All language subtitles for The UnXplained S05E04 1080p WEB h264-EDITH_track3_[eng]

WILLIAM SHATNER:
A city where the forecast

calls for blood rain.

A lake where lightning strikes
for days on end.

And a cave filled with
giant crystals

that are as beautiful
as they are deadly.

All around us
are stunning displays of

natural phenomena
that are so spectacular

and at times so strange

they defy conventional wisdom.

Can science explain
Earth's mysteries?

Or does our knowledge
of the world we inhabit

only scratch the surface?

Well, that is what
we'll try and find out.

♪ ♪

This body of water,
near the mouth

of the Catatumbo River,
has been called

the lightning capital
of the world.

Because almost every night
it's a place where

the lightning never stops.

Three hundred days out of a year

we see this lightning,
it's called Catatumbo lightning.

It's like sheets
of lightning constantly

for hours and hours and hours
and it goes on and on,

and it lights up everything
around it.

And it's not like
any other lightning

anywhere else on the planet.

It's amazing.
You have to wonder why is there

not lightning like this
everywhere else in the world?

SHATNER:
There's an old expression
that says lightning

doesn't strike twice
in the same place.

But at Lake Maracaibo,
not only does it strike

at the same place,
it does so over and over.

But why?

There are some areas
of the Earth which seem to

be like lightning valleys.

Areas that are just inundated
with lightning bolts

on a given storm, and why?

Well, we're not sure.

When you look at Venezuela,
you can take some guesses

as to what's going on.

Maybe it's the water.

But it also could be things like

the altitude or the general
atmospheric conditions.

So it's very hard to pin down
exactly what's going on

in that place, and why
that place is special.

There's a thing called chaos
theory, and in chaos theory

there are these places
that are called attractors.

They are regions that just occur
sort of randomly

that cause a vortex.

Things occur there.
Things collect there.

Perhaps the Earth has
an attractor over this lake

in Venezuela that's causing
the Catatumbo lightning.

One thing about
lightning is there is

a tremendous amount
of energy involved,

but that's not
the most exciting piece.

It's the power.

It's how quickly the energy
is released.

Lightning represents
one of the most powerful,

high-power phenomena in nature.

So lightning's
really exciting because

there's pieces we do understand,

but there's still a lot
of pieces we don't understand.

KAKU:
For example,
recently it was revealed

that the energy of a lightning
bolt is so great that even

antimatter can be formed.

To create antimatter you need
a particle accelerator, you need

an atom smasher to create
antimatter in the laboratory.

But it turns out an ordinary
lightning bolt will also create

minute quantities of
this exotic form of matter.

The lightning in Lake Maracaibo
is an interesting case of

scientists trying to figure
out an unusual phenomenon.

This region had been
identified for many years

as a hotspot of lightning,

and it turns out,
with a detailed NASA study,

it is indeed the greatest
lightning hotspot in the world.

SHATNER:
Lightning hotspots?

Are there really places on Earth
that act like lightning rods?

Perhaps further clues
can be found by examining

not only places that are
repeatedly struck by lightning

but the story of one woman
who has been struck twice

and has lived to tell the tale.

Army specialist Beth Peterson

is working
at an ammunition point

when storm clouds
begin to gather over the base.

I saw lightning strike
and hit the concertina wire

on the fence going around
the ammunition point.

And then I watched lightning
strike a tree across from me.

And next thing you know,
lightning struck again.

It entered my feet,
it exited my mouth,

it grounded on top of my head.

It felt like my body exploded.

And it just lifted me
as it launched me.

And everything just
felt, like, burnt.

I felt like it took my head off.

SHATNER:
Beth was rushed to
the infirmary

and incredibly, she survived.

But after months of recovery,

Beth realized that
something was different.

She had been changed.

Not enough people get
hit by lightning and survive,

like the strike that I survived
the first time.

And so there isn't a lot
of research for my doctors

to understand,
to be able to say,

"You've been hit by lightning
and this is the end result."

In my case, they say,
"You've been hit by lightning

"and we have to help you
figure out a way

to cope with it."

Because there are things
that happen

that are unexplained.

I really believe in the electro-
magnetic changes in the body.

Because the first ten years
of having, with my children,

having the Christmas tree up
and putting maybe tinsel on it.

The tinsel would jump six feet
off the Christmas tree onto me.

I couldn't get it to stay
on the tree.

Turning on lights,
touching things,

I'm very staticky, my hair
likes to get very floaty.

I can feel it in my body.

SHATNER:
After such a harrowing
experience, Beth took solace

both in the fact that
she had survived

and that her near-fatal
encounter with lightning

was over.

Or was it?

PETERSON:
July 19th of 1993,

I was struck
by lightning again.

I had a psychologist tell me
that I was a soldier,

I needed to get over it,

I needed to carry on
and soldier on,

and that I should go home
and watch the storm.

And that's what
I told myself as I drove home

and took off my boots
and opened the French doors

and was struck again.

It threw me approximately
eight to nine feet

back into the house.

No one has ever come forward and
told me why this has happened.

I have had a team
of incredible doctors,

and they have tried
and tried and tried

through the years to medically

have some explanation.

Because when a person's
going through

what I've gone through,
you want a answer.

And the answer just
always keeps coming back

to "You've been
struck by lightning."

SHATNER:
Was it merely a coincidence

that Beth was struck
a second time

or could there have been
something larger at play?

Is it possible that,
like Lake Maracaibo,

some people attract lightning?

They say that being hit
by a lightning bolt

is similar to winning
the lottery.

And yet some people are hit by
lightning bolts more than once.

And what's the reason?
Is it just bad luck?

DENNIN:
As people, we do have
a certain composition

and we're mostly water.

And water is a great
conductor of electricity.

But the exact details
and specifics of how each person

is set up is gonna vary enough,
so you can imagine some

people are greater
or lesser lightning rods.

So if you think about
the whole electrical system

and how they fit into
the electrical system of

the Earth and the atmosphere,

some people are more likely to
be hit by lightning than others.

PETERSON:
I always have
a heightened awareness.

I know where
the storms are coming.

I can feel it by
the hair on my arms standing up,

the hair on the back
of my neck, my static in

my own hair-- it floats.

I can tell when the changes
in the weather are happening

by the response of
what I feel in my body.

I do not necessarily
think it was

a coincidence
that I was struck a second time.

I think the changes in my body
made it more attractive.

Why are certain places
and certain people

repeatedly struck by lightning?

Is it possible
that what we perceive

as random weather events
are actually

not so random after all,

like in the case
of a devastating tornado

that leveled everything
in its path,

yet somehow left
a single house untouched?

SHATNER:
Scientists at
Florida State University

publish the results
of a study on

the destructive power
of tornadoes.

Their conclusion: tornadoes,
which are already capable of

generating 200-miles-per-hour
winds,

are getting five percent
more powerful every year.

And there doesn't appear to be
a limit as to how strong

they will become in the future.

Tornadoes have so
much energy in them.

The energy in a large tornado,
like an EF4 or 5

is more energy than
is in a nuclear weapon.

The base of these things
are sometimes

a mile wide and they go all

the way up to 30, 40,

50,000 feet high.

This is a very large structure.

A skyscraper is teeny-tiny
in comparison to a tornado.

SHATNER:
If scientists are correct,
and tornadoes are getting

even stronger,
how are we supposed to

keep ourselves safe
from their awesome power?

Especially considering
we still have no idea how

to predict when and where
they'll appear.

BILL EVANS:
The thing that's hardest
to explain about tornadoes

is why the tornado forms
and when is it triggered

to come to the surface?

The problem
with tracking tornadoes is

they're only for
just a very few minutes.

-They form, a warning goes out.
-(siren blaring)

Only 13 minutes elapses

before, most times,
the tornado was on the ground.

So, we don't have
a whole lot of research

as far as looking at those.

TAYLOR:
There is almost an
infinite number

of moving parts in a tornado.
There's atmospheric turbulence,

there's moisture,
there's pressure changes.

There's electromagnetic

discharges and charging
going on.

There's so many phenomena
that you can't even

make the list complete.

KAKU:
When we think
of the laws of physics,

we think of firing a bullet.

Moves in a straight line,
never deviates.

But the weather--
what a headache for a physicist.

Remember the butterfly effect?

That is, even the flapping of

the wings of a butterfly
can cause a ripple effect,

which will lead to a tipping
point initiating a thunderstorm.

So even small vibrations here
can cause

massive distortions
to the weather over there.

That's why predicting
the path of a tornado

is virtually impossible.

SHATNER:
After a long, hard week,
the Coffelt family

is looking forward
to spending a Sunday

relaxing in the comfort
of their home.

But it isn't long
before they realize

their plans are
going to be interrupted.

COREY COFFELT:
We, uh, started getting
all these notifications

on our phones, like,
"tornado warning."

And then we started getting

a little bit concerned.

We looked outside, see the
weather's getting kind of bad.

It was like dark clouds.

It's-it's hard to describe
because it was just, like,

coming toward the house.

It was, it was
getting really dark.

I started walking
towards the door and it just

almost went pitch black.

My wife yelled, "Go to the
bathroom, go to the bathroom!"

All of us, my wife and two
daughters, went in the bathroom.

A minute or two went by, and
you heard the tornado coming in.

It started with a small whistle,
and it got louder and louder.

And then it kind of sounded like

a train coming in, like...
(whistles)

And it just--
boom, hit the house.

When we were in there,
it was so confusing because

you didn't know what was
gonna happen.

Especially when we started
hearing stuff happen around us

and, you know, we're all
just in that tight space.

-And I was screaming.
-(screams)

Everything started shaking.

You could hear the little
snaps going on outside.

And then it stopped.

And then it happened again.

SHATNER:
When the violent shaking
finally subsides,

the frightened family
cautiously leaves the safety of

the bathroom to assess
the damage to their house.

But to their shock
and disbelief, there's none.

We came out,
we walked out the front door

and looked and saw everything.

It was overwhelming.

F4 tornado comes across
and destroys everything

around you,
except for your house and

you and your family still,
still standing.

We were just
completely overwhelmed,

we could barely breathe
and just couldn't believe

the destruction
that was out there.

It was just breathtaking.
It can't be explained.

The emotions and the feelings
that go through,

it's really just, uh...

it's mind-blowing.

SHATNER:
Despite sitting directly
in the tornado's savage path,

the Coffelt house
was somehow spared

when nearly everything else
in sight was leveled.

Aside from some
minor superficial damage,

barely a shingle had
been knocked out of place.

But how?

TAYLOR:
There's so many variables
with a tornado,

and why it hits this house
and not that one,

it's really hard to say.

There could be
little pockets of pressure,

little pockets of temperature,
little pockets of moisture.

Who knows what it is.

But it could be
little pockets that change

the statistics
of the debris field

such that it just
happens to miss that spot.

DENNIN:
Tornadoes never travel
in very straight, regular paths.

When you picture the video,

it's an interesting path
to avoid the house.

But you could imagine a tornado
circling back on itself.

That is not inconceivable.

This house could have
been lucky to have the tornado

come down the right side,
turn around, destroy the forest

on the other side, turn
around again and then go off.

SHATNER:
Could it be that the Coffelts
and their house

survived simply because of luck?

Or was it the result
of some kind of

deliberate intervention?

After all, from Zeus,
the Greek god of thunder,

to Set, the Egyptian god
of storms, ancient cultures

believed weather was
not a random force of nature

but a power wielded by the gods.

Major ancient cultures
saw the Earth itself

as a god,
more accurately a goddess.

The Greeks had a name: Gaia.
The ancient Hindu tradition also

saw the planet
as a feminine divinity,

so we are in relationship
with the planet.

There are weather patterns
that are caused

by planetary energies.

And this is a living
relationship which can

help our way of looking
at our relationship

to the ground we live on,

all stemming back to some
of the most ancient cultures and

religious practices that have
been with us on this planet.

SHATNER:
A living, conscious planet?

If this is true, does it mean
that the Coffelt's house

was deliberately spared
by some act of divine mercy?

Or was it left standing
to serve as a warning

that nature must be respected?

As far as the Coffelts
are concerned,

the answers hardly matter.

If there is some
miracle about all this...

'Cause it's not a miracle.

'Cause getting hit by
a tornado-- that... that sucks.

And I probably shouldn't
be sitting here today.

I definitely do have
a new respect for the weather.

It really can,
it can take everything

away from you
in a blink of an eye.

Even with all the technology

we use to
track weather patterns,

when it comes to predicting
the path of a tornado,

scientists are simply baffled.

And that was also the case when
a city in India was besieged

for months by a bizarre
phenomenon that is known as

blood rain.

SHATNER:
In the skies above
this forested region of

rolling hills
in the southwestern state

of Kerala, storm clouds
begin to gather.

Not so unusual in
this part of the country.

But when the rain starts,
no one is prepared for

what falls from the sky.

Something that appears
to be blood.

And it lasts not for hours
or days or even weeks,

but for months.

If I put myself in the shoes
of these people that experienced

this blood rain coming from
the sky, I can only imagine

how terrifying that must be,
and how that must make

those people question
their own existence,

question the forces of nature
that are at work in the world.

That must be earth-shattering
for these people.

You have to think that
that's sent from the heavens.

For some reason,
some mystical reason

this happened because
it's sent from the gods.

It's sending out a signal
or a message for some reason.

SHATNER:
After months of wondering
whether the apocalypse

was at hand,
residents sighed in relief

as, suddenly,
the scarlet deluge stopped.

And just like every other time
this strange phenomenon happened

throughout history,
the skies returned to normal.

Similar stories of
red rain have essentially

spanned history
over thousands of years.

It's been repeatedly
reported, first in mythology,

and then in historical accounts.

it goes back maybe
to the sixth century B.C.

TAYLOR:
We have stories in our
theology and mythologies

that see this phenomenon
happening, so it must be

one of the signs
of the coming apocalypse.

But it's a phenomenon
that occurs in weather

around the planet all the time.

EVANS:
You never know where
red rain is going to occur,

it's all depending on
weather systems.

All over the world

there's been rain like this,

even in the United States.

Even in the Ukraine and Russia,
this has taken place.

SHATNER:
It's not surprising that
ancient people regarded blood

falling from the sky
as a sign of impending doom.

But today,
we tend not to believe

in such far-fetched nonsense.

Especially because, as I'm sure
you'll be relieved to know,

blood rain isn't actually
made of blood.

Scientists did analysis of
this red rain and did not find

things like copper or iron,
things that we think of as red,

that would cause
this water to be red.

So why was it red?

What else could
have been in the water

that made a blood red rain?

EVANS:
What scientists thought is that
it is caused by spores

that are on trees,
grassy areas, rocks,

all over the terrain
there in India.

And those spores blast
all of that into the atmosphere.

And that's carried
up into the clouds,

and it kind of hangs there.

Oftentimes spores are
produced prolifically, you know,

billions of millions of spores,
right, go all over the place.

And so you can imagine
that it would be transported

up in the atmosphere,
associate with rain and then

come down as
a red color as well.

SHATNER:
The theory that red algae spores
can and do create red rain

is believed by most scientists
to be a sound one.

But believe it or not,
there's another theory.

One which proposes
that blood rain is caused

by something extraterrestrial.

If you look at the red rain
under the microscope,

what we found
was absolutely staggering,

because we found that there were
red living cells dispersed

in the rain that was the cause
of the red color in the rain.

And these cells
were in the process

of actually reproducing.

And when examined under
the highest magnification,

these cells didn't look like
anything that we had seen

on the Earth.

SHATNER:
Life unlike any on Earth?

Could it be that the real cause
of blood rain is far more

profound than
previously thought?

Coincidentally, there was also
a meteor explosion in the area.

So the question is, could
those two events be linked?

WICKRAMASINGHE:
What I think happened was that
a fragment of a comet

exploded in the high
stratosphere,

and this comet
had living entities,

alien life in the form
of these red cells.

And they became the seeds,

the nuclei of raindrops.

TAYLOR:
We found plankton organisms

on the solar panels of
the International Space Station.

So it's possible
that this meteor

that exploded over India
had some sort of

red organic material in it
that came from space.

SHATNER:
If the source of blood rain is,
in fact, extraterrestrial,

might it help explain

how life could have started
here on Earth?

One theory of how life
can propagate from one planet

to another and even one star
system to another is panspermia.

Panspermia is the idea
that life on the Earth

started in outer space.

And sure enough,
when we look at meteorites

on the Earth,
we find some from Mars,

some from the Moon and
maybe even some from Venus.

And so if meteors can go back

and forth, why not DNA?

WHITEHEAD:
We tend to think of ourselves as
something that grew out of some

primordial soup from a random
one-time accident that took

place on this planet millions
and millions of years ago.

But could it be that
we actually, us humans,

are the aliens on this planet?

Blood rain. It's a weather
phenomenon so unusual

that it calls into question
everything we know

about our planet,

as well as what might be coming
to Earth from outer space.

Just like a curious
natural rock formation located

in the plains of Wyoming that,
according to experts,

has no Earthly reason
for being there.

SHATNER:
It rises from the Earth
like a giant fist

stretching out
to strike the sky.

A colossal 900-foot shaft
of rugged rock.

One whose very name
conjures notions

of both awe and dread:

Devils Tower.

Devils Tower is remarkable
because you can

drive across
the sedimentary plains,

see nothing but flat ground
for miles and miles.

And then this tall,
dark tower emerges

as you drive towards it.

There is nothing like
it in the surrounding area.

The rock has a grayish,
even a greenish-gray color.

And so, as you approach
Devils Tower, it's a distinct,

stark contrast
to the sort of tans and

browns of the surrounding
sedimentary rocks.

SHATNER:
Located in northeastern
Wyoming,

Devils Tower was declared

America's very first
National Monument in 1906

by President Theodore Roosevelt,
who sought to protect it

it as an object of
scientific interest.

Since then, many have asked
what could have caused

this massive tower to form?

There are many theories about
it, but there's no agreement on

what it was that produced
this miracle of nature.

And it's made of
volcanic-type materials,

but there's no other
volcanic activity around it.

So, what caused this thing?

We don't know the answer
to that question.

It's a really
interesting conundrum.

SHATNER:
Is Devils Tower
really a miracle of nature?

Something that simply
cannot be explained

by natural and scientific laws?

Sorry but that explanation
is simply not good enough.

As much as we like to
walk around with the confidence

that we know this planet

and we understand the planet
we live on,

there seems to be nothing
but mystery on this planet.

We don't understand
how to predict earthquakes.

We don't understand
how lightning travels.

There's so many questions
that we have

about what produces
the forces of nature.

SHATNER:
Some have suggested that the key
to understanding Devils Tower

is to think of it the way
many Native Americans do.

Not as a natural formation,

but as an unnatural one.

The Native peoples of
the area have worshiped

this tower as an altar of sorts,

and many feel like they can
climb to the top of this place

and get divine inspiration,
become empowered.

And the question is
is there some truth to this

Native legend-- that
this place is a sacred place

on the planet,
and it is a sort of altar

that allows humans to
communicate to the spirits

or to the universe or to
the gods that they believe in?

To view Devils Tower,
if you want to call it that--

Mato Thipila is what we call
it-- it's a sacred place.

And when you see it from
a certain distance, even then

you start to feel the wonder
of it,

the sacredness of it.

And as you get closer
and closer, the positive,

sacred energy starts to build,
and you feel it even more

when you get to the base
of the tower.

I think in the case of
Devils Tower, it is so unusual,

it is so anomalous
that it is easy

to ascribe a mystical
or spiritual attribute to it.

It's not surprising that
Hollywood directors

would choose this as the place

that aliens would
land from outer space.

In the mid 1970s,

one of the most
important events in history of

Devils Tower took place,
and that was the filming of

the movie Close Encounters
of the Third Kind.

In that movie by
Steven Spielberg, the tower

is a spot that many
people are drawn to,

and they don't know
why they're drawn to it.

They're drawn to it
from all over the country.

It turns out, as the movie
goes on, that they're drawn here

because they'd
been abducted sometime

during their life by aliens.

A UFO lands on top of the tower

and Richard Dreyfuss and several
other people climb into the UFO

and fly off into space.

The number of visitors
that came to the tower doubled

the year after
that movie came out,

and it stayed at that level
every year ever since.

I don't know if it's
a landing site for UFOs,

as Spielberg had in his movie,
or what it might be.

I mean, the more we look at it,
the more baffled we are.

We are going to find things
as we continue to observe

and search and study
the Earth that we had no idea

how they got there,
what type of physical process

created them, and we're gonna
learn new things all the time.

Is Devils Tower
really an anomaly?

Or is it yet another example
of how little we know

about Earth's evolution?

Perhaps the answer can
be found by examining another

natural formation
that is even more perplexing.

It's a magnificent cavern,

located in
Northern Mexico, that is

full of giant crystals.

Crystals that are both beautiful

and deadly.

SHATNER:
In the mineral-rich town
of Naica,

more than 1,000 feet below
the surface of the earth,

a group of miners drilling

through a cave wall,
make a remarkable discovery.

Not of precious metals,

but something far more
wonderous and mysterious.

A glittering cavern, untouched
for half a million years,

filled with the largest crystals
ever found.

It's amazing.
There are crystals that are

huge, so big you can
actually walk across them.

And for these crystals
to have gotten

as big as they are,
they had to have been growing

for hundreds
of thousands of years.

It's a fascinating location.

This is something
you would think would only

exist in the world of
science fiction and fantasy,

but the fact is
it's all too real.

SHATNER:
Measuring up to an astonishing
40 feet in length

and weighing as much as
55 tons, the giant beams

are the purest form of
selenite crystal in the world.

Crystals are the most
orderly structure in nature,

and they have the ability
to absorb frequency

and energy from objects
around them.

Now, it is my theory

that these giant pylons

have the ability to transmit

and receive
information and light.

SHATNER:
Only a few months
after its discovery,

a team of scientists was sent in

to study this
geological anomaly.

They soon learned that
Naica's crystal cave

may be not only beautiful

but deadly.

TAYLOR:
It's 90 to 100% relative
humidity inside this cave.

And it's always over 113
degrees Fahrenheit.

You might think, well,
113 degrees isn't that bad.

It gets 140 degrees

in the deserts in Iraq all
the time, and people live there.

But the relative humidity
in those deserts is ten percent.

In this cave,
there's so much humidity

you can't sweat
and cool your body off.

HUTCHISON:
I received an invitation
to go on an expedition

and exploration
of these giant crystals.

I was aware of the heat
and humidity, but nothing

prepared me for what hit me
when I entered those caves.

I felt like
I was hit by a tsunami

of tremendous heat and humidity.

I started shaking, I was scared.

These are near-fatal conditions.

SHATNER:
Due to the Crystal Cave's
lethal atmosphere,

the research team was restricted

to ten-minute exposures
to avoid being cooked alive.

For gemologist Leela Hutchinson,

the most unexpected
discovery wasn't

something she saw,
but something she heard.

HUTCHISON:
One of the things
that I realized, as I had to

focus so intensely
to keep my wits about me,

was this ability
to hear a low hum.

And I thought
that was very strange.

Nikola Tesla was quoted
as once saying that we may not

understand the growth
of a crystal,

but nonetheless,
it is a living being.

SHATNER:
Energy from living,

giant crystals?

In an attempt to navigate
the unusual properties

of the crystals within the Naica
cave,

NASA developed
special cooling equipment,

allowing scientists to withstand

the cave's lethal conditions for
as much as 30 minutes at a time.

And according to
their research, the hum

emanating from
the Crystal Cave may not be

because its crystals
are storing energy

but because they're harboring
something even more unexpected:

life.

HUTCHISON:
In the 2008 expedition,

the NASA scientists
went into caves

and drew out fluid inclusions

in the largest crystals

and found microbes

that are considered
to be extremophiles.

Microbes that are
living organisms.

They're single-celled,
and they have the ability

to survive and thrive
in extreme environments.

One of the interesting things
about the extremophiles

was there is nothing
in our genetic database

that comes close to what
these extremophiles are.

SHATNER:
Microbes unlike anything
seen on Earth?

NASA's astrobiology report
suggests that these

extremophiles are
up to 50,000 years old

and could survive
on other planets.

But many wonder
is there a risk involved

in handling these
never-before-seen organisms?

The Cave of the Crystals
can be a dangerous place.

For example, not long
after it was found,

one of the workers actually
snuck back into the cave.

Not surprisingly,
he passed out and died.

Now, it's unclear if he died
from the air quality,

the heat, the humidity,
or could it have been

the extremophile micro-organisms
that were in there?

The Crystal Cave
is one of Earth's

magnificent mysteries
that is simply

too dangerous to explore.

But there are other
even more dangerous places

on this planet that require
a lot less effort to get to.

For example, there's a geyser
in Yellowstone National Park

known as Old Faithful.

And it was only recently
that scientists

discovered that Old Faithful

is located on top
of a massive volcano

that could wipe
out all of humanity.

SHATNER: Each year, more than
four million people travel

from all over the world
to experience its canyons,

hot springs

and other natural wonders.

But the most wondrous sight
of all is a geyser that shoots

a jet of superheated water
more than 150 feet into the air.

And it does so
at such regular intervals

that you can practically
set your watch by it.

Which is why
they call this geyser

Old Faithful.

If you visit Yellowstone,
it's spectacular.

There are geysers
all over the place.

Some erupt every few minutes.

Some erupt every few hours.

But what is remarkable
about Old Faithful

is you can go there
with a stopwatch

and you can time,
almost to the minute,

when the next eruption
of Old Faithful will occur.

DENNIN:
Most of nature is radical
and unpredictable,

but the really surprising
feature of Old Faithful

is not that it's periodic
and regular, because that also

happens in many places
in nature.

It's that it's been periodic
and regular for so long.

That is something that really
shows us there's a lot we don't

understand about nature,
and a lot more we need to learn.

SHATNER:
Old Faithful.

For centuries,
we have thought of it

as a mere tourist attraction.

A quaint example
of Mother Nature

at her most punctual.

But what if we're wrong?

What if it is really providing
a geological countdown

to mankind's
ultimate extinction?

Yellowstone is famous
for bears, it is famous for

magnificent geysers,
but underneath your feet

is a super volcano,

and it's at least
44 miles across.

It's a whole network
of magma pools that could

one day blow up

and cause tremendous havoc.

TAYLOR:
A super volcano,
if it were to erupt,

is so massive amount of energy
being released that it would

destroy half of the continental
United States.

And it would be more devastating

to the entire planet
than the asteroid

that hit that we think
killed the dinosaurs.

KAKU:
This gigantic eruption
has happened three times--

three times
in the recorded history--

and we are due for another one,
who knows when?

Maybe tomorrow.
Maybe a hundred,

maybe 200,000 years from now.

But it will happen.

Whether it's super volcanoes
that are hidden underground

or never-ending
lightning storms

or caves
full of massive crystals,

it seems that in spite
of everything we've learned,

our planet is still
full of surprises.

Perhaps we just have
to face the fact that,

for the foreseeable future,
the natural forces on Earth

will continue to be
unpredictable and...

unexplained.

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