1 00:00:02,292 --> 00:00:03,625 WILLIAM SHATNER: A city where the forecast 2 00:00:03,708 --> 00:00:05,583 calls for blood rain. 3 00:00:06,542 --> 00:00:10,500 A lake where lightning strikes for days on end. 4 00:00:12,042 --> 00:00:15,208 And a cave filled with giant crystals 5 00:00:15,375 --> 00:00:18,500 that are as beautiful as they are deadly. 6 00:00:21,167 --> 00:00:25,042 All around us are stunning displays of 7 00:00:25,208 --> 00:00:27,583 natural phenomena that are so spectacular 8 00:00:27,708 --> 00:00:31,625 and at times so strange 9 00:00:31,750 --> 00:00:34,000 they defy conventional wisdom. 10 00:00:34,167 --> 00:00:38,042 Can science explain Earth's mysteries? 11 00:00:38,167 --> 00:00:42,042 Or does our knowledge of the world we inhabit 12 00:00:42,167 --> 00:00:45,500 only scratch the surface? 13 00:00:45,583 --> 00:00:48,333 Well, that is what we'll try and find out. 14 00:00:48,417 --> 00:00:50,417 ♪ ♪ 15 00:01:09,375 --> 00:01:11,250 This body of water, near the mouth 16 00:01:11,375 --> 00:01:14,125 of the Catatumbo River, has been called 17 00:01:14,250 --> 00:01:16,500 the lightning capital of the world. 18 00:01:16,667 --> 00:01:19,208 Because almost every night it's a place where 19 00:01:19,375 --> 00:01:22,583 the lightning never stops. 20 00:01:33,542 --> 00:01:36,458 Three hundred days out of a year 21 00:01:36,542 --> 00:01:39,042 we see this lightning, it's called Catatumbo lightning. 22 00:01:39,167 --> 00:01:41,458 It's like sheets of lightning constantly 23 00:01:41,542 --> 00:01:43,958 for hours and hours and hours and it goes on and on, 24 00:01:44,042 --> 00:01:46,083 and it lights up everything around it. 25 00:01:46,208 --> 00:01:47,667 And it's not like any other lightning 26 00:01:47,833 --> 00:01:50,000 anywhere else on the planet. 27 00:01:50,125 --> 00:01:53,167 It's amazing. You have to wonder why is there 28 00:01:53,292 --> 00:01:55,833 not lightning like this everywhere else in the world? 29 00:01:55,958 --> 00:01:57,833 SHATNER: There's an old expression that says lightning 30 00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:00,542 doesn't strike twice in the same place. 31 00:02:00,708 --> 00:02:04,333 But at Lake Maracaibo, not only does it strike 32 00:02:04,417 --> 00:02:09,500 at the same place, it does so over and over. 33 00:02:09,625 --> 00:02:11,208 But why? 34 00:02:12,375 --> 00:02:15,250 There are some areas of the Earth which seem to 35 00:02:15,375 --> 00:02:17,500 be like lightning valleys. 36 00:02:18,500 --> 00:02:21,125 Areas that are just inundated with lightning bolts 37 00:02:21,250 --> 00:02:24,625 on a given storm, and why? 38 00:02:24,708 --> 00:02:26,792 Well, we're not sure. 39 00:02:28,292 --> 00:02:30,208 When you look at Venezuela, you can take some guesses 40 00:02:30,333 --> 00:02:31,208 as to what's going on. 41 00:02:31,375 --> 00:02:32,375 Maybe it's the water. 42 00:02:32,500 --> 00:02:34,292 But it also could be things like 43 00:02:34,375 --> 00:02:36,667 the altitude or the general atmospheric conditions. 44 00:02:36,792 --> 00:02:40,000 So it's very hard to pin down exactly what's going on 45 00:02:40,167 --> 00:02:43,333 in that place, and why that place is special. 46 00:02:44,958 --> 00:02:47,542 There's a thing called chaos theory, and in chaos theory 47 00:02:47,667 --> 00:02:50,750 there are these places that are called attractors. 48 00:02:50,875 --> 00:02:53,042 They are regions that just occur sort of randomly 49 00:02:53,167 --> 00:02:55,500 that cause a vortex. 50 00:02:55,583 --> 00:02:58,083 Things occur there. Things collect there. 51 00:02:58,208 --> 00:03:02,375 Perhaps the Earth has an attractor over this lake 52 00:03:02,542 --> 00:03:06,000 in Venezuela that's causing the Catatumbo lightning. 53 00:03:06,125 --> 00:03:08,250 One thing about lightning is there is 54 00:03:08,375 --> 00:03:10,083 a tremendous amount of energy involved, 55 00:03:10,208 --> 00:03:12,750 but that's not the most exciting piece. 56 00:03:12,875 --> 00:03:14,250 It's the power. 57 00:03:14,375 --> 00:03:17,375 It's how quickly the energy is released. 58 00:03:17,542 --> 00:03:19,417 Lightning represents one of the most powerful, 59 00:03:19,542 --> 00:03:21,958 high-power phenomena in nature. 60 00:03:22,833 --> 00:03:24,167 So lightning's really exciting because 61 00:03:24,333 --> 00:03:26,500 there's pieces we do understand, 62 00:03:26,667 --> 00:03:29,167 but there's still a lot of pieces we don't understand. 63 00:03:31,083 --> 00:03:32,833 KAKU: For example, recently it was revealed 64 00:03:32,958 --> 00:03:36,083 that the energy of a lightning bolt is so great that even 65 00:03:36,208 --> 00:03:37,583 antimatter can be formed. 66 00:03:38,875 --> 00:03:42,750 To create antimatter you need a particle accelerator, you need 67 00:03:42,875 --> 00:03:46,583 an atom smasher to create antimatter in the laboratory. 68 00:03:47,875 --> 00:03:51,750 But it turns out an ordinary lightning bolt will also create 69 00:03:51,875 --> 00:03:54,708 minute quantities of this exotic form of matter. 70 00:03:57,125 --> 00:04:01,750 The lightning in Lake Maracaibo is an interesting case of 71 00:04:01,875 --> 00:04:06,167 scientists trying to figure out an unusual phenomenon. 72 00:04:06,250 --> 00:04:09,833 This region had been identified for many years 73 00:04:09,917 --> 00:04:12,208 as a hotspot of lightning, 74 00:04:12,333 --> 00:04:15,750 and it turns out, with a detailed NASA study, 75 00:04:15,875 --> 00:04:21,167 it is indeed the greatest lightning hotspot in the world. 76 00:04:21,292 --> 00:04:23,583 SHATNER: Lightning hotspots? 77 00:04:23,708 --> 00:04:27,583 Are there really places on Earth that act like lightning rods? 78 00:04:27,708 --> 00:04:30,625 Perhaps further clues can be found by examining 79 00:04:30,750 --> 00:04:33,917 not only places that are repeatedly struck by lightning 80 00:04:34,042 --> 00:04:36,208 but the story of one woman who has been struck twice 81 00:04:36,375 --> 00:04:40,375 and has lived to tell the tale. 82 00:04:47,958 --> 00:04:49,417 Army specialist Beth Peterson 83 00:04:49,542 --> 00:04:51,708 is working at an ammunition point 84 00:04:51,875 --> 00:04:55,083 when storm clouds begin to gather over the base. 85 00:04:56,042 --> 00:04:59,833 I saw lightning strike and hit the concertina wire 86 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:03,917 on the fence going around the ammunition point. 87 00:05:06,167 --> 00:05:11,417 And then I watched lightning strike a tree across from me. 88 00:05:11,542 --> 00:05:16,250 And next thing you know, lightning struck again. 89 00:05:16,375 --> 00:05:18,542 It entered my feet, it exited my mouth, 90 00:05:18,708 --> 00:05:21,333 it grounded on top of my head. 91 00:05:21,458 --> 00:05:25,792 It felt like my body exploded. 92 00:05:25,875 --> 00:05:29,333 And it just lifted me as it launched me. 93 00:05:29,458 --> 00:05:32,625 And everything just felt, like, burnt. 94 00:05:32,750 --> 00:05:36,292 I felt like it took my head off. 95 00:05:38,917 --> 00:05:40,625 SHATNER: Beth was rushed to the infirmary 96 00:05:40,750 --> 00:05:44,333 and incredibly, she survived. 97 00:05:44,417 --> 00:05:46,042 But after months of recovery, 98 00:05:46,208 --> 00:05:49,708 Beth realized that something was different. 99 00:05:49,875 --> 00:05:52,583 She had been changed. 100 00:05:53,833 --> 00:05:56,500 Not enough people get hit by lightning and survive, 101 00:05:56,667 --> 00:06:00,000 like the strike that I survived the first time. 102 00:06:00,083 --> 00:06:03,250 And so there isn't a lot of research for my doctors 103 00:06:03,375 --> 00:06:07,083 to understand, to be able to say, 104 00:06:07,208 --> 00:06:11,000 "You've been hit by lightning and this is the end result." 105 00:06:11,083 --> 00:06:14,667 In my case, they say, "You've been hit by lightning 106 00:06:14,750 --> 00:06:16,292 "and we have to help you figure out a way 107 00:06:16,417 --> 00:06:17,583 to cope with it." 108 00:06:17,708 --> 00:06:19,417 Because there are things that happen 109 00:06:19,542 --> 00:06:21,708 that are unexplained. 110 00:06:21,875 --> 00:06:26,667 I really believe in the electro- magnetic changes in the body. 111 00:06:26,792 --> 00:06:30,500 Because the first ten years of having, with my children, 112 00:06:30,625 --> 00:06:34,667 having the Christmas tree up and putting maybe tinsel on it. 113 00:06:34,750 --> 00:06:38,292 The tinsel would jump six feet off the Christmas tree onto me. 114 00:06:38,417 --> 00:06:41,833 I couldn't get it to stay on the tree. 115 00:06:41,958 --> 00:06:45,250 Turning on lights, touching things, 116 00:06:46,208 --> 00:06:50,542 I'm very staticky, my hair likes to get very floaty. 117 00:06:50,667 --> 00:06:53,083 I can feel it in my body. 118 00:06:53,208 --> 00:06:56,792 SHATNER: After such a harrowing experience, Beth took solace 119 00:06:56,875 --> 00:06:59,333 both in the fact that she had survived 120 00:06:59,500 --> 00:07:01,958 and that her near-fatal encounter with lightning 121 00:07:02,083 --> 00:07:03,333 was over. 122 00:07:03,417 --> 00:07:04,708 Or was it? 123 00:07:05,792 --> 00:07:09,583 PETERSON: July 19th of 1993, 124 00:07:09,708 --> 00:07:12,000 I was struck by lightning again. 125 00:07:12,167 --> 00:07:14,625 I had a psychologist tell me that I was a soldier, 126 00:07:14,708 --> 00:07:17,167 I needed to get over it, 127 00:07:17,250 --> 00:07:20,417 I needed to carry on and soldier on, 128 00:07:20,542 --> 00:07:22,792 and that I should go home and watch the storm. 129 00:07:22,917 --> 00:07:26,083 And that's what I told myself as I drove home 130 00:07:26,208 --> 00:07:30,083 and took off my boots and opened the French doors 131 00:07:30,208 --> 00:07:33,208 and was struck again. 132 00:07:33,375 --> 00:07:35,500 It threw me approximately eight to nine feet 133 00:07:35,583 --> 00:07:38,167 back into the house. 134 00:07:38,333 --> 00:07:43,250 No one has ever come forward and told me why this has happened. 135 00:07:43,375 --> 00:07:47,542 I have had a team of incredible doctors, 136 00:07:47,667 --> 00:07:51,042 and they have tried and tried and tried 137 00:07:51,208 --> 00:07:53,375 through the years to medically 138 00:07:53,500 --> 00:07:55,000 have some explanation. 139 00:07:55,125 --> 00:07:56,958 Because when a person's going through 140 00:07:57,042 --> 00:07:59,667 what I've gone through, you want a answer. 141 00:07:59,750 --> 00:08:02,333 And the answer just always keeps coming back 142 00:08:02,500 --> 00:08:05,458 to "You've been struck by lightning." 143 00:08:06,667 --> 00:08:08,250 SHATNER: Was it merely a coincidence 144 00:08:08,375 --> 00:08:11,042 that Beth was struck a second time 145 00:08:11,208 --> 00:08:15,833 or could there have been something larger at play? 146 00:08:15,917 --> 00:08:19,708 Is it possible that, like Lake Maracaibo, 147 00:08:19,833 --> 00:08:22,667 some people attract lightning? 148 00:08:22,833 --> 00:08:25,250 They say that being hit by a lightning bolt 149 00:08:25,375 --> 00:08:27,167 is similar to winning the lottery. 150 00:08:27,292 --> 00:08:31,458 And yet some people are hit by lightning bolts more than once. 151 00:08:31,542 --> 00:08:35,292 And what's the reason? Is it just bad luck? 152 00:08:35,417 --> 00:08:38,250 DENNIN: As people, we do have a certain composition 153 00:08:38,375 --> 00:08:39,667 and we're mostly water. 154 00:08:39,792 --> 00:08:42,125 And water is a great conductor of electricity. 155 00:08:42,208 --> 00:08:45,625 But the exact details and specifics of how each person 156 00:08:45,750 --> 00:08:48,958 is set up is gonna vary enough, so you can imagine some 157 00:08:49,083 --> 00:08:51,167 people are greater or lesser lightning rods. 158 00:08:51,250 --> 00:08:53,458 So if you think about the whole electrical system 159 00:08:53,583 --> 00:08:55,500 and how they fit into the electrical system of 160 00:08:55,667 --> 00:08:57,708 the Earth and the atmosphere, 161 00:08:57,875 --> 00:09:00,750 some people are more likely to be hit by lightning than others. 162 00:09:03,625 --> 00:09:05,958 PETERSON: I always have a heightened awareness. 163 00:09:06,083 --> 00:09:08,667 I know where the storms are coming. 164 00:09:08,833 --> 00:09:12,625 I can feel it by the hair on my arms standing up, 165 00:09:12,708 --> 00:09:15,500 the hair on the back of my neck, my static in 166 00:09:15,625 --> 00:09:19,042 my own hair-- it floats. 167 00:09:20,333 --> 00:09:24,167 I can tell when the changes in the weather are happening 168 00:09:24,250 --> 00:09:27,875 by the response of what I feel in my body. 169 00:09:29,083 --> 00:09:31,125 I do not necessarily think it was 170 00:09:31,250 --> 00:09:33,667 a coincidence that I was struck a second time. 171 00:09:33,792 --> 00:09:38,083 I think the changes in my body made it more attractive. 172 00:09:39,583 --> 00:09:44,542 Why are certain places and certain people 173 00:09:44,708 --> 00:09:47,208 repeatedly struck by lightning? 174 00:09:48,125 --> 00:09:50,333 Is it possible that what we perceive 175 00:09:50,458 --> 00:09:53,125 as random weather events are actually 176 00:09:53,208 --> 00:09:56,333 not so random after all, 177 00:09:56,500 --> 00:09:58,875 like in the case of a devastating tornado 178 00:09:59,042 --> 00:10:00,583 that leveled everything in its path, 179 00:10:00,708 --> 00:10:06,250 yet somehow left a single house untouched? 180 00:10:14,292 --> 00:10:16,333 SHATNER: Scientists at Florida State University 181 00:10:16,458 --> 00:10:18,333 publish the results of a study on 182 00:10:18,500 --> 00:10:20,917 the destructive power of tornadoes. 183 00:10:21,042 --> 00:10:24,833 Their conclusion: tornadoes, which are already capable of 184 00:10:25,000 --> 00:10:26,875 generating 200-miles-per-hour winds, 185 00:10:27,042 --> 00:10:30,667 are getting five percent more powerful every year. 186 00:10:30,833 --> 00:10:33,333 And there doesn't appear to be a limit as to how strong 187 00:10:33,458 --> 00:10:36,000 they will become in the future. 188 00:10:37,792 --> 00:10:40,542 Tornadoes have so much energy in them. 189 00:10:40,708 --> 00:10:44,500 The energy in a large tornado, like an EF4 or 5 190 00:10:44,667 --> 00:10:47,708 is more energy than is in a nuclear weapon. 191 00:10:47,833 --> 00:10:49,333 The base of these things are sometimes 192 00:10:49,458 --> 00:10:50,708 a mile wide and they go all 193 00:10:50,875 --> 00:10:52,000 the way up to 30, 40, 194 00:10:52,083 --> 00:10:53,500 50,000 feet high. 195 00:10:53,625 --> 00:10:55,667 This is a very large structure. 196 00:10:55,792 --> 00:11:00,167 A skyscraper is teeny-tiny in comparison to a tornado. 197 00:11:01,583 --> 00:11:04,500 SHATNER: If scientists are correct, and tornadoes are getting 198 00:11:04,625 --> 00:11:07,000 even stronger, how are we supposed to 199 00:11:07,125 --> 00:11:11,583 keep ourselves safe from their awesome power? 200 00:11:11,708 --> 00:11:15,375 Especially considering we still have no idea how 201 00:11:15,542 --> 00:11:19,875 to predict when and where they'll appear. 202 00:11:21,208 --> 00:11:24,042 BILL EVANS: The thing that's hardest to explain about tornadoes 203 00:11:24,167 --> 00:11:26,750 is why the tornado forms and when is it triggered 204 00:11:26,875 --> 00:11:28,833 to come to the surface? 205 00:11:28,958 --> 00:11:31,458 The problem with tracking tornadoes is 206 00:11:31,583 --> 00:11:34,667 they're only for just a very few minutes. 207 00:11:34,833 --> 00:11:37,500 -They form, a warning goes out. -(siren blaring) 208 00:11:37,583 --> 00:11:39,208 Only 13 minutes elapses 209 00:11:39,333 --> 00:11:42,208 before, most times, the tornado was on the ground. 210 00:11:43,875 --> 00:11:46,667 So, we don't have a whole lot of research 211 00:11:46,792 --> 00:11:47,917 as far as looking at those. 212 00:11:50,250 --> 00:11:52,750 TAYLOR: There is almost an infinite number 213 00:11:52,875 --> 00:11:57,167 of moving parts in a tornado. There's atmospheric turbulence, 214 00:11:57,250 --> 00:12:00,917 there's moisture, there's pressure changes. 215 00:12:01,042 --> 00:12:02,458 There's electromagnetic 216 00:12:02,583 --> 00:12:04,958 discharges and charging going on. 217 00:12:05,042 --> 00:12:08,500 There's so many phenomena that you can't even 218 00:12:08,583 --> 00:12:10,792 make the list complete. 219 00:12:12,292 --> 00:12:13,958 KAKU: When we think of the laws of physics, 220 00:12:14,083 --> 00:12:17,167 we think of firing a bullet. 221 00:12:17,292 --> 00:12:20,292 Moves in a straight line, never deviates. 222 00:12:20,417 --> 00:12:23,958 But the weather-- what a headache for a physicist. 223 00:12:24,083 --> 00:12:26,292 Remember the butterfly effect? 224 00:12:26,417 --> 00:12:27,958 That is, even the flapping of 225 00:12:28,042 --> 00:12:30,833 the wings of a butterfly can cause a ripple effect, 226 00:12:31,000 --> 00:12:35,542 which will lead to a tipping point initiating a thunderstorm. 227 00:12:35,667 --> 00:12:38,833 So even small vibrations here can cause 228 00:12:38,958 --> 00:12:41,167 massive distortions to the weather over there. 229 00:12:41,333 --> 00:12:43,833 That's why predicting the path of a tornado 230 00:12:43,958 --> 00:12:46,958 is virtually impossible. 231 00:12:54,333 --> 00:12:57,000 SHATNER: After a long, hard week, the Coffelt family 232 00:12:57,167 --> 00:12:59,750 is looking forward to spending a Sunday 233 00:12:59,875 --> 00:13:02,750 relaxing in the comfort of their home. 234 00:13:02,875 --> 00:13:05,000 But it isn't long before they realize 235 00:13:05,167 --> 00:13:08,833 their plans are going to be interrupted. 236 00:13:09,875 --> 00:13:11,917 COREY COFFELT: We, uh, started getting all these notifications 237 00:13:12,042 --> 00:13:13,750 on our phones, like, "tornado warning." 238 00:13:13,875 --> 00:13:15,833 And then we started getting 239 00:13:15,917 --> 00:13:18,208 a little bit concerned. 240 00:13:18,375 --> 00:13:22,167 We looked outside, see the weather's getting kind of bad. 241 00:13:24,625 --> 00:13:26,167 It was like dark clouds. 242 00:13:26,292 --> 00:13:28,167 It's-it's hard to describe because it was just, like, 243 00:13:28,333 --> 00:13:30,667 coming toward the house. 244 00:13:30,792 --> 00:13:33,125 It was, it was getting really dark. 245 00:13:34,083 --> 00:13:36,708 I started walking towards the door and it just 246 00:13:36,875 --> 00:13:38,375 almost went pitch black. 247 00:13:40,583 --> 00:13:45,500 My wife yelled, "Go to the bathroom, go to the bathroom!" 248 00:13:45,667 --> 00:13:48,875 All of us, my wife and two daughters, went in the bathroom. 249 00:13:51,125 --> 00:13:55,208 A minute or two went by, and you heard the tornado coming in. 250 00:13:56,208 --> 00:13:59,667 It started with a small whistle, and it got louder and louder. 251 00:13:59,792 --> 00:14:01,500 And then it kind of sounded like 252 00:14:01,667 --> 00:14:04,125 a train coming in, like... (whistles) 253 00:14:05,833 --> 00:14:09,333 And it just-- boom, hit the house. 254 00:14:11,375 --> 00:14:14,125 When we were in there, it was so confusing because 255 00:14:14,250 --> 00:14:16,167 you didn't know what was gonna happen. 256 00:14:16,292 --> 00:14:19,000 Especially when we started hearing stuff happen around us 257 00:14:19,125 --> 00:14:22,500 and, you know, we're all just in that tight space. 258 00:14:22,625 --> 00:14:25,583 -And I was screaming. -(screams) 259 00:14:25,708 --> 00:14:27,833 Everything started shaking. 260 00:14:28,000 --> 00:14:32,208 You could hear the little snaps going on outside. 261 00:14:32,375 --> 00:14:33,500 And then it stopped. 262 00:14:37,583 --> 00:14:40,458 And then it happened again. 263 00:14:41,542 --> 00:14:43,833 SHATNER: When the violent shaking finally subsides, 264 00:14:43,917 --> 00:14:47,750 the frightened family cautiously leaves the safety of 265 00:14:47,875 --> 00:14:51,083 the bathroom to assess the damage to their house. 266 00:14:52,042 --> 00:14:57,042 But to their shock and disbelief, there's none. 267 00:14:58,042 --> 00:15:00,458 We came out, we walked out the front door 268 00:15:00,583 --> 00:15:03,667 and looked and saw everything. 269 00:15:03,792 --> 00:15:05,125 It was overwhelming. 270 00:15:10,500 --> 00:15:14,167 F4 tornado comes across and destroys everything 271 00:15:14,250 --> 00:15:16,292 around you, except for your house and 272 00:15:16,375 --> 00:15:17,833 you and your family still, still standing. 273 00:15:17,958 --> 00:15:20,000 We were just completely overwhelmed, 274 00:15:20,167 --> 00:15:23,625 we could barely breathe and just couldn't believe 275 00:15:23,750 --> 00:15:25,083 the destruction that was out there. 276 00:15:25,208 --> 00:15:29,125 It was just breathtaking. It can't be explained. 277 00:15:29,250 --> 00:15:32,667 The emotions and the feelings that go through, 278 00:15:32,750 --> 00:15:34,417 it's really just, uh... 279 00:15:36,125 --> 00:15:37,542 it's mind-blowing. 280 00:15:39,000 --> 00:15:42,792 SHATNER: Despite sitting directly in the tornado's savage path, 281 00:15:42,917 --> 00:15:45,083 the Coffelt house was somehow spared 282 00:15:45,208 --> 00:15:48,042 when nearly everything else in sight was leveled. 283 00:15:49,958 --> 00:15:52,208 Aside from some minor superficial damage, 284 00:15:52,333 --> 00:15:56,333 barely a shingle had been knocked out of place. 285 00:15:56,458 --> 00:15:57,917 But how? 286 00:16:00,000 --> 00:16:02,208 TAYLOR: There's so many variables with a tornado, 287 00:16:02,333 --> 00:16:04,875 and why it hits this house and not that one, 288 00:16:05,042 --> 00:16:06,375 it's really hard to say. 289 00:16:06,542 --> 00:16:08,583 There could be little pockets of pressure, 290 00:16:08,708 --> 00:16:11,667 little pockets of temperature, little pockets of moisture. 291 00:16:11,792 --> 00:16:13,167 Who knows what it is. 292 00:16:13,292 --> 00:16:16,667 But it could be little pockets that change 293 00:16:16,833 --> 00:16:20,500 the statistics of the debris field 294 00:16:20,667 --> 00:16:23,083 such that it just happens to miss that spot. 295 00:16:25,500 --> 00:16:28,667 DENNIN: Tornadoes never travel in very straight, regular paths. 296 00:16:28,750 --> 00:16:30,125 When you picture the video, 297 00:16:30,208 --> 00:16:33,333 it's an interesting path to avoid the house. 298 00:16:33,458 --> 00:16:37,542 But you could imagine a tornado circling back on itself. 299 00:16:37,708 --> 00:16:39,667 That is not inconceivable. 300 00:16:39,750 --> 00:16:41,750 This house could have been lucky to have the tornado 301 00:16:41,875 --> 00:16:45,083 come down the right side, turn around, destroy the forest 302 00:16:45,208 --> 00:16:48,500 on the other side, turn around again and then go off. 303 00:16:50,875 --> 00:16:53,833 SHATNER: Could it be that the Coffelts and their house 304 00:16:53,958 --> 00:16:56,833 survived simply because of luck? 305 00:16:57,000 --> 00:16:59,833 Or was it the result of some kind of 306 00:16:59,958 --> 00:17:01,458 deliberate intervention? 307 00:17:01,583 --> 00:17:04,750 After all, from Zeus, the Greek god of thunder, 308 00:17:04,875 --> 00:17:09,625 to Set, the Egyptian god of storms, ancient cultures 309 00:17:09,708 --> 00:17:12,833 believed weather was not a random force of nature 310 00:17:12,958 --> 00:17:16,708 but a power wielded by the gods. 311 00:17:17,958 --> 00:17:21,833 Major ancient cultures saw the Earth itself 312 00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:25,250 as a god, more accurately a goddess. 313 00:17:26,292 --> 00:17:30,333 The Greeks had a name: Gaia. The ancient Hindu tradition also 314 00:17:30,458 --> 00:17:33,167 saw the planet as a feminine divinity, 315 00:17:33,333 --> 00:17:36,500 so we are in relationship with the planet. 316 00:17:36,625 --> 00:17:39,583 There are weather patterns that are caused 317 00:17:39,708 --> 00:17:41,958 by planetary energies. 318 00:17:42,083 --> 00:17:45,458 And this is a living relationship which can 319 00:17:45,542 --> 00:17:48,250 help our way of looking at our relationship 320 00:17:48,375 --> 00:17:50,250 to the ground we live on, 321 00:17:50,375 --> 00:17:54,667 all stemming back to some of the most ancient cultures and 322 00:17:54,833 --> 00:17:58,250 religious practices that have been with us on this planet. 323 00:18:00,042 --> 00:18:02,667 SHATNER: A living, conscious planet? 324 00:18:02,750 --> 00:18:05,625 If this is true, does it mean that the Coffelt's house 325 00:18:05,708 --> 00:18:10,292 was deliberately spared by some act of divine mercy? 326 00:18:10,417 --> 00:18:13,875 Or was it left standing to serve as a warning 327 00:18:14,042 --> 00:18:16,333 that nature must be respected? 328 00:18:16,458 --> 00:18:18,792 As far as the Coffelts are concerned, 329 00:18:18,917 --> 00:18:21,500 the answers hardly matter. 330 00:18:21,625 --> 00:18:25,000 If there is some miracle about all this... 331 00:18:25,083 --> 00:18:26,750 'Cause it's not a miracle. 332 00:18:26,875 --> 00:18:30,125 'Cause getting hit by a tornado-- that... that sucks. 333 00:18:31,208 --> 00:18:34,292 And I probably shouldn't be sitting here today. 334 00:18:36,875 --> 00:18:39,500 I definitely do have a new respect for the weather. 335 00:18:39,625 --> 00:18:43,833 It really can, it can take everything 336 00:18:43,958 --> 00:18:45,417 away from you in a blink of an eye. 337 00:18:48,208 --> 00:18:50,250 Even with all the technology 338 00:18:50,375 --> 00:18:52,542 we use to track weather patterns, 339 00:18:52,667 --> 00:18:57,083 when it comes to predicting the path of a tornado, 340 00:18:57,208 --> 00:18:59,458 scientists are simply baffled. 341 00:18:59,583 --> 00:19:04,500 And that was also the case when a city in India was besieged 342 00:19:04,625 --> 00:19:08,875 for months by a bizarre phenomenon that is known as 343 00:19:09,042 --> 00:19:19,000 blood rain. 344 00:19:19,625 --> 00:19:22,000 SHATNER: In the skies above this forested region of 345 00:19:22,125 --> 00:19:24,083 rolling hills in the southwestern state 346 00:19:24,208 --> 00:19:28,333 of Kerala, storm clouds begin to gather. 347 00:19:29,208 --> 00:19:32,458 Not so unusual in this part of the country. 348 00:19:34,250 --> 00:19:37,208 But when the rain starts, no one is prepared for 349 00:19:37,375 --> 00:19:40,000 what falls from the sky. 350 00:19:40,167 --> 00:19:44,583 Something that appears to be blood. 351 00:19:44,708 --> 00:19:50,167 And it lasts not for hours or days or even weeks, 352 00:19:50,292 --> 00:19:52,333 but for months. 353 00:19:53,500 --> 00:19:56,500 If I put myself in the shoes of these people that experienced 354 00:19:56,625 --> 00:20:00,167 this blood rain coming from the sky, I can only imagine 355 00:20:00,250 --> 00:20:03,417 how terrifying that must be, and how that must make 356 00:20:03,542 --> 00:20:05,667 those people question their own existence, 357 00:20:05,750 --> 00:20:08,958 question the forces of nature that are at work in the world. 358 00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:12,500 That must be earth-shattering for these people. 359 00:20:14,958 --> 00:20:17,458 You have to think that that's sent from the heavens. 360 00:20:17,583 --> 00:20:20,250 For some reason, some mystical reason 361 00:20:20,375 --> 00:20:22,792 this happened because it's sent from the gods. 362 00:20:22,917 --> 00:20:27,667 It's sending out a signal or a message for some reason. 363 00:20:28,958 --> 00:20:32,208 SHATNER: After months of wondering whether the apocalypse 364 00:20:32,375 --> 00:20:34,583 was at hand, residents sighed in relief 365 00:20:34,708 --> 00:20:38,833 as, suddenly, the scarlet deluge stopped. 366 00:20:38,958 --> 00:20:43,542 And just like every other time this strange phenomenon happened 367 00:20:43,667 --> 00:20:48,125 throughout history, the skies returned to normal. 368 00:20:48,208 --> 00:20:52,042 Similar stories of red rain have essentially 369 00:20:52,208 --> 00:20:56,500 spanned history over thousands of years. 370 00:20:56,583 --> 00:20:59,500 It's been repeatedly reported, first in mythology, 371 00:20:59,583 --> 00:21:02,042 and then in historical accounts. 372 00:21:02,167 --> 00:21:06,792 it goes back maybe to the sixth century B.C. 373 00:21:06,875 --> 00:21:09,417 TAYLOR: We have stories in our theology and mythologies 374 00:21:09,542 --> 00:21:11,500 that see this phenomenon happening, so it must be 375 00:21:11,667 --> 00:21:14,167 one of the signs of the coming apocalypse. 376 00:21:14,292 --> 00:21:17,083 But it's a phenomenon that occurs in weather 377 00:21:17,208 --> 00:21:20,833 around the planet all the time. 378 00:21:21,000 --> 00:21:23,250 EVANS: You never know where red rain is going to occur, 379 00:21:23,375 --> 00:21:25,167 it's all depending on weather systems. 380 00:21:25,333 --> 00:21:26,333 All over the world 381 00:21:26,500 --> 00:21:27,375 there's been rain like this, 382 00:21:27,542 --> 00:21:29,333 even in the United States. 383 00:21:29,500 --> 00:21:32,750 Even in the Ukraine and Russia, this has taken place. 384 00:21:36,875 --> 00:21:40,167 SHATNER: It's not surprising that ancient people regarded blood 385 00:21:40,333 --> 00:21:44,625 falling from the sky as a sign of impending doom. 386 00:21:44,708 --> 00:21:47,250 But today, we tend not to believe 387 00:21:47,375 --> 00:21:49,333 in such far-fetched nonsense. 388 00:21:49,458 --> 00:21:53,000 Especially because, as I'm sure you'll be relieved to know, 389 00:21:53,125 --> 00:21:57,292 blood rain isn't actually made of blood. 390 00:21:59,000 --> 00:22:02,958 Scientists did analysis of this red rain and did not find 391 00:22:03,083 --> 00:22:06,417 things like copper or iron, things that we think of as red, 392 00:22:06,542 --> 00:22:09,125 that would cause this water to be red. 393 00:22:09,250 --> 00:22:11,500 So why was it red? 394 00:22:11,625 --> 00:22:13,292 What else could have been in the water 395 00:22:13,375 --> 00:22:16,500 that made a blood red rain? 396 00:22:16,667 --> 00:22:20,583 EVANS: What scientists thought is that it is caused by spores 397 00:22:20,708 --> 00:22:24,542 that are on trees, grassy areas, rocks, 398 00:22:24,708 --> 00:22:26,500 all over the terrain there in India. 399 00:22:26,583 --> 00:22:31,208 And those spores blast all of that into the atmosphere. 400 00:22:31,375 --> 00:22:33,000 And that's carried up into the clouds, 401 00:22:33,167 --> 00:22:34,625 and it kind of hangs there. 402 00:22:34,708 --> 00:22:37,417 Oftentimes spores are produced prolifically, you know, 403 00:22:37,542 --> 00:22:40,000 billions of millions of spores, right, go all over the place. 404 00:22:40,083 --> 00:22:42,667 And so you can imagine that it would be transported 405 00:22:42,750 --> 00:22:45,000 up in the atmosphere, associate with rain and then 406 00:22:45,125 --> 00:22:47,833 come down as a red color as well. 407 00:22:49,875 --> 00:22:53,833 SHATNER: The theory that red algae spores can and do create red rain 408 00:22:53,958 --> 00:22:57,333 is believed by most scientists to be a sound one. 409 00:22:58,500 --> 00:23:01,292 But believe it or not, there's another theory. 410 00:23:01,375 --> 00:23:05,500 One which proposes that blood rain is caused 411 00:23:05,583 --> 00:23:08,625 by something extraterrestrial. 412 00:23:09,542 --> 00:23:12,583 If you look at the red rain under the microscope, 413 00:23:12,708 --> 00:23:15,667 what we found was absolutely staggering, 414 00:23:15,833 --> 00:23:20,250 because we found that there were red living cells dispersed 415 00:23:20,375 --> 00:23:24,542 in the rain that was the cause of the red color in the rain. 416 00:23:24,708 --> 00:23:27,333 And these cells were in the process 417 00:23:27,500 --> 00:23:29,375 of actually reproducing. 418 00:23:30,583 --> 00:23:34,833 And when examined under the highest magnification, 419 00:23:34,917 --> 00:23:38,375 these cells didn't look like anything that we had seen 420 00:23:38,500 --> 00:23:40,042 on the Earth. 421 00:23:42,833 --> 00:23:45,500 SHATNER: Life unlike any on Earth? 422 00:23:45,625 --> 00:23:49,833 Could it be that the real cause of blood rain is far more 423 00:23:49,958 --> 00:23:52,625 profound than previously thought? 424 00:23:55,208 --> 00:23:58,917 Coincidentally, there was also a meteor explosion in the area. 425 00:23:59,042 --> 00:24:02,458 So the question is, could those two events be linked? 426 00:24:04,042 --> 00:24:07,458 WICKRAMASINGHE: What I think happened was that a fragment of a comet 427 00:24:07,583 --> 00:24:12,333 exploded in the high stratosphere, 428 00:24:12,458 --> 00:24:14,292 and this comet had living entities, 429 00:24:14,375 --> 00:24:17,167 alien life in the form of these red cells. 430 00:24:17,292 --> 00:24:20,083 And they became the seeds, 431 00:24:20,208 --> 00:24:22,000 the nuclei of raindrops. 432 00:24:23,750 --> 00:24:26,083 TAYLOR: We found plankton organisms 433 00:24:26,208 --> 00:24:29,167 on the solar panels of the International Space Station. 434 00:24:29,292 --> 00:24:31,625 So it's possible that this meteor 435 00:24:31,750 --> 00:24:34,750 that exploded over India had some sort of 436 00:24:34,875 --> 00:24:38,542 red organic material in it that came from space. 437 00:24:39,833 --> 00:24:43,375 SHATNER: If the source of blood rain is, in fact, extraterrestrial, 438 00:24:43,542 --> 00:24:45,000 might it help explain 439 00:24:45,083 --> 00:24:49,083 how life could have started here on Earth? 440 00:24:51,875 --> 00:24:55,083 One theory of how life can propagate from one planet 441 00:24:55,208 --> 00:24:58,208 to another and even one star system to another is panspermia. 442 00:25:00,667 --> 00:25:04,167 Panspermia is the idea that life on the Earth 443 00:25:04,250 --> 00:25:06,042 started in outer space. 444 00:25:06,208 --> 00:25:09,500 And sure enough, when we look at meteorites 445 00:25:09,667 --> 00:25:12,667 on the Earth, we find some from Mars, 446 00:25:12,750 --> 00:25:16,458 some from the Moon and maybe even some from Venus. 447 00:25:16,583 --> 00:25:18,708 And so if meteors can go back 448 00:25:18,833 --> 00:25:22,667 and forth, why not DNA? 449 00:25:24,208 --> 00:25:27,583 WHITEHEAD: We tend to think of ourselves as something that grew out of some 450 00:25:27,708 --> 00:25:31,000 primordial soup from a random one-time accident that took 451 00:25:31,167 --> 00:25:33,417 place on this planet millions and millions of years ago. 452 00:25:33,542 --> 00:25:38,167 But could it be that we actually, us humans, 453 00:25:38,333 --> 00:25:40,875 are the aliens on this planet? 454 00:25:42,833 --> 00:25:46,167 Blood rain. It's a weather phenomenon so unusual 455 00:25:46,292 --> 00:25:48,000 that it calls into question everything we know 456 00:25:48,083 --> 00:25:50,167 about our planet, 457 00:25:50,292 --> 00:25:54,250 as well as what might be coming to Earth from outer space. 458 00:25:54,375 --> 00:25:58,958 Just like a curious natural rock formation located 459 00:25:59,042 --> 00:26:02,542 in the plains of Wyoming that, according to experts, 460 00:26:02,708 --> 00:26:11,167 has no Earthly reason for being there. 461 00:26:11,292 --> 00:26:14,625 SHATNER: It rises from the Earth like a giant fist 462 00:26:14,708 --> 00:26:18,417 stretching out to strike the sky. 463 00:26:18,542 --> 00:26:22,542 A colossal 900-foot shaft of rugged rock. 464 00:26:22,667 --> 00:26:26,208 One whose very name conjures notions 465 00:26:26,375 --> 00:26:29,500 of both awe and dread: 466 00:26:29,667 --> 00:26:32,083 Devils Tower. 467 00:26:34,042 --> 00:26:36,333 Devils Tower is remarkable because you can 468 00:26:36,417 --> 00:26:38,917 drive across the sedimentary plains, 469 00:26:39,042 --> 00:26:42,708 see nothing but flat ground for miles and miles. 470 00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:47,083 And then this tall, dark tower emerges 471 00:26:47,208 --> 00:26:48,792 as you drive towards it. 472 00:26:48,917 --> 00:26:52,625 There is nothing like it in the surrounding area. 473 00:26:52,708 --> 00:26:56,333 The rock has a grayish, even a greenish-gray color. 474 00:26:56,458 --> 00:27:00,917 And so, as you approach Devils Tower, it's a distinct, 475 00:27:01,042 --> 00:27:04,000 stark contrast to the sort of tans and 476 00:27:04,083 --> 00:27:08,125 browns of the surrounding sedimentary rocks. 477 00:27:11,167 --> 00:27:13,583 SHATNER: Located in northeastern Wyoming, 478 00:27:13,708 --> 00:27:15,250 Devils Tower was declared 479 00:27:15,375 --> 00:27:19,417 America's very first National Monument in 1906 480 00:27:19,542 --> 00:27:22,042 by President Theodore Roosevelt, who sought to protect it 481 00:27:22,167 --> 00:27:25,708 it as an object of scientific interest. 482 00:27:26,875 --> 00:27:29,792 Since then, many have asked what could have caused 483 00:27:29,875 --> 00:27:33,125 this massive tower to form? 484 00:27:34,375 --> 00:27:38,542 There are many theories about it, but there's no agreement on 485 00:27:38,667 --> 00:27:40,875 what it was that produced this miracle of nature. 486 00:27:43,167 --> 00:27:45,583 And it's made of volcanic-type materials, 487 00:27:45,708 --> 00:27:47,958 but there's no other volcanic activity around it. 488 00:27:48,042 --> 00:27:50,667 So, what caused this thing? 489 00:27:50,792 --> 00:27:52,667 We don't know the answer to that question. 490 00:27:52,750 --> 00:27:55,292 It's a really interesting conundrum. 491 00:27:57,250 --> 00:28:00,750 SHATNER: Is Devils Tower really a miracle of nature? 492 00:28:00,875 --> 00:28:03,250 Something that simply cannot be explained 493 00:28:03,375 --> 00:28:06,333 by natural and scientific laws? 494 00:28:06,417 --> 00:28:10,458 Sorry but that explanation is simply not good enough. 495 00:28:11,500 --> 00:28:13,792 As much as we like to walk around with the confidence 496 00:28:13,875 --> 00:28:15,958 that we know this planet 497 00:28:16,083 --> 00:28:18,000 and we understand the planet we live on, 498 00:28:18,167 --> 00:28:23,000 there seems to be nothing but mystery on this planet. 499 00:28:23,125 --> 00:28:26,750 We don't understand how to predict earthquakes. 500 00:28:27,750 --> 00:28:31,000 We don't understand how lightning travels. 501 00:28:31,083 --> 00:28:33,250 There's so many questions that we have 502 00:28:33,375 --> 00:28:36,208 about what produces the forces of nature. 503 00:28:37,708 --> 00:28:41,042 SHATNER: Some have suggested that the key to understanding Devils Tower 504 00:28:41,167 --> 00:28:44,833 is to think of it the way many Native Americans do. 505 00:28:44,958 --> 00:28:47,792 Not as a natural formation, 506 00:28:47,875 --> 00:28:52,000 but as an unnatural one. 507 00:28:52,125 --> 00:28:54,667 The Native peoples of the area have worshiped 508 00:28:54,792 --> 00:28:57,208 this tower as an altar of sorts, 509 00:28:57,333 --> 00:29:00,875 and many feel like they can climb to the top of this place 510 00:29:01,000 --> 00:29:04,333 and get divine inspiration, become empowered. 511 00:29:04,458 --> 00:29:07,333 And the question is is there some truth to this 512 00:29:07,458 --> 00:29:09,875 Native legend-- that this place is a sacred place 513 00:29:10,000 --> 00:29:12,333 on the planet, and it is a sort of altar 514 00:29:12,458 --> 00:29:16,000 that allows humans to communicate to the spirits 515 00:29:16,083 --> 00:29:19,500 or to the universe or to the gods that they believe in? 516 00:29:20,458 --> 00:29:23,458 To view Devils Tower, if you want to call it that-- 517 00:29:23,542 --> 00:29:27,167 Mato Thipila is what we call it-- it's a sacred place. 518 00:29:27,292 --> 00:29:31,833 And when you see it from a certain distance, even then 519 00:29:31,958 --> 00:29:35,542 you start to feel the wonder of it, 520 00:29:35,708 --> 00:29:37,208 the sacredness of it. 521 00:29:37,333 --> 00:29:41,500 And as you get closer and closer, the positive, 522 00:29:41,625 --> 00:29:44,958 sacred energy starts to build, and you feel it even more 523 00:29:45,042 --> 00:29:48,917 when you get to the base of the tower. 524 00:29:49,875 --> 00:29:53,542 I think in the case of Devils Tower, it is so unusual, 525 00:29:53,667 --> 00:29:57,375 it is so anomalous that it is easy 526 00:29:57,542 --> 00:30:02,083 to ascribe a mystical or spiritual attribute to it. 527 00:30:02,208 --> 00:30:04,500 It's not surprising that Hollywood directors 528 00:30:04,583 --> 00:30:06,833 would choose this as the place 529 00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:10,417 that aliens would land from outer space. 530 00:30:10,542 --> 00:30:12,833 In the mid 1970s, 531 00:30:13,000 --> 00:30:15,417 one of the most important events in history of 532 00:30:15,542 --> 00:30:18,000 Devils Tower took place, and that was the filming of 533 00:30:18,125 --> 00:30:20,292 the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind. 534 00:30:22,042 --> 00:30:25,958 In that movie by Steven Spielberg, the tower 535 00:30:26,083 --> 00:30:29,833 is a spot that many people are drawn to, 536 00:30:29,917 --> 00:30:32,792 and they don't know why they're drawn to it. 537 00:30:32,917 --> 00:30:34,625 They're drawn to it from all over the country. 538 00:30:34,708 --> 00:30:37,833 It turns out, as the movie goes on, that they're drawn here 539 00:30:38,000 --> 00:30:40,000 because they'd been abducted sometime 540 00:30:40,083 --> 00:30:41,792 during their life by aliens. 541 00:30:43,292 --> 00:30:47,125 A UFO lands on top of the tower 542 00:30:47,208 --> 00:30:51,958 and Richard Dreyfuss and several other people climb into the UFO 543 00:30:52,833 --> 00:30:55,167 and fly off into space. 544 00:30:56,375 --> 00:30:59,708 The number of visitors that came to the tower doubled 545 00:30:59,833 --> 00:31:01,292 the year after that movie came out, 546 00:31:01,417 --> 00:31:05,083 and it stayed at that level every year ever since. 547 00:31:06,167 --> 00:31:09,042 I don't know if it's a landing site for UFOs, 548 00:31:09,167 --> 00:31:12,833 as Spielberg had in his movie, or what it might be. 549 00:31:12,958 --> 00:31:15,667 I mean, the more we look at it, the more baffled we are. 550 00:31:15,750 --> 00:31:20,167 We are going to find things as we continue to observe 551 00:31:20,250 --> 00:31:22,917 and search and study the Earth that we had no idea 552 00:31:23,042 --> 00:31:26,083 how they got there, what type of physical process 553 00:31:26,208 --> 00:31:30,250 created them, and we're gonna learn new things all the time. 554 00:31:31,750 --> 00:31:35,458 Is Devils Tower really an anomaly? 555 00:31:35,583 --> 00:31:39,458 Or is it yet another example of how little we know 556 00:31:39,542 --> 00:31:41,125 about Earth's evolution? 557 00:31:42,375 --> 00:31:45,042 Perhaps the answer can be found by examining another 558 00:31:45,208 --> 00:31:48,917 natural formation that is even more perplexing. 559 00:31:49,042 --> 00:31:51,625 It's a magnificent cavern, 560 00:31:51,750 --> 00:31:54,708 located in Northern Mexico, that is 561 00:31:54,875 --> 00:31:56,500 full of giant crystals. 562 00:31:56,583 --> 00:31:59,000 Crystals that are both beautiful 563 00:31:59,958 --> 00:32:09,042 and deadly. 564 00:32:09,167 --> 00:32:11,958 SHATNER: In the mineral-rich town of Naica, 565 00:32:12,042 --> 00:32:14,958 more than 1,000 feet below the surface of the earth, 566 00:32:15,042 --> 00:32:17,083 a group of miners drilling 567 00:32:17,208 --> 00:32:20,750 through a cave wall, make a remarkable discovery. 568 00:32:20,875 --> 00:32:23,500 Not of precious metals, 569 00:32:23,625 --> 00:32:27,250 but something far more wonderous and mysterious. 570 00:32:29,583 --> 00:32:34,292 A glittering cavern, untouched for half a million years, 571 00:32:34,375 --> 00:32:37,458 filled with the largest crystals ever found. 572 00:32:37,542 --> 00:32:41,833 It's amazing. There are crystals that are 573 00:32:41,958 --> 00:32:44,792 huge, so big you can actually walk across them. 574 00:32:44,917 --> 00:32:46,458 And for these crystals to have gotten 575 00:32:46,542 --> 00:32:48,958 as big as they are, they had to have been growing 576 00:32:49,083 --> 00:32:51,208 for hundreds of thousands of years. 577 00:32:51,917 --> 00:32:55,875 It's a fascinating location. 578 00:32:56,000 --> 00:32:58,333 This is something you would think would only 579 00:32:58,417 --> 00:33:03,042 exist in the world of science fiction and fantasy, 580 00:33:03,167 --> 00:33:07,083 but the fact is it's all too real. 581 00:33:08,875 --> 00:33:12,500 SHATNER: Measuring up to an astonishing 40 feet in length 582 00:33:12,667 --> 00:33:17,333 and weighing as much as 55 tons, the giant beams 583 00:33:17,458 --> 00:33:21,958 are the purest form of selenite crystal in the world. 584 00:33:22,042 --> 00:33:25,333 Crystals are the most orderly structure in nature, 585 00:33:25,458 --> 00:33:30,000 and they have the ability to absorb frequency 586 00:33:30,167 --> 00:33:33,000 and energy from objects around them. 587 00:33:33,167 --> 00:33:36,542 Now, it is my theory 588 00:33:36,667 --> 00:33:39,000 that these giant pylons 589 00:33:39,125 --> 00:33:41,000 have the ability to transmit 590 00:33:41,125 --> 00:33:44,333 and receive information and light. 591 00:33:44,417 --> 00:33:48,042 SHATNER: Only a few months after its discovery, 592 00:33:48,208 --> 00:33:50,833 a team of scientists was sent in 593 00:33:51,000 --> 00:33:54,250 to study this geological anomaly. 594 00:33:54,375 --> 00:33:57,042 They soon learned that Naica's crystal cave 595 00:33:57,167 --> 00:34:00,375 may be not only beautiful 596 00:34:00,542 --> 00:34:02,292 but deadly. 597 00:34:03,292 --> 00:34:07,167 TAYLOR: It's 90 to 100% relative humidity inside this cave. 598 00:34:07,250 --> 00:34:10,667 And it's always over 113 degrees Fahrenheit. 599 00:34:10,750 --> 00:34:13,042 You might think, well, 113 degrees isn't that bad. 600 00:34:13,208 --> 00:34:15,042 It gets 140 degrees 601 00:34:15,167 --> 00:34:18,250 in the deserts in Iraq all the time, and people live there. 602 00:34:18,375 --> 00:34:21,792 But the relative humidity in those deserts is ten percent. 603 00:34:21,917 --> 00:34:25,000 In this cave, there's so much humidity 604 00:34:25,083 --> 00:34:28,417 you can't sweat and cool your body off. 605 00:34:30,250 --> 00:34:34,167 HUTCHISON: I received an invitation to go on an expedition 606 00:34:34,292 --> 00:34:37,500 and exploration of these giant crystals. 607 00:34:37,625 --> 00:34:42,333 I was aware of the heat and humidity, but nothing 608 00:34:42,500 --> 00:34:46,708 prepared me for what hit me when I entered those caves. 609 00:34:48,333 --> 00:34:50,667 I felt like I was hit by a tsunami 610 00:34:50,833 --> 00:34:54,708 of tremendous heat and humidity. 611 00:34:54,875 --> 00:34:58,167 I started shaking, I was scared. 612 00:34:58,292 --> 00:35:01,333 These are near-fatal conditions. 613 00:35:02,500 --> 00:35:05,667 SHATNER: Due to the Crystal Cave's lethal atmosphere, 614 00:35:05,750 --> 00:35:07,500 the research team was restricted 615 00:35:07,583 --> 00:35:11,000 to ten-minute exposures to avoid being cooked alive. 616 00:35:11,167 --> 00:35:14,500 For gemologist Leela Hutchinson, 617 00:35:14,625 --> 00:35:16,208 the most unexpected discovery wasn't 618 00:35:16,375 --> 00:35:20,500 something she saw, but something she heard. 619 00:35:21,542 --> 00:35:25,167 HUTCHISON: One of the things that I realized, as I had to 620 00:35:25,250 --> 00:35:30,250 focus so intensely to keep my wits about me, 621 00:35:30,375 --> 00:35:35,083 was this ability to hear a low hum. 622 00:35:40,375 --> 00:35:42,458 And I thought that was very strange. 623 00:35:42,542 --> 00:35:46,500 Nikola Tesla was quoted as once saying that we may not 624 00:35:46,625 --> 00:35:49,917 understand the growth of a crystal, 625 00:35:50,042 --> 00:35:53,625 but nonetheless, it is a living being. 626 00:35:55,000 --> 00:35:57,750 SHATNER: Energy from living, 627 00:35:57,875 --> 00:35:59,583 giant crystals? 628 00:35:59,708 --> 00:36:03,000 In an attempt to navigate the unusual properties 629 00:36:03,083 --> 00:36:04,958 of the crystals within the Naica cave, 630 00:36:05,042 --> 00:36:08,208 NASA developed special cooling equipment, 631 00:36:08,375 --> 00:36:10,417 allowing scientists to withstand 632 00:36:10,542 --> 00:36:14,833 the cave's lethal conditions for as much as 30 minutes at a time. 633 00:36:15,708 --> 00:36:19,500 And according to their research, the hum 634 00:36:19,625 --> 00:36:22,417 emanating from the Crystal Cave may not be 635 00:36:22,542 --> 00:36:25,375 because its crystals are storing energy 636 00:36:25,542 --> 00:36:29,500 but because they're harboring something even more unexpected: 637 00:36:29,583 --> 00:36:30,917 life. 638 00:36:31,042 --> 00:36:33,542 HUTCHISON: In the 2008 expedition, 639 00:36:33,708 --> 00:36:36,167 the NASA scientists went into caves 640 00:36:36,333 --> 00:36:39,708 and drew out fluid inclusions 641 00:36:39,833 --> 00:36:41,583 in the largest crystals 642 00:36:41,708 --> 00:36:44,583 and found microbes 643 00:36:44,708 --> 00:36:47,417 that are considered to be extremophiles. 644 00:36:47,542 --> 00:36:51,042 Microbes that are living organisms. 645 00:36:51,167 --> 00:36:55,167 They're single-celled, and they have the ability 646 00:36:55,250 --> 00:36:59,667 to survive and thrive in extreme environments. 647 00:36:59,750 --> 00:37:03,667 One of the interesting things about the extremophiles 648 00:37:03,792 --> 00:37:07,333 was there is nothing in our genetic database 649 00:37:07,500 --> 00:37:12,208 that comes close to what these extremophiles are. 650 00:37:13,917 --> 00:37:17,833 SHATNER: Microbes unlike anything seen on Earth? 651 00:37:17,917 --> 00:37:21,583 NASA's astrobiology report suggests that these 652 00:37:21,708 --> 00:37:24,917 extremophiles are up to 50,000 years old 653 00:37:25,042 --> 00:37:26,625 and could survive on other planets. 654 00:37:26,750 --> 00:37:30,167 But many wonder is there a risk involved 655 00:37:30,333 --> 00:37:34,125 in handling these never-before-seen organisms? 656 00:37:34,250 --> 00:37:38,000 The Cave of the Crystals can be a dangerous place. 657 00:37:39,167 --> 00:37:42,375 For example, not long after it was found, 658 00:37:42,500 --> 00:37:46,333 one of the workers actually snuck back into the cave. 659 00:37:46,458 --> 00:37:50,750 Not surprisingly, he passed out and died. 660 00:37:51,875 --> 00:37:56,167 Now, it's unclear if he died from the air quality, 661 00:37:56,292 --> 00:37:58,708 the heat, the humidity, or could it have been 662 00:37:58,875 --> 00:38:02,333 the extremophile micro-organisms that were in there? 663 00:38:03,208 --> 00:38:05,333 The Crystal Cave is one of Earth's 664 00:38:05,417 --> 00:38:08,042 magnificent mysteries that is simply 665 00:38:08,167 --> 00:38:09,667 too dangerous to explore. 666 00:38:09,833 --> 00:38:13,708 But there are other even more dangerous places 667 00:38:13,875 --> 00:38:18,042 on this planet that require a lot less effort to get to. 668 00:38:18,208 --> 00:38:22,167 For example, there's a geyser in Yellowstone National Park 669 00:38:22,292 --> 00:38:24,458 known as Old Faithful. 670 00:38:24,583 --> 00:38:26,375 And it was only recently that scientists 671 00:38:26,500 --> 00:38:28,708 discovered that Old Faithful 672 00:38:28,875 --> 00:38:31,708 is located on top of a massive volcano 673 00:38:31,833 --> 00:38:41,792 that could wipe out all of humanity. 674 00:38:44,167 --> 00:38:46,583 SHATNER: Each year, more than four million people travel 675 00:38:46,708 --> 00:38:51,000 from all over the world to experience its canyons, 676 00:38:51,125 --> 00:38:53,250 hot springs 677 00:38:53,375 --> 00:38:56,542 and other natural wonders. 678 00:38:56,708 --> 00:39:01,500 But the most wondrous sight of all is a geyser that shoots 679 00:39:01,625 --> 00:39:05,333 a jet of superheated water more than 150 feet into the air. 680 00:39:07,708 --> 00:39:10,458 And it does so at such regular intervals 681 00:39:10,583 --> 00:39:13,708 that you can practically set your watch by it. 682 00:39:13,833 --> 00:39:15,875 Which is why they call this geyser 683 00:39:16,000 --> 00:39:18,917 Old Faithful. 684 00:39:19,042 --> 00:39:21,625 If you visit Yellowstone, it's spectacular. 685 00:39:21,708 --> 00:39:23,583 There are geysers all over the place. 686 00:39:23,708 --> 00:39:26,458 Some erupt every few minutes. 687 00:39:28,042 --> 00:39:30,000 Some erupt every few hours. 688 00:39:30,833 --> 00:39:34,125 But what is remarkable about Old Faithful 689 00:39:34,250 --> 00:39:37,458 is you can go there with a stopwatch 690 00:39:37,542 --> 00:39:40,833 and you can time, almost to the minute, 691 00:39:40,917 --> 00:39:45,125 when the next eruption of Old Faithful will occur. 692 00:39:46,500 --> 00:39:49,542 DENNIN: Most of nature is radical and unpredictable, 693 00:39:49,667 --> 00:39:52,500 but the really surprising feature of Old Faithful 694 00:39:52,583 --> 00:39:55,583 is not that it's periodic and regular, because that also 695 00:39:55,708 --> 00:39:57,500 happens in many places in nature. 696 00:39:57,625 --> 00:40:00,500 It's that it's been periodic and regular for so long. 697 00:40:00,625 --> 00:40:03,375 That is something that really shows us there's a lot we don't 698 00:40:03,542 --> 00:40:06,875 understand about nature, and a lot more we need to learn. 699 00:40:08,542 --> 00:40:09,917 SHATNER: Old Faithful. 700 00:40:10,042 --> 00:40:12,083 For centuries, we have thought of it 701 00:40:12,208 --> 00:40:13,375 as a mere tourist attraction. 702 00:40:13,542 --> 00:40:15,458 A quaint example of Mother Nature 703 00:40:15,542 --> 00:40:17,625 at her most punctual. 704 00:40:18,708 --> 00:40:21,125 But what if we're wrong? 705 00:40:21,208 --> 00:40:24,625 What if it is really providing a geological countdown 706 00:40:24,750 --> 00:40:28,250 to mankind's ultimate extinction? 707 00:40:29,000 --> 00:40:32,875 Yellowstone is famous for bears, it is famous for 708 00:40:33,000 --> 00:40:37,500 magnificent geysers, but underneath your feet 709 00:40:37,625 --> 00:40:40,417 is a super volcano, 710 00:40:40,542 --> 00:40:43,792 and it's at least 44 miles across. 711 00:40:43,917 --> 00:40:48,417 It's a whole network of magma pools that could 712 00:40:48,542 --> 00:40:51,292 one day blow up 713 00:40:51,375 --> 00:40:55,000 and cause tremendous havoc. 714 00:40:55,125 --> 00:40:57,042 TAYLOR: A super volcano, if it were to erupt, 715 00:40:57,167 --> 00:41:00,667 is so massive amount of energy being released that it would 716 00:41:00,792 --> 00:41:02,667 destroy half of the continental United States. 717 00:41:02,792 --> 00:41:04,292 And it would be more devastating 718 00:41:04,375 --> 00:41:06,667 to the entire planet than the asteroid 719 00:41:06,792 --> 00:41:09,125 that hit that we think killed the dinosaurs. 720 00:41:11,833 --> 00:41:15,625 KAKU: This gigantic eruption has happened three times-- 721 00:41:15,708 --> 00:41:17,458 three times in the recorded history-- 722 00:41:17,542 --> 00:41:21,542 and we are due for another one, who knows when? 723 00:41:21,667 --> 00:41:23,708 Maybe tomorrow. Maybe a hundred, 724 00:41:23,833 --> 00:41:26,000 maybe 200,000 years from now. 725 00:41:26,125 --> 00:41:27,750 But it will happen. 726 00:41:32,917 --> 00:41:36,167 Whether it's super volcanoes that are hidden underground 727 00:41:36,250 --> 00:41:38,625 or never-ending lightning storms 728 00:41:38,750 --> 00:41:41,458 or caves full of massive crystals, 729 00:41:41,583 --> 00:41:44,833 it seems that in spite of everything we've learned, 730 00:41:44,958 --> 00:41:48,458 our planet is still full of surprises. 731 00:41:48,583 --> 00:41:50,208 Perhaps we just have to face the fact that, 732 00:41:50,333 --> 00:41:53,542 for the foreseeable future, the natural forces on Earth 733 00:41:53,708 --> 00:41:57,333 will continue to be unpredictable and... 734 00:41:57,458 --> 00:41:59,333 unexplained. 735 00:41:59,417 --> 00:42:01,250 CAPTIONING PROVIDED BY A+E NETWORKS