Original subtitles

WILLIAM SHATNER: A death-defying escape

performed by the world's most daring magician.

A man who endures below-freezing temperatures

using ancient breathing techniques.

And a baffling crime that was solved

by transcending space and time.

History is full of incredible individuals who may seem

no different than the rest of us, but have somehow managed

to transcend the limitations of the human body.

How do they do it?

Does the secret lie within the power of the mind?

Or is it possible that some have learned

how to tap into forces beyond our understanding

in order to achieve the impossible?

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

♪ ♪

A little-known 25-year-old Hungarian magician

and escape artist by the name of Harry Houdini

makes an astonishing debut at the Orpheum Opera House,

one of the country's premiere vaudeville theaters.

one of the country's premiere vaudeville theaters.

(audience murmuring)

FEMALE ANNOUNCER: The Great Houdini.

Houdini's father was a rabbi, and when he lost his job

in Appleton, Wisconsin, the family moved

to Milwaukee and later to New York.

And it was there he met a friend who had a mutual interest

in magic, and they formed an act, and they took the name

"Houdin" and they added an "I" to the end: Houdini.

And that was really the beginning of his magic career.

Houdini would come to town and he would challenge

police officers and locksmiths to bring their best locks.

He would put himself in these locks and he would escape them

onstage in front of a live audience.

Houdini's real power and his gift was

his showmanship, his presentation, his ability

to mesmerize an audience, to connect with them.

Because here was this small immigrant man

that conquered all his fears.

That could do things that nobody else could do.

And so, he would have this power over his audiences

in a way that's never been achieved since.

SHATNER: Over the course of his career, Houdini performed

thousands of death-defying escapes.

But of all his astounding feats, one was considered

more dangerous and more impossible than the rest.

Houdini depended on publicity stunts to draw

people to the vaudeville theater to see him.

The greatest of those publicity stunts

was the overboard box escape.

He started it in 1912 in New York.

COX: He announced that he would be doing this escape from a pier

and a massive crowd assembled to watch this.

And Houdini showed up with his assistants,

with the reporters, with his packing crate.

And the police also showed up and they said,

"You can't do that. There's laws against that."

Houdini decided to rent a tugboat on his own

out to the middle of the East River.

There they started the process of locking him up

in the handcuffs, locking him up in the leg irons,

tying him up with the heavy rope,

putting him inside this escape-proof wooden crate.

Nailing the lid on so it couldn't be opened.

And even that wasn't enough.

Then they tied the packing crate up

with this heavy, strong rope.

Because the box had a number of air holes

all around it, and because it was weighted

on the outside with 180 pounds of iron,

it would quickly sink into the water.

The water would go inside of the box,

and, of course, Houdini with it.

Everyone who worked with him knew

that it was a dangerous feat.

The story was that they used to hold

their breath with him because they used to

anticipate how long he would be under the water.

And about a minute later,

suddenly Houdini would bob to the surface, free.

Completely free of the box and the handcuffs.

And what's amazing about the overboard box escape is

that when the box was hauled up, it was still locked.

It was still nailed shut.

And when it was opened up, the handcuffs were

found inside, also closed.

How did he escape from this wooden packing crate

into the river and nothing was touched, nothing was damaged?

All in less than 60 seconds. That is beyond belief.

SHATNER: It was indeed beyond belief.

Over the next several years,

Houdini would repeat this incredible escape

countless times, and for audiences all over the world.

How did he do it?

It was such a great escape,

and it mystified audiences everywhere.

But Houdini had his skeptics. They wanted to expose him.

They wanted to explain how he did it.

They figured Houdini would sneak in during

the middle of the night and cut a little trap door.

Or have an escape panel that he could

get out of it some way that nobody knew about.

So let's just say for the sake of argument that he did

use short nails or trick knots to escape his contraption.

How is it possible that he got out of his handcuffs,

out of his leg irons, put the box back together again,

tied it all back up, all within 57 seconds

while holding his breath?

Houdini would invite anyone on stage to examine the nails,

to handle the nails, to put in your own nails.

And you might also suggest, was Houdini ever

in the packing crate in the first place?

He was in that these had the holes in them,

and he would poke his finger out, and they would see.

And even as he would be raised,

he would poke a little American flag or something out.

So you could see from the time that it went under the waves

that there was someone inside that packing crate.

SHATNER: While there are many theories,

no one knows for certain how Houdini pulled off

his overboard box escape.

Even master escape artists, many of whom spent decades

studying Houdini's tricks and techniques,

are still trying to figure it out.

Often with deadly results.

GUNNARSON: Many people have died doing this escape.

I mean, I was one of them.

I'm living proof of how dangerous this escape is.

In 1983 I decided to do my variation of

the Houdini packing crate.

I got all chained up and locked, I got put into a wooden coffin,

the lid was nailed on, it was wrapped in chain,

and then the coffin was lowered into an icy river in Canada.

And I didn't escape. I couldn't get out.

I was underwater for nearly four minutes.

They pulled the coffin out, my cold, lifeless body

was still inside that coffin.

It was only the dedicated paramedics

that were on standby that saved my life.

I was a very lucky young escape artist on that day.

SHATNER: For nearly a century since his death,

magicians have tried and failed to figure out

just how Harry Houdini managed this incredible escape.

But there are some who believe that the reason

for their failure is simple: they never considered

that Houdini was capable of performing real magic.

One of Houdini's great friends was Arthur Conan Doyle,

the author of Sherlock Holmes.

Conan Doyle believed very strongly in spiritualism

and he saw a number of things that he considered

evidence that Houdini was actually a psychic

and was de-materializing out of his escapes.

He always chided Houdini that he should be honest with

his audience and tell them not only that he has these powers,

but that these powers exist for everyone to share.

Sir Arthur firmly believed that Houdini was supernatural

and he could not be talked out of this by Houdini.

But Houdini went out of his way to say,

"There is nothing supernatural about my feats.

My brain is the key that sets me free."

That was what Houdini would say over and over again.

SHATNER: "My brain is the key that sets me free."

Could the secret to Houdini's incredible feats

really have been revealed in that simple phrase?

Did the magician have such an incredible control

over his mind that he could command his body

to perform the impossible?

We may never know.

On October 31, 1926, Harry Houdini died

of a ruptured appendix at the age of 52, taking

many of his secrets to his grave.

But whether his astounding escapes

were made possible by clever devices,

impressive physical skill,

or what some might call "real magic,"

Harry Houdini remains the most mysterious

and unexplained magician in history.

SHATNER; Here, not far from a massive glacier,

where temperatures average just above freezing,

a man has decided to sit outside in the cold

for over an hour wearing only a pair of shorts.

His name is Wim Hof, and although most people would die

if they attempted such a feat, he finds it quite relaxing.

Wim has made a great impression on the world because

of his extraordinary ability to withstand freezing temperatures.

His exploits have earned him the nickname "the Iceman."

The most challenging aspect of

going into the cold is your fear.

Control your fear and let the body do what

the body is capable of.

All the doctors said, "You are the Iceman.

"You are a freak of nature.

You are an abnormality. You are a super human."

But I'm as human as any person, only I am challenging

my body and mind in nature.

SHATNER: Wim has performed a number of feats that,

on the surface, seem impossible,

such as climbing Mount Everest wearing nothing

but shorts and shoes,

and spending nearly two hours

fully immersed in an ice bath.

But what motivated Wim to learn how to brave

the cold in the first place?

As a young kid, I was very interested in anything that was

strange, and stories and deeds

of people going into the unknown, so-called.

And when I was 17, I began to go in freezing temperatures.

And there I found a deep connection

with my body, with my God, with a depth.

And that is now 45 years ago.

And since then, I have never skipped a day

going into the cold.

COYNE: In these ungodly, below- freezing temperatures,

your average person can freeze to death

in less than 30 minutes.

It's not an environment that's suitable for humans.

So with Wim Hoff, his ability to withstand cold

is really extraordinary.

It just makes absolutely no sense.

SHATNER: For an ordinary person, attempting these feats

would result in almost certain death.

And yet Wim Hof doesn't just survive in frigid temperatures--

he seems to thrive in them.

But how?

Well, according to Wim Hof,

this ability doesn't come from his body

but rather from his mind.

If we follow the breaths...

(breathing deeply)

...then the mind begins to cease.

I learned how to tap into my brain

to have a much greater control

than doctors thought was possible.

When I go in a brain scan or in a fMRI

and they put cold water upon my skin

with a skin temperature measurement device,

I'm able to raise

my skin temperature so much

that the cold water is making my skin temperature not going down.

That means through the psychology,

I caused something physiologically.

MITCH HOROWITZ: Wim Hof's work is being

widely studied right now in academic settings.

And what's being found

is that he can get into a kind of transpersonal mental state

where the body is freed from perceived limitations,

making him more resilient

and capable of acts of greater stamina.

We're coming to a whole new realization

of the powers of the mind over the body.

SHATNER: Could Wim Hof's mind be able to regulate his body's ability

to withstand freezing temperatures?

Many experts believe it's possible.

And as evidence,

they point to an ancient Tibetan breathing technique

known as tummo,

which, if done properly,

can raise a person's body temperature.

Tummo was first described in the 11th century.

And what it-it translates to is "inner fire."

(chanting)

And the practice is meditation-guided breathing

where they literally imagine that their spine is on fire

and they can feel this flame going from their deep inside

all the way to the top of their head.

And it's believed

that they can raise their core body temperature

and feel that heat

by practicing this meditation and breathing strategy.

Tummo gave them control to be able to withstand elements

and inner control amidst this external chaos.

AMIR HUSSAIN: Through this meditative practice,

you're literally able to heat up your body

so you can withstand, uh, cold temperatures.

But it's a technique that anyone can use.

Anyone can be taught how to do this.

(chanting)

SHATNER: If tummo can unlock the mind's capacity

to control body temperature,

then it naturally begs the question,

what other incredible abilities do our minds possess?

Well, in the case of Wim Hof, it appears

that he has taken his mental powers to the next level

in order to actually heal his body.

JUSTIN ROSALES: 15 years ago, Wim ran a half marathon barefoot in the snow.

After the half marathon,

one of the medics, um, examined his foot

and said, "Hey, this is-- this is pretty bad."

And said, "He has irreparable damage.

Third-degree frostbite."

And Wim just was so mad.

He just felt like he could do something to heal it.

So Wim was able to start healing his frostbitten foot

by doing his normal breathing exercises

that he had been doing for years

and focusing and visualizing his foot being healed.

And over a month and a half...

...it did get better.

The skin healed completely.

The "irreparable damage"

that he was not supposed to come back from was gone.

(grunting)

SHATNER: Is it really possible

that Wim Hof is simply using his mind

to perform these superhuman feats?

While that idea may sound far-fetched,

Wim is just the latest in a long line of people

possessing such remarkable abilities.

HOF: We have a much more possible control

over our mind and body than meets the eye.

We can learn to raise our capacity to endure pain

and to tackle biological stress.

And that is there for anybody.

Through your mind, you are able to go further

than you have ever been before.

SHATNER: Lying within the coastal mountains

of this frigid landscape is Lake Qorlortoq.

Covered beneath a million tons of ice,

its crystal blue waters hover

at a hypothermia-inducing 33 degrees Fahrenheit,

one degree above freezing.

Wearing only a pair of swim trunks,

four-time world champion free diver Stig Severinsen

plunges into the icy water

in an attempt to set a new record

for the longest swim under ice.

Without an oxygen tank and unable to surface,

he risks unconsciousness and death

as he swims 250 feet underwater,

or nearly the length of a football field.

SEVERINSEN: When most people

jump in ice-cold water... (gasping)

they start gasping and they panic.

Within minutes,

you become icy-cold to the core.

And your body can simply shut down.

I understand that people think it's crazy or wild

or stupid even, you know, unbelievable.

But I love to challenge science.

I love to challenge the human physiology,

human potential.

(cheering)

SHATNER: Stig's swim beneath the ice

wasn't the first time he went to extremes.

(inhales deeply)

In May of 2012,

he also held his breath

for an astonishing 22 minutes.

But what would compel someone to push themselves to the limit,

risking death just to pull off a stunt?

HOROWITZ: Some of us

seem to be hardwired to push the limits.

Some of us seem to crave

excitement, intensity,

euphoria.

There seem to be a certain fraction of people

in need of physical activities

or other kinds of activities that push the limits

of safety or human possibility or perseverance.

Now, it's a question as to whether

these people are seeking euphoria

or whether they're seeking some...

greater, more visceral connection with themselves.

Humans have this drive and this need to seek novelty,

to see what's on the other side of the unknown.

And it's something that is incredibly dangerous

but also makes us able to do insanely difficult things.

SHATNER: In the late 18th and early 19th centuries,

a new breed of thrill-seekers popularized the public display

of pushing the limits of human ability,

risking life and limb to perform death-defying feats

in pursuit of fame and fortune.

And the first of these daredevils

was a man named Sam Patch.

DARRIN McMAHON: Sam Patch was the Evel Knievel

of the early 19th century.

Uh, they called him the Jersey Jumper,

the Yankee Leaper.

He-he liked to jump off things.

Famously, they had a platform erected in Niagara Falls

so that he could jump into the water

but from a really high level.

75 or 100 feet.

Unfortunately, it's risky business.

And in 1829, on Friday the 13th,

he either slipped or fell awkwardly

and didn't go in feetfirst as he normally did.

The audience of several thousand heard a splat,

and he was never seen from again.

SHATNER: But Sam Patch's tragic demise

did not deter other would-be daredevils.

Over the next century,

countless more followed in his footsteps,

increasing the danger with every attempt...

...including one who went to the next level

by taking to the skies.

SCOTT EDEN: Clem Sohn was an aerialist,

one of the first, maybe the first, to...

build for himself a kind of gliding suit.

He would jump out of airplanes

with the wings attached

and a kind of tail structure.

McMAHON: One of his nicknames was the Birdman.

He would glide for thousands of feet

and then eventually pull the rip cord and parachute to safety.

And he did this on both sides of the Atlantic.

Unfortunately, outside of Paris in 1937,

in front of a crowd of as many of 100,000 people,

he glided through the air

and then his first chute failed to open...

(gasping, chattering)

...and then the second one

and then he plunged to his death.

SHATNER: The practice of performing thrill-seeking feats

is alive and well today,

even if not all daredevils survive their attempt

to push the limits.

But why do so many human beings feel the need

to pursue incredible feats,

even if it means risking their lives?

MAGNESS: Pushing boundaries and pushing limits

is part of our human nature.

You would think that would be counterintuitive.

Seeking pain seems like not the brightest thing to do,

because we're going against our survival.

If you look at any animal in the animal kingdom,

none of them really do things

that go against survival instincts.

They just want to survive.

Human beings, on the other hand...

...we will seek out things that put us at immense risk.

And not for any external reward

but, really, for the internal reward of doing it.

Seeking something difficult, something hard

often makes people feel alive.

Does risking one's life somehow push daredevils

beyond the limits of what we consider physically possible?

It's an intriguing theory.

But what's even more incredible

is when people are able to harness

the mysterious powers of the human mind.

Like in the case of a murder

that was solved not by conventional police work

but rather by using a strange practice

that is known as...

remote viewing.

SHATNER: Steven B. Williams,

a successful radio host and deejay from Colorado,

has gone missing.

For the next two weeks, police engage in a massive search.

But despite their efforts, there's still no trace of him.

Desperate for answers, a close friend of Williams

decides to enlist the help of Angela Smith,

a woman with a unique talent:

remote viewing.

He didn't want to give me any up-front information,

because in remote viewing, often, that can contaminate

the viewing and lead to imagination, et cetera.

The process I use consists of sitting with

a pack of white paper and a pen,

a couple of letters and numbers,

and often, nothing more.

You go through accessing colors and shapes

and smells and tastes and going in your mind

to the location and perceiving,

and bringing back the information.

I did a session and found water, brackish water,

a land mass, an event that happened...

...and it seemed that the individual in question

had been killed, was in the water,

and a lot of other surrounding information.

In 2006, I was a commander

for the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department,

and I'd been in law enforcement about 31 years.

It was quite unusual, to say the least,

that Angela Smith would pick out a particular homicide

and provide detailed information and then try to help solve it.

I called the homicide investigator

and just said, is he working on a case

with an anonymous body found floating in the ocean?

By the fact that I had that much information,

I immediately had his interest.

I says, "I've got some information on this."

And I said, "I've got to tell you

that it's gonna sound bizarre."

SHATNER: Using the information provided by Angela Smith,

the police were able to identify a nameless body

that had been found off the coast of Catalina Island.

It was that of Steven B. Williams.

But it didn't end there.

Angela provided information

not only about the victim

but also about his killer.

After the body had been identified,

I did a profile, like an FBI profiler would do,

and that matched a profile of an individual

that Williams had been in contact with.

Um, he had actually swindled Williams out of some money.

HEAL: The homicide investigator

called me back three or four days later

and said, "Hey, just so you know, this stuff's legit."

They had a possible suspect, and they even had a motive,

none of which they were getting

through the conventional methods.

I thought, "Wow, maybe there really is something to this."

SHATNER: Steven B. Williams' killer

was eventually apprehended, thanks, it seems,

to the incredible abilities of Angela Smith.

The idea of remote viewing has been around for a long time.

It-it's been around for, actually, thousands of years.

And it's the idea that you can transmit yourself

out of your body and go and view other places

and-and get information and then figure out what was going on

without ever having to go there.

SMITH: What science has found so far,

they attach electrodes to the brain

while somebody's doing remote viewing.

Sometimes you're accessing information

with the right brain, reporting it,

writing it down with the left brain.

So, there's a dance going on.

It's very much a whole-brain activity.

SHATNER: Can remote viewing really provide visions of people,

places and things, no matter where they are on Earth?

The very notion seems absurd.

And yet, there was a time when some thought this practice

could be used to win the Cold War.

WHITEHEAD: The Russians during the Cold War

were investing millions of dollars in parapsychology,

psychic phenomena, remote viewing.

And the Americans felt that they had to keep up

with the Russians, and so they developed

their own classified program and were basically trying

to train psychic spies.

JOE McMONEAGLE: I was one of the first people

that was recruited for the remote viewing program,

what's now being referred to as the Stargate program.

I was recruited in October of 1978.

WHITEHEAD: In the late '70s, there had just been

a revolution in Iran, and in November of 1979,

a group of students who were revolutionaries

took over the U.S. embassy

and took dozens of American hostages.

So when this hostage situation unfolded,

U.S. intelligence had very little information

about how many hostages they were,

where they were being held, et cetera.

It was reported later that there was a team

of remote viewers that were actually working

out of a secret location in Maryland,

just outside of D.C.,

and that they were trying to find out

what was going on inside the embassy.

McMONEAGLE: They said, "We need to know who's a hostage

in this place where an embassy was taken over."

Some of the other things we were asked to do

is describe how they were being treated,

what they were being fed and how they were being guarded,

other things like that.

In this case, we were able to identify

pretty much most of the hostages.

WHITEHEAD: They actually based legitimate intelligence efforts

on the information that they got

from many of these psychic remote viewers.

And so, we know it works,

but we're still trying to figure out exactly how it works.

SHATNER: Espionage typically relies on high-tech equipment

like satellites,

radio receivers and computers,

but according to those who practice remote viewing,

this technology is no match

for the greatest computer in the world:

the human brain.

McMONEAGLE: I've been remote viewing now

for 42, 43 years, constantly.

People ask me, "Well, how do you get information to come down?"

I go to a place in my mind where it's very quiet

and I just open to whatever information's gonna come.

SMITH: I believe that everybody has a natural intuitive ability.

So remote viewing training

focuses on that natural ability and enhances it.

What it says about the brain is that our brains are plastic.

They're able to adapt and able to learn.

SHATNER: In this small town in the heart of Marin County

lives world-renowned ultramarathoner Dean Karnazes.

And by all accounts, he was born to run.

My earliest childhood recollections

are running home from school when I was in kindergarten.

Uh, literally, I remember sitting in the classroom

just waiting for the bell to ring.

And as soon as that jingle went off, I was out of there.

I felt like when I was running, I felt most alive,

like, most complete.

It's hard to describe, but I just remember, uh,

the way the air used to feel on my skin

and the leaves changing color.

I just started relating to the world through running.

LUKE: Dean's somewhat of an icon in the running community

in the sense that he can do things other people can't.

Dean's definitely a superman in terms of being able

to run long distances repetitive days, back-to-back.

SHATNER: Among Dean's many record-breaking

running achievements are completing 50 marathons

in 50 consecutive days,

running 135 miles across Death Valley--

one of the hottest regions on Earth--

and accomplishing a 75-day, 3,000-mile run

across the entire United States.

But perhaps his most incredible achievement

occurred on October 12th, 2005,

when Dean ran 350 miles without stopping.

I think I decided to run 350 miles nonstop out of curiosity.

I wanted to see how far I could push my body and my mind.

And I completed it.

It took me 80 hours and 44 minutes of continuous running.

Three days straight without stopping to eat or sleep.

SHATNER: Dean's feats are astounding,

and he is arguably the greatest athlete

in the history of what is called ultra running.

MAGNESS: Ultra running is any distance running

that goes further than the marathon.

So it could be anything from 30 miles, all the way up

to races that are hundreds or even thousands of miles.

The six-day race was the precursor

to modern ultramarathon running.

It originated in the 1700s in England.

These athletes tried to cover as much distance

as they possibly could in six days,

so they would sleep as little as possible,

often only getting an hour or two of sleep during each day

to try and cover as much distance as possible.

Early on, these athletes would run 400 and 500 miles,

but in 1888, George Littlewood set a new record

for the six-day challenge, covering 623 miles.

So that's over 100 miles a day of running or walking.

That was so good that that record

almost stood 100 years,

until Yiannis Kouros, a Greek runner,

who was one of the best ultra runners in history,

finally broke it.

So that gives you an indication of how good these athletes are.

SHATNER: But it's not just athletes who choose to run

such mind-boggling distances.

In fact, there's an entire community

that runs just as far as ultramarathoners do,

and they've been doing it for thousands of years.

Here in this harsh region of 10,000-foot plateaus,

far from modern civilization,

live a group of people known as the Rarámuri.

Descended from a prehistoric society of foragers and hunters,

the Rarámuri still live in relatively primitive conditions.

But incredibly, they possess a unique ability

to run for hundreds of miles in a single day.

TOK THOMPSON: The name Rarámuri seems to be derived from

meaning, "those who run fast."

So, not surprisingly, the Rarámuri are, uh, known

as exceptional long-distance runners

far in excess of what most people think

people should be able to do.

They have running competitions and running rituals,

that would put a lot of other long-distance runners to shame.

They don't have the modern accoutrements

or modern sneakers, they tend to run in either sandals

or barefoot.

And they do this as a big part of their culture.

SHATNER: Since the dawn of mankind,

our ability to run for a long period of time

has given humans a great advantage,

especially when it came to hunting and searching for food.

Humans are one of the best long-distance runners

in the entire animal kingdom.

We could actually run down things like deer and antelope.

We're not as fast in the short run,

but in terms of long-distance running,

a human being could theoretically, uh, run down

just about any animal on Earth.

SHATNER: In ancient times, running was not only used

as a means of stalking prey,

it was also a method of long-range communication.

MAGNESS: Running served a vital purpose for the ancient Greeks.

They served as couriers or messengers.

They were essentially the ancient mail system

for the Greeks.

That was vital for military strategy in particular.

RIC RADER: In antiquity,

the best way to convey messages,

especially matters of war,

matters of religion and so forth,

was to send a hemerodromos.

So that's the Greek word for a "day runner."

It was a special class of people

specifically trained for this

and specifically equipped, physiologically,

not only to deliver a message in a timely fashion

but to do it over very rugged terrain,

over several hundred miles.

So, in that regard, the extent to which a hemerodromos

can perform these amazing feats would suggest

that it requires a kind of superhuman ability.

SHATNER: In the case of Dean Karnazes,

his superhuman running ability

may be due to the fact that he is actually of Greek descent.

KARNAZES: I think my ability to run long distances

is influenced, definitely, by my Greek heritage.

I'm 100% Greek, and Greece is the birthplace

of long distance-running, and I've known that for a long time.

I think I have the natural ability

to run long distances from my heritage.

But having the will to do it is another thing.

And I think I just have the will to do it.

SHATNER: Professional swordsman Isao Machii,

is about to perform an incredible demonstration.

He will attempt to cut a baseball

traveling at 100 miles per hour perfectly in half,

and from a distance of only 30 feet away.

It seems impossible.

That is...

...until he does it.

When I first saw the video of the samurai

cutting the ball in half, I was absolutely amazed.

What I like about video these days

is you can do some simple physics.

You know, he's maybe sort of 30 feet away,

the ball is roughly 100 miles an hour.

And that gives you a reaction time

of, essentially, 0.2 seconds in this case.

Typical reaction times for really elite baseball player

trying to hit a fastball tend to be around 0.4 seconds.

Actually, this is a more difficult task

than something like baseball pitching, because clearly,

baseball pitching, you pick up information

from the body shape of the pitcher,

which tells you loosely

when the ball is going to be released.

Whereas in this instance,

he seems to have a wall in front of him.

There's a lot of uncertainty in terms of when the ball

will begin its flight.

The fact that he can do all these things

in 200 milliseconds is obviously quite amazing.

SHATNER: In this and in numerous other demonstrations,

Machii has shown a remarkable ability

to visually track fast-moving objects

with an acuity that few can even dream of.

But how did this swordsman

develop such razor-thin reaction time?

Some experts believe the answer lies

in the brain's capacity

to make exceptional feats seem almost routine.

Someone who's an expert swordsman, you know,

that's a highly-skilled ability.

It took years and years to get to the level that he's at.

And what happens is when you do that kind of training,

the better you get,

your brain at the cortex level becomes quieter and quieter.

And one thing that that gives you

is the ability to do things more quickly.

The circuits are shorter, they're faster.

The swordsman being able to cut

that baseball in half

in such a short, brief shot--

he had to have spent enough time building up a program

that he'd just literally unleashed that whole program.

The rest of us would just be flailing around.

Whether it's split-second reaction times,

surviving freezing temperatures

or performing feats that seem like actual magic,

the potential that human beings have for developing

extraordinary abilities seems almost limitless.

But just how people acquire these fascinating talents

is an enduring mystery

that remains unexplained.

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