All language subtitles for Weird.Or.What.S01E08.WEBRip.x264-ION10

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William Shatner:
You know what?

I've been around
for a while.

I've travelled the world,
met some interesting people,

done some crazy things.

So, you might just think

there's not much
that could take me by surprise.

You'd be wrong.

The world is full
of stories and science

and things that
amaze and confound me

every single day,

incredible mysteries
that keep me awake at night.

Some I can answer.

Others just defy logic...

like the woman shot
at point blank range

with an AK-47 assault rifle.

A high-calibre bullet aimed
directly at her heart,

yet she survives.

How?

Do things happen
for a reason?

Will the things we do today
affect our future?

A child close to death

is saved by a woman
he doesn't know.

Years later,
the same woman

suffers her own
near fatal accident

and is saved
by the same child.

Random coincidence,

or are there mysterious forces
of the universe at work?

And scientists set out to prove
an incredible theory.

Kyle Damborsky:
Okay, you're east.

William Shatner:
Do cows all face

in the same direction?

Yup...

it's a weird world.

And I love it.

When it comes
to crime stories,

I used to think
I'd heard everything.

After all,

I used to be
a no-nonsense L.A. cop,

not to mention
the greatest lawyer in history.

Well, at least I was
pretending to be those things.

Anyway,
this next weird tale

centres on the most bizarre
real-life crime scene

I have ever come across --

an incident I've named

The Case of the
Bulletproof Breasts.

Not switching channels now,
are you?

The AK-47 assault rifle --

otherwise known
as the Kalashnikov,

designed in Russia
during World War II.

It's been used by everyone,

from the Soviet Union, China,

the Vietcong and the Iranian
Revolutionary Guard.

The AK fires
large-calibre bullets

at a rate of
2300' per second.

Twice the speed of sound,

it has a killing range
of over a thousand feet.

For six decades,
it's been one of the world's

most popular and effective
combat weapons.

The AK-47
is designed to kill,

which makes the next story
all the more unbelievable.

A woman shot in the chest
at point blank range.

Defying all logic,
she survives.

Firearm experts
test a bizarre hypothesis.

Could the victim
have been saved

by her breast implants?

Weird, or what?

July 1st, 2009,

Simi Valley, California.

Dental clinic receptionist
Lydia Carranza

is starting her day.

At about 9:30 in the morning,
I was checking in a patient.

William Shatner:
Suddenly, Lydia hears
a loud bang from just outside

the main office door.

I looked to my left.

Down the hallway,
there comes this person

with a rifle
on one side,

and he's
coming really fast.

So, the other co-workers
that are in the reception area,

I tell them,
"Let's go hide in the fax room."

William Shatner:
A gunman has
entered the building.

Wasting no time,

Lydia quickly hides
her co-workers in a back room

and dials 911.

Lydia Carranza:
I thought, you know, this--

We'll go
hide in the back,

and maybe he'll just go out
through the front door,

you know, this person
that's trying to rob the place.

William Shatner:
But the gunman is no thief.

He's Jaime Paredes,
the estranged husband

of Lydia's co-worker,
Mariela.

Paredes is fuelled by rage

and armed with
an AK-47 assault rifle.

Lydia Carranza:
Once I heard him

yell out her name,

I knew it was him
and what he was gonna do.

William Shatner:
With clear purpose
and murderous intent,

Paredes makes his way
to where his wife, Lydia,

and the office staff
hide in fear for their lives.

Lydia Carranza:
And I saw the rifle.

The office manager,
she says,

"Jaime,
you don't have to do this."

And he says,
"I love you, babe.

"I told you
I was gonna do this,"

and then he shoots her.

William Shatner:
Mariela is killed instantly.

Paredes then
sets his sights on Lydia.

His first shot hits her arm.

She hits the floor.

I was just
thinking of my kids,

my family,
my granddaughter.

She was just a week old.

And I just had
talked to my daughter

10 minutes
before this all happened,

and I kept wondering,
"Oh, I hope she, you know--

"I wonder if she knows
what's going on."

William Shatner:
At point blank range,

Paredes aims the AK-47

directly at Lydia's heart

and pulls the trigger.

After a standoff,

police apprehend Paredes
outside the dental premises.

Inside, they discover
the carnage he has caused.

They also find something

seemingly miraculous.

Lydia is still alive,

and she will go on
to make a remarkable recovery.

How?

Lydia's own theory
is incredible.

Lydia Carranza:
My breast implant
is what helped,

what saved my life.

William Shatner:
It seems incomprehensible,

but Lydia
isn't the only person

who believes
that her breast implants

somehow stopped a bullet

travelling at
1600 miles per hour

from doing its job.

Beverly Hills plastic surgeon
Dr. Ashkan Ghavami

examined Lydia
after the shooting.

Ashkan Ghavami:
I think it's very plausible

the implant
played a vital role in saving

her life in this situation.

William Shatner:
But why, and how?

Could a clue to the mystery

lie in the type of implants
Lydia had in her chest?

They were made of saline.

Ashkan Ghavami:
A saline implant is under
a high-pressure system.

It's not like silicone.

It's not malleable
or deformable,

so it's
kind of like an airbag.

So, an airbag absorbs
a lot of the energy

and avds the windshield
and other things coming at you

'cause it acts as a barrier.

This acted
as a barrier as well,

this time
in a penetrating injury,

so that it takes
the burden of absorbing

the physical energy.

An airbag
does the same thing.

So, it absorbed
the physical energy

'cause it itself
is a high-pressure system.

So, it needs to release that
energy when it gets injured.

So, when an implant explodes,

its energy
is distributed widely.

So, the bullet fragments
go with that energy,

and so,
they don't have a chance

to give their energy
and velocity deeper.

William Shatner:
It seems plausible,

but can the theory

that a sack filled with
sterile salt solution

stopped the bullet
be proven?

Lydia Carranza
is shot in the chest

at point-blank range

by an AK-47
semi-automatic weapon

and only suffers
minor injury.

Doctors later find
bullet fragments

in her arm and upper body,

just millimeters from the heart
and other vital organs.

Thankfully,
in this instance,

the world's
most popular assault rifle

failed to do its job.

But how?

Was this just
incredible good luck?

No.

This is...

weird, or what?

Using a test gun
that accurately replicates

the ballistics of an AK-47,

researchers at a research lab
in Ottawa, Canada,

are going to pit implants
against the same calibre bullet

with wch Lydia was shot.

The gelatin block
will simulate

the damage
a person's body would endure

if they got in the way
of one of these bullets.

Doug Baines:
And firing.

William Shatner:
Travelling at nearly
2300' per second,

the large-calibre bullet
goes right through the implant

like it wasn't even there.

Doug Baines:
As we can see,

the bullet clearly penetrated
the full length of the block.

What we can start
to see here

is an opening
within the gelatin block

as we move forward,

and that would be
the wound tract inside.

And you can see that the neck
length here is relatively short.

So, the bullet upset early,

meaning it began to tumble
and change orientation.

William Shatner:
The implant has had
one unexpected effect,

but it's not the one
that could help save a life.

Doug Baines:
The implant,
if it did anything,

just caused
the bullet to destabilize

sooner than
it would otherwise

and actually create

a bigger wound channel sooner.

William Shatner:
The test reveals that, head on,

the implant actually
made the bullet more deadly.

But could recreating

the actual angle
at which Lydia was shot

make a difference?

Ashkan Ghavami:
The gunman was standing
and shot her at an angle,

and she was covering herself.

So, her left breast
was up a little bit,

and the bullet came in
at an angle like this,

went through here and then
just stopped right here.

William Shatner:
For the next experiment,

the researchers are
going to recreate the angle

at which Lydia was shot.

Will this have an effect
on the bullet's killing power?

Loaded and good to go.

Firing.

All right?

Benoit:
We see the path
that the bullet entered, here.

It went through
the entire width of the implant,

exited here.

William Shatner:
It would appear

that travelling
through more of the implant

has affected the bullet.

Doug Baines:
I think the bullet

exited the implant sideways.

I think going through
more material destabilized it.

There's a larger exit wound,

and it certainly
blew this all apart,

like it would if it
was going through sideways.

And the witness mark on here

also indicates
that it's sideways.

The trajectory
stayed the same,

but the attitude
of the bullet changed.

Don't rely on a breast implant
to stop a bullet.

William Shatner:
It's possible the breast implant

could have slightly changed
the behaviour of the bullet

as it entered Lydia's body,

but, judging by
today's experiments,

not enough to save her
from certain death.

So, has the implant theory
been ruled out?

Maybe not.

Remarkably, the bullets
Paredes chose to use

for his murder spree
could also be key

in Lydia Carranza's survival.

♪

In California,

a woman is
shot in the chest

at point blank range
with an AK-47 assault rifle.

Defying all odds,
she survives.

How?

Cosmetic surgeon
Dr. Ashkan Ghavami

believes that,
bizarrely,

Lydia's breast implants
may have helped save her life.

To prove it,

he is examining the x-rays
taken of Lydia's chest

just hours after the incident.

Here, you can see
the outline

of the heart.

You can see all
the multiple bullet fragments

immediately
adjacent to the heart,

which means, essentially,
millimeters from entering deeper

into the heart.

So, there were multiple layers
for that bullet

to go across before it had to
reach her lungs and heart,

and, basically,
lucky for her,

it never was
able to reach it.

William Shatner:
Bullets that fragment
on impact can be more lethal

than those
that remain tact.

The shrapnel causes
multiple pathways of damage

through the body,

severing nerve tissue
and blood vessels,

endanging the major organs.

But according to D Ghavami,

the bullet that hit Lydia,
while fragmenting,

may have had its velocity
reduced by her implant.

Those fragments,

the energy of them
was distributed

amongst that area
before it had a chance

to go deeper
and be distributed

among vital organs
like the heart and lungs.

So, it essentially slowed down
and took the burden

of a lot of the physical energy
of those fragments,

before they had
a chance to go deeper.

And a lot of this may have to do
with the angle the bullet hits,

which we
don't exactly know.

Depending on
the angle the bullet hits

and where she was sitting,

perhaps her arm
was a second layer.

We don't know
all those details,

but I do know where
the bullet fragments ended up,

and we do know that
her saline implant was ruptured.

So, we know that
that intervened,

at some level,

in her, uh,
avoiding further injury.

William Shatner:
But as our lab tests have shown,

a regular 7.62 x 39 mm bullet

can't be stopped
by a breast implant.

These bullets stayed intact.

So, why did the bullet
that hit Lydia fragment?

Firearms expert Patricia Fant
thinks the answer might lie

in the type of bullets
gunman Jaime Paredes

used during his rampage.

Because of the way
the bullet is manufactured,

um, it has a tendency

to fragment
when it hits an object.

Whether it be a car door
or a person,

that particular
bullet fragments.

There's a possibility
that it fragments

when it hits a hard object,

and then the ricochet,
as you would call it,

could go in
and penetrate under the skin.

William Shatner:
A standard 7.62,
39mm cartridge

has a steel core
encased by lead

and surrounded by copper.

This is known
as a full metal jacket,

used mostly by the military.

It has superior
penetrating capacity.

One shot can slice
through a car door,

armour and several people
without being destabilized.

But some 7.62 39mm bullets,

like those used
by many U.S. hunters,

are designed with the lead
exposed at the tip.

These are sometimes
called soft points

and are designed
to lessen penetration

but increase fragmentation

or tumbling
of the bullet upon impact,

maximizing injury.

Patricia Fant:
When you shoot
these bullets into water,

there's that possibility
they can fragment,

and these breast implants

were basically
a solution or water.

From what I understand,

it went directly
into the side of her breast.

I would say, then,

it probably
helped save her life.

So, the theory goes

that when
the round hit Lydia's chest,

the saline implant exploded,

and the water pressure inside

intercepted, re-directed

and effectively
destroyed the bullet.

It seems as though Lydia's
incredible survival story

could be down to
a combination of factors --

her implants,

the use of a bullet
prone to fragmentation,

but mostly pure luck.

I'm thankful to God
every day

for giving me
another opportunity

to be here with my family

because that is
what I was praying for

when I was there on the floor.

Thank god
for the implants,

because I know the damages
would have been just worse,

or I just
would not be alive.

William Shatner:
We've all heard of
bulletproof vests,

but bulletproof breasts?

Is that weird, or what?

Kevin Stephen:
It was January 2006,

and little did I know
it would be a life-changing day.

William Shatner:
A bizarre twist of fate

leads a young man
to save the life of a woman.

So, as soon as I saw her
put her hands to her neck,

I knew she was choking.

William Shatner: Incredibly,
the woman choking to death

has saved the same
young man's life years before.

I said to Kevin,
"Do you know who this is?"

William Shatner:
Was this more than coincidence?

Kevin Stephen:
Whenever I tell anyone,
they're just absolutely shocked

and like, "No way.
It couldn't have happened."

William Shatner:
Was it part of the
universe's grand design?

I don't believe there's any
secret magic force out there.

William Shatner:
Experts are trying
to comprehend it.

The universe
is constantly moving.

Everything is moving in it.

William Shatner:
Do random events
happen for a reason?

Gary Schwartz:
Synchronicity implies

that coincidence
is beyond chance.

William Shatner:
Or can the mystery
be explained by science?

In spite of
the fact that we have

a pretty good understanding
of what's going on,

we really don't
understand what's going on.

Penny Brown:
Make sure you
don't hurt his neck.

William Shatner:
Weird, or what?

♪

Unbelievable!

No, really,
I can't believe it.

You know how you get
that feeling sometimes

that you should
call someone?

Well, out of the blue,
this week,

I've been thinking
about my old friend Ted.

But I didn't know
how to get in touch with him.

Today, I go golfing.

It was terrible.

I couldn't hit a straight drive
to save my life,

and one of my
balls veers off

and hits a guy
in the foursome ahead of us.

I rush over to apologize,
and who should it be?

Ted.

What a crazy coincidence.

That got me thinking.

Small coincidences surprise us.

The big ones amaze us.

But are coincidences
just that --

random occurrences
that just happen to coincide --

or is there
something more going on here?

Could there be
a little-understood force

that draws
these events together?

Coincidences?

Are they weird, or what?

In 1999,

Lorraine Stephen was at
a rookie league baseball game

near Buffalo, New York,
with her sons, Robbie and Kevin.

It was a day that would
change their lives forever.

Lorraine Stephen:
We were at Mathewson McCarthy
baseball diamond,

watching our son
Robbie play baseball.

My son Kevin was there,
helping out, that night.

Kevin Stephen:
I was 11 years old,

and I was too old
to be on the team.

So, I figured I'd help out,
be the bat boy.

Lorraine Stephen:
Kevin was picking up bats,

and one of the young players

was swinging a bat to practise,
warming up.

And, on the back swing,

he caught Kevin
across his chest.

I didn't know what it was.

It was just
kind of a hard thud.

And I turned around.

I couldn't really see.

Everything was blurry,
and I said,

"Help! I've been hit!"

And Kevin took a few steps
and just went face first,

collapsed on the field.

William Shatner:
Unknown to those around him,

Kevin's heart had taken
the full force of the bat

and had stopped beating.

Lorraine Stephen:
I remember them rolling him over

and just seeing his eyes,

like,
just wide open, fixed

and dilated,
like, just no response.

It was horrifying,
absolutely horrifying.

William Shatner:
Luckily, Penny Brown,

the mother of another boy

and who was
supposed to be at work,

was watching from the stands.

Penny:
He's not breathing.
Call an ambulance.

Penny is a nurse.

So, upon witnessing
what happened to Kevin,

she immediately knew what needed
to be done to save him.

She started to do CPR on him.

That didn't work,

so she hit him twice
in the chest,

really hard,
and re-started Kevin's heart.

Kevin Stephen:
Everything just slowly
started to come back in.

I started seeing light again,

and then I had
my eyes opened up

and had a really,
really bad headache.

William Shatner:
Penny's fast thinking
had saved Kevin's life.

Remarkably,
this wouldn't be the last time

they would meet
in an extreme emergency.

Penny:
Okay?

William Shatner:
January 2006.

Seven years after Kevin's
near death experience,

Lorraine Stephen is
about to have lunch at the diner

where her son Kevin
is working,

in upstate New York.

Lorraine Stephen:
I had a half day off,

and my son Robbie was
home with his girlfriend, too.

So, I said,
"Let's go to lunch

"at Hillview Diner
and give Kevin a hard time,

"'cause he has to work today."

Kevin Stephen:
It was exam week for school,

and in the middle of the week,

I found out that the exam
wasn't going to happen.

So, I called my manager
and said,

"I can work Friday
if you want me to work."

And she said,
"Sure, why don't you come in?"

William Shatner:
As Lorraine began her meal,

she noticed another customer
was starting to choke.

So, as soon as I saw her
put her hands to her neck,

I knew she was choking.

Her face was red,

and she just eked out
these words, "Help me."

It was very scary.

All of a sudden,

my manager
flings open the door and says,

"Get out here! Get out here!"

I thought I had
done something wrong,

and then I realized,

"Oh, my god,
this lady is choking."

I ran over there

and started performing
the Heimlich maneuver.

Lorraine Stephen:
He had to do two thrusts,
and the food was released,

and she was breathing again.

William Shatner:
Kevin's quick thinking
and anti-choking manoeuvre

saved the woman's life.

But there was something else,

something strange
Lorraine began to notice.

It was at that point
that I put it all together.

William Shatner: Incredibly,

the woman Kevin had saved

was the same woman
who had saved him

seven years before.

Then my mom said--

Kevin, do you realize
who this is?

Penny Brown saved your life
a few years ago,

and now you've
just saved hers.

And I was absolutely in shock.

I couldn't believe it.

William Shatner:
In an extraordinary twist,

two random events,
seven years apart,

have thrown
the same two people together,

in a life and death struggle.

Is this more than
an incredible coincidence?

Lorraine Stephen:
Well, you've got to wonder

why Penny was at the
baseball diamond that night

she wasn't supposed to be.

And you've got to wonder,

why was my son
at work that afternoon,

when he wasn't
supposed to be?

William Shatner:
Why, indeed?

The answers
to this mystery could concern

the deepest corners
of science and the universe.

Weird, or what?

♪

William Shatner:
A young boy's life
is saved by a total stranger.

In a bizarre mystery,
seven years later,

they meet again.

This time,
the boy saves the stranger --

the same woman
who had brought him back to life

nearly a decade before.

Wow!

Not just did one person
save the life of another person,

who had saved his,

but neither was supposed to be
where they ended up that day.

It also took each

two attempts
to save the life of the other.

Not just one coincidence
but three rolled into one.

So, what's going on here?

Could it be just random,
or could there be something else

drawing these seemingly
unrelated people together,

at specific times?

Doctor Jeffrey Rosenthal

is a professor
in the department of statistics

at the University of Toronto.

He doesn't believe
that these amazing coincidences

are really that remarkable.

Jeffrey Rosenthal:
Of course,

lots of coincidence stories

can be interesting
and fun and amusing,

and they're fun
to retell and so on.

But I think some people

will think that
they go a step further,

and they must have some
sort of a cosmic significance,

or there must be
some hidden force

which is forcing these
magical things to happen.

And I don't
look at it that way.

I would say, "Well,
let's think about the numbers,"

and when you do,
you realize that

even really
surprising sounding things,

it's not that unlikely
that at some point

something like that
will happen to someone.

So, I don't think there's any
secret cosmic force involved.

I think these things

are just gonna happen
by chance every now and then.

Look at this...

a Royal Flush.

The odds
of getting a Royal Flush

are 1 in 2,598,960
possible hands.

That's what makes it
appear so special.

So, what are the odds

of experiencing
an incredible coincidence?

To demonstrate how mathematics
can de-mystify

seemingly improbable events,

Rosenthal performs
a simple experiment.

Jeffrey Rosenthal:
Hi, everyone,

we're doing an experiment about
randomness and probability.

Hi, excuse me,
would you like to help us

with a science experiment
that we're doing?

Who'd like to help us
by telling us their birthday?

William Shatner:
Randomly choosing 40 people

from the campus of
the University of Toronto,

Rosenthal's theory
is that at least two people

from this group
will share the same birthday.

Well, you think, at first,
it's 365 days in the year.

So, it's pretty unlikely,
out of 40 people,

that some pair
will have the same birthday.

But actually,
there's about an 89% chance

that some pair
will have the same birthday.

And the reason is

because there's 780
different pairs of people

that you can make
out of a group of 40 people.

William Shatner:
This time,

Rosenthal's
theory is right.

Two of these random people
were born on the same day.

But does this theory
apply to the remarkable story

of Penny and Kevin?

Jeffrey Rosenthal:
So, if you just take
a specific pair of people,

what's the chance
that A saves B's life

and then B saves A's life?

It's about one chance
in 40 billion billion.

It's incredibly unlikely.

But then, once you factor in
the fact that there are

so many different
pairs of people out there,

who were trained in CPR,
then you end up saying

there's something like
a one-third chance that

at some point
during my lifetime,

there'll be some pair of people
living in some local area

who will
save each other's lives.

So, can all of these
coincidences be explained

through
a probability formula,

or is it really just
the Law of Really Big Numbers?

It seems so cold and heartless.

Others believe in
a much more mysterious theory.

Dr. Gary Schwartz
is a professor of psychology

at the
University of Arizona.

He believes random events

are not random at all

but caused by
something called synchronicity.

The term "coincidence" implies
that things happen by chance,

so the term "coincidence" is--

Even though it is
"co-dash-incidence,"

or co-occurring,

we think
coincidence means chance,

whereas synchronicity

implies that the
coincidence is beyond chance,

that something else
is going on.

William Shatner:
Were Penny and Kevin

destined to meet?

Dr. Schwartz believes
synchronicity is a powerful,

invisible,
organizing force

that orchestrates our lives.

Gary Schwartz:
A visual way to express
how something invisible

can organize things
that would otherwise be random

comes from physics.

So, we can take,
for example,

iron filings and just put them
on a piece of paper.

And if you drop them,

they'll just
spread out, haphazardly.

There's no
specific sequence involved

if you're just dropping them.

But if there's a magnet
underneath the paper,

you will begin to see
a structure emerge,

and that structure reflects
the underlying fields

that are
interconnecting the events.

William Shatner:
It's a remarkable theory.

Were Kevin and Penny
drawn together

by an underlying force
they weren't aware of?

Synchronicity
applies to this story

because it was not just
that they saved each other,

which itself
is extraordinarily improbable.

In each case,

they did not
expect to be there.

So, it was a deviation

from their normal routine
that allowed each one

to be present when
the other needed them.

William Shatner:
But one question remains.

If synchronicity
is an invisible force,

where is it coming from?

At the present time,

there's no
accepted scientific

explanation for
the mechanism of synchronicity,

but there are
people who believe

that you have to
posit the existence

of some sort of
super-intelligence

or cosmic term
to explain this.

Is synchronicity

really the best explanation
for an amazing coincidence,

or is there
a better way to look at this?

Physicist
Dr. Fred Alan Wolfe

is an author
and physics lecturer.

He thinks there may be

an explanation
that's less mystical

and grounded in science.

In physics,
we have two forms of connections

that can take place --

connections which take place
in a logical fashion.

Take a ball;
drop it.

A few milliseconds
after I drop the ball,

it hits the ground --

cause/effect.

Another kind of connection

is something
which is like synchronicity.

Things can become
what is called

quantum entangled.

William Shatner:
According to quantum mechanics,

it is possible
for two similar particles

to become
linked in such a way

that anything
that happens to one of them

is instantly
communicated to the other,

regardless of distance.

This is called
quantum entanglement.

Theoretically,
any two things

that have ever interacted

will become entangled
and connected forevermore.

Fred Alan Wolfe:
In the case of Kevin and Penny,

it's possible
to think of this

as a quantum entanglement

because the two had
interacted and then separated,

remaining quantum entangled

until they met
in the future.

William Shatner:
Did Penny and Kevin's lives

entangle in a
remarkable feat of physics,

or were they controlled
by a super-intelligence

beyond our comprehension,

or was it simply

a matter of
bizarre coincidence?

Weird, or what?

Sometimes,
extraordinary mysteries

are found
in the most unlikely places.

In these quiet pastures

is an animal
that may hold the key

to the mysterious forces
on our planet.

It's a mystery
that has the world's

scientific community baffled.

The animal in question?

The cow.

Now, that's most definitely

weird, or what?

♪

William Shatner:
One thing I've learned

over the years is
if you scratch the surface

of the seemingly mundane,
more often than not,

you'll find something
straight-up weird.

Take cows.

What do we know
about cows?

Well, we know they give us
milk and leather goods.

Scientists suggest
that their flatulence

is a major contributor
to global warming.

We also know
that if grilled well...

cows taste delicious.

But what you might not know
about our bovine buddies

is that they may possess
an incredible power,

a power that
may hold the key

to the mysterious forces
of our planet.

This bizarre story
begins in 2008,

when zoologist Hynek Burda
was analyzing satellite imagery

of the earth's pastures.

We looked at
several thousand pastures

and several
tens of thousands of animals.

William Shatner:
What he found is remarkable.

All over the world --

in Europe,
Africa and North America --

most of the planet's
1.3 billion cows

were facing
in the same direction,

either north or south.

Hynek has a theory why.

He believes that cows
may have the ability

to perceive
the earth's magnetic fields.

Now, for the first time,

researchers
are going to try

to prove
if this power exists.

Zoologist Hynek Burda
thinks he has discovered

the answer to this mystery.

He believes that cows have
a power called magnetoception.

Hynek Burda:
Magnetoception means

that the being
can see the magnetic field.

William Shatner:
Our planet is
essentially a giant bar magnet.

Inside,
a hot liquid-iron core

sloshing around because of
the earth's rotation.

It's theorized
that this motion

creates the earth's
magnetic fields.

Magnetoception is the ability

to perceive these
magnetic fields like a compass.

But hold on.

Can a cow really do this?

Well, as it turns out,

there are other animals
that may have this power, too.

It's theorized that bees,

homing pigeons
and some other smaller organisms

have magnetoception,
but, until now,

it has never been observed
in a large mammal like a cow.

So, why do we care?

Well, cows share

many of the same genes
as human beings.

So, if cows have this

incredible
internal GPS system

locked away
in their brains...

so might we.

To test his theory,
Hynek is travelling to the heart

of cattle country in Texas,

where, with the help of some
local cattle experts,

he hopes to prove
that cows have magnetoception.

Jason Cleere,

beef cattle specialist
of Texas A&M University System.

I'm not sure that, you know,

the data's there
to prove or disprove it.

William Shatner:
Jason Sawyer of
Texas AgriLife Research.

I've been around cattle
most of my life,

and it was just
sort of a natural fit

for me to go
into research.

William Shatner:
Kyle Damborsky is a
Texas A&M Physics student.

He's been commissioned
to build a giant electromagnet

to test Hynek's theory.

This is definitely
in the area of weird science.

William Shatner:
The electromagnet
contains two magnetic coils,

which are wrapped
around this wooden frame.

Kyle Damborsky:
Well, we have two coils.

One's lined up north/south.

The other is east/west,

and, based on
the direction of the current

that we put through the coils,
it'll generate a magnetic field,

and it's just like turning
the earth's magnetic field.

William Shatner:
By sending electricity

through these coils,
they will create magnetic fields

in several
very specific directions.

If the cow turns
and aligns with it

like a compass needle,

then we have potential
evidence of magnetoception.

The magnet
will generate a field

twice as strong as
the earth's magnetic field.

If Hynek's theory is correct,

the cow will align with
the man-made magnetic poles.

The experiment begins
as Kyle moves the machine's

magnetic north due east.

Kyle:
Two more leads.

William Shatner:
But the cow seems unaffected.

The animal seemed to continue
to do what he was doing.

He kind of continued
to sniff around.

He seemed to get a little bored,
saw the grass on the other side.

So, maybe there are other
external factors

to explain why many cows
seem to face north or south.

Have you ever
had sun in your eyes...

or wind in your face?

Maybe something
as simple as weather

could explain the mystery.

♪

William Shatner:
Biologist Hynek

has a bizarre
and remarkable theory.

He believes that,
the world over,

cows all stand
facing the same direction

because
they have an ability

to perceive
the earth's magnetic fields.

But his experiment
has so far failed to prove it.

Others believe there might be
a different answer.

You know,
I think that cattle,

in general,
are probably more complex

than most people
give them credit for,

but that's because most people's
experience with cattle

is looking at them
through a windshield

while they're driving
down a highway somewhere.

For me, I spend most of my day
thinking about cattle,

and because of that,

maybe I think about it
a little harder

than most people do.

And so, I tend to think that
they are probably more complex

in both their behaviours

and their physiology.

William Shatner:
Perhaps external factors

are a clue
to solving this mystery.

Could it be
that the cows' preference

to face north or south

is related
to something simpler,

like weather?

Well, if we get a really, uh,
cold northern that blows in,

cattle will turn
their rears to it.

William Shatner:
So, if a prevailing cold wind
is coming from the north,

the cows will turn away
and face south.

And since cows
tend to huddle together

to minimize heat loss
and exposure to the elements,

it would appear
that the cows

were all lined up
in the same direction.

The other thing, too,

is if we get a cold day,
the sun pops up.

They're gonna try
to position themselves

to get more of the sun
on the side of their body --

more surface area.

William Shatner:
Could the fact that
the sun rises in the east

and sets in the west

explain why cattle
all face north or south?

Hynek believes that they
will do it even on an overcast,

windless day like today.

Hynek Burda:
Experiment number two.

Coil one's at full power.

William Shatner:
Hynek's second attempt
is no better than the first.

Cow number two
doesn't react

to any change
in the magnetic field.

Jason Cleere:
It looks like these bulls

are moving to the feeder
at the back of the pen,

and this one
is more or less

feeling left out.

William Shatner:
Experiment number two
is a failure.

It seems that cows
prefer to be in herds.

Could this be the reason why

they are aligning themselves
north or south?

These cattlemen believe
this herding behaviour

might be contributing to their
alignment to the magnetic poles.

Cows have always
been herd animals.

Ten thousand years ago,
before Neolithic humans

began corralling th
for their meat and milk,

these beasts would
wander great distances,

searching for food and water.

And it wasn't just because
these guys loved hanging out;

it was because
their large numbers

helped ward off predators.

Herd animals, in general,
and cattle, in particular,

exhibit a fairly intricate
social structure

within the group.

If the lead cow is pointed
in a certain direction

and travelling
in that direction,

you'd say that at least

the majority
of the rest of the herd

is also probably
going to be oriented,

more or less,
in that direction.

William Shatner:
So, if the leader
is facing north,

so would everyone else.

But Hynek thinks that
it is likely that herd animals,

like cows,

use magnetoception
to help them navigate,

as a group,
over large distances.

The only explanation
is the magnetic field.

William Shatner:
After two failures,

the zoologist
has one last chance

to prove his theory.

Hynek Burda:
Let's shift the magnetic field
90 degrees to the east.

We shall see what happens.

Okay, you're east.

William Shatner:
It's a first.

The cow
actually turned east.

Let us confuse the animal
a bit more.

Let us shift
the magnetic field in the south.

William Shatner:
It appears that
the cow is reacting.

So, actually,
now the cow aligned again

with the predicted direction.

William Shatner:
They're gonna do it
one more time, to be sure.

Kyle Damborsky:
All right, you're west.

Does this mean
the experiment was a success?

Hynek Burda:
I have seen some evidence
that these animals reacted

in changed
magnetic field conditions.

William Shatner:
But to find out if cows
really do have magnetoception,

more experiments
will need to be performed.

If it's true,
we may be one step closer

to unravelling

the mysteries of our planet.

Is that weird, or what?

So, there we have it --

a triple helping
of weirdness.

A woman survives
being shot in the chest

by an AK-47 assault rifle

at point blank range.

Did her breast implants
somehow save her life?

A child is saved from
certain death by a stranger.

Years later,

the same woman is also
in a potentially fatal accident

and is saved
by that very same child.

Bizarre cocidence,

or did mysterious forces
bring them together?

Around the world,
cows are behaving mysteriously.

They prefer to stand facing
the earth's magnetic poles.

Are they shielding themselves
from the elements?

Is this simply
a herd instinct,

or do our bovine buddies

have an in-built GPS?

You decide.

Join me next time
for more stories

that will undoubtedly be...

weird, or what?