WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.880 --> 00:00:03.799 Welcome. This is Marsha for Radio I and today I 2 00:00:03.839 --> 00:00:09.519 will be reading National Geographic magazine dated May twenty twenty five, 3 00:00:09.919 --> 00:00:13.480 which is donated by the publisher as a reminder. Radio 4 00:00:13.560 --> 00:00:15.960 Eye is a reading service intended for people who are 5 00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:19.600 blind or have other disabilities that make it difficult to 6 00:00:19.640 --> 00:00:23.399 read printed material. Please join me now for the first 7 00:00:23.480 --> 00:00:27.920 article entitled How Penguins Learned to Live on the Edge 8 00:00:28.239 --> 00:00:34.799 by Renee Ebersol. Roughly six hundred miles off the coast 9 00:00:34.880 --> 00:00:40.479 of mainland Ecuador, conservation biologist d Bourzma cruised in an 10 00:00:40.520 --> 00:00:46.000 inflatable zodiac through the blue waters surrounding Bartolomy Island, a 11 00:00:46.039 --> 00:00:49.039 small part of the Pacific Ocean archipelago known as the 12 00:00:49.079 --> 00:00:52.960 Galopicus Islands. She was joined by several other scientists, all 13 00:00:53.000 --> 00:00:56.240 of whom scanned the shoreline for an elusive black and 14 00:00:56.280 --> 00:00:59.840 white seabird standing about a foot and half tall. Galopicus 15 00:01:00.079 --> 00:01:03.399 penguins are the rarest and among the smallest penguins in 16 00:01:03.439 --> 00:01:06.519 the world, but most notably, they are the only ones 17 00:01:06.599 --> 00:01:10.519 living at the equator, existing on these volcanic islands in 18 00:01:10.560 --> 00:01:13.439 the blazing hot sun. How could you not fall in 19 00:01:13.480 --> 00:01:15.879 love with these birds? Asked the seventy eight year old 20 00:01:15.879 --> 00:01:21.000 director of the University of Washington's Center for ecosystem Sentinels 21 00:01:21.040 --> 00:01:26.879 and a national geographic explorer. They're comical, they're curious, their enduring, endearing. 22 00:01:27.719 --> 00:01:31.439 Borizma suddenly pointed to five penguins near a cave, then another, 23 00:01:31.560 --> 00:01:35.200 and another seven in total once the goat got close 24 00:01:35.280 --> 00:01:39.640 enough to shore. Once the boat got close enough to shore, 25 00:01:39.680 --> 00:01:48.439 two Ecuadorians veterinarian m Gavidens Escobar and park guard Marlon Ramone, 26 00:01:48.840 --> 00:01:52.599 leaped out, easily scaling the sharp and slippery rocks. In 27 00:01:52.680 --> 00:01:55.640 less than five minutes, Escobar was back lightly gripping a 28 00:01:55.680 --> 00:01:58.840 penguin under its chin with one hand and propping its 29 00:01:58.840 --> 00:02:02.359 feet in his other. He passed it to Boorzma, who 30 00:02:02.400 --> 00:02:05.120 was ready with her calipers to ascertain the size of 31 00:02:05.159 --> 00:02:07.920 the bird's bill and feet. Then she pulled out her 32 00:02:08.000 --> 00:02:11.080 yellow tape measure to discern the length of the bird's wingspan. 33 00:02:11.639 --> 00:02:14.800 We're measuring him for a suit, she joked. These were 34 00:02:14.840 --> 00:02:17.879 the first steps in the process of recording information that 35 00:02:18.000 --> 00:02:21.120 allows researchers to monitor the health of the colony in 36 00:02:21.240 --> 00:02:25.560 the area. Next, Boorzma cinched a red cord around the 37 00:02:25.599 --> 00:02:29.719 penguin's chest and attached it to a scale. Now the 38 00:02:29.759 --> 00:02:33.400 flightless bird was dangling in mid air, flippers whirling. That's 39 00:02:33.439 --> 00:02:36.719 a big one, she told her colleague Caroline Capello, a 40 00:02:36.759 --> 00:02:41.199 wildlife ecologist who has studied penguins in the galopagus alongside 41 00:02:41.240 --> 00:02:45.199 Borizma for more than a decade. Capello recorded the data. 42 00:02:45.240 --> 00:02:47.520 A little more than five pounds and likely a male. 43 00:02:48.240 --> 00:02:51.400 Freeing the feisty bird from the cord, Boorizma then secured 44 00:02:51.439 --> 00:02:54.360 its head between her left fore arm and knee in 45 00:02:54.400 --> 00:02:58.159 a well practiced maneuver to protect her legs from painful bites. 46 00:02:58.680 --> 00:03:01.360 You're all right, You're all right, she told the squirming penguin. 47 00:03:01.680 --> 00:03:04.800 You're so soft, Yes, you are. Calm down. We're going 48 00:03:04.879 --> 00:03:07.599 to let you go in just a minute. The penguin's 49 00:03:07.599 --> 00:03:09.840 flippers thick at the top and tapered to a thin 50 00:03:09.960 --> 00:03:13.800 trailing edge, ideally shaped for soaring through water or in 51 00:03:13.840 --> 00:03:17.439 great condition, she noted, smoothing them with her hands protected 52 00:03:17.439 --> 00:03:22.159 by beige wool fingerless gloves, she affixed a tiny metal 53 00:03:22.199 --> 00:03:25.000 tag into the webbing of its left foot and gently 54 00:03:25.120 --> 00:03:27.919 set it down on the edge of the zodiac, seemingly 55 00:03:28.000 --> 00:03:31.680 unfazed by the ordeal, the penguin surveyed the water, then 56 00:03:31.800 --> 00:03:35.520 leaned forward and quietly plopped into the Pacific to again 57 00:03:35.680 --> 00:03:40.840 swim among green sea turtles and marine iguanas. Touching a 58 00:03:40.840 --> 00:03:44.000 bird like that is electric brsmas sad as she watched 59 00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:47.360 it vanish beneath the surface. It is also an increasingly 60 00:03:47.439 --> 00:03:51.599 rare opportunity for researchers. Today, Galopicus penguins join the more 61 00:03:51.639 --> 00:03:55.199 than half of all penguin species that are classified as 62 00:03:55.280 --> 00:04:01.360 endangered or vulnerable, imperiled by such threats as warming temperatures, overfishing, 63 00:04:01.439 --> 00:04:06.280 habitat destruction, and pollution. Gurzma, who has been called the 64 00:04:06.360 --> 00:04:10.280 Jane Goodall of penguins, consider these birds to be marine 65 00:04:10.439 --> 00:04:14.360 sentinels or canaries in a coal mine, describing how one 66 00:04:14.439 --> 00:04:18.959 species rapid decline signals a significant natural or human made 67 00:04:19.040 --> 00:04:24.079 change happening within its environment. Still, she believes that the 68 00:04:24.120 --> 00:04:27.399 species has the capacitated to hang on, in part because 69 00:04:27.519 --> 00:04:31.319 researchers continue to gain a better understanding of how these 70 00:04:31.360 --> 00:04:35.759 creatures leverage centuries of adaptations to be resilient in the 71 00:04:35.800 --> 00:04:40.040 increasingly unpredicable world around them. Fifty four years ago, when 72 00:04:40.040 --> 00:04:43.160 I started this. I thought Galopicus penguins would be gone 73 00:04:43.160 --> 00:04:46.759 by now, she said, But they're still here. The Galopicus 74 00:04:46.759 --> 00:04:52.519 penguins evolutionary journey illustrates how environmental pressures shape species over 75 00:04:52.600 --> 00:04:57.079 millions of years. Genetic studies suggest they descended from Humboldt 76 00:04:57.079 --> 00:05:01.839 penguins roughly two million years ago the Pleistocene epoch, a 77 00:05:01.920 --> 00:05:08.199 period marked by well wide ranging climatic changes. The earliest 78 00:05:08.199 --> 00:05:12.160 Galopitus penguin ancestors probably came to the islands by surfing 79 00:05:12.240 --> 00:05:17.040 the northbound Humboldt Current that brings cold, nutrient rich water 80 00:05:17.160 --> 00:05:20.639 along the coast of South America, likely settling on the 81 00:05:20.680 --> 00:05:27.319 western part of the archipelago on Isabella and Ferdnana Islands, 82 00:05:27.399 --> 00:05:31.399 the penguins found plentiful food and shelter. While the Humboldt 83 00:05:31.399 --> 00:05:34.879 and another current, the Cromwells, still flow here, they now 84 00:05:34.920 --> 00:05:39.680 bring nutrients and food intermittently in duration and intensity. One 85 00:05:39.720 --> 00:05:42.920 of the significant factors to how Galopicus penguins adapted to 86 00:05:43.000 --> 00:05:46.399 living in this warm climate is that they nest in cool, 87 00:05:46.759 --> 00:05:50.720 shady crevices on the islands. The coastlines are sculpted by 88 00:05:50.800 --> 00:05:55.639 explosive volcanic eruptions, and erosion, providing cracks and lava tunnels 89 00:05:55.839 --> 00:06:00.920 where punguins can avoid overheating. Their small dature allows them 90 00:06:00.920 --> 00:06:04.480 to squeeze into these dark spaces where they and their 91 00:06:04.560 --> 00:06:08.560 chicks hide from predators such as Galopicus snakes and sally 92 00:06:08.680 --> 00:06:11.959 light foot crabs. With a thinner layer of fat and 93 00:06:12.040 --> 00:06:15.439 fewer feathers than most other penguins, these birds evolved for 94 00:06:15.519 --> 00:06:19.519 life in the subtropics. Galopicus penguins, along with the Humboldt, 95 00:06:20.639 --> 00:06:24.639 Megellanic and African species, belong to a group known as 96 00:06:24.680 --> 00:06:29.040 banded penguins for the distinctive black and white patterning around 97 00:06:29.199 --> 00:06:32.680 their chests and heads. They all live in warmer climates 98 00:06:32.680 --> 00:06:36.079 and regulate their body temperature by panting similar to a 99 00:06:36.120 --> 00:06:38.560 dog on a hot day, and they stand with their 100 00:06:38.600 --> 00:06:43.120 flippers outstretched to release heat. White feathers on Galopicus penguins 101 00:06:43.199 --> 00:06:46.879 faces and their featherless ankles and feet further help shunt 102 00:06:46.959 --> 00:06:51.120 warmth from their stout little bodies. The birds can also 103 00:06:51.199 --> 00:06:54.920 shed feathers around their faces during hot periods. But the 104 00:06:54.959 --> 00:06:59.399 adaptation that sets Galopicus penguins apart is their flexibility as 105 00:06:59.439 --> 00:07:03.360 to when they mold replace feathers and breed, rather than 106 00:07:03.399 --> 00:07:06.800 having one fixed molting and mating season as other penguin 107 00:07:06.879 --> 00:07:10.639 species do. The timing is based on whether enough nutrients 108 00:07:10.680 --> 00:07:15.160 are being delivered from cold ocean currents and upwellings to 109 00:07:15.199 --> 00:07:19.120 give them energy to replace their feathers, which, unlike other 110 00:07:19.160 --> 00:07:22.519 penguin cycles, occurs before breeding and up to twice a year. 111 00:07:23.079 --> 00:07:26.040 They can delay molting and mating until food is available 112 00:07:26.399 --> 00:07:29.120 and there's a better chance of successfully starting a family. 113 00:07:29.759 --> 00:07:31.720 All this adds up to a boom or bust way 114 00:07:31.759 --> 00:07:35.240 of life. By tracking and measuring Galopicus penguins weight and 115 00:07:35.319 --> 00:07:39.959 population numbers over decades, Burizma made the incredible discovery that 116 00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:42.920 their breeding is tightly in sync with the rhythms of 117 00:07:42.920 --> 00:07:47.279 al Ninos and La Ninas. The birds thrive during La 118 00:07:47.360 --> 00:07:51.240 Nina conditions when there are strong currents of cold, nutrient 119 00:07:51.480 --> 00:07:56.480 rich water flowing north, providing plentiful fish, squid, and crustaceans 120 00:07:56.480 --> 00:07:59.720 for the penguins. When Al Nino's warm weather in the 121 00:07:59.759 --> 00:08:03.800 sunde Central and Eastern Pacific displaces the cool currents, it 122 00:08:03.879 --> 00:08:08.959 drastically reduces upwelling and their food supply. In years when 123 00:08:09.040 --> 00:08:12.519 provisions are scarce, some penguins starve and breeding comes to 124 00:08:12.560 --> 00:08:16.160 a standstill, it could take decades for the population to recover. 125 00:08:16.920 --> 00:08:20.439 During a severe El Nino in the early nineteen eighties, 126 00:08:20.439 --> 00:08:24.120 the population fell by more than half. Now, as global 127 00:08:24.160 --> 00:08:27.720 temperatures heat up, el Ninos are becoming more frequent and extreme, 128 00:08:28.160 --> 00:08:31.959 threatening to further reduce the availability of nutrients, while rising 129 00:08:32.000 --> 00:08:36.000 sea levels are inundating nesting sites. Still, Borisma has come 130 00:08:36.039 --> 00:08:39.200 to believe that even with the increasing frequency of El 131 00:08:39.279 --> 00:08:43.799 nino's and extreme weather events, some Galopogus penguins will persist 132 00:08:43.879 --> 00:08:48.120 because their ecosystem is also supported by periodic deep water 133 00:08:48.279 --> 00:08:52.000 upwellings bringing pulses of nutrients to sustain the food chain. 134 00:08:52.480 --> 00:08:56.360 But if for some reason the currents change and productivity 135 00:08:56.360 --> 00:08:59.200 goes down, she said, they'll have trouble because there will 136 00:08:59.200 --> 00:09:01.360 be nowhere left for them to go but Peru or 137 00:09:01.440 --> 00:09:06.120 Chile and NAT's a long swim. Wursma estimates there are 138 00:09:06.159 --> 00:09:09.799 maybe two thousand Galopicus penguins left, less than half as 139 00:09:09.840 --> 00:09:12.639 many as there were fifty years ago when she started 140 00:09:12.679 --> 00:09:15.720 her trailblazing research. But she believes that a couple of 141 00:09:15.759 --> 00:09:19.919 crucial actions can protect their future. In order to survive 142 00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:23.960 and thrive. Gallipicus penguins need humans to help them overcome 143 00:09:24.039 --> 00:09:28.480 two major threats introduced predators mainly rats and cats, and 144 00:09:28.600 --> 00:09:34.080 natural nesting areas becoming increasingly inhospitable. Solving the first issue 145 00:09:34.120 --> 00:09:37.799 is fairly straightforward. Cats and rats arrived in the Galopicus 146 00:09:37.840 --> 00:09:41.720 nearly two hundred years ago. With sailors and whalers. They 147 00:09:41.720 --> 00:09:44.960 can easily scale difficult terrain and squeeze into nests of 148 00:09:44.960 --> 00:09:49.200 penguins and other sea birds, devouring eggs and chicks. Recently, 149 00:09:49.279 --> 00:09:55.360 the Galopicus National Park Partners partnered with environmental organization Jokotoko 150 00:09:55.879 --> 00:10:00.639 to undertake an invasive species eradication program on f Floriana 151 00:10:00.720 --> 00:10:05.200 Island in the southern part of the archipelago. In October 152 00:10:05.240 --> 00:10:08.600 twenty twenty three, park managers began exterminating the rats and 153 00:10:08.720 --> 00:10:13.960 cats on Floriana, using traps and unmanned ultra light helicopters 154 00:10:14.279 --> 00:10:19.519 to disperse pellets of rudenticide and tocsin laced sausages across 155 00:10:19.519 --> 00:10:23.679 the entire island. The program appears to be working. Previously, 156 00:10:23.759 --> 00:10:27.480 a small number of penguins remained in the area, Borizma said, 157 00:10:27.480 --> 00:10:31.639 but not easily removing the predators and continuing to monitor 158 00:10:31.679 --> 00:10:34.360 for their presence will give penguins a fair shot at 159 00:10:34.399 --> 00:10:38.240 long term survival. To mitigate the second threat, Borisma and 160 00:10:38.279 --> 00:10:42.639 our colleagues are hoping to obtain funding to build artificial 161 00:10:42.679 --> 00:10:47.240 nests and help the birds recolonize Floriana. Borizma first began 162 00:10:47.279 --> 00:10:50.240 thinking about constructing nests some years ago when she was 163 00:10:50.320 --> 00:10:53.799 puzzled by a penguin pair nesting on top of lava 164 00:10:53.919 --> 00:10:59.399 along the western edge of the archipelago on Ferdinand Ferdanina 165 00:10:59.480 --> 00:11:02.879 Island without any shade. The birds took turns sitting on 166 00:11:02.919 --> 00:11:06.600 the eggs from early evening until morning, but then retreated 167 00:11:06.679 --> 00:11:10.200 during the heat of the day, leaving the eggs unprotected. Eventually, 168 00:11:10.279 --> 00:11:14.320 the eggs died. Gorzma realized that there weren't enough shaded 169 00:11:14.360 --> 00:11:17.200 nest sites to go around, and that might be limiting 170 00:11:17.240 --> 00:11:20.600 how many baby penguins could join the population each year. 171 00:11:22.159 --> 00:11:26.039 Fifteen years ago, she began experimenting with artificial nest designs 172 00:11:26.360 --> 00:11:29.240 that would blend into the environment so they wouldn't mar 173 00:11:29.360 --> 00:11:33.440 the island's natural beauty. The park didn't want doggy igloos 174 00:11:33.559 --> 00:11:35.759 or something like that. They like what they use at 175 00:11:35.840 --> 00:11:39.840 zoos she said when option was an inconspicuous little penguin 176 00:11:39.960 --> 00:11:43.879 carport made from stacked lava rocks. The other, the one 177 00:11:43.919 --> 00:11:47.679 the penguins wound up preferring, was created by digging cavernous 178 00:11:47.679 --> 00:11:51.960 holes directly into the hard lava substrate. As in all 179 00:11:52.039 --> 00:11:55.279 real estate, location was key. The nests needed to be 180 00:11:55.279 --> 00:11:57.799 close to the water, but not so close that they'd 181 00:11:57.799 --> 00:12:01.799 fled within the penguins three months period. The idea of 182 00:12:01.840 --> 00:12:05.440 building nests, Borzma said, is that if conditions are good, 183 00:12:05.480 --> 00:12:07.799 you want everybody that wants to breed to be able 184 00:12:07.840 --> 00:12:11.240 to breed. On the third day of the expedition, Burizma 185 00:12:11.279 --> 00:12:16.480 and her team arrived at Punta Espinoza on Ferdini Ferdinina Island, 186 00:12:16.879 --> 00:12:19.240 the first place Burzma had ever tried to build the 187 00:12:19.320 --> 00:12:23.279 artificial nests. They disembarked from the zodiac and walked carefully 188 00:12:23.279 --> 00:12:27.879 across the sharp lava slathered with iguana poop. Two members 189 00:12:27.919 --> 00:12:31.279 located and checked the nest sites. Capello thirty five, who 190 00:12:31.399 --> 00:12:36.080 is currently doing postdoctoral research at Cornell University, and Aura 191 00:12:36.320 --> 00:12:40.120 Banda Cruz forty two, a third generation resident of the 192 00:12:40.159 --> 00:12:44.159 Galopicus and a naturalist working aboard the Silver Sea cruise 193 00:12:44.159 --> 00:12:49.399 ship that hosted Gourzma's survey. While ferrying tourists around the glopitus, 194 00:12:50.159 --> 00:12:52.759 peering into a small space between a pile of rocks, 195 00:12:52.960 --> 00:12:56.639 Capello shouted that she found an artificial nest that appeared 196 00:12:56.679 --> 00:12:59.519 to have been used recently. There were shards of broken 197 00:12:59.559 --> 00:13:03.440 eggshells and downy feathers scattered around the area. Maybe it hatched, 198 00:13:03.559 --> 00:13:06.679 or maybe it was predated, Capello said, as she slipped 199 00:13:06.720 --> 00:13:11.679 the eggshells into a coin envelope for closer inspection later. Regardless, 200 00:13:11.720 --> 00:13:15.120 any sign of nessing activity was good news. In her 201 00:13:15.120 --> 00:13:18.840 work as a cruise ship naturalist, Bonda Cruz has spent 202 00:13:18.919 --> 00:13:23.159 nearly a decade photographing Galobicus penguins. This has led her 203 00:13:23.200 --> 00:13:27.120 to develop a non invasive method to identify individuals using 204 00:13:27.159 --> 00:13:31.000 the distinctive patterns of spots on their chests. I realized 205 00:13:31.080 --> 00:13:33.039 that the spots were different on each one of them, 206 00:13:33.080 --> 00:13:36.840 she said, Each one is unique like a fingerprint. Similarly, 207 00:13:37.440 --> 00:13:41.159 researchers have learned to identify jaguars, zebras, dolphins, and even 208 00:13:41.240 --> 00:13:46.159 koalas by their distinguishing patterns. Bonda Cruz is hopeful that 209 00:13:46.240 --> 00:13:50.039 going forward in the periods between annual surveys like this one, 210 00:13:50.240 --> 00:13:53.759 she could partner with other expedition naturalists who will send 211 00:13:53.799 --> 00:13:57.200 more photographs, helping create a visual archive that can be 212 00:13:57.320 --> 00:14:01.320 used to discern penguins when they're sighted. The images can 213 00:14:01.360 --> 00:14:04.360 also provide records of the birds overall health and the 214 00:14:04.480 --> 00:14:07.559 ratio of adults to juveniles. You can tell the adults 215 00:14:07.559 --> 00:14:09.960 because they have a white line around their cheek and 216 00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:13.879 their feet are black, bond Acruz said. Juveniles have paler 217 00:14:13.919 --> 00:14:17.759 feet and white cheeks. What's more, the photos help document 218 00:14:17.840 --> 00:14:21.039 periods in which the penguins are working harder for their food, 219 00:14:21.440 --> 00:14:25.720 often correlating with an El Nino. They start spending more 220 00:14:25.720 --> 00:14:28.240 time in the water, bond Acruz said, they don't have 221 00:14:28.320 --> 00:14:31.759 time to dry completely and they start growing algae. So 222 00:14:31.879 --> 00:14:34.039 when you see a green penguin, it's a symbol that 223 00:14:34.120 --> 00:14:37.600 things are not going well for them. For her part, 224 00:14:37.679 --> 00:14:40.120 Gorzma is thrilled to still be learning new things about 225 00:14:40.120 --> 00:14:43.840 the lives of Galopicus penguins, especially from this next generation 226 00:14:43.879 --> 00:14:46.399 of scientists. For a long time, she worried that she 227 00:14:46.399 --> 00:14:49.360 wouldn't have anyone to take over her Galopicus research when 228 00:14:49.440 --> 00:14:53.039 she retired. You realize when you're jumping and crawling around 229 00:14:53.080 --> 00:14:55.440 on the lava that your days are numbered. You can't 230 00:14:55.440 --> 00:14:57.799 do this forever, she said, sitting on the edge of 231 00:14:57.840 --> 00:15:01.600 the zodiac while her colleagues check another area for penguins 232 00:15:01.600 --> 00:15:04.039 and signs of nesting. That's why I was so happy 233 00:15:04.039 --> 00:15:07.399 to find first Caroline and now Aura. I think they 234 00:15:07.399 --> 00:15:09.639 can make a dynamic pear and carry it on for 235 00:15:09.720 --> 00:15:13.720 another ten twenty thirty years if they want. She went quiet, 236 00:15:13.759 --> 00:15:17.360 watching a male penguin standing alone along the shore, basking 237 00:15:17.399 --> 00:15:21.480 in the late afternoon's golden light. Ah. The penguin braid, 238 00:15:21.840 --> 00:15:25.960 trying to attract a male a mate. Ah Ah, Boorsmois 239 00:15:25.960 --> 00:15:28.960 called back. He's saying, come see my etchings. I've got 240 00:15:28.960 --> 00:15:31.399 a good nest. Come take a look, she said, grinning. 241 00:15:31.840 --> 00:15:35.000 If the conditions stayed as favorable as they've been in 242 00:15:35.159 --> 00:15:38.559 recent weeks, cold water and lots of fish, she felt 243 00:15:38.320 --> 00:15:42.600 confident he'll be breeding soon. The next article is from 244 00:15:42.639 --> 00:15:47.159 the June twenty twenty five National Geographic. This pig could 245 00:15:47.200 --> 00:15:52.320 Save Your life by Matthew Cher. For decades, scientists and 246 00:15:52.360 --> 00:15:54.720 surgeons around the world have been trying to solve the 247 00:15:54.840 --> 00:15:58.200 organ donor crisis. Could the answer be rolling in the mud. 248 00:15:59.200 --> 00:16:02.240 The entry require fires should have come with an instruction booklet, 249 00:16:02.600 --> 00:16:05.440 sign in at the security hut, choose off at the door, 250 00:16:05.879 --> 00:16:08.360 over to the locker room for a hot shower, into 251 00:16:08.360 --> 00:16:11.919 a long protective surgical smock and knee high rubber waiters, 252 00:16:12.200 --> 00:16:14.799 and finally a pair of safety goggles, which, in the 253 00:16:14.840 --> 00:16:18.000 clammy heat of the laboratory complex, quickly began to fog. 254 00:16:18.600 --> 00:16:22.159 Sorry for the trouble, smiled my tour guide, Bjorn Petersen, 255 00:16:22.320 --> 00:16:25.320 waving me forward. We just have to be exceptionally careful 256 00:16:25.360 --> 00:16:28.840 about pathogen's You'll get used to it, I promise. A 257 00:16:28.879 --> 00:16:31.639 couple of hours earlier, i'd woken in a hotel in 258 00:16:31.679 --> 00:16:34.799 a Midwestern city I've been asked not to name. Now, 259 00:16:34.840 --> 00:16:38.440 with the sun curdling above the surrounding pasture and a 260 00:16:38.480 --> 00:16:41.879 gauze of mist in the air, I found myself following Peterson, 261 00:16:41.960 --> 00:16:45.080 a German born scientist, through the corridors of a highly 262 00:16:45.120 --> 00:16:49.200 secret research facility and across a muddy courtyard cross hatched 263 00:16:49.279 --> 00:16:52.000 with boot prints. When we bought the place, he said 264 00:16:52.000 --> 00:16:55.519 the owners were using it as a livestock research facility. 265 00:16:55.960 --> 00:16:59.159 Indicated an adjacent barn. The cattle were here and the 266 00:16:59.200 --> 00:17:02.039 horses in the field up there. We've kept the same 267 00:17:02.080 --> 00:17:06.400 basic layout, though obviously our purpose is very different. He 268 00:17:06.480 --> 00:17:08.480 said something else as we entered the barn, but I 269 00:17:08.519 --> 00:17:11.359 didn't catch it. His voice had been drowned out by 270 00:17:11.480 --> 00:17:16.119 racus chorus of expectant grunts and the clatter of trotter's 271 00:17:16.240 --> 00:17:19.599 on cement. A dozen odd pigs surged forward to the 272 00:17:19.720 --> 00:17:23.400 edges of the individual enclosures, clanging their snouts against the 273 00:17:23.440 --> 00:17:26.359 metal gates. I want you to meet someone, Peterson said, 274 00:17:26.640 --> 00:17:30.039 blinking into the harsh overhead light. He stopped near the 275 00:17:30.039 --> 00:17:34.119 pen of an animal whose name card identified her as Margherita. 276 00:17:34.759 --> 00:17:37.480 She curled her body against Peterson's hand in the manner 277 00:17:37.519 --> 00:17:40.960 of an oversize housecat. Margherita was one of our first, 278 00:17:41.000 --> 00:17:44.960 Peterson said, proudly, leaning down to stroke the protuberant black 279 00:17:45.039 --> 00:17:48.599 hairs between the pig's ears. Most of these animals you're 280 00:17:48.680 --> 00:17:51.599 looking at were created from the same cells, but there's 281 00:17:51.640 --> 00:17:54.839 something special about the first, don't you think. Peterson, who 282 00:17:54.880 --> 00:17:57.240 serves as the Sight, had at the farm as a 283 00:17:57.279 --> 00:18:03.799 specialist in livestock cloning and zeno transplantation, and exceedingly advanced 284 00:18:03.799 --> 00:18:07.319 to scientific technique in which animal matter is transferred into 285 00:18:07.359 --> 00:18:11.400 human patients. The name derives from a Greek for strange 286 00:18:11.559 --> 00:18:14.759 or foreign. In twenty twenty three, after nearly a quarter 287 00:18:14.839 --> 00:18:19.440 century working at government research institutions in Europe, Peterson uprooted 288 00:18:19.440 --> 00:18:21.759 his family and moved to the Midwest to take a 289 00:18:21.880 --> 00:18:25.119 job with e Genesis, a biotech firm backed by a 290 00:18:25.119 --> 00:18:29.400 group of venture capital firm investors. Then in the early 291 00:18:29.440 --> 00:18:33.119 phases of a remarkable plan to develop genetically modified pig 292 00:18:33.200 --> 00:18:38.559 kidneys for transplantation into humans. Powered by advances in gene 293 00:18:38.680 --> 00:18:44.079 editing and immunosuppressive medicine, e Genesis had quickly demonstrated that 294 00:18:44.119 --> 00:18:46.759 its organs could survive for long periods in the bodies 295 00:18:46.799 --> 00:18:51.319 of primate test subjects, filtering blood and producing urine as 296 00:18:51.359 --> 00:18:56.640 ably as an alo transplanted or same species kidney. Now 297 00:18:56.759 --> 00:18:59.759 two years later, Peterson and e Genesis stand at the 298 00:18:59.759 --> 00:19:03.039 four front of a major revolution in the science of 299 00:19:03.200 --> 00:19:07.319 organ transplantation, a revolution that will have implications for the 300 00:19:07.359 --> 00:19:11.160 global human donors shortage and the thousands of sick patients 301 00:19:11.400 --> 00:19:15.000 who wait every year for a new kidney. Already, the 302 00:19:15.079 --> 00:19:19.279 results have been astonishing. A progression from trial transplants on 303 00:19:19.359 --> 00:19:24.119 primates to transplant surgery on brain dead human recipients, and, finally, 304 00:19:24.240 --> 00:19:27.559 last March, in a development that made global headlines, to 305 00:19:27.599 --> 00:19:32.119 transplant into a living human recipient. Food and Drug Administration 306 00:19:32.200 --> 00:19:35.279 officials have since given e Genesis the green light to 307 00:19:35.359 --> 00:19:38.839 conduct a three patient clinical trial, a move that added 308 00:19:38.880 --> 00:19:42.119 to the surging interest the company had generated since last 309 00:19:42.200 --> 00:19:47.279 year's historic xeno transplant. Provided it stays on track and 310 00:19:47.319 --> 00:19:52.759 its trials proved successful, egenesis is CEO Mike Curtis says 311 00:19:52.839 --> 00:19:56.119 the company is making plans to grow its production capacity 312 00:19:56.519 --> 00:19:59.359 and he thinks the science could become widely available to 313 00:19:59.359 --> 00:20:01.839 the public before where the decade is out. In the 314 00:20:01.880 --> 00:20:05.119 long term, he added, I'd argue we are looking at 315 00:20:05.160 --> 00:20:10.160 a scenario where cross species transplants fully supplant yellow transplants, 316 00:20:10.839 --> 00:20:14.720 where we don't need human donors anymore. Researching that point 317 00:20:14.759 --> 00:20:18.359 will require further refinement of the technology and will demand 318 00:20:18.400 --> 00:20:24.559 more pigs like Margarita and scientists like Petersen. But more 319 00:20:24.599 --> 00:20:26.880 than anything, it will require trust on the part of 320 00:20:26.920 --> 00:20:29.599 those who go under the knife, who put their lives 321 00:20:29.640 --> 00:20:32.039 in the hands of this cutting edge science, and the 322 00:20:32.079 --> 00:20:37.319 doctors and hospitals championing it, and last year's successful Zeno transplant, 323 00:20:37.599 --> 00:20:41.880 a four hour procedure completed at Boston's Massachusetts General Hospital 324 00:20:42.240 --> 00:20:47.119 that demanded untested faith, a heavy dose of desperation, and 325 00:20:47.359 --> 00:20:51.359 an immeasurable amount of luck, was perhaps the most scientific 326 00:20:51.400 --> 00:20:54.759 step forward into this new future. And it all started 327 00:20:54.759 --> 00:20:57.319 on a farm in the Midwest, where, on a cold 328 00:20:57.400 --> 00:21:00.880 March morning, a van idled in the dawn air, Its 329 00:21:00.880 --> 00:21:04.079 door slid open, a one year old pig was trundled inside, 330 00:21:04.359 --> 00:21:07.400 and the vehicle rolled down the drive, carrying what amounted 331 00:21:07.440 --> 00:21:11.519 to years of medical research, hope, and investment. Snorting in 332 00:21:11.599 --> 00:21:14.319 the back. For the next eighteen hours, as the van 333 00:21:14.400 --> 00:21:18.279 traveled eastward along I ninety, a million scenarios raced through 334 00:21:18.319 --> 00:21:21.279 Curtis's mind. You're sitting there thinking what if the van 335 00:21:21.359 --> 00:21:24.400 gets hit by a car, or what if Rick Slayman 336 00:21:24.680 --> 00:21:28.279 changes his mind. The room was silent, all other options 337 00:21:28.279 --> 00:21:31.559 had been depleted, and time was slipping away. Sitting at 338 00:21:31.559 --> 00:21:35.240 his desk in his office at Massachusetts General Hospital, looking 339 00:21:35.279 --> 00:21:37.440 across the room at a man who had become his 340 00:21:37.519 --> 00:21:42.119 friend as much as his patient. Nephrologist Winfried Williams asked 341 00:21:42.119 --> 00:21:45.079 his long shot question and waited for the response, are 342 00:21:45.079 --> 00:21:49.359 you familiar with the term zeno transplantation? Rick Slayman, who 343 00:21:49.400 --> 00:21:57.720 was running out of vasque culture vascular vasculature access for dialysis, 344 00:21:58.160 --> 00:22:01.880 shook his head. Williams wasn't. At this point. In twenty 345 00:22:01.920 --> 00:22:06.000 twenty three, zeno transplantation was still a subject relegated to 346 00:22:06.160 --> 00:22:09.759 scientific journals and the occasional short news item on skin 347 00:22:09.839 --> 00:22:13.680 grafts or corneal transplants, So he did his best to 348 00:22:13.720 --> 00:22:17.599 explain that rapid advances in gene editing were offering hope 349 00:22:17.599 --> 00:22:20.480 that doctors might soon be able to place a pig 350 00:22:20.759 --> 00:22:23.839 kidney inside a human without the risk of acute and 351 00:22:23.880 --> 00:22:28.000 immediate rejection. Williams had been taking a lot, talking a 352 00:22:28.000 --> 00:22:30.359 lot with the folks at a biotech company across the 353 00:22:30.440 --> 00:22:35.039 Charles River called e Genesis. He'd learned that it had 354 00:22:35.079 --> 00:22:38.559 recently been granted approval from the FDA for an expanded 355 00:22:38.640 --> 00:22:42.599 access trial, a special allowance to treat patients who have 356 00:22:42.720 --> 00:22:47.119 no alternative treatments available to them. Williams did not need 357 00:22:47.200 --> 00:22:50.240 to tell Slayman that he qualified a supervisor with the 358 00:22:50.240 --> 00:22:53.880 Massachusetts Department of Transportation and a cheery man with the 359 00:22:53.920 --> 00:22:58.160 habit of charming nearly everyone he met. Slayman had struggled 360 00:22:58.200 --> 00:23:02.359 all his life with hypertension and dibert, frequently twinned conditions 361 00:23:02.640 --> 00:23:06.319 that had given way to end stage renal failure, significant 362 00:23:06.319 --> 00:23:10.240 destruction to his kidneys, and declining function in both. Slayman 363 00:23:10.359 --> 00:23:13.599 had been prescribed a course of dialysis, but as Williams 364 00:23:13.680 --> 00:23:17.640 later recalled, the treatment had quickly become intensely time consuming 365 00:23:18.000 --> 00:23:22.200 for his medical team and excruciatingly painful for Slayman. For 366 00:23:22.319 --> 00:23:25.400 dialysis to work properly, Williams told me, you need to 367 00:23:25.440 --> 00:23:30.480 have reliable vascular access. Traditionally, that axis is secured via 368 00:23:30.640 --> 00:23:35.319 an arterio venous fistula, a surgical connection between an artery 369 00:23:35.400 --> 00:23:38.359 and a vein and perforated by a pair of needles. 370 00:23:38.759 --> 00:23:42.119 One needle removes the patient's blood, the other channels back 371 00:23:42.200 --> 00:23:47.559 a cleaned version. The problem in mister Slaban's case, Williams said, 372 00:23:47.799 --> 00:23:51.279 is that he was experiencing significant blood clotting and it 373 00:23:51.319 --> 00:23:54.440 made it difficult to get a continuous flow during going 374 00:23:54.680 --> 00:23:58.519 during dialysis. In a given year, he was undergoing multiple 375 00:23:58.599 --> 00:24:02.759 declotting sessions at a hospital, back and forth, back and forth. 376 00:24:03.359 --> 00:24:05.400 It was a hard way for anyone to live, let 377 00:24:05.440 --> 00:24:09.079 alone someone as naturally energetic as Slayman, and the long 378 00:24:09.160 --> 00:24:13.519 term prognosis was grim. Williams knew effective dialysis does not 379 00:24:13.680 --> 00:24:16.640 reverse damage to the kidneys. It simply makes it possible 380 00:24:16.680 --> 00:24:19.359 for a patient to continue living. In the end, a 381 00:24:19.400 --> 00:24:23.559 transplant is required, provided an organ can be located. In 382 00:24:23.599 --> 00:24:27.039 twenty eighteen, of the roughly ninety five thousand Americans waiting 383 00:24:27.039 --> 00:24:30.480 for a new kidney, only twenty five percent managed to 384 00:24:30.519 --> 00:24:33.720 obtain one. That December, Slaimant had become one of the 385 00:24:33.799 --> 00:24:37.319 lucky twenty five percent. His surgery, performed by a veteran 386 00:24:37.640 --> 00:24:43.039 Massachusetts general surgeon, Tatsuo Kawaii, was frictionless. The post surgery 387 00:24:43.079 --> 00:24:47.880 complications apparently minimal. Slaiman was able to go back to 388 00:24:47.960 --> 00:24:51.480 work full time, but within three years, familiar symptoms started 389 00:24:51.480 --> 00:24:55.720 to reappear. The swelling, the fatigue, tests revealed scarring on 390 00:24:55.759 --> 00:24:59.720 the donor kidney, and early evidence of recurrent diabetes. It 391 00:24:59.759 --> 00:25:02.160 was there to me, Williams told me that the organ 392 00:25:02.400 --> 00:25:05.880 wasn't going to survive for many more years. Once again, 393 00:25:05.960 --> 00:25:09.519 Slayman found himself thrust into a punishing cycle of dialysis 394 00:25:09.559 --> 00:25:12.880 and declouding. Later, doctors started him on a course of 395 00:25:12.960 --> 00:25:17.160 anti coagulants and installed a new fistula on his upper thigh. 396 00:25:17.799 --> 00:25:21.519 Nothing seemed to help. Instead, more worrying signs emerged, like 397 00:25:21.880 --> 00:25:27.039 hypercalemia or abnormally high potassium levels, which left slam Un 398 00:25:27.079 --> 00:25:29.880 breathless and sent him racing to the local emergency room 399 00:25:29.920 --> 00:25:33.400 for treatment. He had to undergo a lot of interventions 400 00:25:33.400 --> 00:25:37.680 that required anesthesia and long hospital stays, and I remember 401 00:25:37.759 --> 00:25:40.799