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[Assistant] And when those excess vessels are no longer needed, the body prunes them back to baseline using naturally occurring inhibitors of androgenesis.


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[Assistant] Now there are other situations where we start beneath the baseline and we need to grow more blood vessels just to get back to normal levels. For example, after an injury. And a body can do that too. But only to that normal level, that set point.


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[Assistant] But what we now know is that for a number of diseases, there are defects in the system where the body can't prune back extra blood vessels or can't grow enough new ones in the right place at the right time.


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[Assistant] And in these situations, androgenesis is out of balance. And when androgenesis is out of balance, a myriad of diseases result.


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[Assistant] For example, insufficient androgenesis, not enough blood vessels, leads to wounds that don't heal, heart attacks, legs without circulation, death from stroke, nerve damage.


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[Assistant] And on the other hand, excessive androgenesis, too many blood vessels, drives disease, and we see this in cancer, blindness, arthritis, obesity, Alzheimer's disease.


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[Assistant] In total, there are more than 70 major diseases affecting more than a billion people worldwide that all look on the surface to be different from one another, but all actually share abnormal androgenesis as their common denominator.


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[Assistant] And this realization is allowing us to reconceptualize the way that we actually approach these diseases by controlling androgenesis.


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[Assistant] Now I'm going to focus on cancer because androgenesis is a hallmark of cancer. Every type of cancer. So here we go.


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[Assistant] This is a tumor, dark gray ominous mass growing inside a brain. And under the microscope you can see hundreds of these brown staining blood vessels, capillaries, that are feeding cancer cells, bringing oxygen and nutrients.


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[Assistant] But cancers don't start out like this. And in fact, cancers don't start out with a blood supply. They start out as small microscopic nests of cells that can only grow to one half a cubic millimeter in size. That's the tip of a ballpoint pen.


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[Assistant] Then they can't get any larger, because they don't have a blood supply, so they don't have enough oxygen or nutrients.


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[Assistant] And in fact, we're probably forming these microscopic cancers all the time in our body.


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[Assistant] Autospy studies, uh, from people who died in car accidents have shown that about 40% of women between the ages of 40 and 50


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[Assistant] Actually have microscopic cancers in their breasts.


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[Assistant] About 50% of men in their 50s and 60s have microscopic prostate cancers.


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[Assistant] And all, virtually 100% of us, by the time we reach our 70s, will have microscopic cancers growing in our thyroid.


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[Assistant] Yet without a blood supply, most of these cancers will never become dangerous.


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[Assistant] Dr. Judah Folkman, who is my mentor and who is the pioneer of the androgenesis field, once called this cancer without disease.


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[Assistant] So the body's ability to balance androgenesis, when it's working properly, prevents blood vessels from feeding cancers. And this turns out to be one of our most important defense mechanisms against cancer.


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[Assistant] In fact, if you actually block androgenesis and prevent blood vessels from ever reaching cancer cells, tumors simply can't grow up.


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[Assistant] But once androgenesis occurs, cancers can grow exponentially.


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[Assistant] And this is actually how a cancer goes from being harmless to deadly.


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[Assistant] Cancer cells mutate and they gain the ability to release lots of those androgenic factors, natural fertilizer, that tip the balance in favor of blood vessels invading the cancer.


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[Assistant] And once those vessels invade the cancer, it can expand, it can invade local tissues, and the same vessels that are feeding tumors allow cancer cells to exit into the circulation as metastases.


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[Assistant] And unfortunately, this late stage of cancer is the one at which it's most likely to be diagnosed when androgenesis is already turned on and cancer cells are growing like wild. So.


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[Assistant] If androgenesis is a tipping point between a harmless cancer and a harmful one, then one major part of the androgenesis revolution


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[Assistant] And it's completely different from chemotherapy because it selectively aims at the blood vessels that are feeding the cancers.


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[Assistant] And we can do this because tumor blood vessels are unlike normal healthy vessels we see in other places of the body.


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[Assistant] And in fact, when we give cancer patients anti-angiogenic therapy, here, an experimental drug for glioma, which is a type of a brain tumor,


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[Assistant] You can see that there are dramatic changes that occur when the tumor is being starved.


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[Assistant] Here's a woman with a breast cancer being treated with the anti-androgenic drug called Avastin, which is FDA approved. And you can see that the halo of blood flow disappears after treatment.


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[Assistant] Now I've just shown you two very different types of cancer that both responded to antiandrogenic therapy.


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[Assistant] So a few years ago, I asked myself, can we take this one step further and treat other cancers, even in other species?


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[Assistant] We were able to slow down that cancer's growth such that we were ultimately able to extend Milo's survival to six times what the veterinarian had initially predicted. All with a very good quality of life.


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[Assistant] And we've subsequently treated more than 600 dogs, we have about a 60% response rate, and improved survival for these pets that were about to be euthanized. So let me show you a couple of even more interesting examples.


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[Assistant] This is a 20 year old dolphin living in Florida and she had these lesions in her mouth that over the course of three years developed into invasive squamous cell cancers. So we created an anti-angiogenic paste.


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[Assistant] We had it painted on top of the cancer three times a week. And over the course of seven months, the cancers completely disappeared and the biopsies came back as normal.


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[Assistant] Here's a cancer growing in the lip of a quarter horse named Guinness. It's a very, very deadly type of cancer called an angiosarcoma. It had already spread to his lymph nodes. So we used the anti-androgenic skin cream for the lip and the oral cocktail so we could treat from the inside as well as the outside. And over the course of six months, he experienced a complete remission. And here he is six years later, Guinness, with his very happy owner.


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[Assistant] Now obviously, anti-hydrogenic therapy could be used for a wide range of cancers. And in fact, the first pioneering treatments for people as well as dogs are already becoming available.


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[Assistant] But the real question is how well do these work in practice? So here is actually the patient survival data from eight different types of cancer and the bars represent survival time taken from the era in which there was only chemotherapy or surgery or radiation available. But starting in 2004,


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[Assistant] When anti-androgenic therapies first became available, you can see that there has been a 70 to 100 percent


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[Assistant] Improvement in survival. For people with kidney cancer. Multiple myeloma.


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[Assistant] Colorectal cancer and gastrointestinal stromal tumors. That's impressive.


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[Assistant] But for other tumors and cancer types, the improvements have only been modest. So I started asking myself, why haven't we been able to do better?


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[Assistant] And the answer to me is obvious. We're treating cancer too late in the game, when it's already established, and oftentimes it's already spread or metastasized. And as a doctor, I know that once a disease progresses to an advanced stage, achieving a cure can be difficult, if not impossible.


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[Assistant] So I went back to the biology of androgenesis and started thinking, could the answer to cancer be preventing androgenesis? Beating cancer at its own game, so that cancers could never become dangerous.


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[Assistant] So to look for a way to prevent androgenesis in cancer, I went back to look at cancer's causes.


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[Assistant] And what really intrigued me was when I saw that diet accounts for 30 to 35 percent of environmentally caused cancers.


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[Assistant] Now the obvious thing is to think about what we could remove from our diet, what to strip out, take away.


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[Assistant] But I actually took a completely opposite approach. I began asking, what could we be adding to our diet that's naturally anti-angiogenic?


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[Assistant] That could boost the body's defense system and beat back those blood vessels that are feeding cancers.


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[Assistant] In other words, can we eat to starve cancer? Well the answer is yes, and I'm going to show you how.


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[Assistant] And our search for this has taken us to the market, the farm, and to the spice cabinet because what we've discovered is that Mother Nature has laced a large number of foods and beverages and herbs with naturally occurring inhibitors of angiogenesis.


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[Assistant] So here's a test system we developed, uh, at the center of the ring from which hundreds of blood vessels are growing out in a starburst fashion. And we can use this system to test dietary factors at concentrations that are attainable by eating.


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[Assistant] This inhibits abnormal androgenesis by 60%. Here's what happens when we add an extract from strawberries. It potently inhibits androgenesis. An extract from soybeans.


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[Assistant] And here is a growing list of our anti-angiogenic foods and beverages that we're interested in studying. And for each food type,


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[Assistant] We believe that there's different potencies within different strains and varietals. And we want to measure this because, well, while you're eating a strawberry or drinking tea, why not select the one that's most potent for preventing cancer?


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[Assistant] So here are four different Ts that we've tested. They're all common ones.


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[Assistant] Chinese Jasmine, Japanese Sencha, Earl Grey, and a special blend that we prepared. And you can see clearly that the T's vary in their potency from less potent to more potent. But what's very cool


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[Assistant] Is when we actually combine the two less potent teas together.


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[Assistant] The combination, the blend, is more potent than either one alone. This means there's food synergy.


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[Assistant] Here's some more data from our testing. Now in the lab we can simulate tumor androgenesis represented here in a black bar.


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[Assistant] And using this system, we can test the potency of cancer drugs. So the shorter the bar, less androgenesis. That's good.


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[Assistant] And here are some common drugs that have been associated with reducing the risk of cancer in people. Statins, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and a few others. They inhibit androgenesis too.


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[Assistant] And here are the dietary factors going head to head against these drugs. You can see they clearly hold their own, and in some cases they're more potent than the actual drugs.


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[Assistant] I could go home and cook a tasty meal using these ingredients.


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[Assistant] So imagine if we could create the world's first rating system in which we could score foods according to their anti-angiogenic cancer preventative properties. And that's what we're doing right now.


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[Assistant] Now I've shown you a bunch of lab data, and so the real question is, what is the evidence in people?


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[Assistant] Well, the best example I know is a study of 79,000 men followed over 20 years, in which it was found that men who consumed cooked tomatoes two to three times a week had up to a 50% reduction in their risk of developing prostate cancer. Now, we know that tomatoes are a good source of lycopene, and lycopene is anti-androgenic.


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[Assistant] But what's even more interesting from this study is that in those men who did develop prostate cancer, those who ate more servings of tomato sauce actually had fewer blood vessels feeding their cancer.


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[Assistant] So this human study is a prime example of how anti-androgenic substances present in food and consumed in practical levels can impact on cancer.


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[Assistant] And we're now studying the role of a healthy diet with Dean Ornish at UCSF and Tufts University on the role of this healthy diet on markers of angiogenesis that we can find in the bloodstream.


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[Assistant] Now obviously, what I've shared with you has some far ranging implications even beyond cancer research. Because if we're right, it could impact on consumer education, food services, public health, and even the insurance industry.


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[Assistant] And in fact, some insurance companies are already beginning to think along these lines. Check out this ad from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota.


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[Assistant] And for many people around the world, dietary cancer prevention may be the only practical solution. Because not everybody can afford expensive end-stage cancer treatments, but everybody could benefit from a healthy diet based on local sustainable anti-angiogenic crops. Now,


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[Assistant] Because, turns out that adipose tissue, fat, is highly androgenesis dependent.


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[Assistant] And like a tumor, fat grows when blood vessels grow. So the question is, can we shrink fat by cutting off its blood supply?


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[Assistant] So the top curve shows the body weight of a genetically obese mouse that eats non-stop until it turns fat like this furry tennis ball.


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[Assistant] And the bottom curve is the weight of a normal mouse. If you take the obese mouse and give it an androgenesis inhibitor, it loses weight. Stop the treatment, gains the weight back. Restart the treatment, loses the weight again. Stop the treatment, gains the weight back. And in fact, you can cycle the weight up and down simply by inhibiting androgenesis.


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[Assistant] So this approach that we're taking for cancer prevention may also have an application for obesity.


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[Assistant] The really truly interesting thing about this is that we can't take these obese mice and make them lose more weight than what the normal mouse's weight is supposed to be. In other words, we can't create supermodel mice.


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[Assistant] And this speaks to the role of androgenesis in regulating healthy set points.


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[Assistant] Alberson, Georgia once said that discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought.


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[Assistant] I hope I've convinced you that for diseases like cancer, obesity, and other conditions, that there may be a great power in attacking their common denominator, androgenesis. And that's what I think the world needs now. Thank you.


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[Assistant] The following content is provided under a Creative Commons license. Your support will help MIT OpenCourseWare continue to offer high quality educational resources for free.


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[Assistant] To make a donation or to view additional materials from hundreds of MIT courses.


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[Assistant] Visit MIT OpenCourseWare at ocw.mit.edu.


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[Assistant] Thanks to Babbel, a language learning app, for sponsoring this episode. If you're interested in growing your language skills, SciShow viewers get up to 65% off with a 20-day money-back guarantee when you use our link.


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[Assistant] The ways that we live our lives online are changing very fast. When I first got on the internet, no one was predicting a world anything like the one we are living in today. The tools that have made that possible, for good and bad, are


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[Assistant] Really cool and advanced, and for the most part, we do not understand them that well. Like most of us don't really know what HTTP means, let alone what impact inviting billions of people into many-to-many communication has had and will continue to have.


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[Assistant] But that does not mean that we're stopping the changing. We're even slowing it down. Here's what I'll say to start out.


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[Assistant] Blockchains are controversial. Controversial because of how they are used, what they enable, and the impacts that they are having and may have on our world. And when something is the subject of controversy, the expectation is that everyone should have an opinion. But in this case, we at SciShow are not offering an opinion.


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[Assistant] Instead, we want to interface with a reality. These tools exist. They are not going to stop existing, and they are often extremely energy inefficient. But maybe,


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[Assistant] First, though, let's define some of what we're talking about.


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[Assistant] Rather than something like a centralized bank. The idea of a cryptocurrency is that each unit of the currency is interchangeable. Just like a dollar is a dollar, a bitcoin is a bitcoin. They're all identical and worth the exact same amount. There's a word for this.


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[Assistant] They are also just information stored on a ledger maintained by a distributed network of users, but each NFT is different and not interchangeable. This means you can have them contain information, like saying this token represents ownership of this piece of digital art.


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[Assistant] Or this token represents ownership of 1% of the rights to a song. How people use them is legally complex. But basically, they're just notes on a ledger that can be marked as being owned or not owned by a person.


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[Assistant] And the real secret sauce to both cryptocurrencies and NFTs is the blockchain, a digital ledger that keeps track of all the transactions made, and thus who owns what. Because, like, we're all aware that you can easily make digital copies of something. Like, if you have a movie file and you send it to me, we both


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[Assistant] Everyone who mines Bitcoin has the exact same copy of the ledger, which is the blockchain. And the blockchain has a record of every single transaction of that currency that has ever happened. As more transactions happen, the blockchain keeps getting longer. Currently, the Bitcoin blockchain is around 400 gigabytes. So big, but maybe not as big as you'd think.


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[Assistant] You need to be able to add new transactions to the ledger, because part of the whole point is moving these representations of ownership.


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[Assistant] Now, if you want to go deeper into how all this works, our video from 2016, when the ledger was just 100 gigs, is still very good and totally applicable. But basically, to add a transaction to the ledger, you have to solve


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[Assistant] Super complex math problems. And if you do that, you solve the problem and you add a new block of transactions to the chain.


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[Assistant] As a reward, you get a bit of the underlying currency of the blockchain. This is what people are talking about when they say that they are mining crypto. They are maintaining the ledger and adding new blocks of transactions and verifying those transactions.


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[Assistant] Each block is verified by several users, so it's almost impossible to forge a transaction. But you don't get to do any of that unless you are the one solving the super complex math problems. You can't make money mining if you don't solve the problems first, so people are in an arms race


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[Assistant] On top of all that, mining and all this hardcore computing generate a lot of electronic waste. So the question then becomes whether it is possible to reduce energy demand


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[Assistant] When it comes to crypto, miners need to have a lot of computing power because the more power you have, the quicker you can make


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[Assistant] Mind-boggling, research done by the University of Cambridge in the UK estimated that as of November 2018, the top six cryptocurrencies consumed between 52 and 111


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[Assistant] To put that in perspective, it's about the same amount of energy as the entire country of Belgium used in 2016. And this just gets worse as currencies get more popular. When cryptocurrencies were first coming onto the scene, there weren't that many new transactions being added to the ledger, and the currencies weren't worth all that much.


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[Assistant] So the stakes weren't super high. That meant that the computer power and energy needed weren't massive.


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[Assistant] Most miners could probably do it from their home computers. But as this tech has become more popular, miners have needed whole warehouses of super-powerful computers to outcompete other mining rivals. And that energy consumption keeps on growing. Cambridge researchers estimate that at the time of the filming of this episode,


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[Assistant] Bitcoin will use more than 120 terawatt hours of electricity this year. That's more than a 40% increase from last year. In 2020, the Central Bank of the Netherlands estimated that a single Bitcoin transaction produced around 402 kilograms of carbon emissions.


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[Assistant] That equates to about two-thirds of the monthly emissions of the average Dutch household.


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[Assistant] Then there's the electronic waste from all of these processes. Because miners compete against each other, they always need to upgrade, so the physical hardware, like computer chips, becomes outdated really quickly. We're talking obsolete in one or two years, then it's out with the old and in with the new and more powerful. That means a single Bitcoin transaction makes around 355 grams of electronics waste, or a little more than two iPhones.


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[Assistant] Three quarters of an iPad. So that all seems pretty bad.


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[Assistant] Between the massive power demand leading to carbon emissions and the arms race of electronics waste, it seems,


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[Assistant] If they have been this way, that doesn't mean they have to be this way. You can change the way blocks are added to the blockchain. The method we described earlier, where lots of supercomputers around the world compete to be one of the ones to solve the super hard math problem, is called proof of work. The literal fact that proof of work requires so much energy is part of what makes it secure.


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[Assistant] You have to prove that you did a lot of work in order to add a transaction block to the chain. If you didn't have to do all that work, anyone could add blocks to the chain more easily, and lots of people would do it, and hackers could mess things up. But there is another way to make adding and verifying a block hard to do. Instead of proving that you did work,


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[Assistant] You prove that you have a stake in the project, so instead of proof of work,


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[Assistant] This is proof of stake. Instead of a free-for-all competition,


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[Assistant] Proof of stake means minors have to buy into a lottery for the chance


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[Assistant] To be one of the users to create or check a block of transactions. Each miner puts up their own amount of cryptocurrency, and then only a few of the miners instead of thousands are selected at random to solve the math problem. And instead of competing against one another, the block is only validated once all of the selected miners have solved the math problem.


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[Assistant] This means that a miner can't gain an advantage by adding another supercomputer to their setup. The arms race


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[Assistant] Proof of stake should cut energy use, the carbon emissions that go with it, and cut down on e-waste.


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[Assistant] Since those computers shouldn't have to work as hard. Hardware that would be entirely obsolete for proof of work can still be used much longer for proof of stake. And this isn't hypothetical. Solana and Cardano are fairly large cryptocurrencies that both use proof of stake.


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[Assistant] They each have a total market value of around $30 billion. And one of the most popular cryptocurrencies, Ethereum, has proposed to make the switch to this method in the second quarter of 2022.


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[Assistant] This is a complex technical challenge and also a complex cultural challenge, as many Ethereum miners have invested a lot of money in systems that will no longer be as valuable. But it looks like it's definitely going to happen, though of course this is software, and everyone knows


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[Assistant] Launches can be delayed. Experts are estimating that this shift could cut Ethereum's energy use by 99%.


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[Assistant] Bitcoin, on the other hand, will likely never change from proof of work, and so, as long as it exists and thrives, will remain a massive consumer of electricity. Miners could attempt to use more renewable energy or only use energy that is produced during times when there is excess energy, but ultimately, that will be up to individual miners and will be very difficult to track.


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[Assistant] Regardless, nearly all of the energy used for Bitcoin could be used for something else. So while some cryptocurrencies are already solving this problem, Bitcoin will likely chug along, consuming huge amounts of power every time someone makes a transaction. Like we said up top,


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[Assistant] We know this stuff is controversial, and people have strong perspectives on it. Please be respectful in the comments. No one knows where the future is taking us, but we can all be fairly certain that cryptocurrencies aren't going anywhere anytime soon. And also, we can agree that putting less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere


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[Assistant] I hope watching this was a good use of your time. I certainly learned a lot from this episode. But you know something that's definitely worth your time?


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[Assistant] Learning a new language. Babbel is a language learning app that aims to get you speaking naturally in a flash. Babbel teaches real-world practical conversations in short


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[Assistant] I do not want to marry her, my child, but if this is what is going to make you happy, then I agree.


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[Assistant] Here it is, your very own castle. Live here happily, away from your stepmother.


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[Assistant] My love, I'm going to the great meetings of knights and nobles.


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[Assistant] I've lost my way. Can you tell me where I am? You are in the Green Knight's forest!


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[Assistant] He has asked me to give you this gift so that you will know who he is when he arrives.


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[Assistant] Alright, if that is what you wish, my love. But I would suggest you meet him first. Meanwhile, make sure your stepmother doesn't find out about it.


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[Assistant] Along with over 5,000 other species, they're mammals, or members of class mammalia.


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[Assistant] All mammals are vertebrates, meaning they have backbones. But mammals are distinguished from other vertebrates by a number of shared features. That includes warm blood, body hair or fur,


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[Assistant] But despite these similarities, these creatures also have many biological differences. And one of the most remarkable is how they give birth.


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[Assistant] Let's start with the most familiar, placental mammals.


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[Assistant] This group includes humans, cats, dogs, giraffes, and even the blue whale, the biggest animal on earth.


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[Assistant] It's placenta, a solid disc of blood-rich tissue, attaches to the wall of the uterus to support the developing embryo.


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[Assistant] The placenta is what keeps the calf alive during pregnancy. Directly connected to the mother's blood supply, it funnels nutrients and oxygen straight into the calf's body via the umbilical cord and also exports its waste.


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[Assistant] Placental mammals can spend far longer inside the womb than other mammals.


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[Assistant] Baby blue whales, for instance, spend almost a full year inside their mother.


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[Assistant] The placenta keeps the calf alive right up until its birth, when the umbilical cord breaks and the newborn's own respiratory, circulatory, and waste disposal systems take over.


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[Assistant] Measuring about 23 feet, a newborn calf is already able to swim.


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[Assistant] It'll spend the next six months drinking 225 liters of its mother's thick, fatty milk per day.


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[Assistant] Meanwhile, in Australia, you can find a second type of mammal, marsupials.


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[Assistant] Marsupial babies are so tiny and delicate when they're born that they must continue developing in the mother's pouch. Take the cool.


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[Assistant] One of the world's smallest marsupials, which weighs only 18 milligrams at birth, the equivalent of about 30 sugar grains.


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[Assistant] The kangaroo, another marsupial, gives birth to a single jelly bean sized baby at a time.


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[Assistant] The baby crawls down the middle of the mother's three vaginas, then must climb up to the pouch, where she spends the next six to eleven months suckling.


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[Assistant] A female kangaroo can often simultaneously support one inside her uterus and another in her pouch.


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[Assistant] When that happens, she's able to produce two different kinds of milk. One for her newborn, and one for her older Joey.


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[Assistant] The word memelia means of the breast, which is a bit of a misnomer because while kangaroos do produce milk from nipples in their pouches, they don't actually have breasts.


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[Assistant] Nor do monotremes, the third and arguably strangest example of mammalian birth.


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[Assistant] There were once hundreds of monotreme species, but there are only five left.


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[Assistant] Four species of echidnas and the duck-billed platypus.


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[Assistant] The name monotreme means one whole, referring to the single orifice they use for reproduction, excretion, and egg laying.


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[Assistant] Like birds, reptiles, fish, dinosaurs, and others, these species lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young.


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[Assistant] Their eggs are soft-shelled, and when their babies hatch, they suckle milk from pores on their mother's body until they're large enough to feed themselves.


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[Assistant] Despite laying eggs and other adaptations that we associate more with non-mammals, like the duck-billed platypus's webbed feet, bill, and the venomous spur males have on their feet, they are, in fact, mammals.


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[Assistant] That's because they share the defining characteristics of Mammalia and are evolutionarily linked to the rest of the class.


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[Assistant] Whether placental, marsupial, or monodream, each of these creatures and its unique birthing methods, however bizarre,


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[Assistant] Have succeeded for many millennia in bringing new life and diversity into the mammal kingdom.


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[Assistant] So, to sum up, two medium sized pizzas, pepperoni and tuna with olives, a portion of chips, and two cokes?


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[Assistant] That'll be 30.25. How will you pay for that?


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[Assistant] Yes, of course. Is this for takeout or home delivery?


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[Assistant] This is our first time here. Do you have any favorite dishes you would recommend?


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[Assistant] One Cobb salad and one grilled chicken sandwich please.


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[Assistant] Hello there! What can I do for you today? I'd like a cut and a shave please.


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[Assistant] Not a problem. Let's start with a quick shampoo. Okay, sounds good.


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[Assistant] And now onto the cut. What is your usual style?


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[Assistant] I usually wear it a little longer on the top, but pretty short everywhere else. Okay. And which way do you normally part it? To the right. Let's get started.


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[Assistant] What do you think? Looks good. And now for the shave. Any special requests?


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[Assistant] Would you like me to leave a goatee for you? Or a mustache? No thanks. I'm ready for my face to be smooth again.


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[Assistant] That looks great. I look like a whole new man. Thanks. What do I owe you? That'll be fifteen dollars. Here's a twenty. Keep the change. Thanks.


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[Assistant] We can show you what to do, how to do it, and why you're doing it. Have you worked with a personal trainer before?


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[Assistant] For your first classes, we'll assign you one of our expert personal trainers. Nutrition advice is included in the plan.


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[Assistant] Yes it is. If you want to continue with your trainer after the first few classes, it costs extra though.


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[Assistant] I'm still sore from our last workout. What are we doing today?


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[Assistant] That sounds like a lot. I thought we were going to run outside today.


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[Assistant] Are you serious? I don't think I'll have any energy left for that.


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[Assistant] Nutrition is also important if you want to lose weight. If you start eating healthy food, you'll be surprised how easy it is to lose weight.


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[Assistant] Yes, I'd like to get my wife some flowers. It's our anniversary today.


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[Assistant] She loves roses and daisies, but she really likes any type of flower.


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[Assistant] I thought about that, but I think I'd like something a little more creative and unique.


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[Assistant] Wow, that one is a little out of my budget. Do you have anything in the $50 range?


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[Assistant] That bouquet looks indeed unique. I think my wife would really enjoy it. I'll take it.


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[Assistant] With no chance of escape, you do what any courageous self-respecting possum would do.


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[Assistant] Curl into an immobile state called catatonia, stick out your tongue, drool, and ooze some foul smelling liquid from your anal glands.


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[Assistant] Disgusted, your assailant loosens its grip, decides you're not the dinner it was looking for, and departs. After ten minutes, you resurrect and merrily saunter on.


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[Assistant] From lemurs to lizards, ants to amphibians, sharks to chickens, hundreds of animals play dead as a survival tactic.


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[Assistant] Nicknamed playing possum after its star performer, feigning death is also called Thanatosis. That's from Thanatos, the ancient Greek deity of death.


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[Assistant] But most scientists call it tonic immobility, or TI.


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[Assistant] How and why TI occurs depends on the species and situation. Spewing stench and adopting odd postures are common and often play important roles. Other animals sacrifice their neighbors. Quail chicks that freeze while their kin run amok have a better chance of survival when pursued by a cat.


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[Assistant] Speaking of cats, feline mothers can pinch the napes of their kittens' necks and induce another kind of immobility called clipnosis. This keeps their kittens quiet and easy to transport.


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[Assistant] Most of the physiological mechanisms underlying these theatrics originate in the parasympathetic nervous system, better known for controlling cycles of resting and digesting.


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[Assistant] In possums, the parasympathetic nervous system causes their heart rates to drop by nearly half, respiration by a third.


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[Assistant] The neurotransmitter dopamine also plays a part.


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[Assistant] Flour beetles with low dopamine levels play dead more frequently than those with high levels. And anything blocking dopamine receptor sites can lengthen catatonia.


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[Assistant] But maintaining a death ruse isn't easy. The performers are constantly gauging their surroundings for cues on when it's safe to rise.


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[Assistant] Other animals use T.I. for purposes other than defense. When the sleeper cichlid feels peckish, it sinks to the lake floor and lies motionless, its splotchy coloration making it seem like a rotting carcass. If a small scavenger investigates, this undead trickster strikes.


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[Assistant] Some animals even feign death as a sexual ploy. Male nursery spiders offer gifts of silk-wrapped insects in hopes of wooing females.


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[Assistant] So T.I. can work to an animal's advantage, unless someone else knows its secret.


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[Assistant] California orcas can flip over young great white sharks, inducing TI for so long, the immobilized sharks, who must move to respire, essentially suffocate.


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[Assistant] Humans can also flip sharks into TI. By stroking a shark's electrically sensitive snout and gently turning it over, researchers can induce TI that lasts up to 15 minutes. That's enough time to insert tags, remove hooks, and even perform surgeries. There are risks, however.


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[Assistant] TI can hamper respiration and induce hyperglycemia, a sign of stress.


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[Assistant] So this technique should only be used when necessary.


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[Assistant] Recognizing this ancient, involuntary form of self-defense has significant implications when trying to understand why some victims don't flee or fight in the face of danger.


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[Assistant] So studying T.I. in non-human animals not only helps us better understand some odd behaviors, it can also help us better understand our own, sometimes counterintuitive, responses to violence.


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[Assistant] Love animals? Check out this playlist for more videos on some of our favorite furry and not so furry friends.


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[Assistant] Did you live in Mason Heights your whole life or were you born somewhere else?


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[Assistant] No, I was born in Greece and moved here when I was five years old. My dad got a green card and got a job here.


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[Assistant] Yes, my family and I spend our summer vacations in Greece every two years.


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[Assistant] So it certainly feels like my second home. It's where my roots are.


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[Assistant] We have a team and a stadium. We are also lucky to have a swimming pool in our school.


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[Assistant] That's a great idea. We have so many clubs for all kinds of sports and hobbies. What do you like to do?


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[Assistant] I like going to the mall, the park, and the Grand Plaza Market on Saturdays.


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[Assistant] The mall has its own movie theater, and is a short walk from our school. It has all of the newly released movies.


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[Assistant] Thank you, I'm Stacey. Pleased to meet you.


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[Assistant] I'm Amanda. Nice to meet you as well. It's been a crazy few days of moving and unpacking. We haven't had a chance to introduce ourselves to anyone in


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[Assistant] Where did you guys move from? We used to live in Atlanta.


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[Assistant] My boss asked me if I'd be willing to transfer to California. And I thought it would be great to move out here.


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[Assistant] Nice! My husband worked as a realtor in Atlanta.


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[Assistant] That's awesome! We have two boys! Leo is 13 and Zach is 11. Do they like to play basketball? They love basketball!


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[Assistant] There's a man by the name of Captain William Swenson, who recently was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions on September 8th, 2009.


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[Assistant] On that day, a column of American and Afghan troops were making their way through a part of Afghanistan to help protect


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[Assistant] A group of government officials, a group of Afghan government officials who'd be meeting with some local village elders. The column came under ambush and was surrounded on three sides. And amongst many other things,


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[Assistant] Captain Swenson was recognized for running into live fire to rescue the wounded and pull out the dead. One of the people he rescued was a sergeant. And he and a comrade were making their way to a medevac helicopter.


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[Assistant] And what was remarkable about this day is by sheer coincidence, one of the medevac medics happened to have a GoPro camera on his helmet.


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[Assistant] And captured the whole scene on camera.


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[Assistant] I saw this, and I thought to myself, where do people like that come from?


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[Assistant] And I want to know, why is it that I don't have people that I work with like that? You know, in the military, they give medals to people who are willing to sacrifice themselves so that others may gain.


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[Assistant] So I asked myself, where do people like this come from? And my initial conclusion was that they're just better people. That's why they're attracted to the military. These better people are attracted to this concept of service.


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[Assistant] But that's completely wrong. What I learned is that it's the environment. And if you get the environment right, every single one of us has the capacity to do these remarkable things, and more importantly, others have that capacity too.


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[Assistant] So trust and cooperation are really important here. The problem with concepts of trust and cooperation is that they are feelings, they're not instructions. I can't simply say to you, trust me, and you will. I can't simply instruct two people to cooperate, and they will. It's not how it works, it's a feeling. So where does that feeling come from?


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[Assistant] If you go back 50,000 years to the Paleolithic era, to the early days of Homo sapien,


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[Assistant] What we find is that the world was filled with danger.


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[Assistant] All of these forces working very, very hard to kill us. Nothing personal.


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[Assistant] Whether it was the weather, lack of resources, maybe a saber-toothed tiger, all of these things working to reduce our lifespan.


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[Assistant] And so we evolved into social animals, where we lived together and worked together in what I call a circle of safety. Inside the tribe, where we felt like we belonged.


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[Assistant] The modern day is exactly the same thing. The world is filled with danger. Things that are trying to frustrate our lives or reduce our success, reduce our opportunity for success. It could be the ups and downs of an economy. The uncertainty of the stock market.


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[Assistant] And that's where leadership matters. Because it's the leader that sets the tone.


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[Assistant] Results so that the people remain and feel safe and feel like they belong, remarkable things happen. I was flying on a trip, and I was witness to an incident.


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[Assistant] Where a passenger attempted to board before their number was called and I watched the gate agent


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[Assistant] Treat this man like he had broken the law, like a criminal, who's yelled at for attempting to board one group too soon.


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[Assistant] So I said something. I said, why do you have to treat us like cattle? Why can't you treat us like human beings? And this is exactly what she said to me.


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[Assistant] She said sir, if I don't follow the rules, I could get in trouble or lose my job.


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[Assistant] All she was telling me is that she doesn't feel safe. All she was telling me is that she doesn't trust her leaders.


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[Assistant] The reason we like flying Southwest Airlines is not because they necessarily hire better people, it's because they don't fear their leaders.


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[Assistant] You see, if the conditions are wrong, we're forced to expend our own time and energy to protect ourselves from each other. And that inherently weakens the organization.


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[Assistant] The closest analogy I can give to what a great leader is is like being a parent.


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[Assistant] If you think about what being a great parent is, what do you want? What makes a great parent? We want to give our child opportunities, education, discipline them when necessary.


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[Assistant] Also that they can grow up and achieve more than we could for ourselves.


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[Assistant] Then why do we consider laying off people inside our organization? Charlie implemented a policy of lifetime employment.


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[Assistant] If you get a job at NextJump, you cannot get fired for performance issues.


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[Assistant] Just like we would with one of our children who happens to come home with a C from school.


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[Assistant] It's the complete opposite. This is the reason so many people have such a visceral


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[Assistant] Hatred, discon- sort of anger at some of these banking CEOs with their disproportionate salaries and bonus structures. It's not the numbers.


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[Assistant] It's that they have violated the very definition of leadership. They have violated this deep-seated social contract. We know that they allowed their people to be sacrificed so that they could protect their own interests. Or worse, they sacrificed their people to protect their own interests. This is what so offends us, not the numbers.


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[Assistant] How about a 250 million dollar bonus to Mother Teresa? Do we have an issue with that? None at all. None at all. Great leaders would never sacrifice


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[Assistant] A large manufacturing company in the Midwest called Barry Waymiller, in 2008, was hit very hard by the recession, and they lost 30% of their orders overnight. Now in a large manufacturing company, this is a big deal.


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[Assistant] And they could no longer afford their labor pool. They needed to save 10 million dollars. So like so many companies today, the board got together and discussed layoffs. And Bob refused.


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[Assistant] You see, Bub doesn't believe in head counts. Bub believes in heart counts.


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[Assistant] And it's much more difficult to simply reduce the heart count. And so they came up with a furlough program.


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[Assistant] Every employee from secretary to CEO was required to take four weeks of unpaid vacation. They could take it any time they wanted, and they did not have to take it consecutively. But it was how Bob announced the program that mattered so much.


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[Assistant] He said, it's better that we should all suffer a little than any of us should have to suffer a lot. And morale went up. They saved 20 million dollars.


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[Assistant] And most importantly, as would be expected, when the people feel safe and protected by the leadership in the organization, the natural reaction is to trust and cooperate.


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[Assistant] I know many people at the senior-most levels of organizations who are absolutely not leaders. They are authorities. And we do what they say because they have authority over us, but we would not follow them. And I know many people


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[Assistant] We call them leaders because they go first. We call them leaders because they take the risk before anybody else does. We call them leaders because they will choose to sacrifice so that their people may be safe and protected and so their people may gain.


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[Assistant] And when we do, the natural response is that our people


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[Assistant] Will sacrifice for us. They will give us their blood and sweat and tears to see that their leader's vision comes to life.


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[Assistant] And when we ask them, why would you do that? Why would you give your blood and sweat and tears for that person? They all say the same thing. Because they would have done it for me. And isn't that the organization we would all like to work in? Thank you very much. Thank you.


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[Assistant] Thanks to Brilliant for supporting this episode of SciShow. To take your STEM skills to the next level, go to Brilliant.org slash SciShow for 20% off an annual premium subscription.


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[Assistant] Wildfires are all over the news these days. In North America, the number of forest fires has increased fourfold in the last couple of decades, with fires lasting longer and getting bigger every year. And wildfires are an inconvenience and a danger for many creatures, including us humans. But they are not


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[Assistant] Always a bad thing for all animals. One creature we might not expect wildfires to affect much at all are fish. You know, since they live in water, which is one place where fire tends to not


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[Assistant] But despite that, researchers have found that wildfires can change the lives of our aquatic friends in a lot of ways. In fact, we now know that even though wildfires have a lot of downsides, some types of wildfires can be beneficial, or even necessary, for their ecosystems to thrive. Sure, when a wildfire happens, a pond or stream doesn't actually burn up.


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[Assistant] But immediately after a fire, the quality of life in streams, lakes, and rivers temporarily gets worse for the creatures that live there. The water quality drops, and when the surrounding trees are burned badly enough to die off, their roots


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[Assistant] are no longer there to hold the landscape in place, which can cause it to become unstable. And that often results in a large amount of debris falling into nearby bodies of water.


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[Assistant] When the microscopic algae that live in the water all grow very quickly all at once. And at first, an algal bloom might seem like it would be great for their ecosystem. A lot of creatures use algae as their primary source of food. But the vast majority of the algae that doesn't get eaten eventually dies and sinks to the bottom.


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[Assistant] And as it decomposes, those decomposers consume a lot, if not all, of the oxygen in the water. Which is pretty bad news for the aquatic animals that need that oxygen to survive.


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[Assistant] But there are some benefits. In the long term, those trees and rocks can establish new habitats for fish and other creatures in the water. For example, increased numbers of logs, known as log jams, can improve the quality of a stream or river by creating more hiding spots


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[Assistant] It increases their energy expenditure in need for food which may or may not be available. So having places to chill out


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[Assistant] Sometimes, though, it is not just nature that disturbs a fish's ecosystem during a wildfire. Occasionally,


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[Assistant] Humans get involved and try to contain or extinguish the flames. When a fire needs to be brought under control, firefighters will manually combat the spread by pouring dirt or water on the flames, or by removing or wetting all of the underbrush before the fire gets there. But when the fires become too big and too intense,


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[Assistant] Now, putting out wildfires before they cause all this ecological chaos might sound like the obvious choice. But researchers in the Pacific Northwest have found that suppressing all wildfires can be counterproductive. In the Wenatchee River Basin, for example, that approach is actually having a negative impact on some species of fish in the area. Their studies suggest that allowing little to no wildfire near streams


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[Assistant] Like the fragmentation and loss of their habitats. The good news is that in 2015, these researchers were able to model how these vulnerable fish populations might recover if we changed up our fire management strategy. They modeled scenarios with different fire sizes and habitat connectivity, and they predicted that in a future, warmer climate,


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[Assistant] Bull trout would fare better when some wildfires were allowed to do their thing and create habitat variety, including those colder pools of water they need to live. Instead of us trying to completely prevent fires, they argued that managing forests and allowing regular small burns would help support these vulnerable species


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[Assistant] Here's the sticking point, though. Hot, high-intensity fires are becoming more common thanks to the climate crisis.


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[Assistant] You see, low-burning fires help clear out the underbrush in the landscape, the stuff that otherwise becomes fuel for bigger, more devastating fires. They improve the diversity and richness of an ecosystem over time, both on land and in the water, whereas the high-intensity variety just


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[Assistant] With high-intensity fires becoming more and more prevalent, it looks like future fire management efforts need to literally


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[Assistant] Fight fire with fire. Research has shown that by starting controlled burns, which mimic low intensity wildfires,


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[Assistant] Forest managers can eliminate some of the fuel for super intense fires capable of wiping out the entire forest ecosystem. Smokey the Bear has told us that only we can prevent wildfires, but it is worth keeping in mind that they are an important part of many ecosystems. With proper management,


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[Assistant] Fires can help ecosystems thrive, even in places where they cannot burn.


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[Assistant] Today, we talked about a pretty unexpected interaction in nature. But if you are not done learning surprising new things, you might enjoy a course from today's sponsor.


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[Assistant] Brilliant is an interactive STEM learning platform that helps you to truly understand concepts in math.


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[Assistant] They're always working to make their courses more engaging and more interactive. And with their new course, Everyday Math, you can brush up on all the math skills that never quite stuck in grade school.


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[Assistant] That may have just gotten a little rusty. So to join their community of learners and educators today, click on the link in the description down below, or just go to Brilliant.org slash SciShow, and you'll get 20% off the annual Premium subscription by using that link.


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[Assistant] The climate is so good today. It would be great to catch a good fish. I could sell it in the market and earn a good amount.


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[Assistant] Oh, stop bluffing. When airplanes fly at higher altitudes, the air pressure inside the airplane is more than the air pressure outside. Hence, the cabin slightly expands, thus creating stress which flows through the cabin's material.


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[Assistant] Now, when the windows were square or rectangular, the stress caused tension to build up at the corners of square windows. This tension produced cracks in the cabin, thus leading to crashes. Oh. So sad.


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[Assistant] Hence, this design flaw was corrected by making windows oval.


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[Assistant] This episode is sponsored by Toodaloo, a healthy and flavorful cosmic trail mix. To try Toodaloo, check out toodaloo.com slash SciShow and use the code SciShow to get $5 off your first order.


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[Assistant] Some people are constantly coughing up mucus, and it's not always because they have a perpetual cold or allergy.


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[Assistant] Sometimes, that symptom is caused by a rare genetic disease that puts your organs on the opposite side of your body from everyone else's. Your organs can be flipped, like you'd put your left hand over your heart because it's on the right side of your body. And this doesn't always cause as many problems as you might think.


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[Assistant] Cilia are kind of like millipede legs for your cells. They stick out like hairs from the surface of a cell and rotate to help that cell move around in your body. And cells need to move around because of the way fetuses develop. During development, cells are rapidly growing and dividing to form a human, and most of those cells eventually specialize to do certain jobs. Like, some cells in your intestines help you get nutrients from your food, and other cells in your heart help you circulate blood.


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[Assistant] But those cells start specializing before they really have a place to go. For instance, your heart is one of the first organs you made, and you started forming heart cells before you had a chest to put them in. And many organs start developing before or as they travel to where they'll sit for the rest of someone's life. So besides moving cells around generally, cilia are also necessary to get those organs where they're going. Sometimes cilia move the cells that they're on, and sometimes they move cells through a different mechanism.


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[Assistant] The lazy river of human development. Either way, when cilia aren't working properly, cells and organs can end up in uncommon locations. And before you know it, you've grown a body with a bunch of flipped organs, including your heart, liver, and spleen. They're still whole organs, and they generally do what you need them to, but they aren't where you might expect them to be. This is what happens in Cartagena syndrome.


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[Assistant] It's a rare genetic disease that affects anywhere from 1 in 12,000 to 1 in 30,000.


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[Assistant] Which is a category of conditions where someone's cilia don't move the way other people's move. And it develops when someone receives otherwise harmless copies of one or more genes from both of their parents. At this point, researchers don't know exactly which genes are at the root of all this, but they have a few ideas. For example, PCD has been linked to at least three genes that lead to loss of dynein arms in cilia.


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[Assistant] That's a big part of it, but they might also have chronic sinus problems, cough up mucus, and experience infertility. And that's because cilia don't just help organs get organized.


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[Assistant] They have plenty of other jobs throughout someone's life including helping sperm move,


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[Assistant] PCD has been compared to gastroesophageal reflux disease, which is a digestive disorder. And when things aren't going as you might hope they would with your digestive system, it can throw you for a loop. So to help maintain gut health, Tootaloo has hot-to-trot spicy citrus trail mix.


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[Assistant] It's full of powerful ingredients like ginger powder, turmeric extract, and lemon peel to make your mouth tingle and get your gut going. They also have slow-your-roll maple trail mix, which tastes just like pancakes. Tutaloo's trail mix is full of herbs to support your body's natural stress relief and energy production. And they do it all in a plant-based, carbon-conscious, and plastic-neutral way.


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[Assistant] What's a typical day for you, Diana? Well, I get up at 7am. I feed the dog.


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[Assistant] My school is near my house so I walk to school every morning. I have a bag of chips for a morning snack.


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[Assistant] I like to play basketball with my friends at break time.


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[Assistant] Then I play with the dog for a while or I go for a bike ride.


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[Assistant] I play computer games for an hour or two before dinner. Then I have a shower and do my homework. I watch my favorite television show for an hour.


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[Assistant] I usually have rice, salads and pasta with some kind of sauce and chicken.


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[Assistant] Sometimes I have some oven chips with chicken nuggets. Or maybe a frozen pizza once in a while. How about you? What's a typical day for you?


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[Assistant] I get up at 8am and have two slices of toast with jam and a cup of tea for breakfast. My mum drives me to school on her way to work.


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[Assistant] I eat some cookies and a packaged fruit drink for morning snacks.


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[Assistant] Rice and vegetables, little meat and a piece of fruit for lunch. Is the food expensive at the cafeteria? It's pretty cheap.


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[Assistant] It's three pounds for a lunch and you get a lot of food. I like to play card games with my friends at lunchtime. I catch the bus home.


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[Assistant] Have a cereal bar and occasionally a can of soda for afternoon snack. Then I watch some television.


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[Assistant] I go rollerblading in the park for about an hour. I come back home and I do my homework, then I have dinner with my family.


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[Assistant] My favorite meal is pasta with homemade meat sauce.


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[Assistant] I usually eat a lot of pasta. I love spaghetti and noodles. I go to bed at about 10.30pm.


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[Assistant] I drink about four or five glasses of water, but I also drink a lot of juice and tea. I drink plenty of fluids every day. And how much exercise do you do each day?


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[Assistant] I do anything from 20 minutes to 40 minutes. Depending on how much time I have available.


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[Assistant] I try not to eat too many sweets. Too much sugar is bad for your health. I eat fruit every day. Do you eat any fruit? Yes, I eat much watermelon in the summer. Oh, me too!


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[Assistant] How was your trip to Spain, Brooke? It must have been a long, tiring journey, right? Yes, but it was fantastic. We had a lovely sunny weather.


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[Assistant] I saw amazing old medieval buildings, narrow ancient streets, as well as tall modern buildings, and impressive tropical gardens.


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[Assistant] We stayed at a lovely historic hotel in Barcelona. We visited a museum. Took a boat ride.


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[Assistant] Wow, there was one guy in the group I traveled with who caught my eye from the beginning. Really? What is he like? He is very nice and friendly. And what does he look like?


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[Assistant] He's a handsome tall boy with beautiful big brown eyes and dark brown wavy hair.


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[Assistant] Seven o'clock, it's eight o'clock, it's nine o'clock.


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[Assistant] What's the time? What's the time? What's the time?


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[Assistant] What's the time? What's the time? What's the time? What's the time? What's the time? What's the time?


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[Assistant] That's very nice. What do you like to do in your free time?


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[Assistant] Yes, I went to California a few months ago with some friends and visited Disneyland. It was so great!


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[Assistant] In the afternoon, we watched a show at the theater, and it was really entertaining.


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[Assistant] At the end of the day, we went to the shops on Main Street and bought a lot of souvenirs.


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[Assistant] There are four cabinets in my office, and three shelves on the wall.


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[Assistant] I have a large desk and a comfortable chair, a sofa and an armchair. Where are your desk and chair? They are in front of the window, between the cabinets.


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[Assistant] I'll help you clean things up before we go, if you like.


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[Assistant] And these clothes on the chair? What should I do with them? Are they dirty?


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[Assistant] Yeah, I agree, Louisa. Much better quality. It's not the cheapest, though, but they're more delicious.


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[Assistant] Perfect. May I recommend this one? It is a floral fruity fragrance for women.


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[Assistant] Top notes are mango, nectarine, and blood orange. It might be exactly what she needs.


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[Assistant] Andrew, you need to clean up your room. I can't do it now. I have to finish my homework. Okay, then do your homework first. Mom, can I go out with Justin later? I don't think you should. He must be very busy studying for his exam. But I think we both need to go out and get some fresh air.


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[Assistant] Okay, you may go, but only after you clean up your room. Okay, I'll do it. Thanks mom. You must be home before 9 p.m.


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[Assistant] Thanks for watching, and be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more videos like this.


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[Assistant] Okay, I have these ones in good quality paper and plastic cover. They are five dollars each. They look good. I'll take them.


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[Assistant] Excuse me, I'd like to try this blouse on. Can you show me where the fitting room is?


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[Assistant] No, it's too large actually. Do you have it in a smaller size? I need extra small.


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[Assistant] Is this one okay? Yes, it fits perfectly and I love the style. It also matches the skirt I've just bought. How much is it? It's $29. That's quite an affordable price for something like this.


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[Assistant] Allison, I don't know what to wear at Melanie's party. It's going to be a house party.


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[Assistant] I was trying on sunglasses. That's why I took them off. They have quite narrow lenses. So, small lenses then.


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[Assistant] So they're eyeglasses with thin black frames and rectangular lenses. And you last saw them at the sunglasses counter. That's right. Alright.


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[Assistant] Would you guys like to try one of our famous cupcakes today? That sounds amazing! But we are here to order a cake. Wonderful! What kind of cake will you be ordering? Are you celebrating a special occasion? We are! It's our wedding cake! Congratulations!


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[Assistant] I appreciate it, and I know you won't be disappointed. When is the big day?


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[Assistant] Perfect! Do you want to sample some cake just to make sure you like it?


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[Assistant] Here you go. One vanilla sample and one chocolate sample.


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[Assistant] Thank you. So I guess this means you're good with your choices? Definitely. And what about a design? Do you have anything


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[Assistant] As you know, there's an open position in our team as a financial accountant. And I need to fill this position as soon as possible.


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[Assistant] This is an entry level position, so we do not require a lot of experience. We are going to train the new person.


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[Assistant] You sound really confident. It has been nice talking to you. We'll get back to you in a few days if you get selected for the job.


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[Assistant] Go round and round, round and round.


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[Assistant] Wah, wah, wah, the baby's on the bus go wah, wah, wah, all day long.


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[Assistant] I don't like Hawaiian pizza. I can't stand pineapple on pizza. I prefer to eat fruit for dessert.


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[Assistant] Not with the main course, so I'll go for chicken pizza. I'll have pepperoni.


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[Assistant] Apples and bananas. And how about some soft drinks?


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[Assistant] By the time I get to the cashier to pay, I will probably have a full shopping cart.


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[Assistant] Okay, I am all set to go. I'll be back soon. Thanks.


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[Assistant] I suggest you stop wasting my time.


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[Assistant] Why did he stop? This is taking too long, and I am too hungry.


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[Assistant] No matter how difficult the situation gets, we must always stay calm.


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[Assistant] And that is my last meal as a poor man.


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[Assistant] I remember now an old promise I made, and it is now time to fulfill it.


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[Assistant] And as for music, I will sing and play all the day long. That's as may be.


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[Assistant] One by one, they will fall prey to the remarkable predatory antics of a carnivorous plant.


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[Assistant] Scientists believe that carnivory in plants evolves separately at least six times on our planet, suggesting that this flesh-munching adaptation holds a major benefit for plants.


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[Assistant] Carnivorous plants tend to grow in places with highly acidic soil, which is poor in crucial nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium.


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[Assistant] In these hostile conditions, plants that are able to lure, trap, and digest prey have an advantage over those that rely on soil for their nutrients.


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[Assistant] Take this inhospitable bog where pitcher plants reign supreme. Drawn to the pitcher's vivid colors and alluring scent, the fly closes in and slurps its nectar.


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[Assistant] Enzymes and bacteria in the liquid slowly break his body down into microscopic particles the pitcher plant can consume through its leaves. Occasionally, larger prey also tumbles into the fatal funnel of the pitcher plant.


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[Assistant] The second victim faces off with the sticky sundew plant. The sundew's tiny leaves are equipped with a viscous secretion called mucilage. The ant is swiftly trapped in this goo.


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[Assistant] Over the next few hours, her writhing sets the trap off repeatedly, each time bringing her eagle into the plant to be digested alive, bit by bit.


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[Assistant] His landing triggers tiny hairs on the surface of the leaves, and the jaws of the Venus flytrap snap shut around him.


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[Assistant] The spikes interlock to seal his fate. Once closed, the leaves act like an external stomach that digests the beetle's soft tissues. When they open again a few days later, only the dry husk of his exoskeleton remains. The mayfly is the last creature standing.


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[Assistant] As she approaches the Butterwort plant, she heads for the flowers that wave high above the plant's globs of adhesive goo.


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[Assistant] She alights on the petals, drinks the nectar, and takes off unscathed.


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[Assistant] These long flower stalks keep certain insects away from the carnivore's traps— a way of separating pollinators from food.


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[Assistant] Deep inside Yale University's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library lies the only copy of a 240-page tome.


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[Assistant] Recently carbon dated to around 1420, its vellum pages feature looping handwriting and hand-drawn images seemingly stolen from a dream.


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[Assistant] Real and imaginary plants, floating castles, bathing women,


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[Assistant] astrology diagrams, zodiac rings, and suns and moons with faces accompany the text.


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[Assistant] This 24 by 16 centimeter book is called the Voynich Manuscript.


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[Assistant] And it's one of history's biggest unsolved mysteries. The reason why? No one can figure out what it says.


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[Assistant] The name comes from Wilfrid Wojnicz, a Polish bookseller who came across the document at a Jesuit college in Italy in 1912. He was puzzled. Who wrote it? Where was it made?


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[Assistant] What do these bizarre words and vibrant drawings represent? What secrets do its pages contain?


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[Assistant] He purchased the manuscript from the cash-strapped priest at the college and eventually brought it to the US, where experts have continued to puzzle over it for more than a century.


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[Assistant] Cryptologists say the writing has all the characteristics of a real language, just one that no one's ever seen before.


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[Assistant] What makes it seem real is that in actual languages, letters and groups of letters appear with consistent frequencies.


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[Assistant] And the language in the Voynich manuscript has patterns you wouldn't find from a random letter generator. Other than that, we know little more than what we can see.


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[Assistant] The letters are varied in style and height. Some are borrowed from other scripts, but many are unique. The taller letters have been named gallows characters.


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[Assistant] The manuscript is highly decorated throughout with scroll-like embellishments.


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[Assistant] It appears to be written by two or more hands, with the painting done by yet another party.


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[Assistant] Over the years, three main theories about the manuscript's text have emerged.


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[Assistant] The first is that it's written in Cypher, a secret code deliberately designed to hide secret meaning.


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[Assistant] The second is that the document is a hoax, written in gibberish to make money off a gullible buyer. Some speculate the author was a medieval con man. Others, that it was Voynich himself.


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[Assistant] The third theory is that the manuscript is written in an actual language, but in an unknown script.


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[Assistant] Perhaps medieval scholars were attempting to create an alphabet for a language that was spoken but not yet written.


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[Assistant] In that case, the Voynich manuscript might be like the Rongo-Rongo script invented on Easter Island, now unreadable after the culture that made it collapsed.


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[Assistant] Though no one can read the Voynich manuscript that hasn't stopped people from guessing what it might say.


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[Assistant] Those who believe the manuscript was an attempt to create a new form of written language speculate that it might be an encyclopedia containing the knowledge of the culture that produced it.


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[Assistant] Others believe it was written by the 13th century philosopher Roger Bacon, who attempted to understand the universal laws of grammar.


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[Assistant] Or in the 16th century, by the Elizabethan mystic, John Dee, who practiced alchemy and divination.


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[Assistant] More fringe theories hold that the book was written by a coven of Italian witches, or even by Martians.


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[Assistant] After 100 years of frustration, scientists have recently shed a little light on the mystery. The first breakthrough was the carbon dating.


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[Assistant] Also, contemporary historians have traced the providence of the manuscript back through Rome and Prague to as early as 1612.


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[Assistant] When it was perhaps passed from Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolf II, to his physician, Iacobus Sinopeus.


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[Assistant] In addition to these historical breakthroughs, linguistic researchers recently proposed the provisional identification of a few of the manuscript's words.


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[Assistant] Could the letters beside these seven stars spell Tarun? A name for Taurus, a constellation that includes the seven stars called the Pleiades. Could this word be Centuron? For the Centurion plant in the picture?


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[Assistant] Perhaps, but progress is slow. If we can crack its code, what might we find? The dream journal of a 15th century illustrator? A bunch of nonsense? Or the lost knowledge of a forgotten culture? What do you think it is?


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[Assistant] We're not going to send you into this all-important challenge alone.


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[Assistant] How it feels to be standing where you're standing right now.


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[Assistant] They're not just gonna be with you today. They're gonna be your mentors for the whole of this season.


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[Assistant] Please welcome your mentors for 2019 from Jamface in Adelaide. Runner up of the first season of MasterChef.


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[Assistant] So, what advice would you give to our 13 now who are buying for their 6 day prints?


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[Assistant] I can see that you are trying to look around us to see what's behind us.


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[Assistant] Po has got everything you need to make desserts and sweet things.


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[Assistant] We will be tasting all your 13 dishes blind.


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[Assistant] Good luck. And Poe, Billy, Matt, I'm quite scared saying this.


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[Assistant] I agree the flavours could be stronger.


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[Assistant] Beautifully spiced, velvety gravy, and just perfect with that cumin rice. Come on, come get an apron, Sandy.


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[Assistant] We've only got two opens left and there's nine of you.


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[Assistant] It's a brave contestant who puts a panna cotta in a glass. The joy of the great panna cotta is the plate walking towards you with that delectable little wobble. But Monica,


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[Assistant] When we took a big spoon of that coconut panna cotta with the mango curd, it shivered.


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[Assistant] Cause that's a bit tactical, right? Cause I think the judges' palates just get so loaded with flavour. Sometimes it's nice to have something really cleansing. What would you make, Billie? I'd go straight to the meat. Those beautiful venti's.


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[Assistant] This is Goliath the Krill. Don't get too attached. Today, this one-centimeter crustacean will share the same fate as 40 million of his closest friends. A life sentence in the belly of the largest blue whale in the world. Let's call her Leviatha.


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[Assistant] Leviathan weighs something like 150 metric tons, and she's the largest animal in the world.


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[Assistant] But she's not even close to being the largest organism by weight, which is estimated to equal about 40 Leviathas. So where is this behemoth? Here, in Utah. Sorry, that's too close. Here.


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[Assistant] Those all grow from one enormous root system, which is why scientists consider Pando a single organism.


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[Assistant] Pando is the clear winner of world's largest organism by weight. An incredible 6 million kilograms.


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[Assistant] So how did Pando get to be so huge?


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[Assistant] Pando is not an unusual Aspen from a genetic standpoint. Rather, Pando's size boils down to three main factors. Its age, its location, and Aspen's remarkable evolutionary adaptation of self-cloning.


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[Assistant] So first, Pando is incredibly expansive because it's incredibly old. How old exactly? No one knows.


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[Assistant] Dendrochronologist estimates range from 80,000 to 1 million years.


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[Assistant] Counting the rings of a single trunk will only account for up to 200 years or so.


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[Assistant] During the last ice age, which ended about 12,000 years ago, glaciers covered much of the North American climate friendly to aspens. So if there were other comparably sized clonal colonies, they may have perished then.


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[Assistant] Meanwhile, Pando's corner of Utah remained glacier free.


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[Assistant] The soil there is rich in nutrients that Pando continuously replenishes. As it drops leaves and trunks, the nutrients return to nourish new generations of clones.


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[Assistant] Which brings us to the third cause of Pando's size. Cloning.


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[Assistant] Aspens are capable of both sexual reproduction, which produces a new organism, and asexual reproduction, which creates a clone.


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[Assistant] They tend to reproduce sexually when conditions are unfavorable, and the best strategy for survival is to move elsewhere.


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[Assistant] Trees aren't particularly mobile, but their seeds are.


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[Assistant] Like the rest of us, sexual reproduction is how Pando came into the world in the first place, all those tens or hundreds of thousands of years ago. The wind, or a pollinator, carried pollen from the flower of one of its parents to the other, where a sperm cell fertilized an egg.


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[Assistant] That flower produced fruit, which split open, releasing hundreds of tiny light seeds. The wind carried one to a wet spot of land in what is now Utah, where it took root and germinated into Pando's first step.


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[Assistant] A couple of years later, Pando grew mature enough to reproduce asexually.


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[Assistant] Asexual reproduction, or cloning, tends to happen when the environment is favorable to growth.


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[Assistant] These can sprout shoots that grow up into new trunks. And while Pando grew and spread out, so did our ancestors.


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[Assistant] Pando has survived many millennia of changing climates and encroaching ice, but it may not survive us.


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[Assistant] New stems are growing to maturity much more slowly than they need to in order to replace the trunks that fall. Scientists have identified two main reasons for this. The first is that we've deprived Pando of fire.


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[Assistant] When a fire clears a patch of forest, Aspen roots survive and send shoots bursting up out of the ground by the tens of thousands.


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[Assistant] And secondly, grazers, like herds of cattle and mule deer, whose natural predators we've hunted to the point of local elimination, are eating Pando's fresh growth.


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[Assistant] If we lose the world's largest organism, we'll lose a scientific treasure trove.


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[Assistant] Because Pando's trunks are genetically identical, they can serve as a controlled setting for studies on everything from the tree microbiome to the influence of climate on tree growth rates. The good news is, we have a chance to save Pando.


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[Assistant] By reducing livestock grazing in the area and further protecting the vulnerable young saplings. And the time to act is today.


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[Assistant] Because, as with so many other marvels of our natural world, once they're gone, it will be a very, very long time before they return.


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[Assistant] Being a part of the movement to save our planet sounds exciting to you. Join Countdown, a global initiative bringing together scientists, activists, urban planners, farmers, artists, and you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Together we're turning innovative solutions into planet-saving realities. Get informed and get involved at countdown.ted.com.


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[Assistant] Specifically why people can't seem to get work done at work.


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[Assistant] Uhm, which is a problem we all kind of have. Let's sort of start at the beginning. So, we have companies and non-profits and charities and all these groups that have employees or volunteers of some sort. And they expect these people who work for them to do great work.


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[Assistant] I would hope, at least. At least good work. Let's hopefully, at least it's good work.


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[Assistant] Hopefully great work. And so what they typically do is they decide that all these people need to come together in one place to do that work.


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[Assistant] And so, these companies, they build offices. They go out and they buy a building, or they rent a building, or they lease some space, uh, and they fill the space with stuff. They fill it with


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[Assistant] It seems like it's perfectly reasonable to ask that. However, if you actually talk to people, and even question yourself, and you ask yourself,


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[Assistant] Where do you really want to go when you really need to get something done?


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[Assistant] You'll find out that people don't say what businesses think they would say.


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[Assistant] If you ask people the question, where do you really need to go when you need to get something done? Typically you get three different kinds of answers. One is kind of a place or a location or a room. Another one is a moving object. And a third is a time. So here's some examples.


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[Assistant] When I ask people, I've been asking people this question for about 10 years, I ask them, where do you go when you really need to get something done? I'll hear things like, the porch, the deck.


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[Assistant] The kitchen, uhm, I'll hear things like an extra room in the house, the basement, the coffee shop, the library. And then you'll hear things like the train.


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[Assistant] A plane, a car, so the commute. And then you'll hear people say, well, it doesn't really matter where I am as long as it's really early in the morning or really late at night or on the weekends. You almost never hear someone say the office.


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[Assistant] And what you find out is if you dig a little bit deeper, you find out that people, this is what happens. People go to work.


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[Assistant] And they're basically trading in their work day for a series of work moments.


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[Assistant] And you got 15 minutes and someone pulls you aside and asks you this question and before you know it, it's like, it's 5pm, right?


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[Assistant] And you look back on your day and you realize that you didn't get anything done.


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[Assistant] Right? I mean we've all been through this, we've probably been through it, we probably went through it yesterday, or the day before, or the day before that. You look back on your day and you're like, I got nothing done today.


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[Assistant] I was at work, I sat at my desk, I used my expensive computer, I used the software they told me to use, I went to these meetings I was asked to go to, uhm, I did these conference calls, I did all this stuff, but I didn't actually do anything. I just did tax, I didn't actually get meaningful work done.


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[Assistant] And what you find is that, especially with creative people, designers, programmers, writers, engineers, thinkers, that people really need long stretches of uninterrupted time to get something done.


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[Assistant] You cannot ask somebody to be creative in 15 minutes and really think about a problem. You might have a quick idea, but to be in deep thought about a problem and really consider a problem carefully, you need long stretches of uninterrupted time.


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[Assistant] And even though the work day is typically eight hours, uhm, how many people here have ever had eight hours of themselves at the office? How about seven hours? Six? Five?


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[Assistant] Four? When's the last time you had three hours to yourself at the office? Two hours? One, maybe? Very, very few people actually have long stretches of uninterrupted time at an office. And this is why people choose to do work


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[Assistant] And this sort of whole phenomenon of having like short bursts of time to get things done reminds me of another thing that doesn't work when you're interrupted, and that is sleep.


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[Assistant] It's about sleep phases, or stages. Some people call them different things. There's five of them.


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[Assistant] And in order to get to the really deep ones, the really meaningful ones, you have to go through the early ones. And if you're interrupted while you're going through the early ones with, you know, someone bumps you in bed or there's a sound or whatever happens, you don't just pick up where you left off. If you're interrupted and woken up, you have to start again.


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[Assistant] So you have to go back a few phases and start again. And what ends up happening, sometimes you might have days like this where you wake up at 8 in the morning or 7 in the morning or whenever you get up and you're like,


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[Assistant] Man, I didn't really sleep very well. I did the sleep thing, I went to bed, I laid down, but I didn't really sleep.