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Speaker 1: What if the ground beneath your feet isn't quite as

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solid as you well, as you imagine it is. What

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if the very fabric of our continent is actually quietly,

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almost imperceptibly changing. Or get this, what if a simple

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map error could genuinely redraw the entire course of history?

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Speaker 2: Wow?

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Speaker 1: Okay, today we're doing more than just presenting facts. We're

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going to peel back the layers of the familiar. Will

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reveal unexpected shifts in science, marvels of human ingenuity, and

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some really fascinating historical what ifs that really challenge our perceptions.

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Speaker 2: It sounds like a journey into the hidden stories our

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world has to tell, exactly, and our mission really is

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to pull out the most important nuggets of knowledge from

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this diverse material you've gathered. We'll go from the deepest

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geological processes shaping our planet all the way to the

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well the fascinating quirks of human history and culture. It's

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quite a range, it is, and hopefully you'll gain a

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shortcut to being truly well informed. Try to connect the dots,

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Offer surprising facts, maybe a little humor, keep us hooked, yeah, exactly,

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reveal how these seemingly separate things actually weave together to form,

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you know, a more complete picture, a more thrilling picture

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maybe of our world.

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Speaker 1: The shifting ground beneath us a geological roller coaster.

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Speaker 2: Okay, so let's start deep down. We often think of

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continents as these like immovable giants, right anchors.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely stable, permanent fixtures.

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Speaker 2: But our sources are telling us something pretty astonishing about

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North America's foundation. It seems it's actually thinning out.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, thinning out, like a colossal, slow motion erosion, happening

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deep deep beneath us.

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Speaker 2: So not like earthquakes or sinkholes we see on the.

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Speaker 1: News, No, not in that immediate dramatic way. This is

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about cretons. Cretons these are the incredibly ancient, really thick

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and resilient roots of the continents.

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Speaker 2: How ancient are we talking?

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Speaker 1: Billions of years old form way back in Earth's infancy,

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and they were always considered well, virtually indestructible.

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Speaker 2: Indestructible, like, what have they survived? Oh?

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Speaker 1: Everything? Meteor impacts, massive supervolcanoes, the constant jostling and fistfights

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of tectonic plates. They're basically the ultimate survivors in geology.

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The cockroaches, if you will.

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Speaker 2: Okay, the cockroaches of geology. I like that. So for

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decades the assumption was just they're permanent bedrock done exactly.

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Speaker 1: They just are. But then a research team used some

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really advanced seismic imaging.

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Speaker 2: Techniques, like an MRI for the Earth.

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Speaker 1: That's a great way to put it. Yeah, a high

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tech full body MRI. They built these incredibly intricate three

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D maps of what's underneath the continent.

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Speaker 2: What did the MRI show.

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Speaker 1: It showed that these supposedly indestructible rocks are in fact

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melting away, dripping essentially into the planet's lower mantle.

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Speaker 2: WHOA, Okay, that really challenges the whole stable foundation idea.

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Speaker 1: It certainly does. It's a major shift in understanding.

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Speaker 2: So what's causing this? What's the culprit?

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Speaker 1: Well, the primary suspect identified in the sources is something

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called the Ferrolon.

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Speaker 2: Plate, the Parolon plate. I think I've heard of that.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it's an ancient tectonic plate. It started sliding under

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North America over one hundred million years ago. That process

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is called subduction.

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Speaker 2: Subduction right where one plate goes under another. That's normal,

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isn't It helps recycle crust.

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Speaker 1: Exactly it's a vital geological process, recycles old oceanic crust

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back into the mantle, stops the planet overheating. But the

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Farolon plate has gone really deep. Now how deep it's

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descended so far that it's almost four hundred miles away

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from the crate in itself, way down in the lower mantle,

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actually remarkably close to the outer core.

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Speaker 2: Okay, four hundred miles away, But it's still having an

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effect like that roommate analogy in the Source, the one

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who moved out but keeps leaving weird stuff in the fridge.

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Speaker 1: Huh. Yeah, that's a surprisingly apt analogy. Even though it's

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traveled this immense distance, it's still influencing North America profoundly.

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As it continues sinking. It's actually exerting this well subtle

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but immense gravitational tug on North America's deep foundation. A

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tug yes stretching the crate out, and that stretching causes

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these massive chunks to basically detach and drip like thick

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honey into the deep mantle below.

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Speaker 2: Wow, just dripping away over millions of years.

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Speaker 1: That's the time scale, far far beyond human perception.

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Speaker 2: And there's more to it. Isn't there something about water?

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Speaker 1: Right to compound the drama. As the ferrill On plate sinks,

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it's also leaked water and carbon dioxide into the surrounding

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mantle rocks.

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Speaker 2: Leaked water. How does that happen?

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Speaker 1: These volatiles get trapped in the minerals of the subducting

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plate and as it heats up and transforms under pressure,

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they get released.

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Speaker 2: Okay, so it leaks water and CO two. What does

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that do?

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Speaker 1: That influx chemically softens the craton? Yeah, makes it more appliable,

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more susceptible to being deformed and sort of shredded by

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this stretching.

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Speaker 2: So it's being pulled and weakened at the same time.

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How did they figure this out?

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Speaker 1: Scientists analyze data from literally hundreds of earthquakes recorded across

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thousands of monitoring stations. All that data allows them to

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build up a detailed picture of these deep earth movements,

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essentially observing this process of continental material slowly dripping downward.

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Speaker 2: That's incredible. And the amount of thinning you said thirty seven.

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Speaker 1: Meters a full thirty seven meters, which you know sounds

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like a lot of missing rock.

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Speaker 2: It really does.

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Speaker 1: But again, context is key. This process unfolds at an

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incredibly slow pace, a geological snails pace. We're talking millions

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of years, right, So no.

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Speaker 2: Need to panic about falling into the mantle anytime soon.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely not. You're great, great, great great great, Yeah, few

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more greats grand kids will likely still be on very

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solid ground. It's a drama on a timescale that just

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dwarfs human existence.

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Speaker 2: Okay, so that's the super slow motion deep earth drama.

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But the sources also talk about another kind of sinking, right,

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something happening much faster.

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Speaker 1: Yes, and this one is largely our.

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Speaker 2: Fault, our fault. What are we talking about?

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Speaker 1: Land subsidence. It's where cities are quite literally sinking into

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the ground, and it's a much more pressing immediate issue

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than the crete and thinning.

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Speaker 2: Okay, so how fast are we talking?

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Speaker 1: Well, researchers have seen that since about two thousand and seven,

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several major US cities think New York, Baltimore, Charleston, they've

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been sinking somewhere between point zero four and point zero

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eight inches each year.

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Speaker 2: Hmmm, still sounds tiny. Point zero eight inches.

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Speaker 1: It does, But Charleston, South Carolina is a real concern.

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It's sinking faster about point one to five inches annually.

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Speaker 2: Okay, point one one five inches. Why is Charleston such.

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Speaker 1: A worry because Charleston's average elevation is barely nine feet

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above sea level.

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Speaker 2: Ah Okay, Now I see. You mix sinking land with

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rising sea levels.

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Speaker 1: You get what the source called a disaster cocktail.

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Speaker 2: A disaster cocktail that sounds about right. What's in it?

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Speaker 1: You've got streets flooding even on sunny days, no rain needed.

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You get farmland turning salty and useless. You see the

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emergence of these eerie ghost forests. Ghost forests, Yeah, basically

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woodlands that have been drowned by saltwater and trees rusion

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as the land sinks and the sea rises, trees just

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standing dead in the water.

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Speaker 2: Creepy, and I imagine homeowners aren't too happy.

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Speaker 1: No, you get increasingly cranky homeowners facing escalating flood risks

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and property damage. It creates a real tangible sense of urgency,

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especially for these coastal communities.

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Speaker 2: And it's not just homes, is it. Infrastructure must be

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at rit Absolutely.

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Speaker 1: The implications are severe and far reaching. We're talking critical infrastructure, bridges, roads, airports,

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power plants, the very arteries of modern life.

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Speaker 2: So flooded grids, sinking highways.

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Speaker 1: Exactly, compromise foundations for bridges. It could all lead to

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billions in economic losses, not to mention major safety hazards.

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This isn't just inconvenient, it's a threat to economic stability,

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public safety, long term urban survival.

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Speaker 2: Really, now, is this all our fault or is there

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some natural process involved too?

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Speaker 1: That's a fair point. It's important to acknowledge that not

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every bit of this sinking is directly human caused. Some

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of it dates back twelve thousand years the end of

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the last ice age, the ice age. How the process

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called glacial iceis static adjustment. Basically, huge ice sheets covered

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large parts of North America. Their immense weight pushed the land.

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Speaker 2: Down, okay, like sitting on a cushion kind of, And.

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Speaker 1: When the ice melted, the land didn't just pop back

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up instantly. The mantle underneath flows incredibly slowly.

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Speaker 2: Like molasses, So it's still adjusting.

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Speaker 1: Yes, it creates this slow motion geological sea saw areas

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that were switched by ice are slowly rising, but peripheral areas,

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places that weren't under the ice, are actually being subtly

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pulled down as the mantle.

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Speaker 2: Flows back a geological sea saw. Okay, so some sinking

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is natural ancient history, correct.

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Speaker 1: But human activities have undeniably accelerated and frankly made the

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problem much much worse.

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Speaker 2: How, what's the main thing we're doing?

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Speaker 1: Groundwater extraction is a huge one. Pumping massive amounts of

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water out from underground aquifers.

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Speaker 2: Like pulling the stuffing out of a mattress. Is that

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in the elogy?

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Speaker 1: Or like deflating an air mattress. The water pressure helps

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support the land above. You pump it out, especially excessively,

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and the land compacts and SAgs.

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Speaker 2: Where is this a big problem?

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Speaker 1: California Central Valley is a prime example. Huge amounts of

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agriculture rely on groundwater in some areas there, especially during droughts,

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the land can drop by up to eight inches in

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a single year.

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Speaker 2: Eight inches a year. That's staggering.

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Speaker 1: You'd actually see that, Oh you do, roads crack, building

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foundations shift, It's very visible.

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Speaker 2: Okay, So groundwater pumping? What else?

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Speaker 1: Big cities, Right in dense urban centers like New York City,

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it's not just about water. The sheer weight of the

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buildings themselves plays a role.

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Speaker 2: The weight of the skyscrapers yes.

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Speaker 1: The estimate is one point six eight trillion pounds of

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concrete steel everything. That's like, what did the source say?

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Three point five million statues of liberty piled up?

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Speaker 2: Wow?

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Speaker 1: All that weight is pressing down on relatively soft, compressible ground,

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especially in certain areas built on marshland or landfill, it

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inevitably causes the ground to compress over time.

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Speaker 2: Okay, so pumping water out, piling buildings on top, anything

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else we're doing.

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Speaker 1: Dams We build damps which trap sediment. Rivers naturally carry

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sediment downstream, which builds up land, especially in coastal delta's.

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It's like nature's way of fluffing the ground back up.

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Speaker 2: Ah, and dams stop that natural.

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Speaker 1: Fluffing pretty much, so the land doesn't give her plenty,

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She just keeps compacting. And then there's draining wetlands for development.

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Speaker 2: What happens when you drain wetlands, The.

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Speaker 1: Organic peat soil dries out, shrinks, and collapses. It just

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compacts like an old sponge.

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Speaker 2: So basically the ground, especially in these fragile coastal zones,

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just can't catch a break.

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Speaker 1: That sums it up well, and scientists has specifically noted

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that areas that were once lush wetlands are now among

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the fastest sinking places, especially along.

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Speaker 2: The Gulf coast, like Louisiana.

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Speaker 1: Exactly, Louisiana is losing land at an alarming rate. The

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source mentioned a football field of land every hour or so.

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It's that devastating mix of subsidence and rising sea levels.

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Speaker 2: Okay, so let's recap the tangible consequences. What does this

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mean for people living?

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Speaker 1: Well, it's not pretty. We're seeing more of those ghost forests,

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the drowned woodlands, farmland becoming too salty to grow crops,

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and that sunny day flooding streets underwater even when it's perfectly.

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Speaker 2: Clear, just becomes a regular occurrence increasingly.

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Speaker 1: Yes, and it's not just the East coast. West coast

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cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles they're sinking too, facing

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that double whammy sinking land and rising seas.

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Speaker 2: So is it Atlantis next week? Should we be building arcs?

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Huh huh?

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Speaker 1: No, The endgame isn't quite Atlantis next week. Immediate panic

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isn't the right response. Okay, good, but without serious proactive changes,

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things like draftically cutting groundwater pumping, smarter urban planning that

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accounts for this building more resilient infrastructure. What then, at

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least half a million people are in serious danger from

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increased flooding and related impacts. The projected housing damage alone

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could hit one hundred and nine billion dollars by twenty fifty.

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Speaker 2: That's a huge number it is.

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Speaker 1: These aren't minor issues. They are clear signs, as the

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source ponet, that the planet is showing some cracks in

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the crust, demanding our immediate attention.

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Speaker 2: In action Earth's magnetic heartbeat and hidden worlds from core

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to creator.

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Speaker 1: Okay, let's dive even deeper now, beyond the continents into

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the Earth's core and its magnetic secrets. The sources talk

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about a mysterious dent in our magnetic field.

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Speaker 2: Yes, that's right, a dent or maybe a weak spot

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in Earth's protective magnetic shield. It's slowly growing, stretching from

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South America across the Atlantic towards Africa. Scientists call it

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the South Atlantic anomaly.

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Speaker 1: South Atlantic anomaly. Okay. Why is a dent in the

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magnetic field a big deal?

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Speaker 2: Because that shield is what protects us from harmful solar

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windstreams of charged particles from the Sun. This anomaly represents

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a localized weakening of that protection.

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Speaker 1: So more radiation gets through in that area. Do people

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feel it?

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Speaker 2: Most people on the ground wouldn't know as anything. The

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atmosphere still provides a lot of protection, but it's a

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real problem for satellites and spacecraft passing through that region. Also,

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they experience random glitches and shut downs. Sometimes electronics even

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short circuit because they're exposed to more high energy solar particles.

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Speaker 1: Wow, So mission controllers actually have to plan for this.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, they have to power down sensitive systems before their

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satellites enter this known danger zone. It highlights a very

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real technological vulnerability up there.

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Speaker 1: So what's causing this cosmic dent? What's messing with the

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magnetic field down there?

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Speaker 2: Well, deep beneath the African continent, there's this enormous blob

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of dense rock. The scientific term is the African large

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low sheer velocity Province or.

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Speaker 1: LLVP for sure LLVP okay, giant rock blob under Africa.

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Speaker 2: Essentially, yes, and this colossal, somewhat mysterious structure seems to

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be the main disruptor.

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Speaker 1: How does a rock blob disrupt the magnetic field?

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Speaker 2: Well, the low sheer velocity part means seismic shear waves

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travel more slowly through it than the surrounding mantle. That

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suggests it's likely hotter and chemically different. Okay, And this

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anomalous region is disturbing the normal flow, the convection of

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the molten iron and nickel in the outer core. That

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flow is precisely what generates our planet's magnetic field, like

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a giant dynamo.

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Speaker 1: So the blob messes up the flow, creating a weak

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spot exactly.

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Speaker 2: It's like a crack spreading across that invisible shield, allowing

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more solar radiation to get closer to Earth in that

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specific area.

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Speaker 1: And this anomaly isn't just sitting there, is it. It's moving.

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Speaker 2: That's what's really intriguing. It's not static, it's actively drifting westward.

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And even more remarkably, recent data suggests it might be

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splitting in two.

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Speaker 1: Splitting, so we might get two week.

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Speaker 2: Spots potentially, yes, creating two distinct week zones instead of

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just one. Any idea why this is happening? Is it

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a one off thing? Some scientists think it's part of

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a much larger, very long term geological cycle, something that's

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been repeating, perhaps for over eleven million years.

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Speaker 1: Eleven million years.

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Speaker 2: And they even speculate it could be a precursor, a

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sign that Earth's magnet poles might be getting ready to

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flip flip.

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Speaker 1: Like north becomes south, south becomes north.

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Speaker 2: As that happened, because oh yes, many times in Earth's history,

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though the last time was quite a while ago, about

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seven hundred and eighty thousand years back.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so it's not unprecedented. Would it be like instant

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chaos if it.

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Speaker 2: Happened, No, thankfully, not instant. A full reversal would unfold

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over thousands of years, but during that transition, the field

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would likely be much weaker overall.

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Speaker 1: Meaning more radiation reaching the surface everywhere.

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Speaker 2: Potentially yes, which would definitely wreak havoc on our technology. Satellites, communication,

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power grids could all be effected. And what about life animals?

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It could also disrupt animal migration. Many species, from birds

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to turtles, seem to use the Earth's magnetic field for navigation.

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A flip or even just a significantly weaker field could

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throw them way off course.

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Speaker 1: Wow, get back to these blobs. You said, the African

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one isn't the only one.

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Speaker 2: Correct. Our sources reveal there's another, equally massive mysterious blob

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under the pic Ocean.

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Speaker 1: Two of them. How big are these things?

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Speaker 2: They are truly colossal, hundreds of times taller than Mount Everest,

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stretching for thousands of miles. Combined, they make up about

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six percent of the entire Earth's volume.

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Speaker 1: Six percent of the Earth. That's mind boggling hiding inside

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our planet.

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Speaker 2: It really is hard to grasp structures on that scale

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existing deep within the mantle.

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Speaker 1: What did scientists think they were? Initially?

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Speaker 2: Early models pictured them as relatively simple, lumpy mountains of

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softened rock, dense but maybe not that complex structurally, But

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that view is changing. Yes. More recent higher resolution seismic imaging,

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again using earthquake waves to map the interior, suggests they

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might have these jagged branch like structures extending.

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Speaker 1: Upward like giant tree roots, but pointing.

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Speaker 2: Up almost yeah, like the roots of some colossal, inverted,

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subterranean tree. And what's really compelling is the theory that

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these branches might act as conduits, condos for what feeding

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mantle plumes, columns of hot buoyant rising from deep within

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the mantle that eventually drive hotspot volcanoes at.

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Speaker 1: The surface, like the ones that formed Hawaii.

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Speaker 2: Exactly like the ones responsible for the Hawaiian Islands and

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other similar volcanic chains. So these deep blobs might be

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fundamentally linked to surface volcanism.

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Speaker 1: So we still don't know exactly what they're made.

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Speaker 2: Of, not precisely. Their exact composition is still debated, but

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what's becoming clearer is that scientists believe they control a

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lot of what happens on Earth's surface.

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Speaker 1: Control That sounds pretty powerful for hidden blobs.

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Speaker 2: Well, they seem to be linked to a whole range

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of major geological phenomena volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, those changes in

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the magnetic field we just talked.

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Speaker 1: About, even supervolcanoes, mass extinctions.

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Speaker 2: Potentially. Yes, they play a crucial though still not fully

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understood role in driving plate tectonics, and some theories suggest

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they might contain primordial material from Earth's very early days.

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Speaker 1: For mortial material like leftover bits from when the planet.

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Speaker 2: Formed, possibly or maybe even remnants from thea that hypothetical

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planet that scientists think crashed into the early Earth to

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form the Moon.

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Speaker 1: Okay, that's wild. So these blobs could hold secrets about Earth's.

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Speaker 3: Origins, It's a distinct possibility, which leads to the critical

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question what deep secrets do these enigmatic blobs hold about

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our planet's past and maybe it's future.

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Speaker 1: That really is the big question. What is inside them?

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Is it just rock?

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Speaker 2: Well, here's another fascinating twist. Our sources suggest they might

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contain an ocean of water, an ocean like liquid water

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down there. Not liquid water, no, the pressure and temperature

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are far too extreme, but vast quantities of water molecules

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chemically bound and locked away within the crystal structures of

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specific minerals like winguidite that are stable at those depths.

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Speaker 1: So water trapped in the rocks how much?

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Speaker 2: Potentially enormous amounts. Some estimates suggest there could be more

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water locked in the mantle than in all the surface

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oceans combined.

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Speaker 1: Whoa what would happen if that hidden water got released somehow?

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Speaker 2: Well, if it were released rapidly, it could potentially trigger

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massive volcanic activity or even have profound effects on global climate,

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altering mantle dynamics.

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Speaker 1: And there was something about the Earth breathing.

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Speaker 2: Ah, Yes, that's a striking insight. Earth literally breathes. In

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a way the subtle gravitational polls of the Sun and

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Moon cause the solid Earth itself to stretch and flex

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slightly solid Earth tides. Okay, but these deep blobs, these lvps,

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they seem to interfere with how the Earth's mantle moves

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and responds to these tidal forces. They actively influence the

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planet's behavior, even these very subtle movements.

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Speaker 1: So how did these things form in the first place.

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Speaker 2: The leading theory now suggests they formed over hundreds of

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millions of years, basically from sunken ocean crust old tectonic

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plates that subducted like the Ferrillon plate piling up at

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the boundary between the mantle and the core, a.

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Speaker 1: Giant graveyard for tectonic plates.

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Speaker 2: In a sense. Yes, And the African blob seems distinct.

400
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It appears hotter and chemic, different from the surrounding mantle,

401
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which is likely why it's disturbing the outer core right

402
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above it and weakening the magnetic field locally.

403
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Speaker 1: And they're not just sitting there, right, they're moving, changing.

404
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Speaker 2: That's another key point. They're dynamic. Researchers think that mantle plumes,

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those calms of hot rock rising from even deeper might

406
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be pushing these blobs around, pushing them, yeah, causing them

407
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to shift, change shape, almost like they're alive in a

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geological sense. It's this incredibly slow deep convection.

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Speaker 1: So NASA's watching.

410
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Speaker 2: This very closely, yes, using satellite measurements of the magnetic

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field and gravity field, because it's become undeniable that something

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deep inside Earth is changing, and understanding these fundamental shifts

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is vital for comprehending our planet's long term behavior.

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Speaker 1: And future, humanity's ingenuity and its unintended consequences crafting our future.

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Speaker 2: Okay, let's shift gears from the planet's deep hidden processes

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to something much more tangible, a mineral that's really shaping

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our immediate future. Lithium. Oh, yes, white gold, white gold.

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The sources paint a picture of a serious global scramble

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for this.

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Speaker 1: Stuff, absolutely, and one of the most significant recent developments

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00:21:09,960 --> 00:21:13,960
is centered on a seemingly quiet place, the McDermott Caldera

422
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in Nevada and Oregon.

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Speaker 2: What's special about that spot?

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Speaker 1: It's now considered potentially the most important lithium deposit in America.

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It holds one of the largest untapped lithium reserves in

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the world.

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Speaker 2: How big are we talking?

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Speaker 1: Value estimated worth is around one point five trillion dollars

429
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if it's developed successfully, this one site could produce something

430
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like forty thousand tons of high quality lithium every year.

431
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Speaker 2: Forty thousand tons. What does that translate to in say,

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electric cars?

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Speaker 1: Enough for the batteries and about eight hundred thousand electric

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cars annually from just that one location.

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Speaker 2: Wow, that really could be a game changer for a

436
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domestic supply.

437
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Speaker 1: It absolutely could be.

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Speaker 2: So remind us why is lithium so critical? What makes

439
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it special for batteries?

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Speaker 1: Well, chemically, it's the lightest solid element room to tempt,

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very low density, about point three ounces per.

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Speaker 2: Cubic gage latest solid.

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Speaker 1: Okay, But beyond just being light, it's also extremely reactive.

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It really wants to combine with other elements. It can

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even ignite if exposed to water or air under the

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right conditions.

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Speaker 2: Reactive and light good for storing energy exactly.

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Speaker 1: That unique combination makes it ideal for high energy density batteries,

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packing a lot of power into a small, lightweight package,

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perfect for smartphones, laptops, and crucially for electric vehicles.

451
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Speaker 2: And the demand I assume it's going.

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Speaker 1: Up skyrocketing is putting it mildly. Since just twenty twenty,

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the prices surge more than ten times. It's now the

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most expensive battery metal by far, way ahead of things

455
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like cobalt or nickel ten times, and projections suggests that

456
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by twenty fifty, global demand could be ten times higher

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than current production levels.

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Speaker 2: Ten times higher. Why such a massive increase.

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Speaker 1: A huge driver is the push to decarbonized transportation. The US,

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for example, aims to cut pollution by fifty percent by

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twenty thirty. A massive part of that strategy involves replacing

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gasoline cars with electric ones.

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Speaker 2: Which needs a lot of lithium batteries an enormous amount.

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Where does the US get its lithium now?

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Speaker 1: Most of it is imported predominantly from Chile and Argentina,

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from those big salt flat brine operations.

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Speaker 2: So if America wants to lead in EVS and secure

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its energy future, then.

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Speaker 1: Investing heavily in domestic projects like Thacker Pass, which is

470
00:23:22,920 --> 00:23:26,359
part of the McDermot called ERA, isn't just nice to have.

471
00:23:27,039 --> 00:23:32,240
It's a strategic comparative for global leadership for supply chain security.

472
00:23:32,359 --> 00:23:35,160
Speaker 2: But it's not just about digging it up right. Refining

473
00:23:35,319 --> 00:23:35,960
is a challenge.

474
00:23:36,000 --> 00:23:39,039
Speaker 1: That's a huge piece of the puzzle. Finding the deposits

475
00:23:39,079 --> 00:23:41,519
is one thing. Processing the raw lithium ore into the

476
00:23:41,599 --> 00:23:46,160
highly pure battery grade material is complex and energy intensive.

477
00:23:46,279 --> 00:23:47,839
Speaker 2: And who dominates that part.

478
00:23:47,759 --> 00:23:51,400
Speaker 1: China Right now, China is responsible for about seventy five

479
00:23:51,400 --> 00:23:54,960
percent of the world's lithium ion battery production capacity. They

480
00:23:55,000 --> 00:23:57,440
control a huge chunk of the refining stage.

481
00:23:57,920 --> 00:24:00,440
Speaker 2: So the US is trying to catch up building its

482
00:24:00,440 --> 00:24:02,160
own supply chain aggressively.

483
00:24:02,680 --> 00:24:05,559
Speaker 1: Authorities are investing big over two billion dollars in loans

484
00:24:05,640 --> 00:24:08,160
just for the Nevada project, for instance. The hope is

485
00:24:08,160 --> 00:24:10,680
that Thacker Pass could potentially hold nearly half of the

486
00:24:10,680 --> 00:24:12,119
world's known lithium reserves.

487
00:24:12,279 --> 00:24:15,519
Speaker 2: Half the world's reserves in Nevada, Oregon. That's that's massive,

488
00:24:15,640 --> 00:24:16,839
more than Bolivia.

489
00:24:16,480 --> 00:24:20,200
Speaker 1: Almost double the reserves previously identified in Bolivia's famous salt flats.

490
00:24:20,279 --> 00:24:23,200
According to some estimates for Facta Pass. If those prove out,

491
00:24:23,240 --> 00:24:24,319
it's truly enormous.

492
00:24:24,440 --> 00:24:27,440
Speaker 2: What would this mean for the local area, Humboldt County.

493
00:24:27,559 --> 00:24:30,960
Speaker 1: It's poised to transform Humboldt County for good. There's talk

494
00:24:30,960 --> 00:24:33,720
of a huge ripple effect well beyond the mine itself.

495
00:24:33,880 --> 00:24:39,480
Ripple effect like jobs exactly. Projections suggest for every direct

496
00:24:39,519 --> 00:24:42,640
construction job six more jobs will be created elsewhere in

497
00:24:42,640 --> 00:24:46,240
the state to support it, logistics, services, housing, et cetera.

498
00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:49,960
Over his estimated thirty five year lifespan, the mind could

499
00:24:50,039 --> 00:24:53,599
generate over two billion dollars annually for the region.

500
00:24:53,799 --> 00:24:56,759
Speaker 2: That's a massive economic boost for a rural area.

501
00:24:56,880 --> 00:24:59,799
Speaker 1: Huge, But there's also an innovative aspect heres in. They're

502
00:24:59,799 --> 00:25:01,279
the extraction method right.

503
00:25:01,319 --> 00:25:03,119
Speaker 2: They're planning to get lithium from.

504
00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:07,599
Speaker 1: Clay, exactly extracting lithium from claystone deposits. This process has

505
00:25:07,640 --> 00:25:10,880
never been done before on such a massive industrial scale.

506
00:25:10,640 --> 00:25:12,559
Speaker 2: So if they succeed, it could.

507
00:25:12,400 --> 00:25:14,920
Speaker 1: Completely change the game for the entire industry. It could

508
00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:18,960
unlock vast new lithium resources globally from clay deposits that

509
00:25:18,960 --> 00:25:23,119
were previously considered uneconomical. It's a big technological gamble, but

510
00:25:23,160 --> 00:25:24,599
with a huge potential payoffs.

511
00:25:24,599 --> 00:25:28,240
Speaker 2: And the big players are noticing. Car companies, energy companies.

512
00:25:28,359 --> 00:25:32,240
Speaker 1: Oh absolutely, Exon Mobile, you know, the oil giant aims

513
00:25:32,240 --> 00:25:35,279
to start producing lithium by twenty twenty seven and wants

514
00:25:35,319 --> 00:25:37,160
to be a top EV supplier by twenty thirty.

515
00:25:37,200 --> 00:25:40,119
Speaker 2: Pixon Mobile getting into lithium, that's a sign of the times.

516
00:25:40,240 --> 00:25:43,720
Speaker 1: Yes, definitely, General Motors has already invested six hundred and

517
00:25:43,720 --> 00:25:46,200
twenty five million dollars for a big stake about thirty

518
00:25:46,240 --> 00:25:49,720
eight percent in tacker Pass, and Tesla naturally is building

519
00:25:49,759 --> 00:25:53,160
its own lithium processing factory in Texas. Companies want to

520
00:25:53,200 --> 00:25:54,319
control their supply.

521
00:25:54,039 --> 00:25:58,200
Speaker 2: Chains makes sense, but looking at the bigger picture, this

522
00:25:58,440 --> 00:26:01,559
huge rush for lithium, what happens if we run out

523
00:26:01,799 --> 00:26:04,839
or if it becomes too environmentally damaging to extract.

524
00:26:05,079 --> 00:26:08,039
Speaker 1: That's the critical long term question. While lithium is key

525
00:26:08,119 --> 00:26:12,319
right now, experts are definitely exploring alternatives. Thermal batteries were

526
00:26:12,359 --> 00:26:12,799
mentioned in.

527
00:26:12,759 --> 00:26:14,960
Speaker 2: The sources Thermal batteries. How do they work?

528
00:26:15,079 --> 00:26:17,799
Speaker 1: They store energy is heat, often using materials like molten

529
00:26:17,839 --> 00:26:20,400
salt or crushed rock. They're good for storing large amounts

530
00:26:20,440 --> 00:26:23,519
of energy, especially surplus power from renewvals like solar and wind,

531
00:26:23,799 --> 00:26:26,039
often at a lower cost than lithium ion for grid

532
00:26:26,039 --> 00:26:26,759
scale storage.

533
00:26:26,799 --> 00:26:29,119
Speaker 2: So mainly for big industrial uses now.

534
00:26:29,039 --> 00:26:33,279
Speaker 1: Predominantly yes, but there's increasing focus on adapting the technology

535
00:26:33,519 --> 00:26:37,039
for smaller scales for private spaces like houses and apartments.

536
00:26:37,480 --> 00:26:40,160
They could become a common feature alongside solar panels in

537
00:26:40,200 --> 00:26:43,759
the future, reducing reliance solely on lithium.

538
00:26:43,880 --> 00:26:47,640
Speaker 2: Interesting. Okay, let's shift from resources we need to places

539
00:26:47,680 --> 00:26:52,480
we struggle to even cross. Human ingenuity tries to overcome

540
00:26:52,599 --> 00:26:56,119
natural barriers, right, but sometimes nature just wins.

541
00:26:55,960 --> 00:26:58,920
Speaker 1: Definitely, And the prime example has to be the Dairy

542
00:26:58,920 --> 00:27:00,640
and Gap and Gap.

543
00:27:00,799 --> 00:27:03,960
Speaker 2: Just the name sounds intimidating. The sources say it's a

544
00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:07,920
place even the most experienced explorers fear, and for good reason.

545
00:27:08,079 --> 00:27:11,559
Speaker 1: It's that sixty mile stretch of dense, unforgiving jungle, the

546
00:27:11,640 --> 00:27:14,599
only break in the Pan American Highway that theoretically runs

547
00:27:14,599 --> 00:27:16,559
from Alaska to Argentina.

548
00:27:16,240 --> 00:27:18,400
Speaker 2: Just sixty miles, but it stops the highway cold. Why

549
00:27:18,440 --> 00:27:19,160
is it so bad?

550
00:27:19,680 --> 00:27:22,519
Speaker 1: It's a harsh, extreme environment, one of those dangerous places

551
00:27:22,519 --> 00:27:25,039
on Earth. Frankly, people trying to cross it face everything

552
00:27:25,200 --> 00:27:28,720
venomous snakes, spiders, clouds of biting insects carrying diseases like

553
00:27:28,759 --> 00:27:29,960
malaria or ding a fever.

554
00:27:30,039 --> 00:27:31,240
Speaker 2: Okay, that sounds bad enough.

555
00:27:31,279 --> 00:27:35,400
Speaker 1: Then there's the terrain itself, Steep pravines, thick mud, raging

556
00:27:35,519 --> 00:27:40,200
rivers that flood unpredictably, People suffer serious injuries, fractures, and

557
00:27:40,240 --> 00:27:43,720
on top of all that, there are criminal gangs, thieves

558
00:27:43,880 --> 00:27:46,480
who prey on vulnerable migrants migrants.

559
00:27:46,599 --> 00:27:48,039
Speaker 2: So people are crossing.

560
00:27:47,680 --> 00:27:51,200
Speaker 1: It increasingly, yes, yeah, mostly refugees and migrants heading north

561
00:27:51,279 --> 00:27:54,680
towards the US. In twenty twenty three, an unbelievable five

562
00:27:54,759 --> 00:27:57,519
hundred and twenty thousand people made that, crossing.

563
00:27:57,319 --> 00:28:00,960
Speaker 2: Half a million people through that. That's staggering. What was

564
00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:01,559
it before?

565
00:28:01,720 --> 00:28:03,920
Speaker 1: Just a decade ago? In twenty fourteen it was fewer

566
00:28:03,960 --> 00:28:07,119
than ten thousand. It shows the level of desperation driving

567
00:28:07,160 --> 00:28:07,799
these journeys.

568
00:28:07,960 --> 00:28:09,759
Speaker 2: So why isn't there a road? It seems like such

569
00:28:09,799 --> 00:28:11,200
a crucial missing link.

570
00:28:11,680 --> 00:28:16,960
Speaker 1: Well, building one would be technically highly challenging and prohibitively expensive.

571
00:28:17,359 --> 00:28:20,759
The climate is incredibly humid, the terrain is brutal. Constant

572
00:28:20,759 --> 00:28:24,759
heavy rain causes landslides and washouts. It's an engineering nightmare.

573
00:28:24,400 --> 00:28:26,640
Speaker 2: But surely it's possible with modern tech.

574
00:28:26,839 --> 00:28:30,680
Speaker 1: Perhaps, But there's a more important reason, the environmental impact.

575
00:28:30,720 --> 00:28:33,960
Ah it's a unique ecosystem, one of the most biodiverse

576
00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:36,680
places on the entire planet. An estimated one in five

577
00:28:36,720 --> 00:28:39,839
species found there are endemic. They exist nowhere else on Earth,

578
00:28:40,039 --> 00:28:42,799
like what things like the dairyen pocket gopher, the slatty

579
00:28:42,880 --> 00:28:47,880
slender mouse, apossum unique plants, insects, amphibians. A road would

580
00:28:47,880 --> 00:28:53,039
cut right through that pristine habitat, fragmenting it, bringing deforestation pollution.

581
00:28:53,400 --> 00:28:56,559
Speaker 2: So protecting the rainforest and the indigenous communities who live

582
00:28:56,599 --> 00:28:58,319
there became the priority exactly.

583
00:28:58,640 --> 00:29:01,240
Speaker 1: Previous plans to push the Pan American Highway through were

584
00:29:01,240 --> 00:29:05,440
scrapped specifically for those reasons, and Panama recently reinforced that

585
00:29:05,759 --> 00:29:09,279
by actually closing off key migrant roots with barred wire fencing,

586
00:29:09,680 --> 00:29:12,799
signaling a stronger stance and preventing the crossing, partly for

587
00:29:12,960 --> 00:29:15,279
humanitarian reasons but also to protect the park.

588
00:29:15,519 --> 00:29:18,359
Speaker 2: Okay, so the Darien Gap nature wins. But the flip

589
00:29:18,440 --> 00:29:21,960
side is the Panama Canal right, a massive triumph of

590
00:29:22,000 --> 00:29:23,279
engineering over nature.

591
00:29:23,359 --> 00:29:26,400
Speaker 1: Absolutely the inverse story, the idea goes way back, even

592
00:29:26,440 --> 00:29:29,359
to the sixteenth century, but the first serious attempt was

593
00:29:29,400 --> 00:29:33,559
by the French in the eighteen eighties, and they failed spectacularly. Unfortunately,

594
00:29:34,240 --> 00:29:37,440
they were plagued by tropical diseases malaria, yellow fever that

595
00:29:37,519 --> 00:29:42,000
killed thousands of workers. The terrain was incredibly difficult, excavation

596
00:29:42,079 --> 00:29:45,359
technology wasn't quite there, and even an earthquake hampered their efforts.

597
00:29:45,559 --> 00:29:47,599
They lost a fortune and countless lives.

598
00:29:47,759 --> 00:29:49,039
Speaker 2: So the US took over.

599
00:29:49,240 --> 00:29:52,079
Speaker 1: Yes, eventually they finished it by nineteen fourteen. It was

600
00:29:52,119 --> 00:29:55,319
still a monumental undertaking, costing around three hundred and seventy

601
00:29:55,319 --> 00:29:57,720
five million dollars back then, which was an enormous.

602
00:29:57,359 --> 00:30:00,279
Speaker 2: See in the benefit. How little time or distance does

603
00:30:00,319 --> 00:30:00,680
it save?

604
00:30:00,960 --> 00:30:04,039
Speaker 1: It's huge. That fifty mile passage across the isthmus of

605
00:30:04,039 --> 00:30:07,440
Panama saves the ship traveling between say, New York and

606
00:30:07,480 --> 00:30:11,039
San Francisco, an incredible seven eight hundred and seventy two

607
00:30:11,119 --> 00:30:13,920
miles compared to going all the way around South America.

608
00:30:13,960 --> 00:30:17,319
Speaker 2: Almost eight thousand miles save per trip. Wow. How many

609
00:30:17,319 --> 00:30:17,920
ships use it?

610
00:30:18,000 --> 00:30:21,039
Speaker 1: Around fourteen thousand ships pass through it annually, and they

611
00:30:21,039 --> 00:30:23,599
pay hefty tolls. The average can be around one point

612
00:30:23,640 --> 00:30:26,839
eight million dollars per large vessel transit. He remains absolutely

613
00:30:26,920 --> 00:30:27,920
vital for global trade.

614
00:30:27,960 --> 00:30:32,720
Speaker 2: Okay, Panama Canal engineering triumph. Now another giant natural feature

615
00:30:33,079 --> 00:30:36,000
the Amazon River four thousand, three hundred miles long. How

616
00:30:36,000 --> 00:30:37,119
many bridges cross it?

617
00:30:37,200 --> 00:30:39,079
Speaker 1: That's the amazing part. Not a single.

618
00:30:38,839 --> 00:30:42,680
Speaker 2: Bridge, none across the entire main river. Why not?

619
00:30:43,039 --> 00:30:45,680
Speaker 1: Several reasons? Really? The sources point out the river basin

620
00:30:45,720 --> 00:30:50,680
has extensive marshes and incredibly soft, unstable soils. Building bridge

621
00:30:50,680 --> 00:30:53,599
foundations would require them to be exceptionally long and sunk

622
00:30:53,640 --> 00:30:59,200
incredibly deep, making it astronomically expensive. Precisely, Plus, the river

623
00:30:59,240 --> 00:31:02,759
itself changes drastically. During the dry season. It might be

624
00:31:02,839 --> 00:31:05,680
two to six miles wide in places, but during the

625
00:31:05,680 --> 00:31:08,720
wet season it can swell up to thirty miles wide,

626
00:31:08,799 --> 00:31:10,880
and the water level can rise by fifty.

627
00:31:10,559 --> 00:31:13,480
Speaker 2: Feet thirty miles wide. Okay, Yeah, building a bridge across

628
00:31:13,519 --> 00:31:16,559
that seems challenging. Floating bridges wouldn't work either.

629
00:31:16,720 --> 00:31:18,839
Speaker 1: No, the currents are too strong and the water level

630
00:31:18,839 --> 00:31:22,079
fluctuation is just too extreme. And frankly, there hasn't been

631
00:31:22,119 --> 00:31:25,720
a pressing economic or population driven need. Most of its

632
00:31:25,720 --> 00:31:30,160
course runs through very sparsely populated rainforest. Ferries and boats

633
00:31:30,319 --> 00:31:31,920
handle the local transport needs.

634
00:31:32,240 --> 00:31:36,079
Speaker 2: Fascinating nature setting the limits again, Let's talk about controlling

635
00:31:36,160 --> 00:31:39,359
nature in a different way, dealing with pests and invasive species.

636
00:31:39,480 --> 00:31:42,960
Sometimes our solutions are clever, sometimes not so much.

637
00:31:43,240 --> 00:31:47,519
Speaker 1: Right, the consequences can be, as the source said, thrilling, exciting,

638
00:31:47,799 --> 00:31:52,079
but also potentially terrifying. We're often intervening with complex systems

639
00:31:52,079 --> 00:31:53,480
we don't fully grasp.

640
00:31:53,359 --> 00:31:56,319
Speaker 2: Like the New World screwworm flies. What's the story there?

641
00:31:56,720 --> 00:31:59,680
Speaker 1: These flies have been a major pest for US livestock

642
00:31:59,720 --> 00:32:03,480
for six centuries, especially in warmer regions like Florida and Texas.

643
00:32:03,920 --> 00:32:07,640
Their larvae burrow into the flesh of living animals, causing

644
00:32:07,680 --> 00:32:09,839
horrific injuries even death.

645
00:32:10,559 --> 00:32:12,400
Speaker 2: Sounds nasty. What was the solution?

646
00:32:12,799 --> 00:32:16,319
Speaker 1: An ingenious one actually developed by the USDA. They drop

647
00:32:16,480 --> 00:32:20,920
millions fifteen million steroles screwworm larvae from helicopters along the

648
00:32:20,960 --> 00:32:22,519
border between Panami and Columbia.

649
00:32:22,720 --> 00:32:25,440
Speaker 2: Steril larvae dropped from helicopters. How does that work?

650
00:32:25,599 --> 00:32:28,759
Speaker 1: It relies on a quirk of the flies biology. Female

651
00:32:28,799 --> 00:32:31,440
screworm flies mate only once in their lifetime.

652
00:32:31,160 --> 00:32:31,599
Speaker 2: Only once.

653
00:32:31,640 --> 00:32:35,240
Speaker 1: Ok. So the USDA raises millions of male flies, sterilizes

654
00:32:35,279 --> 00:32:38,720
them using radiation, and then releases them in overwhelming numbers

655
00:32:38,720 --> 00:32:40,880
in that border zone, which acts as a buffer. If

656
00:32:40,880 --> 00:32:43,680
a wild female mates with one of these sterile males.

657
00:32:43,559 --> 00:32:47,119
Speaker 2: No offspring, end of the line for her reproductive potential exactly.

658
00:32:47,319 --> 00:32:51,480
Speaker 1: It's called the sterile insect technique. It's been remarkably effective

659
00:32:51,480 --> 00:32:55,359
at keeping the flies from reinfesting North America, all without

660
00:32:55,440 --> 00:33:01,359
using widespread, potentially harmful pesticides, a really elegant biologue control method.

661
00:33:01,319 --> 00:33:04,079
Speaker 2: That's genuinely clever. A success story, it is.

662
00:33:04,720 --> 00:33:07,240
Speaker 1: But then you have stories like the cane toads in Australia.

663
00:33:07,559 --> 00:33:10,759
Speaker 2: Ah, the infamous cane toads. This one didn't go so well,

664
00:33:10,799 --> 00:33:11,799
did it? Not well at all?

665
00:33:11,839 --> 00:33:14,799
Speaker 1: It's the classic cautionary tale of good intentions leading to

666
00:33:14,839 --> 00:33:16,000
ecological disaster.

667
00:33:16,119 --> 00:33:17,119
Speaker 2: What was the original plan?

668
00:33:17,279 --> 00:33:20,359
Speaker 1: Back in the nineteen thirties, Australian sugar cane farmers were

669
00:33:20,400 --> 00:33:23,960
losing crops to native cane beetles, so they decided to

670
00:33:24,000 --> 00:33:27,400
import cane toads from South America, thinking the toads would

671
00:33:27,440 --> 00:33:28,039
eat the beetles.

672
00:33:28,279 --> 00:33:31,279
Speaker 2: Makes sense on paper, toad eats beetle problem.

673
00:33:30,960 --> 00:33:34,720
Speaker 1: Solved, accept there was a crucial flaw. The beetles mostly

674
00:33:34,759 --> 00:33:38,359
lived high up on the sugar cane stalks. The toads, well,

675
00:33:38,400 --> 00:33:39,839
they live on the ground. They couldn't even.

676
00:33:39,759 --> 00:33:42,319
Speaker 2: Reach the bugs, oh dear, So the toads just hung

677
00:33:42,359 --> 00:33:42,880
it worse.

678
00:33:43,400 --> 00:33:47,480
Speaker 1: They found Australia to their liking, lots of food, other insects,

679
00:33:47,519 --> 00:33:50,359
small reptiles, anything they could fit in their mouths, few

680
00:33:50,480 --> 00:33:54,880
natural predators, so they multiplied at a tremendous rate.

681
00:33:55,039 --> 00:33:55,960
Speaker 2: How tremendous.

682
00:33:55,960 --> 00:33:58,759
Speaker 1: Female cane toads can lay up to thirty thousand eggs

683
00:33:58,799 --> 00:34:03,400
at a time. Thousand, Yes, and they're poisonous. Their skin

684
00:34:03,440 --> 00:34:07,640
secretes a potent toxin. Native predators, snakes, lizards, quolls that

685
00:34:07,680 --> 00:34:10,800
try to eat them dyed. They completely disrupted the food web,

686
00:34:11,079 --> 00:34:12,719
devastating local biodiversity.

687
00:34:12,800 --> 00:34:14,679
Speaker 2: So how many are there now? Where are they?

688
00:34:14,800 --> 00:34:18,679
Speaker 1: An estimated one point five billion cane toads now infest

689
00:34:18,719 --> 00:34:21,719
an area roughly the size of Texas and Oklahoma combined,

690
00:34:22,360 --> 00:34:26,000
and despite decades of trying, scientists and biologists having come

691
00:34:26,039 --> 00:34:27,559
up with an effective way to deal with them.

692
00:34:27,599 --> 00:34:30,679
Speaker 2: One point five billion. It's a chilling example of an

693
00:34:30,719 --> 00:34:32,960
ecological intervention gone horribly wrong.

694
00:34:33,039 --> 00:34:34,559
Speaker 1: Absolutely a textbookcase.

695
00:34:34,719 --> 00:34:37,639
Speaker 2: But there's maybe some hope with newer technologies, like those

696
00:34:37,760 --> 00:34:39,599
genetically modified mosquitos.

697
00:34:39,760 --> 00:34:42,800
Speaker 1: Yes, that's a more recent and so far more promising approach.

698
00:34:43,320 --> 00:34:46,960
These are male mosquitos genetically engineered to carry a specific gene.

699
00:34:46,960 --> 00:34:47,960
Speaker 2: What does the gene do?

700
00:34:48,320 --> 00:34:52,119
Speaker 1: It's essentially a self limiting gene. When these GM males

701
00:34:52,239 --> 00:34:56,320
mate with wild females, the resulting female offspring inherits the

702
00:34:56,400 --> 00:34:59,760
gene which prevents them from surviving to adulthood or in

703
00:34:59,800 --> 00:35:02,320
some versions, prevents them from producing viable eggs.

704
00:35:02,480 --> 00:35:05,800
Speaker 2: So it reduces the number of biting females and crashes

705
00:35:05,800 --> 00:35:06,880
the population over time.

706
00:35:06,920 --> 00:35:10,000
Speaker 1: That's the goal, and since twenty nineteen, about one point

707
00:35:10,000 --> 00:35:12,840
five billion of these GM mosquitos have been released in

708
00:35:12,920 --> 00:35:17,800
various trial locations worldwide, targeting species that transmit diseases like dangay,

709
00:35:17,920 --> 00:35:19,559
zeka and chikungunya.

710
00:35:19,920 --> 00:35:23,320
Speaker 2: And the results. Is it working? Is it safe?

711
00:35:23,679 --> 00:35:27,119
Speaker 1: The evidence so far suggests it is significantly reducing mosquito

712
00:35:27,159 --> 00:35:31,840
populations in target areas, potentially saving millions of lives, and critically,

713
00:35:31,880 --> 00:35:34,519
it seems to be doing so without majorly disrupting the broader,

714
00:35:34,880 --> 00:35:38,599
delicate balance of nature because it's species specific and self limiting.

715
00:35:38,719 --> 00:35:41,119
Speaker 2: That sounds much better than canettes.

716
00:35:40,719 --> 00:35:43,559
Speaker 1: Much better, But it still raises that profound ethical question.

717
00:35:44,400 --> 00:35:47,039
How far should we go and deliberately altering the genetics

718
00:35:47,039 --> 00:35:50,840
of wild species to protect ourselves or manage ecosystems. What

719
00:35:50,880 --> 00:35:53,119
are the unknown long term consequences A.

720
00:35:53,159 --> 00:35:56,480
Speaker 2: Question will likely be grappling with for a long time. Okay,

721
00:35:57,000 --> 00:36:02,360
one more creature, future super pig. What on earth are

722
00:36:02,440 --> 00:36:03,280
super pigs.

723
00:36:03,400 --> 00:36:05,559
Speaker 1: They sound like something out of a B movie, don't they.

724
00:36:05,840 --> 00:36:09,039
But they're a real and growing problem. They are essentially

725
00:36:09,039 --> 00:36:12,400
a hybrid mix of domestic pigs that escaped or were

726
00:36:12,440 --> 00:36:16,599
released and Eurasian wild boar which were introduced for hunting.

727
00:36:17,119 --> 00:36:19,360
Speaker 2: So escaped farm pigs breeding with.

728
00:36:19,360 --> 00:36:22,239
Speaker 1: Wild boar exactly, and the result is an animal that

729
00:36:22,280 --> 00:36:25,639
combines the large size and rapid reproduction of domestic pigs

730
00:36:25,960 --> 00:36:29,519
with the intelligence, resilience, and survival instincts of wild.

731
00:36:29,199 --> 00:36:31,480
Speaker 2: Boar, a dangerous combination. Where are they?

732
00:36:31,639 --> 00:36:35,119
Speaker 1: There are already nearly seven million feral hogs, mostly in

733
00:36:35,159 --> 00:36:39,000
the US South, causing billions in agricultural damage. But now

734
00:36:39,199 --> 00:36:42,360
these super pigs from Canada, which are particularly adapted to

735
00:36:42,400 --> 00:36:44,960
cold weather, are starting to move south and pose a

736
00:36:45,000 --> 00:36:48,000
threat to northern states like Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana.

737
00:36:48,079 --> 00:36:50,079
Speaker 2: Coming from Canada, how are they so tough?

738
00:36:50,159 --> 00:36:54,440
Speaker 1: They're incredibly hardy, very mobile, reproduces astonishingly fast, multiple litters

739
00:36:54,440 --> 00:36:58,440
per year, and they're true omnivores described as natural bulldozers.

740
00:36:58,480 --> 00:37:05,159
They eat almost everything everything, including crops, roots, nuts, insects, reptiles,

741
00:37:05,199 --> 00:37:08,239
bird eggs, fawns, even other small animals.

742
00:37:08,679 --> 00:37:10,079
Speaker 2: They trample crops.

743
00:37:09,719 --> 00:37:13,159
Speaker 1: Tear up fields looking for food, contaminate water sources, and

744
00:37:13,239 --> 00:37:16,679
can spread diseases to livestock and even humans. They're a

745
00:37:16,760 --> 00:37:19,159
major threat to farms and natural ecosystems.

746
00:37:19,400 --> 00:37:20,639
Speaker 2: So what are states doing.

747
00:37:20,760 --> 00:37:25,199
Speaker 1: They're bracing for a long battle, trying trapping, hunting, surveillance.

748
00:37:25,639 --> 00:37:29,119
But these animals are smart and adaptable. It's proving incredibly

749
00:37:29,159 --> 00:37:32,880
difficult to control their uncontrolled population growth. It's a serious

750
00:37:32,920 --> 00:37:35,880
ecological and economic challenge unfolding right now.

751
00:37:35,800 --> 00:37:39,559
Speaker 2: Unexplained phenomena and reimagining history, mysteries and what ifs.

752
00:37:39,519 --> 00:37:44,159
Speaker 1: Okay from rampaging pigs, let's pivot to something stranger. Sometimes

753
00:37:44,199 --> 00:37:46,960
the biggest mysteries aren't ancient ruins, but maybe a small

754
00:37:47,039 --> 00:37:50,159
ranch in Utah. The sources dive into Skinwalker Ranch.

755
00:37:50,280 --> 00:37:54,039
Speaker 2: Ah. Skinwalker Ranch, yes, a place legendary for high strangeness,

756
00:37:54,119 --> 00:37:57,079
where weird phenomena are apparently almost routine.

757
00:37:57,199 --> 00:37:59,400
Speaker 1: It has quite a history, doesn't it, even before the

758
00:37:59,440 --> 00:38:00,800
recent fame it does.

759
00:38:01,280 --> 00:38:05,079
Speaker 2: The land itself has this deep, somewhat dark history involving

760
00:38:05,119 --> 00:38:08,920
clashes between the local Ute tribe and the Navajo. Navajo.

761
00:38:09,039 --> 00:38:12,679
Legends speaks of skin walkers, these malevolent witches or shamans

762
00:38:12,719 --> 00:38:16,119
who could shape shift, often into animals like wolves or coyotes,

763
00:38:16,400 --> 00:38:18,840
being sent to curse the land and torment.

764
00:38:18,519 --> 00:38:21,840
Speaker 1: The utes skin walkers. Wow, that sets a creepy tone.

765
00:38:22,039 --> 00:38:24,760
And then the Sherman family bought it in the nineties, Yes.

766
00:38:24,519 --> 00:38:27,880
Speaker 2: In nineteen ninety four, and they almost immediately started reporting

767
00:38:27,880 --> 00:38:32,320
a relentless barrage of bizarre experiences. Strange flashes of light,

768
00:38:32,480 --> 00:38:37,320
mysterious objects flying silently overhead, intricate crop circles appearing overnight,

769
00:38:37,480 --> 00:38:39,639
disembodied voices whispering.

770
00:38:39,280 --> 00:38:41,239
Speaker 1: And things happened to their livestock.

771
00:38:40,960 --> 00:38:45,079
Speaker 2: Yes, disturbing things, cattle mutilations, animals disappearing without a trace.

772
00:38:45,320 --> 00:38:48,480
They famously reported shooting a huge wolf, much larger than

773
00:38:48,519 --> 00:38:51,440
any normal wolf, multiple times at close range with high

774
00:38:51,440 --> 00:38:54,320
powered rifles, only for it to show no reaction and

775
00:38:54,360 --> 00:38:56,119
then simply vanish into thin air.

776
00:38:56,199 --> 00:38:59,280
Speaker 1: Okay, let's unpack this. Most people would I assume, sell

777
00:38:59,360 --> 00:39:00,000
up and run skars.

778
00:39:00,519 --> 00:39:03,440
Speaker 2: You'd think so. But then Robert Bichelough entered the picture,

779
00:39:03,599 --> 00:39:06,880
the aerospace billionaire the very same He has a well

780
00:39:06,880 --> 00:39:11,599
known longstanding interest in UFOs and strange unusual phenomenon. He

781
00:39:11,599 --> 00:39:14,599
heard the Shermans story was intrigued and bought the ranch

782
00:39:14,639 --> 00:39:17,519
in nineteen ninety six, and he set up a research group. Yes,

783
00:39:17,599 --> 00:39:21,920
he founded NIDS, the National Institute for Discovery Science, specifically

784
00:39:21,960 --> 00:39:25,480
to study the ranch scientifically. And it wasn't just the Shermans.

785
00:39:25,760 --> 00:39:28,719
The whole Uenta Basin area around the ranch had been

786
00:39:28,760 --> 00:39:31,440
a hot spot for creepy things since at least the

787
00:39:31,519 --> 00:39:35,480
nineteen fifties. Mike what hundreds of reports of UFOs mysterious

788
00:39:35,480 --> 00:39:38,440
objects in the sky. Some witnesses describe things that look

789
00:39:38,559 --> 00:39:41,679
like doorways or portals opening and closing in mid air.

790
00:39:41,960 --> 00:39:43,840
It sounds like something straight out of science fiction.

791
00:39:44,239 --> 00:39:48,119
Speaker 1: So what did Bigelows NIDS find? Did they solve the mystery?

792
00:39:48,239 --> 00:39:52,119
Speaker 2: Well, they spent years conducting intensive on site research. They

793
00:39:52,159 --> 00:39:57,559
documented many strange occurrences, observing glowing figures, tracking unusual animal diseases.

794
00:39:57,679 --> 00:40:00,679
But ultimately, after all that effort, they could not provide

795
00:40:00,679 --> 00:40:01,800
any reliable.

796
00:40:01,360 --> 00:40:02,440
Speaker 1: Evidence, no proof.

797
00:40:02,840 --> 00:40:06,840
Speaker 2: Even with scientists and equipment, their high tech gear cameras, sensors,

798
00:40:06,960 --> 00:40:11,639
magnetometers consistently failed to capture conclusive proof of the really

799
00:40:11,719 --> 00:40:15,360
extraordinary claims. Things would happen when cameras were off or

800
00:40:15,440 --> 00:40:19,400
equipment would mysteriously malfunction at crucial moments. It led many

801
00:40:19,440 --> 00:40:22,559
skeptics to dismiss the whole thing as a big hoax

802
00:40:23,000 --> 00:40:24,119
or misidentification.

803
00:40:24,400 --> 00:40:26,239
Speaker 1: But the story didn't end there, did it? And someone

804
00:40:26,239 --> 00:40:27,239
else got it right.

805
00:40:27,519 --> 00:40:30,119
Speaker 2: Here's where it gets really interesting in a modern media

806
00:40:30,199 --> 00:40:34,400
kind of way. In twenty sixteen, another wealthy individual, real

807
00:40:34,519 --> 00:40:37,719
estate mogul, Brandon Fugel, bought the ranch. And what did

808
00:40:37,719 --> 00:40:41,559
Fugel do? Something quite unexpected. He leaned into the mystery

809
00:40:41,639 --> 00:40:45,199
and turned it into a big reality show, The Secret.

810
00:40:44,880 --> 00:40:47,480
Speaker 1: Of Skinwalker Ranch. I've seen that it's been running for.

811
00:40:47,559 --> 00:40:50,400
Speaker 2: Years now, five years, yes, on the History Channel. Fugle

812
00:40:50,440 --> 00:40:54,960
made a very public commitment no falsifications, fakes or computer graphics,

813
00:40:55,280 --> 00:40:58,000
just documenting what happens using a scientific approach.

814
00:40:58,119 --> 00:41:00,840
Speaker 1: A scientific approach on a reality show. How does that work?

815
00:41:01,039 --> 00:41:03,599
Speaker 2: He's brought in a team of scientists and investigators and

816
00:41:03,639 --> 00:41:06,400
equip them with an impressive array of high tech gear

817
00:41:06,800 --> 00:41:12,679
thermographic imaging, ground tenetrating radar, plane transponder data receivers, magnetometers,

818
00:41:12,800 --> 00:41:16,320
drone surveillance, high speed cameras, even lasers aimed into the

819
00:41:16,320 --> 00:41:18,840
sky to try and detect invisible flying objects.

820
00:41:19,079 --> 00:41:20,760
Speaker 1: Lasers for invisible objects.

821
00:41:20,840 --> 00:41:24,519
Speaker 2: Yeh okay? Is he sharing the data? Yes, that's part

822
00:41:24,559 --> 00:41:27,800
of his approach transparency. He shares data with other researchers

823
00:41:27,800 --> 00:41:31,039
and get this, dedicated fans can actually pay a monthly

824
00:41:31,119 --> 00:41:34,960
fee to monitor feeds from fifty cameras with microphones positioned

825
00:41:35,000 --> 00:41:37,000
all over the ranch. Two hundred and forty.

826
00:41:36,800 --> 00:41:39,840
Speaker 1: Seven live streaming of Paranormal Hotspot at That's novel.

827
00:41:39,920 --> 00:41:43,119
Speaker 2: It's certainly an unprecedented level of public access to an

828
00:41:43,119 --> 00:41:44,760
ongoing investigation like this.

829
00:41:45,000 --> 00:41:46,960
Speaker 1: Has Fugel himself see anything weird?

830
00:41:47,039 --> 00:41:50,559
Speaker 2: He claims he has yes seen strange flying objects with

831
00:41:50,599 --> 00:41:53,440
his own eyes, and the show's footage has captured some

832
00:41:53,519 --> 00:41:57,480
genuinely perplexing things. Doors slamming shut apparently on their own equipment,

833
00:41:57,480 --> 00:41:59,480
malfunctioning in bizarre ways.

834
00:41:59,280 --> 00:42:02,320
Speaker 1: And the animals still having problems apparently.

835
00:42:02,480 --> 00:42:06,840
Speaker 2: Yes, reports continue of animals frequently getting injured in unusual

836
00:42:06,880 --> 00:42:10,239
ways or sometimes just not surviving on the property. These

837
00:42:10,239 --> 00:42:14,960
aren't just subjective stories. Some are tangible, documented physical events.

838
00:42:15,239 --> 00:42:18,840
Speaker 1: So the big question remains, what is going on there?

839
00:42:19,320 --> 00:42:20,280
What are the theories?

840
00:42:20,519 --> 00:42:24,159
Speaker 2: Well, the sources lay out the main contenders. First, the

841
00:42:24,199 --> 00:42:28,599
hoax theory still possible, but seems less likely given Fugel's

842
00:42:28,639 --> 00:42:32,079
apparent passion and the sheer scale of the ongoing multi

843
00:42:32,199 --> 00:42:36,400
year investment. Fabricating everything convincingly for so long would be

844
00:42:36,480 --> 00:42:37,639
incredibly difficult.

845
00:42:37,719 --> 00:42:40,400
Speaker 1: Okay, so maybe not a simple hoax. What else aliens?

846
00:42:40,559 --> 00:42:44,519
Speaker 2: That's definitely a popular one extraterrestrial visitors. The arguments point

847
00:42:44,559 --> 00:42:47,559
to the consistent reports of glowing flying objects, the weird

848
00:42:47,639 --> 00:42:52,320
electrical interference affecting equipment, the objects apparent ability to evade.

849
00:42:51,960 --> 00:42:54,079
Speaker 1: Cameras, and the crashed spree ship idea.

850
00:42:54,280 --> 00:42:56,960
Speaker 2: Yeah, some even speculate there might be a crash alien

851
00:42:57,039 --> 00:43:00,599
vessel hidden inside in nearby mountain or mesa, emitting some

852
00:43:00,719 --> 00:43:03,440
kind of bizarre radiation that causes the animal problems and

853
00:43:03,480 --> 00:43:06,639
maybe even human hallucinations. It's a wild theory, but it

854
00:43:06,679 --> 00:43:07,840
fits some of the reports.

855
00:43:08,079 --> 00:43:11,320
Speaker 1: Okay, what about other dimensions multiverses?

856
00:43:11,400 --> 00:43:15,320
Speaker 2: That's another major theory, that unknown creatures or entities from

857
00:43:15,360 --> 00:43:19,760
another reality are somehow crossing over, perhaps through intermittent portals.

858
00:43:20,280 --> 00:43:25,599
This could explain sudden appearances, disappearances, electrical malfunctions. But the

859
00:43:25,679 --> 00:43:29,960
counter argument is why on a lonely ranch and nowhere else,

860
00:43:30,360 --> 00:43:34,800
why would interdimensional beings choose this specific remote spot in

861
00:43:34,960 --> 00:43:38,199
Utah for their regular visits. It seems oddlyct.

862
00:43:38,239 --> 00:43:40,079
Speaker 1: It does seem biga thee. Is there a more down

863
00:43:40,159 --> 00:43:41,079
to earth explanation.

864
00:43:41,599 --> 00:43:45,840
Speaker 2: Well. The most plausible theory, according to some scientists, particularly neuroscientists,

865
00:43:45,880 --> 00:43:49,400
cited in the sources, involves some kind of localized geophysical

866
00:43:49,400 --> 00:43:53,639
force you physical like magnetism, earthquakes. Possibly. The idea is

867
00:43:53,679 --> 00:43:57,800
that unusual concentrations of certain minerals, or perhaps localized intense

868
00:43:57,840 --> 00:44:02,039
geomagnetic field anomalies, or or even infrasound, very low frequency

869
00:44:02,119 --> 00:44:06,000
seismic vibrations could be interacting with the human brain, specifically

870
00:44:06,159 --> 00:44:07,320
the temporal lobe.

871
00:44:07,360 --> 00:44:08,679
Speaker 1: And the temporal lobe does.

872
00:44:08,760 --> 00:44:13,800
Speaker 2: It's known to be involved in perception, emotion, memory. Stimulation

873
00:44:14,079 --> 00:44:17,280
or disruption of the temporal lobe can induce experiences like

874
00:44:17,400 --> 00:44:23,000
hearing voices, seeing lights, feeling strange presences, intense fear or euphoria,

875
00:44:23,039 --> 00:44:24,719
basically hallucinations.

876
00:44:24,760 --> 00:44:28,320
Speaker 1: So the glowing lights, the giant wolves, the voices could

877
00:44:28,320 --> 00:44:33,360
all be massive hallucinations triggered by weird geology, and the

878
00:44:33,400 --> 00:44:36,039
electromagnetic forces could mess with appliances too.

879
00:44:36,480 --> 00:44:39,159
Speaker 2: That's the core of the geophysical theory. It could explain

880
00:44:39,199 --> 00:44:42,280
a lot of the subjective human experiences and equipment malfunctions,

881
00:44:42,400 --> 00:44:43,119
But what about.

882
00:44:42,920 --> 00:44:46,960
Speaker 1: The animal mutilations or the physical evidence like crop circles?

883
00:44:47,320 --> 00:44:49,559
And why doesn't this happen constantly in other places with

884
00:44:49,639 --> 00:44:53,559
high seismic activity or weird magnetic fields exactly?

885
00:44:53,679 --> 00:44:55,360
Speaker 2: Those are the big holes in the theory. It offers

886
00:44:55,360 --> 00:44:58,960
a potential explanation for some things, but not everything. And crucially,

887
00:44:58,960 --> 00:45:01,559
as the source asks, what about those poor affected animals?

888
00:45:01,639 --> 00:45:04,760
Hallucinations don't usually cause physical injuries or death in.

889
00:45:04,679 --> 00:45:06,480
Speaker 1: Livestock, So where does that leave us?

890
00:45:06,719 --> 00:45:09,400
Speaker 2: Pretty much where we started in a way, there's still

891
00:45:10,000 --> 00:45:14,519
no direct, definitive evidence to scientifically prove aliens or portals

892
00:45:14,599 --> 00:45:18,079
or skin walkers. But at the same time, there's no

893
00:45:18,400 --> 00:45:21,920
fully satisfactory explanation for many of the creepy things that

894
00:45:21,960 --> 00:45:24,760
are consistently reported and sometimes even document it.

895
00:45:24,800 --> 00:45:27,000
Speaker 1: So it remains a mystery, a huge.

896
00:45:26,679 --> 00:45:30,920
Speaker 2: One, a huge scope for speculation and research. Huh. Skinwalker

897
00:45:31,039 --> 00:45:34,840
ranch continues to challenge our neat little boxes of reality.

898
00:45:35,039 --> 00:45:39,880
Speaker 1: Okay, let's move from unexplained phenomena to reimagining history. Like geology,

899
00:45:40,039 --> 00:45:42,559
history isn't always the solid narrative we think it is

900
00:45:42,840 --> 00:45:45,360
we all learned about Christopher Columbus discovering America?

901
00:45:45,440 --> 00:45:48,960
Speaker 2: Right. It's foundational, absolutely baked into the curriculum.

902
00:45:48,960 --> 00:45:52,920
Speaker 1: But our sources prompt a really fascinating rethink, asking what

903
00:45:52,920 --> 00:45:57,119
would today's history look like if Columbus had simply never arrived.

904
00:45:57,400 --> 00:46:00,280
Speaker 2: It's a powerful thought experiment, and the first c rcial

905
00:46:00,320 --> 00:46:02,840
point to make, as the sources emphasize, is that nobody

906
00:46:02,880 --> 00:46:06,719
discovered anything. Meaning The Americas weren't empty lands waiting to

907
00:46:06,760 --> 00:46:10,559
be found. They were already home to millions upon millions

908
00:46:10,559 --> 00:46:15,440
of people living in complex, sophisticated societies with rich cultures,

909
00:46:15,920 --> 00:46:19,239
established trade networks, intricate political systems.

910
00:46:19,440 --> 00:46:22,119
Speaker 1: So Columbus only discovered it from a European.

911
00:46:21,679 --> 00:46:26,840
Speaker 2: Perspective, Precisely framing it as a discovery inherently erases the

912
00:46:26,880 --> 00:46:30,840
millennia of indigenous history and civilization that came before. It's

913
00:46:30,880 --> 00:46:34,880
a fundamentally eurocentric viewpoint. Okay, point taken.

914
00:46:35,119 --> 00:46:37,800
Speaker 1: And second, Columbus wasn't even the first European here, was he?

915
00:46:38,199 --> 00:46:41,079
Speaker 2: No, not by a long shot. That's another widely accepted

916
00:46:41,159 --> 00:46:45,320
historical fact often glossed over. The vikings approached American shores

917
00:46:45,320 --> 00:46:48,920
in the tenth century. The Vikings leafe Ericson, that's the one.

918
00:46:49,079 --> 00:46:51,760
Laife Ericson sailed to what they called Vinland, which we

919
00:46:51,840 --> 00:46:55,320
now know was likely Newfoundland and Canada around one thousand CE,

920
00:46:55,480 --> 00:46:57,440
that's nearly five hundred years before Columbus.

921
00:46:57,480 --> 00:46:59,800
Speaker 1: Did they stay, did they interact with Native Americans?

922
00:47:00,039 --> 00:47:03,679
Speaker 2: They established small, short lived settlements and definitely had encounters

923
00:47:03,719 --> 00:47:06,199
with the indigenous people, the Scraalings as they called them,

924
00:47:06,880 --> 00:47:09,760
but these encounters were often hostile, and the Viking presence

925
00:47:09,880 --> 00:47:14,039
ultimately proved unsustainable. Their impact was limited and didn't lead

926
00:47:14,079 --> 00:47:17,880
to permanent colonization or widespread European knowledge of the Americas.

927
00:47:17,920 --> 00:47:22,320
Speaker 1: Okay, so Vikings were first, but didn't stick around. What

928
00:47:22,440 --> 00:47:26,199
was North America like before any Europeans showed up in force?

929
00:47:26,599 --> 00:47:29,599
Speaker 2: Vastly different from the map we know, not divided into

930
00:47:29,599 --> 00:47:32,440
states or countries in the European sense. It was home

931
00:47:32,480 --> 00:47:36,840
to hundreds of distinct First American nations, diverse tribes, each

932
00:47:36,880 --> 00:47:40,639
with their own territories, languages, and political systems, often based

933
00:47:40,679 --> 00:47:45,480
on councils, consensus, or hereditary leadership, but fundamentally different from

934
00:47:45,519 --> 00:47:50,320
Europe's monarchies and daily life clothing. Clothing was primarily functional

935
00:47:50,400 --> 00:47:53,719
adapted to the climate. I think short cloths and warmer regions,

936
00:47:53,760 --> 00:47:57,360
practical moccasins, tailored leather parkas in the north. It wasn't

937
00:47:57,400 --> 00:48:01,119
about displaying economic status or following rapidly changing fashion trends

938
00:48:01,119 --> 00:48:03,639
in the way European clothing often was so.

939
00:48:03,639 --> 00:48:05,599
Speaker 1: In this alternate timeline, without.

940
00:48:05,440 --> 00:48:09,920
Speaker 2: Columbus brands such as the Gap, Hollister and Forever twenty

941
00:48:09,960 --> 00:48:13,119
one would have never existed, as the source humorously points out,

942
00:48:13,320 --> 00:48:17,000
because the entire consumerist fashion culture they represent is rooted

943
00:48:17,039 --> 00:48:19,360
in European values that wouldn't have dominated.

944
00:48:19,440 --> 00:48:22,880
Speaker 1: Okay, now here's where the speculation gets really interesting. The

945
00:48:23,000 --> 00:48:24,800
idea of an inverted encounter.

946
00:48:25,400 --> 00:48:29,159
Speaker 2: Right. Imagine that by say the seventeen hundred is Native

947
00:48:29,159 --> 00:48:33,440
American civilizations, perhaps the Iroquois Confederacy or coastal nations, having

948
00:48:33,440 --> 00:48:38,679
continued to develop their own complex engineering skills, build large

949
00:48:38,920 --> 00:48:41,239
seaworthy vessels, and they sail east.

950
00:48:41,440 --> 00:48:42,840
Speaker 1: They discover Europe exactly.

951
00:48:43,079 --> 00:48:46,039
Speaker 2: Imagine large canoes or other vessels arriving on the shores

952
00:48:46,079 --> 00:48:49,840
of Spain, Portugal, or Britain. How would that encounter have unfolded,

953
00:48:49,960 --> 00:48:52,119
How would it what would they do well? Based on

954
00:48:52,199 --> 00:48:56,400
many Indigenous traditions. Initial contact might involve trading gifts. Practices

955
00:48:56,440 --> 00:48:59,760
like potlatch in the Pacific Northwest emphasize generous exchange to

956
00:48:59,760 --> 00:49:03,760
build relationships and established status, rather than claiming ownership or

957
00:49:03,800 --> 00:49:04,639
imposing rule.

958
00:49:04,920 --> 00:49:07,480
Speaker 1: So not planting a flag and claiming Europe for the

959
00:49:07,519 --> 00:49:09,079
hut Nasani probably not.

960
00:49:09,320 --> 00:49:13,119
Speaker 2: Instead of conquest, perhaps a relationship of equals could have developed,

961
00:49:13,440 --> 00:49:19,840
mutual curiosity, exchange of knowledge, respect for different ways of life, governance, spirituality.

962
00:49:20,079 --> 00:49:23,079
Speaker 1: Okay, if that had happened, how might our modern world

963
00:49:23,119 --> 00:49:23,559
be different?

964
00:49:23,880 --> 00:49:24,320
Speaker 2: Radically?

965
00:49:24,400 --> 00:49:24,760
Speaker 1: Different?

966
00:49:25,159 --> 00:49:29,320
Speaker 2: Governments today might be far more decentralized, perhaps featuring smaller

967
00:49:29,360 --> 00:49:34,000
and more frequent elections, mirroring some indigenous consensus based decision

968
00:49:34,039 --> 00:49:37,920
making models, rather than large centralized nation states.

969
00:49:38,039 --> 00:49:40,400
Speaker 1: Our cities monuments.

970
00:49:39,960 --> 00:49:43,760
Speaker 2: Instead of statues of Columbus or other European explorers. Maybe

971
00:49:43,800 --> 00:49:48,239
European cities would feature intricate totem poles or similar monuments

972
00:49:48,440 --> 00:49:52,519
gifted by Native American allies, honoring treaties and shared histories.

973
00:49:52,960 --> 00:49:55,559
It paints a picture of a much more collaborative, less

974
00:49:55,599 --> 00:49:57,000
hierarchical world history.

975
00:49:57,079 --> 00:50:00,519
Speaker 1: What about knowledge exchange medicine, which.

976
00:50:00,480 --> 00:50:04,039
Speaker 2: Medical practices would likely be vastly different Europeans could have

977
00:50:04,079 --> 00:50:07,559
benefited immensely from the impressive knowledge of herbs and natural

978
00:50:07,599 --> 00:50:10,760
remedies held by many Native American cultures, which were often

979
00:50:10,880 --> 00:50:14,880
highly effective. And maybe, just maybe a new hybrid language

980
00:50:14,880 --> 00:50:18,559
could have emerged over time, a hybrid language like what one,

981
00:50:18,639 --> 00:50:23,400
incorporating the symbols and drawings, the pictrograms and petroglyphs used

982
00:50:23,400 --> 00:50:27,280
by many Native Americans for record keeping and communication. Imagine

983
00:50:27,280 --> 00:50:32,199
if our laptop keyboards today had keys for symbols alongside letters,

984
00:50:32,400 --> 00:50:35,320
communication might be more visual, perhaps more intuitive.

985
00:50:35,719 --> 00:50:40,039
Speaker 1: That's a fascinating thought. And the American landscape itself without

986
00:50:40,079 --> 00:50:41,840
European colonization as we know it.

987
00:50:42,039 --> 00:50:45,239
Speaker 2: The great empires, the Inca in South America, the Aztec

988
00:50:45,280 --> 00:50:48,480
and Maya and Mesoamerica could have continued to flourish and evolve,

989
00:50:48,559 --> 00:50:51,880
perhaps grown immensely. Maybe they would have built pyramids and

990
00:50:51,920 --> 00:50:55,119
cities even larger, more complex than Giza. They could have

991
00:50:55,119 --> 00:51:00,679
become worldwide references and sustainable living, demonstrating different models of agriculture, urbanism,

992
00:51:00,800 --> 00:51:02,239
and environmental stewardship.

993
00:51:02,440 --> 00:51:05,760
Speaker 1: Well, it really makes you reconsider the narrative of progress.

994
00:51:06,280 --> 00:51:10,400
Speaking of Aztecs and Maya's, these inverted encounters bring them

995
00:51:10,400 --> 00:51:14,480
to mind. They're probably the two most famous meso American civilizations.

996
00:51:13,960 --> 00:51:15,760
Speaker 2: Right, definitely the most recognizable names.

997
00:51:15,920 --> 00:51:19,079
Speaker 1: But the sources say they're often confused. People think they

998
00:51:19,079 --> 00:51:20,880
were the same or lived at the same time.

999
00:51:21,239 --> 00:51:24,119
Speaker 2: Yes, that's a common misconception. It's really important to clarify.

1000
00:51:24,760 --> 00:51:27,400
They didn't speak the same language, and they weren't even

1001
00:51:27,440 --> 00:51:32,280
the same civilization. They were distinct peoples separated significantly by

1002
00:51:32,320 --> 00:51:33,639
time and geography.

1003
00:51:33,760 --> 00:51:36,559
Speaker 1: Okay, break it down for us as techs. First, When

1004
00:51:36,920 --> 00:51:37,760
and where.

1005
00:51:38,079 --> 00:51:42,559
Speaker 2: The Aztecs or Mexicans they called themselves dominated Central Mexico

1006
00:51:42,679 --> 00:51:46,280
primarily from the fourteenth century up until the Spanish conquest

1007
00:51:46,320 --> 00:51:50,519
in the early sixteenth century, so roughly contemporary with Europe's

1008
00:51:50,559 --> 00:51:53,679
Late Middle Ages and Renaissance and the Mayas. The Maya

1009
00:51:53,760 --> 00:51:58,480
civilization reached its classical peak much much earlier, generally dated

1010
00:51:58,480 --> 00:52:02,280
from the third century SEA to about the tenth century CE.

1011
00:52:02,559 --> 00:52:07,880
Their heartland was further south and east the Yucatan Peninsula, Guatemala, Belize, so.

1012
00:52:07,880 --> 00:52:10,119
Speaker 1: The Great Mayan cities were already in decline when the

1013
00:52:10,119 --> 00:52:12,000
Aztec Empire was just getting started.

1014
00:52:12,280 --> 00:52:16,519
Speaker 2: Largely, yes, while Maya people and culture certainly continued to exist.

1015
00:52:16,719 --> 00:52:19,960
The period of their grandest city states and monumental construction

1016
00:52:20,079 --> 00:52:22,599
had passed by the time the Aztecs rose to prominence.

1017
00:52:23,000 --> 00:52:26,920
There was some interaction, trade, maybe conflict, but they weren't

1018
00:52:26,960 --> 00:52:28,360
contemporaries in their prime.

1019
00:52:28,519 --> 00:52:30,960
Speaker 1: What about language, you said, they spoke different languages.

1020
00:52:30,599 --> 00:52:33,039
Speaker 2: Completely different, And this is a really striking point. The

1021
00:52:33,079 --> 00:52:36,480
Mayans didn't have just one language. They had a whole

1022
00:52:36,519 --> 00:52:39,840
Mayan language family. Think of it like the Romance languages

1023
00:52:39,880 --> 00:52:42,000
in Europe, related but distinct.

1024
00:52:42,440 --> 00:52:44,599
Speaker 1: How many Mayan languages are they still spoken?

1025
00:52:45,000 --> 00:52:49,360
Speaker 2: Yes, even today, About twenty one distinct Mayan languages are

1026
00:52:49,360 --> 00:52:53,440
officially recognized in Guatemala and maybe twenty nine in Mexico,

1027
00:52:53,960 --> 00:52:57,320
and they're spoken by around six million indigenous people. It's

1028
00:52:57,360 --> 00:52:59,159
a living language family.

1029
00:52:59,119 --> 00:53:00,840
Speaker 1: Six million speakers.

1030
00:53:01,280 --> 00:53:05,480
Speaker 2: Wow. And the Aztecs the as tex spoke a single language, Nowaddle,

1031
00:53:05,920 --> 00:53:07,920
which is also still alive, by the way, with about

1032
00:53:07,920 --> 00:53:11,599
one point five million native speakers today, mostly in Central Mexico.

1033
00:53:11,760 --> 00:53:13,840
Speaker 1: But Nowadle and the Maya language were.

1034
00:53:13,599 --> 00:53:17,119
Speaker 2: Completely unrelated, as different as English and Chinese. A Nowaddle

1035
00:53:17,159 --> 00:53:19,119
speaker couldn't understand Mayan and vice versa.

1036
00:53:19,239 --> 00:53:21,679
Speaker 1: Okay, language totally different. What about writing?

1037
00:53:21,800 --> 00:53:26,360
Speaker 2: Also significantly different, reflecting different stages of development. The Mayans

1038
00:53:26,400 --> 00:53:30,880
had the more advanced and complex system. They used intricate hieroglyphs.

1039
00:53:30,960 --> 00:53:32,920
Speaker 1: Hieroglyphs like the Egyptians.

1040
00:53:32,679 --> 00:53:36,159
Speaker 2: Very similar in concept, Yes, tiny detailed pictures that could

1041
00:53:36,199 --> 00:53:40,239
represent whole words, concepts, or phonetic syllables. They had over

1042
00:53:40,280 --> 00:53:44,000
eight hundred distinct characters. It was a fully functional writing

1043
00:53:44,039 --> 00:53:47,880
system capable of recording history, astronomy, and mythology eight.

1044
00:53:47,920 --> 00:53:50,679
Speaker 1: Hundred characters and the Astecs the.

1045
00:53:50,519 --> 00:53:55,559
Speaker 2: Aztecs used primarily pictograms and ideograms. These were often elaborate,

1046
00:53:55,760 --> 00:54:00,519
beautiful drawings that could convey ideas, stories, tribute lists, historical events.

1047
00:54:00,880 --> 00:54:03,360
They were often true masterpieces.

1048
00:54:02,679 --> 00:54:05,000
Speaker 1: Of visual art, but not a full writing system like

1049
00:54:05,039 --> 00:54:05,559
the Maya.

1050
00:54:05,679 --> 00:54:07,840
Speaker 2: Not in the same way. No, it wasn't as capable

1051
00:54:07,880 --> 00:54:10,760
of representing the nuances of spoken language phonetically. It was

1052
00:54:10,800 --> 00:54:12,440
more pneumodic, more symbolic.

1053
00:54:12,639 --> 00:54:14,599
Speaker 1: So this means the Mayas developed.

1054
00:54:14,400 --> 00:54:17,519
Speaker 2: The only known fully developed writing system in the Americas

1055
00:54:17,599 --> 00:54:22,039
before the arrival of Europeans. A truly remarkable intellectual achievement. Incredible.

1056
00:54:22,039 --> 00:54:27,039
Speaker 1: Okay, so language and writing very different. What about daily life, farming, food?

1057
00:54:27,280 --> 00:54:28,239
Were they similar there?

1058
00:54:28,320 --> 00:54:32,280
Speaker 2: Yes? In some fundamental ways. Crucially, neither civilization used large

1059
00:54:32,320 --> 00:54:35,840
domesticated animals like oxen or horses for farming or transport.

1060
00:54:36,119 --> 00:54:38,000
All the labor was human powered.

1061
00:54:37,920 --> 00:54:38,920
Speaker 1: Human power only.

1062
00:54:39,239 --> 00:54:43,079
Speaker 2: Yeah, and the main crop corn maize. It was the

1063
00:54:43,159 --> 00:54:47,920
absolute staple food for both incredibly important culturally economically. Chrystal

1064
00:54:48,000 --> 00:54:51,079
Columbus actually was the first European to bring maize back

1065
00:54:51,079 --> 00:54:51,480
to Europe.

1066
00:54:51,679 --> 00:54:53,679
Speaker 1: Corn was king. What else did they grow?

1067
00:54:54,119 --> 00:54:58,199
Speaker 2: The Mayans also cultivated things like sunflowers, vanilla, chili, peppers,

1068
00:54:58,199 --> 00:55:01,639
and cotton. The Aztecs focused heavily on China pass those

1069
00:55:01,719 --> 00:55:06,280
artificial islands for farming, producing chili beans, tomatoes and squashes

1070
00:55:06,360 --> 00:55:10,519
and meat protein as techs relied a lot on fish, shrimp, insects,

1071
00:55:10,559 --> 00:55:14,639
and waterfowl from the lakes around their capital. Mayans raised turkeys.

1072
00:55:14,679 --> 00:55:17,199
They domesticated the turkey and also hunted deer and other

1073
00:55:17,239 --> 00:55:18,079
game turkeys.

1074
00:55:18,199 --> 00:55:22,880
Speaker 1: Okay, what about society? How are they organized? Emperor?

1075
00:55:23,119 --> 00:55:26,519
Speaker 2: Yeah, kings, different structures again, The Aztecs had a more

1076
00:55:26,519 --> 00:55:29,719
centralized empire ruled by an emperor, the Klatawani, based in

1077
00:55:29,760 --> 00:55:33,920
their capital Tenoctilan. Society was quite hierarchical, with distinct classes

1078
00:55:33,920 --> 00:55:37,880
of nobles, priests, warriors, merchants and commoners and the Mayas.

1079
00:55:38,039 --> 00:55:41,239
The Mayas were never a single, unified empire. They lived

1080
00:55:41,280 --> 00:55:46,079
in numerous independent, often competing city kingdoms. Each major city,

1081
00:55:46,239 --> 00:55:49,480
like t call Kleakmol Palanque, was ruled by its own

1082
00:55:49,519 --> 00:55:53,079
hereditary king or a jaw and his royal court. It

1083
00:55:53,119 --> 00:55:55,519
was a much more decentralized political.

1084
00:55:55,119 --> 00:55:57,559
Speaker 1: Landscape city states like ancient Greece.

1085
00:55:57,719 --> 00:55:58,840
Speaker 2: That's a common comparison.

1086
00:55:58,920 --> 00:56:01,320
Speaker 1: Yes, how did people get around? Trade?

1087
00:56:01,639 --> 00:56:05,639
Speaker 2: Mostly by foot? Extensive networks of paths and roads existed.

1088
00:56:05,920 --> 00:56:09,679
Mayan merchants also used large dugout canoes, some reportedly up

1089
00:56:09,679 --> 00:56:12,800
to fifty feet long, for coastal and river trade, carrying

1090
00:56:12,880 --> 00:56:16,159
goods like salt, obsidian, jade, feathers.

1091
00:56:15,760 --> 00:56:16,440
Speaker 1: And currency.

1092
00:56:16,519 --> 00:56:18,800
Speaker 2: Do they use money not coins like we think of,

1093
00:56:19,119 --> 00:56:22,480
but certain goods had recognized value and were used for exchange.

1094
00:56:22,760 --> 00:56:25,119
Cucoa beans were very common as a form of currency

1095
00:56:25,119 --> 00:56:28,760
in both societies. The Aztecs even had standardized units, like

1096
00:56:28,800 --> 00:56:31,920
one copper axe being worth about eight thousand cacao seeds.

1097
00:56:31,719 --> 00:56:32,960
Speaker 1: Paying with chocolate beans.

1098
00:56:33,119 --> 00:56:33,519
Speaker 2: I like it?

1099
00:56:33,599 --> 00:56:34,719
Speaker 1: What about valuables?

1100
00:56:34,960 --> 00:56:38,239
Speaker 2: Gold cold was used, especially by the Aztecs, but jade

1101
00:56:38,320 --> 00:56:41,199
was considered far more precious and spiritually significant by both

1102
00:56:41,199 --> 00:56:45,159
the Maya and the Aztecs. It symbolized life, fertility.

1103
00:56:44,760 --> 00:56:49,000
Speaker 1: Power, jade over gold, interesting tell us about their cities.

1104
00:56:49,159 --> 00:56:52,639
Speaker 2: Tenoctolan, the Aztec capital ten OCTITLMB now the site of

1105
00:56:52,679 --> 00:56:56,719
Mexico City, was an engineering marvel built on artificial islands

1106
00:56:56,800 --> 00:56:59,639
or chinampas, in the middle of Lake tex Coco, connected

1107
00:56:59,639 --> 00:57:03,079
by cop legend says they chose the spot because of

1108
00:57:03,079 --> 00:57:07,119
a vision an eagle perched on a cactus devouring a snake.

1109
00:57:07,639 --> 00:57:10,440
That symbol is still on the Mexican flag today, an.

1110
00:57:10,320 --> 00:57:13,280
Speaker 1: Eagle on a cactus with a snake and the Mayan cities.

1111
00:57:13,360 --> 00:57:16,920
Speaker 2: Mayan civilization was spread across maybe forty major cities, plus

1112
00:57:16,960 --> 00:57:20,679
many smaller towns and villages. These cities, like Tikel or

1113
00:57:20,800 --> 00:57:24,800
Chichinitza had populations ranging from five thousand to maybe fifty

1114
00:57:24,840 --> 00:57:30,039
thousand inhabitants in their prime, featuring massive stone pyramids, temples, palaces,

1115
00:57:30,159 --> 00:57:33,239
ball courts, and we're still finding them. Absolutely many are

1116
00:57:33,280 --> 00:57:35,880
still hidden deep in the jungle. There was a recent

1117
00:57:35,920 --> 00:57:39,480
discovery using light ar technology in southeastern Mexico that revealed

1118
00:57:39,480 --> 00:57:44,239
a previously unknown large Mayan urban center. We're constantly learning

1119
00:57:44,239 --> 00:57:45,880
more about the extent of their civilization.

1120
00:57:46,000 --> 00:57:48,719
Speaker 1: Why did the Great Mayan cities collapse then the ones

1121
00:57:48,760 --> 00:57:49,880
in the central Lowlands.

1122
00:57:50,119 --> 00:57:53,639
Speaker 2: That's still debated by historians. It likely wasn't one single thing.

1123
00:57:54,039 --> 00:57:58,880
Theories include over population, straining resources, prolonged droughts linked to

1124
00:57:58,880 --> 00:58:03,000
climate change, endemic warfare between the city states, collapse of

1125
00:58:03,039 --> 00:58:06,800
crucial trade routes. Probably a combination of factors over a

1126
00:58:06,840 --> 00:58:08,199
couple of centuries.

1127
00:58:07,880 --> 00:58:10,679
Speaker 1: And the Aztecs what led to their rapid fall.

1128
00:58:11,039 --> 00:58:13,719
Speaker 2: For the Aztecs, the arrival of the Spanish under Hernan

1129
00:58:13,840 --> 00:58:17,760
Cortes was the primary catalyst. Military conflict played a role,

1130
00:58:17,800 --> 00:58:22,119
but even more devastating were the European diseases, particularly smallpox,

1131
00:58:22,280 --> 00:58:26,760
to which the indigenous population had no immunity. Disease sealed

1132
00:58:26,760 --> 00:58:30,880
the Aztec's fate, causing a catastrophic population collapse that crippled

1133
00:58:30,880 --> 00:58:32,280
their ability to resist such.

1134
00:58:32,159 --> 00:58:35,519
Speaker 1: Different trajectories, different fates, but their legacy lives on right immensely.

1135
00:58:35,559 --> 00:58:38,000
Speaker 2: Every time you eat guacamole or chocolate, or talk about

1136
00:58:38,000 --> 00:58:40,760
avocados or chili peppers, or even see a coyote, you're

1137
00:58:40,840 --> 00:58:43,719
using words derived directly from the wada the Aztec.

1138
00:58:43,360 --> 00:58:48,519
Speaker 1: Language avocado, chili, guacamoly, chocolate, coyote as tech words wow

1139
00:58:48,639 --> 00:58:49,480
any from Mayan.

1140
00:58:49,880 --> 00:58:53,159
Speaker 2: The word shark might actually come from a Mayan term zook.

1141
00:58:53,679 --> 00:58:57,360
And of course their incredible curamids and architectural achievements remain.

1142
00:58:57,880 --> 00:59:01,360
While similar in style, sometimes the sheer number of pyramids

1143
00:59:01,400 --> 00:59:04,920
is far greater across the many Mayan sites, a testament

1144
00:59:05,000 --> 00:59:07,000
to their long and widespread civilization.

1145
00:59:07,719 --> 00:59:12,079
Speaker 1: Unforeseen consequences and everyday oddities. Lessons from mistakes and quirks.

1146
00:59:12,960 --> 00:59:19,440
Speaker 2: Okay, from grand civilizations. Let's turn to mistakes, small oversights,

1147
00:59:19,719 --> 00:59:23,360
miscalculations that ended up having huge ripple effects through history

1148
00:59:23,639 --> 00:59:25,679
or just caused massive headaches. Ah.

1149
00:59:25,760 --> 00:59:29,880
Speaker 1: Yes, the blunders and the unintended consequences. History is full

1150
00:59:29,920 --> 00:59:30,239
of them.

1151
00:59:30,400 --> 00:59:33,239
Speaker 2: Like the Titanic's locker key. That's a really poignant one.

1152
00:59:33,320 --> 00:59:36,360
Speaker 1: It really is a single key for the locker in

1153
00:59:36,400 --> 00:59:39,519
the crow's nest that held the binoculars. It was apparently

1154
00:59:39,519 --> 00:59:41,840
forgotten ashore by an officer who was replaced at the

1155
00:59:41,880 --> 00:59:43,000
last minute before.

1156
00:59:42,760 --> 00:59:45,639
Speaker 2: Sailing and the lookout fred fleet. He later testified.

1157
00:59:45,760 --> 00:59:47,719
Speaker 1: He testified that if they had had those binoculars, they

1158
00:59:47,719 --> 00:59:50,920
would have seen the iceberg enough sooner to potentially steer clear.

1159
00:59:51,599 --> 00:59:53,840
Just that one small object misplaced.

1160
00:59:53,960 --> 00:59:56,639
Speaker 2: Wow, that key was auctioned years later, wasn't it.

1161
00:59:56,840 --> 01:00:01,840
Speaker 1: Yes, for over eighty thousand dollars in twenty A tiny

1162
01:00:02,039 --> 01:00:04,000
tragic symbol of what might have been.

1163
01:00:04,239 --> 01:00:08,360
Speaker 2: Then there's NASA's blunder, the Mars Climate Orbiter loss for

1164
01:00:08,639 --> 01:00:09,559
a silly.

1165
01:00:09,280 --> 01:00:12,800
Speaker 1: Reason, embarrassingly simple. Yes, a one hundred and twenty five

1166
01:00:12,920 --> 01:00:16,679
million dollars spacecraft lost due to a failure to convert

1167
01:00:16,760 --> 01:00:19,440
units between the ecosystem and the metric system.

1168
01:00:19,559 --> 01:00:20,920
Speaker 2: Seriously, how did that happen?

1169
01:00:21,079 --> 01:00:24,840
Speaker 1: The navigation team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory JPL was

1170
01:00:24,920 --> 01:00:28,440
using metric units Newton seconds for measurements of force, but

1171
01:00:28,519 --> 01:00:32,039
the company that built the spacecraft, Lockheed Martin, provided thrust

1172
01:00:32,079 --> 01:00:34,639
or performance data in the English unit of pound.

1173
01:00:34,400 --> 01:00:35,679
Speaker 2: Seconds, and nobody caught it.

1174
01:00:35,800 --> 01:00:39,440
Speaker 1: Apparently not the JPL engineers mistook the pound second figures

1175
01:00:39,440 --> 01:00:43,239
for Newton seconds. This tiny conversion ara went completely undetected

1176
01:00:43,280 --> 01:00:45,599
for the entire nine month, four hundred and sixty one

1177
01:00:45,679 --> 01:00:47,039
million mile journey to Mars.

1178
01:00:47,239 --> 01:00:47,880
Speaker 2: Nine months.

1179
01:00:47,960 --> 01:00:52,519
Speaker 1: Yes, the accumulating errors meant that spacecraft's trajectory was calculated incorrectly.

1180
01:00:52,599 --> 01:00:54,639
When it arrived at Mars, it entered the atmosphere at

1181
01:00:54,639 --> 01:00:58,360
two low altitude. It was destroyed by friction and aerodynamic stress.

1182
01:00:58,599 --> 01:01:00,800
Speaker 2: Ouch as the source said, it's embarrassing to lose a

1183
01:01:00,840 --> 01:01:02,800
spacecraft to such a simple math error.

1184
01:01:03,000 --> 01:01:05,800
Speaker 1: Under statement of the century, perhaps a very expensive lesson

1185
01:01:05,880 --> 01:01:07,199
in double checking your units.

1186
01:01:07,679 --> 01:01:13,639
Speaker 2: And speaking of math errors leading to unexpected destinations, Columbus himself, yes.

1187
01:01:13,599 --> 01:01:18,039
Speaker 1: It connects back perfectly. Christopher Columbus made a significant mathematical

1188
01:01:18,119 --> 01:01:22,760
mistake that arguably led directly to his discovery of the

1189
01:01:22,800 --> 01:01:23,320
New World.

1190
01:01:23,639 --> 01:01:24,559
Speaker 2: What was his mistake?

1191
01:01:24,719 --> 01:01:28,320
Speaker 1: He vastly underestimated the circumference of the Earth. He used

1192
01:01:28,320 --> 01:01:32,199
calculations based on older, inaccurate sources, and believed Asia was

1193
01:01:32,320 --> 01:01:35,920
much much closer sailing west from Europe than it actually is.

1194
01:01:36,159 --> 01:01:37,920
He thought he was maybe less than three thousand miles

1195
01:01:37,920 --> 01:01:38,760
from Japan when he.

1196
01:01:38,760 --> 01:01:40,920
Speaker 2: Set out, less than three thousand miles, So when he

1197
01:01:41,000 --> 01:01:42,280
hit land, he thought.

1198
01:01:42,280 --> 01:01:45,119
Speaker 1: He thought he'd reached the outskirts of Asia the East Indies,

1199
01:01:45,800 --> 01:01:48,199
and he insisted on this belief apparently until the day

1200
01:01:48,239 --> 01:01:50,440
he died, even after subsequent voyages.

1201
01:01:50,840 --> 01:01:53,039
Speaker 2: So who figured out it wasn't Asia?

1202
01:01:53,119 --> 01:01:57,960
Speaker 1: Another Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci. He sailed along the coast

1203
01:01:58,000 --> 01:02:01,280
of South America on later voyages and realized its sheer

1204
01:02:01,320 --> 01:02:03,880
scale and distinct features meant it couldn't be part of Asia.

1205
01:02:04,480 --> 01:02:07,360
He argued, it was a mundus novus, a new world.

1206
01:02:07,360 --> 01:02:10,280
Speaker 2: And that's why it's called America, not Columbia exactly.

1207
01:02:10,760 --> 01:02:14,960
Speaker 1: A German map maker, Martin valdsey Mueller was impressed by

1208
01:02:15,039 --> 01:02:18,039
Vespucci's accounts, and, on a famous fifty oh seven map,

1209
01:02:18,360 --> 01:02:21,599
decided to label the new southern continent America in his honor.

1210
01:02:21,960 --> 01:02:25,000
The name stuck and was eventually applied to North America too,

1211
01:02:25,440 --> 01:02:28,360
all stemming in part from Columbus's initial miscalculation.

1212
01:02:28,599 --> 01:02:30,199
Speaker 2: Not all accidents are bad, though, right.

1213
01:02:30,360 --> 01:02:34,679
Speaker 1: Penicillin ah Yes, the classic example of a serendipitous discovery.

1214
01:02:34,920 --> 01:02:38,280
Alexander Fleming stumbled upon penicillin in nineteen twenty eight.

1215
01:02:38,360 --> 01:02:40,199
Speaker 2: How did it happen again? He left something out?

1216
01:02:40,360 --> 01:02:43,000
Speaker 1: Yes, the story goes, he left a petri dish containing

1217
01:02:43,000 --> 01:02:46,239
Stephylococcus bacteria uncovered near an open window in his lab

1218
01:02:46,440 --> 01:02:47,400
for going on vacation.

1219
01:02:47,800 --> 01:02:50,519
Speaker 2: Sloppy science or fortunate neglect.

1220
01:02:50,320 --> 01:02:53,039
Speaker 1: A bit of both. Perhaps when he returned he noticed

1221
01:02:53,079 --> 01:02:55,719
that mold spores likely blown in through the window but

1222
01:02:55,840 --> 01:02:59,320
contaminated the dish, and crucially, the bacteria around the mold

1223
01:02:59,320 --> 01:03:01,960
colony were eyeing. They couldn't grow near it, so.

1224
01:03:01,960 --> 01:03:04,920
Speaker 2: He realized that the mold was killing the bacteria exactly.

1225
01:03:05,159 --> 01:03:09,480
Speaker 1: He isolated the mold, identified it as Penicillium notatum, and

1226
01:03:09,599 --> 01:03:12,360
found that a substance it produced was highly effective against

1227
01:03:12,360 --> 01:03:17,480
many harmful bacteria. This accidental observation, followed by rigorous scientific

1228
01:03:17,519 --> 01:03:20,320
work by him and later others, led to the development

1229
01:03:20,320 --> 01:03:24,239
of penicillin as the first major antibiotic changing medicine forever.

1230
01:03:24,440 --> 01:03:26,519
Speaker 2: As Fleming himself said, I did.

1231
01:03:26,400 --> 01:03:29,400
Speaker 1: Not discover penicillin. Nature did that. I only discovered it

1232
01:03:29,440 --> 01:03:33,119
by accident. A wonderfully humble perspective on a world changing event.

1233
01:03:33,239 --> 01:03:37,639
Speaker 2: Okay. Another map related mistake Verizano mistaking a sound for

1234
01:03:37,679 --> 01:03:38,320
the Pacific.

1235
01:03:38,559 --> 01:03:42,079
Speaker 1: Yes, Giovanni de Verrizano, exploring the East coast for France

1236
01:03:42,119 --> 01:03:45,199
in the fifteen twenties. He sailed past the outer banks

1237
01:03:45,239 --> 01:03:47,599
of North Carolina and saw the large body of water

1238
01:03:47,639 --> 01:03:51,719
behind them Pamlico Sound, and he thought he mistakenly assumed

1239
01:03:51,760 --> 01:03:54,800
this huge expanse of water was the Pacific Ocean. This

1240
01:03:54,880 --> 01:03:57,760
led him to conclude that North America was just a long,

1241
01:03:57,920 --> 01:04:00,920
extremely narrow strip of land and isthmus separating the Atlantic

1242
01:04:00,960 --> 01:04:01,639
from the Pacific.

1243
01:04:01,679 --> 01:04:04,320
Speaker 2: So map started showing North America almost cut in half

1244
01:04:04,559 --> 01:04:05,079
for a while.

1245
01:04:05,199 --> 01:04:08,760
Speaker 1: Yes, this mistake led map makers to show North America

1246
01:04:08,800 --> 01:04:11,679
as almost completely divided in two by this supposed sea,

1247
01:04:12,519 --> 01:04:15,719
and it actually influenced later explorers like Henry Hudson, who

1248
01:04:15,719 --> 01:04:18,239
went looking for this non existent passage to the Pacific

1249
01:04:18,320 --> 01:04:19,280
in the Middle latitudes.

1250
01:04:19,480 --> 01:04:21,920
Speaker 2: A phantom sea caused by a mistaken glance.

1251
01:04:21,960 --> 01:04:26,559
Speaker 1: Pretty much the cartographic myth eventually faded as exploration filled

1252
01:04:26,559 --> 01:04:28,639
in the gaps, but it shows how one error could

1253
01:04:28,639 --> 01:04:31,079
shape perceptions and expeditions for decades.

1254
01:04:31,239 --> 01:04:34,880
Speaker 2: Okay, last blunder, and this one is just bizarre. The

1255
01:04:34,920 --> 01:04:39,800
Great Boston Molasses flood of nineteen nineteen. Molasses flooding.

1256
01:04:39,880 --> 01:04:43,800
Speaker 1: It sounds almost comical, but it was incredibly tragic and destructive.

1257
01:04:44,079 --> 01:04:47,519
On January fifteenth, nineteen nineteen, a truly massive steel tank

1258
01:04:47,760 --> 01:04:50,599
fifty feet tall holding two point three million gallons of

1259
01:04:50,639 --> 01:04:53,280
molasses suddenly burst in Boston's North End neighborhood.

1260
01:04:53,320 --> 01:04:55,960
Speaker 2: Two point three million gallons. How fast did it come out.

1261
01:04:56,079 --> 01:04:57,840
Speaker 1: It surged through the streets like a tidal wave. Is

1262
01:04:57,960 --> 01:05:01,800
estimated at thirty five milele par sticky brown wave, engulfing

1263
01:05:01,880 --> 01:05:02,400
everything in.

1264
01:05:02,360 --> 01:05:04,639
Speaker 2: Its path thirty five mile towar. That's faster than people

1265
01:05:04,639 --> 01:05:05,679
can run. What did it do?

1266
01:05:06,079 --> 01:05:09,880
Speaker 1: It was devastating. Buildings were crushed or swept off their foundations.

1267
01:05:10,159 --> 01:05:13,280
Wagons were overturned, People and horses were caught in the

1268
01:05:13,280 --> 01:05:17,400
floe struggling through the deep viscous goo. Electrical poles snapped,

1269
01:05:17,639 --> 01:05:18,920
train tracks were damaged.

1270
01:05:19,000 --> 01:05:21,559
Speaker 2: The source described it like a mess at a candy store,

1271
01:05:21,599 --> 01:05:24,559
but a nightmare. There was a story about a bartender, yes.

1272
01:05:24,760 --> 01:05:27,559
Speaker 1: Martin Cloffordy, woke up on the third floor as his

1273
01:05:27,639 --> 01:05:30,400
house was lifted and swept away by the molasses. He

1274
01:05:30,480 --> 01:05:32,760
managed to grab onto his bed frame, using it like

1275
01:05:32,800 --> 01:05:36,079
a makeshift boat in the sticky tide, and miraculously rescued

1276
01:05:36,079 --> 01:05:39,239
his sister, but his mother and brother were tragically lost.

1277
01:05:39,639 --> 01:05:41,719
It highlights the sheer, horror and chaos.

1278
01:05:41,760 --> 01:05:44,000
Speaker 2: How many people died injured In the.

1279
01:05:44,039 --> 01:05:46,519
Speaker 1: End, twenty one people died and about one hundred and

1280
01:05:46,559 --> 01:05:50,000
fifty were injured. The cleanup was immense, taking weeks. They

1281
01:05:50,079 --> 01:05:52,519
used saltwater pumped from the harbor to try and dissolve

1282
01:05:52,559 --> 01:05:55,639
and wash away the sticky mess then covered remaining areas

1283
01:05:55,679 --> 01:05:57,639
with sand and the legal aftermath.

1284
01:05:57,920 --> 01:05:58,960
Speaker 2: Did the company pay?

1285
01:05:59,199 --> 01:06:02,320
Speaker 1: There was a huge, huge, complex legal battle that lasted

1286
01:06:02,400 --> 01:06:06,599
five years. The company initially tried to blame anarchists or

1287
01:06:06,679 --> 01:06:10,599
radicals for sabotaging the tank, but eventually investigations proved it

1288
01:06:10,639 --> 01:06:14,480
was due to shoddy construction. The tank was poorly designed

1289
01:06:14,519 --> 01:06:18,199
and built rushed to completion without proper testing. The company

1290
01:06:18,280 --> 01:06:20,719
is found liable and paid out about six hundred and

1291
01:06:20,760 --> 01:06:23,239
twenty eight thousand dollars in compensation.

1292
01:06:22,880 --> 01:06:25,679
Speaker 2: Which is about eight million dollars today. Was it distributed evenly?

1293
01:06:26,000 --> 01:06:30,360
Speaker 1: Interestingly, No, The court allocated damages based on the suffering endured,

1294
01:06:30,960 --> 01:06:33,639
so victims who were trapped longer like a man stuck

1295
01:06:33,679 --> 01:06:36,519
for four hours, received higher amounts for their families than

1296
01:06:36,519 --> 01:06:37,639
those guilled instantly.

1297
01:06:37,800 --> 01:06:40,400
Speaker 2: And the smell did it really last? For decades?

1298
01:06:40,760 --> 01:06:44,239
Speaker 1: Apparently zo The lingering scent of sweetness reportedly persisted in

1299
01:06:44,280 --> 01:06:46,840
some basements in the North End for many years, and

1300
01:06:46,880 --> 01:06:49,199
the waters of Boston Harbor were said to have remained

1301
01:06:49,199 --> 01:06:50,440
brownish until the summer.

1302
01:06:50,559 --> 01:06:53,119
Speaker 2: A truly bizarre disaster. Did anything good come out of it?

1303
01:06:53,400 --> 01:06:56,760
Speaker 1: Surprisingly? Yes, it had a major lasting impact on public

1304
01:06:56,800 --> 01:06:59,920
safety and regulation. It totally shook up safety rules around them,

1305
01:07:00,519 --> 01:07:05,639
so it led directly to stricter regulations regarding construction standards, inspections,

1306
01:07:05,920 --> 01:07:10,000
and professional engineering practices. Many of all the building standards

1307
01:07:10,000 --> 01:07:13,119
we have now requirements for architects and engineers to sign

1308
01:07:13,199 --> 01:07:16,519
and seal their plans rigorous testing can trace their origins

1309
01:07:16,559 --> 01:07:19,119
back to the lessons learned from the Great Molasses Flood,

1310
01:07:19,599 --> 01:07:23,039
a terrible event that ultimately spurred vital safety reforms.

1311
01:07:23,119 --> 01:07:26,800
Speaker 2: Okay, so human errors can be devastating, but nature's own

1312
01:07:26,800 --> 01:07:30,039
power often dwarfs our mistakes. The sources worn about some

1313
01:07:30,119 --> 01:07:33,880
serious natural threats volcanoes, earthquakes.

1314
01:07:33,599 --> 01:07:36,440
Speaker 1: Yes, reminders that we live on a very dynamic and

1315
01:07:36,480 --> 01:07:38,039
sometimes quite violent planet.

1316
01:07:38,239 --> 01:07:42,800
Speaker 2: Let's start with volcanoes Udurinku and Bolivia. A zombie volcano.

1317
01:07:42,559 --> 01:07:45,239
Speaker 1: Uh huh Yeah, waking up after being dormant for two

1318
01:07:45,320 --> 01:07:48,320
hundred and fifty thousand years, it started doing signs of life,

1319
01:07:48,400 --> 01:07:51,639
letting out gas, rumbling, the small earthquakes, and the ground

1320
01:07:51,679 --> 01:07:53,519
around it was bulging upwards.

1321
01:07:53,199 --> 01:07:55,880
Speaker 2: Which usually means magma is rising. Right, bad news.

1322
01:07:55,920 --> 01:07:58,960
Speaker 1: That was the initial fear, but scientists investigated closely and

1323
01:07:59,000 --> 01:08:03,039
discovered it's not magma rizing directly towards an eruption. Instead,

1324
01:08:03,239 --> 01:08:06,719
it seems to be hot fluids and gases migrating upwards through.

1325
01:08:06,599 --> 01:08:09,440
Speaker 2: Existing pathways, so less dangerous.

1326
01:08:09,159 --> 01:08:12,960
Speaker 1: Less immediately dangerous. Yes, it's causing the ground movement in

1327
01:08:13,000 --> 01:08:17,239
small quakes, but doesn't signal an imminent major eruption. It

1328
01:08:17,279 --> 01:08:19,920
was actually good news for Bolivia, but also a really

1329
01:08:19,960 --> 01:08:25,039
crucial insight for volcanologists everywhere, helping distinguish between different types

1330
01:08:25,079 --> 01:08:26,319
of pre eruption signals?

1331
01:08:26,399 --> 01:08:28,439
Speaker 2: Are there others that are more concerning right now?

1332
01:08:28,479 --> 01:08:32,119
Speaker 1: Definitely Mount Spur in Alaska is letting out gases, which

1333
01:08:32,159 --> 01:08:35,520
is a concern for airplanes flying nearby. Roots and Campy

1334
01:08:35,560 --> 01:08:36,680
Flay Gray in Italy.

1335
01:08:36,880 --> 01:08:39,760
Speaker 2: Campy Flay Gray, that's the big one near Naples, Isn't

1336
01:08:39,760 --> 01:08:41,840
it not Vesuvius but the other one exactly.

1337
01:08:42,039 --> 01:08:45,920
Speaker 1: It's a giant volcanic system of Caldera with twenty four craters.

1338
01:08:46,239 --> 01:08:49,359
It last erupted in fifteen thirty eight, which was relatively small,

1339
01:08:49,680 --> 01:08:53,319
but it had a truly terrifying supereruption about forty thousand

1340
01:08:53,359 --> 01:08:56,600
years ago that plunged Europe into a volcanic.

1341
01:08:56,119 --> 01:08:57,880
Speaker 2: Winter, and millions live nearby.

1342
01:08:58,079 --> 01:09:00,399
Speaker 1: Yes, over a million people live within or very close

1343
01:09:00,439 --> 01:09:03,600
to the caldera. While another supereruption isn't thought to be imminent,

1344
01:09:03,680 --> 01:09:06,680
the potential for devastation requires constant, vigilant.

1345
01:09:06,399 --> 01:09:10,319
Speaker 2: Monitoring and Mount Vesuvius itself the Pompei volcano.

1346
01:09:10,159 --> 01:09:13,239
Speaker 1: Still very much active, looming over nearly three million people

1347
01:09:13,279 --> 01:09:16,720
in the Naples area. Alarmingly, about seven hundred thousand people

1348
01:09:16,760 --> 01:09:19,359
are estimated to be living illegally on its slopes.

1349
01:09:19,640 --> 01:09:24,119
Speaker 2: On the volcano itself. Wow, when's it likely to go again?

1350
01:09:24,520 --> 01:09:28,560
Speaker 1: A really big Pompeii style eruption isn't expected for perhaps

1351
01:09:28,920 --> 01:09:31,800
a few hundred more years based on its cycles, but

1352
01:09:31,880 --> 01:09:34,600
the sheer number of people living in harm's way makes

1353
01:09:34,640 --> 01:09:38,199
even a smaller eruption incredibly risky. Emergency planning there is

1354
01:09:38,199 --> 01:09:39,039
a massive challenge.

1355
01:09:39,079 --> 01:09:42,600
Speaker 2: What about that volcano in the Canary Islands, Kumbra Vieisha.

1356
01:09:42,640 --> 01:09:45,199
Didn't that erupt recently and wasn't there talk of a

1357
01:09:45,279 --> 01:09:46,039
mega tsunami?

1358
01:09:46,199 --> 01:09:50,319
Speaker 1: Yes, Kumbrivieisha erupted spectacularly in twenty twenty one, destroying about

1359
01:09:50,319 --> 01:09:53,680
three thousand homes on La Palma. For years, there was

1360
01:09:53,720 --> 01:09:56,560
a widely publicized fear that if a large flank of

1361
01:09:56,560 --> 01:09:59,239
the volcano collapsed into the ocean, it could trigger a

1362
01:09:59,279 --> 01:10:03,279
megasunami capable of devastating coastlines across the Atlantic, including the

1363
01:10:03,399 --> 01:10:04,159
US East Coast.

1364
01:10:04,239 --> 01:10:06,239
Speaker 2: Scary thought is that still considered likely.

1365
01:10:06,520 --> 01:10:10,520
Speaker 1: Thankfully, more recent geological assessment suggests that kind of catastrophic

1366
01:10:10,560 --> 01:10:15,279
collapse and resulting megasunami are actually very unlikely. The conditions

1367
01:10:15,319 --> 01:10:18,680
needed for such a massive single slide just aren't really there,

1368
01:10:19,079 --> 01:10:21,239
so we can probably breathe a little easier about that

1369
01:10:21,279 --> 01:10:22,279
specific scenario.

1370
01:10:22,359 --> 01:10:25,800
Speaker 2: Okay, good. What about volcanoes in the US? Mount Saint Helens.

1371
01:10:26,039 --> 01:10:29,880
Speaker 1: Mount Saint Helens in Washington State had that massive sideways

1372
01:10:29,960 --> 01:10:34,119
eruption in nineteen eighty killed fifty seven people, caused the

1373
01:10:34,159 --> 01:10:38,439
biggest landslide ever recorded on Earth. It's definitely still active,

1374
01:10:38,520 --> 01:10:40,359
rebuilding its lavadone inside the crater.

1375
01:10:40,520 --> 01:10:42,279
Speaker 2: Could it do the sideways blast again?

1376
01:10:42,640 --> 01:10:45,600
Speaker 1: Probably not in the same way. The nineteen eighty eruption

1377
01:10:45,720 --> 01:10:49,119
created a huge deep crater which would likely contain or

1378
01:10:49,159 --> 01:10:53,159
redirect any future blasts upwards rather than sideways, but remains

1379
01:10:53,199 --> 01:10:55,359
one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the US.

1380
01:10:55,159 --> 01:10:57,920
Speaker 2: And Popacotta Pedal in Mexico near Mexico City.

1381
01:10:58,000 --> 01:11:00,479
Speaker 1: Yes, Popo is a big concern. It's only forty miles

1382
01:11:00,520 --> 01:11:03,520
from Mexico City, home to twenty two million people, and

1383
01:11:03,560 --> 01:11:06,239
it's been in a state of slow, simmering eruptions since

1384
01:11:06,279 --> 01:11:09,079
the early two thousands, constantly puffing ash and gas.

1385
01:11:09,279 --> 01:11:11,479
Speaker 2: What's the main risk there? A big explosion, A.

1386
01:11:11,520 --> 01:11:14,600
Speaker 1: Large eruption could blanket Mexico City in several inches of ash,

1387
01:11:14,680 --> 01:11:18,319
collapsing roofs, shutting down air travel, contaminating water supplies, and

1388
01:11:18,359 --> 01:11:21,640
towns closer to the volcano were threatened by pyroclastic flows,

1389
01:11:22,000 --> 01:11:25,079
those super hot, fast moving avalanches of gas and rock.

1390
01:11:25,439 --> 01:11:26,920
It's a constant simmering threat.

1391
01:11:27,000 --> 01:11:30,840
Speaker 2: Okay, volcanoes are scary. What about earthquakes? The San Andreas

1392
01:11:30,880 --> 01:11:33,239
fault line. That's the big one everyone knows in California, right,

1393
01:11:33,279 --> 01:11:33,840
the big one.

1394
01:11:33,960 --> 01:11:36,960
Speaker 1: That's the most famous one. Yes, North America's biggest seismic celebrity,

1395
01:11:37,000 --> 01:11:41,000
you could say. And the threat is real. Scientists estimate

1396
01:11:41,039 --> 01:11:44,039
there's a seventy percent chance of a magnitude six point

1397
01:11:44,039 --> 01:11:47,199
seven or larger quake hitting somewhere along the fault by twenty.

1398
01:11:46,920 --> 01:11:50,079
Speaker 2: Thirty, seventy percent by twenty thirty. That's high. What would

1399
01:11:50,119 --> 01:11:50,720
the impact be?

1400
01:11:50,920 --> 01:11:53,439
Speaker 1: A major quake on the San Andreas, especially near Los

1401
01:11:53,479 --> 01:11:57,199
Angeles or San Francisco would be devastating. Recovery costs could

1402
01:11:57,199 --> 01:12:01,079
easily top two hundred billion dollars. Buildings collapse, seeing fires,

1403
01:12:01,119 --> 01:12:02,159
infrastructure damage.

1404
01:12:02,199 --> 01:12:04,119
Speaker 2: Would it cause a tsunami? No?

1405
01:12:04,520 --> 01:12:07,680
Speaker 1: The San Andreas is primarily a strike slip fault, where

1406
01:12:07,720 --> 01:12:11,960
plates slide past each other horizontally. That type of movement

1407
01:12:12,000 --> 01:12:16,720
doesn't typically displace enough water to generate large tsunamis, but landslides,

1408
01:12:17,079 --> 01:12:20,520
especially in hilly areas, would be a huge secondary hazard.

1409
01:12:20,560 --> 01:12:23,359
Speaker 2: Okay, so the San Andreas is bad, but the sources

1410
01:12:23,399 --> 01:12:26,680
say the big one is just the beginning. There's something worse.

1411
01:12:26,880 --> 01:12:30,960
Speaker 1: Yes, Geologically speaking, the San Andreas is significant, but the

1412
01:12:31,000 --> 01:12:34,760
real monster lurking off the Pacific Northwest coast is the

1413
01:12:34,960 --> 01:12:36,720
Cascadia subduction zone.

1414
01:12:36,880 --> 01:12:40,159
Speaker 2: Cascadia where one plate is diving under another, like where

1415
01:12:40,159 --> 01:12:42,000
the Ferrilon plate went exactly.

1416
01:12:42,079 --> 01:12:44,960
Speaker 1: It runs for about seven hundred miles from northern California

1417
01:12:45,000 --> 01:12:48,399
up past Oregon, Washington, to Vancouver Island in Canada, and

1418
01:12:48,640 --> 01:12:51,319
seduction zones like this are capable of generating the largest

1419
01:12:51,319 --> 01:12:55,520
earthquakes on the planet. The sources, Cascadia is nothing compared

1420
01:12:55,560 --> 01:12:58,720
to the San Andreas in terms of potential magnitude. It's

1421
01:12:58,760 --> 01:12:59,640
like a sleeping beast.

1422
01:13:00,039 --> 01:13:02,000
Speaker 2: How much bigger could a Cascadia quake be?

1423
01:13:02,479 --> 01:13:04,920
Speaker 1: While the San Andreas might produce up to a magnitude

1424
01:13:04,960 --> 01:13:07,960
eight or so, the Cascadia zone is capable of unleashing

1425
01:13:07,960 --> 01:13:11,199
a magnitude nine earthquake, maybe even slightly.

1426
01:13:10,960 --> 01:13:13,920
Speaker 2: Larger magnitude nine. What's the difference in power?

1427
01:13:14,039 --> 01:13:18,159
Speaker 1: It's logarithmic. A magnitude nine releases about thirty two times

1428
01:13:18,199 --> 01:13:21,560
more energy than a magnitude eight, and nearly a thousand

1429
01:13:21,640 --> 01:13:24,880
times more than a magnitude seven. The source puts it

1430
01:13:24,960 --> 01:13:28,359
in terms of dynamite. A Cascady M nine could have

1431
01:13:28,359 --> 01:13:32,600
the power of forty four trillion pounds of dynamite. Compare

1432
01:13:32,640 --> 01:13:34,960
that to maybe forty four million pounds for a big

1433
01:13:34,960 --> 01:13:35,920
San Andreas quake.

1434
01:13:36,199 --> 01:13:39,479
Speaker 2: Trillions versus millions. Okay, that's a staggering difference, and a

1435
01:13:39,560 --> 01:13:41,960
quake that big under the ocean.

1436
01:13:41,600 --> 01:13:45,760
Speaker 1: That it means giant tsunamis huge waves potentially reaching thirty

1437
01:13:45,880 --> 01:13:48,399
fifty even one hundred feet high in some coastal areas

1438
01:13:48,720 --> 01:13:52,479
would inundate coastlines within minutes of the shaking stopping, wiping

1439
01:13:52,479 --> 01:13:54,720
out towns, infrastructure.

1440
01:13:54,039 --> 01:13:55,359
Speaker 2: Creating more ghost forests.

1441
01:13:55,439 --> 01:13:58,319
Speaker 1: Yes, exactly. The massive influx of saltwater would kill toastal

1442
01:13:58,359 --> 01:13:59,159
forests instantly.

1443
01:13:59,199 --> 01:14:00,319
Speaker 2: When was the last time this happen?

1444
01:14:00,439 --> 01:14:04,359
Speaker 1: Do we know? We do remarkably accurately. Geological evidence combined

1445
01:14:04,399 --> 01:14:06,960
with historical tsunami records from Japan that matched the timing

1446
01:14:07,000 --> 01:14:10,039
points to the last major Cascadia earthquake en tsunami occurring

1447
01:14:10,039 --> 01:14:11,399
in January seventeen.

1448
01:14:11,119 --> 01:14:14,159
Speaker 2: Hundred, seventeen hundred, and how often do these megaquakes happen there?

1449
01:14:14,359 --> 01:14:17,439
Speaker 1: The recurrence interval seems to be roughly every four hundred

1450
01:14:17,439 --> 01:14:19,239
to six hundred years on average.

1451
01:14:19,279 --> 01:14:22,039
Speaker 2: If the last one was in seventeen hundred and it's

1452
01:14:22,079 --> 01:14:23,399
now over three hundred years.

1453
01:14:23,319 --> 01:14:27,600
Speaker 1: Later, exactly, we're well within the window. Geologists estimate we

1454
01:14:27,640 --> 01:14:30,039
have maybe one hundred to three hundred years left before

1455
01:14:30,079 --> 01:14:32,279
the next likely one. It's not a matter of if,

1456
01:14:32,399 --> 01:14:35,640
but when it's a silent countdown happening right now.

1457
01:14:35,560 --> 01:14:39,680
Speaker 2: Okay, that's terrifying. Survival tips. If the shakings starts near

1458
01:14:39,720 --> 01:14:40,359
the coast there.

1459
01:14:40,680 --> 01:14:44,439
Speaker 1: The absolute key message is if you feel strong shaking

1460
01:14:44,479 --> 01:14:46,760
for a long time near the coast, don't wait for

1461
01:14:46,800 --> 01:14:49,800
an official warning. As soon as the shaking stops. Get

1462
01:14:49,800 --> 01:14:52,439
to the highest ground you possibly can, as fast as

1463
01:14:52,520 --> 01:14:54,319
you can inland and uphill.

1464
01:14:54,479 --> 01:14:56,319
Speaker 2: Take essentials only, only.

1465
01:14:56,119 --> 01:14:58,880
Speaker 1: Absolute essentials, if you can grab them quickly. Your life

1466
01:14:58,920 --> 01:15:01,560
depends on getting high ground immediately, and critically, don't go

1467
01:15:01,600 --> 01:15:03,000
back down after the first wave hits.

1468
01:15:03,039 --> 01:15:04,920
Speaker 2: Why not isn't the first wave the biggest?

1469
01:15:05,199 --> 01:15:10,479
Speaker 1: Not necessarily. Tsunamis are unpredictable. They often arrive as a

1470
01:15:10,520 --> 01:15:13,720
series of waves over several hours, and later waves can

1471
01:15:13,760 --> 01:15:17,319
be bigger than the first. The source mentions a harrowing

1472
01:15:17,319 --> 01:15:21,079
account from Hawaii in nineteen sixty where people went down

1473
01:15:21,119 --> 01:15:24,039
after the first wave receded, only to be caught by

1474
01:15:24,119 --> 01:15:28,399
much larger subsequent waves. Stay on high ground until officials

1475
01:15:28,399 --> 01:15:29,600
give the all clear.

1476
01:15:29,680 --> 01:15:34,720
Speaker 2: So get high, stay high. Are they preparing building codes warnings?

1477
01:15:35,000 --> 01:15:37,760
Speaker 1: Yes, there's a lot of work being done implementing stricter

1478
01:15:37,800 --> 01:15:41,600
building codes for new construction, developing better tsunami warning systems

1479
01:15:41,840 --> 01:15:44,720
like shake alert on the West coast, public education campaigns

1480
01:15:44,720 --> 01:15:49,119
about evacuation routes, but the scale of the threat is immense.

1481
01:15:49,239 --> 01:15:52,800
Speaker 2: Okay, deep breath from natural disasters. Let's end on something

1482
01:15:52,840 --> 01:15:55,680
a little later. The sources talk about the United States

1483
01:15:55,720 --> 01:15:58,199
as a whole different world, looking at everyday things that

1484
01:15:58,279 --> 01:16:00,560
might seem odd or baffle people from the outside.

1485
01:16:00,680 --> 01:16:03,119
Speaker 1: Right, those cultural quirks and differences that you don't really

1486
01:16:03,199 --> 01:16:06,640
notice until someone points them out. Flags everywhere, that's often

1487
01:16:06,680 --> 01:16:09,960
one of the first things foreigner's comment on on public buildings,

1488
01:16:10,000 --> 01:16:13,399
private houses, gas stations, car dealerships, even un clothes.

1489
01:16:14,119 --> 01:16:16,880
Speaker 2: We do like our flags, the current one, the fifty star.

1490
01:16:16,960 --> 01:16:18,960
One interesting story there.

1491
01:16:19,159 --> 01:16:22,119
Speaker 1: Yeah, The current twenty seventh version of the flag, adopted

1492
01:16:22,159 --> 01:16:25,359
in nineteen sixty after Hawaii became a state, was actually

1493
01:16:25,399 --> 01:16:28,560
designed by a seventeen year old high school student, Robert Heft,

1494
01:16:28,960 --> 01:16:30,000
for a class project.

1495
01:16:30,039 --> 01:16:31,960
Speaker 2: No way, a high school project.

1496
01:16:31,640 --> 01:16:34,239
Speaker 1: Apparently, so he got a B initially, but made a

1497
01:16:34,279 --> 01:16:36,439
deal with his teacher that if Congress adopted it, he'd

1498
01:16:36,439 --> 01:16:39,439
get an A, and they did. It reflects a very

1499
01:16:39,520 --> 01:16:42,520
visible sense of national pride, which contrasts with some other

1500
01:16:42,560 --> 01:16:46,520
countries where, for very historical reasons, frequent public flag displays

1501
01:16:46,560 --> 01:16:48,359
are less common or even discouraged.

1502
01:16:48,560 --> 01:16:51,680
Speaker 2: Okay, flags, what else, restaurants.

1503
01:16:51,199 --> 01:16:55,680
Speaker 1: Ice tons of ice in every drink, water, soda, iced tea,

1504
01:16:56,239 --> 01:16:57,159
held high with ice.

1505
01:16:57,399 --> 01:16:58,840
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's true. Why so much ice?

1506
01:16:59,119 --> 01:17:02,039
Speaker 1: It actually goes back entries. In the eighteenth nineteenth centuries,

1507
01:17:02,119 --> 01:17:05,039
New England had an abundant supply of natural ice harvested

1508
01:17:05,079 --> 01:17:08,640
from frozen lakes in winter. This ice harvesting became a

1509
01:17:08,680 --> 01:17:12,640
major industry. Ice was exported but also consumed locally in

1510
01:17:12,760 --> 01:17:16,920
large quantities. It became a habit, a standard expectation. At

1511
01:17:16,920 --> 01:17:19,239
one point, having lots of ice was even a sign

1512
01:17:19,319 --> 01:17:21,600
of wealth. A rich person's drink.

1513
01:17:21,760 --> 01:17:24,880
Speaker 2: Ice as a status symbol. Okay, what about food portions?

1514
01:17:24,960 --> 01:17:28,600
Speaker 1: Huge portions, that's another common observation. This trend really took

1515
01:17:28,600 --> 01:17:30,359
off in the second half of the twentieth century.

1516
01:17:30,439 --> 01:17:31,920
Speaker 2: Why did portions get so big?

1517
01:17:32,119 --> 01:17:38,439
Speaker 1: Accombination of factors increased agricultural productivity thanks to pesticides, fertilizers, mechanization,

1518
01:17:38,560 --> 01:17:42,760
government subsidies meant food became cheaper and more abundant. Food

1519
01:17:42,800 --> 01:17:45,600
companies and restaurants realized they could increase portion sizes aes

1520
01:17:45,640 --> 01:17:49,119
slightly charge a bit more, and marketed as value. It

1521
01:17:49,119 --> 01:17:51,680
seemed like a win win for both businesses. More profit

1522
01:17:51,800 --> 01:17:54,239
and customers feeling like they got more for their money,

1523
01:17:54,399 --> 01:17:55,880
so portions just kept growing.

1524
01:17:55,960 --> 01:17:59,239
Speaker 2: Okay, let's talk toilets public restrooms. The gaps.

1525
01:17:59,520 --> 01:18:03,319
Speaker 1: Ah, Yes, the huge gaps in bathroom stalls, particularly the

1526
01:18:03,319 --> 01:18:06,119
gaps down the sides of the doors. While gaps at

1527
01:18:06,119 --> 01:18:09,239
the bottom are common worldwide for ventilation and cleaning access,

1528
01:18:09,560 --> 01:18:13,119
the side gaps in many US stalls mean well, not

1529
01:18:13,199 --> 01:18:14,439
much privacy whatsoever.

1530
01:18:14,600 --> 01:18:16,840
Speaker 2: Why are the gaps so big? Is there a reason?

1531
01:18:17,399 --> 01:18:21,119
Speaker 1: Theories abound. Some say it's simply to reduce construction costs,

1532
01:18:21,520 --> 01:18:27,159
less material, easier installation. Others offer more sociological explanations. Maybe

1533
01:18:27,239 --> 01:18:30,239
making people feel exposed gives them fewer incentives to do

1534
01:18:30,319 --> 01:18:33,680
something illegal or linger too long, or maybe it's just

1535
01:18:33,720 --> 01:18:35,479
a design convention that's stuck.

1536
01:18:35,239 --> 01:18:36,439
Speaker 2: And the water level in the bowl.

1537
01:18:36,640 --> 01:18:39,039
Speaker 1: American toilets also tend to have way more water in

1538
01:18:39,079 --> 01:18:42,279
their bowls compared to European designs. This is mainly due

1539
01:18:42,279 --> 01:18:45,680
to different flushing mechanisms. Siphon jet systems common in the

1540
01:18:45,760 --> 01:18:49,159
US require a larger standing water volume to initiate the siphon.

1541
01:18:48,920 --> 01:18:52,119
Speaker 2: Effectively in bidets or lack thereof.

1542
01:18:52,359 --> 01:18:55,840
Speaker 1: The Lack of bidets is often noted by visitors from Europe, Asia,

1543
01:18:56,000 --> 01:18:59,520
or South America, where they're common. Why aren't they standard

1544
01:18:59,560 --> 01:19:03,840
in the U s Yes, Some suggest a historical strong

1545
01:19:03,960 --> 01:19:09,079
stigma or perceived prudishness. Others say it's practical, often not

1546
01:19:09,279 --> 01:19:12,399
enough room in standard American bathroom layouts or the added

1547
01:19:12,439 --> 01:19:13,399
plumbing cost.

1548
01:19:13,479 --> 01:19:14,880
Speaker 2: Okay, moving out of the bathroom.

1549
01:19:15,239 --> 01:19:18,199
Speaker 1: Tipping Tipping, Yes, it's way more common and expected for

1550
01:19:18,239 --> 01:19:20,600
a much wider range of services in the US than

1551
01:19:20,680 --> 01:19:25,079
most of the countries. Servers, bartenders, taxi drivers, hairdressers, hotel staff.

1552
01:19:25,800 --> 01:19:26,560
The list goes on.

1553
01:19:26,680 --> 01:19:29,479
Speaker 2: Why is it so ingrained here compared to elsewhere?

1554
01:19:29,600 --> 01:19:32,920
Speaker 1: It's largely tied to wage structures. Unlike many countries with

1555
01:19:33,000 --> 01:19:35,560
minimum wage laws that mandate a decent base wage for

1556
01:19:35,640 --> 01:19:39,119
service staff, the US has lower minimum wages for tipped employees,

1557
01:19:39,399 --> 01:19:42,079
so the responsibility for ensuring service workers earn a living

1558
01:19:42,119 --> 01:19:45,479
wage is effectively pushed onto the customers through the social

1559
01:19:45,479 --> 01:19:49,239
convention and expectation of tipping, usually fifteen twenty percent or more.

1560
01:19:49,359 --> 01:19:53,840
Speaker 2: Right. Another thing that confuses visitors store prices the tax thing. Ah.

1561
01:19:53,920 --> 01:19:57,039
Speaker 1: Yes, the fact that the sales tax isn't included into

1562
01:19:57,079 --> 01:19:59,960
the displayed price on the shelf for tag, but gets

1563
01:20:00,039 --> 01:20:02,000
added on only at the checkout counter.

1564
01:20:02,119 --> 01:20:05,239
Speaker 2: Why do we do that? It seems unnecessarily complicated.

1565
01:20:05,479 --> 01:20:09,159
Speaker 1: The main arguments are about transparency so taxpayers can clearly

1566
01:20:09,199 --> 01:20:11,439
see how much tax they're paying on each purchase, and

1567
01:20:11,439 --> 01:20:15,520
fairness in comparisons. Since sales tax rates vary significantly by

1568
01:20:15,520 --> 01:20:18,479
state and even by city or county, displaying the pre

1569
01:20:18,560 --> 01:20:21,880
tax price allows buyers to compare the cost of products

1570
01:20:21,880 --> 01:20:25,199
across states fairly without the tax distorting the base price.

1571
01:20:25,760 --> 01:20:27,760
But it definitely catches visitors off guard.

1572
01:20:28,119 --> 01:20:30,319
Speaker 2: Okay, getting around the car culture.

1573
01:20:30,159 --> 01:20:33,439
Speaker 1: Yes, the observation that it's not very easy unless you

1574
01:20:33,479 --> 01:20:35,720
travel by car. In many many parts of the US,

1575
01:20:35,880 --> 01:20:38,920
outside of major city centers, sidewalks can be scarce or

1576
01:20:39,000 --> 01:20:40,680
non existent. Crosswalks in frequently.

1577
01:20:40,720 --> 01:20:41,239
Speaker 2: Why is that?

1578
01:20:41,520 --> 01:20:44,640
Speaker 1: It's largely a legacy of post World War II suburban

1579
01:20:44,720 --> 01:20:50,560
development patterns. Neighborhoods became scattered around wide suburban territories designed

1580
01:20:50,560 --> 01:20:55,159
around the automobile. Zoning laws often separated residential areas from

1581
01:20:55,159 --> 01:20:59,560
commercial zones, making walking or cycling impractical or even unsafe

1582
01:20:59,560 --> 01:21:03,359
for daily errands. Public transport often couldn't keep up or

1583
01:21:03,520 --> 01:21:05,359
wasn't prioritized.

1584
01:21:04,640 --> 01:21:06,800
Speaker 2: So cardipendency is almost built.

1585
01:21:06,520 --> 01:21:08,079
Speaker 1: Into the landscape in many places.

1586
01:21:08,159 --> 01:21:12,720
Speaker 2: Yes, and finally, the measurement system still confuses.

1587
01:21:12,319 --> 01:21:16,359
Speaker 1: People, Oh absolutely, the imperial system. Foreigners are often incredibly

1588
01:21:16,399 --> 01:21:20,600
confused with feet, inches, miles, pounds, gallons, and fahrenheits. While

1589
01:21:20,640 --> 01:21:25,720
the rest of the world largely uses the metric system meters, kilograms, leaders, celsius.

1590
01:21:26,159 --> 01:21:28,760
The US stubbornly holds onto its customary units for most

1591
01:21:28,800 --> 01:21:29,520
everyday things.

1592
01:21:29,560 --> 01:21:32,039
Speaker 2: Even the British use a mix, don't they miles.

1593
01:21:31,680 --> 01:21:35,560
Speaker 1: But leaders exactly? The UK uses a baffling hybrid miles

1594
01:21:35,560 --> 01:21:38,560
on road signs pints for beer, but leaders for gasoline,

1595
01:21:38,560 --> 01:21:41,880
and celsius for weather. The US is more consistently non

1596
01:21:41,960 --> 01:21:45,119
metric in daily life. It's one of those fundamental practical

1597
01:21:45,119 --> 01:21:48,199
differences that constantly reminds visitors they were in a slightly

1598
01:21:48,199 --> 01:21:49,560
different operational reality.

1599
01:21:49,920 --> 01:21:53,600
Speaker 2: Wow. We have covered a lot of ground today, from

1600
01:21:53,600 --> 01:21:57,159
the literal ground thinning beneath us, to hidden magnetic forces,

1601
01:21:57,279 --> 01:22:02,880
giant blobs, the race for lithium, historical blunders, terrifying natural forces,

1602
01:22:03,359 --> 01:22:05,720
and even why American toilets are the way they are.

1603
01:22:06,039 --> 01:22:08,399
Speaker 1: It's been quite a journey through the hidden layers, hasn't it,

1604
01:22:08,880 --> 01:22:12,760
From the imperceptible geological shifts to the very visible quirks

1605
01:22:12,760 --> 01:22:13,640
of culture.

1606
01:22:13,399 --> 01:22:16,159
Speaker 2: It really shows how dynamic and complex our world is,

1607
01:22:16,279 --> 01:22:18,800
constantly evolving in ways we rarely notice.

1608
01:22:18,880 --> 01:22:22,159
Speaker 1: Absolutely What consistently stands out to me looking back at

1609
01:22:22,159 --> 01:22:24,760
all this material is just how much there is to

1610
01:22:24,880 --> 01:22:28,000
learn beneath the surface, both literally down in the Earth's

1611
01:22:28,000 --> 01:22:32,159
mantle and metaphorically within our own history. Our assumptions are

1612
01:22:32,199 --> 01:22:33,039
cultural norms.

1613
01:22:33,079 --> 01:22:35,399
Speaker 2: There are hidden stories everywhere everywhere.

1614
01:22:35,439 --> 01:22:39,720
Speaker 1: Every discovery, every shift in understanding, every accident, every cultural difference.

1615
01:22:40,319 --> 01:22:42,880
It all invites us to question our assumptions, doesn't it,

1616
01:22:43,239 --> 01:22:46,520
and to consider the profound interconnectedness of everything, How geology

1617
01:22:46,520 --> 01:22:50,800
affects technology, how history shapes the present, how culture influences

1618
01:22:50,880 --> 01:22:54,359
daily life. It really paints a richer, more intricate picture.

1619
01:22:54,239 --> 01:22:56,479
Speaker 2: A fascinating, complex tapestry.

1620
01:22:56,880 --> 01:23:00,239
Speaker 1: Indeed, so perhaps the final thought for everyone listening is

1621
01:23:00,600 --> 01:23:03,479
what hidden layers will you explore next in your own world?

1622
01:23:03,840 --> 01:23:05,600
What assumptions might be worth questioning