1 00:00:05,440 --> 00:00:08,320 [dramatic music] 2 00:00:08,440 --> 00:00:11,040 - Tonight on "Secrets Declassified"... 3 00:00:11,160 --> 00:00:14,960 experiments considered so wild, dangerous, or deadly, 4 00:00:15,080 --> 00:00:17,720 they have to be hidden from the public. 5 00:00:17,840 --> 00:00:20,080 From building an aircraft carrier made of ice 6 00:00:20,200 --> 00:00:21,760 to defeat Nazi U-boats-- 7 00:00:21,880 --> 00:00:23,800 [Hakeem] This thing will be 8 00:00:23,920 --> 00:00:26,240 the largest naval vessel ever constructed. 9 00:00:26,360 --> 00:00:28,040 [David] To a manned mission to Mars 10 00:00:28,160 --> 00:00:29,360 that never leaves Earth... 11 00:00:29,480 --> 00:00:31,400 [Sami] These men are subjected 12 00:00:31,520 --> 00:00:33,120 to every form of stress 13 00:00:33,240 --> 00:00:36,080 that their Soviet overlords can think of. 14 00:00:36,200 --> 00:00:37,600 - Or even to Stalin's obsession 15 00:00:37,720 --> 00:00:40,440 with understanding his rivals... 16 00:00:40,560 --> 00:00:44,160 - They want to profile Mao by analyzing his poo. 17 00:00:44,280 --> 00:00:46,000 [David] These are the astonishing 18 00:00:46,120 --> 00:00:48,600 and sometimes terrible things done by governments 19 00:00:48,720 --> 00:00:50,800 and the people who work for them. 20 00:00:50,920 --> 00:00:53,280 It's time to bring them to light. 21 00:00:53,400 --> 00:00:59,440 ♪ ♪ 22 00:01:01,320 --> 00:01:03,200 It's World War II. 23 00:01:03,320 --> 00:01:05,600 In the Atlantic, Hitler's U-boats are hunting 24 00:01:05,720 --> 00:01:07,600 British ships relentlessly. 25 00:01:07,720 --> 00:01:10,800 So Britain gambles on a daring experiment-- 26 00:01:10,920 --> 00:01:13,200 build an unsinkable ship, 27 00:01:13,320 --> 00:01:16,760 not from steel but from ice. 28 00:01:16,880 --> 00:01:20,200 ♪ ♪ 29 00:01:20,320 --> 00:01:23,000 - By 1942, Britain feels like it's against the ropes. 30 00:01:23,120 --> 00:01:26,000 U-boats hunting in the mid-Atlantic 31 00:01:26,120 --> 00:01:29,120 are sinking 650,000 tons 32 00:01:29,240 --> 00:01:31,720 of shipping every month. 33 00:01:31,840 --> 00:01:34,280 - The killing zone is called U-boat Alley. 34 00:01:34,400 --> 00:01:36,200 It's a stretch of the mid-Atlantic 35 00:01:36,320 --> 00:01:38,600 where Allied ships are unprotected. 36 00:01:38,720 --> 00:01:41,880 Air Force planes can't reach that far from land bases, 37 00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:44,200 and the British can't send aircraft carriers to help 38 00:01:44,320 --> 00:01:47,200 because they would be sunk by the U-boats, too. 39 00:01:47,320 --> 00:01:50,880 - What they need is an aircraft carrier that can't be sunk. 40 00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:52,200 ♪ ♪ 41 00:01:52,320 --> 00:01:54,200 [David] Enter Geoffrey Pyke, 42 00:01:54,320 --> 00:01:56,560 an eccentric adventurer and inventor 43 00:01:56,680 --> 00:01:59,560 now working for Allied HQ. 44 00:01:59,680 --> 00:02:02,400 - Geoffrey Pyke comes up with the realization 45 00:02:02,520 --> 00:02:06,760 that nature already produces giant, unsinkable platforms 46 00:02:06,880 --> 00:02:08,280 in the ocean. 47 00:02:08,400 --> 00:02:10,080 They're called icebergs. 48 00:02:10,200 --> 00:02:12,400 So he comes up with the idea 49 00:02:12,520 --> 00:02:14,520 that you could flatten one 50 00:02:14,640 --> 00:02:16,840 and tow it wherever you wanted it to be. 51 00:02:16,960 --> 00:02:20,240 - You can use it as an unsinkable aircraft carrier, 52 00:02:20,360 --> 00:02:23,400 and it can close the mid-Atlantic gap. 53 00:02:23,520 --> 00:02:27,680 [David] But Pyke soon realizes icebergs won't work. 54 00:02:27,800 --> 00:02:30,200 - They have this nasty tendency to flip, 55 00:02:30,320 --> 00:02:32,400 which would put your aircraft and your crew 56 00:02:32,520 --> 00:02:34,600 in the cold Atlantic waters, so, no, 57 00:02:34,720 --> 00:02:35,960 not a good solution. 58 00:02:36,080 --> 00:02:37,480 ♪ ♪ 59 00:02:37,600 --> 00:02:39,800 [David] Pyke won't be stopped so easily. 60 00:02:39,920 --> 00:02:44,200 He begins to design an artificial iceberg. 61 00:02:44,320 --> 00:02:46,640 [Hakeem] Pyke's idea is to create 62 00:02:46,760 --> 00:02:48,200 a giant aircraft carrier, 63 00:02:48,320 --> 00:02:52,400 not from steel but from blocks of carved ice. 64 00:02:52,520 --> 00:02:54,680 He could have a system of cooling pipes 65 00:02:54,800 --> 00:02:57,160 throughout the ice to keep it frozen 66 00:02:57,280 --> 00:03:01,720 and also use diesel engines to propel it forward. 67 00:03:01,840 --> 00:03:03,200 [David] At a secret lab 68 00:03:03,320 --> 00:03:05,400 hidden in a refrigerated storage unit 69 00:03:05,520 --> 00:03:08,000 at London's Smithfield's Meat Market, 70 00:03:08,120 --> 00:03:10,360 Pyke's team starts experimenting. 71 00:03:10,480 --> 00:03:11,920 ♪ ♪ 72 00:03:12,040 --> 00:03:13,960 [Martin] There's one big shortcoming with ice. 73 00:03:14,080 --> 00:03:16,600 It is extremely brittle. 74 00:03:16,720 --> 00:03:20,800 If it came under enemy attack, it will fracture. 75 00:03:20,920 --> 00:03:23,000 - So, as Pyke considers this problem, 76 00:03:23,120 --> 00:03:25,720 he takes some inspiration from reinforced concrete 77 00:03:25,840 --> 00:03:28,200 and the idea that perhaps combining water 78 00:03:28,320 --> 00:03:29,600 with another element 79 00:03:29,720 --> 00:03:31,720 would produce a harder ice product. 80 00:03:31,840 --> 00:03:33,240 ♪ ♪ 81 00:03:33,360 --> 00:03:35,160 [David] Pyke's team begins to experiment 82 00:03:35,280 --> 00:03:38,600 with additives to increase the durability of ice. 83 00:03:38,720 --> 00:03:40,200 [Don] They find a research paper 84 00:03:40,320 --> 00:03:42,200 from scientists in Brooklyn, New York, 85 00:03:42,320 --> 00:03:44,440 testing cotton as a reinforcer, 86 00:03:44,560 --> 00:03:48,200 but this makes a slushy, uneven ice block. 87 00:03:48,320 --> 00:03:50,760 [Hakeem] Finally, after lots of experimentation, 88 00:03:50,880 --> 00:03:53,640 they come up with just the right recipe, 89 00:03:53,760 --> 00:03:57,480 and that is 4% wood pulp and 96% water. 90 00:03:57,600 --> 00:03:59,440 This combination creates 91 00:03:59,560 --> 00:04:02,000 an incredibly durable block of ice. 92 00:04:02,120 --> 00:04:05,320 [David] Pyke's new ice behaves like nothing else on Earth. 93 00:04:05,440 --> 00:04:09,640 It's strong as concrete and almost bulletproof. 94 00:04:09,760 --> 00:04:12,720 It can be cast like metal and cut like wood. 95 00:04:12,840 --> 00:04:15,280 ♪ ♪ 96 00:04:15,400 --> 00:04:18,400 They name this new miracle material Pykrete, 97 00:04:18,520 --> 00:04:20,400 after its inventor. 98 00:04:20,520 --> 00:04:22,480 [Sami] British Prime Minister Winston Churchill 99 00:04:22,600 --> 00:04:26,200 is the kind of guy who likes unusual, bold, daring ideas. 100 00:04:26,320 --> 00:04:28,760 So he says, yeah, let's do this. 101 00:04:28,880 --> 00:04:31,880 Pyke's project is given the code name "Habbakuk." 102 00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:33,400 ♪ ♪ 103 00:04:33,520 --> 00:04:35,800 [David] Habbakuk is an Old Testament prophet 104 00:04:35,920 --> 00:04:39,480 who records God's promise to the doubtful. 105 00:04:39,600 --> 00:04:41,400 "I'm going to do something in your days 106 00:04:41,520 --> 00:04:44,800 that you would not believe, even if you were told." 107 00:04:44,920 --> 00:04:46,200 Pyke chooses the name 108 00:04:46,320 --> 00:04:49,280 to fit his impossibly ambitious ice ship. 109 00:04:49,400 --> 00:04:51,640 Now he needs to construct a prototype. 110 00:04:51,760 --> 00:04:54,400 But Britain is too warm to build it, 111 00:04:54,520 --> 00:04:56,880 so the entire project moves to Canada. 112 00:04:57,000 --> 00:04:58,520 ♪ ♪ 113 00:04:58,640 --> 00:05:01,240 [Don] They turn the frozen surface of Patricia Lake 114 00:05:01,360 --> 00:05:03,200 into a giant laboratory 115 00:05:03,320 --> 00:05:07,400 and build a 1,000-ton, 60-foot-long scale model. 116 00:05:07,520 --> 00:05:09,160 ♪ ♪ 117 00:05:09,280 --> 00:05:11,600 [Hakeem] The Habbakuk team starts experimenting, 118 00:05:11,720 --> 00:05:15,800 and they find that in order to keep the ice stable, 119 00:05:15,920 --> 00:05:18,200 the ship's refrigerators need to keep it 120 00:05:18,320 --> 00:05:20,440 at a frosty 5 degrees. 121 00:05:20,560 --> 00:05:23,560 [Don] They also discover that to stop a torpedo, 122 00:05:23,680 --> 00:05:26,200 the hull has to be at least 30 feet thick. 123 00:05:26,320 --> 00:05:27,800 ♪ ♪ 124 00:05:27,920 --> 00:05:30,200 [Hakeem] When they complete their design, 125 00:05:30,320 --> 00:05:32,600 it is an absolute behemoth. 126 00:05:32,720 --> 00:05:34,600 [Martin] Pyke wanted an ice ship 127 00:05:34,720 --> 00:05:37,880 with a runway 2,000 feet long and 300 feet wide. 128 00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:40,600 - It has 40-foot-thick walls, 129 00:05:40,720 --> 00:05:45,400 and it can carry over 150 bombers at one time. 130 00:05:45,520 --> 00:05:48,200 - This will be the largest naval vessel ever built. 131 00:05:48,320 --> 00:05:51,080 ♪ ♪ 132 00:05:51,200 --> 00:05:52,600 [David] Project Habakkuk 133 00:05:52,720 --> 00:05:54,800 is now becoming hugely expensive, 134 00:05:54,920 --> 00:05:57,800 so it needs American backing. 135 00:05:57,920 --> 00:05:59,800 In August 1943, 136 00:05:59,920 --> 00:06:02,360 at the Allied conference in Quebec, 137 00:06:02,480 --> 00:06:04,960 the Brits make their pitch. 138 00:06:05,080 --> 00:06:07,320 [Sami] To prove the properties of Pykrete 139 00:06:07,440 --> 00:06:08,800 to the Americans, 140 00:06:08,920 --> 00:06:11,400 one of the UK's top commanders, Lord Mountbatten, 141 00:06:11,520 --> 00:06:13,480 stages a demo. 142 00:06:13,600 --> 00:06:16,280 - Mountbatten gives U.S. General Hap Arnold an ax 143 00:06:16,400 --> 00:06:18,960 and asks him to smash a block of Pykrete. 144 00:06:19,080 --> 00:06:21,520 Arnold swings at the Pykrete with all his might. 145 00:06:21,640 --> 00:06:23,320 The ax bounces off. 146 00:06:23,440 --> 00:06:25,440 - Then Mountbatten draws his pistol 147 00:06:25,560 --> 00:06:27,600 and fires it at the Pykrete. 148 00:06:27,720 --> 00:06:29,080 [gunshot] 149 00:06:29,200 --> 00:06:30,600 The bullet ricochets off, 150 00:06:30,720 --> 00:06:32,600 sending the generals diving for cover. 151 00:06:32,720 --> 00:06:35,200 - The room erupts, but the point is made. 152 00:06:35,320 --> 00:06:38,440 The Americans are on board for Habakkuk. 153 00:06:38,560 --> 00:06:39,800 ♪ ♪ 154 00:06:39,920 --> 00:06:41,760 [David] Before production can begin, 155 00:06:41,880 --> 00:06:44,400 the tides turn in the Atlantic. 156 00:06:44,520 --> 00:06:48,560 Long-range aircraft and new anti-submarine tactics 157 00:06:48,680 --> 00:06:50,760 blunt the U-boat threat. 158 00:06:50,880 --> 00:06:52,600 With the crisis over, 159 00:06:52,720 --> 00:06:55,400 the ice ship is no longer needed. 160 00:06:55,520 --> 00:06:58,280 ♪ ♪ 161 00:06:58,400 --> 00:06:59,880 [Martin] In January 1944, 162 00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:02,600 project Habakkuk is canceled. 163 00:07:02,720 --> 00:07:05,120 - The prototype ship they'd built on Patricia Lake 164 00:07:05,240 --> 00:07:06,840 is allowed to melt away. 165 00:07:06,960 --> 00:07:09,880 [David] Soon, the war comes to an end. 166 00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:12,960 The British military keeps details of Pykrete 167 00:07:13,080 --> 00:07:15,800 on ice for the next 30 years. 168 00:07:15,920 --> 00:07:18,000 [Martin] We only learn the full details 169 00:07:18,120 --> 00:07:21,160 through declassified documents that are discovered in 1973. 170 00:07:21,280 --> 00:07:24,080 They speak to an hour of desperation, 171 00:07:24,200 --> 00:07:27,000 when England faced an existential threat 172 00:07:27,120 --> 00:07:28,640 as a result of the U-boat. 173 00:07:28,760 --> 00:07:30,520 ♪ ♪ 174 00:07:30,640 --> 00:07:32,800 - Winston Churchill isn't the only leader 175 00:07:32,920 --> 00:07:35,440 to green-light an audacious experiment. 176 00:07:35,560 --> 00:07:38,480 When the Soviets decide to beat the U.S. to Mars, 177 00:07:38,600 --> 00:07:41,200 three cosmonauts are locked in a test chamber 178 00:07:41,320 --> 00:07:43,440 for a year-long study. 179 00:07:43,560 --> 00:07:46,160 They learn that it's not the equipment that fails, 180 00:07:46,280 --> 00:07:47,720 it's the crew. 181 00:07:47,840 --> 00:07:50,680 ♪ ♪ 182 00:07:50,800 --> 00:07:53,520 - In Moscow, leaders are convinced that getting to Mars 183 00:07:53,640 --> 00:07:55,760 will definitively win the Space Race. 184 00:07:55,880 --> 00:07:58,000 [Martin] For the Soviets, putting a man on Mars 185 00:07:58,120 --> 00:08:00,680 would be a massive prestige win. 186 00:08:00,800 --> 00:08:02,880 ♪ ♪ 187 00:08:03,000 --> 00:08:06,520 [David] But a round trip to Mars would take a full year. 188 00:08:06,640 --> 00:08:08,840 At the time, no one knows whether humans 189 00:08:08,960 --> 00:08:12,360 can survive that long in space. 190 00:08:12,480 --> 00:08:15,720 - Moscow's Institute of Biomedical Problems 191 00:08:15,840 --> 00:08:17,440 hatches a bold experiment. 192 00:08:17,560 --> 00:08:19,680 They call it a year in a spaceship, 193 00:08:19,800 --> 00:08:21,720 but they run it at their labs in Moscow. 194 00:08:21,840 --> 00:08:25,000 The plan is to lock up a cosmonaut test crew 195 00:08:25,120 --> 00:08:29,200 for 365 days inside a cramped metal box. 196 00:08:29,320 --> 00:08:30,800 [Sami] They want to find out 197 00:08:30,920 --> 00:08:32,960 if the team can endure such a long spaceflight 198 00:08:33,080 --> 00:08:35,880 and what the scientists need to do to make it work. 199 00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:38,080 [David] Soviet leadership signs off 200 00:08:38,200 --> 00:08:40,320 on the space-chamber plan. 201 00:08:40,440 --> 00:08:42,800 On November 5, 1967, 202 00:08:42,920 --> 00:08:45,280 the top secret experiment begins. 203 00:08:45,400 --> 00:08:47,440 [Martin] In order for this experiment 204 00:08:47,560 --> 00:08:49,240 to provide any meaningful results, 205 00:08:49,360 --> 00:08:50,720 the three cosmonauts 206 00:08:50,840 --> 00:08:53,160 are going to have to be actually isolated. 207 00:08:53,280 --> 00:08:55,000 The only contact that they will have 208 00:08:55,120 --> 00:08:56,440 with the outside world 209 00:08:56,560 --> 00:08:58,560 will be through a radio channel, 210 00:08:58,680 --> 00:09:02,120 and everything will be documented on film. 211 00:09:02,240 --> 00:09:04,520 [David] To the men locked inside, 212 00:09:04,640 --> 00:09:07,880 the chamber feels more like a prison cell than a starship. 213 00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:09,800 [Don] There is no privacy. 214 00:09:09,920 --> 00:09:12,280 The living quarters are just 10-by-13 feet 215 00:09:12,400 --> 00:09:14,680 and not built for comfort. 216 00:09:14,800 --> 00:09:18,200 The crew has a table, a stove, some medical gear, 217 00:09:18,320 --> 00:09:21,000 and three flimsy fold-out bunks 218 00:09:21,120 --> 00:09:22,680 ♪ ♪ 219 00:09:22,800 --> 00:09:25,200 [David] Soon, the conditions begin to take a toll 220 00:09:25,320 --> 00:09:28,120 on the cosmonauts, and the space chamber 221 00:09:28,240 --> 00:09:30,560 becomes a psychological pressure cooker. 222 00:09:30,680 --> 00:09:34,000 - Within a few weeks, all of them are showing signs 223 00:09:34,120 --> 00:09:35,640 of psychological stress. 224 00:09:35,760 --> 00:09:37,200 They're no longer enjoying 225 00:09:37,320 --> 00:09:39,520 any collective activities together. 226 00:09:39,640 --> 00:09:42,200 They seem to be almost at each other's throats all the time. 227 00:09:42,320 --> 00:09:43,840 [Martin] Within two months, 228 00:09:43,960 --> 00:09:45,840 the crewmen are not speaking to one another. 229 00:09:45,960 --> 00:09:47,800 If they're holding these churlish grudges 230 00:09:47,920 --> 00:09:50,400 against one another, they're not a cohesive team. 231 00:09:50,520 --> 00:09:52,600 They're not an effective team. 232 00:09:52,720 --> 00:09:54,600 [David] With the experiment at risk, 233 00:09:54,720 --> 00:09:57,640 the scientists take action. 234 00:09:57,760 --> 00:10:00,200 - They build a 200-square-foot greenhouse 235 00:10:00,320 --> 00:10:03,760 and dock it with the simulated mission. 236 00:10:03,880 --> 00:10:05,600 [Martin] The greenhouse gives them 237 00:10:05,720 --> 00:10:08,840 a little bit of dignity to get away from one another. 238 00:10:08,960 --> 00:10:11,040 It gives them something positive and constructive 239 00:10:11,160 --> 00:10:12,600 to do with their time. 240 00:10:12,720 --> 00:10:14,600 And, suddenly, rather than being 241 00:10:14,720 --> 00:10:16,640 at each other's throats constantly, 242 00:10:16,760 --> 00:10:20,200 they're back to being a cohesive team again. 243 00:10:20,320 --> 00:10:23,080 [David] With the experiment back on track, 244 00:10:23,200 --> 00:10:26,160 the scientists decide to stress-test the crew. 245 00:10:26,280 --> 00:10:27,600 They simulate a failure 246 00:10:27,720 --> 00:10:30,200 of the chamber's life-support systems. 247 00:10:30,320 --> 00:10:31,640 ♪ ♪ 248 00:10:31,760 --> 00:10:33,920 [Paul] The Soviet lab administrators 249 00:10:34,040 --> 00:10:35,800 massively raise the concentration 250 00:10:35,920 --> 00:10:37,800 of carbon dioxide in the capsule. 251 00:10:37,920 --> 00:10:40,640 [Don] They crank the temperature up to 86 degrees. 252 00:10:40,760 --> 00:10:43,680 They push the humidity to a tropical 90%. 253 00:10:43,800 --> 00:10:45,600 - All of the subjects are suffering 254 00:10:45,720 --> 00:10:47,320 from headaches and exhaustion. 255 00:10:47,440 --> 00:10:50,400 - It feels like hell in space. 256 00:10:50,520 --> 00:10:54,400 [David] The extreme conditions force the crew to cooperate. 257 00:10:54,520 --> 00:10:55,840 ♪ ♪ 258 00:10:55,960 --> 00:10:57,000 [applause] 259 00:10:57,120 --> 00:10:59,200 On November 5, 1968, 260 00:10:59,320 --> 00:11:02,400 after a full year inside the space chamber, 261 00:11:02,520 --> 00:11:05,280 the experiment comes to an end. 262 00:11:05,400 --> 00:11:07,520 ♪ ♪ 263 00:11:07,640 --> 00:11:09,400 [Sami] The most important lesson learned 264 00:11:09,520 --> 00:11:12,280 is that claustrophobia and monotony 265 00:11:12,400 --> 00:11:14,920 are two of the biggest challenges a cosmonaut crew 266 00:11:15,040 --> 00:11:16,640 will face on the way to Mars. 267 00:11:16,760 --> 00:11:18,960 ♪ ♪ 268 00:11:19,080 --> 00:11:20,880 [David] For years, the full details 269 00:11:21,000 --> 00:11:23,120 of the secret space-chamber experiment 270 00:11:23,240 --> 00:11:27,160 remained buried deep in Kremlin files. 271 00:11:27,280 --> 00:11:30,880 It's not until 1975 that they're finally revealed 272 00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:32,640 to the world, 273 00:11:32,760 --> 00:11:36,680 when cosmonaut Andrej Bozhko publishes his memoir. 274 00:11:36,800 --> 00:11:38,920 ♪ ♪ 275 00:11:39,040 --> 00:11:40,920 [Paul] He actually describes the feelings 276 00:11:41,040 --> 00:11:43,720 that he and his fellow participants had 277 00:11:43,840 --> 00:11:45,960 living inside this tiny capsule for a year. 278 00:11:46,080 --> 00:11:47,600 [David] Although the cosmonauts 279 00:11:47,720 --> 00:11:49,560 never actually leave Moscow, 280 00:11:49,680 --> 00:11:52,000 the lessons learned from the experiment 281 00:11:52,120 --> 00:11:55,200 prove useful for planning future space missions. 282 00:11:55,320 --> 00:11:56,800 ♪ ♪ 283 00:11:56,920 --> 00:11:58,600 - If we're going to send somebody to Mars, 284 00:11:58,720 --> 00:12:00,600 you can't just simply put them in a capsule 285 00:12:00,720 --> 00:12:04,680 and expect them to endure a 34-million-mile voyage. 286 00:12:04,800 --> 00:12:06,640 You have to provide more space for them. 287 00:12:06,760 --> 00:12:08,720 Otherwise, the mission is going to fail, 288 00:12:08,840 --> 00:12:10,600 because the individuals are going to fail. 289 00:12:15,160 --> 00:12:16,800 - At the start of the Cold War, 290 00:12:16,920 --> 00:12:20,640 the U.S. wants to know more about biological weapons-- 291 00:12:20,760 --> 00:12:24,080 how to protect against them or how to use them. 292 00:12:24,200 --> 00:12:26,000 To learn more, the Pentagon comes up 293 00:12:26,120 --> 00:12:27,880 with a top secret experiment. 294 00:12:28,000 --> 00:12:32,440 The target-- unsuspecting American cities. 295 00:12:32,560 --> 00:12:35,400 [dramatic music] 296 00:12:35,520 --> 00:12:37,480 [Sami] At the beginning of the 1950s, 297 00:12:37,600 --> 00:12:40,400 the Pentagon is terrified that the Soviets 298 00:12:40,520 --> 00:12:42,840 might launch a biological attack 299 00:12:42,960 --> 00:12:44,600 against the United States. 300 00:12:44,720 --> 00:12:46,840 [Martin] In the event that such an attack 301 00:12:46,960 --> 00:12:49,720 was released on the U.S., what would happen? 302 00:12:49,840 --> 00:12:53,800 Everything is, at this point, an unknown quantity. 303 00:12:53,920 --> 00:12:55,520 [David] The Army Chemical Corps 304 00:12:55,640 --> 00:12:58,040 is tasked to investigate. 305 00:12:58,160 --> 00:13:00,400 - The Chemical Corps considers several options. 306 00:13:00,520 --> 00:13:02,960 The first one they come up with is using a wind tunnel 307 00:13:03,080 --> 00:13:04,600 to see how it disperses, 308 00:13:04,720 --> 00:13:07,040 but that's nothing like real-world conditions. 309 00:13:07,160 --> 00:13:08,800 The second option they consider 310 00:13:08,920 --> 00:13:11,440 is building a city in the desert. 311 00:13:11,560 --> 00:13:14,280 However, that turns out to be too expensive. 312 00:13:14,400 --> 00:13:17,400 And the third option is to do live testing 313 00:13:17,520 --> 00:13:19,200 in real U.S. cities 314 00:13:19,320 --> 00:13:21,960 but, instead of using a real biological agent, 315 00:13:22,080 --> 00:13:24,120 use a stand-in. 316 00:13:24,240 --> 00:13:26,480 [David] They start by looking for a safe substitute 317 00:13:26,600 --> 00:13:29,000 for deadly germ weapons. 318 00:13:29,120 --> 00:13:30,600 - Chemical Corps scientists 319 00:13:30,720 --> 00:13:33,120 find this apparently ideal candidate. 320 00:13:33,240 --> 00:13:35,400 It's a fluorescent powder used in TV screens 321 00:13:35,520 --> 00:13:38,400 called zinc cadmium sulfide. 322 00:13:38,520 --> 00:13:40,680 [Hakeem] What makes this powder so ideal 323 00:13:40,800 --> 00:13:42,640 is that the individual grain sizes 324 00:13:42,760 --> 00:13:46,560 are very similar to the sizes of the known biological agents 325 00:13:46,680 --> 00:13:48,760 that an adversarial nation may use. 326 00:13:48,880 --> 00:13:51,280 The other thing about them is that they fluoresce 327 00:13:51,400 --> 00:13:52,800 under ultraviolet light, 328 00:13:52,920 --> 00:13:55,680 so it's easy to track them wherever they go. 329 00:13:55,800 --> 00:13:56,880 ♪ ♪ 330 00:13:57,000 --> 00:13:58,400 [Martin] Initially, at least, 331 00:13:58,520 --> 00:14:01,280 the Army thinks that the substance is harmless. 332 00:14:01,400 --> 00:14:04,440 [Dan] What they didn't know then but we do know now 333 00:14:04,560 --> 00:14:09,000 is that cadmium is a top-tier carcinogen. 334 00:14:09,120 --> 00:14:13,400 It causes lung cancer and kidney cancer. 335 00:14:13,520 --> 00:14:15,400 - In January 1953, 336 00:14:15,520 --> 00:14:17,800 the experiment is ready to begin. 337 00:14:17,920 --> 00:14:21,000 The Army wants to study how a biological agent 338 00:14:21,120 --> 00:14:23,360 would spread through an entire city. 339 00:14:23,480 --> 00:14:25,920 The question is, what city? 340 00:14:26,040 --> 00:14:27,400 ♪ ♪ 341 00:14:27,520 --> 00:14:30,000 - The Army needs cities in the United States 342 00:14:30,120 --> 00:14:31,600 to be an approximate match 343 00:14:31,720 --> 00:14:34,200 for corresponding Soviet cities, 344 00:14:34,320 --> 00:14:37,000 in the event that one day the U.S. wants to carry out 345 00:14:37,120 --> 00:14:39,600 some sort of chemical or biological attack 346 00:14:39,720 --> 00:14:41,240 against a Soviet city. 347 00:14:41,360 --> 00:14:43,000 ♪ ♪ 348 00:14:43,120 --> 00:14:46,440 - First up is a viable proxy for brutally cold Leningrad-- 349 00:14:46,560 --> 00:14:48,800 Minneapolis in Minnesota. 350 00:14:48,920 --> 00:14:52,600 Here, they want to find out how a biological weapon 351 00:14:52,720 --> 00:14:55,000 might get inside different types of buildings. 352 00:14:55,120 --> 00:14:56,800 [Hakeem] To cover up what they're doing 353 00:14:56,920 --> 00:14:59,000 and reassure the public, they come up with a story 354 00:14:59,120 --> 00:15:01,200 that they're testing a smoke screen 355 00:15:01,320 --> 00:15:03,520 to protect the city from Soviet missiles. 356 00:15:03,640 --> 00:15:07,840 Local authorities are eager to help, so they sign on. 357 00:15:07,960 --> 00:15:10,880 [David] The Army selects a range of testing locations-- 358 00:15:11,000 --> 00:15:14,040 factories, office buildings. 359 00:15:14,160 --> 00:15:16,080 But one site stands out... 360 00:15:16,200 --> 00:15:17,400 ♪ ♪ 361 00:15:17,520 --> 00:15:19,400 Clinton Elementary School. 362 00:15:19,520 --> 00:15:21,000 ♪ ♪ 363 00:15:21,120 --> 00:15:23,080 [Amy] They mount sprayers on the roof 364 00:15:23,200 --> 00:15:26,480 and release clouds of zinc cadmium sulfide 365 00:15:26,600 --> 00:15:28,960 onto the surrounding building and the playground. 366 00:15:29,080 --> 00:15:30,600 ♪ ♪ 367 00:15:30,720 --> 00:15:32,880 [Dan] Inside the school, they put detectors 368 00:15:33,000 --> 00:15:35,800 to measure how much zinc cadmium sulfide 369 00:15:35,920 --> 00:15:37,960 is seeping in. 370 00:15:38,080 --> 00:15:40,000 [Martin] What the Army learns from all of this 371 00:15:40,120 --> 00:15:41,720 is that even during the winter, 372 00:15:41,840 --> 00:15:45,640 when everyone's largely sealed up in interior spaces, 373 00:15:45,760 --> 00:15:48,400 the pathogen is still gonna find its way 374 00:15:48,520 --> 00:15:49,760 into those spaces. 375 00:15:49,880 --> 00:15:52,200 - That means there's nowhere to hide 376 00:15:52,320 --> 00:15:53,960 from a biological attack of this sort. 377 00:15:54,080 --> 00:15:55,320 ♪ ♪ 378 00:15:55,440 --> 00:15:57,400 [David] By February 1953, 379 00:15:57,520 --> 00:16:00,960 the Army decides to scale up the experiment. 380 00:16:01,080 --> 00:16:04,600 How would a bioweapon spread across a bigger city... 381 00:16:04,720 --> 00:16:06,000 like Moscow? 382 00:16:06,120 --> 00:16:07,760 ♪ ♪ 383 00:16:07,880 --> 00:16:11,160 They set their sights on St. Louis, Missouri. 384 00:16:11,280 --> 00:16:13,200 - The Chemical Corps focuses their experiments 385 00:16:13,320 --> 00:16:15,680 on the Pruitt-Igoe housing projects. 386 00:16:15,800 --> 00:16:18,280 They put sprayers on the rooftops of all 33 towers 387 00:16:18,400 --> 00:16:20,920 and start pumping out zinc cadmium sulfide. 388 00:16:21,040 --> 00:16:23,600 Other sprayers are mounted inside vehicles, 389 00:16:23,720 --> 00:16:26,720 and those squirt out toxic powder while they drive around. 390 00:16:26,840 --> 00:16:28,480 [Vince] Over two years, 391 00:16:28,600 --> 00:16:30,600 the Chemical Corps sprays more than 2,000 pounds 392 00:16:30,720 --> 00:16:32,000 of zinc cadmium sulfide 393 00:16:32,120 --> 00:16:35,160 over just 10 square miles of St. Louis. 394 00:16:35,280 --> 00:16:37,840 [David] The results are disturbing. 395 00:16:37,960 --> 00:16:40,600 In urban canyons between tall buildings, 396 00:16:40,720 --> 00:16:43,880 wind turbulence disperses the particles vertically. 397 00:16:44,000 --> 00:16:46,200 But in open spaces like parks, 398 00:16:46,320 --> 00:16:49,120 they linger at ground level. 399 00:16:49,240 --> 00:16:52,800 - In an attack, some places are gonna be largely spared, 400 00:16:52,920 --> 00:16:55,840 while others are gonna be devastated. 401 00:16:55,960 --> 00:16:58,480 [David] Next, the Army wants to understand the spread 402 00:16:58,600 --> 00:17:01,000 over multiple states, 403 00:17:01,120 --> 00:17:04,000 so it launches its biggest experiment yet, 404 00:17:04,120 --> 00:17:08,920 called Operation LAC-- Large Area Coverage. 405 00:17:09,040 --> 00:17:12,200 - An aircraft is loaded with zinc cadmium sulfide, 406 00:17:12,320 --> 00:17:14,000 and it sprays it during a flight 407 00:17:14,120 --> 00:17:16,640 from South Dakota to Minneapolis. 408 00:17:16,760 --> 00:17:18,400 The results are alarming. 409 00:17:18,520 --> 00:17:22,080 That's because they detect particles from that flight 410 00:17:22,200 --> 00:17:24,800 1,200 miles away. 411 00:17:24,920 --> 00:17:27,280 It proves that even with a small quantity 412 00:17:27,400 --> 00:17:31,520 of pathogen distributed in air 413 00:17:31,640 --> 00:17:34,200 can reach a much broader geographical area. 414 00:17:34,320 --> 00:17:36,600 Over the next 10 years, the U.S. Army Chemical Corps 415 00:17:36,720 --> 00:17:39,600 conducts 200 experiments with zinc cadmium sulfide 416 00:17:39,720 --> 00:17:41,000 in a geographical region 417 00:17:41,120 --> 00:17:43,000 stretching from the Rocky Mountains 418 00:17:43,120 --> 00:17:47,320 to the Atlantic Coast, affecting 40 different states. 419 00:17:47,440 --> 00:17:50,200 - The Chemical Corps learns that a single tank 420 00:17:50,320 --> 00:17:53,400 of weaponized biological agent can spread disease 421 00:17:53,520 --> 00:17:57,360 to an area three times the size of New York City. 422 00:17:57,480 --> 00:17:59,400 ♪ ♪ 423 00:17:59,520 --> 00:18:01,400 [David] By the end of the 1960s, 424 00:18:01,520 --> 00:18:04,280 the Army has the information it needs. 425 00:18:04,400 --> 00:18:06,200 The experiments are wrapped up, 426 00:18:06,320 --> 00:18:08,000 and the details are buried 427 00:18:08,120 --> 00:18:11,400 under top secret classification. 428 00:18:11,520 --> 00:18:16,200 The Army keeps the experiments hidden for decades. 429 00:18:16,320 --> 00:18:20,240 Then, in 1994, the truth is revealed. 430 00:18:20,360 --> 00:18:22,800 ♪ ♪ 431 00:18:22,920 --> 00:18:25,000 [Sami] When journalists publish their findings, 432 00:18:25,120 --> 00:18:28,120 the public is outraged and rightly so. 433 00:18:28,240 --> 00:18:31,000 These were experiments done on unwitting Americans, 434 00:18:31,120 --> 00:18:34,040 and the experiments could potentially have been deadly. 435 00:18:34,160 --> 00:18:35,560 - The Army maintains that, 436 00:18:35,680 --> 00:18:38,600 yeah, cadmium may be a dangerous chemical, 437 00:18:38,720 --> 00:18:41,800 but the amounts of exposure were so low, 438 00:18:41,920 --> 00:18:43,480 they were nontoxic. 439 00:18:43,600 --> 00:18:44,960 ♪ ♪ 440 00:18:45,080 --> 00:18:46,800 [Sami] This entire operation 441 00:18:46,920 --> 00:18:50,200 suggests the mindset during that era of the Cold War. 442 00:18:50,320 --> 00:18:53,280 When you're talking about the survivability of the country 443 00:18:53,400 --> 00:18:55,800 in a biological, chemical, or nuclear attack, 444 00:18:55,920 --> 00:18:58,200 there's very little that the U.S. government 445 00:18:58,320 --> 00:18:59,640 was unwilling to do. 446 00:19:04,080 --> 00:19:06,200 - At the end of the 1940s, the Soviet Union and China 447 00:19:06,320 --> 00:19:08,000 begin talks over potential alliance. 448 00:19:08,120 --> 00:19:11,160 Stalin wants a deeper understanding of Chairman Mao, 449 00:19:11,280 --> 00:19:14,000 so he sends a scientist into Mao's bathroom. 450 00:19:14,120 --> 00:19:16,360 [dramatic music] 451 00:19:16,480 --> 00:19:18,040 [train horn blows] 452 00:19:18,160 --> 00:19:20,960 [Don] Communist China's leader, Chairman Mao Zedong, 453 00:19:21,080 --> 00:19:23,480 rolls into Moscow, aiming to forge an alliance 454 00:19:23,600 --> 00:19:25,640 with Soviet premier Joseph Stalin. 455 00:19:25,760 --> 00:19:28,360 - Stalin sees Mao as something less than him, 456 00:19:28,480 --> 00:19:30,600 and he has no problem keeping him waiting. 457 00:19:30,720 --> 00:19:33,200 In fact, he keeps him waiting for days. 458 00:19:33,320 --> 00:19:35,200 This insult is a deliberate ploy. 459 00:19:35,320 --> 00:19:38,160 The issue is that Stalin, as is often the case with Stalin, 460 00:19:38,280 --> 00:19:39,920 doesn't trust Mao. 461 00:19:40,040 --> 00:19:42,440 And he's letting him wait for days on end 462 00:19:42,560 --> 00:19:44,960 because he wants to get into Mao's head. 463 00:19:45,080 --> 00:19:47,640 He wants to figure out what makes the man tick. 464 00:19:47,760 --> 00:19:49,320 [David] While Mao waits in Moscow, 465 00:19:49,440 --> 00:19:51,800 Stalin turns to his secret police. 466 00:19:51,920 --> 00:19:55,760 He orders the NKVD to conduct a bizarre experiment, 467 00:19:55,880 --> 00:19:58,880 which will remain secret for over six decades. 468 00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:00,440 He wants them to build 469 00:20:00,560 --> 00:20:03,680 a complete psychological profile of the Chinese leader, 470 00:20:03,800 --> 00:20:06,840 starting in a very unusual place. 471 00:20:06,960 --> 00:20:08,360 ♪ ♪ 472 00:20:08,480 --> 00:20:10,800 [Greg] It sounds insane, but one of the ways 473 00:20:10,920 --> 00:20:14,480 that they plan to do this is by analyzing who he is, 474 00:20:14,600 --> 00:20:16,720 getting a piece of him, if you will. 475 00:20:16,840 --> 00:20:18,800 They're going to analyze his poo. 476 00:20:18,920 --> 00:20:20,240 ♪ ♪ 477 00:20:20,360 --> 00:20:22,120 [Don] For years, the NKVD labs 478 00:20:22,240 --> 00:20:23,600 have been running a bizarre 479 00:20:23,720 --> 00:20:26,080 and top secret experimental program 480 00:20:26,200 --> 00:20:28,040 in scatological research. 481 00:20:28,160 --> 00:20:32,000 That's the study of excrement to gain intelligence. 482 00:20:32,120 --> 00:20:34,360 [David] The theory is simple. 483 00:20:34,480 --> 00:20:36,680 Soviet scientists believe a person's waste 484 00:20:36,800 --> 00:20:39,600 can provide insights into their psyche. 485 00:20:39,720 --> 00:20:41,600 [Dan] Stalin's team is under the impression 486 00:20:41,720 --> 00:20:43,000 that high levels 487 00:20:43,120 --> 00:20:45,320 of the amino acid tryptophan in the poo 488 00:20:45,440 --> 00:20:49,040 indicate a calm and approachable personality. 489 00:20:49,160 --> 00:20:51,400 - The deficiency in potassium could be an indication 490 00:20:51,520 --> 00:20:54,320 of a nervous and unpredictable person. 491 00:20:54,440 --> 00:20:55,760 [David] To run their tests, 492 00:20:55,880 --> 00:20:58,840 the NKVD needs one key thing-- 493 00:20:58,960 --> 00:21:01,840 a sample from the chairman himself. 494 00:21:01,960 --> 00:21:04,200 [Greg] Mao gets invited to the Kremlin 495 00:21:04,320 --> 00:21:06,160 to have talks with Stalin, 496 00:21:06,280 --> 00:21:09,400 but the NKVD makes sure that those talks get delayed 497 00:21:09,520 --> 00:21:11,480 day after day after day. 498 00:21:11,600 --> 00:21:13,320 [Dan] While Mao is waiting, 499 00:21:13,440 --> 00:21:16,320 the Kremlin staff serve up a series of elaborate banquets 500 00:21:16,440 --> 00:21:18,520 for him and his team-- 501 00:21:18,640 --> 00:21:22,000 huge feasts piled high with delicacies. 502 00:21:22,120 --> 00:21:25,440 - But this lavish hospitality is a trap. 503 00:21:25,560 --> 00:21:28,200 Really, they're just looking to ensure that the man 504 00:21:28,320 --> 00:21:31,240 has to have a bowel movement there in the Kremlin. 505 00:21:31,360 --> 00:21:33,400 And they have a specially rigged toilet 506 00:21:33,520 --> 00:21:35,000 that they want him to use. 507 00:21:35,120 --> 00:21:39,440 - NKVD agents install special collection toilets. 508 00:21:39,560 --> 00:21:42,120 These don't connect to the sewers. 509 00:21:42,240 --> 00:21:46,200 Instead, they funnel the waste into special containers. 510 00:21:46,320 --> 00:21:47,960 It's a dirty trick. 511 00:21:48,080 --> 00:21:50,960 - Eventually, the NKVD succeeds in collecting 512 00:21:51,080 --> 00:21:53,600 some of Mao's products. 513 00:21:53,720 --> 00:21:56,600 ♪ ♪ 514 00:21:56,720 --> 00:21:58,160 [David] Once collected, 515 00:21:58,280 --> 00:22:00,800 the samples are rushed to a classified lab 516 00:22:00,920 --> 00:22:03,720 where a team of dedicated scientists 517 00:22:03,840 --> 00:22:05,400 meticulously analyze them. 518 00:22:05,520 --> 00:22:06,840 ♪ ♪ 519 00:22:06,960 --> 00:22:08,760 [Amy] They test for tryptophan, 520 00:22:08,880 --> 00:22:11,200 potassium, and other chemicals-- 521 00:22:11,320 --> 00:22:12,960 things that they ultimately think 522 00:22:13,080 --> 00:22:15,880 are going to be indicative of Mao's moods. 523 00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:18,240 [Dan] The excrement experiment 524 00:22:18,360 --> 00:22:20,320 is reportedly a success. 525 00:22:20,440 --> 00:22:23,560 The NKVD team sends a detailed... 526 00:22:23,680 --> 00:22:26,400 scatological-psychological portrait of Mao 527 00:22:26,520 --> 00:22:28,480 directly to Stalin. 528 00:22:28,600 --> 00:22:30,880 [David] The report about Mao sent to Stalin 529 00:22:31,000 --> 00:22:32,400 has never been found, 530 00:22:32,520 --> 00:22:36,080 so the details inside it are lost to history. 531 00:22:36,200 --> 00:22:37,800 What we do know 532 00:22:37,920 --> 00:22:40,800 is that after reviewing the scatological profile, 533 00:22:40,920 --> 00:22:42,800 Stalin is said to be scathing 534 00:22:42,920 --> 00:22:45,680 about Mao's communist credentials. 535 00:22:45,800 --> 00:22:48,400 "This man is a radish," he declares. 536 00:22:48,520 --> 00:22:52,680 'He's only red on the outside, but his insides are white." 537 00:22:52,800 --> 00:22:55,000 [Paul] This makes Stalin very wary 538 00:22:55,120 --> 00:22:57,960 of engaging in any significant partnerships. 539 00:22:58,080 --> 00:23:00,200 [Don] The Chinese leader leaves Moscow 540 00:23:00,320 --> 00:23:02,160 with a watered-down treaty, 541 00:23:02,280 --> 00:23:04,760 and none of the financial support he's been hoping for. 542 00:23:04,880 --> 00:23:06,400 [Paul] Stalin's scatological lab 543 00:23:06,520 --> 00:23:09,800 doesn't last much longer after he died in 1953. 544 00:23:09,920 --> 00:23:12,680 His successors didn't have the same predilections 545 00:23:12,800 --> 00:23:15,360 about analyzing the biochemistry of humans. 546 00:23:15,480 --> 00:23:16,880 ♪ ♪ 547 00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:19,000 [David] The experiment remains classified 548 00:23:19,120 --> 00:23:20,920 for the next six decades. 549 00:23:21,040 --> 00:23:25,880 Then in 2016, former Russian agent Igor Atamanenko 550 00:23:26,000 --> 00:23:29,400 reveals Stalin's obsessions. 551 00:23:29,520 --> 00:23:31,200 - He reports that he's found the details 552 00:23:31,320 --> 00:23:32,680 of this poop research 553 00:23:32,800 --> 00:23:35,480 in the declassified files within Soviet archives. 554 00:23:35,600 --> 00:23:37,320 ♪ ♪ 555 00:23:37,440 --> 00:23:41,120 [David] The revelation makes headlines worldwide... 556 00:23:41,240 --> 00:23:44,480 as one of the Cold War's most bizarre experiments 557 00:23:44,600 --> 00:23:46,800 is finally brought to light. 558 00:23:51,680 --> 00:23:54,160 - As World War II comes to an end, 559 00:23:54,280 --> 00:23:57,640 millions across Europe are on the brink of famine. 560 00:23:57,760 --> 00:23:58,960 To maintain order, 561 00:23:59,080 --> 00:24:01,800 the U.S. must figure out how to help them. 562 00:24:01,920 --> 00:24:04,360 So, far from the front lines, 563 00:24:04,480 --> 00:24:08,120 the War Department begins an extraordinary experiment-- 564 00:24:08,240 --> 00:24:12,640 intentionally starving healthy American volunteers. 565 00:24:12,760 --> 00:24:15,600 [dramatic music] 566 00:24:15,720 --> 00:24:18,280 [Martin] By 1944, Allied forces 567 00:24:18,400 --> 00:24:20,080 are ashore in Normandy. 568 00:24:20,200 --> 00:24:21,440 They're driving the enemy, 569 00:24:21,560 --> 00:24:23,640 and they will soon be in Germany itself. 570 00:24:23,760 --> 00:24:26,960 [Don] Allied leaders are about to face a new challenge. 571 00:24:27,080 --> 00:24:29,160 Millions of civilians across the war zone 572 00:24:29,280 --> 00:24:31,000 are on the edge of starvation, 573 00:24:31,120 --> 00:24:32,160 and it's gonna be the job 574 00:24:32,280 --> 00:24:33,160 of the victors 575 00:24:33,280 --> 00:24:34,640 to feed them back to health. 576 00:24:34,760 --> 00:24:37,360 - To be prepared, they need to understand 577 00:24:37,480 --> 00:24:38,960 how people's metabolism changes 578 00:24:39,080 --> 00:24:40,960 as they experience malnutrition, 579 00:24:41,080 --> 00:24:43,240 and that has never been studied properly. 580 00:24:43,360 --> 00:24:46,200 [David] Enter Dr. Ancel Keys, 581 00:24:46,320 --> 00:24:50,160 a physiologist at the University of Minnesota 582 00:24:50,280 --> 00:24:54,360 and special assistant to the U.S. Secretary of War. 583 00:24:54,480 --> 00:24:56,160 - To solve the famine problem, 584 00:24:56,280 --> 00:25:00,120 Keys proposes a dangerous and controversial experiment. 585 00:25:00,240 --> 00:25:02,280 He wants to do a controlled study 586 00:25:02,400 --> 00:25:03,960 under lab conditions 587 00:25:04,080 --> 00:25:08,560 of human starvation and recovery from starvation. 588 00:25:08,680 --> 00:25:10,560 [David] The War Department likes the plan 589 00:25:10,680 --> 00:25:12,720 and gives Keys its backing. 590 00:25:12,840 --> 00:25:16,480 Now he needs volunteers who are willing to starve 591 00:25:16,600 --> 00:25:17,920 for their country. 592 00:25:18,040 --> 00:25:19,720 [Dan] To get useful results, 593 00:25:19,840 --> 00:25:22,280 Keys wants to use healthy young men for the experiment, 594 00:25:22,400 --> 00:25:25,200 but most of those are off fighting in the war-- 595 00:25:25,320 --> 00:25:26,960 but not all of them. 596 00:25:27,080 --> 00:25:29,560 Keys identifies an untapped pool of healthy young men 597 00:25:29,680 --> 00:25:34,200 who are still in the U.S.-- conscientious objectors. 598 00:25:34,320 --> 00:25:36,960 [Amy] Keys recruits using a brochure 599 00:25:37,080 --> 00:25:39,080 signed off on by the War Department. 600 00:25:39,200 --> 00:25:41,640 On the cover is a picture of starving children, 601 00:25:41,760 --> 00:25:43,160 with the text reading 602 00:25:43,280 --> 00:25:45,880 "Will you starve that they be better fed?" 603 00:25:46,000 --> 00:25:48,040 It's an emotional appeal, but it works. 604 00:25:48,160 --> 00:25:50,400 [Don] More than 200 men volunteer. 605 00:25:50,520 --> 00:25:52,720 Keys picks 36 of the healthiest 606 00:25:52,840 --> 00:25:55,320 and most psychologically stable candidates 607 00:25:55,440 --> 00:25:56,800 to be his guinea pigs. 608 00:25:56,920 --> 00:25:58,560 [Martin] He sets up a facility 609 00:25:58,680 --> 00:26:00,760 literally underneath the bleachers 610 00:26:00,880 --> 00:26:02,440 at the University of Minnesota 611 00:26:02,560 --> 00:26:05,240 so that the men are away from prying eyes. 612 00:26:05,360 --> 00:26:07,960 [David] In February 1945, 613 00:26:08,080 --> 00:26:11,320 the starvation phase of the experiment begins. 614 00:26:11,440 --> 00:26:13,760 [Dan] To start, he slashes 615 00:26:13,880 --> 00:26:16,240 the men's daily calorie intakes in half. 616 00:26:16,360 --> 00:26:19,760 - Keys wants to impose a reduced calorie intake 617 00:26:19,880 --> 00:26:23,360 but also make the subjects burn more energy by exercising. 618 00:26:23,480 --> 00:26:25,520 So he puts them through the Harvard fitness test, 619 00:26:25,640 --> 00:26:28,080 which is a series of exercises that are designed 620 00:26:28,200 --> 00:26:30,760 to push people to the limits of their endurance. 621 00:26:30,880 --> 00:26:32,560 [David] The effects of starvation 622 00:26:32,680 --> 00:26:35,080 are swift and shocking. 623 00:26:35,200 --> 00:26:37,760 - The subjects drop around 20% 624 00:26:37,880 --> 00:26:41,240 of their body weight in the first 12 weeks. 625 00:26:41,360 --> 00:26:42,880 Their ribs are sticking out. 626 00:26:43,000 --> 00:26:46,160 They've got no energy. They're just wilting. 627 00:26:46,280 --> 00:26:48,160 - One subject gets himself trapped 628 00:26:48,280 --> 00:26:51,080 in a department store's revolving door. 629 00:26:51,200 --> 00:26:53,640 He's just too weak to push himself through. 630 00:26:53,760 --> 00:26:55,760 [Dan] And it's not just physical. 631 00:26:55,880 --> 00:26:57,760 As the weeks go by, the starving subjects 632 00:26:57,880 --> 00:26:59,760 are getting irritable, they're getting depressed, 633 00:26:59,880 --> 00:27:01,080 and, not surprisingly, 634 00:27:01,200 --> 00:27:04,560 they become totally obsessed with food. 635 00:27:04,680 --> 00:27:06,760 [Martin] Two men get into a physical brawl 636 00:27:06,880 --> 00:27:10,280 in a canteen line over a scrap of pasta. 637 00:27:10,400 --> 00:27:13,600 That's how complete this obsession with food 638 00:27:13,720 --> 00:27:15,000 becomes for them. 639 00:27:15,120 --> 00:27:17,280 They're fighting even over a couple of scraps. 640 00:27:17,400 --> 00:27:18,960 ♪ ♪ 641 00:27:19,080 --> 00:27:22,240 - One individual starts having visions of cannibalism. 642 00:27:22,360 --> 00:27:24,360 He's fantasizing about food, 643 00:27:24,480 --> 00:27:27,800 and he reaches the limits of his mental endurance. 644 00:27:27,920 --> 00:27:29,560 [Person] Look at that generous helping 645 00:27:29,680 --> 00:27:31,160 of rich, juicy barbecue. 646 00:27:31,280 --> 00:27:33,400 [Paul] He actually sneaks out of the study, 647 00:27:33,520 --> 00:27:36,880 goes into town, and engages in a massive caloric binge 648 00:27:37,000 --> 00:27:40,600 in the form of milkshakes and ice-cream sundaes. 649 00:27:40,720 --> 00:27:42,360 [David] After six months, 650 00:27:42,480 --> 00:27:45,080 the starvation phase finally ends. 651 00:27:45,200 --> 00:27:48,120 Next comes the refeeding. 652 00:27:48,240 --> 00:27:50,600 [Sami] Keys believes that by gradually increasing 653 00:27:50,720 --> 00:27:52,080 the subjects' calorie intake, 654 00:27:52,200 --> 00:27:54,360 he can safely feed them back to health 655 00:27:54,480 --> 00:27:56,720 without triggering any negative reaction. 656 00:27:56,840 --> 00:27:58,760 - He splits the subjects into four groups, 657 00:27:58,880 --> 00:28:00,960 and the different groups get different amounts 658 00:28:01,080 --> 00:28:02,600 of extra food. 659 00:28:02,720 --> 00:28:06,160 Some groups are also given extra protein and vitamins, 660 00:28:06,280 --> 00:28:10,280 while others just get the base amount of carbohydrates. 661 00:28:10,400 --> 00:28:13,560 [David] Now a new and dangerous problem arises. 662 00:28:13,680 --> 00:28:16,160 - Their body weight continues to plummet, 663 00:28:16,280 --> 00:28:18,120 even though they're renourishing 664 00:28:18,240 --> 00:28:19,760 these test subjects. 665 00:28:19,880 --> 00:28:22,240 [Don] Keys discovers that the men are shedding 666 00:28:22,360 --> 00:28:24,240 retained edema fluid 667 00:28:24,360 --> 00:28:26,760 that's been masking just how much weight they've lost. 668 00:28:26,880 --> 00:28:29,440 This is a potential disaster for the study. 669 00:28:29,560 --> 00:28:32,080 [David] To get the experiment back on track, 670 00:28:32,200 --> 00:28:36,160 Keys decides to supersize his portions. 671 00:28:36,280 --> 00:28:38,760 - He just doubles the calories for the groups, 672 00:28:38,880 --> 00:28:41,800 and to the relief of the scientific team, it works. 673 00:28:41,920 --> 00:28:43,640 The men finally begin to recover. 674 00:28:43,760 --> 00:28:45,160 [Amy] Keys realized 675 00:28:45,280 --> 00:28:47,360 that in refeeding a starving population, 676 00:28:47,480 --> 00:28:49,720 vitamins and protein were really a luxury. 677 00:28:49,840 --> 00:28:51,960 It was the calories that mattered. 678 00:28:52,080 --> 00:28:54,680 They needed at least 4,000 calories a day. 679 00:28:54,800 --> 00:28:57,360 - Keys passes that information on to the War Department, 680 00:28:57,480 --> 00:28:59,360 who immediately put it to practical use 681 00:28:59,480 --> 00:29:01,760 in post-World War II Europe. 682 00:29:01,880 --> 00:29:03,520 [David] Keys wraps up the experiment 683 00:29:03,640 --> 00:29:05,800 in October, 1945, 684 00:29:05,920 --> 00:29:09,640 but his complete findings remain hidden. 685 00:29:09,760 --> 00:29:11,560 It's not until five years later 686 00:29:11,680 --> 00:29:14,560 that he finally reveals the data in his masterwork-- 687 00:29:14,680 --> 00:29:18,040 "The Biology of Human Starvation." 688 00:29:18,160 --> 00:29:20,560 The results of the starvation experiment 689 00:29:20,680 --> 00:29:23,200 are used worldwide in famine relief. 690 00:29:28,160 --> 00:29:30,680 - In 1979, Soviet scientists are secretly experimenting 691 00:29:30,800 --> 00:29:32,160 with deadly bacteria. 692 00:29:32,280 --> 00:29:35,400 And when a lab technician makes a simple mistake, 693 00:29:35,520 --> 00:29:37,720 an entire city will pay the price. 694 00:29:37,840 --> 00:29:40,560 [dramatic music] 695 00:29:40,680 --> 00:29:43,600 - The U.S. and the Soviets have signed a treaty 696 00:29:43,720 --> 00:29:45,800 banning biological-weapons research. 697 00:29:45,920 --> 00:29:48,120 The Soviets are looking to get an edge 698 00:29:48,240 --> 00:29:49,480 and have no problem cheating. 699 00:29:49,600 --> 00:29:51,600 They're continuing research 700 00:29:51,720 --> 00:29:55,160 to create even more dangerous weaponized diseases. 701 00:29:55,280 --> 00:29:57,200 [Don] In the city of Sverdlovsk, 702 00:29:57,320 --> 00:30:01,240 laboratories at Compound 19 are running 3 shifts a day, 703 00:30:01,360 --> 00:30:04,600 working to develop a killer weapon using anthrax. 704 00:30:04,720 --> 00:30:06,000 ♪ ♪ 705 00:30:06,120 --> 00:30:07,880 [David] Anthrax is a deadly disease 706 00:30:08,000 --> 00:30:12,000 caused by the bacteria Bacillus anthracis. 707 00:30:12,120 --> 00:30:16,240 If inhaled, its fatality rate is up to 90%. 708 00:30:16,360 --> 00:30:19,720 Even a fraction of a milligram can kill. 709 00:30:19,840 --> 00:30:21,200 It's perfect for a weapon 710 00:30:21,320 --> 00:30:23,440 because the spores are tough enough 711 00:30:23,560 --> 00:30:25,120 to be delivered by a bomb 712 00:30:25,240 --> 00:30:27,960 and small enough to disperse after the explosion 713 00:30:28,080 --> 00:30:31,120 as an invisible, lethal mist. 714 00:30:31,240 --> 00:30:34,360 - Compound 19's goals are absolutely terrifying. 715 00:30:34,480 --> 00:30:36,920 [Dan] Inside airtight chambers, 716 00:30:37,040 --> 00:30:39,200 scientists are testing new anthrax strains 717 00:30:39,320 --> 00:30:41,960 in aerosol form on monkeys, 718 00:30:42,080 --> 00:30:45,760 hoping to create a deadly super weapon. 719 00:30:45,880 --> 00:30:48,200 - They're attempting to create a new strain 720 00:30:48,320 --> 00:30:51,120 that does not respond to antibiotics. 721 00:30:51,240 --> 00:30:53,440 This work is incredibly dangerous, 722 00:30:53,560 --> 00:30:55,040 not just for the workers 723 00:30:55,160 --> 00:30:58,400 but also for the citizens in the surrounding city. 724 00:30:58,520 --> 00:31:01,480 - Compound 19 uses a complex system of filters 725 00:31:01,600 --> 00:31:03,800 to purify the contaminated air 726 00:31:03,920 --> 00:31:07,080 before it gets vented into the atmosphere outside. 727 00:31:07,200 --> 00:31:09,920 - The lab's safety system seems foolproof, 728 00:31:10,040 --> 00:31:11,400 but its chain of protection 729 00:31:11,520 --> 00:31:14,640 is only as strong as the weakest link. 730 00:31:14,760 --> 00:31:18,200 On Friday, March 30th, that link snaps. 731 00:31:18,320 --> 00:31:19,720 ♪ ♪ 732 00:31:19,840 --> 00:31:21,240 [Don] A technician 733 00:31:21,360 --> 00:31:23,320 is finishing up the afternoon shift 734 00:31:23,440 --> 00:31:25,040 on an anthrax production line. 735 00:31:25,160 --> 00:31:26,400 And he shuts down as normal 736 00:31:26,520 --> 00:31:28,400 before the next shift comes on duty. 737 00:31:28,520 --> 00:31:30,760 [Greg] He notices that there's a filter that's clogged. 738 00:31:30,880 --> 00:31:32,320 He takes it out. 739 00:31:32,440 --> 00:31:34,600 And he leaves a note letting the next shift know 740 00:31:34,720 --> 00:31:36,160 that, hey, I've taken it out. 741 00:31:36,280 --> 00:31:37,440 This needs attention. 742 00:31:37,560 --> 00:31:39,000 [Don] Now, this is where 743 00:31:39,120 --> 00:31:41,320 the safety protocols break down. 744 00:31:41,440 --> 00:31:44,600 The officer in charge fails to make a note in his logbook, 745 00:31:44,720 --> 00:31:46,840 and the technician's note gets lost. 746 00:31:46,960 --> 00:31:48,400 - The next shift comes on, 747 00:31:48,520 --> 00:31:50,720 and the anthrax production line gets going again. 748 00:31:50,840 --> 00:31:52,520 [machinery whirring] 749 00:31:52,640 --> 00:31:55,200 [David] The machinery is switched back on. 750 00:31:55,320 --> 00:31:57,360 What the scientists don't realize 751 00:31:57,480 --> 00:32:00,200 is that the critical filter is still missing. 752 00:32:00,320 --> 00:32:02,200 ♪ ♪ 753 00:32:02,320 --> 00:32:04,000 [Hakeem] When the plant is restarted 754 00:32:04,120 --> 00:32:05,680 without the filter in place, 755 00:32:05,800 --> 00:32:08,880 it begins to pump out anthrax aerosol 756 00:32:09,000 --> 00:32:11,400 into the cold night air. 757 00:32:11,520 --> 00:32:13,920 [Greg] A steady wind carries this invisible cloud 758 00:32:14,040 --> 00:32:15,360 of deadly spores 759 00:32:15,480 --> 00:32:17,920 right over the sleeping city of Sverdlovsk. 760 00:32:18,040 --> 00:32:19,200 ♪ ♪ 761 00:32:19,320 --> 00:32:21,040 It seeps into buildings, 762 00:32:21,160 --> 00:32:24,280 getting inhaled by unknowing citizens. 763 00:32:24,400 --> 00:32:28,800 - No one realizes for hours that this is happening. 764 00:32:28,920 --> 00:32:30,800 [Dan] When a technician at Compound 19 765 00:32:30,920 --> 00:32:32,480 finally spots the error... 766 00:32:32,600 --> 00:32:34,000 [machinery whirs down] 767 00:32:34,120 --> 00:32:36,240 They shut down the line and replace the filter, 768 00:32:36,360 --> 00:32:37,520 but it's too late. 769 00:32:37,640 --> 00:32:38,880 ♪ ♪ 770 00:32:39,000 --> 00:32:40,600 [David] It doesn't take long 771 00:32:40,720 --> 00:32:42,800 for the anthrax to take effect. 772 00:32:42,920 --> 00:32:46,080 The first victims have no idea what's hit them. 773 00:32:46,200 --> 00:32:48,200 - 32-year-old Raisa Smirnova 774 00:32:48,320 --> 00:32:50,480 is working at a nearby ceramics factory, 775 00:32:50,600 --> 00:32:54,200 when a co-worker notices her hands are turning blue. 776 00:32:54,320 --> 00:32:55,920 She's rushed to the hospital. 777 00:32:56,040 --> 00:32:58,600 She's feverish, struggling to breathe, 778 00:32:58,720 --> 00:33:00,440 and slips into a coma. 779 00:33:00,560 --> 00:33:02,840 [Dan] Over the next few days, more people fall sick 780 00:33:02,960 --> 00:33:05,040 with mysterious flu-like symptoms 781 00:33:05,160 --> 00:33:07,480 that progress to respiratory failure 782 00:33:07,600 --> 00:33:11,160 and then to a horrible choking death. 783 00:33:11,280 --> 00:33:14,480 Soon, the hospitals of Sverdlovsk 784 00:33:14,600 --> 00:33:17,400 are overwhelmed with victims. 785 00:33:17,520 --> 00:33:20,200 At least 64 people die. 786 00:33:20,320 --> 00:33:23,200 [Hakeem] Local doctors are baffled. 787 00:33:23,320 --> 00:33:26,320 The symptoms are indicative of inhalation anthrax, 788 00:33:26,440 --> 00:33:29,040 but that almost never happens in nature. 789 00:33:29,160 --> 00:33:32,480 - When that starts to really sink in... 790 00:33:32,600 --> 00:33:35,040 terror seizes the city. 791 00:33:35,160 --> 00:33:36,280 ♪ ♪ 792 00:33:36,400 --> 00:33:37,720 [David] Kremlin officials 793 00:33:37,840 --> 00:33:40,000 realize that Compound 19's secrets 794 00:33:40,120 --> 00:33:43,000 are about to be exposed. 795 00:33:43,120 --> 00:33:46,600 So they dispatch agents to contain the fallout. 796 00:33:46,720 --> 00:33:48,200 ♪ ♪ 797 00:33:48,320 --> 00:33:52,600 - The KGB comes in and enforces a citywide cover-up. 798 00:33:52,720 --> 00:33:54,800 They confiscate patient files. 799 00:33:54,920 --> 00:33:56,960 They take autopsy reports. 800 00:33:57,080 --> 00:34:00,120 They even bring in trucks that spray down the town 801 00:34:00,240 --> 00:34:04,200 with chlorine bleach that turns the trees yellow. 802 00:34:04,320 --> 00:34:07,200 - News of that many deaths is bound to leak out, 803 00:34:07,320 --> 00:34:09,800 within the Soviet Union and to the West. 804 00:34:09,920 --> 00:34:12,280 So the Soviet authorities create a cover story. 805 00:34:12,400 --> 00:34:15,920 They say the deaths are caused by gastrointestinal anthrax, 806 00:34:16,040 --> 00:34:18,840 which is easily explainable 807 00:34:18,960 --> 00:34:20,760 by citizens eating contaminated meat 808 00:34:20,880 --> 00:34:23,600 that they bought on the black market. 809 00:34:23,720 --> 00:34:26,400 [David] Moscow keeps the deadly lab leak hidden 810 00:34:26,520 --> 00:34:28,640 for more than a decade. 811 00:34:28,760 --> 00:34:33,480 Then, in 1991, the Soviet Union collapses. 812 00:34:33,600 --> 00:34:37,520 A new Russian president, Boris Yeltsin, comes to power 813 00:34:37,640 --> 00:34:41,600 and soon reveals the truth about the Sverdlovsk incident. 814 00:34:41,720 --> 00:34:42,960 ♪ ♪ 815 00:34:43,080 --> 00:34:45,120 [Greg] Yeltsin spills the beans. 816 00:34:45,240 --> 00:34:47,080 He's trying to be a good partner 817 00:34:47,200 --> 00:34:50,120 and demonstrate to the West that he's trustworthy, 818 00:34:50,240 --> 00:34:52,800 and he lets it be known that, no, it had nothing to do 819 00:34:52,920 --> 00:34:54,400 with black-market meat. 820 00:34:54,520 --> 00:34:56,800 [Dan] Harvard bioweapons expert Matthew Meselson 821 00:34:56,920 --> 00:34:59,480 gets permission to investigate further. 822 00:34:59,600 --> 00:35:01,000 He travels to Sverdlovsk. 823 00:35:01,120 --> 00:35:02,840 He tracks down survivors, 824 00:35:02,960 --> 00:35:06,000 and he talks to the families of the dead. 825 00:35:06,120 --> 00:35:09,000 - He confirms exactly what Yeltsin's admitted to-- 826 00:35:09,120 --> 00:35:11,880 this was caused by military development. 827 00:35:12,000 --> 00:35:14,640 ♪ ♪ 828 00:35:14,760 --> 00:35:17,200 [Dan] In 1994, Meselson finally publishes 829 00:35:17,320 --> 00:35:20,600 his research paper, and it conclusively reveals 830 00:35:20,720 --> 00:35:24,640 that the Sverdlovsk incident was caused by weapons research 831 00:35:24,760 --> 00:35:26,120 at Compound 19. 832 00:35:26,240 --> 00:35:27,680 ♪ ♪ 833 00:35:27,800 --> 00:35:30,880 That accident caused the deadliest recorded 834 00:35:31,000 --> 00:35:32,480 anthrax outbreak in human history. 835 00:35:37,880 --> 00:35:39,960 - After the U.S. dropped two nuclear bombs on Japan, 836 00:35:40,080 --> 00:35:41,640 World War II is over. 837 00:35:41,760 --> 00:35:44,560 But the plutonium core of a third bomb is ready 838 00:35:44,680 --> 00:35:47,960 and waiting at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. 839 00:35:48,080 --> 00:35:49,760 Scientists put it to use there 840 00:35:49,880 --> 00:35:52,360 in experiments that are so dangerous, 841 00:35:52,480 --> 00:35:55,360 they name it the Demon Core. 842 00:35:55,480 --> 00:35:57,960 [dramatic music] 843 00:35:58,080 --> 00:36:00,000 ♪ ♪ 844 00:36:00,120 --> 00:36:03,560 - The war is won, and America's atomic whiz kids 845 00:36:03,680 --> 00:36:06,440 are now working to master the apocalyptic power 846 00:36:06,560 --> 00:36:08,360 they've unleashed. 847 00:36:08,480 --> 00:36:11,360 [Hakeem] Louis Slotin is a 35-year-old physics prodigy 848 00:36:11,480 --> 00:36:13,040 working at Los Alamos lab. 849 00:36:13,160 --> 00:36:15,240 He has a pretty impressive résumé. 850 00:36:15,360 --> 00:36:17,680 He's a veteran of the Manhattan Project, 851 00:36:17,800 --> 00:36:20,440 and he's also known as a bit of a cowboy, 852 00:36:20,560 --> 00:36:22,760 both in his style of dress, 853 00:36:22,880 --> 00:36:26,480 as well as his fearless approach to science. 854 00:36:26,600 --> 00:36:28,560 He's doing experiments to understand 855 00:36:28,680 --> 00:36:32,120 how to make the plutonium bomb more efficient. 856 00:36:32,240 --> 00:36:35,080 [Vince] He is a physicist who is absolutely brilliant, 857 00:36:35,200 --> 00:36:37,560 but he certainly is someone who's willing to bend the rules 858 00:36:37,680 --> 00:36:40,160 if it helps to enhance his persona 859 00:36:40,280 --> 00:36:42,600 as a risk-taker. 860 00:36:42,720 --> 00:36:44,360 [David] In May 1946, 861 00:36:44,480 --> 00:36:47,040 just weeks before he's set to leave Los Alamos 862 00:36:47,160 --> 00:36:48,560 for a teaching job, 863 00:36:48,680 --> 00:36:50,960 Slotin heads into the lab to show his replacement 864 00:36:51,080 --> 00:36:53,720 how to do his signature experiment, 865 00:36:53,840 --> 00:36:57,800 working directly on the leftover plutonium bomb core. 866 00:36:57,920 --> 00:37:01,240 [Dan] The core is a softball-sized sphere 867 00:37:01,360 --> 00:37:04,440 of weaponized plutonium alloy. 868 00:37:04,560 --> 00:37:07,760 It's so radioactive that it's warm to the touch. 869 00:37:07,880 --> 00:37:10,720 [Hakeem] It's so dangerous that it's given the nickname 870 00:37:10,840 --> 00:37:12,440 the Demon Core. 871 00:37:12,560 --> 00:37:14,960 - The Demon Core is constantly emitting subatomic particles 872 00:37:15,080 --> 00:37:16,320 called neutrons. 873 00:37:16,440 --> 00:37:18,400 If those neutrons can escape freely, 874 00:37:18,520 --> 00:37:19,960 the core remains stable. 875 00:37:20,080 --> 00:37:21,440 But if those neutrons 876 00:37:21,560 --> 00:37:23,760 are somehow trapped in the core and build up, 877 00:37:23,880 --> 00:37:26,880 it'll become unstable and effectively become a bomb. 878 00:37:27,000 --> 00:37:30,680 [Don] His mentor, the nuclear pioneer Enrico Fermi, 879 00:37:30,800 --> 00:37:33,000 warns him about the experiment. 880 00:37:33,120 --> 00:37:35,400 If you keep doing it, you'll be dead within the year. 881 00:37:35,520 --> 00:37:37,080 He keeps on doing it. 882 00:37:37,200 --> 00:37:38,560 - The audience is transfixed 883 00:37:38,680 --> 00:37:41,200 as Slotin gets to work on the Demon Core. 884 00:37:41,320 --> 00:37:42,800 [David] To get his data, 885 00:37:42,920 --> 00:37:45,160 Slotin must intentionally edge the Demon Core 886 00:37:45,280 --> 00:37:47,560 toward an explosion, 887 00:37:47,680 --> 00:37:51,880 while trying to stop just short of triggering one. 888 00:37:52,000 --> 00:37:53,560 - He lowers a neutron-reflecting 889 00:37:53,680 --> 00:37:56,160 beryllium shell over the Demon Core 890 00:37:56,280 --> 00:38:00,360 and measures how many neutrons start building up inside it. 891 00:38:00,480 --> 00:38:03,120 - This is incredibly useful for the scientists 892 00:38:03,240 --> 00:38:05,200 but also incredibly dangerous. 893 00:38:05,320 --> 00:38:08,200 [Hakeem] The closer the shell gets to the core, 894 00:38:08,320 --> 00:38:11,360 the closer the core comes to a super-critical state. 895 00:38:11,480 --> 00:38:15,040 - If the beryllium shell closes completely over the Demon Core, 896 00:38:15,160 --> 00:38:18,680 the energy inside will build up to super criticality 897 00:38:18,800 --> 00:38:20,320 in a catastrophic instant. 898 00:38:20,440 --> 00:38:22,960 And that means either a burst of radiation 899 00:38:23,080 --> 00:38:26,160 or an all-out explosion. 900 00:38:26,280 --> 00:38:28,960 [Vince] Los Alamos has rules for everything. 901 00:38:29,080 --> 00:38:30,680 You need to, right? 902 00:38:30,800 --> 00:38:32,560 You're dealing with some of the most dangerous substances 903 00:38:32,680 --> 00:38:34,080 on Earth. 904 00:38:34,200 --> 00:38:36,680 And the regulations Los Alamos puts in place 905 00:38:36,800 --> 00:38:39,720 is to use wooden spacers to keep the two hemispheres 906 00:38:39,840 --> 00:38:41,520 of these shells apart. 907 00:38:41,640 --> 00:38:45,280 Slotin, however, as the cowboy, decides to do it his own way. 908 00:38:45,400 --> 00:38:48,960 Instead of wooden spacers, he uses a flathead screwdriver 909 00:38:49,080 --> 00:38:51,760 to wedge open these two shells 910 00:38:51,880 --> 00:38:54,960 just enough to keep it from going critical. 911 00:38:55,080 --> 00:38:57,680 - It's a reckless method, but it works. 912 00:38:57,800 --> 00:39:00,080 - In his left hand, he holds the shell of the core, 913 00:39:00,200 --> 00:39:02,440 in the right hand, a screwdriver with a flat tip 914 00:39:02,560 --> 00:39:04,760 just between the two halves of the hemisphere. 915 00:39:04,880 --> 00:39:06,480 ♪ ♪ 916 00:39:06,600 --> 00:39:08,080 [David] After tempting fate, 917 00:39:08,200 --> 00:39:10,840 Slotin's luck finally runs out. 918 00:39:10,960 --> 00:39:15,040 The screwdriver slips, and the shell snaps shut. 919 00:39:15,160 --> 00:39:18,960 - There's a silent blinding flash 920 00:39:19,080 --> 00:39:21,000 of blue light, 921 00:39:21,120 --> 00:39:25,600 and then a wave of heat sweeps across the room. 922 00:39:25,720 --> 00:39:28,640 - Radiation is expanding in every direction. 923 00:39:28,760 --> 00:39:30,800 Slotin knows it's too late for him to run. 924 00:39:30,920 --> 00:39:32,360 He immediately lunges forward 925 00:39:32,480 --> 00:39:34,440 and rips the beryllium shell off with his bare hands. 926 00:39:34,560 --> 00:39:36,000 ♪ ♪ 927 00:39:36,120 --> 00:39:38,160 His quick decision breaks the chain reaction 928 00:39:38,280 --> 00:39:39,960 and puts the Demon Cores back to sleep. 929 00:39:40,080 --> 00:39:42,360 - He saves the lives of the other men in the room, 930 00:39:42,480 --> 00:39:43,880 but it's too late for him. 931 00:39:44,000 --> 00:39:46,000 [Dan] Being so close to the Demon Core, 932 00:39:46,120 --> 00:39:50,800 Slotin's absorbed a massive dose of radiation. 933 00:39:50,920 --> 00:39:54,320 [David] Slotin's left hand feels like it's on fire. 934 00:39:54,440 --> 00:39:57,600 A sour, metallic taste fills his mouth. 935 00:39:57,720 --> 00:39:59,160 As he leaves the room, 936 00:39:59,280 --> 00:40:01,560 he begins to vomit uncontrollably. 937 00:40:01,680 --> 00:40:02,960 ♪ ♪ 938 00:40:03,080 --> 00:40:04,960 [Hakeem] On the way to the hospital, 939 00:40:05,080 --> 00:40:08,200 Slotin turns to one of the observers, and he apologizes. 940 00:40:08,320 --> 00:40:09,960 "I'm sorry I got you into this, 941 00:40:10,080 --> 00:40:14,040 but I have less than a 50% chance of living." 942 00:40:14,160 --> 00:40:16,200 And even that was optimistic. 943 00:40:16,320 --> 00:40:17,760 ♪ ♪ 944 00:40:17,880 --> 00:40:20,560 - Over the next nine days, 945 00:40:20,680 --> 00:40:23,480 Slotin's body slowly disintegrates. 946 00:40:23,600 --> 00:40:26,720 He has what's known as three-dimensional burns, 947 00:40:26,840 --> 00:40:30,200 which is essentially a sunburn inside of his body. 948 00:40:30,320 --> 00:40:34,120 He also has gangrene and massive organ failure. 949 00:40:34,240 --> 00:40:37,160 On May 30th, he dies in agony-- 950 00:40:37,280 --> 00:40:39,760 a victim of the Demon Core. 951 00:40:39,880 --> 00:40:42,840 ♪ ♪ 952 00:40:42,960 --> 00:40:45,560 [David] Although Slotin's death makes the papers, 953 00:40:45,680 --> 00:40:47,200 for decades, the full details 954 00:40:47,320 --> 00:40:50,960 of his fatal Demon Core experiment are buried 955 00:40:51,080 --> 00:40:53,480 under top secret classification, 956 00:40:53,600 --> 00:40:56,280 hidden for over a quarter of a century. 957 00:40:56,400 --> 00:40:57,680 ♪ ♪ 958 00:40:57,800 --> 00:41:00,280 - Finally, in 1989, "The New York Times" 959 00:41:00,400 --> 00:41:03,160 publishes the full story 960 00:41:03,280 --> 00:41:07,760 and reveal the true horror of the Demon Core experiments 961 00:41:07,880 --> 00:41:11,000 to an unsuspecting public. 962 00:41:11,120 --> 00:41:14,160 - From toxic tests in black-site labs 963 00:41:14,280 --> 00:41:15,960 to bold ideas that push back 964 00:41:16,080 --> 00:41:18,160 the boundaries of human knowledge, 965 00:41:18,280 --> 00:41:21,360 governments have long conducted extraordinary experiments 966 00:41:21,480 --> 00:41:22,760 in secret. 967 00:41:22,880 --> 00:41:24,560 Though it may take years, 968 00:41:24,680 --> 00:41:29,480 the covert science eventually finds its way into the light.