaster struck.

367
00:18:53,396 --> 00:18:56,396
(asteroid crashing)

368
00:18:57,354 --> 00:19:00,021
(gentle music)

369
00:19:01,070 --> 00:19:02,290
We weren't around

370
00:19:02,290 --> 00:19:05,013
when the dinosaurs breathed their last breath.

371
00:19:07,160 --> 00:19:08,870
But a breakthrough discovery

372
00:19:08,870 --> 00:19:11,113
reveals that our ancestors were.

373
00:19:13,740 --> 00:19:18,740
66 million years ago, an immense asteroid slammed into Earth

374
00:19:20,040 --> 00:19:22,823
creating the equivalent of a nuclear winter.

375
00:19:23,700 --> 00:19:25,670
North America was rather close,

376
00:19:25,670 --> 00:19:26,980
{\an8}thousands of miles away,

377
00:19:26,980 --> 00:19:29,880
{\an8}compared to other places on the opposite end of the globe.

378
00:19:31,720 --> 00:19:33,630
Now a team of scientists

379
00:19:33,630 --> 00:19:36,340
has found a possible witness to the catastrophe

380
00:19:38,010 --> 00:19:39,783
and it wasn't a dinosaur.

381
00:19:41,330 --> 00:19:45,173
They've uncovered evidence of a primate unknown to science,

382
00:19:46,850 --> 00:19:48,147
until now.

383
00:19:48,147 --> 00:19:49,930
(gentle upbeat music)

384
00:19:49,930 --> 00:19:51,870
It's that ancestor that we think

385
00:19:51,870 --> 00:19:53,653
lived during the time of dinosaurs.

386
00:19:56,600 --> 00:19:57,440
When the experts

387
00:19:57,440 --> 00:20:00,240
want to find fossils from the Cretaceous,

388
00:20:00,240 --> 00:20:02,390
they head to The Hell Creek Formation

389
00:20:02,390 --> 00:20:03,933
in Northeastern Montana.

390
00:20:06,080 --> 00:20:07,230
In The Hell Creek area,

391
00:20:07,230 --> 00:20:10,440
which is sort of our model for studying

392
00:20:10,440 --> 00:20:11,730
this mass extinction event,

393
00:20:11,730 --> 00:20:15,223
we had upwards of 30 different species of mammals.

394
00:20:17,690 --> 00:20:19,300
All of the large dinosaurs

395
00:20:19,300 --> 00:20:21,400
perished at the same time,

396
00:20:21,400 --> 00:20:24,803
but birds and some small mammals survived.

397
00:20:26,120 --> 00:20:28,270
One was purgatorius

398
00:20:28,270 --> 00:20:31,453
known only to scientists from it's fossilized teeth.

399
00:20:33,420 --> 00:20:38,030
{\an8}Greg documented five isolated teeth of purgatorius

400
00:20:38,030 --> 00:20:40,800
{\an8}from this locality called Harley's Point.

401
00:20:40,800 --> 00:20:44,350
And he contacted me and wanted me to collaborate with him

402
00:20:44,350 --> 00:20:46,933
and try to figure out which species they represent.

403
00:20:48,900 --> 00:20:50,930
Unlike it's my mammalian peers,

404
00:20:50,930 --> 00:20:52,520
which hate insects,

405
00:20:52,520 --> 00:20:56,393
purgatorius has had a varied diet, it was an omnivore.

406
00:20:58,080 --> 00:21:00,700
This seemed to suggest that purgatorius

407
00:21:00,700 --> 00:21:04,480
might be the earliest ancestor of modern day lemurs,

408
00:21:04,480 --> 00:21:09,480
monkeys, chimps, all primates, that include humans.

409
00:21:11,590 --> 00:21:14,650
The ankle bones that we found have specific features

410
00:21:14,650 --> 00:21:18,010
that allow for a great deal of mobility.

411
00:21:18,010 --> 00:21:19,780
That's the same kind of mobility

412
00:21:19,780 --> 00:21:23,593
that we see in primates that live up in the trees today.

413
00:21:25,020 --> 00:21:28,780
The researchers analyze the bones with CT scans

414
00:21:28,780 --> 00:21:31,563
and then created 3D images to study them.

415
00:21:34,530 --> 00:21:37,500
The new fossils are 200,000 years earlier

416
00:21:37,500 --> 00:21:40,123
than any purgatorius fossil found before.

417
00:21:41,020 --> 00:21:42,430
This places the creature

418
00:21:42,430 --> 00:21:44,883
right around the actual extinction event.

419
00:21:46,740 --> 00:21:50,530
If purgatorius lived alongside the great dinosaurs

420
00:21:50,530 --> 00:21:53,200
and survive the mass extinction,

421
00:21:53,200 --> 00:21:57,160
then humans can trace their evolutionary history as primates

422
00:21:57,160 --> 00:21:59,623
much deeper back in time than we thought.

423
00:22:01,860 --> 00:22:05,833
It's really spectacular to think that purgatorius is,

424
00:22:06,840 --> 00:22:11,810
on our line, it's separated from the colugos

425
00:22:11,810 --> 00:22:13,140
and the tree shrews

426
00:22:13,140 --> 00:22:16,150
and it's on the line leading to primates.

427
00:22:16,150 --> 00:22:19,976
So it's a step towards you and I.

428
00:22:19,976 --> 00:22:23,260
(gentle music)

429
00:22:23,260 --> 00:22:25,960
Our missing link may have lived long ago,

430
00:22:27,210 --> 00:22:29,660
but one of the oldest species on the planet

431
00:22:29,660 --> 00:22:31,193
has been around longer.

432
00:22:33,120 --> 00:22:35,780
From their unique predatory behaviors

433
00:22:35,780 --> 00:22:38,143
to the silk masterpieces they weave,

434
00:22:38,980 --> 00:22:41,360
science is revealing some crazy things

435
00:22:41,360 --> 00:22:44,403
about spiders and their silks.

436
00:22:45,810 --> 00:22:49,703
{\an8}It is seven times lighter than steel, as strong as steel.

437
00:22:52,080 --> 00:22:54,360
There are all kinds of spiders,

438
00:22:54,360 --> 00:22:56,420
not all of them spin webs,

439
00:22:56,420 --> 00:22:57,953
but they all produce silk.

440
00:22:59,850 --> 00:23:01,460
Spider silk is special

441
00:23:01,460 --> 00:23:03,650
because it is a multifunctional material

442
00:23:03,650 --> 00:23:06,730
produced by spider in a fraction of seconds.

443
00:23:06,730 --> 00:23:09,053
They use silk as a tool.

444
00:23:11,490 --> 00:23:14,640
{\an8}So a spider web is made up of

445
00:23:14,640 --> 00:23:16,890
multiple different types of silk.

446
00:23:16,890 --> 00:23:19,360
It's not all the same.

447
00:23:19,360 --> 00:23:21,850
The advancement of genomics in recent years

448
00:23:21,850 --> 00:23:23,240
has been a big boost

449
00:23:23,240 --> 00:23:26,030
to studying the evolution of spider silks.

450
00:23:26,030 --> 00:23:28,720
{\an8}What we're finding is that these genes

451
00:23:28,720 --> 00:23:30,713
are evolving very, very quickly.

452
00:23:33,280 --> 00:23:36,780
Researchers at University of Trento in Italy

453
00:23:36,780 --> 00:23:40,573
recently discovered a predatory skill not seen before.

454
00:23:41,470 --> 00:23:43,940
Some spiders can produce a silk

455
00:23:43,940 --> 00:23:46,363
with uncanny lifting properties.

456
00:23:47,750 --> 00:23:50,830
The ratio of the mass of the object being lifted

457
00:23:50,830 --> 00:23:54,110
and the mass of the spider creates a pulley effect

458
00:23:54,110 --> 00:23:56,780
and results in lifting the prey.

459
00:23:56,780 --> 00:24:00,210
And they can lift prey many, many, many times

460
00:24:00,210 --> 00:24:01,533
heavier than themselves.

461
00:24:02,890 --> 00:24:05,280
Scientists at Binghamton University

462
00:24:05,280 --> 00:24:09,400
have uncovered another fascinating property of spider silks.

463
00:24:09,400 --> 00:24:11,800
They can help spiders hear.

464
00:24:11,800 --> 00:24:14,220
Humans use their eardrum to hear,

465
00:24:14,220 --> 00:24:16,740
but many animals, including spiders,

466
00:24:16,740 --> 00:24:20,483
use hairs on their body to hear or sense vibrations.

467
00:24:21,930 --> 00:24:24,470
Now researchers believe their webs

468
00:24:24,470 --> 00:24:26,643
play an integral role as well.

469
00:24:27,513 --> 00:24:29,590
(gentle upbeat music)

470
00:24:29,590 --> 00:24:32,690
In the same way that a spider can detect vibrations

471
00:24:32,690 --> 00:24:34,470
of something touching the web,

472
00:24:34,470 --> 00:24:37,260
they should also be able to detect

473
00:24:37,260 --> 00:24:40,233
vibrations caused from sound.

474
00:24:41,550 --> 00:24:43,706
Spiders, get a lot of cues

475
00:24:43,706 --> 00:24:46,860
transmitted from the silk itself.

476
00:24:46,860 --> 00:24:48,560
They know the direction

477
00:24:48,560 --> 00:24:50,913
that something has intercepted their web.

478
00:24:52,640 --> 00:24:54,990
Potential implications for this

479
00:24:54,990 --> 00:24:57,700
may just change the way we detect sound

480
00:24:57,700 --> 00:25:00,480
and make microphones in the future.

481
00:25:00,480 --> 00:25:02,480
We might be able to use

482
00:25:02,480 --> 00:25:05,000
the mechanical properties of the silk

483
00:25:05,000 --> 00:25:08,100
then for better microphones or hearing aids,

484
00:25:08,100 --> 00:25:11,933
directional acoustic sensors and things like that.

485
00:25:14,950 --> 00:25:16,270
Other human benefits

486
00:25:16,270 --> 00:25:18,300
and applications from spider silks

487
00:25:18,300 --> 00:25:20,363
are emerging from all this research.

488
00:25:21,390 --> 00:25:24,560
Spiders silks could be used for sutures,

489
00:25:24,560 --> 00:25:26,530
they could repair tendons,

490
00:25:26,530 --> 00:25:29,000
they could be parts of ballistics,

491
00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:30,660
the anti-ballistic type gear,

492
00:25:30,660 --> 00:25:34,620
where you would want to have flexible body armor.

493
00:25:34,620 --> 00:25:36,200
They've also being talked about

494
00:25:36,200 --> 00:25:38,963
for even high performance athletic wear.

495
00:25:40,300 --> 00:25:42,460
We leave a tiny world behind

496
00:25:43,490 --> 00:25:46,253
and move on to a global one in trouble.

497
00:25:49,280 --> 00:25:52,230
In 2021 extreme weather events,

498
00:25:52,230 --> 00:25:54,573
shatter records all across the planet.

499
00:25:55,840 --> 00:25:59,030
In February, a series of winter storms

500
00:25:59,030 --> 00:26:01,480
lead to a catastrophic freeze event

501
00:26:01,480 --> 00:26:03,563
that paralyzes much of Texas.

502
00:26:04,560 --> 00:26:08,620
In June, a heat dome settles in the Pacific Northwest areas

503
00:26:08,620 --> 00:26:11,100
of the United States and Canada

504
00:26:11,100 --> 00:26:15,713
causing blast furnace temperatures of up to 118 degrees.

505
00:26:16,870 --> 00:26:21,020
In July, heavy rainfall from a cutoff low pressure system

506
00:26:21,020 --> 00:26:23,410
causes severe flooding in Germany,

507
00:26:23,410 --> 00:26:25,093
Belgium and the Netherlands.

508
00:26:26,250 --> 00:26:27,870
Lives are swept away

509
00:26:27,870 --> 00:26:31,213
along with houses, highways and rail lines.

510
00:26:34,780 --> 00:26:36,800
What is different this time

511
00:26:36,800 --> 00:26:39,790
is that scientists are drawing direct links

512
00:26:39,790 --> 00:26:43,373
between these extreme weather events and climate change.

513
00:26:44,520 --> 00:26:47,880
{\an8}As climate changes, it is stretching

514
00:26:47,880 --> 00:26:51,470
{\an8}or distorting our extremes.

515
00:26:51,470 --> 00:26:53,210
It's making some of them more frequent,

516
00:26:53,210 --> 00:26:55,070
it's making other stronger.

517
00:26:55,070 --> 00:26:57,400
Scientists use climate modeling

518
00:26:57,400 --> 00:26:58,933
{\an8}to explain this effect.

519
00:27:00,100 --> 00:27:03,860
{\an8}A climate model runs on a powerful supercomputer,

520
00:27:03,860 --> 00:27:05,690
lines of code describe the changes

521
00:27:05,690 --> 00:27:08,520
that scientists observe in the atmosphere,

522
00:27:08,520 --> 00:27:12,203
ocean, biosphere and land.

523
00:27:14,350 --> 00:27:18,060
Unfortunately, the public often sees climate modeling

524
00:27:18,060 --> 00:27:20,363
as unreliable and inaccurate.

525
00:27:21,840 --> 00:27:26,830
In fact, it's so precise that it earns a Nobel Prize.

526
00:27:26,830 --> 00:27:29,960
Two pioneering climate modelers and a physicist

527
00:27:29,960 --> 00:27:32,200
are awarded the prize in physics

528
00:27:32,200 --> 00:27:34,010
for groundbreaking contributions

529
00:27:34,010 --> 00:27:37,103
to the understanding of complex physical systems.

530
00:27:38,550 --> 00:27:40,270
This understanding can help us

531
00:27:40,270 --> 00:27:42,563
before the next extreme event hits.

532
00:27:44,530 --> 00:27:47,300
By anticipating future heat waves,

533
00:27:47,300 --> 00:27:49,560
deaths can be dramatically reduced

534
00:27:49,560 --> 00:27:51,273
with adequate preparation.

535
00:27:52,200 --> 00:27:53,650
In the case of flooding,

536
00:27:53,650 --> 00:27:55,970
by implementing early warning systems

537
00:27:55,970 --> 00:27:57,790
and improving infrastructure,

538
00:27:57,790 --> 00:28:01,790
residents will be able to become more resilient and survive.

539
00:28:01,790 --> 00:28:04,970
Rather than only looking backwards to make our decisions,

540
00:28:04,970 --> 00:28:07,190
we have to start looking forwards into the future,

541
00:28:07,190 --> 00:28:09,360
that's why we need climate projections.

542
00:28:09,360 --> 00:28:10,750
Time's running out.

543
00:28:10,750 --> 00:28:13,490
With a two degree increase in global warming,

544
00:28:13,490 --> 00:28:16,620
extreme weather events will occur more frequently

545
00:28:16,620 --> 00:28:18,193
and with more intensity.

546
00:28:19,400 --> 00:28:20,800
Scientists and engineers

547
00:28:20,800 --> 00:28:23,170
have already taken on this challenge

548
00:28:23,170 --> 00:28:26,003
and made a revolutionary breakthrough this year.

549
00:28:28,680 --> 00:28:31,780
It's been a goal of science for decades,

550
00:28:31,780 --> 00:28:35,613
clean, commercially viable, nuclear fusion power.

551
00:28:36,660 --> 00:28:40,800
Smashing together, or fusing two or more atoms of hydrogen

552
00:28:40,800 --> 00:28:42,760
to create atoms of helium

553
00:28:42,760 --> 00:28:45,193
releases massive amounts of energy.

554
00:28:48,250 --> 00:28:51,170
In space, this naturally occurring process

555
00:28:51,170 --> 00:28:54,783
is what powers our sun and all the stars.

556
00:28:56,810 --> 00:28:59,720
{\an8}Fusion energy is effectively the universe's choice

557
00:28:59,720 --> 00:29:01,640
{\an8}for how it generates energy.

558
00:29:01,640 --> 00:29:04,970
But fusion on Earth must be manufactured

559
00:29:04,970 --> 00:29:08,000
using electrically charged, incredibly hot,

560
00:29:08,000 --> 00:29:10,033
gaseous hydrogen plasmas.

561
00:29:11,750 --> 00:29:13,220
{\an8}You see the thicker end of the plasma,

562
00:29:13,220 --> 00:29:15,310
{\an8}we are creating fusion here.

563
00:29:15,310 --> 00:29:16,820
Most fusion research

564
00:29:16,820 --> 00:29:19,026
revolves around Tokamaks, donut shaped reactors

565
00:29:19,026 --> 00:29:24,026
that use strong magnetic fields to contain the fuel.

566
00:29:24,830 --> 00:29:26,060
Fundamentally what fusion is,

567
00:29:26,060 --> 00:29:28,940
is trying to put a star in a bottle.

568
00:29:28,940 --> 00:29:33,090
Now, Tokamak is basically the simplest type of bottle.

569
00:29:33,090 --> 00:29:34,100
And in this case,

570
00:29:34,100 --> 00:29:37,280
it's a magnet that holds the plasma inside of it,

571
00:29:37,280 --> 00:29:39,930
and it insulates the fuel, the plasma.

572
00:29:39,930 --> 00:29:42,500
So it can get very, very, very hot.

573
00:29:42,500 --> 00:29:44,970
Hundred millions of degrees hot,

574
00:29:44,970 --> 00:29:46,203
hotter than the sun.

575
00:29:47,580 --> 00:29:50,750
Recent experiments produce fleeting successes,

576
00:29:50,750 --> 00:29:53,423
but require more energy than is produced.

577
00:29:54,450 --> 00:29:56,360
But in September, a team

578
00:29:56,360 --> 00:29:59,150
from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

579
00:29:59,150 --> 00:30:02,820
and a commercial startup named Commonwealth Fusion Systems

580
00:30:02,820 --> 00:30:04,223
announced a breakthrough.

581
00:30:05,560 --> 00:30:09,530
The key is a new type of magnet weighing 10 tons

582
00:30:09,530 --> 00:30:13,490
and consisting of 270 kilometers of HTS

583
00:30:13,490 --> 00:30:16,343
or High Temperature Superconductor coil.

584
00:30:17,490 --> 00:30:21,460
A major milestone is how the magnet's stunning efficiency

585
00:30:21,460 --> 00:30:24,073
requires only 30 Watts of energy.

586
00:30:25,370 --> 00:30:27,890
Dramatically minimizing the energy needed

587
00:30:27,890 --> 00:30:29,363
for the containment field.

588
00:30:30,420 --> 00:30:33,380
In the creation of a fusion power plant,

589
00:30:33,380 --> 00:30:35,660
arguably the biggest miracle

590
00:30:35,660 --> 00:30:38,090
{\an8}is the demonstration of the magnets.

591
00:30:38,090 --> 00:30:39,590
{\an8}And that's where we are today.

592
00:30:40,760 --> 00:30:42,880
The MIT CFS team

593
00:30:42,880 --> 00:30:46,250
believe their magnet technologies will provide the quickest

594
00:30:46,250 --> 00:30:47,690
and most viable approach

595
00:30:47,690 --> 00:30:50,163
to achieving net energy from fusion.

596
00:30:52,600 --> 00:30:55,863
That's more energy out than is consumed.

597
00:30:57,770 --> 00:30:59,790
{\an8}The reason we don't have fusion power plants,

598
00:30:59,790 --> 00:31:04,343
{\an8}like right now today was largely one of scale.

599
00:31:05,890 --> 00:31:09,300
This new magnet technology allows us to make fusions

600
00:31:09,300 --> 00:31:11,890
so much smaller with known science

601
00:31:11,890 --> 00:31:14,230
that we're going to be able to get there so much sooner

602
00:31:14,230 --> 00:31:16,480
than people have thought previously possible.

603
00:31:18,230 --> 00:31:20,130
Why is this so important?

604
00:31:21,010 --> 00:31:24,800
With it's zero emission potential and abundant sea water

605
00:31:24,800 --> 00:31:27,153
providing the necessary hydrogen fuel,

606
00:31:28,610 --> 00:31:31,470
fusion presents a welcome alternative

607
00:31:31,470 --> 00:31:33,263
to burning fossil fuels.

608
00:31:34,890 --> 00:31:37,270
Well, there's a big push right now

609
00:31:37,270 --> 00:31:41,853
in decarbonizing the grid with renewables, solar wind,

610
00:31:43,400 --> 00:31:46,820
but at some point probably around 2040,

611
00:31:46,820 --> 00:31:48,810
we're gonna max out with renewables

612
00:31:48,810 --> 00:31:51,360
and we won't be able to decarbonize further.

613
00:31:51,360 --> 00:31:54,983
We're gonna need another zero carbon option.

614
00:31:56,440 --> 00:31:58,930
If all goes according to plan,

615
00:31:58,930 --> 00:32:01,450
a truly transformative technology

616
00:32:01,450 --> 00:32:04,140
could soon provide a cleaner environment

617
00:32:04,140 --> 00:32:06,460
while powering the future.

618
00:32:06,460 --> 00:32:08,140
Imagine the world in 2050,

619
00:32:08,140 --> 00:32:11,320
where you've got like 10,000 fusion power plants

620
00:32:11,320 --> 00:32:13,870
producing 20% of the global energy use

621
00:32:13,870 --> 00:32:15,390
without admitting any carbon,

622
00:32:15,390 --> 00:32:17,340
that would be really good for everyone.

623
00:32:19,270 --> 00:32:22,120
Another feet of groundbreaking technology

624
00:32:22,120 --> 00:32:23,793
won't be found on the ground.

625
00:32:27,600 --> 00:32:30,010
In the far reaches of space,

626
00:32:30,010 --> 00:32:33,000
400 million years after The Big Bang,

627
00:32:33,000 --> 00:32:35,150
the first light appears

628
00:32:35,150 --> 00:32:38,693
caused by the formation of the first stars and galaxies.

629
00:32:40,840 --> 00:32:44,700
This ancient light is the key target for the largest

630
00:32:44,700 --> 00:32:48,380
and most technologically advanced telescope ever,

631
00:32:48,380 --> 00:32:51,420
The James Webb Space Telescope.

632
00:32:51,420 --> 00:32:54,090
{\an8}Webb constitutes a big leap in astrophysics.

633
00:32:54,090 --> 00:32:56,983
{\an8}It really is the next generation telescope.

634
00:32:58,360 --> 00:33:00,670
It has three main missions,

635
00:33:00,670 --> 00:33:03,340
to see this light from The Big Bang,

636
00:33:03,340 --> 00:33:06,310
study the formation of galaxies and stars,

637
00:33:06,310 --> 00:33:09,313
and look for signs of life around distant planets.

638
00:33:11,730 --> 00:33:15,050
The massive telescope is folded up like origami

639
00:33:15,050 --> 00:33:17,250
and squeezed inside the nose fairing

640
00:33:17,250 --> 00:33:20,503
of a European Space Agency's Ariane 5 rocket.

641
00:33:21,970 --> 00:33:25,800
Once launched it'll unfold over three weeks

642
00:33:25,800 --> 00:33:28,963
in an intricate ballet of automated sequences.

643
00:33:29,890 --> 00:33:33,240
At the heart is the largest mirror ever made,

644
00:33:33,240 --> 00:33:37,410
18 separate pieces that must precisely fit together,

645
00:33:37,410 --> 00:33:40,123
creating a single gigantic mirror.

646
00:33:40,980 --> 00:33:45,150
This optical system feeds light to four science instruments

647
00:33:45,150 --> 00:33:49,300
capable of detecting the chemical compositions of galaxies

648
00:33:49,300 --> 00:33:51,523
and the atmospheres of distant planets.

649
00:33:52,580 --> 00:33:55,640
Webb will be sent a million miles from Earth

650
00:33:55,640 --> 00:33:57,930
to a gravitation or stable point

651
00:33:57,930 --> 00:34:01,243
that it can circle as it orbits the Sun with the Earth.

652
00:34:03,240 --> 00:34:06,310
To protect itself from the Sun's searing heat

653
00:34:06,310 --> 00:34:09,460
requires it's most ambitious innovation,

654
00:34:09,460 --> 00:34:13,160
a giant sun shield the size of a tennis court

655
00:34:13,160 --> 00:34:16,160
and made of five layers of reflective fabric,

656
00:34:16,160 --> 00:34:18,693
each as thin as a human hair.

657
00:34:20,240 --> 00:34:22,530
Once in operating position,

658
00:34:22,530 --> 00:34:26,363
Webb we'll need to unfold this complex apparatus perfectly.

659
00:34:27,390 --> 00:34:29,633
It's the riskiest part of the whole mission.

660
00:34:30,660 --> 00:34:32,270
We do risky things 'cause it's the only way

661
00:34:32,270 --> 00:34:34,220
to get at the answers that we're after.

662
00:34:35,480 --> 00:34:36,860
{\an8}The only way to get at the answer

663
00:34:36,860 --> 00:34:38,610
{\an8}is to build this kind of equipment.

664
00:34:40,700 --> 00:34:43,000
The James Webb Space Telescope

665
00:34:43,000 --> 00:34:46,270
will be an IPS to uncharted realms,

666
00:34:46,270 --> 00:34:49,453
changing our understanding of our place in the universe.

667
00:34:53,670 --> 00:34:56,560
Closer to our home planet space science

668
00:34:56,560 --> 00:35:00,513
is looking to the second body from the Sun, Venus.

669
00:35:01,650 --> 00:35:02,870
Other than the Moon,

670
00:35:02,870 --> 00:35:05,313
it's the brightest object in the night sky,

671
00:35:06,970 --> 00:35:09,433
captivating men and women for millennium.

672
00:35:11,430 --> 00:35:13,650
{\an8}We think that Venus may once have looked

673
00:35:13,650 --> 00:35:15,223
{\an8}more like Earth in the past.

674
00:35:17,950 --> 00:35:20,790
Two new programs, DaVinci and Veritas

675
00:35:21,690 --> 00:35:23,430
will launch planetary probes

676
00:35:23,430 --> 00:35:26,143
designed to visit Venus within a decade.

677
00:35:28,270 --> 00:35:31,860
Two rocky bodies, roughly the same size,

678
00:35:31,860 --> 00:35:34,500
astronomical next door neighbors,

679
00:35:34,500 --> 00:35:37,513
both formed about four and a half billion years ago.

680
00:35:41,680 --> 00:35:44,620
How did two worlds with so much in common

681
00:35:44,620 --> 00:35:46,210
become so different?

682
00:35:46,210 --> 00:35:49,240
It's this amazing cosmic accident, right,

683
00:35:49,240 --> 00:35:52,650
{\an8}that we have two planets that are so much alike.

684
00:35:52,650 --> 00:35:54,270
{\an8}It's like every scientist's dream

685
00:35:54,270 --> 00:35:56,073
that you have, like a control case.

686
00:35:58,740 --> 00:36:01,060
The plans include a carrier spacecraft,

687
00:36:01,060 --> 00:36:03,100
which will fly by Venus twice

688
00:36:03,100 --> 00:36:05,370
before releasing the descent probe,

689
00:36:05,370 --> 00:36:09,150
protected by a heat shield, seven feet in diameter.

690
00:36:09,150 --> 00:36:10,970
That will carry us into the atmosphere,

691
00:36:10,970 --> 00:36:13,170
{\an8}handle the peak heating of that entry

692
00:36:13,170 --> 00:36:15,220
{\an8}and then jet us in the heat shield.

693
00:36:15,220 --> 00:36:17,290
So our probe will be exposed to the atmosphere

694
00:36:17,290 --> 00:36:19,870
in the upper clouds around 70 kilometers.

695
00:36:19,870 --> 00:36:22,100
And that's when our mission begins.

696
00:36:22,100 --> 00:36:23,700
That multi-pronged mission

697
00:36:23,700 --> 00:36:25,600
to examine the elemental properties

698
00:36:25,600 --> 00:36:27,620
of the Venusian atmosphere,

699
00:36:27,620 --> 00:36:31,550
image and identify the character of the landscape

700
00:36:31,550 --> 00:36:34,870
and ultimately land on the surface.

701
00:36:34,870 --> 00:36:37,110
We are sending, what I like to call,

702
00:36:37,110 --> 00:36:39,940
a flying Rover chemistry lab,

703
00:36:39,940 --> 00:36:41,820
and it will be in the form of a special probe,

704
00:36:41,820 --> 00:36:43,330
not unlike a diving bell

705
00:36:43,330 --> 00:36:45,630
that you would need to go into the deep ocean.

706
00:36:47,100 --> 00:36:49,630
We're gonna look for chemical fingerprints

707
00:36:49,630 --> 00:36:52,790
that may indicate that Venus was once habitable in the past.

708
00:36:52,790 --> 00:36:55,970
So by reading these records on Venus today,

709
00:36:55,970 --> 00:36:58,230
we might be able to infer that Venus

710
00:36:58,230 --> 00:37:00,970
was a nice place to live in the past.

711
00:37:00,970 --> 00:37:02,870
Maybe a place that we'd want to visit.

712
00:37:05,630 --> 00:37:07,570
Understanding Venus' story

713
00:37:07,570 --> 00:37:10,340
can aid the search for life on new planets,

714
00:37:10,340 --> 00:37:11,290
around other stars.

715
00:37:14,010 --> 00:37:17,340
If DaVinci will explore Venus close-up,

716
00:37:17,340 --> 00:37:20,060
Veritas launching in 2028,

717
00:37:20,060 --> 00:37:23,173
will examine the planet from a distance in orbit.

718
00:37:25,480 --> 00:37:29,150
Now using radar technologies developed to study Earth,

719
00:37:29,150 --> 00:37:33,830
Veritas will return data from Venus 100 times more detailed

720
00:37:33,830 --> 00:37:35,093
than it's predecessors.

721
00:37:36,100 --> 00:37:38,960
The science that Veritas wants to accomplish

722
00:37:38,960 --> 00:37:41,430
is looking at the planet holistically.

723
00:37:41,430 --> 00:37:43,360
We want to understand that geologic engine

724
00:37:43,360 --> 00:37:44,810
inside the planet,

725
00:37:44,810 --> 00:37:46,550
how that interacts with the surface,

726
00:37:46,550 --> 00:37:47,820
how it drives vulcanism,

727
00:37:47,820 --> 00:37:49,670
how it drives faulting

728
00:37:49,670 --> 00:37:51,623
and what that means for the atmosphere.

729
00:37:53,000 --> 00:37:54,890
It may be that Venus is a magic mirror

730
00:37:54,890 --> 00:37:58,060
that's reflecting the future of Earth back to our planet.

731
00:37:58,060 --> 00:38:00,550
So these same processes involving, you know,

732
00:38:00,550 --> 00:38:04,700
the shutdown of geological activity as the planet cools.

733
00:38:04,700 --> 00:38:06,750
These are also gonna play out on Earth,

734
00:38:06,750 --> 00:38:08,543
billions of years into the future.

735
00:38:09,470 --> 00:38:11,530
This is beyond words.

736
00:38:11,530 --> 00:38:15,700
We are so ready to bring Venus into focus for humanity

737
00:38:15,700 --> 00:38:18,163
because we think she is a story we have to tell.

738
00:38:20,880 --> 00:38:23,920
Another story waiting to be told,

739
00:38:23,920 --> 00:38:25,903
comes from deep in our oceans.

740
00:38:28,600 --> 00:38:30,960
An untold number of ocean creatures,

741
00:38:30,960 --> 00:38:33,510
call this deep domain home,

742
00:38:33,510 --> 00:38:37,353
thanks to a weird and watery web of life.

743
00:38:39,520 --> 00:38:42,373
Armed with an impressive array of new technologies,

744
00:38:43,330 --> 00:38:46,360
a team of scientists embark on a quest

745
00:38:46,360 --> 00:38:49,133
to explore this mysterious ocean region.

746
00:38:53,130 --> 00:38:56,530
Scientifically known as the mesopelagic zone,

747
00:38:56,530 --> 00:38:58,430
the ocean twilight zone

748
00:38:58,430 --> 00:39:01,050
sits beneath the surface layer of the ocean

749
00:39:01,050 --> 00:39:02,970
and stretches around the world,

750
00:39:02,970 --> 00:39:06,993
at depths roughly between 100 and a thousand meters.

751
00:39:09,910 --> 00:39:12,050
It earned it's murky nickname

752
00:39:12,050 --> 00:39:14,463
due to the limited penetration of sunlight,

753
00:39:15,750 --> 00:39:17,350
a challenging environment,

754
00:39:17,350 --> 00:39:20,120
even before considering the cold temperatures

755
00:39:20,120 --> 00:39:21,533
and intense pressures.

756
00:39:22,970 --> 00:39:25,620
{\an8}There are specially adapted creatures

757
00:39:25,620 --> 00:39:27,610
{\an8}that can detect whether it's day or night,

758
00:39:27,610 --> 00:39:29,820
{\an8}even though there's vanishingly low levels

759
00:39:29,820 --> 00:39:31,720
of light in that zone.

760
00:39:31,720 --> 00:39:34,530
{\an8}They're uniquely adapted, they can see each other.

761
00:39:34,530 --> 00:39:37,320
{\an8}They bioluminescent many times,

762
00:39:37,320 --> 00:39:39,860
either to kind of be stealthily hidden

763
00:39:39,860 --> 00:39:42,430
so they can match the sunlight above them,

764
00:39:42,430 --> 00:39:44,460
so they can't be seen from below

765
00:39:44,460 --> 00:39:48,250
or to create little targets so they can entice animals

766
00:39:48,250 --> 00:39:50,693
to come close enough so they can actually eat them.

767
00:39:51,850 --> 00:39:52,780
A research ship

768
00:39:52,780 --> 00:39:56,110
chartered by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

769
00:39:56,110 --> 00:39:59,130
is designed to examine the ocean twilight zone

770
00:39:59,130 --> 00:40:01,563
and it's ecological role for our planet.

771
00:40:04,670 --> 00:40:07,403
On Terraferma, tree buds burst,

772
00:40:08,750 --> 00:40:11,770
flowers blossom and leaves fall,

773
00:40:11,770 --> 00:40:14,280
the cycling of carbon dioxide out in the open

774
00:40:14,280 --> 00:40:16,040
for all to see.

775
00:40:16,040 --> 00:40:19,060
At sea that process is largely the same,

776
00:40:19,060 --> 00:40:20,730
but hidden from view.

777
00:40:20,730 --> 00:40:23,540
{\an8}Plant-like organisms phytoplankton in the ocean,

778
00:40:23,540 --> 00:40:26,960
{\an8}take the carbon dioxide and thinks it's the sunshine,

779
00:40:26,960 --> 00:40:28,967
convert it into their organic carbon.

780
00:40:28,967 --> 00:40:30,720
And that effectively becomes the food

781
00:40:30,720 --> 00:40:33,383
for the rest of the ocean ecosystem.

782
00:40:34,520 --> 00:40:36,420
The ocean absorbs about a third

783
00:40:36,420 --> 00:40:39,130
of carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere

784
00:40:39,130 --> 00:40:41,010
as a result of human activities,

785
00:40:41,010 --> 00:40:43,003
like the burning of fossil fuels.

786
00:40:47,000 --> 00:40:49,430
This research voyage seeks to gain knowledge

787
00:40:49,430 --> 00:40:53,120
about what's called the Biological Carbon Pump,

788
00:40:53,120 --> 00:40:55,280
the process by which carbon is transferred

789
00:40:55,280 --> 00:40:58,153
from the atmosphere to the bottom of the ocean.

790
00:40:59,820 --> 00:41:03,593
This natural phenomenon has occurred for millions of years,

791
00:41:05,090 --> 00:41:09,093
including the time a prehistoric beast stalked the water.

792
00:41:13,980 --> 00:41:17,430
We're fascinated by the T-Rex of the oceans,

793
00:41:17,430 --> 00:41:21,100
a beast three times longer and 30 times heavier

794
00:41:21,100 --> 00:41:22,650
than a Great White shark.

795
00:41:22,650 --> 00:41:24,510
How could a shark get this large?

796
00:41:24,510 --> 00:41:27,350
What were these massive teeth being used for?

797
00:41:27,350 --> 00:41:30,180
New breakthroughs are revealing hidden details

798
00:41:30,180 --> 00:41:33,280
about the monster shark's secret struggles.

799
00:41:33,280 --> 00:41:36,620
{\an8}We think the Megalodon was cannibalistic

800
00:41:36,620 --> 00:41:40,120
{\an8}and there's no reason to think that Meg pups

801
00:41:40,120 --> 00:41:43,723
would have been safe from other larger Megalodons.

802
00:41:45,920 --> 00:41:48,550
The pups that emerged were the strongest

803
00:41:48,550 --> 00:41:50,763
because they ate their siblings in the womb.

804
00:41:54,830 --> 00:41:57,670
Megalodon hunted in seas around the world

805
00:41:57,670 --> 00:42:00,607
from 20 until 7 million years ago.

806
00:42:01,710 --> 00:42:03,220
It's prey lived globally.

807
00:42:03,220 --> 00:42:05,470
So wherever it's prey where, so was Megalodon

808
00:42:07,110 --> 00:42:08,660
One unique location

809
00:42:08,660 --> 00:42:11,453
yields an impressive fossil record of the beast.

810
00:42:13,710 --> 00:42:16,833
The Calvert Cliffs in Maryland, where once underwater.

811
00:42:17,680 --> 00:42:19,990
Megalodon teeth are found here,

812
00:42:19,990 --> 00:42:22,250
on land or an excavation sites,

813
00:42:22,250 --> 00:42:25,360
because those sediments that preserve those teeth

814
00:42:25,360 --> 00:42:27,863
were once ocean bottom, ocean floor.

815
00:42:30,130 --> 00:42:31,300
There are new theories

816
00:42:31,300 --> 00:42:35,370
about what caused the beast to vanish from the world seas.

817
00:42:35,370 --> 00:42:37,120
Megalodon being as large as it was,

818
00:42:37,120 --> 00:42:39,750
{\an8}it would require more food than a Great White.

819
00:42:39,750 --> 00:42:42,830
{\an8}So just the fact that Great Whites could survive

820
00:42:42,830 --> 00:42:46,650
{\an8}with less prey gave them advantage over Megalodon.

821
00:42:46,650 --> 00:42:49,640
Another theory is that whales and dolphins adapt

822
00:42:49,640 --> 00:42:52,450
to the ability to go into colder waters

823
00:42:52,450 --> 00:42:54,240
and that Megalodon couldn't tolerate

824
00:42:54,240 --> 00:42:55,730
those cold temperatures,

825
00:42:55,730 --> 00:42:58,590
so there was a reduction in prey availability.

826
00:42:58,590 --> 00:43:02,540
And the third explanation is that, when Panama formed

827
00:43:02,540 --> 00:43:06,070
that landmass separated the Pacific from the Atlantic

828
00:43:06,070 --> 00:43:08,170
and people suggested that that interrupted

829
00:43:08,170 --> 00:43:10,320
some of the migration routes for Megalodon.

830
00:43:11,438 --> 00:43:13,970
(gentle upbeat music)

831
00:43:13,970 --> 00:43:15,400
Teeth are almost all

832
00:43:15,400 --> 00:43:16,950
that we have left of Megalodon.

833
00:43:19,100 --> 00:43:21,140
The size of the Megalodon tooth

834
00:43:21,140 --> 00:43:23,963
tells us how large the animal was.

835
00:43:26,840 --> 00:43:30,210
Like White sharks, Megalodon was strategic.

836
00:43:30,210 --> 00:43:31,620
Megalodon strategy would be

837
00:43:31,620 --> 00:43:34,000
to attack the tail of the animal,

838
00:43:34,000 --> 00:43:35,850
effectively and mobilize it,

839
00:43:35,850 --> 00:43:38,023
and then the animal would bleed out.

840
00:43:39,950 --> 00:43:42,560
Adult Megs we're probably also cannibals.

841
00:43:42,560 --> 00:43:44,670
From time to time, Meg teeth are found

842
00:43:44,670 --> 00:43:47,320
that show that they were bitten by another Meg tooth.

843
00:43:48,400 --> 00:43:50,660
Megalodon was the top marine predator

844
00:43:50,660 --> 00:43:53,090
for about 20 million years.

845
00:43:53,090 --> 00:43:55,410
Without a doubt, no matter how big and powerful you are,

846
00:43:55,410 --> 00:43:57,700
if you can't adapt to a changing environment,

847
00:43:57,700 --> 00:43:58,900
you will become extinct.

848
00:44:00,560 --> 00:44:03,860
Sometimes unexpected science solutions

849
00:44:05,320 --> 00:44:07,763
arise from unexpected places.

850
00:44:10,130 --> 00:44:14,063
A silent looming presence with never waning power.

851
00:44:17,470 --> 00:44:22,043
The Suez Canal, a vital passageway linking Europe with Asia.

852
00:44:24,010 --> 00:44:26,380
One of the world's largest container ships,

853
00:44:26,380 --> 00:44:28,540
as long as the empire state building,

854
00:44:28,540 --> 00:44:33,263
tipped on it's side, crashes into a and becomes stuck.

855
00:44:34,600 --> 00:44:36,560
{\an8}This is the largest vessel ever

856
00:44:36,560 --> 00:44:38,380
{\an8}to go ground in the Suez Canal.

857
00:44:38,380 --> 00:44:40,750
And she's gone sideways in the Canal,

858
00:44:40,750 --> 00:44:43,300
blocking both North and South.

859
00:44:43,300 --> 00:44:46,023
Can have a huge ramifications for global trades.

860
00:44:47,120 --> 00:44:50,083
300 Ships are backed up and waiting.

861
00:44:51,020 --> 00:44:52,970
{\an8}Around a million containers currently waiting

862
00:44:52,970 --> 00:44:55,730
{\an8}to exit the Canal.

863
00:44:55,730 --> 00:44:58,483
This is gonna take weeks if not months to unravel.

864
00:45:00,300 --> 00:45:02,170
International experts are summoned

865
00:45:02,170 --> 00:45:04,813
to figure out how to budge the stubborn vessel.

866
00:45:07,020 --> 00:45:09,650
Emergency crews work around the clock

867
00:45:09,650 --> 00:45:12,143
to dredge sand from around the ship's bow.

868
00:45:14,530 --> 00:45:17,810
But the Canal bank is made a very soft sand

869
00:45:17,810 --> 00:45:20,460
and the ship sinks further in.

870
00:45:20,460 --> 00:45:23,410
The friction stops it moving completely.

871
00:45:23,410 --> 00:45:26,910
{\an8}So you need a massive force to try and move that.

872
00:45:26,910 --> 00:45:30,160
We dredge the sand away little bit by little bit

873
00:45:30,160 --> 00:45:32,723
with these tugs, is going to be a very big job.

874
00:45:34,430 --> 00:45:37,100
With all eyes focused on the water

875
00:45:37,100 --> 00:45:40,830
an alternate solution appears in the sky,

876
00:45:40,830 --> 00:45:43,937
not just a Full Moon, but a Supermoon.

877
00:45:45,120 --> 00:45:48,320
This occurs when the Moon's orbit is closest to Earth

878
00:45:48,320 --> 00:45:50,253
at the same time it's full.

879
00:45:52,010 --> 00:45:55,600
As Earth rotates it's watery surface bulges out

880
00:45:55,600 --> 00:45:57,053
due to the moon's gravity.

881
00:45:58,390 --> 00:46:01,893
This makes seas rise and fall forming tides.

882
00:46:03,140 --> 00:46:04,990
As the Supermoon peaks,

883
00:46:04,990 --> 00:46:08,720
a spring tide rises a foot and a half above normal.

884
00:46:08,720 --> 00:46:10,420
This gives the critical push

885
00:46:10,420 --> 00:46:13,550
for tugboats to finally refloat the ship

886
00:46:13,550 --> 00:46:15,093
and free up the Canal.

887
00:46:17,350 --> 00:46:19,780
Sometimes the best scientific solution

888
00:46:19,780 --> 00:46:22,513
is when the forces of nature come to the rescue.

889
00:46:25,140 --> 00:46:30,140
Before there was a Suez Canal, or even a modern-day Egypt

890
00:46:30,170 --> 00:46:32,883
an entire civilization once flourished.

891
00:46:34,900 --> 00:46:37,670
Deep in the heart of ancient Egypt,

892
00:46:37,670 --> 00:46:40,822
archeologists have made a groundbreaking discovery.

893
00:46:40,822 --> 00:46:41,810
{\an8}Look at the debris.

894
00:46:41,810 --> 00:46:43,350
{\an8}It's untouched.

895
00:46:43,350 --> 00:46:45,990
{\an8}Nobody has touch for thousands of years.

896
00:46:45,990 --> 00:46:49,530
{\an8}This is incredibly important.

897
00:46:49,530 --> 00:46:51,270
The most significant find

898
00:46:51,270 --> 00:46:54,363
since King Tut's tomb was unEarthed a century ago.

899
00:46:55,933 --> 00:46:57,817
This is really a large city that was lost.

900
00:46:59,036 --> 00:47:01,850
We never thought that this city could be discovered.

901
00:47:01,850 --> 00:47:03,910
Archeologists have been searching for it

902
00:47:03,910 --> 00:47:05,063
over a hundred years.

903
00:47:06,603 --> 00:47:09,357
It was found in the golden age of Egypt, 1391 B.C.

904
00:47:13,000 --> 00:47:15,640
The area lies on the West Bank of the Nile

905
00:47:15,640 --> 00:47:19,293
near Luxor, once the ancient capital of Thebes.

906
00:47:20,598 --> 00:47:24,460
(gentle upbeat music)

907
00:47:24,460 --> 00:47:27,530
The expedition team uncovered mud brick walls

908
00:47:27,530 --> 00:47:29,600
leading in all directions,

909
00:47:29,600 --> 00:47:32,080
which belong to a well-preserved city

910
00:47:32,080 --> 00:47:33,743
with streets and buildings.

911
00:47:35,720 --> 00:47:37,490
{\an8}We found three major districts,

912
00:47:37,490 --> 00:47:39,340
{\an8}one for administration,

913
00:47:39,340 --> 00:47:40,980
{\an8}one for the workmen to sleep,

914
00:47:40,980 --> 00:47:42,530
{\an8}one for the industry.

915
00:47:42,530 --> 00:47:44,800
Archeologists are calling this site,

916
00:47:44,800 --> 00:47:46,973
the Pompey of ancient Egypt.

917
00:47:47,920 --> 00:47:52,920
To see enormous jars that clearly date

918
00:47:53,360 --> 00:47:58,020
to the time of Amenhotep III, still lying on the ground,

919
00:47:58,020 --> 00:48:00,850
{\an8}as if they'd been left there yesterday

920
00:48:00,850 --> 00:48:04,323
{\an8}was really unexpected and exciting.

921
00:48:05,760 --> 00:48:08,650
The city dates back 3,400 years

922
00:48:08,650 --> 00:48:10,433
to the reign of Amenhotep III,

923
00:48:11,420 --> 00:48:14,383
also known as Amenhotep The Magnificent.

924
00:48:15,300 --> 00:48:17,560
He was born at a time when Egypt

925
00:48:17,560 --> 00:48:20,900
had created an enormous empire

926
00:48:20,900 --> 00:48:24,690
that stretched all the way to Northern Syria in the North,

927
00:48:24,690 --> 00:48:28,470
to the Fifth Cataract on the Nile river

928
00:48:28,470 --> 00:48:30,743
in modern Sudan in the South.

929
00:48:31,830 --> 00:48:34,440
Amenhotep III was the wealthiest king

930
00:48:34,440 --> 00:48:35,553
in ancient Egypt.

931
00:48:36,720 --> 00:48:39,690
He used that opportunity to build things

932
00:48:39,690 --> 00:48:44,483
and put his name out there and connect himself to the Gods.

933
00:48:47,710 --> 00:48:50,110
He built most of the temples and palaces

934
00:48:50,110 --> 00:48:51,683
on the west bank of the Nile.

935
00:48:53,740 --> 00:48:55,950
It has taken seven months of labor

936
00:48:55,950 --> 00:48:59,280
to excavate just the industrial part of the city.

937
00:48:59,280 --> 00:49:00,113
One area for the storage,

938
00:49:00,113 --> 00:49:03,760
you find a big area for the storage of making sandals,

939
00:49:03,760 --> 00:49:06,050
also sewing clothing,

940
00:49:06,050 --> 00:49:08,600
precious stones for making necklaces and bracelets.

941
00:49:10,030 --> 00:49:13,200
And an entire fish encrusted with gold

942
00:49:13,200 --> 00:49:15,673
that may have been used in religious ceremonies.

943
00:49:19,260 --> 00:49:20,853
Three skeletons were found.

944
00:49:21,920 --> 00:49:25,143
One was a person with rope wrapped around the knees.

945
00:49:27,880 --> 00:49:30,680
The work of digging out an entire city

946
00:49:30,680 --> 00:49:32,710
will take years to complete.

947
00:49:32,710 --> 00:49:34,750
{\an8}I think we need another five years

948
00:49:34,750 --> 00:49:37,530
{\an8}to continue the excavation on the South

949
00:49:37,530 --> 00:49:40,113
{\an8}to find the funerary temple of Tutankhamun.

950
00:49:41,174 --> 00:49:44,770
We believe that we're gonna find more and more and more.

951
00:49:44,770 --> 00:49:48,620
This will turn out to be a larger city than a Amarna,

952
00:49:48,620 --> 00:49:52,010
the city that Akhenaten founded,

953
00:49:52,010 --> 00:49:54,643
a few years after his father died.

954
00:49:56,670 --> 00:49:59,660
Experts believe this monumental discovery

955
00:49:59,660 --> 00:50:01,713
is just the tip of the iceberg.

956
00:50:02,773 --> 00:50:05,440
(upbeat music)

957
00:50:08,810 --> 00:50:12,093
Now we turned to a natural crisis in the Atlantic.

958
00:50:14,000 --> 00:50:16,263
This whale is fighting for it's life,

959
00:50:18,200 --> 00:50:20,063
strangled by fishing gear.

960
00:50:22,150 --> 00:50:25,920
It's one of the most endangered whale species on Earth.

961
00:50:25,920 --> 00:50:29,143
The crisis is quite bad and quite shocking to me.

962
00:50:30,640 --> 00:50:33,290
There are only about 360 left

963
00:50:33,290 --> 00:50:34,583
on the entire planet.

964
00:50:35,710 --> 00:50:38,120
And experts are racing against the clock

965
00:50:38,120 --> 00:50:40,473
to develop new technologies to save them.

966
00:50:43,630 --> 00:50:46,270
Every year, many Right whales migrate

967
00:50:46,270 --> 00:50:48,530
from their calving grounds in Florida,

968
00:50:48,530 --> 00:50:50,800
Georgia and North Carolina,

969
00:50:50,800 --> 00:50:53,563
up to feeding grounds in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

970
00:50:55,470 --> 00:50:58,920
They must navigate a dangerous manmade obstacle course

971
00:50:58,920 --> 00:51:02,023
of busy shipping lanes and commercial fishing areas.

972
00:51:05,010 --> 00:51:08,090
A leading cause of death and injury to the Right whale

973
00:51:08,090 --> 00:51:09,763
is from vessel strikes.

974
00:51:12,250 --> 00:51:15,083
Another is entanglement in fishing gear.

975
00:51:17,890 --> 00:51:20,360
The rope, the nets that they're wrapped up in,

976
00:51:20,360 --> 00:51:23,470
{\an8}make it harder for them to swim, It increases the drag.

977
00:51:23,470 --> 00:51:25,043
{\an8}And so they lose energies.

978
00:51:25,890 --> 00:51:28,760
And as a result, they've been losing weight,

979
00:51:28,760 --> 00:51:31,073
losing condition, they're in ill health.

980
00:51:35,330 --> 00:51:36,570
It used to be

981
00:51:36,570 --> 00:51:38,970
that the only way to keep track of the Right whale

982
00:51:38,970 --> 00:51:40,850
was from the air.

983
00:51:40,850 --> 00:51:44,740
Now scientists are using sound and acoustic technology

984
00:51:44,740 --> 00:51:48,683
to both track them and alert nearby ships.

985
00:51:49,630 --> 00:51:51,460
{\an8}The echos that they received back

986
00:51:51,460 --> 00:51:54,223
{\an8}tells them something about the environment that they're in.

987
00:51:55,640 --> 00:51:56,640
North Atlanta, Right whales,

988
00:51:56,640 --> 00:51:58,940
{\an8}they produce a whole variety of different calls,

989
00:51:58,940 --> 00:52:01,240
{\an8}but they have this particular call called the up-call,

990
00:52:01,240 --> 00:52:04,020
which is this contact call that they do

991
00:52:04,020 --> 00:52:05,670
to stay in touch with each other.

992
00:52:07,060 --> 00:52:10,400
We identify the species by the types of sounds they make.

993
00:52:10,400 --> 00:52:14,150
And we identified that there are whales there.

994
00:52:14,150 --> 00:52:15,630
This new technology

995
00:52:15,630 --> 00:52:17,673
is called real-time acoustics.

996
00:52:18,520 --> 00:52:21,150
The acoustic recorders can go out to sea,

997
00:52:21,150 --> 00:52:23,310
it doesn't matter what the weather is.

998
00:52:23,310 --> 00:52:27,233
They record 24/7, so it can be pitch-black or daylight.

999
00:52:28,720 --> 00:52:31,260
Real-time data that can alert ships

1000
00:52:31,260 --> 00:52:34,693
and fishing vessels much quicker than archival data.

1001
00:52:36,350 --> 00:52:40,600
Ropes wrapped around a whale's head mouth and baleen,

1002
00:52:40,600 --> 00:52:44,690
flippers and flukes can cause deep lacerations,

1003
00:52:44,690 --> 00:52:49,580
deformities in bones and partial or total amputations.

1004
00:52:49,580 --> 00:52:51,160
In a number of cases,

1005
00:52:51,160 --> 00:52:56,160
ropes were wrapped around a single whale, 30 to 50 times.

1006
00:52:56,250 --> 00:52:58,050
These animals are so big and strong,

1007
00:52:58,050 --> 00:53:01,420
{\an8}they can actually rip that fishing gear off the sea floor

1008
00:53:01,420 --> 00:53:04,113
{\an8}and carry it with them for thousands of kilometers.

1009
00:53:05,470 --> 00:53:07,320
Rope can limit a whale's ability

1010
00:53:07,320 --> 00:53:10,180
to open it's mouth, breathe

1011
00:53:10,180 --> 00:53:14,320
and create a watertight blow hole seal when diving

1012
00:53:14,320 --> 00:53:17,679
leading to starvation and drowning.

1013
00:53:17,679 --> 00:53:20,610
(gentle music)

1014
00:53:20,610 --> 00:53:23,160
The commercial fishing industry is now testing

1015
00:53:23,160 --> 00:53:26,053
two new acoustic retrieval technologies.

1016
00:53:27,080 --> 00:53:31,100
One that keeps the rope on the sea floor until it is needed.

1017
00:53:31,100 --> 00:53:32,740
One way is to attach,

1018
00:53:32,740 --> 00:53:35,620
what are called acoustic releases to gear

1019
00:53:35,620 --> 00:53:40,370
that when given an acoustic command than a release

1020
00:53:40,370 --> 00:53:42,933
and allow a rope to come to the surface.

1021
00:53:45,380 --> 00:53:48,110
Another technology uses an airbag

1022
00:53:48,110 --> 00:53:49,563
to bring the trap up.

1023
00:53:50,780 --> 00:53:55,340
I think the idea of using acoustic traps is a great one

1024
00:53:55,340 --> 00:53:57,090
because for most of the time,

1025
00:53:57,090 --> 00:53:59,040
there will be no rope in the water column

1026
00:53:59,040 --> 00:54:00,540
for whale to get entangled in.

1027
00:54:02,440 --> 00:54:05,150
With the cooperation between commercial fishing

1028
00:54:05,150 --> 00:54:06,520
and the science community,

1029
00:54:06,520 --> 00:54:09,903
these experts believe a win-win solution as possible.

1030
00:54:11,210 --> 00:54:14,680
What we're trying to do is buy some time for the species

1031
00:54:14,680 --> 00:54:16,610
while we get our act together.

1032
00:54:16,610 --> 00:54:19,460
I'm not asking for a reduction in fishing,

1033
00:54:19,460 --> 00:54:21,553
I am asking for a reduction of rope.

1034
00:54:22,860 --> 00:54:25,610
But we're trying to be ahead of the curve,

1035
00:54:25,610 --> 00:54:28,660
{\an8}I want to be at the table, figuring this stuff out.

1036
00:54:28,660 --> 00:54:29,960
If you're working together,

1037
00:54:29,960 --> 00:54:31,943
that's how you're gonna solve something.

1038
00:54:33,410 --> 00:54:36,660
While humans work to save whales,

1039
00:54:36,660 --> 00:54:40,743
dogs on the other hand are working hard to save humans.

1040
00:54:42,470 --> 00:54:45,960
Dogs can help humans sniff out all kinds of things,

1041
00:54:45,960 --> 00:54:50,023
explosives, missing persons, illegal drugs.

1042
00:54:50,920 --> 00:54:53,470
And now the latest research is revealing

1043
00:54:53,470 --> 00:54:57,143
that dogs can detect disease, even cancer.

1044
00:54:58,280 --> 00:55:01,163
The dog's nose is an exquisite chemical detector.

1045
00:55:02,730 --> 00:55:05,960
{\an8}Now we know dogs can smell the prostate cancer in urine,

1046
00:55:05,960 --> 00:55:08,553
{\an8}the next stage is to work out, how do they do it?

1047
00:55:11,200 --> 00:55:13,330
A dog sense is up to a million times

1048
00:55:13,330 --> 00:55:15,350
sharper than humans.

1049
00:55:15,350 --> 00:55:16,920
And recent science is revealing

1050
00:55:16,920 --> 00:55:21,030
that it's up to 100 million times more sensitive.

1051
00:55:21,030 --> 00:55:23,410
Dog's got this incredible sense of smell.

1052
00:55:23,410 --> 00:55:26,340
I mean, they have 300 million sensory receptors

1053
00:55:26,340 --> 00:55:27,640
in their refractory epithelium.

1054
00:55:27,640 --> 00:55:30,070
So us poor humans got 5 million

1055
00:55:30,070 --> 00:55:31,920
and we still smell things quite well.

1056
00:55:34,970 --> 00:55:37,030
While a dog's brain is only one 10th,

1057
00:55:37,030 --> 00:55:39,050
the size of a human brain,

1058
00:55:39,050 --> 00:55:42,830
the portion controlling smell is 40 times larger

1059
00:55:42,830 --> 00:55:43,843
than in humans.

1060
00:55:45,230 --> 00:55:47,560
{\an8}There's some new evidence that dogs can predict

1061
00:55:47,560 --> 00:55:50,453
{\an8}when a seizure is about to happen.

1062
00:55:52,740 --> 00:55:53,610
Well, the medical detector dog

1063
00:55:53,610 --> 00:55:56,170
is a dog that can smell disease,

1064
00:55:56,170 --> 00:55:58,780
which sounds too much to believe.

1065
00:55:58,780 --> 00:56:01,080
When a dog is living alongside us,

1066
00:56:01,080 --> 00:56:03,380
they notice biochemical changes that occur

1067
00:56:03,380 --> 00:56:04,970
when we come unwell.

1068
00:56:04,970 --> 00:56:06,930
And that they, if trained correctly,

1069
00:56:06,930 --> 00:56:08,583
can tell us about these changes.

1070
00:56:09,900 --> 00:56:11,030
This research led to

1071
00:56:11,030 --> 00:56:13,080
a major scientific breakthrough.

1072
00:56:13,080 --> 00:56:16,600
Dogs are able to detect or smell cancer

1073
00:56:16,600 --> 00:56:18,363
much earlier than doctors.

1074
00:56:19,220 --> 00:56:20,400
When a dog sniffs,

1075
00:56:20,400 --> 00:56:23,730
they are able to take in a lot more at once.

1076
00:56:23,730 --> 00:56:26,030
That sends signals to the brain.

1077
00:56:26,030 --> 00:56:28,373
And that's where the odor is processed.

1078
00:56:29,240 --> 00:56:30,860
There's a part of the brain called the thalamus

1079
00:56:30,860 --> 00:56:33,953
that works essentially as the brains operators.

1080
00:56:36,230 --> 00:56:38,800
Different odors actually bypass the thalamus

1081
00:56:38,800 --> 00:56:40,313
and go straight to the parts of the brain,

1082
00:56:40,313 --> 00:56:42,900
that process and interpret those odors,

1083
00:56:42,900 --> 00:56:45,080
which are closely tied to the parts of the brain

1084
00:56:45,080 --> 00:56:48,610
that process emotions, memories.

1085
00:56:48,610 --> 00:56:50,990
Odors seem to have a very strong,

1086
00:56:50,990 --> 00:56:53,303
kind of emotional association with them.

1087
00:56:54,360 --> 00:56:56,760
Scientists use functional MRI

1088
00:56:56,760 --> 00:57:00,413
to understand the dog's unique neuro olfactory connection.

1089
00:57:01,430 --> 00:57:05,390
{\an8}Functional MRI is a way to look at brain activity,

1090
00:57:05,390 --> 00:57:06,740
how different parts of the brain

1091
00:57:06,740 --> 00:57:08,173
communicate with each other.

1092
00:57:09,260 --> 00:57:12,850
Using functional MRI, we might be able to better understand

1093
00:57:12,850 --> 00:57:15,123
how to train them to detect the range of things

1094
00:57:15,123 --> 00:57:17,723
that we want them to respond to.

1095
00:57:20,450 --> 00:57:21,500
When you're sniffing something,

1096
00:57:21,500 --> 00:57:23,150
{\an8}you're not getting a list of molecules

1097
00:57:23,150 --> 00:57:23,983
{\an8}by name and concentration.

1098
00:57:23,983 --> 00:57:26,970
{\an8}What you get is more akin to an image or a poem

1099
00:57:26,970 --> 00:57:28,200
or a piece of music.

1100
00:57:28,200 --> 00:57:30,150
It is an experience, it's a perception.

1101
00:57:32,270 --> 00:57:33,880
This knowledge is also being used

1102
00:57:33,880 --> 00:57:38,240
by researchers at MIT and the Prostate Cancer Foundation

1103
00:57:38,240 --> 00:57:39,550
who are attempting to create

1104
00:57:39,550 --> 00:57:42,313
an artificially intelligent dog's nose.

1105
00:57:45,370 --> 00:57:48,055
What Andreas Mershin and his team are going to do

1106
00:57:48,055 --> 00:57:52,710
is build a robotic nose that is going to detect odors

1107
00:57:52,710 --> 00:57:54,453
in the way that the dog does.

1108
00:57:55,590 --> 00:57:56,810
A device such as this

1109
00:57:56,810 --> 00:57:59,750
would be game-changing for humanity.

1110
00:57:59,750 --> 00:58:01,450
Let's put a nose in a cell phone.

1111
00:58:01,450 --> 00:58:03,620
Dogs can smell cancer and building a device

1112
00:58:03,620 --> 00:58:04,520
that will fit in your cell phones

1113
00:58:04,520 --> 00:58:05,570
so you can smell your own cancer

1114
00:58:05,570 --> 00:58:07,460
without having to drag a dog around.

1115
00:58:07,460 --> 00:58:10,150
From dog detection to prevention,

1116
00:58:10,150 --> 00:58:12,853
there's more breakthrough news on the COVID front.

1117
00:58:15,170 --> 00:58:18,740
When the best science minds focus on a single problem,

1118
00:58:18,740 --> 00:58:20,733
the results can be miraculous.

1119
00:58:22,220 --> 00:58:25,150
Microscopic video shows how the Coronavirus

1120
00:58:25,150 --> 00:58:28,500
turns host cells into virus-making factories,

1121
00:58:28,500 --> 00:58:30,833
causing them to explode and die.

1122
00:58:32,680 --> 00:58:34,310
As the pandemic rages on,

1123
00:58:34,310 --> 00:58:36,963
scientists battle the virus on multiple fronts.

1124
00:58:39,420 --> 00:58:43,030
Breakthroughs from the past year provide glimpses of light

1125
00:58:43,030 --> 00:58:44,280
at the end of the tunnel.

1126
00:58:47,980 --> 00:58:51,330
A new class of vaccines is developed at lightning speed

1127
00:58:51,330 --> 00:58:54,433
using revolutionary mRNA technology.

1128
00:58:55,830 --> 00:58:58,430
This uses a piece of messenger RNA

1129
00:58:58,430 --> 00:59:00,773
to target a protein on the virus.

1130
00:59:02,000 --> 00:59:04,720
Our immune system reacts to this foreign protein

1131
00:59:04,720 --> 00:59:08,033
by producing antibodies that protect against infection.

1132
00:59:09,660 --> 00:59:12,703
The vaccines are soon distributed on a mass scale.

1133
00:59:14,400 --> 00:59:16,350
{\an8}Unlike traditional approaches to a vaccine

1134
00:59:16,350 --> 00:59:20,200
{\an8}where you might be growing the virus and in cultures.

1135
00:59:20,200 --> 00:59:22,250
We can make it synthetically

1136
00:59:22,250 --> 00:59:24,920
and make a million doses theoretically.

1137
00:59:24,920 --> 00:59:27,113
So we can move very fast.

1138
00:59:29,930 --> 00:59:33,473
In July, a COVID-19 variant appears.

1139
00:59:34,440 --> 00:59:38,540
Delta variant is deadlier in much more transmissible.

1140
00:59:38,540 --> 00:59:41,803
Will the new vaccines be able to protect against Delta?

1141
00:59:42,720 --> 00:59:44,303
A resounding, yes.

1142
00:59:45,400 --> 00:59:47,850
Gene splicing techniques like CRISPR

1143
00:59:47,850 --> 00:59:49,860
can tweak the mRNA vaccine

1144
00:59:49,860 --> 00:59:52,683
to protect against the next variant that appears.

1145
00:59:54,070 --> 00:59:56,490
In September, the FDA recommends

1146
00:59:56,490 --> 00:59:58,603
getting a booster dose of the vaccine.

1147
00:59:59,500 --> 01:00:02,760
Latest update is this booster shot can be different

1148
01:00:02,760 --> 01:00:05,330
from the original kind received.

1149
01:00:05,330 --> 01:00:08,723
Mixing vaccines may raise antibody levels higher.

1150
01:00:10,660 --> 01:00:13,480
Another weapon in the battle is to bombard the virus

1151
01:00:13,480 --> 01:00:17,380
with promising treatments, such as the drug Remdesivir

1152
01:00:17,380 --> 01:00:19,253
and monoclonal antibodies.

1153
01:00:20,430 --> 01:00:24,110
The virus has spike proteins all the way around.

1154
01:00:24,110 --> 01:00:26,290
Those are the way the Coronavirus

1155
01:00:26,290 --> 01:00:28,473
attaches to your body's cells.

1156
01:00:29,380 --> 01:00:33,720
The monoclonal antibody binds up all those spike proteins,

1157
01:00:33,720 --> 01:00:36,240
{\an8}the coronavirus cannot bind to your cells

1158
01:00:36,240 --> 01:00:39,003
{\an8}and your body can clear the virus more rapidly.

1159
01:00:39,880 --> 01:00:41,500
But monoclonal antibodies

1160
01:00:41,500 --> 01:00:45,690
need to be administered by infusion or a series of shots.

1161
01:00:45,690 --> 01:00:47,553
And the treatment is still expensive.

1162
01:00:48,870 --> 01:00:50,670
In what may be a game changer,

1163
01:00:50,670 --> 01:00:55,670
MERCK announces a new antiviral pill called Molnupiravir.

1164
01:00:55,840 --> 01:00:58,870
It cuts in half a person's risk of hospitalization

1165
01:00:58,870 --> 01:01:00,763
and death from COVID-19.

1166
01:01:01,610 --> 01:01:03,950
It's kind of like Tamiflu

1167
01:01:03,950 --> 01:01:07,710
that we use for flu or influenza.

1168
01:01:07,710 --> 01:01:11,410
In essence, it's trying to attack the virus

1169
01:01:11,410 --> 01:01:13,723
and prevent it's progression.

1170
01:01:14,720 --> 01:01:16,910
As MERCK awaits FDA approval,

1171
01:01:16,910 --> 01:01:20,260
other antiviral pills are being developed too.

1172
01:01:20,260 --> 01:01:22,030
The fact that we are seeing lots of changes

1173
01:01:22,030 --> 01:01:22,974
is actually really exciting things.

1174
01:01:22,974 --> 01:01:24,680
{\an8}I mean, people are doing their jobs

1175
01:01:24,680 --> 01:01:25,930
{\an8}and they're paying attention to data

1176
01:01:25,930 --> 01:01:27,030
{\an8}and they're changing policies

1177
01:01:27,030 --> 01:01:30,070
based on science on information.

1178
01:01:30,070 --> 01:01:32,753
Then that's really the best case scenario for all of us.

1179
01:01:35,100 --> 01:01:37,260
While the research will continue,

1180
01:01:37,260 --> 01:01:40,820
humanity reaches further into space in 2021.

1181
01:01:40,820 --> 01:01:44,160
Three, two, one.
<v ->Revolutionizing the future

1182
01:01:44,160 --> 01:01:45,713
of space exploration.

1183
01:01:46,740 --> 01:01:50,280
Three billionaires, each with their pet projects,

1184
01:01:50,280 --> 01:01:53,150
launch historic flights that herald a new era

1185
01:01:53,150 --> 01:01:54,334
in commercial space exploration.

1186
01:01:54,334 --> 01:01:57,050
I can see our beautiful, beautiful Earth, whoo.

1187
01:01:57,050 --> 01:02:00,000
Owner Richard Branson is on the first flight

1188
01:02:00,000 --> 01:02:01,740
of Virgin Galactic,

1189
01:02:01,740 --> 01:02:04,823
a spacecraft that launches like a plane from a mothership.

1190
01:02:07,300 --> 01:02:09,190
This is Blue Moon.

1191
01:02:09,190 --> 01:02:12,110
Blue Origin founded by Jeff Bezos

1192
01:02:12,110 --> 01:02:15,210
also completes it's first manned flight.

1193
01:02:15,210 --> 01:02:16,650
It's time to go back to the Moon,

1194
01:02:16,650 --> 01:02:17,900
this time to stay.

1195
01:02:17,900 --> 01:02:19,791
(audience applauds)

1196
01:02:19,791 --> 01:02:23,520
Elon Musk's, SpaceX already leads the pack

1197
01:02:23,520 --> 01:02:25,300
by ferrying crews and cargo

1198
01:02:25,300 --> 01:02:28,770
to the International Space Station on a regular basis.

1199
01:02:28,770 --> 01:02:30,500
And we should take action

1200
01:02:30,500 --> 01:02:34,033
and become a fence civilization as soon as possible.

1201
01:02:35,170 --> 01:02:37,750
And extend life beyond Earth.

1202
01:02:37,750 --> 01:02:40,150
SpaceX raises the bar even further,

1203
01:02:42,320 --> 01:02:46,110
when in a historic first for ordinary citizens,

1204
01:02:46,110 --> 01:02:48,873
takeoff on a three-day voyage around Earth,

1205
01:02:49,760 --> 01:02:51,880
traveling 100 miles further

1206
01:02:51,880 --> 01:02:54,570
than the International Space Station.

1207
01:02:54,570 --> 01:02:57,610
Welcome everybody to do the Crew Dragon Resilience

1208
01:02:57,610 --> 01:03:00,980
We're cruising right now at 580 kilometers above the Earth,

1209
01:03:00,980 --> 01:03:03,890
going about 7.6 kilometers per second,

1210
01:03:03,890 --> 01:03:06,063
so we're seeing the world every 90 minutes.

1211
01:03:07,710 --> 01:03:09,970
Financed by one of the passengers,

1212
01:03:09,970 --> 01:03:14,310
Inspiration4 is more than a thrilling tour of space.

1213
01:03:14,310 --> 01:03:17,467
The flight also debuts the new Dragon Cupola.

1214
01:03:19,390 --> 01:03:23,580
This observation dome provides a stunning 360 degree view

1215
01:03:23,580 --> 01:03:25,123
of outside the capsule.

1216
01:03:26,200 --> 01:03:28,310
This is the largest window ever flown in space.

1217
01:03:28,310 --> 01:03:32,490
And the views I have to say are out of this world.

1218
01:03:32,490 --> 01:03:34,580
After three days in orbit,

1219
01:03:34,580 --> 01:03:38,030
four parachutes deploy and Dragon touches down

1220
01:03:38,030 --> 01:03:39,503
off Florida's coast.

1221
01:03:41,490 --> 01:03:44,270
Inspiration4 proves that passengers

1222
01:03:44,270 --> 01:03:47,280
can learn the technological and physical skills

1223
01:03:47,280 --> 01:03:50,893
needed for space flight in a shorter training window.

1224
01:03:53,260 --> 01:03:56,340
The success of commercial companies like SpaceX

1225
01:03:56,340 --> 01:03:59,600
positions them to take over flights to low Earth orbit,

1226
01:03:59,600 --> 01:04:01,853
including the International Space Station.

1227
01:04:03,950 --> 01:04:08,270
This frees NASA to branch out further into deep space

1228
01:04:08,270 --> 01:04:10,740
and pursue it's most ambitious missions

1229
01:04:10,740 --> 01:04:13,710
like building a permanent colony on the Moon

1230
01:04:13,710 --> 01:04:15,433
and eventually Mars.

1231
01:04:16,490 --> 01:04:20,730
Moving forward, NASA tasks SpaceX and other companies

1232
01:04:20,730 --> 01:04:23,683
to deliver the next generation of lunar landers.

1233
01:04:25,020 --> 01:04:27,420
Part of it's upcoming Artemis mission

1234
01:04:27,420 --> 01:04:29,850
to put humans back on the Moon.

1235
01:04:29,850 --> 01:04:33,783
{\an8}We're going back in a way that is totally different.

1236
01:04:35,490 --> 01:04:38,000
with our international partners,

1237
01:04:38,000 --> 01:04:39,450
with our commercial partners.

1238
01:04:41,370 --> 01:04:42,790
Artemis we'll establish

1239
01:04:42,790 --> 01:04:45,140
the first longterm presence on the Moon

1240
01:04:47,410 --> 01:04:49,493
leading to future Moon colonies.

1241
01:04:54,860 --> 01:04:58,360
From a 360 degree view of space

1242
01:04:58,360 --> 01:05:01,943
to a microscopic blueprint of what makes each of us human,

1243
01:05:03,180 --> 01:05:07,700
we end on what may be the most significant story of 2021,

1244
01:05:07,700 --> 01:05:11,733
the mapping of the entire human genome is finally completed.

1245
01:05:13,130 --> 01:05:15,260
Scientists knew for years that our genes

1246
01:05:15,260 --> 01:05:18,680
are spread across 23 pairs of chromosomes.

1247
01:05:18,680 --> 01:05:20,930
But millions of these worm-like structures

1248
01:05:20,930 --> 01:05:22,313
could not be deciphered.

1249
01:05:23,570 --> 01:05:25,520
Two decades ago, a network

1250
01:05:25,520 --> 01:05:27,350
of international geneticists

1251
01:05:27,350 --> 01:05:31,310
set out to sequence all the DNA in our chromosomes.

1252
01:05:31,310 --> 01:05:34,363
This gave birth to the Human Genome Project.

1253
01:05:36,000 --> 01:05:39,640
Over time, pieces of the genome puzzle were added,

1254
01:05:39,640 --> 01:05:41,713
but there were a lot of blank spaces.

1255
01:05:43,150 --> 01:05:47,150
During the pandemic, a team of 99 scientists worked remotely

1256
01:05:47,150 --> 01:05:49,483
to finally complete the project this year.

1257
01:05:50,530 --> 01:05:52,530
They were aided by new machines

1258
01:05:52,530 --> 01:05:55,333
that can quickly read long strands of DNA.

1259
01:05:56,430 --> 01:05:59,463
The end result is called the Reference Genome,

1260
01:06:00,540 --> 01:06:04,463
the new standard for comparing variations in DNA in people.

1261
01:06:06,660 --> 01:06:10,693
And now scientists can sequence an entire genome overnight.

1262
01:06:12,100 --> 01:06:14,750
This new major tool can be used to identify

1263
01:06:14,750 --> 01:06:16,843
and track new COVID variants,

1264
01:06:18,500 --> 01:06:21,490
sequence the genome of our prehistoric ancestors

1265
01:06:22,840 --> 01:06:26,803
or crack the real DaVinci code of Leonardo's genius.

1266
01:06:29,000 --> 01:06:31,750
Because of this monumental achievement,

1267
01:06:31,750 --> 01:06:33,963
more breakers are just around the corner.

1268
01:06:35,890 --> 01:06:39,400
Scientists, relentlessly exploring the unknown,

1269
01:06:39,400 --> 01:06:41,623
pushing the envelope of possibilities,

1270
01:06:42,520 --> 01:06:43,943
never giving up.

1271
01:06:46,030 --> 01:06:49,280
Because science never sleeps.

1272
01:06:49,280 --> 01:06:52,530
{\an8}(gentle upbeat music)