Would you like to inspect the original subtitles? These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated:
1
00:00:08,510 --> 00:00:11,580
I'm gonna tell you about
the most incredible place.
2
00:00:14,610 --> 00:00:17,980
It might be the weirdest
place in the whole universe...
3
00:00:19,850 --> 00:00:25,390
Full of liquid rock, crystal
caves and alien landscapes...
4
00:00:29,300 --> 00:00:31,600
And you know what?
5
00:00:32,200 --> 00:00:34,870
You're walking on it.
6
00:00:43,340 --> 00:00:47,980
We think we know our home, but once
you've seen it from space it hits you...
7
00:00:51,180 --> 00:00:55,090
I really wish that everyone could
see the world the way that I've had
8
00:00:55,190 --> 00:00:57,660
a chance to see it.
9
00:00:57,760 --> 00:01:01,590
First you look at it and really are wondering
what it even is that you're seeing.
10
00:01:04,900 --> 00:01:07,900
Just like I lived my whole live
in a semi dark room and somebody
11
00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:10,470
flipped on the lights.
12
00:01:10,570 --> 00:01:13,570
A living, breathing,
working planet.
13
00:01:14,510 --> 00:01:19,180
It's all just so wonderfully
unlikely, and yet it's here.
14
00:01:23,520 --> 00:01:26,790
Eight astronauts, with over 1,000
days in space between them,
15
00:01:27,950 --> 00:01:30,160
can tell us how
being up there...
16
00:01:30,260 --> 00:01:34,390
Helped them to truly understand
what goes on down here.
17
00:01:36,260 --> 00:01:38,400
The weird connections.
18
00:01:39,200 --> 00:01:41,030
The near misses.
19
00:01:41,640 --> 00:01:44,040
The lucky breaks.
20
00:01:44,400 --> 00:01:47,440
That built our amazing world.
21
00:01:56,780 --> 00:02:02,390
The strangest place in the whole
universe might just be right here.
22
00:02:16,400 --> 00:02:18,440
Oh, you ready this morning, huh?
23
00:02:18,540 --> 00:02:19,540
Here you go.
24
00:02:19,640 --> 00:02:22,070
Let's have some fun.
25
00:02:22,180 --> 00:02:23,840
There you go.
26
00:02:23,940 --> 00:02:25,680
We take Earth for granted.
27
00:02:25,780 --> 00:02:27,310
Come on, come on.
28
00:02:27,410 --> 00:02:28,510
Come on.
29
00:02:28,620 --> 00:02:30,620
We take so much for granted.
30
00:02:30,720 --> 00:02:32,450
Hey, come on.
31
00:02:34,490 --> 00:02:37,625
In fact, there's one thing that comes so
naturally we don't even think about it.
32
00:02:38,590 --> 00:02:40,560
Breathing.
33
00:02:41,060 --> 00:02:42,160
Yes, come on.
34
00:02:42,260 --> 00:02:44,160
Come on, come on.
35
00:02:46,230 --> 00:02:50,540
But if you knew even half of what it
takes to make the oxygen we need,
36
00:02:52,310 --> 00:02:54,370
it would take your breath away.
37
00:02:58,810 --> 00:03:00,780
You wanna know about breathing?
38
00:03:00,880 --> 00:03:03,350
Ask this guy.
39
00:03:07,320 --> 00:03:12,290
My first spacewalk, holding on
to the outside of the spaceship,
40
00:03:15,130 --> 00:03:18,860
with nothing except the
sound of my own breathing.
41
00:03:23,040 --> 00:03:28,440
In my one hand is my entire
link with my own history.
42
00:03:31,710 --> 00:03:35,680
Everything that's human, every story that's
going on down on the surface of the world,
43
00:03:36,920 --> 00:03:41,150
everybody I've ever met, with the whole
universe in the other direction.
44
00:03:45,890 --> 00:03:48,690
And then...
45
00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:51,860
I let go.
46
00:03:53,170 --> 00:03:57,140
That's when you really
appreciate the significance
47
00:03:57,240 --> 00:04:00,510
of that thin blue line.
48
00:04:06,610 --> 00:04:10,380
It contains everything
that's important to us.
49
00:04:11,350 --> 00:04:14,020
It contains life.
50
00:04:18,190 --> 00:04:22,490
And then Houston called to get back to
work, I grabbed back onto the handrail
51
00:04:22,600 --> 00:04:25,400
but while I
was working, suddenly...
52
00:04:27,100 --> 00:04:30,440
I had a searing
pain in my left eye.
53
00:04:31,770 --> 00:04:34,240
Like somebody had
just stabbed me.
54
00:04:34,340 --> 00:04:37,710
My eye just snapped shut
and it started tearing up.
55
00:04:38,750 --> 00:04:43,280
But the trouble is, without
gravity tears don't fall.
56
00:04:46,120 --> 00:04:49,150
The tear just gets
bigger and bigger.
57
00:04:51,160 --> 00:04:56,830
It got big enough that it became a little
lake of water that went across the
58
00:04:56,930 --> 00:04:59,030
bridge of my nose...
59
00:04:59,130 --> 00:05:01,400
Into my other eye.
60
00:05:02,900 --> 00:05:06,200
So I call down to Houston, "Houston,
I'm having a problem here.
61
00:05:06,940 --> 00:05:07,940
I can't see.
62
00:05:08,010 --> 00:05:10,270
I'm blinded in both eyes."
63
00:05:10,380 --> 00:05:12,710
"What did he just say?
He's blind?"
64
00:05:12,950 --> 00:05:16,210
Houston looked at what all the
symptoms were and said...
65
00:05:16,320 --> 00:05:19,750
"Maybe it's the
worst-case problem.
66
00:05:21,050 --> 00:05:24,660
You may have contamination
in your suit."
67
00:05:25,830 --> 00:05:28,790
"And you're gonna
have to flush it out."
68
00:05:30,430 --> 00:05:35,630
I reached up, turned this little valve,
popped it and suddenly could hear,
69
00:05:36,770 --> 00:05:39,800
"Ssssss, sssss".
70
00:05:41,780 --> 00:05:47,750
As my precious supply of oxygen hissed
out into the empty vacuum of space.
71
00:06:10,700 --> 00:06:13,970
There is nothing more
natural than breathing.
72
00:06:17,580 --> 00:06:21,510
Yet as far as we know, this is the
only planet where that happens.
73
00:06:24,750 --> 00:06:28,390
The only planet with an
oxygen-rich environment.
74
00:06:29,560 --> 00:06:33,720
Without that, life would be
something very different indeed.
75
00:06:49,240 --> 00:06:54,880
♪ ♪
76
00:07:18,970 --> 00:07:23,940
This is Felipe's favorite place.
77
00:07:24,040 --> 00:07:27,550
Even though the air is toxic.
78
00:07:27,780 --> 00:07:32,580
The ground spits acid, and
there is no fresh water.
79
00:07:34,950 --> 00:07:37,160
No birds sing here.
80
00:07:37,260 --> 00:07:39,690
No insects fly.
81
00:07:39,790 --> 00:07:41,630
No plants grow.
82
00:08:07,090 --> 00:08:10,220
It's hard to imagine
anywhere less inviting...
83
00:08:12,790 --> 00:08:17,230
But Felipe has found one thing
that calls this hellhole home.
84
00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:25,170
And it doesn't use oxygen.
85
00:08:30,540 --> 00:08:34,150
It lives in a lake of acid.
86
00:08:43,290 --> 00:08:47,290
♪ ♪
87
00:08:55,100 --> 00:08:56,930
♪ ♪
88
00:09:31,970 --> 00:09:35,640
It's hard to imagine sometimes just
how important oxygen is to us,
89
00:09:36,610 --> 00:09:39,880
as the way to release energy.
90
00:09:41,550 --> 00:09:45,620
Every time I breathe in, oxygen-rich
air mixes with the food I've eaten
91
00:09:47,190 --> 00:09:49,650
and creates energy.
92
00:09:49,760 --> 00:09:53,720
Power that enables larger, more
complex creatures to exist.
93
00:10:03,070 --> 00:10:07,610
Our planet is literally bursting
with life, so how on earth is there
94
00:10:07,710 --> 00:10:10,540
enough oxygen for everyone?
95
00:10:11,010 --> 00:10:14,050
The answer takes in some
pretty surprising stuff.
96
00:10:15,320 --> 00:10:20,220
Giant dust storms, tiny
snowflakes, flying rivers;
97
00:10:21,750 --> 00:10:25,720
and the most important living
thing you've never heard of.
98
00:10:28,730 --> 00:10:32,100
But it begins in a desert.
99
00:10:35,270 --> 00:10:38,800
A desert made of salt.
100
00:10:48,880 --> 00:10:53,980
♪ ♪
101
00:11:59,150 --> 00:12:02,890
The people here rely on
this desert and so do we.
102
00:12:08,160 --> 00:12:11,400
But not because of the salt.
103
00:12:30,980 --> 00:12:37,050
♪ ♪
104
00:12:48,870 --> 00:12:51,970
Dust storms can be pretty amazing
when you see them from space.
105
00:12:52,470 --> 00:12:54,910
And sometimes they're huge.
106
00:12:55,010 --> 00:12:58,180
You know, I had seen little dust storms
blowing and you kinda look hard.
107
00:12:58,280 --> 00:13:00,180
This you didn't
need to look hard.
108
00:13:00,280 --> 00:13:06,050
It was a continent of Northern Africa
basically obscured by thick brown dust.
109
00:13:07,220 --> 00:13:10,250
And as I orbited, I
couldn't wait to come back.
110
00:13:11,260 --> 00:13:14,530
And then when I did, I saw that
dust storm that was over Africa now
111
00:13:14,630 --> 00:13:18,060
over the Atlantic Ocean.
112
00:13:19,970 --> 00:13:23,370
And my next orbit I see it hitting
the coast of South America.
113
00:13:41,590 --> 00:13:46,820
Every year about 27 million tons
of that African dust we can see
114
00:13:46,930 --> 00:13:52,660
from orbit drops out of the
sky into the Amazon Basin.
115
00:13:54,470 --> 00:13:56,970
And it turns out,
it's the perfect fertilizer.
116
00:14:07,510 --> 00:14:13,450
♪ ♪
117
00:14:17,820 --> 00:14:23,830
And as they grow, the plants and the
trees turn carbon dioxide into oxygen.
118
00:14:34,010 --> 00:14:39,340
One single tree can produce enough
oxygen to support two people.
119
00:14:39,650 --> 00:14:42,880
And the Amazon Rainforest...
120
00:14:42,980 --> 00:14:46,950
Is ten times the size of Texas,
121
00:14:47,820 --> 00:14:51,390
producing 20 times
more oxygen than all the
122
00:14:51,490 --> 00:14:55,390
people on the surface of the
Earth could consume.
123
00:14:57,530 --> 00:15:01,570
But, not one breath of
it leaves the Amazon.
124
00:15:19,090 --> 00:15:24,590
There are so many animals living in the
Amazon Basin that the life there uses all
125
00:15:24,690 --> 00:15:27,090
that oxygen up.
126
00:15:31,200 --> 00:15:35,100
For all these years I've been
thinking the rainforest is the lungs
127
00:15:35,200 --> 00:15:37,900
of the planet.
128
00:15:39,040 --> 00:15:43,040
Now sure, it makes a lot of
oxygen, but it uses it all.
129
00:15:45,410 --> 00:15:51,120
The rainforest does help us
breathe, but not because of air.
130
00:15:51,850 --> 00:15:56,350
There's a river in the Amazon, no,
not that one, there's another river,
131
00:15:57,790 --> 00:15:59,460
a river in the sky.
132
00:16:14,090 --> 00:16:17,220
For the most part, I know this world
from standing on its surface.
133
00:16:19,890 --> 00:16:22,990
I mean, I've been up to the top
of the Empire State Building,
134
00:16:23,100 --> 00:16:27,530
put my quarter in the scope, and I've
even jumped out of planes a couple times.
135
00:16:30,740 --> 00:16:33,070
But that's nothing.
136
00:16:33,310 --> 00:16:38,310
The International Space Station
clocks in at 1 million feet.
137
00:16:47,090 --> 00:16:51,260
Whenever there's a free moment on the
spaceship, we try and get to the window
138
00:16:51,690 --> 00:16:53,420
to take pictures.
139
00:16:53,530 --> 00:16:57,960
And during my three space flights,
I took about 45,000 photographs.
140
00:17:04,740 --> 00:17:07,840
And some parts of the world are
easy to take pictures of...
141
00:17:09,180 --> 00:17:11,840
Like the outback of Australia.
142
00:17:12,150 --> 00:17:14,680
It's always a sunny day there.
143
00:17:14,780 --> 00:17:18,520
But there are parts of the world that
you almost never get a good picture of.
144
00:17:21,020 --> 00:17:23,650
One of those is
the Amazon Basin.
145
00:17:23,760 --> 00:17:26,390
So it makes ya think...
146
00:17:26,490 --> 00:17:29,330
What's going on down there?
147
00:17:39,270 --> 00:17:44,280
♪ ♪
148
00:17:59,130 --> 00:18:03,030
For the last ten years, Rosa has
been working in the Amazon,
149
00:18:03,530 --> 00:18:08,400
uncovering the surprising way the
rainforest helps the whole planet breathe.
150
00:18:51,240 --> 00:18:54,580
She's not kidding about special.
151
00:18:59,020 --> 00:19:03,050
This is the tallest structure
in all South America.
152
00:19:11,760 --> 00:19:15,530
Rosa has tried to climb
this tower twice before,
153
00:19:15,640 --> 00:19:17,870
but she's never
made it to the top.
154
00:20:00,910 --> 00:20:07,250
♪ ♪
155
00:20:17,960 --> 00:20:20,600
♪ ♪
156
00:20:20,700 --> 00:20:25,100
Now that's a pretty cool climb,
but something else is rising too.
157
00:20:34,910 --> 00:20:39,420
If you could look
inside the trees...
158
00:20:39,520 --> 00:20:44,660
You'd see water sucked
up from the forest floor.
159
00:20:54,530 --> 00:20:59,570
♪ ♪
160
00:21:09,650 --> 00:21:14,490
♪ ♪
161
00:21:24,400 --> 00:21:28,970
♪ ♪
162
00:21:29,240 --> 00:21:32,870
When the water hits the top, the
combination of sun and wind...
163
00:21:35,010 --> 00:21:38,040
Turns it into a mighty river.
164
00:21:39,110 --> 00:21:42,280
A flying river.
165
00:22:12,810 --> 00:22:15,550
This river of cloud
flows across South America,
166
00:22:16,820 --> 00:22:19,880
obscuring everything
beneath it...
167
00:22:23,790 --> 00:22:26,590
Until it runs into a brick wall.
168
00:22:28,900 --> 00:22:32,760
5,500 miles long and
up to 4 miles high.
169
00:22:34,470 --> 00:22:36,500
The Andes.
170
00:22:39,240 --> 00:22:44,010
The clouds condense into raindrops,
which then race down the slopes and
171
00:22:44,110 --> 00:22:48,150
flow directly back into
the Amazon Basin...
172
00:22:52,290 --> 00:22:56,020
Eroding the rock and
turning it into sediment...
173
00:22:58,020 --> 00:23:03,360
Until all those nutrients are dumped
into the ocean and a whole other world.
174
00:23:26,150 --> 00:23:29,220
And waiting for those sediments
is an extraordinary organism,
175
00:23:30,620 --> 00:23:32,460
four times thinner
than a human hair.
176
00:23:35,060 --> 00:23:37,330
It's called a diatom.
177
00:23:47,570 --> 00:23:51,810
Diatoms are the secret to
the Earth's oxygen supply.
178
00:23:55,550 --> 00:24:00,780
They use silica from the ground
up rock to create new shells,
179
00:24:00,890 --> 00:24:04,490
which allows them to reproduce.
180
00:24:05,420 --> 00:24:08,690
Their population
doubles every day...
181
00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:13,530
And they begin to
photosynthesize...
182
00:24:14,770 --> 00:24:19,370
Each one starting
to produce oxygen.
183
00:24:21,870 --> 00:24:23,610
Take a breath.
184
00:24:24,380 --> 00:24:26,440
Now take another.
185
00:24:26,780 --> 00:24:28,610
Now think about this:
186
00:24:28,710 --> 00:24:31,850
one of those breaths
was entirely provided by
187
00:24:31,950 --> 00:24:35,420
those little fellas
under the sea.
188
00:24:38,290 --> 00:24:43,790
Looking at the oceans from space,
sometimes you see a local area that's
189
00:24:43,900 --> 00:24:46,830
an entirely different color.
190
00:24:46,930 --> 00:24:50,370
And amazingly enough, what you're
looking at is microscopic life.
191
00:24:52,840 --> 00:24:57,910
Diatom blooms that reflect the light
differently, so that they show up from space.
192
00:25:00,650 --> 00:25:02,910
Biggest one I think
I ever saw was huge.
193
00:25:04,120 --> 00:25:06,320
It covered hundreds of miles.
194
00:25:06,650 --> 00:25:08,120
You know,
when you swim in the ocean
195
00:25:08,220 --> 00:25:10,190
you don't notice
the diatoms around you.
196
00:25:10,290 --> 00:25:13,920
But when you're in space, you
see the vibrant colors of life.
197
00:25:16,160 --> 00:25:19,530
It's just so stunning,
the blues and the greens.
198
00:25:19,630 --> 00:25:24,100
But also, like, wow, those
things are keeping us alive.
199
00:25:27,940 --> 00:25:29,810
But you know what?
200
00:25:29,910 --> 00:25:33,340
Diatoms are important not just because
of what they do when they're alive,
201
00:25:34,010 --> 00:25:36,780
but also what they
do once they're dead.
202
00:25:47,710 --> 00:25:50,480
I spent 166 days off the world.
203
00:25:52,350 --> 00:25:56,220
Underneath you,
the planet is silently,
204
00:25:56,320 --> 00:25:58,250
intimately revealing
itself to you,
205
00:25:58,560 --> 00:26:01,620
more and more,
every single time around.
206
00:26:04,000 --> 00:26:08,500
And from a spaceship, Earth
is definitely the Blue Planet.
207
00:26:12,240 --> 00:26:15,210
And pretty much everywhere that
there's water, there's diatoms.
208
00:26:17,580 --> 00:26:20,680
There are trillions
of them in every ocean,
209
00:26:21,950 --> 00:26:25,180
and they can't all
rely on flying rivers.
210
00:26:26,890 --> 00:26:31,860
So diatoms around the world have to get
their nutrients in different ways.
211
00:26:33,260 --> 00:26:37,060
Some about as far away from tropical
rainforests as you can get.
212
00:26:50,080 --> 00:26:52,210
Okay guys, off you go.
213
00:27:02,950 --> 00:27:05,390
Okay, yeah, slow down...
214
00:27:10,660 --> 00:27:12,800
You can stop right there, yeah.
215
00:27:23,110 --> 00:27:25,310
Okay.
216
00:27:25,410 --> 00:27:27,740
These glaciers are unusual.
217
00:27:27,850 --> 00:27:30,180
They can slide in sudden spurts.
218
00:27:31,220 --> 00:27:36,450
Still too slow to see in real
time, but fast enough to hear...
219
00:27:38,760 --> 00:27:41,120
if you know how to listen.
220
00:27:50,670 --> 00:27:55,510
Sometimes they move 300 times faster
than their normal glacial pace.
221
00:27:59,110 --> 00:28:03,680
Heidi can hear them crushing a huge
amount of rock, as they grind their way
222
00:28:03,780 --> 00:28:06,280
down the valley.
223
00:28:08,190 --> 00:28:12,490
And when ice meets sea,
it makes a familiar sound.
224
00:28:38,180 --> 00:28:41,350
The popping
is a heads up for the team.
225
00:28:41,750 --> 00:28:44,120
The ice face is about to crash.
226
00:28:47,190 --> 00:28:50,390
I'm hearing increased activity,
you need to come back, okay?
227
00:29:36,980 --> 00:29:38,610
Wow!
228
00:29:45,820 --> 00:29:48,990
♪ ♪
229
00:29:49,350 --> 00:29:53,460
Diatom dinner time.
230
00:29:54,790 --> 00:29:58,660
Now sometimes these glaciers move
really fast, dumping tons and tons of
231
00:29:58,760 --> 00:30:01,500
nutrients into the sea.
232
00:30:01,600 --> 00:30:03,830
Boom!
233
00:30:04,300 --> 00:30:07,100
Sparking a feeding frenzy
and a population explosion.
234
00:30:12,340 --> 00:30:17,450
But then, just as quickly as it
started, dinner time is over.
235
00:30:19,120 --> 00:30:24,690
The glaciers come to a grinding halt and
lie dormant, sometimes for decades.
236
00:30:25,590 --> 00:30:28,020
Boom becomes bust.
237
00:30:35,000 --> 00:30:39,370
When the nutrients run out, the blooms
fade and most of the diatoms die.
238
00:30:46,510 --> 00:30:50,480
Their carcasses slowly
fall to the ocean floor...
239
00:30:52,450 --> 00:30:56,620
Where they carpet it in a
layer half a mile thick.
240
00:30:58,220 --> 00:31:01,460
We call it 'marine snow', and
that's exactly what it looks like.
241
00:31:03,530 --> 00:31:05,860
Snowflakes.
242
00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:10,570
But unlike snowflakes,
243
00:31:10,670 --> 00:31:16,410
they never melt and over millions
of years the sea beds rise...
244
00:31:19,310 --> 00:31:24,310
The ocean levels fall and the ocean
floor becomes a salty desert.
245
00:31:30,190 --> 00:31:34,060
The desert that blows all
the way to the Amazon...
246
00:31:35,830 --> 00:31:38,130
That was once a sea bed.
247
00:31:38,230 --> 00:31:41,300
And the dust that makes
the rainforest grow?
248
00:31:43,540 --> 00:31:46,300
Diatom shells.
249
00:31:50,810 --> 00:31:54,510
It just goes to show how incredibly
interlinked everything is.
250
00:31:57,550 --> 00:32:01,380
There is absolutely nothing on one side
of the planet that isn't connected in
251
00:32:01,490 --> 00:32:04,150
some way with the other
side of the planet.
252
00:32:08,590 --> 00:32:13,000
It's astounding how all the systems
down there must work together in order
253
00:32:13,100 --> 00:32:15,330
for us to breathe.
254
00:32:22,370 --> 00:32:25,010
Which is great...
255
00:32:25,380 --> 00:32:28,240
But you only have to mess
with oxygen a little bit
256
00:32:28,350 --> 00:32:31,350
for things to start
going really wrong.
257
00:32:34,640 --> 00:32:38,580
Ee, two, one.
258
00:32:39,150 --> 00:32:42,150
Lift off, lift off.
259
00:32:44,090 --> 00:32:50,230
Though I've flow 100,000 miles,
I'm feeling very still. ♪
260
00:32:53,860 --> 00:32:59,700
♪ Planet Earth is blue and
there's nothing left to do. ♪♪
261
00:33:10,250 --> 00:33:14,020
I love the fact that the
Earth has a blue sky.
262
00:33:18,220 --> 00:33:21,520
You can look up and all of the
various shades of it, you know,
263
00:33:21,790 --> 00:33:23,930
the deepness of it and
the way the colors change
264
00:33:24,030 --> 00:33:29,860
close to the horizon and that's
everything that we breathe,
265
00:33:29,970 --> 00:33:33,200
and keeps us alive.
266
00:33:33,300 --> 00:33:37,840
And you sort of fool yourself into
thinking, it's really, really deep.
267
00:33:37,940 --> 00:33:41,040
Like it goes on sort of forever.
268
00:33:44,310 --> 00:33:48,280
But when you're on board a spaceship
and you look straight down,
269
00:33:50,220 --> 00:33:53,250
you hardly see the
atmosphere at all.
270
00:33:54,060 --> 00:33:58,360
It's only when you look to the horizon
that you can see just how thin our
271
00:33:58,460 --> 00:34:01,530
atmosphere truly is.
272
00:34:01,630 --> 00:34:06,800
The thinnest of
delicate blue lines.
273
00:34:07,340 --> 00:34:11,840
It's because the gravity of the Earth is
pulling every single one of those air
274
00:34:11,940 --> 00:34:16,240
molecules and pressing
it against the ground.
275
00:34:16,350 --> 00:34:20,210
But the further up you
go, the thinner it gets.
276
00:34:20,850 --> 00:34:25,520
It's sort of like if you
pluck a string on a guitar...
277
00:34:26,160 --> 00:34:28,620
When does the note stop?
278
00:34:29,430 --> 00:34:32,160
And our atmosphere is
like that guitar string.
279
00:34:32,960 --> 00:34:35,500
It just gets less and
less the higher you go.
280
00:34:38,600 --> 00:34:42,200
But what's surprising is,
how fast that happens.
281
00:34:43,770 --> 00:34:49,280
That blue line is so thin that you can walk
to where the oxygen starts to run out.
282
00:34:59,560 --> 00:35:05,390
♪ ♪
283
00:35:14,670 --> 00:35:20,880
♪ ♪
284
00:35:22,910 --> 00:35:29,180
Being a doctor in La Rinconada means
that you have 25,000 patients,
285
00:35:31,320 --> 00:35:34,890
living year-round in a town
as high as Everest base-camp.
286
00:36:17,600 --> 00:36:23,100
When Spanish settlers first arrived
here, the lack of oxygen killed many
287
00:36:23,770 --> 00:36:27,080
of their babies at birth.
288
00:36:35,320 --> 00:36:38,950
Yet, people still live here.
289
00:36:40,290 --> 00:36:43,490
They still work here.
290
00:36:44,290 --> 00:36:49,060
Because in these mountains, there's something
that's lured people through history.
291
00:36:59,540 --> 00:37:03,240
The promise of gold.
292
00:37:12,160 --> 00:37:14,660
This is the limit though.
293
00:37:14,760 --> 00:37:18,890
Humans can't live any higher.
294
00:37:23,100 --> 00:37:26,500
Without enough oxygen, our organs
can start shutting down...
295
00:37:29,370 --> 00:37:33,140
And it can happen
surprisingly quickly.
296
00:37:34,210 --> 00:37:39,280
So astronauts actually train to recognize
their own symptoms of a lack of oxygen.
297
00:37:40,180 --> 00:37:42,380
Of hypoxia.
298
00:37:42,820 --> 00:37:45,290
In my case,
there's a slight dizziness.
299
00:37:46,020 --> 00:37:48,390
My vision starts to get
a little bit narrow.
300
00:37:48,690 --> 00:37:51,860
The colors become
a little more brittle,
301
00:37:52,630 --> 00:37:54,860
like maybe a certain
type of painter's way
302
00:37:54,960 --> 00:37:57,600
of using only the
primary colors.
303
00:37:57,700 --> 00:37:59,770
Sound changes a little for me.
304
00:37:59,870 --> 00:38:04,470
It becomes a little bit more staccato,
sort of a snappy sound to everything
305
00:38:05,180 --> 00:38:06,610
that's going on around me.
306
00:38:06,710 --> 00:38:08,580
And as soon as I put all
those things together,
307
00:38:08,680 --> 00:38:11,080
I realize I'm running
out of oxygen.
308
00:38:12,320 --> 00:38:14,120
Houston, I'm having a
serious problem here.
309
00:38:14,220 --> 00:38:15,420
Serious problem.
310
00:38:15,520 --> 00:38:16,820
Blinded in both eyes.
311
00:38:16,920 --> 00:38:18,120
"What did he just say?"
312
00:38:18,220 --> 00:38:20,660
Can't see, purge your oxygen.
313
00:38:20,760 --> 00:38:23,320
My precious oxygen.
314
00:38:24,060 --> 00:38:29,500
I wasn't really sure how that was gonna turn
out, but as the oxygen hissed through and
315
00:38:30,500 --> 00:38:34,940
out my purge valve, the tears that
were coming out of my tear ducts
316
00:38:36,010 --> 00:38:38,870
slowly started evaporating.
317
00:38:39,510 --> 00:38:44,210
My vision began to return, bit by bit, and
what had caused it was pretty simple.
318
00:38:45,050 --> 00:38:50,620
It was the anti-fog on my visor had been
picked up by floating water in my suit and
319
00:38:51,020 --> 00:38:53,550
gotten into my eye.
320
00:38:54,460 --> 00:38:59,590
With confidence, I could reach up and
close the valve and stop venting my
321
00:38:59,700 --> 00:39:02,360
precious oxygen out to
the rest of the universe.
322
00:39:07,900 --> 00:39:14,080
It's vital that we get enough oxygen;
but too much can be just as dangerous.
323
00:39:27,990 --> 00:39:30,790
You see it when you blow
on a little tiny fire.
324
00:39:33,060 --> 00:39:37,930
Just blowing that little bit of oxygen
turns that tiny spark into a flame.
325
00:39:43,270 --> 00:39:47,340
And it's exactly the same
for the whole planet.
326
00:39:50,950 --> 00:39:54,420
A rise in oxygen levels
can threaten life on Earth.
327
00:40:02,290 --> 00:40:05,960
300 million years ago, there was a
lot more oxygen in the atmosphere.
328
00:40:06,860 --> 00:40:10,870
So much that the
planet just burned.
329
00:40:14,670 --> 00:40:18,210
But don't think that
danger's all in the past.
330
00:40:20,380 --> 00:40:23,810
Too much oxygen and we fry.
331
00:40:25,680 --> 00:40:28,280
Too little and we choke.
332
00:40:29,650 --> 00:40:33,290
We're walking a tightrope
with death on either side,
333
00:40:34,290 --> 00:40:35,890
and just like a tightrope walker
334
00:40:35,990 --> 00:40:38,860
the only thing that can
save us is balance.
335
00:40:50,020 --> 00:40:52,360
Balance is crucial...
336
00:40:54,760 --> 00:40:57,730
For the makeup of the atmosphere,
and for life itself.
337
00:41:02,200 --> 00:41:06,070
The thing is, we don't fully
understand how the Earth manages it.
338
00:41:08,410 --> 00:41:13,980
Despite diatoms having to wait for
glaciers and South American trees having
339
00:41:14,780 --> 00:41:16,850
to wait for African dust,
340
00:41:16,950 --> 00:41:21,790
and despite the fact that human
population has been steadily increasing,
341
00:41:21,890 --> 00:41:26,560
the relative amount of oxygen in the
atmosphere has been surprisingly constant.
342
00:41:30,470 --> 00:41:35,940
For millions of years, oxygen has
made up 20.95% of our atmosphere.
343
00:41:37,270 --> 00:41:40,970
Exactly 20.95%.
344
00:41:42,810 --> 00:41:48,150
Everything's somehow buffering out and
keeping things pretty darn stable.
345
00:41:57,790 --> 00:42:04,000
♪ ♪
346
00:42:13,670 --> 00:42:19,150
♪ ♪
347
00:43:08,060 --> 00:43:13,400
100,000 Buddhists gather here
for the festival of Magha Puja.
348
00:43:19,570 --> 00:43:22,740
Each one lights a candle.
349
00:43:23,010 --> 00:43:27,250
They celebrate with their flames at a
temple made from a million Buddha's.
350
00:43:58,950 --> 00:44:05,320
♪ ♪
351
00:44:33,250 --> 00:44:36,850
Every breath we
take, 16 breaths a minute,
352
00:44:39,750 --> 00:44:42,660
23,000 breaths a day,
353
00:44:42,760 --> 00:44:48,460
every inhale, every exhale
of that precious oxygen
354
00:44:49,660 --> 00:44:56,040
couldn't happen without
earth, water, wind and fire.
355
00:45:07,050 --> 00:45:12,480
The whole planet works as one
to create that thin blue line.
356
00:45:17,630 --> 00:45:22,630
The mark of a living world we've
seen nowhere else in the universe.
357
00:45:32,340 --> 00:45:35,570
I really wish that everyone could
see the world the way that I've
358
00:45:35,980 --> 00:45:38,980
had a chance to see it.
359
00:45:43,150 --> 00:45:47,590
You have to wrench yourself away from
the wonder and the strangeness of it.
360
00:45:53,160 --> 00:45:56,430
And the beauty of space
flight is you come back
361
00:45:56,530 --> 00:46:00,730
with a real sense that
this Earth is one place.
362
00:46:02,000 --> 00:46:04,440
One shared place.
363
00:46:08,080 --> 00:46:11,340
We're all crew mates
on the same ship.
364
00:46:17,080 --> 00:46:23,390
We're not just rare, we're not just
special, we are unique and that's what
365
00:46:24,090 --> 00:46:27,590
makes this One Strange Rock.
366
00:46:37,410 --> 00:46:40,040
Next time on One Strange Rock...
367
00:46:40,440 --> 00:46:44,710
Our paradise planet came from
collisions, carnage and chaos.
368
00:46:45,710 --> 00:46:48,610
And the impact is
still shaping us.
369
00:46:58,260 --> 00:47:00,560
Captioned by Cotter
Captioning Services.
30505
Can't find what you're looking for?
Get subtitles in any language from opensubtitles.com, and translate them here.