1 00:00:04,714 --> 00:00:07,925 [announcer] For those who stretch their imaginations, 2 00:00:08,009 --> 00:00:09,927 who envision a future where technology 3 00:00:10,011 --> 00:00:11,929 serves the greater good... 4 00:00:12,013 --> 00:00:14,015 their mission is our mission. 5 00:00:14,098 --> 00:00:16,642 At Lockheed Martin, we never forget 6 00:00:16,726 --> 00:00:18,227 who we're working for. 7 00:01:04,148 --> 00:01:08,027 [narrator] Looks like an ordinary city. 8 00:01:08,110 --> 00:01:13,657 We know what we'll see on these streets, inside these walls. 9 00:01:13,741 --> 00:01:15,242 Or so we think. 10 00:01:18,204 --> 00:01:20,998 The people living in this apartment building 11 00:01:21,082 --> 00:01:25,419 are surrounded by things they can't see. 12 00:01:25,503 --> 00:01:27,171 All of us are. 13 00:01:27,254 --> 00:01:29,256 Everywhere. 14 00:01:33,677 --> 00:01:36,097 Things too slow for our eyes to detect... 15 00:01:44,522 --> 00:01:46,107 or too fast to follow. 16 00:01:51,612 --> 00:01:53,572 By things that can be seen 17 00:01:53,656 --> 00:01:57,409 only through light waves invisible to us. 18 00:02:00,955 --> 00:02:02,206 Bye, Mom. 19 00:02:02,289 --> 00:02:03,707 Have fun. 20 00:02:03,791 --> 00:02:05,876 [blow dryer whirring] 21 00:02:10,798 --> 00:02:13,717 [narrator] A day in their lives would look a lot different 22 00:02:13,801 --> 00:02:16,720 if they could see all the light waves around them. 23 00:02:16,804 --> 00:02:21,809 [various conversations and sounds overlapping] 24 00:02:25,396 --> 00:02:27,815 Or see other worlds around us 25 00:02:27,857 --> 00:02:29,733 -[dog whines] -that are too small... 26 00:02:29,817 --> 00:02:33,154 microscopic... 27 00:02:33,237 --> 00:02:34,780 or smaller yet... 28 00:02:36,490 --> 00:02:41,036 down to the heart of matter itself. 29 00:02:43,831 --> 00:02:45,958 [buzzing] 30 00:02:55,509 --> 00:02:57,845 Imagine if, for one day, 31 00:02:57,928 --> 00:03:00,806 we could see what they can't-- 32 00:03:00,890 --> 00:03:05,769 all that's too slow, too fast, too small... 33 00:03:05,853 --> 00:03:06,604 [thunder cracks] 34 00:03:06,687 --> 00:03:09,899 Or simply invisible. 35 00:03:09,982 --> 00:03:12,902 It would forever change our understanding 36 00:03:12,985 --> 00:03:14,904 of the planet we live on. 37 00:03:25,289 --> 00:03:30,002 On this day, we'll see beyond the limits of human vision. 38 00:03:36,926 --> 00:03:39,261 Normally, we see light waves 39 00:03:39,386 --> 00:03:41,055 that bounce off objects. 40 00:03:44,058 --> 00:03:48,354 They beam into our eyes... 41 00:03:48,437 --> 00:03:51,815 and onto our retina at the back of our eye, 42 00:03:51,899 --> 00:03:54,944 where an upside-down and backward image appears. 43 00:03:57,905 --> 00:03:59,990 It's turned into electrical impulses 44 00:04:00,074 --> 00:04:01,951 that race to the brain... 45 00:04:09,041 --> 00:04:12,253 which allows us to see what we need to survive. 46 00:04:12,336 --> 00:04:14,964 [horn blaring] 47 00:04:18,842 --> 00:04:22,429 But there's a lot we miss. 48 00:04:22,513 --> 00:04:26,976 We only see the rainbow of light waves called visible light. 49 00:04:31,522 --> 00:04:35,025 But that's just a fraction of the millions of wavelengths 50 00:04:35,109 --> 00:04:37,152 in the vast electromagnetic spectrum. 51 00:04:42,157 --> 00:04:43,909 Some of this invisible light 52 00:04:43,993 --> 00:04:48,455 has waves longer than the rainbow's, 53 00:04:48,539 --> 00:04:51,875 such as infrared... 54 00:04:51,959 --> 00:04:53,961 microwaves... 55 00:04:54,003 --> 00:04:56,046 and radio waves. 56 00:04:57,756 --> 00:04:59,883 Others are shorter, 57 00:04:59,967 --> 00:05:02,219 including ultraviolet... 58 00:05:02,303 --> 00:05:03,846 X-rays... 59 00:05:03,929 --> 00:05:06,432 and gamma. 60 00:05:06,515 --> 00:05:09,893 These waves radiate from the sun... 61 00:05:09,977 --> 00:05:12,438 space... 62 00:05:12,521 --> 00:05:14,982 from everything around us. 63 00:05:15,065 --> 00:05:18,110 [various voices and conversations] 64 00:05:24,325 --> 00:05:27,077 [buzzing] 65 00:05:27,161 --> 00:05:30,080 On the rooftop, there are creatures 66 00:05:30,164 --> 00:05:32,207 that can see other light waves. 67 00:05:34,293 --> 00:05:37,963 A bee can view the world through ultraviolet light. 68 00:05:38,005 --> 00:05:40,007 It can see UV markings on flowers 69 00:05:40,090 --> 00:05:42,092 that guide bees and other pollinators 70 00:05:42,176 --> 00:05:44,178 right to their pollen. 71 00:05:50,976 --> 00:05:54,730 All of this is invisible to you. 72 00:05:54,813 --> 00:05:58,108 You just see a bee feeding on nectar. 73 00:06:02,196 --> 00:06:05,199 Even a mosquito has an advantage over you. 74 00:06:07,159 --> 00:06:08,786 Through infrared vision, 75 00:06:08,869 --> 00:06:11,288 it can see the heat patterns on your body. 76 00:06:14,208 --> 00:06:17,795 Warmer spots means more blood near the surface. 77 00:06:23,092 --> 00:06:25,344 We have cameras that can see like a mosquito... 78 00:06:28,931 --> 00:06:31,141 revealing what's hot... 79 00:06:33,227 --> 00:06:35,270 and what's not. 80 00:06:41,193 --> 00:06:42,194 [sizzling] 81 00:06:43,821 --> 00:06:47,533 The brighter something looks, 82 00:06:47,616 --> 00:06:49,326 the hotter it is. 83 00:07:16,478 --> 00:07:21,733 Some wavelengths can pass right through objects. 84 00:07:21,817 --> 00:07:25,279 Wonder what's going on inside the apartment building? 85 00:07:25,320 --> 00:07:28,240 Gamma rays can show you. 86 00:07:33,579 --> 00:07:39,293 With X-ray vision, you could see an egg hidden within a quail... 87 00:07:39,334 --> 00:07:42,212 the mechanics of an animal in motion... 88 00:07:47,134 --> 00:07:49,428 and what's going on inside anyone's body. 89 00:07:59,563 --> 00:08:02,483 Radio waves can also pass through us. 90 00:08:06,945 --> 00:08:09,698 An MRI can use them, 91 00:08:09,781 --> 00:08:13,327 along with magnetic energy, 92 00:08:13,368 --> 00:08:15,370 to show your heart beating. 93 00:08:15,454 --> 00:08:18,332 [heart beating] 94 00:08:20,751 --> 00:08:24,254 The more invisible light waves we can see, 95 00:08:24,338 --> 00:08:28,383 the more secrets we uncover about the world around us. 96 00:08:32,095 --> 00:08:34,515 But that's only the beginning. 97 00:08:44,483 --> 00:08:47,361 Some things happen too slowly for our eyes. 98 00:08:57,913 --> 00:09:01,375 In the 1930s, an amateur scientist in Chicago 99 00:09:01,458 --> 00:09:03,544 wanted to see how flowers move. 100 00:09:03,627 --> 00:09:07,548 John Nash Ott had the idea of shooting a single frame of film 101 00:09:07,631 --> 00:09:10,884 at regular intervals... 102 00:09:10,968 --> 00:09:12,469 15 minutes apart. 103 00:09:12,553 --> 00:09:15,973 [camera clicking] 104 00:09:16,056 --> 00:09:19,685 By projecting the pictures at the normal speed of movies-- 105 00:09:19,768 --> 00:09:25,023 24 frames per second-- Ott saw that flowers move dramatically 106 00:09:25,107 --> 00:09:28,402 as they react to light. 107 00:09:28,485 --> 00:09:30,404 He also had some fun. 108 00:09:30,445 --> 00:09:32,573 [orchestra plays lively classical melody] 109 00:09:45,502 --> 00:09:48,880 We call it "time-lapse photography," 110 00:09:48,964 --> 00:09:51,425 and through it, we discover movement 111 00:09:51,466 --> 00:09:53,594 Where our eyes see none. 112 00:10:11,028 --> 00:10:15,449 We can see how organisms emerge and grow. 113 00:10:40,098 --> 00:10:44,144 How a vine survives by creeping from the forest floor 114 00:10:44,227 --> 00:10:46,438 to reach the sunlight. 115 00:11:13,674 --> 00:11:16,593 A passion-flower vine tosses its tendrils 116 00:11:16,677 --> 00:11:19,012 like a grappling hook, 117 00:11:19,096 --> 00:11:21,181 wrenches itself up, 118 00:11:23,308 --> 00:11:26,603 and throws open its sun-catching blossom. 119 00:11:42,703 --> 00:11:45,706 We can see living things decompose... 120 00:12:00,262 --> 00:12:04,683 providing resources that allow new life to flourish. 121 00:12:09,438 --> 00:12:12,566 Dead matter can be food for slime molds, 122 00:12:12,649 --> 00:12:15,068 among the simplest life-forms. 123 00:12:17,487 --> 00:12:21,658 Time-lapse shows that they are constantly on the move. 124 00:12:29,791 --> 00:12:33,754 One slime mold is astonishingly complex. 125 00:12:35,964 --> 00:12:38,759 When individual cells run out of food, 126 00:12:38,800 --> 00:12:42,512 they group together and form stalks 127 00:12:42,596 --> 00:12:44,806 with spores at the top. 128 00:12:51,730 --> 00:12:55,609 The spores can be picked up by the wind or passersby 129 00:12:55,692 --> 00:12:58,653 and carried to a place with more food. 130 00:12:58,737 --> 00:12:59,780 Good boy. 131 00:13:06,286 --> 00:13:08,663 [narrator] On a grander scale, 132 00:13:08,747 --> 00:13:12,918 time-lapse allows us to see our planet in motion. 133 00:13:25,806 --> 00:13:28,934 We can view not only the vast sweep of nature... 134 00:13:32,646 --> 00:13:35,982 but the restless movement of humanity. 135 00:13:41,947 --> 00:13:45,826 Each streaking dot represents a passenger plane. 136 00:13:45,867 --> 00:13:50,705 By turning air traffic data into time-lapse imagery, 137 00:13:50,789 --> 00:13:54,835 we can see something that's above us constantly... 138 00:13:54,876 --> 00:13:56,920 but invisible-- 139 00:13:58,839 --> 00:14:01,341 the vast network of air travel 140 00:14:01,424 --> 00:14:03,760 over the United States. 141 00:14:09,432 --> 00:14:12,727 We can do the same thing with ships at sea-- 142 00:14:12,811 --> 00:14:15,814 turn data into a time-lapse view. 143 00:14:24,948 --> 00:14:28,243 Decades of data give us a view of our entire planet 144 00:14:28,326 --> 00:14:31,288 as a single organism, 145 00:14:31,371 --> 00:14:36,376 sustained by currents circulating through the sea... 146 00:14:36,459 --> 00:14:39,129 by moisture and warmth, 147 00:14:39,212 --> 00:14:41,548 swirling through the atmosphere, 148 00:14:43,008 --> 00:14:45,218 pulsing with lightning, 149 00:14:45,302 --> 00:14:48,179 adorned by the Aurora Borealis. 150 00:14:48,263 --> 00:14:51,391 It may be the ultimate time-lapse image-- 151 00:14:51,474 --> 00:14:54,644 the anatomy of Earth, brought to life. 152 00:15:16,041 --> 00:15:18,001 [narrator] At the other extreme of time, 153 00:15:18,084 --> 00:15:21,922 there are things that happen too fast for our eyes. 154 00:15:30,221 --> 00:15:33,767 But we have technology to see that world, too. 155 00:15:36,895 --> 00:15:39,522 [film narrator] Introducing Dr. Harold E. Edgerton 156 00:15:39,606 --> 00:15:42,484 of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 157 00:15:42,567 --> 00:15:45,737 His stroboscope light, my friends, is really something, 158 00:15:45,820 --> 00:15:48,990 and it's put' the "super" in super-speed photography. 159 00:15:49,074 --> 00:15:51,451 While normally film runs through the average movie camera 160 00:15:51,534 --> 00:15:52,702 at .90 feel' a minute, 161 00:15:52,786 --> 00:15:56,957 Edgerton's flicker box can handle 125 feel' a second. 162 00:15:57,040 --> 00:15:59,876 In normal speed movies, a bullet' shot' from the muzzle 163 00:15:59,960 --> 00:16:03,797 of a high-pa wered air gun is invisible- 164 00:16:03,838 --> 00:16:06,758 Now Edgerton really photographs a bullet' in flight'- 165 00:16:06,841 --> 00:16:09,636 Watch it come in from the left'- 166 00:16:09,678 --> 00:16:12,973 Here, fascinating patterns of movement. 167 00:16:13,056 --> 00:16:16,351 And when you recall that all the action of this bulb smashing 168 00:16:16,434 --> 00:16:19,479 actual! y took place in the fraction of a second, 169 00:16:19,562 --> 00:16:23,692 you realize that here is speed in movie photography, indeed! 170 00:16:27,237 --> 00:16:30,782 [narrator] High-speed cameras do the opposite of time-lapse. 171 00:16:32,575 --> 00:16:34,327 They shoot images thousands, 172 00:16:34,411 --> 00:16:37,998 or even millions of times faster than our vision. 173 00:16:47,173 --> 00:16:51,094 When played back at 24 images per second... 174 00:16:51,177 --> 00:16:55,181 they show us remarkable things we normally miss. 175 00:17:30,300 --> 00:17:32,302 [screech echoing] 176 00:17:57,535 --> 00:17:59,913 When you see drops hit the water, 177 00:17:59,996 --> 00:18:02,373 here's what you don't see. 178 00:18:02,457 --> 00:18:06,169 Every drop bounces like a ball. 179 00:18:09,881 --> 00:18:12,634 Held together by surface tension, 180 00:18:12,717 --> 00:18:15,470 it continues to get smaller 181 00:18:15,553 --> 00:18:17,263 and smaller. 182 00:18:21,017 --> 00:18:24,395 This happens every time a raindrop hits a puddle. 183 00:18:26,272 --> 00:18:27,357 [thunder rumbling] 184 00:18:39,661 --> 00:18:41,830 A hundred times every second, 185 00:18:41,913 --> 00:18:45,750 lightning strikes somewhere on Earth. 186 00:18:45,834 --> 00:18:47,377 Little was known about lightning 187 00:18:47,460 --> 00:18:51,714 till high-speed cameras turned the research upside down. 188 00:18:51,798 --> 00:18:53,967 Literally. 189 00:18:54,008 --> 00:18:55,218 [thunder rumbling] 190 00:18:55,301 --> 00:18:58,721 What our eyes see is energy flowing downward 191 00:18:58,805 --> 00:19:00,265 from the clouds. 192 00:19:02,100 --> 00:19:05,019 Now we can see that electricity also moves 193 00:19:05,103 --> 00:19:07,272 upward from the ground. 194 00:19:08,898 --> 00:19:10,859 [thunder rumbling] 195 00:19:25,915 --> 00:19:27,750 If we can see lightning bolts... 196 00:19:27,834 --> 00:19:30,879 [crashing, rumbling] 197 00:19:30,962 --> 00:19:34,007 We can see almost anything that's lightning-fast. 198 00:19:39,012 --> 00:19:40,847 When a dragonfly flutters by, 199 00:19:40,930 --> 00:19:42,432 you may not realize 200 00:19:42,515 --> 00:19:45,143 it's the greatest flyer in nature. 201 00:19:46,561 --> 00:19:49,022 It can hover... 202 00:19:52,025 --> 00:19:54,027 fly backwards... 203 00:19:57,030 --> 00:19:59,115 and even upside down. 204 00:20:03,036 --> 00:20:07,081 No one knew the secret. 205 00:20:07,165 --> 00:20:10,043 But high speed shows that a dragonfly can move 206 00:20:10,126 --> 00:20:12,879 all four wings in different directions 207 00:20:12,962 --> 00:20:15,006 at the same time. 208 00:20:16,883 --> 00:20:19,093 No aircraft can do this. 209 00:20:25,183 --> 00:20:28,686 If we can see how nature's ingenious devices work... 210 00:20:30,188 --> 00:20:32,106 we can imitate them. 211 00:20:46,079 --> 00:20:49,999 By tracking markers on an insect's wings, 212 00:20:50,083 --> 00:20:53,086 we can visualize the airflow they produce. 213 00:21:04,889 --> 00:21:10,186 What we learn could lead us to new kinds of robotic flyers 214 00:21:10,270 --> 00:21:13,189 that expand our vision of important events 215 00:21:13,273 --> 00:21:15,149 in remote places. 216 00:21:24,117 --> 00:21:26,494 How many secrets remain to be discovered 217 00:21:26,577 --> 00:21:30,164 in the super-fast worlds of nature? 218 00:21:46,639 --> 00:21:50,226 We move through the landscape like giants, 219 00:21:50,310 --> 00:21:54,355 unaware of the wonders too small for us to see. 220 00:21:58,276 --> 00:22:01,821 Long ago, we noticed that a glass sphere 221 00:22:01,904 --> 00:22:04,198 made things appear larger. 222 00:22:06,701 --> 00:22:11,331 Grinding it down into a lens magnified objects even more. 223 00:22:16,002 --> 00:22:22,675 Stacking lenses in a tube greatly multiplied the effect, 224 00:22:22,759 --> 00:22:25,636 and the compound microscope was born. 225 00:22:29,182 --> 00:22:32,393 It let us peer into a world we'd never seen before. 226 00:22:36,272 --> 00:22:40,693 Suddenly, we could see creatures in common pond water 227 00:22:40,735 --> 00:22:43,196 that we didn't even know existed. 228 00:23:35,123 --> 00:23:38,751 But there is a limitation to the compound microscope. 229 00:23:38,835 --> 00:23:43,005 We can't see down into the scales of the butterfly's wing 230 00:23:43,089 --> 00:23:46,426 because visible light waves are too big. 231 00:23:46,467 --> 00:23:48,678 Everything smaller goes out of focus. 232 00:23:51,097 --> 00:23:53,141 We needed a microscope 233 00:23:53,224 --> 00:23:56,269 that used something smaller than visible light. 234 00:23:58,729 --> 00:24:02,150 The scanning electron microscope fires electrons, 235 00:24:02,233 --> 00:24:04,902 smaller than atoms, creating an image 236 00:24:04,986 --> 00:24:08,448 that magnifies things by as much as a million times. 237 00:24:21,377 --> 00:24:23,921 It shows that deep inside the tiny scales 238 00:24:24,005 --> 00:24:26,174 of a butterfly's wing 239 00:24:26,257 --> 00:24:29,635 are even smaller structures 240 00:24:29,719 --> 00:24:35,391 which are shaped to reflect only pure blue light waves, 241 00:24:35,475 --> 00:24:39,312 giving the wings of a Morpho butterfly 242 00:24:39,353 --> 00:24:43,399 one of the most brilliant blues in nature. 243 00:24:53,951 --> 00:24:56,913 The electron microscope reveals things 244 00:24:56,996 --> 00:25:00,374 both bizarre and beautiful. 245 00:25:00,458 --> 00:25:03,044 Guess what this is. 246 00:25:03,127 --> 00:25:04,795 A butterfly egg. 247 00:25:07,423 --> 00:25:09,592 The skin of a shark. 248 00:25:13,513 --> 00:25:15,598 A caterpillar's mouth. 249 00:25:18,601 --> 00:25:21,521 The eye of a fruit fly. 250 00:25:24,941 --> 00:25:27,485 An eggshell. 251 00:25:32,073 --> 00:25:34,659 A tomato stem. 252 00:25:37,328 --> 00:25:39,580 A flea. 253 00:25:43,584 --> 00:25:46,546 A snail's tongue. 254 00:25:50,091 --> 00:25:53,386 We think we know most of the animal kingdom, 255 00:25:53,427 --> 00:25:56,556 but there may be millions of tiny species 256 00:25:56,597 --> 00:25:59,517 waiting to be discovered. 257 00:26:09,694 --> 00:26:12,446 Even the air we breathe 258 00:26:12,530 --> 00:26:16,492 is full of unseeable stuff-- 259 00:26:16,576 --> 00:26:18,619 pollen... 260 00:26:20,705 --> 00:26:23,583 skin flakes... 261 00:26:25,293 --> 00:26:27,587 insect parts... 262 00:26:28,671 --> 00:26:31,549 animal hairs. 263 00:26:36,137 --> 00:26:40,891 There's even matter from space, 264 00:26:40,975 --> 00:26:43,477 including micro diamonds and jewels 265 00:26:43,561 --> 00:26:47,648 from other planets and supernova explosions. 266 00:26:50,526 --> 00:26:53,613 30,000 tons of space dust 267 00:26:53,696 --> 00:26:57,533 falls to the Earth every year. 268 00:26:59,744 --> 00:27:02,204 Some of it is in every breath inhaled 269 00:27:02,288 --> 00:27:07,168 by all the living things on Earth, 270 00:27:07,251 --> 00:27:09,462 including you. 271 00:27:09,503 --> 00:27:12,048 [speaking quietly, laughing] 272 00:27:12,131 --> 00:27:15,301 And it gets even more personal. 273 00:27:15,343 --> 00:27:19,221 There are unseen creatures living all over your body, 274 00:27:19,305 --> 00:27:22,683 possibly including mites that spend their entire lives 275 00:27:22,767 --> 00:27:26,937 dwelling on your eyelashes, 276 00:27:27,021 --> 00:27:30,650 crawling with their eight legs over your skin at night. 277 00:27:31,901 --> 00:27:33,694 They're on some of you... 278 00:27:33,778 --> 00:27:35,821 right now. 279 00:27:38,991 --> 00:27:43,496 When you're unlucky enough to get a case of head lice, 280 00:27:43,579 --> 00:27:45,831 this is what's living in your hair. 281 00:27:48,000 --> 00:27:50,711 More than 1,000 strains of bacteria 282 00:27:50,795 --> 00:27:52,797 could be in your belly button. 283 00:27:54,340 --> 00:27:56,842 This is what causes stinky feet. 284 00:28:01,889 --> 00:28:05,685 Some 32 million bacteria live on your skin, 285 00:28:05,726 --> 00:28:08,896 most of them harmless 286 00:28:08,979 --> 00:28:11,565 or even good for you. 287 00:28:11,649 --> 00:28:15,111 There are far more organisms living on you 288 00:28:15,194 --> 00:28:17,488 than there are people on Earth. 289 00:28:20,825 --> 00:28:23,703 It turns out that the world of the really small 290 00:28:23,786 --> 00:28:26,706 is full of clever things we can use. 291 00:28:26,747 --> 00:28:29,792 The surface of a lotus leaf repels almost any liquid. 292 00:28:29,875 --> 00:28:32,420 [girl] Whoa! That's so cool! 293 00:28:32,628 --> 00:28:37,299 [narrator] A super-close look reveals the secret: 294 00:28:37,383 --> 00:28:40,010 tiny hair-like bumps that cause drops 295 00:28:40,094 --> 00:28:41,762 to roll right off the leaf. 296 00:28:45,891 --> 00:28:47,810 Maybe we could mimic this, 297 00:28:47,893 --> 00:28:51,731 making a coating to shield airplanes from ice buildup. 298 00:29:03,534 --> 00:29:07,163 Once, it was a mystery 299 00:29:07,246 --> 00:29:10,750 how a gecko could walk up smooth glass. 300 00:29:10,791 --> 00:29:15,045 Gecko feet are covered by half a million tiny bristles 301 00:29:15,129 --> 00:29:17,673 that branch into split ends, 302 00:29:17,757 --> 00:29:21,677 each with a pad on the tip. 303 00:29:21,761 --> 00:29:23,721 The structures build up an electrical charge 304 00:29:23,804 --> 00:29:27,850 that attracts them to the surface, 305 00:29:27,933 --> 00:29:31,771 adding up to incredible sticking power 306 00:29:31,812 --> 00:29:34,315 and a model for a new kind of robot 307 00:29:34,398 --> 00:29:37,109 that could climb almost anything. 308 00:29:48,454 --> 00:29:51,707 A spider also harbors secrets. 309 00:29:51,791 --> 00:29:56,295 Spider silk thread is, pound for pound, stronger than steel 310 00:29:56,378 --> 00:29:58,798 and yet completely elastic. 311 00:30:01,008 --> 00:30:02,885 Imagine what we might build 312 00:30:02,968 --> 00:30:05,888 if we could produce a synthetic version. 313 00:30:05,971 --> 00:30:11,727 The first step is getting a closer look at spider silk. 314 00:30:11,811 --> 00:30:15,648 The journey could take us all the way down to what we call 315 00:30:15,731 --> 00:30:17,691 the nanoworld. 316 00:30:21,487 --> 00:30:25,991 The silk is 100 times thinner than a human hair. 317 00:30:28,077 --> 00:30:33,332 On it, there's bacteria. 318 00:30:33,415 --> 00:30:38,754 Near the bacteria, ten times smaller, a virus. 319 00:30:38,838 --> 00:30:42,341 Inside that, ten times smaller, 320 00:30:42,424 --> 00:30:45,845 three strands of its DNA. 321 00:30:45,928 --> 00:30:49,765 And nearing the limit of our most powerful microscopes, 322 00:30:49,849 --> 00:30:52,852 single carbon atoms. 323 00:30:52,935 --> 00:30:56,856 Four of them are the size of one nanometer. 324 00:31:02,903 --> 00:31:06,949 Welcome to the nanoworld. 325 00:31:09,952 --> 00:31:15,875 This incomprehensibly small place is the new frontier. 326 00:31:15,958 --> 00:31:20,170 Exploring it will lead to huge changes in our lives. 327 00:31:22,631 --> 00:31:26,051 Our most advanced microscopes can now see this: 328 00:31:26,135 --> 00:31:29,513 individual atoms, though fuzzy, 329 00:31:29,597 --> 00:31:34,101 proving years of scientific theory, simulated here. 330 00:31:36,520 --> 00:31:39,064 And not only can we see them-- 331 00:31:39,106 --> 00:31:41,567 with the tip of a powerful microscope, 332 00:31:41,650 --> 00:31:45,070 we can actually move atoms 333 00:31:45,112 --> 00:31:49,742 and begin to create amazing nano devices. 334 00:31:49,825 --> 00:31:51,827 Some could one day patrol your body 335 00:31:51,911 --> 00:31:54,413 for all kinds of diseases, 336 00:31:54,496 --> 00:31:58,083 and clean out clogged arteries along the way. 337 00:32:04,006 --> 00:32:07,009 Tiny chemical machines of the future 338 00:32:07,092 --> 00:32:11,013 may even repair DNA. 339 00:32:14,183 --> 00:32:16,977 One of the wildest things about the nano world, 340 00:32:17,061 --> 00:32:19,647 substances here behave differently 341 00:32:19,730 --> 00:32:23,317 than the same material does in our world. 342 00:32:23,400 --> 00:32:27,947 To us, gold is golden in color. 343 00:32:27,988 --> 00:32:31,158 But nano gold can be any color. 344 00:32:31,241 --> 00:32:35,037 It absorbs light and generates heat, 345 00:32:35,120 --> 00:32:38,540 leading to an idea: 346 00:32:38,624 --> 00:32:41,543 injecting nano-sized gold particles 347 00:32:41,627 --> 00:32:44,171 into the bloodstream... 348 00:32:47,633 --> 00:32:52,972 which are chemically coded to attach to cancerous cells. 349 00:32:53,055 --> 00:32:57,142 An incoming laser beam heats the gold particles... 350 00:33:00,562 --> 00:33:03,148 burning the cells. 351 00:33:09,154 --> 00:33:12,449 The promise of nano goes beyond medicine. 352 00:33:12,533 --> 00:33:16,161 Another material with far different nano properties 353 00:33:16,203 --> 00:33:18,914 is carbon, 354 00:33:18,998 --> 00:33:24,586 the same breakable stuff found in pencil lead. 355 00:33:24,670 --> 00:33:29,174 At the nano scale, it has mind-boggling strength. 356 00:33:29,216 --> 00:33:33,095 With it, we've created the world's thinnest material, 357 00:33:33,178 --> 00:33:34,722 graphene, 358 00:33:34,805 --> 00:33:37,641 one carbon atom thick. 359 00:33:37,725 --> 00:33:39,935 It's harder than diamonds 360 00:33:40,019 --> 00:33:43,188 but nearly as flexible as rubber. 361 00:33:43,230 --> 00:33:48,110 Turned into a roll, it's called a carbon nanotube, 362 00:33:48,193 --> 00:33:53,198 one of the strongest and lightest materials on Earth. 363 00:33:58,454 --> 00:34:00,789 With it, we could one day make things 364 00:34:00,873 --> 00:34:04,293 we can only dream about today. 365 00:34:06,253 --> 00:34:10,132 It may even be possible to use carbon nanotubes 366 00:34:10,215 --> 00:34:14,261 to build an elevator to space. 367 00:34:18,265 --> 00:34:22,770 We are on the threshold of extraordinary advances 368 00:34:22,853 --> 00:34:25,981 born of our drive to see all that's hidden 369 00:34:26,065 --> 00:34:28,067 in the world around us. 370 00:34:51,006 --> 00:34:52,925 On a summer evening, 371 00:34:53,008 --> 00:34:56,887 under an endless rain of cosmic dust, 372 00:34:56,970 --> 00:35:00,265 the air full of pollen and skin flakes 373 00:35:00,307 --> 00:35:03,352 and bits of everything on Earth... 374 00:35:05,521 --> 00:35:07,940 people go about their lives... 375 00:35:09,441 --> 00:35:11,151 - Happy birthday. -Happy birthday. 376 00:35:11,235 --> 00:35:13,362 Oh! 377 00:35:13,445 --> 00:35:15,989 [narrator] surrounded by the unseeable. 378 00:35:27,376 --> 00:35:32,631 Knowing there's much more around us than we can see... 379 00:35:32,673 --> 00:35:36,385 forever changes our understanding of the world. 380 00:35:36,468 --> 00:35:38,303 [whooping, laughter] 381 00:35:40,472 --> 00:35:43,350 Who knows what waits to be seen... 382 00:35:43,433 --> 00:35:45,811 [utensil clinking on glass] 383 00:35:45,894 --> 00:35:48,355 What new wonders will transform our lives. 384 00:35:48,438 --> 00:35:51,233 [man speaking, people laughing] 385 00:35:51,316 --> 00:35:53,986 We will just have to see.