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These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated: 1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,100 The human body is full of systems. 2 00:00:08,100 --> 00:00:16,600 Some protect us, others nourish us or keep us moving. 3 00:00:16,600 --> 00:00:23,720 But there's one system that controls all the others, and it might be the one that truly 4 00:00:23,720 --> 00:00:32,000 makes you, you, the nervous system. 5 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:38,120 To put it simply, it perceives the world and tells you how to react to it. 6 00:00:38,120 --> 00:00:50,080 Should you jump, run, eat, shiver, cry, it makes all of those split second decisions 7 00:00:50,080 --> 00:00:56,280 and it also creates emotions, ideas and memories. 8 00:00:56,280 --> 00:01:03,360 All together, it's one incredible machine that never stops reacting. 9 00:01:03,360 --> 00:01:09,360 We're about to take a trip through an astonishing universe that lives right inside our bodies 10 00:01:09,360 --> 00:01:12,400 to uncover the systems that make us human. 11 00:01:20,080 --> 00:01:37,680 It sits inside the skull in total darkness. 12 00:01:37,680 --> 00:01:44,000 Three pounds of grayish-white matter, the consistency of tofu. 13 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:54,840 It's more than 80% water with a little fat and a little protein. 14 00:01:54,840 --> 00:02:04,920 The brain, mission control of the human body and the nervous system. 15 00:02:04,920 --> 00:02:11,380 It's in charge of how we react to everything. 16 00:02:11,380 --> 00:02:18,420 The brain is pure processing power, connected to a giant network of nerves and fibers that 17 00:02:18,420 --> 00:02:40,300 work in perfect synergy to turn data to action, especially when life comes at you fast. 18 00:02:40,300 --> 00:02:55,900 My name is Iman James, I'm 29 years old and I am an amateur boxer. 19 00:02:55,900 --> 00:03:00,060 There are a few sports that challenge your nervous system quite like boxing. 20 00:03:00,060 --> 00:03:03,180 I mean, think about it. 21 00:03:03,180 --> 00:03:09,660 In a fraction of a second, you got to process your opponent's move and react to it. 22 00:03:09,660 --> 00:03:17,060 If you're not quick enough, you definitely feel it. 23 00:03:17,060 --> 00:03:23,380 But as furious as the action seems outside the body, an even more high-speed dance is 24 00:03:23,380 --> 00:03:29,460 occurring every moment on the inside. 25 00:03:29,460 --> 00:03:39,020 See, the nervous system is made up of highly specialized cells called neurons that send 26 00:03:39,020 --> 00:03:44,060 signals at hundreds of miles per hour. 27 00:03:44,060 --> 00:03:47,540 Neurons are the building blocks of the brain. 28 00:03:47,540 --> 00:03:59,060 They are the parts that actually make you think, decide, imagine, see things or listen 29 00:03:59,060 --> 00:04:03,220 to things. 30 00:04:03,220 --> 00:04:05,940 Neurons don't look like other cells. 31 00:04:05,940 --> 00:04:12,460 Those cells are compact and round, but neurons, they look more like the roots of a flower 32 00:04:12,460 --> 00:04:17,260 with strands that branch out in every direction to connect to other neurons so that they can 33 00:04:17,260 --> 00:04:21,500 pass information back and forth. 34 00:04:21,500 --> 00:04:31,020 There are 100 billion of them inside the brain, with millions more snakes throughout the body. 35 00:04:31,620 --> 00:04:39,180 What really makes them ingenious is that we can train these cells to do almost anything 36 00:04:39,180 --> 00:04:50,460 and in the process, completely transform who we are. 37 00:04:50,460 --> 00:04:51,700 Everyone can box. 38 00:04:51,700 --> 00:04:56,060 You have to kind of push aside that self-doubt at some point. 39 00:04:56,060 --> 00:05:01,340 And once you accept that, you're like, oh, what I become is entirely up to me. 40 00:05:01,340 --> 00:05:03,180 I am a teacher. 41 00:05:03,180 --> 00:05:07,220 I teach middle school and high school math and health. 42 00:05:07,220 --> 00:05:12,380 I became a teacher because I wanted to fulfill some sort of need in kids' lives to push them 43 00:05:12,380 --> 00:05:13,900 to be better. 44 00:05:13,900 --> 00:05:19,820 I want my students to know they can do anything they want. 45 00:05:19,900 --> 00:05:26,940 A lot of people make the assumption that boxers come from the hard knocks of life, that you 46 00:05:26,940 --> 00:05:30,700 have to be really rough, maybe even angry. 47 00:05:30,700 --> 00:05:35,580 I never got into a single physical fight as a kid. 48 00:05:35,580 --> 00:05:39,100 I started boxing to lose weight in college. 49 00:05:39,100 --> 00:05:42,140 I just totally fell in love with the sport. 50 00:05:42,140 --> 00:05:47,540 Anytime I was hitting something, I was like, oh, it was like endorphins all the time. 51 00:05:47,540 --> 00:05:54,900 That's what makes boxing so intoxicating. 52 00:05:54,900 --> 00:05:58,300 Being a boxer isn't just about landing a punch. 53 00:05:58,300 --> 00:06:02,420 It requires extreme mental agility. 54 00:06:02,420 --> 00:06:10,860 And it all begins with sight. 55 00:06:10,860 --> 00:06:16,980 Everything we see starts as one thing, light. 56 00:06:16,980 --> 00:06:23,100 When light particles enter the eye through that black hole at the center, they make their 57 00:06:23,100 --> 00:06:29,060 way to the back wall of the eyeball where they hit a thin piece of tissue called the 58 00:06:29,060 --> 00:06:33,460 retina. 59 00:06:33,460 --> 00:06:39,540 The retina has millions of tiny receptors called rods and cones, which absorb the light 60 00:06:39,540 --> 00:06:49,100 particles coming in and send them back as something the brain can use, electricity. 61 00:06:49,100 --> 00:06:54,940 These electrical signals travel to the optic nerve and onto the brain. 62 00:06:54,940 --> 00:07:00,740 Impulses are kind of like Morse code, and the brain takes that code and turns it into 63 00:07:00,740 --> 00:07:04,140 your reality. 64 00:07:04,140 --> 00:07:10,460 The amount of compression of data that happens between the retina and the optic nerve is 65 00:07:10,460 --> 00:07:15,780 the biggest amount of data compression that we've really witnessed in biology. 66 00:07:15,780 --> 00:07:19,540 And it's right here in our eyes. 67 00:07:19,540 --> 00:07:27,100 Every second, the eye transmits 10 million pulses to the brain at a speed of 270 miles 68 00:07:27,100 --> 00:07:28,620 per hour. 69 00:07:29,060 --> 00:07:35,100 Then, just as quickly, the brain has to react. 70 00:07:35,100 --> 00:07:37,980 So a boxer sees a punch coming. 71 00:07:37,980 --> 00:07:43,580 That info zips to the brain, and then a conversation happens. 72 00:07:43,580 --> 00:07:47,100 Should I duck or knock her out? 73 00:07:47,100 --> 00:07:53,060 Like any decision, it's about weighing the options. 74 00:07:53,060 --> 00:08:03,380 Maybe the boxer has a memory of being punched before, or maybe this is a brand new experience. 75 00:08:03,380 --> 00:08:14,220 Either way, in an instant, the brain makes a call, and a host of neurons begin firing. 76 00:08:14,220 --> 00:08:19,540 Neurons in the brain communicate through electricity and through releasing chemicals. 77 00:08:20,180 --> 00:08:26,500 At the end of a cell is a synapse, and it's this small space between neurons. 78 00:08:26,500 --> 00:08:31,500 So the first neuron releases a chemical substance that's detected by the second neuron, which 79 00:08:31,500 --> 00:08:35,220 then continues that electrical activity. 80 00:08:35,220 --> 00:08:41,140 You can say it's a mixture of a lightning storm and a chemical storm. 81 00:08:41,140 --> 00:08:48,140 Our brain sends new impulses across our body, triggering just the right muscles to react. 82 00:08:49,540 --> 00:09:01,980 The first time I sparred, I almost, I swear to God, died. 83 00:09:01,980 --> 00:09:03,660 We did three two-minute rounds. 84 00:09:03,660 --> 00:09:07,820 It was the longest six minutes of my life. 85 00:09:07,820 --> 00:09:13,100 It was hard, and I got hit a lot, but I knew what I needed to work on, and that's what 86 00:09:13,100 --> 00:09:14,100 this sport is about. 87 00:09:14,100 --> 00:09:26,100 One of the most remarkable things about the brain is how adaptable it is with a little 88 00:09:26,100 --> 00:09:29,460 practice. 89 00:09:29,460 --> 00:09:39,420 So a boxer, like most athletes, carry out the same movements repeatedly over and over. 90 00:09:39,420 --> 00:09:47,420 And the more and more you do it, the brain learns, and it gets encoded into muscle memory. 91 00:09:47,420 --> 00:09:54,380 PJ's been my coach since 2015. 92 00:09:54,380 --> 00:09:57,620 Hitting the pads with PJ does a lot to help me prepare. 93 00:09:57,620 --> 00:10:03,660 It helps me to work on timing, on defense, on footwork, combinations. 94 00:10:03,660 --> 00:10:06,980 What we're trying to get to is perfection. 95 00:10:06,980 --> 00:10:11,740 Obviously, that doesn't really exist, but if you're not striving for it, then what's 96 00:10:11,740 --> 00:10:14,260 the point? 97 00:10:14,260 --> 00:10:22,260 The more you practice something, the more somehow your brain changes. 98 00:10:22,260 --> 00:10:28,660 That is called neuroplasticity. 99 00:10:28,660 --> 00:10:31,220 This system is pretty flexible. 100 00:10:31,220 --> 00:10:37,180 Every single neuron in the brain can form up to 10,000 connections with other neurons, 101 00:10:37,180 --> 00:10:44,180 and those links change based on the things that we do most. 102 00:10:44,180 --> 00:10:53,220 When a boxer learns a new move, the pathway is temporary, forged by chemicals surrounding 103 00:10:53,220 --> 00:10:55,700 the neuron. 104 00:10:55,700 --> 00:11:06,420 But as she practices, day in, day out, those chemical changes become structural. 105 00:11:06,420 --> 00:11:11,460 Over time, neurons will actually change shape and shift their position. 106 00:11:11,460 --> 00:11:21,260 And as the pathway gets more fixed, connections between different brain regions strengthen. 107 00:11:21,260 --> 00:11:29,180 Since I first started fighting, I've definitely gotten calmer in the ring. 108 00:11:29,180 --> 00:11:33,340 Punches come to me and I'm not overreacting. 109 00:11:33,340 --> 00:11:36,700 When I'm fighting, time disappears. 110 00:11:36,700 --> 00:11:42,540 I don't even have to think, but instinctively, I'm moving and evading those punches and it 111 00:11:42,540 --> 00:11:54,260 takes no effort when the mind and body are one. 112 00:11:54,260 --> 00:12:00,180 It's astonishing to me just how adaptable our brain can be. 113 00:12:00,180 --> 00:12:03,660 By practicing things we want to get good at, we do get better. 114 00:12:03,660 --> 00:12:10,620 We do lay down the neural frameworks to be able to improve ourselves at certain tasks. 115 00:12:10,620 --> 00:12:16,120 That mechanism of transmitting those what we call action potentials from one neuron 116 00:12:16,120 --> 00:12:23,200 to another is the basis of how information is transmitted in our body, is the basis of 117 00:12:23,200 --> 00:12:29,980 computation and is the basis of memory in our minds. 118 00:12:29,980 --> 00:12:39,260 A memory is just a group of neurons having a familiar conversation. 119 00:12:39,260 --> 00:12:44,180 So as we learn a new skill, we're forming a stronger and stronger memory of how to accomplish 120 00:12:44,180 --> 00:12:46,700 that task. 121 00:12:46,700 --> 00:12:52,980 Skills that require us to use our muscles like sinking a basket, playing the piano or 122 00:12:52,980 --> 00:12:58,020 tying a shoe can be locked into our memories for a lifetime. 123 00:12:58,020 --> 00:13:04,740 Hence the saying, it's like riding a bike. 124 00:13:04,740 --> 00:13:12,460 But other memories like faces and names can fade over time as we need them less. 125 00:13:12,460 --> 00:13:18,620 Our neurons forget how to make those connections. 126 00:13:18,620 --> 00:13:26,300 There is one way a memory tends to stick around and that's when there's a strong emotion attached 127 00:13:26,300 --> 00:13:30,060 to it. 128 00:13:30,060 --> 00:13:37,020 In fact, emotions and the nervous system go hand in hand. 129 00:13:37,020 --> 00:13:42,260 The nervous system is in charge not only of processing our emotions but deciding how we 130 00:13:42,260 --> 00:13:46,060 react to them. 131 00:13:46,060 --> 00:13:55,820 But sometimes emotions are so strong that they overload the system with life-threatening 132 00:14:55,820 --> 00:14:56,820 emotions. 133 00:14:56,820 --> 00:15:04,700 We're following the path of Hurricane Maria now battering Puerto Rico. 134 00:15:04,700 --> 00:15:09,340 The hurricane is doing incredible damage to a country that really is not in any shape 135 00:15:09,340 --> 00:15:11,060 to withstand it. 136 00:15:11,060 --> 00:15:22,020 In September 2017, a Category 5 hurricane descended upon Puerto Rico. 137 00:15:22,020 --> 00:15:27,980 Longali Rodriguez lived with her two daughters on a remote stretch of the island. 138 00:15:27,980 --> 00:15:34,460 She was about to live through two kinds of hell, the storm itself and fear shutting 139 00:15:34,460 --> 00:16:04,460 down her body. 140 00:16:04,460 --> 00:16:31,140 Fear is a very powerful protective mechanism for us as people. 141 00:16:31,140 --> 00:16:41,340 It's an enormously powerful adaptation to helping us internalize a threat and then be 142 00:16:41,340 --> 00:16:48,380 able to respond to it hopefully before the threat catches up to us. 143 00:16:48,380 --> 00:16:53,660 Inside the brain, you'll find one region that really controls the fear instinct. 144 00:16:53,660 --> 00:17:01,460 It's an inch-long, almond-shaped bulb called the amygdala. 145 00:17:01,460 --> 00:17:07,940 When we're faced with a dangerous situation, the amygdala sounds an alarm, setting off 146 00:17:07,940 --> 00:17:10,460 a chain of events. 147 00:17:10,460 --> 00:17:21,180 A cocktail of hormones courses through the body, pupils dilate to take in more light. 148 00:17:21,180 --> 00:17:28,660 The heart begins pumping blood faster, and that blood is rerouted from less essential 149 00:17:28,660 --> 00:17:37,900 organs to higher priority ones like leg muscles that can kick or run. 150 00:17:37,900 --> 00:17:42,300 That's why when you're scared, you get butterflies. 151 00:17:42,300 --> 00:17:49,380 Blood flow to your stomach dramatically slows down. 152 00:17:49,380 --> 00:17:55,860 It's also why you get the chills with less blood in the skin to keep you warm. 153 00:17:55,860 --> 00:18:03,580 All of these changes are preparing you to react to the threat by either standing your 154 00:18:03,580 --> 00:18:08,060 ground or running for your life. 155 00:18:08,060 --> 00:18:10,100 The fight-or-flight response is ancient. 156 00:18:10,100 --> 00:18:13,900 In humans, it's similar to how it is in other organisms. 157 00:18:13,900 --> 00:18:20,700 It's what happens when you are faced with a sudden danger or something that alarms you. 158 00:18:20,700 --> 00:18:25,220 But danger is usually more complex than just fight-or-flight. 159 00:18:25,220 --> 00:18:30,540 And when you're staring at a crisis, fear and how your brain interprets it can quickly 160 00:18:30,540 --> 00:18:33,540 become the greatest threat. 161 00:19:04,540 --> 00:19:12,540 Sometimes during extreme stress, the fear response takes total control of the mind and body. 162 00:19:12,540 --> 00:19:17,540 We end up completely paralyzed by our own emotions. 163 00:19:17,540 --> 00:19:23,540 It's a phenomenon known as the amygdala hijack. 164 00:19:23,540 --> 00:19:28,540 The parts of the brain that use logic and reason shut down completely. 165 00:19:28,540 --> 00:19:30,540 No signals can reach them. 166 00:19:30,540 --> 00:19:37,540 The impulses go straight to the amygdala, which runs totally on instinct and emotion. 167 00:19:37,540 --> 00:19:45,540 When this happens, you might experience an unwarranted outburst of anger or become frozen in fear. 168 00:20:01,540 --> 00:20:18,540 Magali's fear response left her powerless when her daughters needed her to be strong. 169 00:20:18,540 --> 00:20:22,540 She was determined to never let that happen again. 170 00:20:22,540 --> 00:20:29,540 When fear goes too far, if fear becomes the dominant sensation that we experience as humans, 171 00:20:29,540 --> 00:20:36,540 that can prevent us from taking on new challenges and potentially growing. 172 00:20:44,540 --> 00:20:48,540 But how our brains react is actually up to us. 173 00:20:50,540 --> 00:20:55,540 See, we can learn to control fear by making it more familiar. 174 00:20:56,540 --> 00:21:03,540 That's why now Magali is training to become a first responder. 175 00:21:03,540 --> 00:21:11,540 She's about to take part in a disaster rescue drill that will put her fear tolerance to the test. 176 00:21:11,540 --> 00:21:16,540 So she can learn to quiet her amygdala's alarm bells. 177 00:21:16,540 --> 00:21:21,540 We can train different parts of our brain to turn on and off. 178 00:21:21,540 --> 00:21:28,540 There's a huge component of biofeedback, of thinking, of breathing that can really help us. 179 00:21:52,540 --> 00:21:54,540 Let's go! 180 00:21:59,540 --> 00:22:02,540 I think this is a group of people. 181 00:22:03,540 --> 00:22:07,540 I think this is a very effective group of people. 182 00:22:12,540 --> 00:22:15,540 It's necessary to create a situation that's very interesting. 183 00:22:17,540 --> 00:22:18,540 Blood. 184 00:22:19,540 --> 00:22:20,540 Smoke. 185 00:22:21,540 --> 00:22:22,540 Screams. 186 00:22:23,540 --> 00:22:27,540 All meant to flood the brain with stress. 187 00:22:28,540 --> 00:22:30,540 But that's the whole point. 188 00:22:31,540 --> 00:22:33,540 It's mental boot camp. 189 00:22:34,540 --> 00:22:39,540 Just like how we can improve our muscles, speed and strength with practice, 190 00:22:40,540 --> 00:22:43,540 we can do the same with our emotions. 191 00:22:49,540 --> 00:22:54,540 When we expose ourselves in small, controlled doses to the things that make us stressed, 192 00:22:54,540 --> 00:22:56,540 we can build resistance. 193 00:22:56,540 --> 00:22:59,540 Our anxiety tolerance goes up. 194 00:23:00,540 --> 00:23:02,540 And the amygdala can work to our advantage. 195 00:23:03,540 --> 00:23:07,540 The amygdala is a beautiful, beautiful structure 196 00:23:07,540 --> 00:23:12,540 because that's where a lot of memories, especially emotional memories are stored. 197 00:23:13,540 --> 00:23:18,540 It stores not only negative, but also positive memories. 198 00:23:20,540 --> 00:23:24,540 If we can train our brains to remember how we handled the stressful situation, 199 00:23:25,540 --> 00:23:30,540 the amygdala will recall that stored memory in a future moment of fear 200 00:23:32,540 --> 00:23:35,540 and allow logic and reason to stick around. 201 00:23:37,540 --> 00:23:38,540 How are you? 202 00:23:39,540 --> 00:23:40,540 How are you? 203 00:23:40,540 --> 00:23:44,540 I'm a victim of a very difficult situation. 204 00:23:45,540 --> 00:23:48,540 It's very similar to the actual situation. 205 00:23:48,540 --> 00:23:51,540 And while the situation doesn't have an event, 206 00:23:51,540 --> 00:23:53,540 it creates a lot of stress. 207 00:23:54,540 --> 00:23:57,540 Your nervous system actually has all the tools it needs 208 00:23:57,540 --> 00:24:00,540 to keep you calm during stressful situations. 209 00:24:01,540 --> 00:24:03,540 You just need to know how to activate them. 210 00:24:04,540 --> 00:24:08,540 We essentially have two branches of our autonomic nervous system, 211 00:24:08,540 --> 00:24:12,540 the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic. 212 00:24:12,540 --> 00:24:16,540 Now, sympathetic nervous system is our fight or flight response. 213 00:24:16,540 --> 00:24:19,540 Too much of this stress response is not a good thing. 214 00:24:19,540 --> 00:24:22,540 And that's when we need to kick in our parasympathetic nervous system. 215 00:24:22,540 --> 00:24:25,540 This is the part of your body that's going to help you basically do all the maintenance things, 216 00:24:25,540 --> 00:24:27,540 such as digesting food. 217 00:24:27,540 --> 00:24:32,540 Being able to activate your parasympathetic nervous system a little bit more is a good thing. 218 00:24:32,540 --> 00:24:35,540 And people can do this when they're in a stressful situation 219 00:24:35,540 --> 00:24:37,540 that might fire their sympathetic nervous system 220 00:24:37,540 --> 00:24:39,540 by taking a step back, 221 00:24:40,540 --> 00:24:42,540 calming their anxiety, calming their stress, 222 00:24:42,540 --> 00:24:44,540 taking a deep breath, 223 00:24:44,540 --> 00:24:47,540 and trying to get a little bit more in tune to what the situation is. 224 00:24:52,540 --> 00:24:56,540 The types of stimuli that we expose ourselves to repeatedly 225 00:24:58,540 --> 00:25:05,540 become the kinds of stimuli that we become masters eventually at dealing with. 226 00:25:07,540 --> 00:25:10,540 One, two, three. 227 00:25:38,540 --> 00:25:42,540 We're still discovering day-by-day how the brain works. 228 00:25:45,540 --> 00:25:48,540 The brain is made of so many complex pieces, 229 00:25:48,540 --> 00:25:52,540 working all the time, all together to achieve the things that you want to do. 230 00:25:53,540 --> 00:25:56,540 The most interesting parts for me happen in the brain 231 00:25:56,540 --> 00:25:58,540 and in its community. 232 00:25:58,540 --> 00:26:00,540 The brain is made of so many complex pieces, 233 00:26:00,540 --> 00:26:04,540 working all the time, all together to achieve the things that you want to do. 234 00:26:04,540 --> 00:26:06,540 The parts for me happen in the brain, 235 00:26:06,540 --> 00:26:08,540 and it needs communication with the spinal cord. 236 00:26:10,540 --> 00:26:13,540 The spinal cord is like a super high weight 237 00:26:13,540 --> 00:26:16,540 that connects the brain to the rest of the body. 238 00:26:18,540 --> 00:26:21,540 This thick bundle of cables has 31 pairs of nerve fibers 239 00:26:21,540 --> 00:26:23,540 that branch out to our extremities. 240 00:26:24,540 --> 00:26:30,540 The way it's laid out allows the brain to interact with every organ, muscle, and cell. 241 00:26:31,540 --> 00:26:35,540 All these neurons are all interconnected, 242 00:26:35,540 --> 00:26:38,540 so they can all talk to each other. 243 00:26:39,540 --> 00:26:43,540 And through this very important network, 244 00:26:43,540 --> 00:26:47,540 we are able to constantly sense what is going on in the outside world. 245 00:26:50,540 --> 00:26:53,540 From our little pinky toe to our brain, 246 00:26:53,540 --> 00:26:57,540 our body uses a system of communication in our nerves. 247 00:26:57,540 --> 00:27:00,540 That's a lot like digital data. 248 00:27:02,540 --> 00:27:06,540 We store information that's almost like ones and zeros, 249 00:27:06,540 --> 00:27:11,540 pulses of voltage that represent information. 250 00:27:15,540 --> 00:27:20,540 Together, the brain and spinal cord form the body's main electrical hub. 251 00:27:22,540 --> 00:27:26,540 The wiring they contain is extremely delicate. 252 00:27:28,540 --> 00:27:32,540 So they nestle inside the solid bone layers of the skull and vertebrae. 253 00:27:33,540 --> 00:27:37,540 They're also suspended in a clear fluid that absorbs shock. 254 00:27:38,540 --> 00:27:42,540 No other piece of our biology has this level of protection. 255 00:27:43,540 --> 00:27:45,540 And for good reason. 256 00:27:46,540 --> 00:27:49,540 Just like when the electrical grids that power cities go dark, 257 00:27:49,540 --> 00:27:52,540 a damaged nervous system can wreak havoc. 258 00:27:52,540 --> 00:27:56,540 And for the body, a blackout means pain. 259 00:27:57,540 --> 00:28:00,540 And that's what we do. 260 00:28:15,540 --> 00:28:19,540 My name is Andy Haldane. I'm a cell tower engineer. 261 00:28:20,540 --> 00:28:23,540 The carrier reported a signal loss. 262 00:28:23,540 --> 00:28:26,540 So we're here today to assess the situation 263 00:28:26,540 --> 00:28:28,540 and to make sure we can bring the signal back up. 264 00:28:28,540 --> 00:28:30,540 Ready to get this done? Let's do it. 265 00:28:32,540 --> 00:28:35,540 Today we're going to climb 120-foot tower. 266 00:28:37,540 --> 00:28:42,540 Working on towers has historically been one of the most hazardous jobs out there. 267 00:28:43,540 --> 00:28:45,540 It's physically demanding. 268 00:28:45,540 --> 00:28:49,540 Physically reaching and pulling yourself up over and over again. 269 00:28:51,540 --> 00:28:55,540 I don't care how in shape you are, you can only do so many pull-ups. 270 00:28:56,540 --> 00:29:00,540 The longer I climb, different fatigues are setting in in different places. 271 00:29:01,540 --> 00:29:04,540 At some point you can't go on without taking a breather. 272 00:29:05,540 --> 00:29:07,540 Hold, Mike. Yep. 273 00:29:09,540 --> 00:29:11,540 I do suffer from lower back pain. 274 00:29:12,540 --> 00:29:14,540 Man, you gotta give me a minute, Mike. I gotta... 275 00:29:15,540 --> 00:29:18,540 Just need a little aerial yoga to get this thing worked out. 276 00:29:19,540 --> 00:29:21,540 Tower climbing is not for everybody. 277 00:29:22,540 --> 00:29:28,540 I think it's a unique skill set to be smart enough to be an engineer and dumb enough to climb a tower. 278 00:29:33,540 --> 00:29:38,540 One of the strongest lines of evidence for evolution is the fact that we're not perfect. 279 00:29:39,540 --> 00:29:43,540 When we look at our own bodies, there are things that don't make sense. 280 00:29:43,540 --> 00:29:46,540 Like the fact that back pain is so common in humans. 281 00:29:47,540 --> 00:29:57,540 And that's because our spinal column is the structure that was based on a quadrupedal design because our ancestors were quadruped and not bipeds. 282 00:29:58,540 --> 00:30:02,540 So we've taken this quadrupedal design and modified it so that we can be upright. 283 00:30:03,540 --> 00:30:08,540 Which means that our spine has curvatures and shapes that are not found in other organisms. 284 00:30:09,540 --> 00:30:16,540 This design flaw means that nerves often get sandwiched between the very bones meant to protect them. 285 00:30:19,540 --> 00:30:23,540 And when that happens, a whole new neural sensation can occur. 286 00:30:24,540 --> 00:30:25,540 Pain. 287 00:30:27,540 --> 00:30:30,540 In other words, evolution kinda hurts. 288 00:30:31,540 --> 00:30:34,540 We have pain fibers all throughout our body. 289 00:30:35,540 --> 00:30:41,540 Now these fibers can send a specific signal right to our brain and our brain can process this as pain. 290 00:30:43,540 --> 00:30:45,540 And also tell us what to do about it. 291 00:30:46,540 --> 00:30:53,540 It then sends a signal back down through a separate tract on our spinal cord, which then controls the motor function where the pain originated from. 292 00:30:54,540 --> 00:30:58,540 This is why when you grab a hot cup of water you immediately retract your hand from it without even thinking. 293 00:30:59,540 --> 00:31:00,540 It's instantaneous. 294 00:31:01,540 --> 00:31:04,540 Pain is actually a really good thing. 295 00:31:05,540 --> 00:31:10,540 It's the nervous system's way of telling you that something is wrong, so you can fix it. 296 00:31:13,540 --> 00:31:18,540 But when that pain is caused by a pinched nerve, the effects can last much longer. 297 00:31:19,540 --> 00:31:24,540 Because the thing that usually tells us about damage is itself in need of repair. 298 00:31:25,540 --> 00:31:32,540 If you experience something that feels like a burning, stabbing, or shooting pain, especially if there's numbness or tingling, 299 00:31:33,540 --> 00:31:35,540 it's likely to be a nerve pain. 300 00:31:36,540 --> 00:31:40,540 And one of the most debilitating forms of nerve pain is sciatica. 301 00:31:42,540 --> 00:31:45,540 Hi Andy, how are you doing? Good to see you. 302 00:31:46,540 --> 00:31:49,540 If you want to lay on your left side, facing me, work through your hips. 303 00:31:50,540 --> 00:31:54,540 Sciatica is a symptom of compression of one of the largest nerves in the body. 304 00:31:55,540 --> 00:31:59,540 The sciatic nerve starts with separate nerve roots in the lower back. 305 00:32:00,540 --> 00:32:05,540 They converge together in the back of the hip and then travel down the leg as a single sciatic nerve 306 00:32:06,540 --> 00:32:08,540 and then splits in the lower leg into separate nerves. 307 00:32:09,540 --> 00:32:16,540 The majority of people have inflammation around the discs in their spine or a herniation or a disc bulge due to physical overuse. 308 00:32:17,540 --> 00:32:21,540 It can happen at the hip where the nerve comes out of the pelvis into the leg. 309 00:32:22,540 --> 00:32:25,540 It can basically happen anywhere along the course of the nerve. 310 00:32:26,540 --> 00:32:29,540 With Andy, with what he's doing with climbing, he's wearing harnesses, 311 00:32:30,540 --> 00:32:35,540 his compression's occurring actually in the back of the hip with some of those muscles tightening and sitting directly on the nerve. 312 00:32:36,540 --> 00:32:40,540 Nerves don't like pressure on them and they don't like to be stretched. 313 00:32:41,540 --> 00:32:45,540 So when you have compression of the nerve or if the nerve's overstretched, you're going to start to have pain along the nerve. 314 00:32:46,540 --> 00:32:47,540 They present as numbness. 315 00:32:50,540 --> 00:32:53,540 Numbness is a clear sign of system malfunction. 316 00:32:56,540 --> 00:32:59,540 It means that neural connections to the brain have been compromised. 317 00:33:00,540 --> 00:33:08,540 When a nerve is injured, instead of going dark, it starts firing even harder, causing sensations like pins and needles. 318 00:33:09,540 --> 00:33:15,540 That's why when you hit your elbow, you feel a tingling down your whole arm. 319 00:33:17,540 --> 00:33:19,540 Your funny bone isn't a bone at all. 320 00:33:20,540 --> 00:33:21,540 It's a cluster of nerves. 321 00:33:22,540 --> 00:33:28,540 Hit it just right and you're pinching those nerves, sending confused signals up and down your arm. 322 00:33:29,540 --> 00:33:31,540 The same thing happens when your foot falls asleep. 323 00:33:32,540 --> 00:33:36,540 It's not really asleep and it has nothing to do with blood flow. 324 00:33:37,540 --> 00:33:39,540 It's a compressed nerve. 325 00:33:41,540 --> 00:33:44,540 In both cases, the feeling goes away after about a minute. 326 00:33:46,540 --> 00:33:49,540 But the pain of sciatica can last much longer. 327 00:33:52,540 --> 00:33:59,540 Fortunately, the nervous system is resilient, and with proper treatment, our bodies can bounce back. 328 00:34:02,540 --> 00:34:04,540 We'll do the same thing on the other side. 329 00:34:05,540 --> 00:34:08,540 I just want to keep you balanced. I know this leg doesn't have too many issues. 330 00:34:09,540 --> 00:34:13,540 To treat sciatica, I do a technique called the actor release technique. 331 00:34:14,540 --> 00:34:20,540 That's where I work the muscles around the nerve and try to get the nerve to glide better through those muscles. 332 00:34:21,540 --> 00:34:26,540 We're just trying to free up along the whole course of the nerve, so the nerve roots come out here in your lower back. 333 00:34:27,540 --> 00:34:31,540 A lot of your restrictions here behind your hip, that's going to tighten up a lot as you're climbing. 334 00:34:33,540 --> 00:34:36,540 I think the workouts have been helping you, so I'd keep up with that. 335 00:34:36,540 --> 00:34:47,540 To help prevent future sciatica pain, Andy works on building strength in his core and back. 336 00:34:48,540 --> 00:34:58,540 Strong muscles help stabilize the body, and the act of building muscles is in many ways a neural activity. 337 00:35:01,540 --> 00:35:05,540 I'm big into physical fitness. It helps me stay in climbing shape. 338 00:35:06,540 --> 00:35:12,540 Now it's up to me to keep myself in shape mentally and physically in order to maintain my ability to do my job. 339 00:35:14,540 --> 00:35:17,540 You probably associate exercise with your muscles or heart. 340 00:35:18,540 --> 00:35:25,540 But recent studies have shown that when we lift weights, our nervous system actually gets stronger before our biceps. 341 00:35:26,540 --> 00:35:30,540 Working out increases neurons in certain parts of the brain. 342 00:35:30,540 --> 00:35:39,540 That might be why when we train to do a pull-up, we often achieve the feat before we see any growth in the muscles being used. 343 00:35:43,540 --> 00:35:44,540 Ready to finish this thing? 344 00:35:44,540 --> 00:35:45,540 Let's do it. 345 00:35:45,540 --> 00:35:46,540 Alright, let's rock and roll. 346 00:35:47,540 --> 00:35:50,540 I think it's a personal challenge to climb each structure. 347 00:35:50,540 --> 00:36:00,540 It's something that's important to me to make sure the communication system is intact and able to function properly. 348 00:36:05,540 --> 00:36:08,540 There's definitely a feeling of accomplishment when you reach the top. 349 00:36:09,540 --> 00:36:13,540 And the view is spectacular. The stuff that I'm able to see on a daily basis is pretty special. 350 00:36:15,540 --> 00:36:18,540 I feel pretty lucky to be able to do what I do for a living. 351 00:36:20,540 --> 00:36:30,540 The world around us is always changing. 352 00:36:35,540 --> 00:36:41,540 So as a species, we are constantly finding ways to react and adjust. 353 00:36:42,540 --> 00:36:49,540 The human body is such an adaptable living system. 354 00:36:50,540 --> 00:36:55,540 We often hear the adage that our bodies are like an exquisite machine. 355 00:36:56,540 --> 00:37:05,540 It's interesting that throughout so much of human history, we tend to view our bodies in a very similar way to the dominant technology of the day. 356 00:37:06,540 --> 00:37:15,540 So around the same time that we were learning about interchangeable parts on the assembly line, we started to view our bodies in similar manners as a kind of accumulation of parts. 357 00:37:16,540 --> 00:37:27,540 But what I think is interesting is that each of those parts is comprised of many other smaller functional units and that each of those functional units have their own intelligence. 358 00:37:28,540 --> 00:37:35,540 When I think about the difference between humans and other mammals, I think about our brains. 359 00:37:36,540 --> 00:37:43,540 Mentally, we're extremely fit and we have this incredible ability to adapt to our circumstances and persevere. 360 00:37:46,540 --> 00:37:50,540 But what really grips me is when I learn about the ways people are helping others. 361 00:37:50,540 --> 00:38:00,540 The research scientists, the biomedical engineers, people out there who are making these crazy advancements in medical technology, and somehow it always comes back to neuroscience. 362 00:38:21,540 --> 00:38:25,540 Okay, the next object is ready. Are you ready? 363 00:38:25,540 --> 00:38:26,540 Ready. 364 00:38:26,540 --> 00:38:28,540 Try to tell us what it is. 365 00:38:28,540 --> 00:38:29,540 Okay. 366 00:38:38,540 --> 00:38:47,540 My name is Ranu Jang. I'm a professor and chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Florida International University. 367 00:38:48,540 --> 00:39:01,540 My lab is called the Adaptive Neural Systems Lab, and the idea is, can we do something with engineering, with technology, to restore lost function inside the body? 368 00:39:04,540 --> 00:39:12,540 How might we be able to restore the sense of touch to somebody that has lost their hand? 369 00:39:18,540 --> 00:39:25,540 People are usually curious about the cause. You know, how did you lose your arm? What happened? 370 00:39:26,540 --> 00:39:34,540 Sometimes I'll say it was a gator. Sometimes it was a group of ninjas, because, you know, car accidents are a pretty boring story. 371 00:39:38,540 --> 00:39:42,540 Losing an appendage, they say it's like losing a loved one. 372 00:39:43,540 --> 00:39:49,540 You go through mourning. You really grieve the loss. 373 00:39:52,540 --> 00:39:58,540 I remember early on, every day was something, tying a trash bag, you know, tying shoes. 374 00:39:58,540 --> 00:40:03,540 He had a motorcycle at the time. He no longer has a left hand to pull in the clutch. 375 00:40:04,540 --> 00:40:11,540 If we brought an infant into the world, would I be able to care for that infant? Would I be able to play catch with my boy in the front yard? 376 00:40:12,540 --> 00:40:22,540 That really struck home to me, and it really made me concerned that, you know, this would be something that would negatively affect me for the rest of my life. 377 00:40:23,540 --> 00:40:27,540 What would life be like with just one hand? 378 00:40:29,540 --> 00:40:35,540 Our hands transmit a lot of information to our brain about the physical world. 379 00:40:36,540 --> 00:40:42,540 So what happens when there's an interruption of all of that input to the brain? 380 00:40:45,540 --> 00:40:53,540 You know how the first stage of grief is denial? That's kind of what happens in the brain when you lose a limb. Or so we think. 381 00:40:54,540 --> 00:41:00,540 Our best guess is that the information traveling to the brain comes to a screeching halt. 382 00:41:01,540 --> 00:41:08,540 The brain thinks, well, something must really be wrong. The cells are dead, but they can't be gone. 383 00:41:09,540 --> 00:41:14,540 So it keeps trying to reach a part of us that's no longer there. 384 00:41:15,540 --> 00:41:18,540 The strange phenomenon of phantom pain. 385 00:41:19,540 --> 00:41:29,540 And the brain never really gives up. The neurons that knew that hand for your entire life are kind of waiting for a comeback. 386 00:41:32,540 --> 00:41:37,540 Shortly after the accident, we were at the beach and someone threw a Frisbee at me, and I wasn't wearing a prosthetic or anything. 387 00:41:38,540 --> 00:41:44,540 And I stuck my phantom limb out to grab that Frisbee, and it went right by. And if my hand was there, I would have caught it. 388 00:41:45,540 --> 00:41:54,540 Even though it's not there, my brain still thinks it is. I feel tingling and kind of numbness. It never really goes away. 389 00:41:57,540 --> 00:42:05,540 We don't quite know why it is that the mind has a self-conception of what signals are going to be coming to it. 390 00:42:06,540 --> 00:42:18,540 But what's really interesting is that now with certain bionic limbs, we can create technology that can speak to the electrical signals that are still being generated in that healthy part of the body. 391 00:42:18,540 --> 00:42:35,540 At Dr. Renu Jung's lab in Miami, Florida, researchers have created a neural interface for Jason's prosthetic arm that can tap into the body's nervous system and rekindle those lost connections. 392 00:42:36,540 --> 00:42:43,540 When somebody loses an arm, you can imagine that the nerves that were communicating back and forth are cut. 393 00:42:44,540 --> 00:42:57,540 However, the rest of the nerves are still intact. So if there was a way to communicate to those nerves, then you could still perhaps reach the spinal cord or the brain. 394 00:42:58,540 --> 00:43:06,540 That's what my lab is all about. Can we make an advanced prosthetic hand system to restore the sense of touch? 395 00:43:07,540 --> 00:43:13,540 The first person in the world to test this new experimental technology is Jason Little. 396 00:43:14,540 --> 00:43:19,540 Hey, Jason. How are you doing? Good to see you. Good to see you. How are things? 397 00:43:20,540 --> 00:43:28,540 If you look at the prosthetic arm, he can open and close it. But when a person opens and closes a prosthetic hand, they can't feel anything. 398 00:43:28,540 --> 00:43:41,540 So if I were to put my finger in there, it could be squished hard. But, you know, this is a very special hand because this has got sensors in the prosthetic hand, and this sensor information is being conveyed to Jason. 399 00:43:45,540 --> 00:43:55,540 The sensors in the hand can actually send information back to the brain. And how the brain interprets that new sensation is astonishing. 400 00:43:59,540 --> 00:44:03,540 Something called a neurostimulator was implanted into Jason's arm. 401 00:44:06,540 --> 00:44:20,540 Connected to this device are fine wires like human hair, which were threaded into Jason's existing nerves, the ones that have been sitting around in his upper arm, waiting for a signal. 402 00:44:21,540 --> 00:44:32,540 Right here inside Jason's arm is a little radio receiver, and there's a little magnet in that. And this has a little magnet. And so if you put it here, see, it links together. 403 00:44:33,540 --> 00:44:46,540 So the information from the outside goes to the fine wires into the nerves that are inside the arm. These are the same nerves that are there in all of us that take information from the hands and then go into the brain. 404 00:44:47,540 --> 00:44:56,540 An unbroken line of communication from Jason's prosthetic fingertips all the way up to his very human brain. 405 00:44:57,540 --> 00:45:02,540 But will Jason's brain accept, and even more importantly, understand, this new signal? 406 00:45:03,540 --> 00:45:04,540 Hey, Jason. 407 00:45:04,540 --> 00:45:05,540 Hey, how's it going, Andres? 408 00:45:05,540 --> 00:45:06,540 How are you? 409 00:45:06,540 --> 00:45:08,540 Good. All right, let me have your hand. 410 00:45:09,540 --> 00:45:13,540 Jason is the first person to have this implant system. 411 00:45:14,540 --> 00:45:16,540 Ready to play with some blocks? 412 00:45:16,540 --> 00:45:17,540 Yeah, let's do that. 413 00:45:17,540 --> 00:45:24,540 And is providing us very needed data to tell us how safe, how efficacious is the system. 414 00:45:24,540 --> 00:45:35,540 So in this test, what we want to know is what is Jason's capability to figure out the sense of touch. So we want to isolate him from anything that may give him a clue. 415 00:45:36,540 --> 00:45:46,540 We have separated out the prosthetic arm so he cannot feel the vibrations of the motors so that he can purely rely on the sensation that he is getting. 416 00:45:46,540 --> 00:45:56,540 We're going to try to see if you can detect the difference between a hard block or a soft block. Pay attention to the sensation that you will get and just tell me what you think the block is. 417 00:45:57,540 --> 00:46:00,540 Start by taking the stimulation off. So will you remove your coil, please? 418 00:46:00,540 --> 00:46:01,540 Okay. 419 00:46:02,540 --> 00:46:08,540 By removing the transmitter, Jason's preventing any information coming from his hand from reaching his brain. 420 00:46:09,540 --> 00:46:10,540 The block is ready. 421 00:46:19,540 --> 00:46:29,540 I have no stimulation to give me feedback. So this is a completely, I guess, in the dark to say that this is a soft object. 422 00:46:30,540 --> 00:46:31,540 So that was incorrect. 423 00:46:32,540 --> 00:46:39,540 Next, Jason connects the transmitter to his arm, creating a continuous neural path from hand to brain. 424 00:46:40,540 --> 00:46:43,540 I'll turn it on for you. Let me know if you start feeling it. 425 00:46:47,540 --> 00:46:54,540 Okay, could you open and close the hand? It's good to go? Are you getting stimulation, getting sensation? 426 00:46:55,540 --> 00:46:56,540 Yes. 427 00:46:57,540 --> 00:46:59,540 Jason, next block is ready. You can close the hand. 428 00:47:05,540 --> 00:47:13,540 I feel the sensation come on very slowly rather than abruptly. So this block is soft and it's large soft. 429 00:47:14,540 --> 00:47:15,540 You're 100 percent correct. 430 00:47:16,540 --> 00:47:28,540 I can actually feel a little vibrating, tingling sensation in my phantom limb telling me that I am making contact with an object. 431 00:47:30,540 --> 00:47:41,540 How is the brain adapting? Will this process of neurostimulation over weeks, months, years actually change the organization in the brain? 432 00:47:42,540 --> 00:47:51,540 Putting my arm on, it immediately becomes part of me. It's no longer this foreign object. It's my left arm. 433 00:47:54,540 --> 00:48:01,540 For years, Jason's brain was left wondering what happened to his hand, still trying to speak to it, trying to reach it. 434 00:48:02,540 --> 00:48:06,540 Then one day, strange new messages started coming back. 435 00:48:07,540 --> 00:48:13,540 They weren't like the old ones, but they were familiar enough, speaking a language the brain could understand. 436 00:48:16,540 --> 00:48:21,540 This technology gives the brain the chance to do what it's best at, adapt. 437 00:48:22,540 --> 00:48:46,540 Our brains are very plastic, so they're always changing. The adult brain has much more capacity for hacking itself, being able to rewire in ways that we didn't anticipate before. 438 00:48:47,540 --> 00:48:54,540 Having that touch sensation come back was something that I never thought I would have. 439 00:48:55,540 --> 00:49:04,540 That confidence that I've gained now has been a game changer for me. It's allowed me to regain a little bit of my old self back again. 440 00:49:04,540 --> 00:49:19,540 Since I get sensory feedback, I know how hard I'm holding this egg, so I know that if I push down any further, I'm going to completely crush it. 441 00:49:23,540 --> 00:49:29,540 The first time I felt the sensation, we had Crystal put her hand in mine. 442 00:49:29,540 --> 00:49:43,540 I closed my eyes, and I slowly closed the hand down on her hand, and I let her know that I was able to feel her holding my hand. 443 00:49:44,540 --> 00:49:49,540 It was a realization that as much as this is research to other people, this is our real lives. 444 00:49:50,540 --> 00:50:01,540 The longer this has gone on, the more I realize this has nothing to do with me. This is all about the people that this is going to impact years from now, decades from now. 445 00:50:02,540 --> 00:50:08,540 It's really given me a sense of purpose, that losing my arm wasn't in vain. 446 00:50:08,540 --> 00:50:29,540 Today, it is for communicating with a prosthetic hand. Tomorrow, it could be for people who have lost both hands. They have lost a foot. Down the road, by stimulating the nerves that control the spleen, that control the stomach, that impact your immune system, we may cure a disease one day. 447 00:50:39,540 --> 00:50:48,540 It's astonishing to me just how adaptable our living systems are to environments that are so diverse. 448 00:50:50,540 --> 00:51:04,540 The brain is evolving, that's for sure. We know it because our nervous system allows us to interact with an environment. So as long as the environment changes, also the brain will keep changing. 449 00:51:08,540 --> 00:51:18,540 By managing everything that's going on inside the body and keeping us in touch with what's outside, the nervous system is at the core of who we are. 450 00:51:19,540 --> 00:51:24,540 What makes me realize that we have a lot more to learn about the human potential is what human beings are able to adapt to. 451 00:51:30,540 --> 00:51:36,540 The crazy ways people are breaking world records simply by learning how to be more efficient and trying harder. 452 00:51:36,540 --> 00:51:52,540 The ways people are surviving these horrific events, the way people are able to translate a terrible experience into a phenomenal story, a lot of it has to do with the way we take information in and we process it out in our own artistic way. 453 00:52:06,540 --> 00:52:20,540 To order Human The World Within on DVD, visit shoppbs.org or call 1-800-PLAY-PBS. 47875

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