WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.760 --> 00:00:03.680 Welcome. This is Marsha for Radio I, and today I 2 00:00:03.680 --> 00:00:10.519 will be reading National Geographic magazine dated November twenty twenty five, 3 00:00:11.080 --> 00:00:14.679 which is donated by the publisher. As a reminder. RADIOI 4 00:00:14.800 --> 00:00:17.280 is a reading service intended for people who are blind 5 00:00:17.320 --> 00:00:20.160 or have other disabilities that make it difficult to read 6 00:00:20.160 --> 00:00:24.839 printed material. Please join me now for the continuation of 7 00:00:24.879 --> 00:00:29.480 the article I began last time, entitled Inside the Colossal 8 00:00:29.760 --> 00:00:38.000 Quest for Limitless Energy by Michael Finkel. Specialists in dozens 9 00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:42.840 of fields plasma physics to electromagnetics to cement pouring were 10 00:00:42.880 --> 00:00:47.159 recruited and hired. The eater site has its own bus system, 11 00:00:47.320 --> 00:00:51.000 plying the paved perimeter roads, while dirt lanes in the 12 00:00:51.039 --> 00:00:55.359 middle are a cacophony of forklifts, dump trucks and backos, 13 00:00:55.399 --> 00:00:58.560 with teams of hard headed workers marching around on foot. 14 00:00:59.159 --> 00:01:01.520 In late twenty eight eighteen, the first of the machines, 15 00:01:01.600 --> 00:01:04.760 ten million pieces, was put into place. These pieces are 16 00:01:04.799 --> 00:01:09.159 being manufactured by member nations across the globe, then shipped 17 00:01:09.159 --> 00:01:12.319 to the work site in France. The chief contribution of 18 00:01:12.359 --> 00:01:17.000 the US is the central solenoid, the megamagnet, which is 19 00:01:17.040 --> 00:01:20.400 being built by General Atomics, a family owned business in 20 00:01:20.439 --> 00:01:25.599 San Diego. Russia is contributing additional magnets and superconducting materials. 21 00:01:26.120 --> 00:01:29.920 Europe is creating some of the main Tokamac hardware, and 22 00:01:30.079 --> 00:01:35.000 South Korea the rest. India's supplying cooling system Apparatuses. Japan 23 00:01:35.159 --> 00:01:39.159 is fashioning heating structures. About five thousand companies worldwide have 24 00:01:39.239 --> 00:01:42.680 been involved in the effort. Some parts made abroad are 25 00:01:42.719 --> 00:01:45.079 the size of a basketball court and way more than 26 00:01:45.079 --> 00:01:48.760 a passenger jet. Many are heavily wrapped and encased in 27 00:01:48.760 --> 00:01:51.799 a protective frame before being loaded onto a cargo ship 28 00:01:52.560 --> 00:01:55.400 from Asian countries. The trip to France takes more than 29 00:01:55.400 --> 00:01:58.439 a month. The package is then balanced on a barge 30 00:01:58.680 --> 00:02:01.879 and floated up a canal across a lake. The last 31 00:02:01.879 --> 00:02:05.319 sixty five miles are on roads which were reinforced and widened, 32 00:02:05.640 --> 00:02:09.680 permitting a three hundred and fifty two wheeled transport platform 33 00:02:10.280 --> 00:02:12.479 to creep at three miles an hour all night for 34 00:02:12.719 --> 00:02:16.120 three or four nights to arrive at Eeter. How much 35 00:02:16.400 --> 00:02:19.960 will all of this cost. It's hard to know exactly, 36 00:02:20.080 --> 00:02:23.800 as there is no official global accounting. The Eater Agreement, 37 00:02:23.879 --> 00:02:27.599 signed in twenty two thousand and six, claimed that the 38 00:02:27.759 --> 00:02:30.840 entire project, including the value of items made by members, 39 00:02:31.080 --> 00:02:34.520 would cost around six billion dollars start to finish. That 40 00:02:34.599 --> 00:02:38.400 price has ballooned to sixty five billion dollars, more than 41 00:02:38.400 --> 00:02:41.719 ten times the original estimate, according to the US Department 42 00:02:41.719 --> 00:02:45.560 of Energy. If it alters the course of civilization, fusion 43 00:02:45.639 --> 00:02:48.960 supporters say it'll be seen as a bargain. Even the 44 00:02:49.000 --> 00:02:52.159 new figure represents less than three days of current global 45 00:02:52.199 --> 00:02:56.479 expenditures on energy, but Eater will be by far the 46 00:02:56.520 --> 00:03:01.000 most expensive scientific instrument on Earth. Of Eater's delays and 47 00:03:01.080 --> 00:03:05.159 cost overruns have been self inflicted, and internal assessment of 48 00:03:05.240 --> 00:03:11.639 Eater's management practices detailed pricey design changes and administrative gridlock, 49 00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:15.840 but some have been beyond the project's control. Storms at sea, 50 00:03:16.039 --> 00:03:20.919 pirates in the Suez Canal, the twenty eleven Earth earthquake 51 00:03:21.000 --> 00:03:25.199 and tsunami in Japan interrupted parts production there for a year. 52 00:03:25.680 --> 00:03:28.879 The COVID pandemic slowed the world for two more. Yet 53 00:03:29.360 --> 00:03:34.919 through everything, Eater churned inexorbly on then came an extraordinary accomplishment. 54 00:03:35.319 --> 00:03:38.039 Eater may be the world's largest jigsaw puzzle, but the 55 00:03:38.080 --> 00:03:42.840 most essential construction the tukamac and attached components has been 56 00:03:42.879 --> 00:03:47.840 reduced to nine massive pieces called vacuum vessel modules. These 57 00:03:47.840 --> 00:03:50.840 will fit together like segments of an orange. Each weighs 58 00:03:50.879 --> 00:03:54.560 about fifteen hundred tons. To move one, Eater had to 59 00:03:54.599 --> 00:03:58.639 invent several new lifting machines. Workers rehearsed the sequence of 60 00:03:58.680 --> 00:04:01.960 events that needed to happen, and on May twelve, twenty 61 00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:05.439 twenty two, the first module, made of parts supplied by 62 00:04:05.520 --> 00:04:09.520 almost every Eater member, was tucked perfectly into its spot. 63 00:04:10.199 --> 00:04:13.960 The milestone, decades in the making, was a celebrated Eater triumph. 64 00:04:14.439 --> 00:04:16.800 Now that one module was in place, the other eight 65 00:04:16.879 --> 00:04:20.079 would surely follow. After all the hurdles, the machine was 66 00:04:20.120 --> 00:04:23.120 going to get built and switched on. There was light 67 00:04:23.199 --> 00:04:25.439 at the end of the tunnel, and then the project 68 00:04:25.639 --> 00:04:32.079 nearly self destructed. Eater is entirely dependent on funding from 69 00:04:32.319 --> 00:04:36.560 federal governments, which can be fickle sources of money. Politicians 70 00:04:36.680 --> 00:04:39.319 like to hear about success and momentum, even when the 71 00:04:39.399 --> 00:04:43.600 reality is, according to the internal Eater report, that management 72 00:04:43.759 --> 00:04:48.759 is blundering and the engineering challenges are more formidable than anticipated. 73 00:04:49.279 --> 00:04:53.560 Some cheerleading by the project's leadership is expected. In twenty fifteen, 74 00:04:53.639 --> 00:04:58.199 the US was reportedly considering a second Eater exit, and 75 00:04:58.240 --> 00:05:01.279 in order to stay needed to be convinced that progress 76 00:05:01.319 --> 00:05:04.680 was coming. But what happened at Edar is that showmanship 77 00:05:04.959 --> 00:05:08.160 seemed to have eclipsed honesty, and in a project of 78 00:05:08.279 --> 00:05:12.800 exacting revolutionary science, this was bound to bring disaster. The 79 00:05:12.839 --> 00:05:16.319 placement of the vacuum vessel module in twenty twenty two 80 00:05:16.800 --> 00:05:21.800 generated glowing news reports from major trade publications. The job, however, 81 00:05:21.920 --> 00:05:25.920 was apparently done in a corner cutting rush. Inspections revealed 82 00:05:25.959 --> 00:05:30.399 tiny cracks and pinhole leaks. The Tokamac was compromised. The 83 00:05:30.480 --> 00:05:33.920 module couldn't be repaired where it was wedge tight, and 84 00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:38.360 the installation couldn't be reversed without partially tearing the machine apart. 85 00:05:39.720 --> 00:05:42.399 Workers didn't know what to do, and construction of the 86 00:05:42.399 --> 00:05:45.439 tocamac ground to a halt. At the very moment Eter 87 00:05:46.279 --> 00:05:49.839 needed decisive leadership, there was none. Two days after the 88 00:05:49.879 --> 00:05:53.800 module was hung, the Director General of Eater, Bernard Bigeau, 89 00:05:54.040 --> 00:05:58.600 died of an illness at age seventy two. Begough, a 90 00:05:58.639 --> 00:06:02.759 French scientist, was eating third chief, following two Japanese directors, 91 00:06:03.199 --> 00:06:08.800 Kanami Ikeda and Osamu moto Jima. All three executives seemed 92 00:06:08.879 --> 00:06:12.560 to succumb at least somewhat to the organizational malaisee known 93 00:06:12.600 --> 00:06:16.240 as big projects syndrome. A warehouse that eater is filled 94 00:06:16.240 --> 00:06:19.439 with parts that nobody knows who ordered or why. The 95 00:06:19.480 --> 00:06:24.879 head of Communications before Bego's tenure, Michael Klasen's, later admitted 96 00:06:24.879 --> 00:06:30.160 that Ed's public statements often contained lies, propaganda, and misinformation, 97 00:06:30.759 --> 00:06:33.959 creating an atmosphere that resulted in the reckless installation of 98 00:06:34.000 --> 00:06:39.279 the vacuum vessel module. An Italian electrical engineer named Pietro 99 00:06:40.680 --> 00:06:44.439 Vara Bashki, who has a long history in Fusion, was 100 00:06:44.480 --> 00:06:48.480 appointed by the project's governing body, the Each Council, to 101 00:06:48.560 --> 00:06:52.639 take over approachable, energetic informal. He often comes to work 102 00:06:52.680 --> 00:06:55.879 in genes and running shoes, and everyone calls him Pietro. 103 00:06:56.519 --> 00:07:00.000 He seems comfortable amid chaos. He's fifty nine years old, 104 00:07:00.079 --> 00:07:03.480 blanking and tall, and speaks fluent Italian, English and German, 105 00:07:03.839 --> 00:07:07.600 as well as workable French. Taming Fusion, says Pietro, is 106 00:07:07.759 --> 00:07:10.680 like humans learning to harness fire for the second time 107 00:07:10.720 --> 00:07:14.800 in history. Being burned by mistakes is inevitable, and he 108 00:07:14.879 --> 00:07:18.360 publicly pledged that Eeter would be transparent about them, and 109 00:07:18.439 --> 00:07:21.839 even published an article in the science journal Nature Reviews 110 00:07:21.920 --> 00:07:27.759 Physics titled The Importance of Documenting Failure. Pietro's first major 111 00:07:27.839 --> 00:07:31.560 decision as director was that the vacuum vessel module would 112 00:07:31.600 --> 00:07:35.439 be removed at a normal's expense and multiple years of 113 00:07:35.480 --> 00:07:38.480 hold up. Either the project would be done right, he implied, 114 00:07:38.600 --> 00:07:41.639 or it wouldn't be done at all. The sentiment among 115 00:07:41.839 --> 00:07:44.920 Eeter workers seemed to be that Pietro clearly made the 116 00:07:45.000 --> 00:07:47.920 right choice and might have just killed the project. I 117 00:07:47.959 --> 00:07:50.839 thought that was at the end of Eater, says communications 118 00:07:50.839 --> 00:07:53.800 officer Sabina Griffith, who has worked at the site for 119 00:07:53.839 --> 00:07:58.720 almost two decades. Lola Zedet and each construction coordinator said 120 00:07:58.720 --> 00:08:02.079 that the news of the module removal was both understandable 121 00:08:02.120 --> 00:08:05.399 and shocking. After the insane scrambled to get the vacuum 122 00:08:05.480 --> 00:08:09.240 vessel module in place, the world had been turned upside down. 123 00:08:09.759 --> 00:08:12.360 Shifts of people were looking at each other and doing nothing, 124 00:08:12.480 --> 00:08:15.959 says Zeda. It was almost surreal. But after some time 125 00:08:16.000 --> 00:08:19.600 in mental recalibration, she says, the crews return to work 126 00:08:19.600 --> 00:08:23.839 and the unbuilding of Eater began. Many fusion experts believe 127 00:08:23.920 --> 00:08:27.720 that success is more probable from a nimble private company 128 00:08:27.800 --> 00:08:32.320 motivated by profit, than from an overstuffed public project like Eater. 129 00:08:32.919 --> 00:08:36.639 There are currently more than one hundred private fusion initiatives 130 00:08:36.679 --> 00:08:40.919 worldwide battling for a potentially epic grand prize of an 131 00:08:41.039 --> 00:08:46.159 energy fortune. Eaters of Uncular stands is that there isn't 132 00:08:46.159 --> 00:08:49.000 competition at all. The true dream is fusion energy for 133 00:08:49.080 --> 00:08:51.840 the globe, and the more places attempting it, the better 134 00:08:51.919 --> 00:08:55.080 the chance it will happen. Private firms are welcome to 135 00:08:55.159 --> 00:08:57.840 visit the site to study what's worked and what hasn't, 136 00:08:58.200 --> 00:09:02.360 and to tap into the fount of of hard earned wisdom. Eater, 137 00:09:02.559 --> 00:09:06.519 striving to distribute knowledge rather than produce commercial energy, is 138 00:09:06.600 --> 00:09:10.519 like the public library of fusion. Also, Eater shares the 139 00:09:10.600 --> 00:09:15.480 results of its extensive diagnostics and testing on parts and materials, 140 00:09:15.519 --> 00:09:17.919 allowing others to save time and money and push on. 141 00:09:18.759 --> 00:09:21.440 It appears unlikely that any private firm will make the 142 00:09:21.440 --> 00:09:25.320 public effort obsolete. From the outside, it seemed like Ter 143 00:09:25.600 --> 00:09:28.240 was going backward right through to the end of twenty 144 00:09:28.240 --> 00:09:32.759 twenty four. Each day further from completion, the machine dismantled, 145 00:09:32.799 --> 00:09:37.279 the vacuum vessel module pulled out, and then itself disassembled, 146 00:09:37.559 --> 00:09:41.360 then tests to determine the course of repairs. But on 147 00:09:41.399 --> 00:09:44.840 the vast campus, the culture had shifted toward progress. In 148 00:09:44.879 --> 00:09:48.480 Pietro's view, so many elements of the project were pioneering, 149 00:09:48.759 --> 00:09:51.720 entering the realm of the unknown. That ter was like 150 00:09:51.759 --> 00:09:54.679 a scientific Lewis and Clerk. They'd gotten lost for a 151 00:09:54.679 --> 00:09:58.120 while in the wilderness, but had recognized and streamlined the 152 00:09:58.159 --> 00:10:02.519 management structure and soon would be navigating smoothly again. For 153 00:10:02.840 --> 00:10:06.600 every problem that may be encountered, Pietro believes there exists 154 00:10:06.600 --> 00:10:10.879 a reasonable solution. Government funding during this reset did not 155 00:10:11.080 --> 00:10:15.399 dry up. In April twenty twenty five, just shy of 156 00:10:15.480 --> 00:10:18.840 three years since the vacuum vessel module had first been installed, 157 00:10:19.159 --> 00:10:21.240 it was put in again and the project was back 158 00:10:21.279 --> 00:10:24.519 to zero. Two months later, the second segment was mounted. 159 00:10:24.919 --> 00:10:27.759 The remaining seven are all in various stages of completion. 160 00:10:28.240 --> 00:10:31.440 The job site is buzzing, welding, sparks flying from the 161 00:10:31.480 --> 00:10:36.879 construction zones, cranes swinging through the sky, physicists scribbling on whiteboards. 162 00:10:37.240 --> 00:10:40.879 Pietro putting in twelve hour days, bounces from meeting to meeting, 163 00:10:40.960 --> 00:10:44.639 often taking a total of six minutes for lunch, enough 164 00:10:44.679 --> 00:10:47.159 to wolf down a sandwich or salein. It's both a 165 00:10:47.200 --> 00:10:49.919 sprint and a marathon, he says, a eater with surprises 166 00:10:49.919 --> 00:10:53.360 around every corner. But no matter how crammed his schedule, 167 00:10:53.399 --> 00:10:57.000 Pietro tries to observe two traditions a couple of times 168 00:10:57.000 --> 00:10:59.000 a week. He puts on a hard hat and protective 169 00:10:59.039 --> 00:11:03.240 gear and go alone to observe the Tucamac construction, climbing 170 00:11:03.360 --> 00:11:06.000 up the scaffolding to get to his favorite spot at 171 00:11:06.000 --> 00:11:08.960 the very top, with a bird's eye view of the machine, 172 00:11:09.279 --> 00:11:11.919 all of the ambition and folly and genius of it. 173 00:11:12.960 --> 00:11:14.960 He just takes it in for a while, the sound 174 00:11:15.000 --> 00:11:19.080 of hammering echoing continuously, a metallic smell in the air. 175 00:11:19.360 --> 00:11:22.440 Then he gets back to work. The other tradition is 176 00:11:22.480 --> 00:11:24.879 his first meeting of the morning, usually at six o'clock 177 00:11:25.240 --> 00:11:28.279 in the distinctly unfancy office of the head of construction, 178 00:11:28.759 --> 00:11:33.559 Sergio Orlandi, a longtime colleague of Pietro's and a fellow Italian. 179 00:11:34.120 --> 00:11:36.559 Orlandi is sixty nine years old and has worked on 180 00:11:36.679 --> 00:11:40.720 nuclear projects for forty five years. As the sun rises 181 00:11:40.720 --> 00:11:44.159 over the southern French hills outside or Londie's window, they 182 00:11:44.159 --> 00:11:47.039 have coffee and discuss the plans for the day. Pietro 183 00:11:47.240 --> 00:11:50.240 calls this his movement of calm, but before he's halfway 184 00:11:50.279 --> 00:11:52.840 through his coffee, you can see his energy building, his 185 00:11:52.960 --> 00:11:56.879 left foot tapping, clicking his retractable pen faster and faster 186 00:11:57.320 --> 00:11:59.240 until the visit is done and he's out the door. 187 00:12:00.720 --> 00:12:04.159 Orlandi says that he often doesn't interact with Pietro again 188 00:12:04.200 --> 00:12:06.399 for the rest of the day, but thirty minutes is 189 00:12:06.440 --> 00:12:09.799 all it takes for them to stay synchronized. The project 190 00:12:09.879 --> 00:12:13.120 has stuck to the schedule without fail for more than 191 00:12:13.159 --> 00:12:16.120 a year, which is an all time Eater record, and 192 00:12:16.320 --> 00:12:19.879 Orlandi expects this progress to continue for the foreseeable future. 193 00:12:20.399 --> 00:12:24.240 He seems to feel that Eater has achieved unstoppable momentum. 194 00:12:24.480 --> 00:12:27.000 Perhaps this boost will be enough to follow the plans 195 00:12:27.080 --> 00:12:30.960 right up to the day of Eater's first energy positive fusion, 196 00:12:31.360 --> 00:12:34.759 slated for twenty thirty nine, a historic moment that could 197 00:12:34.799 --> 00:12:38.279 shape the planet's destiny so long as nothing goes wrong. 198 00:12:38.960 --> 00:12:41.759 The race for fusion Eater is by far the largest 199 00:12:41.799 --> 00:12:44.960 nuclear fusion endeavour, but it is by no means the 200 00:12:45.000 --> 00:12:48.519 only one. Government facilities like those at the Max playing 201 00:12:48.559 --> 00:12:52.480 Institute and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, as well as 202 00:12:52.519 --> 00:12:57.759 private companies like Zapp Energy and Tae Technologies, are testing 203 00:12:57.799 --> 00:13:01.519 different methods to achieve fusion. Over the past four years, 204 00:13:01.559 --> 00:13:07.440 funding for the private industry has nearly quadrupled. Stellarator, invented 205 00:13:07.480 --> 00:13:11.440 in nineteen fifty one. Stellarators use a magnetic confinement method 206 00:13:11.720 --> 00:13:16.639 similar to that of Eater's Tokomac. Their torque design, as 207 00:13:16.679 --> 00:13:21.759 seen with this Wettelstein, requires absolute precision, but potentially yields 208 00:13:21.799 --> 00:13:26.679 more stable plasma. Z Pinch, inspired by lightning strikes, The 209 00:13:26.799 --> 00:13:31.279 z print pinch process uses electric currents to generate magnetic 210 00:13:31.320 --> 00:13:36.440 fields that rapidly compress and confine plasma, producing fusion reactions 211 00:13:36.679 --> 00:13:41.679 that release energy. Zapp Energy hopes its device's compact, modular 212 00:13:41.759 --> 00:13:47.799 design will make it relatively simple to commercialize inertial confinement. 213 00:13:48.240 --> 00:13:51.840 Inside a spherical chamber, high energy lasers compress a tiny 214 00:13:51.879 --> 00:13:57.759 fuel capsule filled with deuterium and tritium, creating a fusion reaction. 215 00:13:58.000 --> 00:14:02.679 The publicly funded National Ignition Facility was the first fusion 216 00:14:02.720 --> 00:14:06.039 experiment to generate surplus energy and is the basis for 217 00:14:06.120 --> 00:14:13.679 future inertial confinement designs. Field reversed configuration neutral beams that 218 00:14:13.799 --> 00:14:18.960 heat plasm plasma in a smoke ring like formation and 219 00:14:19.080 --> 00:14:23.840 drive electric currents that generate internal magnetic fields, largely replacing 220 00:14:23.879 --> 00:14:28.440 the need for external magnetic confinement. Alternative fuels like hydrogen 221 00:14:28.559 --> 00:14:34.279 boron used by TIE will produce no neutrons or radioactive waste, 222 00:14:34.399 --> 00:14:39.279 only helium. How nuclear fusion works. Nuclear fusion holds the 223 00:14:39.320 --> 00:14:44.080 promise of nearly limitless emission free energy. The catch figuring 224 00:14:44.120 --> 00:14:46.320 out how to create and then harness the power of 225 00:14:46.360 --> 00:14:49.919 a star here on Earth, which requires temperatures of at 226 00:14:49.960 --> 00:14:54.039 least two hundred seventy million degrees fahrenheit. When fully operational, 227 00:14:54.080 --> 00:14:57.519 EATER could very well provide a template for producing the 228 00:14:57.519 --> 00:15:02.000 fuel of the future. The basics of fusing atoms. To 229 00:15:02.080 --> 00:15:06.320 capture the energy released during fusion, a reactor must confine plasma, 230 00:15:06.960 --> 00:15:10.120 an ionized gas that occurs when atoms have been stripped 231 00:15:10.120 --> 00:15:14.720 of their electrons. Fusion facilities are designed to channel and 232 00:15:14.759 --> 00:15:17.919 control that reaction for as long as possible, beginning with 233 00:15:17.960 --> 00:15:23.519 a multi step process. To generate self sustaining power magnetic confinement, 234 00:15:23.679 --> 00:15:27.840 EATER will rely on a large doughnut shaped machine called 235 00:15:27.840 --> 00:15:32.639 a p toocomac to induce fusion, a central electromagnet creates 236 00:15:32.679 --> 00:15:36.679 an electric current that changes the deuterium and tritium gas 237 00:15:37.000 --> 00:15:41.360 into an ionized plasma. Then the electromagnet, working together with 238 00:15:41.399 --> 00:15:44.639 twenty four other magnets, shapes and holds the plasma in 239 00:15:44.679 --> 00:15:48.559 place as it is bombarded with high energy beams that 240 00:15:48.720 --> 00:15:52.000 raise its temperature to two hundred seventy million degrees fahrenheit. 241 00:15:53.120 --> 00:15:56.600 Next article At work in the World's Deadliest Garden by 242 00:15:56.799 --> 00:16:01.480 Tom Lamont, hemlack, hogweed and as matte suits. What it 243 00:16:01.519 --> 00:16:04.000 takes to tend to over a hundred plants that could 244 00:16:04.080 --> 00:16:07.200 kill you. The keepers of a poisoned garden on the 245 00:16:07.240 --> 00:16:11.559 grounds next to Alnwick Castle in Northumberland, England, anticipate a 246 00:16:11.600 --> 00:16:14.759 great many fainters every year. The garden, the largest of 247 00:16:14.799 --> 00:16:18.840 its kind, sits behind steately iron gates embellished with skulls, 248 00:16:18.879 --> 00:16:21.559 and is packed with more than a hundred varieties of 249 00:16:21.720 --> 00:16:26.279 plants so deadly that you can't enter without supervision. As 250 00:16:26.320 --> 00:16:29.240 tourists set off guid's worn visitors not to touch, lick, 251 00:16:29.399 --> 00:16:32.879 or pick. As they learn about poisoners from history and 252 00:16:32.960 --> 00:16:35.559 see the brews and cuttings that served as their weapons 253 00:16:35.559 --> 00:16:38.960 of choice. There's the teacup poisoner who kicked off his 254 00:16:39.120 --> 00:16:43.559 infamous murders, bree by dosing his sister with Atropa belladonna, 255 00:16:44.039 --> 00:16:47.279 and doctor Death, a physician convicted of murdering fifteen of 256 00:16:47.320 --> 00:16:50.600 his patients with a drug derived from the opium poppy. 257 00:16:51.120 --> 00:16:55.480 Every so often Crunch, another guest hits the gravel Gardeners 258 00:16:55.519 --> 00:16:58.879 attribute the uptick in faintings to all the macabre stories. 259 00:16:59.639 --> 00:17:02.799 It also will be possible that some blended emanation from 260 00:17:02.799 --> 00:17:06.799 the plants. The heady perfume of oleander, yew and nightshade 261 00:17:06.799 --> 00:17:10.720 combines to sweep the more susceptible off their feet. The 262 00:17:10.759 --> 00:17:13.960 poison Garden, which opened twenty years ago as a ghoulish attraction, 263 00:17:14.400 --> 00:17:18.240 has taken on new life moonlighting as a destination for 264 00:17:18.359 --> 00:17:23.519 researchers of all kinds, from scientists curious about exotic toxins 265 00:17:23.799 --> 00:17:27.599 to crime writers looking for inspiration. One summer day, when 266 00:17:27.640 --> 00:17:31.839 the annual faint count was at about seventy, Mikey Leech, 267 00:17:32.200 --> 00:17:36.000 the thirty nine year old had gardener, cracked open a 268 00:17:36.039 --> 00:17:39.799 glossy laurel leaf protruding across a path. This is one 269 00:17:39.799 --> 00:17:43.440 of the most common hedging plants in this country, he said, 270 00:17:43.680 --> 00:17:48.000 cut it open cyanide. Almuckcastle has belonged to one English 271 00:17:48.079 --> 00:17:51.480 family for over seven hundred years. Traditionally the seat of 272 00:17:51.519 --> 00:17:55.000 the region's highest ranking of aristocrat, the castle and the 273 00:17:55.039 --> 00:17:59.240 adjacent gardens forty two acres have been passed down through 274 00:17:59.319 --> 00:18:02.599 various earls and dukes to the current owner, Ralph Percy, 275 00:18:02.759 --> 00:18:06.240 the twelfth Duke of Northumberland, who moved in in the 276 00:18:06.279 --> 00:18:09.640 mid nineteen nineties with his wife Jane. The Duchess set 277 00:18:09.680 --> 00:18:14.759 about improving the dilapidated property, adding fountains, mazes and sweeping lawns, 278 00:18:15.079 --> 00:18:19.039 and creating a charitable entity called the Olmwick Garden, which 279 00:18:19.039 --> 00:18:22.720 includes the Poison Garden. While some of the most destructive 280 00:18:22.759 --> 00:18:26.240 plants here are also sources of medicinal cures and antidotes, 281 00:18:26.720 --> 00:18:31.680 like Madagascar periwinkle, which can cause libertoxicity when ingested, but 282 00:18:31.960 --> 00:18:35.920 is also used in leukemia treatment, the benefits neither inspire 283 00:18:36.000 --> 00:18:39.119 nor impress the Duchess, who once said, the story of 284 00:18:39.160 --> 00:18:42.519 how plants can cure I find pretty boring. Really much 285 00:18:42.559 --> 00:18:46.279 better to know how a plant kills. The ubiquity of 286 00:18:46.359 --> 00:18:49.559 poisoned in our own backyards motivated a group of forensic 287 00:18:49.640 --> 00:18:52.839 chemists to conduct a year long experiment in the garden 288 00:18:53.160 --> 00:18:56.640 quantifying toxins in twenty five different plants that have been 289 00:18:56.680 --> 00:19:01.000 accidentally ingested by children. A trope of Beledon used by 290 00:19:01.000 --> 00:19:04.319 the teacup poisoner was one of the most hazardous kids, 291 00:19:04.359 --> 00:19:07.839 the scientists determined, and better public awareness was needed to 292 00:19:07.880 --> 00:19:12.640 prevent further fatal consequences. Back in the gardener's break room, 293 00:19:12.759 --> 00:19:16.119 a whiteboard listed that day's jobs cut the grass along 294 00:19:16.160 --> 00:19:20.799 and access road ten to twenty lethal mandrakes. Mandragora so 295 00:19:21.240 --> 00:19:24.279 entwined in human histories, said Leech, who went on to 296 00:19:24.319 --> 00:19:29.119 explain that Pharaohs used mandragora as and intoxicant, and romans 297 00:19:29.160 --> 00:19:33.000 as a battlefield and esthetic. More recently, the Harry Potter 298 00:19:33.079 --> 00:19:37.319 books made squealing sentient mandrakes a source of color, with 299 00:19:37.519 --> 00:19:43.200 magical roots resembling crying human babies. Leech only started reading 300 00:19:43.279 --> 00:19:46.799 up on mandragora this spring, he confessed, after receiving an 301 00:19:46.839 --> 00:19:49.799 e mail from a mandrake enthusiast who wanted to give 302 00:19:49.920 --> 00:19:53.960 Alnwick her collection, which included a rare varietal native to 303 00:19:54.039 --> 00:19:57.640 the mountains of Central Asia. The twenty inherited mandrakes now 304 00:19:57.680 --> 00:20:00.440 live in a covered facility by the break room. It's 305 00:20:00.440 --> 00:20:03.440 the roots that are super poisonous, Leech said, we're going 306 00:20:03.480 --> 00:20:07.559 to have to cage them. Caged plants being the most vicious, 307 00:20:07.880 --> 00:20:12.799 draw the greatest interest. Some Ricinus communis, producer of the 308 00:20:12.960 --> 00:20:17.359 poisoned rhisin are kept caged. But an innocuous looking green 309 00:20:17.400 --> 00:20:22.119 and purple plant must be by law, Salvia divinorum, Leech said, 310 00:20:22.240 --> 00:20:24.559 you smoke it and you go on an acid like 311 00:20:24.680 --> 00:20:28.680 high for thirty seconds. It's clear why mystery writers like 312 00:20:29.279 --> 00:20:33.279 coming to Olmwick. The first time British novelist Jill Johnson visited, 313 00:20:33.599 --> 00:20:36.680 she explored the nettled blaanes, her hands tucked nervously in 314 00:20:36.720 --> 00:20:40.039 her pockets. Then the initial stirrings of an idea a 315 00:20:40.079 --> 00:20:43.759 botanist detective who uses her garden as a crime solving tool, 316 00:20:43.920 --> 00:20:49.920 similar to Agatha Christie's Beloved Miss Marble. Johnson's first book 317 00:20:49.960 --> 00:20:54.200 and the Professor Eustacia Rose Mysteries. Devil's Breath came out 318 00:20:54.240 --> 00:20:56.640 in twenty twenty three, and since then she's returned to 319 00:20:56.680 --> 00:21:01.400 Olmwick for inspiration. It's an incredibly good bag full of 320 00:21:01.559 --> 00:21:04.200 poisonous wonder. She said that will keep me inspired to 321 00:21:04.319 --> 00:21:07.480 murder more people using more lethal plants for a very 322 00:21:07.480 --> 00:21:10.839 long time to come. According to staff at the Elmic Garden, 323 00:21:10.880 --> 00:21:14.000 at least one real life police force has inquired about 324 00:21:14.039 --> 00:21:17.000 visiting to discuss the use of plants and poisons that 325 00:21:17.160 --> 00:21:19.680 might be appearing on a watch list ones to keep 326 00:21:19.720 --> 00:21:22.400 their eye out for in the future. The police force 327 00:21:22.480 --> 00:21:25.599 in question declined to comment, but there have been several 328 00:21:25.680 --> 00:21:29.839 high profile poisoning cases in the United Kingdom, famous among 329 00:21:29.880 --> 00:21:31.880 them the two thousand and nine murder of a man 330 00:21:31.920 --> 00:21:36.319 whose curry dinner was laced with wolf spain. Leach pointed 331 00:21:36.359 --> 00:21:38.920 out that it would take just a nail clipping sized 332 00:21:38.960 --> 00:21:41.759 piece of bandrake root to put somebody in the ground. 333 00:21:41.960 --> 00:21:45.359 Better for everyone, it seemed if detectives knew their marsh 334 00:21:45.440 --> 00:21:50.480 marigold from their mistletoe. The garden constantly incorporates new plants 335 00:21:50.599 --> 00:21:53.480 put but up until recently it was missing one of 336 00:21:53.480 --> 00:22:01.799 the world's most painful species. The Dendrosnide moroides or gimpy gimby, 337 00:22:02.400 --> 00:22:06.359 is an incredibly dangerous Australian stinging nettle, and even a 338 00:22:06.400 --> 00:22:09.319 slight brush with it can make you vomit. After watching 339 00:22:09.359 --> 00:22:12.400 you tube videos of the plant's victims had tour guide 340 00:22:12.440 --> 00:22:15.880 John Knox tried growing one from a seed he bought online. 341 00:22:16.119 --> 00:22:20.079 When that failed, he contacted a man he'd read about 342 00:22:20.359 --> 00:22:22.759 who kept one the size of a garden gnome inside 343 00:22:22.759 --> 00:22:25.759 a bird cage in his living room. Knox transported it 344 00:22:25.799 --> 00:22:28.559 to Almwick in a dog cage covered with trash bags 345 00:22:28.839 --> 00:22:31.880 to avoid coming in contact with the spindles, which could 346 00:22:31.880 --> 00:22:34.920 create an effect he described as like being set on 347 00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:38.519 fire and being electrocuted and having hot acid poured on 348 00:22:38.640 --> 00:22:43.079 you all at the same time. The gimpy gimpy, now 349 00:22:43.200 --> 00:22:46.960 several feet larger, lives lecter like in a clear locked 350 00:22:47.000 --> 00:22:49.400 box at the far end of the garden. We don't 351 00:22:49.400 --> 00:22:52.839 open it without a hazmat suit, Leech explained. Imagine if 352 00:22:52.839 --> 00:22:55.799 a gust of wind blew in like Knox. Leech had 353 00:22:55.839 --> 00:22:58.759 done his research, three or four weeks of sheer pain 354 00:22:59.200 --> 00:23:01.960 flare ups for the next few years. He reported, it's 355 00:23:02.000 --> 00:23:04.119 a thing of nightmares, and how do you manage a 356 00:23:04.119 --> 00:23:07.880 collection that contains nightmares. He had started gardening when he 357 00:23:07.920 --> 00:23:10.359 was a small boy. Drawn to it, he said, because 358 00:23:10.359 --> 00:23:12.759 it was just about the least scary thing he could 359 00:23:12.759 --> 00:23:17.920 imagine doing and look where he ended up. Next article 360 00:23:18.039 --> 00:23:23.920 A Shurpa's steepest climb by Gloria Lieu. Last year, at 361 00:23:24.000 --> 00:23:28.680 age eighteen, Nima Regi Sirpa became the youngest climber to 362 00:23:28.720 --> 00:23:32.119 summit the world's fourteen tallest peaks. His next challenge is 363 00:23:32.119 --> 00:23:35.880 even trickier, overcoming the conceptions of what Roll's surpas play 364 00:23:36.279 --> 00:23:41.720 within the industry and how pro climbers are anointed. Last October, 365 00:23:41.720 --> 00:23:44.839 a slender, eighteen year old Shirpa climber stood atop a 366 00:23:44.880 --> 00:23:47.960 snowy peak in Tibet and recorded a selfie video in 367 00:23:48.000 --> 00:23:50.839 the dark. It was six oh five am, and with 368 00:23:51.039 --> 00:23:56.160 this summit of a mountain called Shisha Pangma, Nima Regi 369 00:23:56.559 --> 00:23:59.400 Chirpa had topped all fourteen of the world's eight thousand 370 00:23:59.480 --> 00:24:02.960 meter peceeks, becoming the youngest person ever to do so. 371 00:24:04.000 --> 00:24:07.440 Like several international climbers who reached the peak that morning, 372 00:24:07.480 --> 00:24:10.200 he also had support. Nima had been led by a 373 00:24:10.240 --> 00:24:13.119 Sherpa guide. Breathless in the thin air and wearing a 374 00:24:13.160 --> 00:24:16.119 puffy down suit, Nima thanked his mom for praying for 375 00:24:16.200 --> 00:24:19.480 him and his dad for funding his expeditions. He alluded 376 00:24:19.480 --> 00:24:22.279 to the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza and asked for 377 00:24:22.319 --> 00:24:25.359 an end to war, hate and racism. As a teenager, 378 00:24:25.400 --> 00:24:27.440 this is my message to each and every one of you, 379 00:24:27.880 --> 00:24:32.759 he panted, then shouted ooohoo. Once he descended, Nima texted 380 00:24:32.759 --> 00:24:35.799 the video to his manager in Mumbai, who spliced it 381 00:24:35.839 --> 00:24:39.640 into an Instagram reel with inspirational music and blasted it 382 00:24:39.680 --> 00:24:44.359 to Nima's then twenty thousand followers. Reporters called for interviews 383 00:24:44.359 --> 00:24:47.519 and shared the feel good story of the teenager climbing 384 00:24:47.599 --> 00:24:52.079 under the banner hashtag Sherpa Power to spread the message 385 00:24:52.079 --> 00:24:55.119 that his people weren't just supporters of Western climbers, but 386 00:24:55.240 --> 00:24:58.559 athletes in their own right. Much of this scenario would 387 00:24:58.599 --> 00:25:02.200 have been improbable even one generation ago. For nearly one 388 00:25:02.240 --> 00:25:05.559 hundred twenty years, Sherpas have served as porters and guides 389 00:25:06.000 --> 00:25:09.799 for foreign climbers seeking glory on the world's highest peaks, 390 00:25:10.079 --> 00:25:13.759 becoming so synonymous with this work that many Westerners don't 391 00:25:13.759 --> 00:25:17.440 know the word. Sherpa is an ethnicity, not a profession, 392 00:25:18.000 --> 00:25:21.160 but in the past fifteen years, Sherpas have founded industry 393 00:25:21.279 --> 00:25:26.519 leading guide guiding outfits and pursued their own world records 394 00:25:26.519 --> 00:25:29.359 and first ascents. Nima sits on the cusp of the 395 00:25:29.400 --> 00:25:33.480 next evolution, a sherpa, looking to ensue the business of 396 00:25:33.519 --> 00:25:37.920 guiding altogether and become a professional climbing star. Two months 397 00:25:37.960 --> 00:25:40.519 after setting his record, Nima was already preparing for his 398 00:25:40.599 --> 00:25:46.200 next project, alongside famed Italian alpinist Simone Moro, who was 399 00:25:46.240 --> 00:25:50.119 attempting a winter ascent of eight thousand, one hundred sixty 400 00:25:50.160 --> 00:25:54.440 three meter Manaslu. If they succeeded, the duol claimed it 401 00:25:54.440 --> 00:25:57.839