Original subtitles

NARRATOR: It has been called the key to the universe.

MARIA SPIROPULU: We are just discovering something which is

completely blowing our minds.

NARRATOR: A gateway to new technologies.

JOHN BRANDENBURG: We're going into a vast unknown territory,

who knows what we'll find.

NARRATOR: And possibly, the most important

scientific breakthrough of all time.

WILLIAM HENRY: It's going to open up

new layers of our understanding of reality.

NARRATOR: Could the so-called god particle really

reveal the truth about our origins?

And might clues to its significance

have been left here on Earth thousands of years

ago by extraterrestrial beings?

DAVID CHILDRESS: We can use this to understand our place

in the universe and even to teleport and travel

through time and space.

NARRATOR: Millions of people around the world

believe we have been visited in the past

by extraterrestrial beings.

What if it were true?

Did ancient aliens really help to shape our history.

And if so, might there be evidence in the discovery

of the god particle?

Every religion seeks to answer the same question--

where did we come from?

Philosophers, sages, and priests have pondered our origins

since the dawn of humanity, while science

has looked for evidence that might one day give us

the answer.

Both religion and science approach the idea of where we

come from with a set of rules.

Science has the scientific method.

Religion comes at the same question

with its own set of rules, a presupposition

that a god or gods exist.

Religion gives us a certain view of reality.

Science gives us a different view of reality.

And yes, there are points at which these two worldviews are

compatible.

Science and religion at their best moments

are searching for truth as its philosophy,

especially at moments like the moment of the Big Bang--

the moment of creation, the Genesis.

These streams of thought converge.

In effect, science and religion and philosophy

are all searching for the same thing.

It reminds me of Einstein's question--

what were God's thoughts when he was making the universe?

NARRATOR: If science and religion are both searching

for answers to the same questions,

then why do we so often consider them at odds?

Is it necessary that one negates the other?

Science speaks nothing whatsoever

about the existence of God.

And because of that there's still an opening for God,

there's still a possibility that God stands behind all this,

that God is responsible for the Big Bang.

JONATHAN YOUNG: In the ancient world,

the philosophers were the scientists.

There was no clear distinction between hard research

and theological speculations.

All serious thinkers were trying to figure out

the nature of reality.

Now, we consider these to be separate pursuits.

RABBI ARIEL BAR TZADOK: If we truly

want to bridge the gap between religion and science,

we must recognize that religion needs

to become more scientific.

Science would benefit by becoming a wee bit more

religious, not in the mythological sense

but by looking back to the religious,

and quote, what they interpret to be myth, and say,

if there's any legitimacy or reality to this, what is it?

Let's explore.

Let's discover.

Let's find out what the truth is.

NARRATOR: As our technology advances at an increasingly

rapid rate, are we getting closer to discovering

our true origins

and finding out whether or not we really

are alone in the universe?

Some believe a recent scientific breakthrough

may prove to be a giant leap forward

in our search for the truth.

Geneva, Switzerland.

Here, buried over 300 feet beneath the earth,

and covering a remarkable 17-mile expanse,

is the largest and most complex machine ever created--

the Large Hadron Collider or LHC.

Smashing tiny protons together at speeds of nearly 670 million

miles per hour, the LHC creates such intense energy

that some people are afraid it could actually

create a black hole and swallow up the entire Earth.

The Large Hadron Collider is a real triumph

of human civilization.

It's easily the most complicated and powerful device

that the human beings have ever built.

You're actually firing two protons into each other

and having them collide with an enormous release of energy,

recreating conditions in a very small area similar to the Big Bang

in its very earliest instant.

It is a bit like going back in time towards the Big Bang

or the universe, getting to the point in the history

of the universe where the energies were that high.

NARRATOR: On July 4th 2012, thousands

crowded outside an auditorium at the European Organization

for Nuclear Research, or CERN, to hear the announcement

of the LHC's first major finding.

Streaming the event live across the world,

scientists prepared to reveal a discovery that

could solve a decades old mystery about the nature

of our universe.

The atmosphere in the room was incredible.

It was not like a normal physics symposium or seminar.

It was truly something of completely different magnitude,

which was going to be announced, that it is completely

extraordinary, which it was.

As a layman, I would now say I think we have it.

NARRATOR: What the scientists at CERN had discovered

was a tiny bit of matter that some call the god particle.

WILLIAM HENRY: Scientists around the world

celebrated the discovery of the god particle

as a milestone in human knowledge,

and thought that it's going to open up

new layers of our understanding of reality.

NARRATOR: But just what is the so-called god particle?

And what is it telling us about the universe?

Known in the scientific community as the Higgs boson,

the particle was first theorized by physicist Peter Higgs

in 1964.

Its discovery confirms the existence of an invisible force

throughout the universe, known as the Higgs field.

Scientists believe when particles interact

with this field, they acquire mass which slows them

down and allows them to form matter such as planets

and stars.

The image that's often used is ping pong balls

moving through sand or sugar, sometimes

they're pushed down real deep, sometimes

they're on top of the sand.

If you're on top, you move around quickly.

If you're deep in, you move slowly.

And that interaction with this other Higgs particle

is what gives other particles their mass.

You really can't over emphasize the importance

of finally saying there is a Higgs particle

and that we really are on the right track.

JOHN BRANDENBURG: There's great excitement

in the scientific community because the Higgs field

permeates all of space time.

It's possible, theoretically, to effectively switch off

the mass of particles and achieve near lightspeed

very easily.

This could open up not only the planets but the stars

to human exploration.

GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS: Whether it's through science, religion,

philosophy, or the ancient astronaut theory,

the fact is we are all seeking answers to the same questions--

who are we?

Where did we come from?

And ultimately, where are we going?

And so we celebrate a discovery like the Higgs boson or god

particle because it brings us that much closer to answering

the questions that have fascinated

humanity for thousands of years.

NARRATOR: Scientists believe that the discovery

of this tiny particle could represent a quantum leap

in our understanding of the universe.

Some have even proposed that it could open

the door to anti-gravity technology,

travel at the speed of light, and the creation of wormholes.

However, ancient astronaut theorists

proposed that the god particle is not a new discovery

but rather a rediscovery.

Chandigarh, India.

This thriving city at the foot of the towering Himalayas

is the capital of India's Punjab state.

It was in this region of Northwest India

that scholars believe a series of religious texts

called the Vedas were compiled from oral stories that had been

passed down for centuries.

SUBHASH KAK: The Vedas, according

to the Indian tradition itself, were put together

in the final form about 5,000 years ago.

By these hymns had been circulating

in the Indian region for a long time.

We do know that not a single letter of the four Vedas

has changed unlike any other texts in the world.

So there was a belief that the text of the Vedas

should not be tampered with because they represent

the entire cosmos.

JONATHAN YOUNG: In the Hindu lore,

the Vedas are not of earthly origin.

They are from mysterious sources,

and they are from before time.

They are from before human history

and are said to be from before even the gods.

Major figures in modern science were ardent students

of the Vedas Bourse and Schrodinger read arduously,

Oppenheimer could read it in Sanskrit, even Einstein

and Tesla were known to have read it,

had a profound influence on modern thinking.

NARRATOR: Inside these ancient tombs

our Hinduism's first stories of creation.

In one Vedic text called the Rigveda,

creation was said to have begun suddenly

and explosively from an infinitesimal point

of pure energy.

GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS: It describes

the strange cosmic egg that begins

as a single concentrated point, and everything expanded

from this single concentrated point to form the universe.

Now, if you look at this from a modern perspective,

this actually reflects modern science's Big Bang Theory

where the universe began as a singularity

and expanded to form the universe as we know it today.

To me, the similarities are astounding.

DAVID WILCOCK: It's not like this idea was just hanging

around for anybody to see, it was a concept

that our scientists didn't start to embrace

until the 20th century, and yet it was already there

in these texts that are at least 3,000 years old, if not much older.

SUBHASH KAK: What is remarkable in the Vedas

is that they were able to come to an understanding, which

is very similar to the understanding

that modern scientists need to the intuitions

of our great contemporary scientists.

NARRATOR: Is it really possible that the Hindu creation story

from the Rigveda is evidence that people living thousands

of years ago may have had knowledge

of the precise scientific process involved

in the creation of the universe--

a process modern scientists are only just beginning

to understand.

Ancient astronaut theorists say yes,

and believe that further proof can

be found in another early creation story--

the Hebrew Bible's Book of Genesis.

JOHN BRANDENBURG: One of the first phrases in Genesis,

let there be light.

And this is like the moment of the Big Bang.

The whole universe began effectively as light,

as energy.

We're speaking of moments of existence

that humans would experience just as a great flash of light.

And in that sense, the story of Genesis in the Bible

and science converge.

JONATHAN YOUNG: We have in this verse

the description of the very first light, the light out

of which all things came, the light which led finally

to match two things of substance to the universe itself.

In current scientific theory, fractions of a second

after the Big Bang, the Higgs field transformed what

had been particles of light into mass,

matter into creation itself.

We have very strong parallels with the scriptures.

First, light, and then matter.

NARRATOR: Similar descriptions of the universe beginning

from a single point of light can be found in cultures

throughout the ancient world.

From Egypt to China and to the American southwest.

JONATHAN YOUNG: In the Egyptian creation narrative,

the very first god was Atum.

He emerged from the darkness to create Egyptian civilization.

The Sumerian, the Egyptian, the Norse, something

emerges out of darkness.

Order emerges out of chaos.

Where there was no form, form begins.

There is something about these stories that

is beyond any one of them that seems to allude to a greater reality.

NARRATOR: But how is it that the ancient world's most

sacred texts all describe creation

in much the same way as our current scientific theory?

And where did our ancestors get this seemingly advanced

understanding of the origins of the universe?

Ancient astronaut theorists believe the answers may lie

in the stories of the man who compiled

the Vedic texts in written form, a mysterious sage

named Veda Vyasa.

In the Hindu mythologies, Vyasa

is believed to be a reincarnation of the god

Vishnu, and that Vishnu specifically

took on a human embodiment to be able to write down

these classic texts.

This sage, Vyasa who is the author of the Vedas

said to be an immortal,

and ultimately one of the gods himself.

GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS: Some have suggested that Vyasa came

to Earth to record and impart this Vedic knowledge

to mankind.

Now, could it be possible that he was, in fact,

an extraterrestrial who came here with a direct mission

to bring knowledge to mankind and guide them

in their understanding of science and physics?

NARRATOR: Could Veda Vyasa really

have been an extraterrestrial?

And might he have educated mankind about the workings

of the universe thousands of years

before the Large Hadron Collider was ever even constructed?

But if so, why?

Ancient astronaut theorists believe further evidence can

be found in the stories of a Greek scientist

2,500 years ahead of this time.

The Thracian Coast, Greece.

At the northern end of the Aegean

Sea lie the ruins of an ancient metropolis.

2,500 years ago Abdera was a thriving seaport and trading center.

It was a wealthy hub of commerce between empires

and the home of one of history's greatest thinkers Democritus.

Democritus was a Greek philosopher in the 5th century

before the Common Era.

He was not just a philosopher, but a scientific theorist.

In fact, his great gifts have led

him to be revered as the father of modern science.

NARRATOR: Democritus was born to a wealthy family

and educated by Persian magi--

learned priests who are said to control the fates.

It was believed that he was trained

by the magi, these priests of the east,

and that he also traveled to Egypt and to Babylon

and studied with the secret masters who

had these ancient wisdom teachings hidden

in their lineage.

RICHARD RADER: Democritus traveled quite a bit,

and through his travels learned quite a lot.

Traveling east through what we call the ancient near east,

studying with the magi, and studying with Chaldeans who

were known for their magical mysterious learnings

and their magical mysterious knowledge as well.

NARRATOR: Through his travels and his interactions

with people said to have mysterious knowledge,

the young philosopher and mathematician

came up with a radical theory concerning

all matter in the universe.

Democritus theorized that everything-- people, plants,

stone, and sun--

were made of the same stuff, tiny particles

he called atomos.

SABINA MAGLIOCCO: He developed an early version

of the atomic theory.

It is an early theory of everything in the world being

made up of these very, very small invisible particles which

Democritus have called atoms.

ROBERT R. CARGILL: Democritus argued

that there is a fundamental building block

but we couldn't see them.

That was the theory, philosophical theory,

that was in ancient Greece.

This is long before science.

MICHAEL DENNIN: When Democritus was talking about atoms,

it's amazing how close he got to what we really know.

What he was motivated by was the idea

that if you cut something up, the pieces still

have the same properties.

And so he just did the thought experiment, well,

if I keep cutting it smaller, then eventually I'll

have the smallest possible piece and that's the atom.

And that's what gives it its properties.

That's basically our picture of matter

now, that smallest piece is the protons, neutrons,

and the electrons that make up the atom.

NARRATOR: What Democritus articulated 2,500 years ago

is remarkably similar to today's standard model of physics--

the basis of our search for the Higgs boson or god particle.

But how could Democritus have known about the atom

and the forces that govern it?

Could it be that Democritus had access

to advanced and perhaps even extraterrestrial information

about the quantum realm?

Some ancient astronaut theorists believe that the answer may lie

in an even more radical suggestion Democritus made

about the cosmos.

GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS: In his writings,

Democritus opposed it there are many worlds,

and that these worlds even sustain life.

Now, could it be that by other worlds,

he was maybe even referring to parallel universes?

MICHAEL DENNIN: As we fast forward from Democritus

to the more current era where the idea of parallel universes

have really taken office the multi-universe view,

where all possible universes has occurred,

this is very similar to Democritus' idea of making

all possible universes.

But now they're very much next to each other,

parallel in space as well as occurring in time.

NARRATOR: Some cosmologists today

believe our universe is one of many,

and that the god particle could lead us to discovering

these other universes.

Is it possible that Democritus had knowledge

of this 2,500 years ago?

And might that information have come to him not only

from a different world, but perhaps a different universe?

JASON MARTELL: Democritus claim to communicate with what he

thought were parallel worlds.

He sometimes with exercise his energy

by going into places of the dead and would receive what

he thought were voices and information which would predict

the future.

GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS: Some accounts of Democritus

describe him as having access to magical powers with which he

could control the weather and predict natural disasters.

He also allegedly communicated with what he referred to as

other worlds, and he described images and voices

that came to him giving him all sorts of information.

DAVID WILCOCK: Is it possible that the priests of the magi,

the priests of the Egyptian mystery schools,

and the priests of Babylon taught

him some form of ancient practice that allows

the human body to become an instrument to connect directly

on a telepathic level with extraterrestrial beings?

RABBI ARIEL BAR TZADOK: The more that we draw forth in science,

we're going to discover the truths of the past that have

long been hidden from us.

Yes, mankind has been directed from the beginning.

NARRATOR: But did Democritus truly understand atomic theory

and the concept of multiple universes

all the way back in the 5th century BC?

Or is it possible, as some ancient astronaut theorists

suggest, that he was simply documenting information passed

on to him by more advanced beings, clues

about our universe deliberately left for us to discover

over time?

Perhaps the answer can be found by looking at the discovery

of the god particle and its connection

to the Mayan calendar.

Palenque, Mexico.

These majestic stone ruins are all that remain of the once

powerful Mayan city.

With its towering stone pyramids and ornate plazas,

Palenque reveals the true sophistication

of the Mayan civilization.

In terms of scientific and artistic achievements,

the Maya were among the world's best ancient civilizations.

Their advancements in math, engineering, astronomy,

geometry were unparalleled in the entire Americas.

NARRATOR: It was in this ancient Mayan city

that researchers have unearthed one of the best examples

of a remarkable calendar that tracked not only days

and months, but also ages spanning thousands of years.

ED BARNHART: The Maya were very, very intent

on recording the passage of time, so much so

that early scholars called the entire culture

esoteric time worshippers.

They had a number of clinical cycles.

One of the last ones they made, we call the Long Count.

To the Western mind, you could look at it

as the odometer on your car.

It clicks through time.

And scholars have a difference of opinion

whether it is a cycle that will reset itself

or whether it is a system that can go backwards and forwards

into perpetuity.

WILLIAM HENRY: The Mayans were obsessed with the idea of time

cycles and worlds.

They believed that we had existed in three

previous worlds, and that they could forecast or predict

the emergence of a new world.

And that was the purpose of the Mayan calendar,

was to pinpoint a specific date and time when one world would

end and a new world would begin.

NARRATOR: The Mayan calendar last turned

on December 21st 2012.

Thousands of people from around the world

descended on Mayan sites to mark the event.

Some, however, saw dire omens in the occasion.

The Mayan prediction of the end of the world in December

2012 caused a firestorm of prophecy,

watchers, and people believing that it was actually doomsday.

But as we know now, nothing of that nature

actually happened at that time.

NARRATOR: If it wasn't a doomsday clock

as many believed, then just what was this ancient calendar predicting?

Ancient astronaut theorist suggest it may have,

in fact, been counting down, not to the end of the world

but to the dawn of a new era in human history.

The Mayans never said it was going to be doomsday.

They simply said it would be a new moment of creation.

GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS: Maybe the Mayan calendar predicted

a monumental leap forward, a transition that would lead us

into a whole new era of scientific understanding

and possibility.

DAVID CHILDRESS: What did happen was we

discovered the god particle-- the Higgs boson.

So perhaps what the Mayan calendar was trying to predict

was not some terrible catastrophe,

but our own very important discovery of the god particle

and how we can use this to understand

our place in the universe.

NARRATOR: If the Maya did indeed predict the discovery

of the god particle, did they also leave a clue as to where

this knowledge will take us?

Some ancient astronaut theorists believe the answer may be found

480 miles north on carved blocks of hard volcanic

in the site at another Mayan archeological site in Izapa.

On Stela 5, there is a depiction of a mythological tree

that the Maya believed connected the cosmos and the Earth.

For the Maya, the world tree bridge the

seen and the unseen, the celestial and the earthly.

The Mayans believed the tree exuded a kind of syrup or sap

called the itz.

It had qualities that allowed portals,

to open to make contact with unseen dimensions.

It was the key, if you will, to other worlds.

JASON MARTELL: The Mayans talked about this type of cosmic ooze

that they thought literally emanated from the world tree.

Itz actually opened up portals to other worlds.

Maybe they're talking about some type of advanced energy

that they didn't directly have access to

but how the understandings and teachings possibly taught

to them by extraterrestrials.

When I looked at the symbolism of the sacred tree,

I got to thinking what if that sap is the Higgs boson,

the god particle, and you have scientists saying that it could

potentially lead to time travel and our ability

to create tiny wormholes.

Now, is it possible that we can use the discovery

of the god particle and the Higgs boson

to understand our place in the universe

and even to teleport and travel through time and space?

NARRATOR: Was the Mayan calendar devised

to predict the discovery of the god particle?

And if so, could this mean that we are getting closer

to a reconnection with alien beings that visited Earth long ago?

Some ancient astronaut theorists believe another clue

may be found just outside the entrance to the Large Hadron

Collider with the statue of Shiva.

Geneva, Switzerland.

Outside the headquarters of CERN's Large Hadron

Collider is a 12-foot statue of the Shiva Nataraja,

or the dancing Shiva, one of Hinduisms most powerful gods.

JONATHAN YOUNG: Lord Shiva is one of the three great gods

of the Hindu teaching.

He is the god of destruction.

His job is to destroy but it is in order to renew.

He destroys and creates.

His energy, the dance, he is considered the lord

of the dance, a cosmic dance.

And it is the dance of destruction and recreation.

DEEPAK SHIMKHADA: God Shiva is a complex character.

It's very difficult to understand Shiva in one word

because he is the god of procreation

and he is also the god of destruction.

He is also the god that destroys everything.

Because everything that is created must come to an end.

NARRATOR: According to Hindu mythology,

Shiva is the god who will one day destroy the universe

to make way for a new one.

JONATHAN YOUNG: Shiva's cosmic dance is not seen as a negative

even though it is greatly destructive.

It is destroying in order for something new to be created.

So it is an essential part of the process of life

that things are cleared away so new things, new possibilities,

better possibilities can emerge.

NARRATOR: But could the various attributes associated

with this Hindu god be connected to a recent discovery made

at the Large Hadron Collider about how our universe could

suddenly and catastrophically end?

ROBERT FRISBEE: One of the intriguing outcomes

of the Higgs boson mass measurement

is the realization that the Higgs boson on

and the top cork may put us right

on the ragged edge of an instability condition

in the universe.

The universe can exist in several different state.

Water, it can exist as steam, as liquid water, frozen ice.

If the universe changes state,

it will produce bubbles of spacetime expanding

at the speed of light that can destroy everything,

all normal matter, all everything, in the universe

as we know it.

JOHN BRANDENBURG: Some people are seeing theories that

say there's going to be expanding bubbles

of nothingness that will create whole new universes.

And in a sense, we know that the universe has to be unstable

because it made the Big Bang in the first place.

NARRATOR: Could Shiva not only be a mythological deity that

represents the ancient Hindus' understanding of the universe,

but might he also with been and otherworldly being

who passed on information to our ancestors

that we are only now rediscovering?

JASON MARTELL: Maybe the great god Shiva, the destroyer,

was actually trying to communicate in ancient times

things that we're learning today about breaking things down

to the finest particles and understanding that these are

how we understand the basis of life at a subatomic level.

GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS: In Hindu tradition,

Shiva was often portrayed as blue-skinned with a third eye

in the middle of his forehead.

And if you look at the different depictions of Shiva's dance,

you see that he is almost always surrounded

by some type of a circle structure with flames.

JASON MARTELL: We see parallels to technology

where he is always depicted in the circle when he's

doing his cosmic dance.

It seems very similar to what we see at the Hadron Accelerator

in this large circular particle accelerator.

Maybe there's some tie-in between Shiva being depicted

in a circular device and the way we're smashing particles now

in the Hadron Accelerator.

GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS: Now, what did our human ancestor

artists try to depict here?

Do the accounts of his cosmic dance

refer to some type of misunderstood technology

very much similar to the Large Hadron Collider.

JONATHAN YOUNG: In the Catholic mass,

there is a ceremonial artifact called a monstrance.

If you look at this image, if you look at this item,

it has a burst of light, very similar to the pattern

of Shiva's light, this dance of creation.

Some say this shape can be seen in the Hadron Collider at CERN.

NARRATOR: Does this suggest that the invention of tools

like the Large Hadron Collider are happening

as part of a plan?

Did celestial beings who came to Earth in the distant past

who have early humans insights into the origin of existence?

Ancient astronaut theorists believe

the answers may be found, not in what CERN has already

uncovered, but in discoveries yet to come.

CERN Headquarters, Geneva, Switzerland.

The Large Hadron Collider was heralded

as a monumental success when it helped to discover the Higgs

boson or god particle in 2012.

But that was only the beginning.

Since then, researchers have embarked

on a multi-year project to upgrade what is already

the most powerful machine on Earth

by retrofitting it with bigger, better, and more efficient systems.

When the Large Hadron Collider is activated again in 2015,

it will wield at least double the power it did in 2012

and could boast even 10 times more by the end of the decade.

ROBERT FRISBEE: And when you look at the size of the detectors,

the Large Hadron Collider,

we realize that we really are pushing

the limits of technology.

The Large Hadron Collider is something like seven times more

powerful than anything else that existed before.

Will be even able to get even closer to conditions in time

even closer to the beginning of the Big Bang?

MARIA SPIROPULU: The work that is happening right now

during the LHC shutdown is to prepare the detectors

and the experiments for the big energy step.

We are going to even more higher energy,

and that means that we are probing deeper

and we can be just around the corner of discovering something

which is completely blowing our minds.

JOHN BRANDENBURG: The human race is

going to be focusing more energy on a small area

than we've ever done before.

So we're looking for a whole new phenomena.

NARRATOR: The scientists at CERN hope

that by increasing the power of the Large Hadron Collider

they will not only be able to learn more about the god

particle but also uncover other perhaps even

more profound secrets of the universe.

But some scientists have voiced concerns that the Large Hadron

Collider could create a black hole that would swallow up

the Earth, set off a massive nuclear explosion,

or even form a vacuum bubble that could tip the balance

of the entire universe.

Perhaps this is a little hubris,

and we all know what happens when physicists get full of hubris.

But there's always a little bit of fear

when you're pushing back the frontiers of science.

It's part of the frontier spirit.

MARIA SPIROPULU: We have to admit that we don't know how

the universe started.

And as we go into higher and higher energies,

we don't know what we are going to find because this physics

at these levels is an experimental, completely

experimental science.

We don't have the complete understanding and description

of the universe that can create this anxiety and fear that we

might create something that will end the universe.

When we look at the experiments that have been

conducted at CERN with the Large Hadron Collider,

it may be that humanity is taking its first baby

steps towards the actual construction of the universe.

We're manipulating matter at the subatomic level

and we are literally harnessing the forces of creation themselves.

JOHN BRANDENBURG: The amount of the universe that we see

and know that is part of the standard model of physics

is only like 4% of the mass of the universe.

We're going into vast unknown territory.

We're going to be witnessing events that no human being has

ever witnessed before, and energy density scales

no human being has ever been able to create before.

So it's very exciting.

Who knows what we'll find?

NARRATOR: By wielding the incredible power

of the Large Hadron Collider, could we one day

recreate the Big Bang to form an entirely new universe?

And at the same time destroy our own?

Or might we instead be reaching the threshold

of a new age for mankind?

If ancient astronauts came to our planet hundreds

of centuries ago, perhaps they deliberately

planted the seeds of knowledge that would eventually lead us

to where we are today.

Perhaps finding the so-called god particle will allow us

to finally answer mankind's most persistent questions--

who are we?

Where did we come from?

And the most persistent of all--

are we alone?