1 00:00:05,309 --> 00:00:08,976 (upbeat instrumental music) 2 00:00:13,899 --> 00:00:16,620 - Well children, we've almost reached the end of our story. 3 00:00:16,620 --> 00:00:20,417 Of the brave men and women who've explored our planet Earth. 4 00:00:20,417 --> 00:00:23,136 But this was only one of our many stories, 5 00:00:23,136 --> 00:00:25,785 the first was about the beginning of the world. 6 00:00:25,785 --> 00:00:28,285 That was back about 15 billion years ago. 7 00:00:28,285 --> 00:00:30,657 What happened before? (laughs) 8 00:00:30,657 --> 00:00:32,126 That no one knows for sure. 9 00:00:32,126 --> 00:00:34,979 And the day after that, well, it would 10 billion years 10 00:00:34,979 --> 00:00:36,898 for a great cloud of gas to cool 11 00:00:36,898 --> 00:00:38,539 and condense and form our Earth, 12 00:00:38,539 --> 00:00:40,424 and at incredibly high temperatures of 13 00:00:40,424 --> 00:00:41,945 billions and billions of degrees, 14 00:00:41,945 --> 00:00:43,646 but sure enough in time the gasses cooled 15 00:00:43,646 --> 00:00:46,352 and formed matter as we know it. 16 00:00:46,352 --> 00:00:50,185 (dramatic instrumental music) 17 00:00:54,375 --> 00:00:57,125 (Earth rumbling) 18 00:01:10,940 --> 00:01:14,278 Near a billion years later, this 10 million centuries, 19 00:01:14,278 --> 00:01:15,896 the first living cells appeared. 20 00:01:15,896 --> 00:01:18,896 You could say the beginning of life. 21 00:01:21,814 --> 00:01:23,677 The beginning of all life. 22 00:01:23,677 --> 00:01:25,174 You me and all the others, 23 00:01:25,174 --> 00:01:27,370 we're all from that bit of stardust that somehow 24 00:01:27,370 --> 00:01:31,013 managed to form itself into a cell that could reproduce. 25 00:01:31,013 --> 00:01:32,825 We're related. 26 00:01:32,825 --> 00:01:35,050 Or if you prefer, it's the very first link in the chain 27 00:01:35,050 --> 00:01:38,570 which results in the creation of man. 28 00:01:38,570 --> 00:01:40,891 - We all started out as a grain of stardust. 29 00:01:40,891 --> 00:01:41,955 It's pretty great. 30 00:01:41,955 --> 00:01:43,615 - (laughs) Pretty great. 31 00:01:43,615 --> 00:01:46,710 But then it went quickly, well several million centuries. 32 00:01:46,710 --> 00:01:48,365 See for yourselves. 33 00:01:48,365 --> 00:01:52,423 Fla-ge-tell-i, constantly evolving to higher forms. 34 00:01:52,423 --> 00:01:53,590 The trilobite. 35 00:02:00,498 --> 00:02:02,981 It took another four billion years 36 00:02:02,981 --> 00:02:07,031 before any amphibians set foot on dry land. 37 00:02:07,031 --> 00:02:08,448 The ichthyostega. 38 00:02:10,229 --> 00:02:13,396 He would eventually become, what else? 39 00:02:14,331 --> 00:02:15,414 The dinosaur. 40 00:02:33,937 --> 00:02:35,292 Why did they die out? 41 00:02:35,292 --> 00:02:37,547 Well perhaps a giant meteor struck the Earth 42 00:02:37,547 --> 00:02:40,790 and caused a cooler climate, no one really knows. 43 00:02:40,790 --> 00:02:45,284 But then, the way was clear for the first mammals. 44 00:02:45,284 --> 00:02:47,372 The tre-con-din. 45 00:02:47,372 --> 00:02:49,039 The si-mi-no-dec-ta. 46 00:02:49,898 --> 00:02:51,315 The pliopithecus. 47 00:02:54,162 --> 00:02:54,995 Proconsul. 48 00:02:56,701 --> 00:02:58,451 Pre-australopithecus. 49 00:02:59,340 --> 00:03:00,757 Australopithecus. 50 00:03:02,958 --> 00:03:04,041 The robustus. 51 00:03:06,565 --> 00:03:07,648 Homo habilis. 52 00:03:09,426 --> 00:03:10,593 Homo robustus. 53 00:03:13,159 --> 00:03:14,242 The swans-go. 54 00:03:17,275 --> 00:03:18,275 Neanderthal. 55 00:03:24,025 --> 00:03:25,275 The cro-magnon. 56 00:03:26,347 --> 00:03:27,347 And us. - Hi. 57 00:03:28,325 --> 00:03:30,769 - That man you may be sure was very impatient 58 00:03:30,769 --> 00:03:33,602 to make his own mark on the world. 59 00:03:35,332 --> 00:03:38,799 And he wanted to fill it with his creations. 60 00:03:38,799 --> 00:03:40,966 Well, it was only natural. 61 00:03:48,925 --> 00:03:52,258 The year zero, the beginning of our era. 62 00:04:08,593 --> 00:04:11,097 But man has always wanted to go further, 63 00:04:11,097 --> 00:04:14,680 expand his limits and go faster and faster. 64 00:04:21,045 --> 00:04:24,731 Wait wait hold on just a minute, now just stop. 65 00:04:24,731 --> 00:04:27,394 Enough for now, we'll speak of all that later on. 66 00:04:27,394 --> 00:04:28,320 You'll see. 67 00:04:28,320 --> 00:04:30,883 But man always sought greater comfort as well. 68 00:04:30,883 --> 00:04:34,825 Back in the beginning, things were pretty rough for him. 69 00:04:34,825 --> 00:04:38,158 For instance, I walk into this room now. 70 00:04:50,225 --> 00:04:53,103 Oh yes I'm sure to you it's pretty routine all of this. 71 00:04:53,103 --> 00:04:55,296 Clocks printing electricity telephones fax machines 72 00:04:55,296 --> 00:04:59,488 television computer internet, you see it every day. 73 00:04:59,488 --> 00:05:01,658 But it hasn't been like that all the time, 74 00:05:01,658 --> 00:05:03,753 I tried to show you how discoverers 75 00:05:03,753 --> 00:05:07,505 and adventurers have shaped our lives. 76 00:05:07,505 --> 00:05:09,588 - Eureka, eureka, got it! 77 00:05:11,068 --> 00:05:14,005 - Archimedes discovered a thousand things. 78 00:05:14,005 --> 00:05:16,505 Gutenberg, the printing press. 79 00:05:17,776 --> 00:05:20,017 Galileo said the Earth spins on an axis, 80 00:05:20,017 --> 00:05:22,536 and is not the center of the universe. 81 00:05:22,536 --> 00:05:25,119 Newton and his laws of gravity. 82 00:05:26,387 --> 00:05:30,815 Charles Darwin, man is a direct descendant from the apes. 83 00:05:30,815 --> 00:05:34,092 Thomas Edison, the phonograph, incandescent bulbs, 84 00:05:34,092 --> 00:05:35,512 moving pictures, you name it. 85 00:05:35,512 --> 00:05:38,307 Marconi, the first long distance radio communication. 86 00:05:38,307 --> 00:05:42,390 Man's always wanted to move farther, move faster. 87 00:05:44,275 --> 00:05:47,474 Don't worry, we'll talk about modern things in a while. 88 00:05:47,474 --> 00:05:51,063 As I was saying, yes I was saying the best way for you 89 00:05:51,063 --> 00:05:52,872 to understand the Earth's a tiny planet 90 00:05:52,872 --> 00:05:54,920 is for you to explore the very nature 91 00:05:54,920 --> 00:05:58,093 of the vast space around us in the universe. 92 00:05:58,093 --> 00:06:00,703 You remember, together we explored the cosmos, 93 00:06:00,703 --> 00:06:04,157 and we also explored humans, everything comes down to man. 94 00:06:04,157 --> 00:06:06,324 We discovered the millions of tiny cells 95 00:06:06,324 --> 00:06:08,783 that together make up the infinitely complex 96 00:06:08,783 --> 00:06:10,802 elements and functions in the universe 97 00:06:10,802 --> 00:06:12,719 that is the human body. 98 00:06:14,267 --> 00:06:16,448 And so here we all are today. 99 00:06:16,448 --> 00:06:18,731 Benefiting from those that have explored the world 100 00:06:18,731 --> 00:06:20,394 since the dawn of human history. 101 00:06:20,394 --> 00:06:22,282 Greeks and Phoenicians sail around Africa 102 00:06:22,282 --> 00:06:23,967 going all the way to the polar regions. 103 00:06:23,967 --> 00:06:28,018 Alexander the Great goes all the way to India. 104 00:06:28,018 --> 00:06:31,400 Vikings from the North sail to the American continent. 105 00:06:31,400 --> 00:06:36,331 Marco Polo travels from Italy all the way to China. 106 00:06:36,331 --> 00:06:37,947 And the Chinese sailor Zheng He 107 00:06:37,947 --> 00:06:40,492 adventures all the way to Africa. 108 00:06:40,492 --> 00:06:41,612 Christopher Columbus and the 109 00:06:41,612 --> 00:06:44,901 Pinzon brothers discovered America. 110 00:06:44,901 --> 00:06:46,354 In just a handful of centuries, 111 00:06:46,354 --> 00:06:47,748 man will explore his planet in 112 00:06:47,748 --> 00:06:50,802 all it's latitudes and longitudes. 113 00:06:50,802 --> 00:06:53,951 James Cook, Stanley Livingston. 114 00:06:53,951 --> 00:06:57,868 Hilary and Tenzing at the top of Mount Everest. 115 00:06:59,373 --> 00:07:03,627 By now, we have combed the Earth, imagining we control it. 116 00:07:03,627 --> 00:07:05,372 But man's desire for more and more leaves him 117 00:07:05,372 --> 00:07:08,455 to plunder the Earth, with no regard. 118 00:07:13,619 --> 00:07:15,509 (child crying) 119 00:07:15,509 --> 00:07:18,842 (boy groans in disgust) 120 00:07:22,131 --> 00:07:24,983 It is estimated that rivers discharge one ton of waste 121 00:07:24,983 --> 00:07:27,163 for it's inhabitants every day. 122 00:07:27,163 --> 00:07:29,460 You realize the amount of pollution? 123 00:07:29,460 --> 00:07:30,989 A ton a day per person? 124 00:07:30,989 --> 00:07:32,406 A sad commentary. 125 00:07:36,051 --> 00:07:37,331 And what's the result? 126 00:07:37,331 --> 00:07:39,819 Illnesses and reduced life expectancy. 127 00:07:39,819 --> 00:07:41,885 But who's interested, that's the word. 128 00:07:41,885 --> 00:07:44,631 Too many special interests, not enough genuine interest. 129 00:07:44,631 --> 00:07:46,627 What will become of man in this? 130 00:07:46,627 --> 00:07:48,775 - Maestro, Maestro. 131 00:07:48,775 --> 00:07:49,897 Don't some say the Earth's 132 00:07:49,897 --> 00:07:51,675 overloaded now with all it's people? 133 00:07:51,675 --> 00:07:53,116 - Well maybe, maybe. 134 00:07:53,116 --> 00:07:55,044 But does it mean we have a perfect right 135 00:07:55,044 --> 00:07:57,535 to threaten inhabitants' lives? 136 00:07:57,535 --> 00:08:01,682 I believe this is a good time to discuss demography. 137 00:08:01,682 --> 00:08:04,261 Now in the beginning, five billion years ago, 138 00:08:04,261 --> 00:08:05,539 of course there were no people. 139 00:08:05,539 --> 00:08:06,919 No humans on the planet. 140 00:08:06,919 --> 00:08:11,086 15 million centuries later arrived the one celled amoeba. 141 00:08:12,567 --> 00:08:16,376 Another 30 million centuries and here comes homo erectus. 142 00:08:16,376 --> 00:08:19,402 Perhaps there were, oh, a million of them. 143 00:08:19,402 --> 00:08:20,873 30 million centuries later, 144 00:08:20,873 --> 00:08:23,967 here comes our ancestor, mister cro-magnon. 145 00:08:23,967 --> 00:08:26,268 Now there must have been a few million of them, 146 00:08:26,268 --> 00:08:30,200 at least that's what we think, some of us. 147 00:08:30,200 --> 00:08:32,339 The year zero, in the world there are 148 00:08:32,339 --> 00:08:34,796 250 million human beings. 149 00:08:34,796 --> 00:08:38,420 15 centuries later, it's up to 500 million people. 150 00:08:38,420 --> 00:08:41,834 The population doubled in 1,500 years. 151 00:08:41,834 --> 00:08:44,820 For centuries later, there are 2 billion. 152 00:08:44,820 --> 00:08:47,842 But now it has doubled in only half the time. 153 00:08:47,842 --> 00:08:50,592 1975 and it's doubled once again. 154 00:08:53,928 --> 00:08:57,706 The people with statistics predict 8 billion by 2010, 155 00:08:57,706 --> 00:09:01,456 16 billion in 2045. (groans) 156 00:09:02,914 --> 00:09:04,497 32 billion in 2080. 157 00:09:06,998 --> 00:09:08,581 64 billion in 2115. 158 00:09:11,407 --> 00:09:14,324 128 billion in 2150, oh, what next? 159 00:09:17,021 --> 00:09:19,118 Not a very pleasant perspective. 160 00:09:19,118 --> 00:09:22,884 We must surely hope we change our ways in time. 161 00:09:22,884 --> 00:09:24,891 Even today, half the population of the world, 162 00:09:24,891 --> 00:09:26,098 three billion people, 163 00:09:26,098 --> 00:09:29,327 do not have the bear minimum to live on. 164 00:09:29,327 --> 00:09:33,494 - Couple of atomic bombs would take care of all that, right? 165 00:09:38,935 --> 00:09:40,904 - You shouldn't joke like that. 166 00:09:40,904 --> 00:09:42,913 Imagine the suffering and death. 167 00:09:42,913 --> 00:09:45,939 You didn't mean it I'm sure, just a bad joke. 168 00:09:45,939 --> 00:09:48,919 In any case, using atomic power, even for peaceful uses, 169 00:09:48,919 --> 00:09:50,665 has already caused it's share of 170 00:09:50,665 --> 00:09:53,165 problems for humanity, oh yes. 171 00:09:55,627 --> 00:09:57,994 Not an especially beautiful sight, all this. 172 00:09:57,994 --> 00:09:59,060 Oh my. 173 00:09:59,060 --> 00:10:01,748 And all that atomic waste, what'll you do with that, 174 00:10:01,748 --> 00:10:03,289 to get rid of it? 175 00:10:03,289 --> 00:10:04,904 - Oh that would be no problem at all, 176 00:10:04,904 --> 00:10:07,571 we'll just toss it in the ocean. 177 00:10:08,438 --> 00:10:10,771 - Easy, we're gonna bury it. 178 00:10:13,825 --> 00:10:17,387 - Well, what about shooting it all into outer space? 179 00:10:17,387 --> 00:10:20,029 Would that be all right? 180 00:10:20,029 --> 00:10:21,589 - This is serious. 181 00:10:21,589 --> 00:10:25,422 We know it stays radioactive a long long time. 182 00:10:26,512 --> 00:10:28,271 - Who is this guy anyway? 183 00:10:28,271 --> 00:10:30,938 - Being a specialist is our job. 184 00:10:31,882 --> 00:10:34,257 - We know our business, and our world. 185 00:10:34,257 --> 00:10:36,757 - [All] We're the specialists. 186 00:10:40,469 --> 00:10:41,909 - Well all right, 187 00:10:41,909 --> 00:10:43,824 we'll bury it deep in a geological stratum. 188 00:10:43,824 --> 00:10:45,157 Will that do it? 189 00:10:48,801 --> 00:10:51,255 - What sort of geological layer? 190 00:10:51,255 --> 00:10:53,221 - In a salt band. 191 00:10:53,221 --> 00:10:54,630 - It has to be a clay soil. 192 00:10:54,630 --> 00:10:56,301 - Put it in granite. 193 00:10:56,301 --> 00:10:59,468 (specialists arguing) 194 00:11:04,901 --> 00:11:06,790 - [Specialist] A very tall, very thick pyramid, 195 00:11:06,790 --> 00:11:08,694 that's what we need. 196 00:11:08,694 --> 00:11:10,021 - [Maestro] Nobody here has a good solution 197 00:11:10,021 --> 00:11:12,463 for disposing atomic waste. 198 00:11:12,463 --> 00:11:14,033 We know atomic waste can remain deadly 199 00:11:14,033 --> 00:11:15,839 for up to 150 million years! 200 00:11:15,839 --> 00:11:18,891 The time it took to go from dinosaurs to man. 201 00:11:18,891 --> 00:11:20,000 - Did it really? - As long as that? 202 00:11:20,000 --> 00:11:23,507 It took all that time for man to appear in the world? 203 00:11:23,507 --> 00:11:25,036 - Even longer! 204 00:11:25,036 --> 00:11:26,809 Remember what I told you. 205 00:11:26,809 --> 00:11:27,946 - Those years make it hard. 206 00:11:27,946 --> 00:11:29,289 I mean you have to understand, 207 00:11:29,289 --> 00:11:31,305 all those thousands and millions and billions, 208 00:11:31,305 --> 00:11:32,557 it's complicated. 209 00:11:32,557 --> 00:11:35,026 - You're right, let me try and clear all that up. 210 00:11:35,026 --> 00:11:36,598 Imagine the face of a watch. 211 00:11:36,598 --> 00:11:38,705 No say that the twelve hours represent 212 00:11:38,705 --> 00:11:41,280 the 5 billion years as how long the Earth has existed. 213 00:11:41,280 --> 00:11:42,881 At zero hour, the world is created. 214 00:11:42,881 --> 00:11:44,247 One and a half billion years later, 215 00:11:44,247 --> 00:11:46,080 we can observe the very first cells. 216 00:11:46,080 --> 00:11:48,787 On our watch, the time is 3:40. 217 00:11:48,787 --> 00:11:51,392 The first mollusks appear at 8 o'clock. 218 00:11:51,392 --> 00:11:53,351 11 12ths of all the time since 219 00:11:53,351 --> 00:11:54,955 the Earth's creation has passed before 220 00:11:54,955 --> 00:11:58,122 the dinosaurs appear, it's 11 o'clock. 221 00:12:07,828 --> 00:12:10,808 At 11:40, the dinosaurs are history. 222 00:12:10,808 --> 00:12:12,975 It's time for the rodents. 223 00:12:14,345 --> 00:12:18,512 And they would open the way to the appearance of humans. 224 00:12:23,768 --> 00:12:26,862 11:55, the australopithecus. 225 00:12:26,862 --> 00:12:29,855 (laughing) 226 00:12:29,855 --> 00:12:30,943 - Shut up. 227 00:12:30,943 --> 00:12:32,860 - At 11:59, cro-magnon. 228 00:12:34,973 --> 00:12:38,408 Ten seconds to 12, it's zero our for our era. 229 00:12:38,408 --> 00:12:39,742 And it is within these last ten seconds 230 00:12:39,742 --> 00:12:42,247 that all of human history is squeezed. 231 00:12:42,247 --> 00:12:44,580 Because 12 o'clock is today. 232 00:12:46,319 --> 00:12:47,714 Well, what do you say? 233 00:12:47,714 --> 00:12:49,714 That cleared up for you? 234 00:12:52,048 --> 00:12:55,147 - So now the evolution of man is just going to stop? 235 00:12:55,147 --> 00:12:58,018 - Of course not, why would it stop? 236 00:12:58,018 --> 00:13:01,169 (chuckling) 237 00:13:01,169 --> 00:13:04,063 We've gone through only 10 seconds of our whole history. 238 00:13:04,063 --> 00:13:06,318 Mankind still has 12 hours ahead, 239 00:13:06,318 --> 00:13:09,240 that means 5 billion years to spend here on Earth, 240 00:13:09,240 --> 00:13:13,407 and that's plenty of time to go through lots of changes. 241 00:13:19,907 --> 00:13:23,240 Maybe man will look something like this. 242 00:13:25,343 --> 00:13:26,510 Or maybe this. 243 00:13:28,006 --> 00:13:29,089 Or even this. 244 00:13:32,319 --> 00:13:35,350 Only I wonder how he keeps from falling over. 245 00:13:35,350 --> 00:13:38,465 - And that guy, what's there left to discover for him? 246 00:13:38,465 --> 00:13:40,663 - Well outer space of course, yes. 247 00:13:40,663 --> 00:13:43,862 But man will explore his own body. 248 00:13:43,862 --> 00:13:45,710 For instance, the human brain. 249 00:13:45,710 --> 00:13:47,222 We know so little about it. 250 00:13:47,222 --> 00:13:50,029 And yet the brain must have powers still undreamed of, 251 00:13:50,029 --> 00:13:52,087 mysteries fascinating to explore. 252 00:13:52,087 --> 00:13:54,585 As fabulous as a voyage into outer space, 253 00:13:54,585 --> 00:13:55,857 to explore new galaxies, 254 00:13:55,857 --> 00:13:58,759 man will always take up the challenge of new discoveries. 255 00:13:58,759 --> 00:14:00,945 - And outer space Maestro? 256 00:14:00,945 --> 00:14:02,975 The constellations, billions of stars, 257 00:14:02,975 --> 00:14:04,195 but are there any planets approximating 258 00:14:04,195 --> 00:14:06,192 conditions here on our planet? 259 00:14:06,192 --> 00:14:07,992 Have they found any life there? 260 00:14:07,992 --> 00:14:10,728 - And would there be life like ours on any such planet? 261 00:14:10,728 --> 00:14:12,550 - Could we visit any of them? 262 00:14:12,550 --> 00:14:13,723 - Anyone there? 263 00:14:13,723 --> 00:14:14,760 - [Kids] Tell us! 264 00:14:14,760 --> 00:14:17,155 - Hold on hold on hold on, one at a time. 265 00:14:17,155 --> 00:14:19,538 Now the last known planet in our solar system, Pluto, 266 00:14:19,538 --> 00:14:21,649 was discovered just a few decades ago. 267 00:14:21,649 --> 00:14:23,962 So discovering planets in other solar systems 268 00:14:23,962 --> 00:14:26,509 that are billions of times farther away, 269 00:14:26,509 --> 00:14:29,519 well, it's not as easy as rolling off a log. 270 00:14:29,519 --> 00:14:31,481 - And so nobody's found them? 271 00:14:31,481 --> 00:14:33,037 - Oh yes, someone did. 272 00:14:33,037 --> 00:14:35,321 Not long ago, two Swiss scientists, 273 00:14:35,321 --> 00:14:38,710 Guilles and Mayor, were studying the constellation Pegasus. 274 00:14:38,710 --> 00:14:40,833 (laughing) 275 00:14:40,833 --> 00:14:42,391 - Look, at every revolution, 276 00:14:42,391 --> 00:14:44,878 the ball pulls my hand in one direction, then the other. 277 00:14:44,878 --> 00:14:46,842 A planet looping around a star does the same. 278 00:14:46,842 --> 00:14:48,486 Yes each times it goes around, 279 00:14:48,486 --> 00:14:50,784 it pulls first forward then backwards in a regular way. 280 00:14:50,784 --> 00:14:53,182 It oscillates, like what we see here. 281 00:14:53,182 --> 00:14:54,650 - You think there's a planet going around 282 00:14:54,650 --> 00:14:56,528 a star in the Pegasus constellation? 283 00:14:56,528 --> 00:15:00,278 - Star number 51, and we'll be announcing it! 284 00:15:03,634 --> 00:15:07,823 - Now what is it, can't you see that I'm very busy? 285 00:15:07,823 --> 00:15:10,738 - Boss, there were two Swiss astronomers. 286 00:15:10,738 --> 00:15:12,049 They just discovered a planet 287 00:15:12,049 --> 00:15:13,671 in the constellation of Pegasus! 288 00:15:13,671 --> 00:15:16,212 - It's 45 light years away, nobody can see that. 289 00:15:16,212 --> 00:15:17,583 That's not possible. 290 00:15:17,583 --> 00:15:20,699 - Anyhow they did it, I just checked it! 291 00:15:20,699 --> 00:15:22,772 - What's this, another message? 292 00:15:22,772 --> 00:15:24,778 - [Both] Two French astronomers have discovered another one, 293 00:15:24,778 --> 00:15:28,123 they found another planet near the star Beta Pictoris? 294 00:15:28,123 --> 00:15:30,580 The distance of 52 light years? 295 00:15:30,580 --> 00:15:33,273 - Two in approximately the same instant in time, 296 00:15:33,273 --> 00:15:35,856 and for good measure, one more? 297 00:15:45,517 --> 00:15:49,381 - Professor professor, take a look at this! 298 00:15:49,381 --> 00:15:52,384 - Ah yes, it's there, it's a planet for sure! 299 00:15:52,384 --> 00:15:54,727 It's in orbit around Gliese, star 229! 300 00:15:54,727 --> 00:15:56,922 This is a truly marvelous event! 301 00:15:56,922 --> 00:15:58,349 - Indeed it was just that. 302 00:15:58,349 --> 00:16:00,646 Remember, we hadn't found a planet in so long, 303 00:16:00,646 --> 00:16:02,535 and now, all these at one time. 304 00:16:02,535 --> 00:16:04,893 - But how can we see them so far away? 305 00:16:04,893 --> 00:16:08,224 - All of these planets are light years away. 306 00:16:08,224 --> 00:16:12,166 - You're right, so far away, how do we see 'em? 307 00:16:12,166 --> 00:16:13,244 Hmm. 308 00:16:13,244 --> 00:16:14,883 Marconi. 309 00:16:14,883 --> 00:16:17,256 Right, let's go back to Marconi, you remember him. 310 00:16:17,256 --> 00:16:20,646 His early experiments in radio transmission? 311 00:16:20,646 --> 00:16:22,813 In other words, he learned how to send messages 312 00:16:22,813 --> 00:16:24,964 using electromagnetic waves. 313 00:16:24,964 --> 00:16:26,875 They're electromagnetic waves in space. 314 00:16:26,875 --> 00:16:29,694 Now once computers appeared, the task was made possible. 315 00:16:29,694 --> 00:16:32,208 Scientists had a magnificent tool. 316 00:16:32,208 --> 00:16:34,783 - It's beautiful, right John Mauchley? 317 00:16:34,783 --> 00:16:38,033 - 17 thousand tubes in it, John Eckert. 318 00:16:40,569 --> 00:16:42,376 - 6,000 switches John. 319 00:16:42,376 --> 00:16:43,709 - 15,000 relays. 320 00:16:45,034 --> 00:16:47,560 - 50,000 resistances. 321 00:16:47,560 --> 00:16:50,241 - You think it's going to work John? 322 00:16:50,241 --> 00:16:53,167 - Well soon find out, John. - Do we try it out? 323 00:16:53,167 --> 00:16:54,547 - Let's go for it! 324 00:16:54,547 --> 00:16:55,853 - The honor is yours. 325 00:16:55,853 --> 00:16:57,686 - No, it's yours John. 326 00:17:00,206 --> 00:17:02,461 - This one here, John? 327 00:17:02,461 --> 00:17:04,711 - No, that one there, John. 328 00:17:10,128 --> 00:17:12,540 - Of course in the end, computers came of age, 329 00:17:12,540 --> 00:17:15,360 and today, they help us to understand waves. 330 00:17:15,360 --> 00:17:17,342 And just a few decades later, with their help, 331 00:17:17,342 --> 00:17:20,033 we're witnessing extraordinary changes all around us, 332 00:17:20,033 --> 00:17:21,457 in every walk of like. 333 00:17:21,457 --> 00:17:23,901 Changes we've never have thought possible. 334 00:17:23,901 --> 00:17:25,589 (laughs) 335 00:17:25,589 --> 00:17:27,186 Yes, our satellites placed in orbit 336 00:17:27,186 --> 00:17:29,519 relay electromagnetic waves. 337 00:17:31,039 --> 00:17:34,327 Now here, at a distance of 600 kilometers from Earth, 338 00:17:34,327 --> 00:17:37,077 is the fabulous Hubble Telescope. 339 00:17:38,301 --> 00:17:39,711 - It isn't working. 340 00:17:39,711 --> 00:17:42,741 - The pictures fuzzy, the mirror, it must have a defect. 341 00:17:42,741 --> 00:17:45,966 To think it took 10 years to create this telescope. 342 00:17:45,966 --> 00:17:47,733 - Well, we'll have to repair it. 343 00:17:47,733 --> 00:17:49,816 - In outer space, no way. 344 00:18:00,609 --> 00:18:03,109 - Operational, we repaired it. 345 00:18:05,831 --> 00:18:08,353 - You've seen the results of all that. 346 00:18:08,353 --> 00:18:09,460 The discovery of new planets. 347 00:18:09,460 --> 00:18:11,031 - Okay yes well now that we know they're there, 348 00:18:11,031 --> 00:18:12,470 can't we go and see them? 349 00:18:12,470 --> 00:18:14,026 - Oh yes, and how would we get there? 350 00:18:14,026 --> 00:18:16,666 Going to hitchhike there, maybe? 351 00:18:16,666 --> 00:18:20,572 You don't realize how far away they are. 352 00:18:20,572 --> 00:18:22,900 Our nearest star, Alpha Centauri, 353 00:18:22,900 --> 00:18:24,776 is over four light years away. 354 00:18:24,776 --> 00:18:25,776 Light years. 355 00:18:27,393 --> 00:18:30,999 About 40,000 billion, it's a billion kilometers, 356 00:18:30,999 --> 00:18:32,703 my children, it's quite a way. 357 00:18:32,703 --> 00:18:35,160 At 100,000 kilometers per hour, 358 00:18:35,160 --> 00:18:38,084 why that means. - 100,000 kilometers per hour? 359 00:18:38,084 --> 00:18:39,044 That's fast. 360 00:18:39,044 --> 00:18:40,790 - But just imagine it. 361 00:18:40,790 --> 00:18:42,797 You would be traveling, 362 00:18:42,797 --> 00:18:47,012 roughly I would say around, 40,000 years. 363 00:18:47,012 --> 00:18:48,542 - What, that much time? 364 00:18:48,542 --> 00:18:50,404 - And that's 10 times closer than 365 00:18:50,404 --> 00:18:53,414 the planet they discovered up around Pegasus. 366 00:18:53,414 --> 00:18:55,634 - There's no way we're gonna get up there. 367 00:18:55,634 --> 00:18:57,967 So why get uptight about it? 368 00:18:59,089 --> 00:19:00,757 - It is exciting, isn't it? 369 00:19:00,757 --> 00:19:03,812 I mean, the speed of progress we're seeing every day. 370 00:19:03,812 --> 00:19:06,261 You saw it for yourselves, with computers. 371 00:19:06,261 --> 00:19:07,915 Think of Alexander the Great, 372 00:19:07,915 --> 00:19:09,719 who took so long to get to India, 373 00:19:09,719 --> 00:19:12,469 what would he have thought of it? 374 00:19:13,590 --> 00:19:14,479 - You see that? 375 00:19:14,479 --> 00:19:15,524 What in the world was it? 376 00:19:15,524 --> 00:19:17,039 - Simply a mirage, Alexander. 377 00:19:17,039 --> 00:19:19,841 We're tired and thirsty, and so hot. 378 00:19:19,841 --> 00:19:21,269 - [Maestro] And what about Christopher Columbus 379 00:19:21,269 --> 00:19:23,269 and the Pinzon brothers? 380 00:19:24,134 --> 00:19:27,051 - Dear lord, send us a bit of wind. 381 00:19:28,105 --> 00:19:30,520 - Do you hear that? 382 00:19:30,520 --> 00:19:34,437 (jet engine roaring distantly) 383 00:19:38,168 --> 00:19:39,801 What was that? 384 00:19:39,801 --> 00:19:41,823 - Just your imagination, that's all. 385 00:19:41,823 --> 00:19:44,690 I saw nothing, I heard nothing. 386 00:19:44,690 --> 00:19:48,151 - [Sailor] Maybe it was a mirage. 387 00:19:48,151 --> 00:19:50,680 - [Maestro] And Magellan with this faithful Elcano. 388 00:19:50,680 --> 00:19:53,182 - I tell you, if the wind continues favorable, 389 00:19:53,182 --> 00:19:56,515 we will go around the world in one year. 390 00:19:58,259 --> 00:20:01,430 (jet engine roaring distantly) 391 00:20:01,430 --> 00:20:03,903 - We've just gone around the world in one hour! 392 00:20:03,903 --> 00:20:05,647 Not bad, huh? 393 00:20:05,647 --> 00:20:07,653 - You see how progress gallops along, 394 00:20:07,653 --> 00:20:09,545 there's an even better example, kids! 395 00:20:09,545 --> 00:20:13,712 You remember how the first postal service was started? 396 00:20:14,858 --> 00:20:18,373 - Belgium to Austria in just three days, bravo. 397 00:20:18,373 --> 00:20:22,487 - Email going out from Paris to Peking, sending now. 398 00:20:22,487 --> 00:20:25,198 - Got it already actually, it required no time. 399 00:20:25,198 --> 00:20:27,160 - Well not exactly no time, 400 00:20:27,160 --> 00:20:29,573 because even electromagnetic waves go 401 00:20:29,573 --> 00:20:32,406 no faster than the speed of light. 402 00:20:33,889 --> 00:20:36,660 That speed is 300,000 kilometers per second. 403 00:20:36,660 --> 00:20:39,239 That transmission took a tenth of a second. 404 00:20:39,239 --> 00:20:41,868 Cut of a tenth of a second off, it's instantaneous. 405 00:20:41,868 --> 00:20:43,787 - Oh, why don't they just hurry it up? 406 00:20:43,787 --> 00:20:45,284 - It's sure, a spacecraft will never 407 00:20:45,284 --> 00:20:47,785 go faster than the speed of light, no way! 408 00:20:47,785 --> 00:20:52,280 - Oh, man's history tells us, you should never say never. 409 00:20:52,280 --> 00:20:53,938 As for great distances, 410 00:20:53,938 --> 00:20:55,991 consider the nebula of Orion. 411 00:20:55,991 --> 00:20:58,914 A beam of light would travel 15,000 years to reach us. 412 00:20:58,914 --> 00:21:00,135 Light years. 413 00:21:00,135 --> 00:21:01,809 - That means even at the speed of light, 414 00:21:01,809 --> 00:21:04,843 we'd have to be traveling that long before we got there! 415 00:21:04,843 --> 00:21:06,144 - Well maybe not. 416 00:21:06,144 --> 00:21:07,363 Look at this balloon. 417 00:21:07,363 --> 00:21:09,238 It looks as if the shortest route from here to here 418 00:21:09,238 --> 00:21:11,916 is along the rounded surface, an arch. 419 00:21:11,916 --> 00:21:13,691 But if space could be shaped like this, 420 00:21:13,691 --> 00:21:16,340 the starting point is much closer to the arrival point. 421 00:21:16,340 --> 00:21:19,340 Well, that's a black hole, in a way. 422 00:21:21,716 --> 00:21:23,799 (laughs) 423 00:21:28,526 --> 00:21:32,026 - All this talk is too complicated for me. 424 00:21:33,482 --> 00:21:35,748 - As we learn spacecraft, you remember the spaceship, 425 00:21:35,748 --> 00:21:38,366 it's made of anti-matter and is 426 00:21:38,366 --> 00:21:40,041 able to travel at the speed of light, 427 00:21:40,041 --> 00:21:42,236 300,000 kilometers per second, 428 00:21:42,236 --> 00:21:44,388 a billion kilometers every hour, 429 00:21:44,388 --> 00:21:47,444 a spacecraft entirely of tachyons. 430 00:21:47,444 --> 00:21:49,986 Well, they would be faster than the speed of light. 431 00:21:49,986 --> 00:21:52,236 No one would ever see them. 432 00:21:58,890 --> 00:22:01,595 But in any ship, moving 300 times faster than light, 433 00:22:01,595 --> 00:22:04,970 we would see people aging before our eyes. 434 00:22:04,970 --> 00:22:07,152 - All the same, returning to the stars? 435 00:22:07,152 --> 00:22:08,435 Going back to our origins? 436 00:22:08,435 --> 00:22:10,236 What a wonderful experience! 437 00:22:10,236 --> 00:22:12,185 - Oh yes, but quite brief. 438 00:22:12,185 --> 00:22:14,768 There is perhaps a better idea. 439 00:22:20,667 --> 00:22:22,248 - Inquiry, will somebody verify 440 00:22:22,248 --> 00:22:24,342 connections of my frontal circuitry? 441 00:22:24,342 --> 00:22:28,425 According to my systems, I have a headache today. 442 00:22:30,967 --> 00:22:32,717 - Pegasus 51 in view. 443 00:22:41,221 --> 00:22:42,054 Look. 444 00:22:57,863 --> 00:23:00,413 - [Maestro] Yes, maybe one day one of man's spaceships 445 00:23:00,413 --> 00:23:03,013 will voyage to a far distant new planet, 446 00:23:03,013 --> 00:23:04,914 and it's explorers will tell us 447 00:23:04,914 --> 00:23:08,145 whether anyone else is already living there. 448 00:23:08,145 --> 00:23:10,617 But they're surely be very different from us. 449 00:23:10,617 --> 00:23:13,074 And for now, we Earthlings have only this one planet, 450 00:23:13,074 --> 00:23:14,615 just one, our Earth. 451 00:23:14,615 --> 00:23:16,541 And it is about time we started taking 452 00:23:16,541 --> 00:23:19,708 much better care of it than we do now. 453 00:23:39,415 --> 00:23:42,978 Children, it took the Earth 5 billion years 454 00:23:42,978 --> 00:23:45,249 of geological and organic activity to create 455 00:23:45,249 --> 00:23:48,122 a delicate balance where life could form and develop, 456 00:23:48,122 --> 00:23:50,238 giving rise to human beings, to us. 457 00:23:50,238 --> 00:23:52,027 In a 60 millionth of that time, 458 00:23:52,027 --> 00:23:53,786 man has destroyed that balance. 459 00:23:53,786 --> 00:23:55,404 He wants to take everything and creates 460 00:23:55,404 --> 00:23:58,565 mountains of pollution which he expects the Earth to digest. 461 00:23:58,565 --> 00:24:00,597 Madness like this has to stop. 462 00:24:00,597 --> 00:24:03,128 We have to strike a balance between our desires 463 00:24:03,128 --> 00:24:05,453 and the possibilities of our Earth. 464 00:24:05,453 --> 00:24:07,126 We have to restore harmony, 465 00:24:07,126 --> 00:24:11,293 surely we can do that, we've accomplished so much. 466 00:24:13,660 --> 00:24:17,164 Children, one day when you're adults, remember. 467 00:24:17,164 --> 00:24:20,044 You can make your own contribution to saving our planet, 468 00:24:20,044 --> 00:24:22,269 each one of you, protection of the environment. 469 00:24:22,269 --> 00:24:25,552 We'll talk about that some other time. 470 00:24:25,552 --> 00:24:29,552 (mysterious instrumental music)