1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:03,000 Speaker 1: You know, we spend so much time and energy looking outwards. 2 00:00:03,439 --> 00:00:07,280 We're launching these incredibly sophisticated probes to the edges of 3 00:00:07,320 --> 00:00:12,039 the Solar System. We build these vast, complex virtual worlds, 4 00:00:12,839 --> 00:00:17,640 and I think there's this cultural assumption that we've kind 5 00:00:17,640 --> 00:00:21,800 of solved Earth, that exploration here is done. 6 00:00:21,920 --> 00:00:24,760 Speaker 2: The ultimate blind spot, isn't it. We have these beautiful, 7 00:00:25,160 --> 00:00:28,839 high resolution satellite maps of every square inch of. 8 00:00:28,879 --> 00:00:31,199 Speaker 1: The surface, right, you can zoom in on your house. 9 00:00:31,079 --> 00:00:33,640 Speaker 2: Exactly, so we think we know it all. But that's 10 00:00:33,719 --> 00:00:35,359 just the surface. When you start to think about the 11 00:00:35,399 --> 00:00:38,840 true volume of our planet, you know, the miles of 12 00:00:38,880 --> 00:00:41,399 ocean below us, the rock beneath the crust, the sheer 13 00:00:41,439 --> 00:00:42,439 thickness of the ice. 14 00:00:42,320 --> 00:00:44,439 Speaker 1: Sheets, and you realize how little we've actually. 15 00:00:44,200 --> 00:00:46,960 Speaker 2: Seen fundamentally unknown. We're talking about some of the most extreme, 16 00:00:47,119 --> 00:00:49,880 ecologically vital environments on the entire planet. 17 00:00:49,960 --> 00:00:52,240 Speaker 1: And that's what I find so fascinating. This deep dive 18 00:00:52,280 --> 00:00:55,240 is really about a paradox, right. It's not always about 19 00:00:55,280 --> 00:00:57,039 finding a place no one new exists. 20 00:00:56,759 --> 00:00:57,479 Speaker 2: No, not at all. 21 00:00:57,759 --> 00:01:00,479 Speaker 1: It's about trying to get into places that are actively 22 00:01:00,640 --> 00:01:04,000 physically fighting us back, places with I don't know, crushing 23 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:06,239 pressure or impossible cold. 24 00:01:06,079 --> 00:01:09,239 Speaker 2: Or places with cultural obstacles that are just disormidable, places 25 00:01:09,280 --> 00:01:13,519 where the human journey just stops dead in its tracks exactly. 26 00:01:13,799 --> 00:01:16,400 Speaker 1: So our mission today is pretty ambitious. We're going to 27 00:01:16,560 --> 00:01:20,359 dive into these zones of extreme isolation. We'll look at 28 00:01:20,400 --> 00:01:23,439 why we haven't reached them, and I think, most importantly 29 00:01:23,560 --> 00:01:27,760 why it matters. Yes, why understanding and maybe even protecting 30 00:01:27,760 --> 00:01:31,599 these places, from the deepest trenches to the most isolated forests, 31 00:01:31,719 --> 00:01:34,239 is absolutely vital for the future of the whole planet. 32 00:01:34,319 --> 00:01:36,879 Speaker 2: I'm ready. I think the only place to start really 33 00:01:37,159 --> 00:01:38,760 is where the unknown is most. 34 00:01:38,599 --> 00:01:40,040 Speaker 1: Vast, the deep ocean. 35 00:01:40,079 --> 00:01:43,040 Speaker 2: The deep ocean, its scale just dwarfs everything else combined. 36 00:01:43,519 --> 00:01:47,079 Speaker 1: When most people think unexplored ocean, their mind probably goes 37 00:01:47,159 --> 00:01:49,000 right to the very bottom. You know, the Mariana Trench 38 00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:51,519 a famous one, Yeah, But the real volume of the unknown, 39 00:01:51,680 --> 00:01:56,680 it starts way shallower than that. In this immense, sprawling territory, 40 00:01:57,519 --> 00:01:59,120 the Abyssal planes. 41 00:01:59,239 --> 00:02:02,200 Speaker 2: The sheer eight ridge of the abyssel planes is what's 42 00:02:02,280 --> 00:02:05,920 truly astonishing. We aren't talking about small little sections. These 43 00:02:05,959 --> 00:02:09,240 regions cover what something like forty percent of the entire 44 00:02:09,280 --> 00:02:09,960 ocean floor. 45 00:02:10,120 --> 00:02:12,280 Speaker 1: Forty percent. That's hard to even picture. 46 00:02:12,439 --> 00:02:16,080 Speaker 2: It's almost a third of the Earth's surface just sitting 47 00:02:16,120 --> 00:02:19,520 there at depths deeper than two thousand. 48 00:02:19,159 --> 00:02:21,639 Speaker 1: Meters, And physically, these are the flattest places on the 49 00:02:21,639 --> 00:02:25,120 planet right, almost like a gigantic underwater desert. 50 00:02:24,879 --> 00:02:29,560 Speaker 2: A perfect analogy, but a desert defined by total permanent darkness, 51 00:02:29,680 --> 00:02:32,120 I mean zero sunlight gets down that far. 52 00:02:32,319 --> 00:02:35,000 Speaker 1: So what are the conditions like, I mean beyond the dark. 53 00:02:35,080 --> 00:02:36,840 Speaker 2: Well, the temperature is one thing. It just hovers right 54 00:02:36,840 --> 00:02:39,680 above freezing maybe four degrees celsius all year round. Oh, yes, 55 00:02:39,680 --> 00:02:43,000 so it's cold, it's cold. But the pressure, the pressure 56 00:02:43,039 --> 00:02:45,319 is the real killer. We're talking about forces up to 57 00:02:45,360 --> 00:02:49,000 fifteen thousand pounds per square inch. Wow, that's about one 58 00:02:49,039 --> 00:02:52,080 thousand times greater than the air pressure we're feeling right 59 00:02:52,080 --> 00:02:56,280 now just sitting here. Imagine trying to build a submersible 60 00:02:56,280 --> 00:02:59,960 that can withstand that that constant, monumental crushing. 61 00:03:00,759 --> 00:03:04,120 Speaker 1: You'd think that in that kind of environment, only the 62 00:03:04,159 --> 00:03:07,840 most basic, maybe microscopic life could hang on. 63 00:03:08,199 --> 00:03:11,960 Speaker 2: That's the logical assumption. But the data we have from 64 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:16,599 the very limited exploration that's been done, it just blows 65 00:03:16,680 --> 00:03:18,520 that idea completely out of the water. 66 00:03:18,919 --> 00:03:20,000 Speaker 1: This is the big surprise. 67 00:03:20,080 --> 00:03:24,319 Speaker 2: Then it's a revolutionary surprise. Despite the dark, the cold, 68 00:03:24,680 --> 00:03:29,479 the relentless pressure, scientists have found thousands of tiny creatures 69 00:03:29,520 --> 00:03:30,639 just thriving down there. 70 00:03:30,719 --> 00:03:32,560 Speaker 1: What kind of creatures are we talking about. 71 00:03:32,319 --> 00:03:36,240 Speaker 2: Well, you have unique microscopic bacteria that create whole biomes 72 00:03:36,280 --> 00:03:39,400 based on chemical energy, not solar energy. And then you 73 00:03:39,479 --> 00:03:43,439 have these strange, really delicate looking critters crawling across the 74 00:03:43,479 --> 00:03:44,199 fine sediment. 75 00:03:44,319 --> 00:03:46,560 Speaker 1: And then there's the statistic that just always stops me 76 00:03:46,599 --> 00:03:47,199 in my tracks. 77 00:03:47,280 --> 00:03:47,759 Speaker 2: I know the one. 78 00:03:47,759 --> 00:03:50,520 Speaker 1: You mean, Over eighty percent of the species they sample 79 00:03:50,599 --> 00:03:52,599 down there are completely new to science. 80 00:03:52,719 --> 00:03:55,599 Speaker 2: Eighty percent. It's not a small margin of error. It's 81 00:03:55,639 --> 00:03:58,560 basically telling us that the deep ocean is a separate world. 82 00:03:58,800 --> 00:04:01,919 And we have barely barely started to read the first 83 00:04:01,960 --> 00:04:04,039 page of its encyclopedia. 84 00:04:03,319 --> 00:04:05,840 Speaker 1: Which leads us right into the great conflict of our time. 85 00:04:06,199 --> 00:04:10,439 Speaker 2: It does because why scientists are in this race against time, 86 00:04:11,039 --> 00:04:14,280 you know, often with very little funding to just catalog 87 00:04:14,400 --> 00:04:18,000 this biosphere. Is another race, an equally intense and much 88 00:04:18,040 --> 00:04:20,079 more heavily funded global race. 89 00:04:19,920 --> 00:04:23,120 Speaker 1: To exploit it deep sea mining, and it's targeting the 90 00:04:23,160 --> 00:04:24,680 abyssle plane specifically. 91 00:04:24,839 --> 00:04:27,800 Speaker 2: Yes, the big prize on the abyssle planes are these 92 00:04:27,800 --> 00:04:29,959 things called polymetallic nodules. 93 00:04:30,279 --> 00:04:31,279 Speaker 1: Okay, what are those? 94 00:04:31,399 --> 00:04:34,920 Speaker 2: Picture these small potato sized rocks just sitting loosely on 95 00:04:34,959 --> 00:04:38,759 the seabed. They're incredibly rich in all the things we 96 00:04:38,800 --> 00:04:43,279 want for our modern tech, like what manganese, nickel, cobalt, copper, 97 00:04:43,519 --> 00:04:46,279 all the elements you need for high density batteries for 98 00:04:46,360 --> 00:04:47,480 advanced electronics. 99 00:04:47,600 --> 00:04:49,720 Speaker 1: But if they're just little rocks on the seafloor, why 100 00:04:49,759 --> 00:04:51,680 is getting them so destructive? I mean, can't you just 101 00:04:51,800 --> 00:04:52,399 pick them up? 102 00:04:52,639 --> 00:04:55,160 Speaker 2: Ah? Well, the destruction is tied to how they're made. 103 00:04:55,639 --> 00:04:59,319 These nodules form through this incredibly slow process. Metals just 104 00:04:59,319 --> 00:05:02,920 precipitate out of the seawater layer by layer over millions 105 00:05:02,920 --> 00:05:05,639 of years. They might only grow a few millimeters every 106 00:05:05,639 --> 00:05:08,920 million years. So to get them, you'd have to send 107 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:13,639 down these colossal machines, basically giant vacuum cleaners or dredging 108 00:05:13,720 --> 00:05:15,720 systems kilometers. 109 00:05:15,199 --> 00:05:17,000 Speaker 1: Beat and they would just scrape everything else. 110 00:05:16,839 --> 00:05:19,639 Speaker 2: Scrape up the top five to ten centimeters of the seabed, 111 00:05:19,720 --> 00:05:21,720 and that's exactly where the nodules are. But it's also 112 00:05:21,759 --> 00:05:24,920 where almost all of that unique deep sea life. 113 00:05:24,759 --> 00:05:29,120 Speaker 1: Exists, and regulating all of this is one specific, really 114 00:05:29,199 --> 00:05:34,079 powerful institution, right the International Seabed Authority, the ISSA. 115 00:05:34,839 --> 00:05:38,720 Speaker 2: They are absolutely central to this dilemma. The ISA was 116 00:05:38,759 --> 00:05:42,959 set up under a UN convention and its job is, well, 117 00:05:42,959 --> 00:05:46,480 it's a complex duality. How so it's tasked with organizing 118 00:05:46,519 --> 00:05:49,160 and controlling all the mineral activities on the deep sea 119 00:05:49,160 --> 00:05:52,560 bed and ensuring the effective protection of the marine environment 120 00:05:52,680 --> 00:05:54,360 from the harmful effects of those activities. 121 00:05:54,439 --> 00:05:55,759 Speaker 1: That sounds like a conflict of interests. 122 00:05:55,800 --> 00:05:58,480 Speaker 2: It's an inherent conflict of interest. And they've already granted 123 00:05:58,519 --> 00:06:00,959 over thirty exploration content around the world. 124 00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:02,800 Speaker 1: And we don't have to guess what scraping the ocean 125 00:06:02,839 --> 00:06:05,639 floor would do. We have a real world test case 126 00:06:05,680 --> 00:06:06,519 for this, don't we. 127 00:06:06,519 --> 00:06:11,519 Speaker 2: We do, and it's horrifyingly clear. Back in nineteen seventy eight, 128 00:06:11,560 --> 00:06:14,439 in a place called the Clarion Clipperton Zone, a research 129 00:06:14,480 --> 00:06:17,160 group used mining equipment to create a small test track. 130 00:06:17,319 --> 00:06:19,839 Is a small one, a very small one. When scientists 131 00:06:19,920 --> 00:06:22,600 went back twenty six years later in two thousand and four, 132 00:06:23,519 --> 00:06:25,079 the sediment still hadn't recovered. 133 00:06:25,199 --> 00:06:26,519 Speaker 1: Twenty six years later. 134 00:06:26,439 --> 00:06:31,560 Speaker 2: The fragile microbial mad the tiny organisms, the whole ecosystem 135 00:06:31,639 --> 00:06:34,959 was still severely disturbed. There was no sign it was 136 00:06:35,000 --> 00:06:36,279 returning to what it was before. 137 00:06:36,399 --> 00:06:39,800 Speaker 1: That's staggering a single test track. It really highlights the 138 00:06:39,839 --> 00:06:42,920 geological timescale these ecosystems are working on exactly. 139 00:06:42,959 --> 00:06:45,519 Speaker 2: So if we move to full scale commercial mining, we're 140 00:06:45,560 --> 00:06:48,439 not talking about damage that recovers in a few generations. 141 00:06:48,480 --> 00:06:52,639 Speaker 1: Now we're talking about permanent annihilation, wiping out entire ecosystems 142 00:06:52,639 --> 00:06:53,920 before we even know what's in them. 143 00:06:54,160 --> 00:06:56,639 Speaker 2: It really forces us to ask the big question, you know, 144 00:06:57,079 --> 00:07:01,079 are we willing to extinguish these vast libraries of unique 145 00:07:01,160 --> 00:07:05,040 pressure adapted genetic material, material that could hold keys to 146 00:07:05,120 --> 00:07:07,959 new medicines, a new understanding of life. Just for a 147 00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:10,680 quick hit of minerals, we could probably get through better recycling. 148 00:07:10,879 --> 00:07:13,839 Speaker 1: The speed of destruction versus the speed of evolution, it's 149 00:07:13,839 --> 00:07:16,399 not even a contest, not even close. That is a 150 00:07:16,480 --> 00:07:20,040 chilling thought. Okay, So let's move from those relatively flat 151 00:07:20,079 --> 00:07:23,680 planes to the most extreme depths of all the deep 152 00:07:23,720 --> 00:07:27,439 sea trenches. Right now, the Mariana Trench gets all the press, 153 00:07:27,519 --> 00:07:29,720 but I want to talk about the Kermadek Trench. It's 154 00:07:29,920 --> 00:07:31,360 way less documented. 155 00:07:31,480 --> 00:07:35,720 Speaker 2: The Krimadek Trench is a world unto itself. It's off 156 00:07:35,720 --> 00:07:38,160 the coast of New Zealand, stretches for about a thousand 157 00:07:38,240 --> 00:07:41,720 kilometers and it plunges over ten thousand meters deep. 158 00:07:41,920 --> 00:07:43,439 Speaker 1: That's nearly seven miles. 159 00:07:43,639 --> 00:07:46,160 Speaker 2: It's deeper than Mount Everest is tall. I mean, just 160 00:07:46,360 --> 00:07:49,680 try to imagine that entire mountain range, but flipped upsay 161 00:07:49,759 --> 00:07:51,759 down underwater and crushing everything in it. 162 00:07:51,800 --> 00:07:54,040 Speaker 1: And because it's so remote and so difficult to get to, 163 00:07:54,399 --> 00:07:57,480 there's not a lot of exploration. But our sources pointed 164 00:07:57,519 --> 00:07:59,920 to a pretty big mission in twenty twenty two. 165 00:08:00,199 --> 00:08:04,959 Speaker 2: Yes, the Chinese submersible Strive a huge undertaking. They managed 166 00:08:05,000 --> 00:08:07,879 sixteen dives, going all the way from about five seven 167 00:08:07,959 --> 00:08:10,920 hundred meters to the full ten thousand meter depth. 168 00:08:10,920 --> 00:08:15,000 Speaker 1: And what they found just reinforces this idea of hyper specialized. 169 00:08:14,319 --> 00:08:19,319 Speaker 2: Life, absolutely life that is perfectly and bizarrely tailored to 170 00:08:19,360 --> 00:08:20,600 its exact environment. 171 00:08:20,720 --> 00:08:23,000 Speaker 1: So give us some examples. What kind of weird alien 172 00:08:23,040 --> 00:08:24,160 life did they run into. 173 00:08:24,360 --> 00:08:28,199 Speaker 2: Well, one of the most spectacular finds was an anglerfish, 174 00:08:28,480 --> 00:08:30,839 which is already a bizarre creature, you know, with its 175 00:08:31,000 --> 00:08:34,159 glowing lore, but this one was swimming completely upside down. 176 00:08:34,200 --> 00:08:36,799 It was only the second time that specific behavior had 177 00:08:36,799 --> 00:08:39,519 ever been seen anywhere in the world. Wow. And then 178 00:08:39,720 --> 00:08:43,720 more subtly they found these se cucumbers. But they were tiny, 179 00:08:44,399 --> 00:08:48,519 really delicate, and about three times smaller than the secucumbers 180 00:08:48,559 --> 00:08:50,000 you find in the Mariana Trench. 181 00:08:50,200 --> 00:08:52,720 Speaker 1: Okay, so why the size difference. Is that just random 182 00:08:52,879 --> 00:08:54,039 or is there something driving that? 183 00:08:54,240 --> 00:08:56,960 Speaker 2: Oh, there is absolutely a driver. It's all about isolation 184 00:08:57,159 --> 00:08:59,840 and energy. This is where you really see the idea 185 00:08:59,840 --> 00:09:04,960 of each trench being its own isolated evolutionary lab the lab. 186 00:09:05,240 --> 00:09:07,840 So these deep sea environments they rely entirely on what's 187 00:09:07,840 --> 00:09:09,039 called food rain, the. 188 00:09:08,960 --> 00:09:12,360 Speaker 1: Little bits of organic stuff sinking from the surface exactly. 189 00:09:12,440 --> 00:09:15,440 Speaker 2: And in the curve dec trench, because of its specific shape, 190 00:09:15,720 --> 00:09:18,879 the currents, the type of sediment, the food supply is different. 191 00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:22,480 It's likely scarcer or just lower in calories compared to 192 00:09:22,519 --> 00:09:24,200 what reaches the bottom of the Mariana. 193 00:09:24,279 --> 00:09:27,559 Speaker 1: So less food means life has to adapt, it has 194 00:09:27,600 --> 00:09:30,440 to become smaller, more efficient just to survive. 195 00:09:30,679 --> 00:09:34,279 Speaker 2: Precisely, the pressure is a constant, but the energy coming 196 00:09:34,320 --> 00:09:36,559 in is the variable. If you don't need a big, 197 00:09:36,600 --> 00:09:39,799 heavy body, natural selection is going to favor the smallest, 198 00:09:39,840 --> 00:09:41,159 most energy efficient model. 199 00:09:41,480 --> 00:09:44,360 Speaker 1: So the life in the Comma deck evolved completely independently 200 00:09:44,360 --> 00:09:45,240 from the life. 201 00:09:44,960 --> 00:09:48,720 Speaker 2: In the Mariana completely. The depth creates the isolation, and 202 00:09:48,759 --> 00:09:52,320 that isolation breeds evolutionary novelty. And we've only seen the 203 00:09:52,360 --> 00:09:56,000 tiniest fraction of it. Miles and miles of these chasms 204 00:09:56,000 --> 00:09:58,679 are just holding unique branches of life. We may never 205 00:09:58,759 --> 00:10:00,840 have the funding or the ten to even see. 206 00:10:01,000 --> 00:10:04,159 Speaker 1: It's incredible. So we've covered the crushing unknown of the ocean. 207 00:10:04,440 --> 00:10:07,120 Let's pivot now to a world that's sealed not by 208 00:10:07,200 --> 00:10:10,639 water but by ice, a time capsule of frozen water 209 00:10:10,759 --> 00:10:11,799 and ancient life. 210 00:10:11,919 --> 00:10:13,639 Speaker 2: When you look at a map of Antarctica, it just 211 00:10:13,639 --> 00:10:17,159 looks like this single, static, lifeless ice sheet. 212 00:10:17,039 --> 00:10:18,000 Speaker 1: Right white continent. 213 00:10:18,279 --> 00:10:21,960 Speaker 2: But underneath miles of that ice there is a dynamic, 214 00:10:22,120 --> 00:10:26,559 hidden system of liquid water. These are the subglacial lakes. 215 00:10:26,440 --> 00:10:29,279 Speaker 1: And they've been trapped down there for how long? 216 00:10:29,480 --> 00:10:33,600 Speaker 2: Thousands and in some cases we think potentially millions of years. 217 00:10:33,759 --> 00:10:36,000 Speaker 1: And this isn't just a theory, right, we know they're there. 218 00:10:36,240 --> 00:10:38,559 The sources say we've found over six hundred of. 219 00:10:38,519 --> 00:10:41,000 Speaker 2: Them, and that number just keeps going up as our 220 00:10:41,080 --> 00:10:43,559 radar tech gets better. What's so fascinating is that they 221 00:10:43,600 --> 00:10:44,840 aren't static ponds. 222 00:10:44,879 --> 00:10:45,559 Speaker 1: They're active. 223 00:10:45,799 --> 00:10:48,480 Speaker 2: Over two hundred and thirty of them are active. They 224 00:10:48,559 --> 00:10:52,440 fill and drain, shifting these huge volumes of water under 225 00:10:52,480 --> 00:10:55,960 the ice in cycles. We are still really struggling to understand. 226 00:10:56,080 --> 00:10:58,399 Speaker 1: And the most famous of these, the king of these 227 00:10:58,440 --> 00:11:00,799 sealed worlds, has to be Lake Vostok. 228 00:11:00,919 --> 00:11:03,120 Speaker 2: Lake Vostok is the big one. It's the largest we 229 00:11:03,200 --> 00:11:05,919 know of. It's in East Antarctica, and it's sitting under 230 00:11:06,039 --> 00:11:08,320 about four thousand meters of solid. 231 00:11:08,000 --> 00:11:10,360 Speaker 1: Ice two and a half miles of ice, and the. 232 00:11:10,399 --> 00:11:13,159 Speaker 2: Lake itself is about five hundred meters deep, and it's 233 00:11:13,200 --> 00:11:17,320 been sealed off from the surface for potentially fifteen million years. 234 00:11:17,919 --> 00:11:20,639 Is the absolute definition of a natural time capsule. 235 00:11:20,879 --> 00:11:24,960 Speaker 1: And when researchers finally painstakingly breached the ice to get 236 00:11:25,000 --> 00:11:27,200 a sample, they found life. 237 00:11:27,240 --> 00:11:31,600 Speaker 2: A monumental discovery. Yeah, they found piny living things, mostly bacteria, 238 00:11:31,679 --> 00:11:35,200 but ancient and unique kinds. And they also found simple 239 00:11:35,320 --> 00:11:38,159 organisms similar to ones you might find in the gut 240 00:11:38,200 --> 00:11:42,559 of a fish, all adapted to total darkness and extreme pressure. 241 00:11:42,960 --> 00:11:46,559 Speaker 1: The fact that a whole ecosystem can survive and evolve 242 00:11:46,759 --> 00:11:50,080 in a closed system with no sunlight for that long. 243 00:11:50,639 --> 00:11:52,639 It has huge implications it does. 244 00:11:52,720 --> 00:11:55,759 Speaker 2: It's exactly what astrobiologists are looking for when they study 245 00:11:55,759 --> 00:11:58,759 the icy moons in our solar system, like Jupiter's aeropo 246 00:11:58,960 --> 00:12:00,279 or Saturns and solid. 247 00:12:00,200 --> 00:12:03,320 Speaker 1: Which are thought to have these huge subsurface oceans. 248 00:12:03,399 --> 00:12:06,480 Speaker 2: Exactly if life can survive in Lake Fostoc, it completely 249 00:12:06,559 --> 00:12:09,759 changes our models for the probability finding life and similar 250 00:12:09,840 --> 00:12:13,960 environments out there. Antarctica is our test case for extraterrestrial life. 251 00:12:13,679 --> 00:12:16,960 Speaker 1: But beyond the ancient microbes and looking for aliens, these 252 00:12:17,039 --> 00:12:20,039 lakes have a very real, very immediate importance that affects 253 00:12:20,039 --> 00:12:21,320 literally everyone listening. 254 00:12:21,399 --> 00:12:24,360 Speaker 2: That's the critical link that liquid water. It acts like 255 00:12:24,399 --> 00:12:26,480 a lubricant under the massive weight of the ice sheet. 256 00:12:26,559 --> 00:12:29,720 So when these lakes fill and drain, they control how 257 00:12:29,840 --> 00:12:33,559 fast the huge glaciers above them slide towards the ocean. 258 00:12:33,759 --> 00:12:36,919 Speaker 1: So if we want to accurately predict sea level. 259 00:12:36,759 --> 00:12:39,279 Speaker 2: Rise, we have to understand the dynamics of these hidden 260 00:12:39,320 --> 00:12:41,600 water systems. It's essential data. 261 00:12:41,279 --> 00:12:44,759 Speaker 1: But the exploration itself is so incredibly difficult. You mentioned 262 00:12:44,799 --> 00:12:46,000 the risk of contamination. 263 00:12:46,240 --> 00:12:49,960 Speaker 2: It's the ultimate scientific dilemma, the risk versus the reward. 264 00:12:50,519 --> 00:12:53,360 You drill through two and a half miles of pristine ice, 265 00:12:54,000 --> 00:12:57,879 but if you accidentally introduce modern bacteria from the surface. 266 00:12:57,559 --> 00:12:58,519 Speaker 1: You're ruined the whole thing. 267 00:12:58,639 --> 00:13:02,679 Speaker 2: You've contaminated a fifteen million year old environment. The protocols 268 00:13:02,679 --> 00:13:04,840 to prevent that are just intense. 269 00:13:05,200 --> 00:13:07,480 Speaker 1: Walk us through what intense means here. 270 00:13:07,840 --> 00:13:11,679 Speaker 2: It means years of planning. They use specialized hot water drills. 271 00:13:11,960 --> 00:13:14,559 But the key is that the borehole has to refreeze 272 00:13:14,600 --> 00:13:16,519 immediately after they take the sample. 273 00:13:16,279 --> 00:13:17,720 Speaker 1: So they're sealing it back up. 274 00:13:17,639 --> 00:13:21,000 Speaker 2: Instantly, and they often only sample the water that refreezes 275 00:13:21,120 --> 00:13:24,159 directly onto the drill bit itself, so it's a perfectly 276 00:13:24,240 --> 00:13:27,840 clean sample of that ancient water. It's like performing surgery 277 00:13:27,879 --> 00:13:31,679 on a continental scale just to get one tiny, precious sample. 278 00:13:31,840 --> 00:13:35,879 Speaker 1: That focus on isolation by ice. It brings us north 279 00:13:36,279 --> 00:13:40,720 to an equally if not more, hostile place, Northern Greenland. 280 00:13:41,039 --> 00:13:44,799 Speaker 2: Northern Greenland is in some ways even more hostile than Antarctica, 281 00:13:44,960 --> 00:13:48,559 just because of the logistics. The temperatures routinely drop to 282 00:13:48,639 --> 00:13:52,840 negative fifty celsius minus fifty and with the wind shell exposed, 283 00:13:52,879 --> 00:13:56,879 skin freezes almost instantly. It's the sheer, bone deep cold 284 00:13:56,919 --> 00:14:00,159 that just makes sustained work impossible. 285 00:13:59,519 --> 00:14:02,080 Speaker 1: So you can't really set up a long term research camp. 286 00:14:02,120 --> 00:14:04,519 You can't even reliably land a plane in most of 287 00:14:04,559 --> 00:14:05,200 these areas. 288 00:14:05,279 --> 00:14:08,200 Speaker 2: It's a geographical fortress. So most of our knowledge has 289 00:14:08,240 --> 00:14:11,320 to come from remote sensing. We can't drill easily, so 290 00:14:11,360 --> 00:14:13,960 we fly planes over with ice penetrating radar. 291 00:14:13,799 --> 00:14:16,879 Speaker 1: And the radar basically maps what's underneath all that ice. 292 00:14:17,080 --> 00:14:19,480 Speaker 2: It sends a signal down and by measuring how long 293 00:14:19,480 --> 00:14:21,919 it takes to reflect back, it can map the topography 294 00:14:22,080 --> 00:14:23,799 hidden beneath thousands of feet of ice. 295 00:14:23,879 --> 00:14:26,399 Speaker 1: And what has it found? What's the hidden landscape of Greenland? 296 00:14:26,600 --> 00:14:31,159 Speaker 2: It has revealed this astonishing hidden world, mountains, huge valleys, 297 00:14:31,519 --> 00:14:33,240 and yes, more subglacial lakes. 298 00:14:33,240 --> 00:14:34,440 Speaker 1: Okay, so what's the difference here? 299 00:14:34,600 --> 00:14:38,480 Speaker 2: The key difference is the potential isolation depth. Lake Vostok 300 00:14:38,559 --> 00:14:41,679 is impressive at fifteen million years, but some of these 301 00:14:41,679 --> 00:14:44,759 systems in Greenland are thought to have been sealed off 302 00:14:44,799 --> 00:14:47,200 for potentially millions of years longer than that. 303 00:14:47,320 --> 00:14:51,120 Speaker 1: Millions of years longer. That's just hard to comprehend. 304 00:14:51,320 --> 00:14:54,320 Speaker 2: Geologically, we could be talking about life forms that were 305 00:14:54,440 --> 00:14:58,000 isolated before the major ice ages of the plecesscene. 306 00:14:58,120 --> 00:15:01,360 Speaker 1: So what kind of evolutionary power pathways could life have 307 00:15:01,480 --> 00:15:04,480 taken down there in total darkness for that long? 308 00:15:04,960 --> 00:15:09,039 Speaker 2: That's the billion dollar question. It raises this massive curiosity, 309 00:15:09,360 --> 00:15:12,559 but the physical difficulty of getting there, of drilling through 310 00:15:12,679 --> 00:15:16,080 that much ice in that climate, it means they remain 311 00:15:16,120 --> 00:15:19,600 almost entirely unexplored. You just have these faint radar echoes 312 00:15:19,639 --> 00:15:20,559 telling us they exist. 313 00:15:20,600 --> 00:15:22,440 Speaker 1: All right, So we've done the oceans in the ice. 314 00:15:22,720 --> 00:15:24,679 Now let's come back to the surface to places where 315 00:15:24,679 --> 00:15:27,679 the Earth creates mazes of rock, water, and sand that 316 00:15:27,759 --> 00:15:30,759 defeat us not with cold or pressure, but with sheer 317 00:15:30,879 --> 00:15:31,799 physical danger. 318 00:15:31,919 --> 00:15:35,000 Speaker 2: Yeah, terrestrial exploration isn't always about climbing up. Some of 319 00:15:35,000 --> 00:15:37,799 the most complex and least explored areas are actually under 320 00:15:37,799 --> 00:15:38,240 our feet. 321 00:15:38,559 --> 00:15:41,799 Speaker 1: You're talking about the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. 322 00:15:41,720 --> 00:15:46,399 Speaker 2: Exactly famous for its sinotes, those beautiful round sinkholes. 323 00:15:46,480 --> 00:15:50,399 Speaker 1: They look so idyllic, God, but they're really just doorways. 324 00:15:50,039 --> 00:15:55,759 Speaker 2: Portals to these unimaginably vast underwater labyrinths, and the scale 325 00:15:56,039 --> 00:15:59,120 is just so hard to grasp. The biggest known system 326 00:15:59,200 --> 00:16:02,679 is called sustained a sack actum. It's been mapped for 327 00:16:02,799 --> 00:16:06,159 hundreds of miles, but we still don't know its full size. 328 00:16:06,200 --> 00:16:09,600 Speaker 1: I think we need to really emphasize how dangerous this 329 00:16:09,720 --> 00:16:12,919 kind of exploration is. This isn't just recreational scuba diving. 330 00:16:13,240 --> 00:16:16,519 Speaker 2: No, this is extreme risk. You're in tight spaces, Visibility 331 00:16:16,559 --> 00:16:18,320 can drop to zero in a second if you kick 332 00:16:18,399 --> 00:16:19,679 up the silt, a silt out. 333 00:16:19,559 --> 00:16:22,279 Speaker 1: And then you're lost, no light, no direction, and you. 334 00:16:22,200 --> 00:16:25,440 Speaker 2: Could be hundreds of feet from the nearest air. Divers 335 00:16:25,440 --> 00:16:27,480 have to squeeze through gaps that are barely wider than 336 00:16:27,519 --> 00:16:30,080 their bodies, sometimes taking their tanks off and pushing them 337 00:16:30,159 --> 00:16:30,879 through ahead of them. 338 00:16:30,919 --> 00:16:32,919 Speaker 1: And you can't just swim back up to the surface 339 00:16:32,919 --> 00:16:34,320 if something goes wrong. 340 00:16:34,360 --> 00:16:36,600 Speaker 2: No way. Some of these tunnels drop more than three 341 00:16:36,679 --> 00:16:39,840 hundred feet straight down. You're dealing with hours of plan 342 00:16:39,960 --> 00:16:44,320 decompression stops just to get back safely. It requires military 343 00:16:44,399 --> 00:16:48,120 level planning. Every single new meter added to the map 344 00:16:48,440 --> 00:16:50,799 depends on a tiny handful of people willing to take 345 00:16:50,840 --> 00:16:52,279 these massive risks. 346 00:16:52,559 --> 00:16:56,639 Speaker 1: And that dedication led to a huge discover in twenty eighteen, right. 347 00:16:56,559 --> 00:17:00,399 Speaker 2: A landmark discovery. Yeah, after fourteen years of this pains staking, 348 00:17:00,480 --> 00:17:04,480 high risk searching, explorers finally found a connection between systemisac 349 00:17:04,519 --> 00:17:08,200 Actin and another big system system in Dosopoles. 350 00:17:07,720 --> 00:17:10,000 Speaker 1: And that made it the longest flooded cave in the. 351 00:17:09,960 --> 00:17:13,160 Speaker 2: World, over two hundred and fifteen miles long. And even 352 00:17:13,240 --> 00:17:15,720 at that colocal length, the experts are sure they've only 353 00:17:15,799 --> 00:17:18,640 mapped a fraction of it. It's a deep, dangerous and 354 00:17:18,720 --> 00:17:20,440 still largely unknown maze. 355 00:17:20,480 --> 00:17:23,680 Speaker 1: Okay, from that suffocating, water logged darkness, let's go to 356 00:17:23,720 --> 00:17:28,039 the complete opposite extreme, the brutal cloud covered heights of 357 00:17:28,079 --> 00:17:30,240 the Star Mountains and Papua New Guinea. 358 00:17:30,279 --> 00:17:33,039 Speaker 2: The Star Mountains really defined terrestrial hostility. They stretch for 359 00:17:33,039 --> 00:17:36,319 about sixty miles, peaks hitting almost forty eight hundred meters. 360 00:17:36,359 --> 00:17:38,960 That's fifteen thousand feet, so pretty high. But here's the 361 00:17:38,960 --> 00:17:42,079 crazy part. They were officially documented in nineteen fifty eight, 362 00:17:42,440 --> 00:17:44,680 but since then only about ten people have ever made 363 00:17:44,720 --> 00:17:45,279 it to the top. 364 00:17:45,440 --> 00:17:49,079 Speaker 1: Only ten. Why so few? It's high, but it's not 365 00:17:49,200 --> 00:17:50,000 everest high. 366 00:17:50,039 --> 00:17:52,920 Speaker 2: It's the climate. It's not just the altitude. The Star 367 00:17:53,000 --> 00:17:58,279 Mountains are perpetually saturated, constant rain, constant high humidity, always 368 00:17:58,279 --> 00:18:02,920 shrouded in cloud. The terrain isn't rock, its deep, slippery, 369 00:18:03,559 --> 00:18:04,720 unrelenting mud. 370 00:18:04,880 --> 00:18:06,440 Speaker 1: So Every step is a battle. 371 00:18:06,200 --> 00:18:09,920 Speaker 2: An exhausting battle. You're just constantly fighting the environment to 372 00:18:09,960 --> 00:18:12,119 stay upright, to stay warm, to move forward. 373 00:18:12,319 --> 00:18:17,599 Speaker 1: And yet this miserable, extreme place is paradoxically a cradle 374 00:18:17,640 --> 00:18:18,119 of life. 375 00:18:18,160 --> 00:18:21,640 Speaker 2: It's a biological sky island. The brutal weather and terrain 376 00:18:21,799 --> 00:18:23,200 isolate pockets of land. 377 00:18:23,039 --> 00:18:24,680 Speaker 1: From each other, preventing gene flow. 378 00:18:24,880 --> 00:18:29,319 Speaker 2: Exactly, it creates this intense pressure cooker for evolution. Scientists 379 00:18:29,359 --> 00:18:31,759 have found over a thousand species there, and nearly one 380 00:18:31,799 --> 00:18:33,160 hundred of them are strictly. 381 00:18:32,880 --> 00:18:35,160 Speaker 1: Endemic, found nowhere else on Earth, nowhere else. 382 00:18:35,440 --> 00:18:38,400 Speaker 2: Every single plant and animal there has had to specifically 383 00:18:38,440 --> 00:18:41,640 adapt to that constantly wet, harsh, and difficult world. 384 00:18:41,839 --> 00:18:44,720 Speaker 1: And that's the tragedy of its inaccessibility, isn't it. 385 00:18:44,720 --> 00:18:48,640 Speaker 2: It is the very environment that created this incredible biodiversity 386 00:18:49,279 --> 00:18:52,319 also prevents us from fully studying it. We have these brief, 387 00:18:52,359 --> 00:18:57,039 little snapshots, but vast amounts of biological information remain locked away. 388 00:18:57,720 --> 00:19:01,839 Speaker 1: Let's transition now to a totally different kind of terrestrial maze, 389 00:19:02,039 --> 00:19:06,799 one made of shifting ancient sand. The Namib Desert. 390 00:19:07,319 --> 00:19:09,480 Speaker 2: The Anamiab in southern Africa is one of the world's 391 00:19:09,480 --> 00:19:12,920 oldest deserts. It's a place defined by its remoteness and 392 00:19:13,039 --> 00:19:16,880 the well the instability of its landscape. Traditional mapping is 393 00:19:16,920 --> 00:19:19,839 almost useless because the terrain refuses to stay still. 394 00:19:20,119 --> 00:19:23,279 Speaker 1: The extremes there are just phenomenal. It's scorching hot during 395 00:19:23,279 --> 00:19:26,039 the day, but then temperatures can drop below freezing at night. 396 00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:29,079 Speaker 2: And you combine that thermal shock with the sheer difficulty 397 00:19:29,079 --> 00:19:32,640 of navigating these giant, shifting sand dunes. The ground is 398 00:19:32,720 --> 00:19:35,599 literally moving under your feet. Sandstorms can pop up and 399 00:19:35,640 --> 00:19:38,960 completely disorient you. It's just a very dangerous place. 400 00:19:39,079 --> 00:19:41,240 Speaker 1: It sounds like a place where nothing could possibly live. 401 00:19:41,200 --> 00:19:45,240 Speaker 2: And yet life has found these incredible specialized ways to thrive. 402 00:19:45,759 --> 00:19:47,160 It's life in extremists. 403 00:19:47,200 --> 00:19:48,200 Speaker 1: So what are some examples. 404 00:19:48,440 --> 00:19:51,319 Speaker 2: You see elephants and lions that have evolved behaviors to 405 00:19:51,400 --> 00:19:54,960 hunt along the dunes. You find insects that crawl deep 406 00:19:55,039 --> 00:19:58,680 underground to escape the heat, small reptiles that hide in 407 00:19:58,680 --> 00:20:03,119 gravel planes. Scientists are still discovering unique species there, all 408 00:20:03,160 --> 00:20:05,759 perfectly specialized for that volatile environment. 409 00:20:05,960 --> 00:20:09,119 Speaker 1: So the named proves that a vast shifting desert is 410 00:20:09,119 --> 00:20:10,160 anything but empty. 411 00:20:10,559 --> 00:20:14,640 Speaker 2: It's a complex, hidden ecosystem, completely defying our idea of 412 00:20:14,640 --> 00:20:15,400 what's habitable. 413 00:20:15,440 --> 00:20:17,920 Speaker 1: So we've looked at environments that are protected by pressure, 414 00:20:18,119 --> 00:20:21,079 by ice, by a physical misery. Now let's talk about 415 00:20:21,119 --> 00:20:24,319 places that are off limits for a different reason. Places 416 00:20:24,319 --> 00:20:26,880 we avoid not because we can't get there, but because 417 00:20:26,880 --> 00:20:28,079 we've decided we must not. 418 00:20:28,440 --> 00:20:30,960 Speaker 2: This is a really profound shift. We're now talking about 419 00:20:30,960 --> 00:20:34,559 a conscious choice to leave places unmapped, and the Valdo 420 00:20:34,599 --> 00:20:37,119 Jevari in the Brazilian Amazon is a prime example. 421 00:20:37,160 --> 00:20:39,000 Speaker 1: And this is a huge area we're talking about right, 422 00:20:39,119 --> 00:20:41,440 a section of the Amazon that's bigger than the entire 423 00:20:41,440 --> 00:20:43,079 country of Austria. 424 00:20:42,559 --> 00:20:46,319 Speaker 2: A massive swab of territory, and the Brazilian government has 425 00:20:46,359 --> 00:20:48,920 made it completely off limits to non indigenous people. 426 00:20:49,079 --> 00:20:50,759 Speaker 1: And the reason for that is one of the most 427 00:20:50,759 --> 00:20:53,079 compelling ethical imperatives on the planet. 428 00:20:53,400 --> 00:20:56,039 Speaker 2: It is the valdu Javari is home to the highest 429 00:20:56,079 --> 00:20:59,720 known concentration of uncontacted tribes in the world, people with 430 00:20:59,839 --> 00:21:02,279 zer euro sustained contact with the outside world. 431 00:21:02,640 --> 00:21:05,359 Speaker 1: So the simple presence of an outsider, even a well 432 00:21:05,440 --> 00:21:08,440 meaning scientist, is an existential. 433 00:21:07,799 --> 00:21:12,200 Speaker 2: Threat, a catastrophic threat. This isn't an exaggeration. Historically, when 434 00:21:12,279 --> 00:21:16,400 uncontacted peoples have met outsiders, the result is tragic. They 435 00:21:16,440 --> 00:21:18,359 have no immunity to our common diseases. 436 00:21:18,519 --> 00:21:20,240 Speaker 1: A simple cold could wipe them out. 437 00:21:20,400 --> 00:21:24,160 Speaker 2: A cold the flu it could annihilate an entire population 438 00:21:24,240 --> 00:21:27,960 in weeks. So this non contact policy, it's literally a 439 00:21:28,039 --> 00:21:29,680 life or death protective measure. 440 00:21:29,799 --> 00:21:33,720 Speaker 1: And the consequence ecologically is that this huge stretch of forest, 441 00:21:33,880 --> 00:21:38,480 its plants, its animals, remains completely unstudied by conventional science. 442 00:21:38,759 --> 00:21:40,960 Speaker 2: We've drawn an ethical line on the mac and in 443 00:21:41,039 --> 00:21:44,680 doing so, we've preserved an ecosystem in its most natural state. 444 00:21:45,000 --> 00:21:47,279 It's a place where our maps are blank by choice. 445 00:21:47,359 --> 00:21:50,079 Speaker 1: And if Valda Javari is the large scale example, then 446 00:21:50,240 --> 00:21:53,440 North Centrael Island is the absolute extreme of non contact. 447 00:21:53,480 --> 00:21:56,640 Speaker 2: It's globally infamous, yes, home to the scent Le's people, 448 00:21:56,720 --> 00:21:59,440 one of the last isolated hunter gatherer groups on Earth. 449 00:22:00,160 --> 00:22:02,480 Speaker 1: They have made it very very clear they want to 450 00:22:02,480 --> 00:22:03,200 be left alone. 451 00:22:03,240 --> 00:22:06,599 Speaker 2: They actively attack anyone who tries to approach their shores. 452 00:22:06,920 --> 00:22:10,359 Speaker 1: So the Indian government maintains a strict ban, a three 453 00:22:10,400 --> 00:22:12,519 mile buffer zone around the island. 454 00:22:12,279 --> 00:22:15,480 Speaker 2: Right both to protect outsiders, but more importantly to protect 455 00:22:15,480 --> 00:22:17,559 the sentineles themselves from our diseases. 456 00:22:17,640 --> 00:22:21,119 Speaker 1: And because of this, we know basically nothing. 457 00:22:21,039 --> 00:22:24,839 Speaker 2: Virtually nothing. We don't know their population count, what plants 458 00:22:24,920 --> 00:22:27,480 or animals are on the island, what their language sounds like. 459 00:22:27,599 --> 00:22:31,000 Speaker 1: All of our knowledge comes from just distant observation, a 460 00:22:31,079 --> 00:22:33,039 quick glance from a boat or a helicopter. 461 00:22:33,240 --> 00:22:37,000 Speaker 2: It's a literal black box of biological and cultural information. 462 00:22:37,200 --> 00:22:41,119 And the isolation isn't maintained by a physical barrier as 463 00:22:41,200 --> 00:22:43,319 much as it is by a cultural and ethical one. 464 00:22:43,720 --> 00:22:46,440 They are defending their isolation and we are, for the 465 00:22:46,480 --> 00:22:47,839 most part, respecting it. 466 00:22:48,160 --> 00:22:51,279 Speaker 1: Finally, let's look at two islands where it's pure geography 467 00:22:51,480 --> 00:22:56,200 that's created these ecological time capsules, Golf and Inaccessible Islands. 468 00:22:56,319 --> 00:22:59,920 Speaker 2: These are way way out in the South Atlantic, extremely remote, 469 00:23:00,279 --> 00:23:03,240 about twenty one hundred kilometers from the nearest town. And 470 00:23:03,640 --> 00:23:08,799 inaccessible island well it earned its name. The journey there 471 00:23:09,319 --> 00:23:11,119 is through some of the roughest ocean in the world, 472 00:23:11,720 --> 00:23:13,960 and even if you make it, the landing harbor is 473 00:23:14,000 --> 00:23:16,319 only usable a few days out of the entire year 474 00:23:16,400 --> 00:23:17,920 because of the waves and the weather. 475 00:23:18,119 --> 00:23:22,240 Speaker 1: So that physical barrier has led to this extraordinary ecological purity. 476 00:23:22,440 --> 00:23:28,279 Speaker 2: That's the payoff. They've avoided the primary scourge of most islands, invasive. 477 00:23:27,759 --> 00:23:30,680 Speaker 1: Species, no rats, no cats, no goats. 478 00:23:30,400 --> 00:23:32,720 Speaker 2: None of the animals that have wrecked the natural balance 479 00:23:32,720 --> 00:23:35,559 of nearly every other remote island on the planet. So 480 00:23:35,599 --> 00:23:38,960 what you have is a pristine ecosystem, a literal time 481 00:23:39,039 --> 00:23:42,039 capsule what these places look like before humans showed. 482 00:23:41,799 --> 00:23:44,480 Speaker 1: Up, a baseline for a pre human world exactly. 483 00:23:44,559 --> 00:23:47,799 Speaker 2: It allows scientists to study an ecosystem untouched by common 484 00:23:47,880 --> 00:23:53,519 human influences and inaccessible. Island alone is a biological gold mine. 485 00:23:53,640 --> 00:23:56,440 It has two bird species, eight plants, and at least 486 00:23:56,480 --> 00:23:59,200 ten bugs and small creatures found nowhere else on Earth. 487 00:23:59,279 --> 00:24:01,319 Speaker 1: They're a precious control group for the planet. 488 00:24:01,440 --> 00:24:03,960 Speaker 2: They are. They show us what happens when evolution is 489 00:24:04,000 --> 00:24:06,680 just allowed to run its course unpeded, and that data 490 00:24:06,759 --> 00:24:09,559 is incredibly valuable for understanding how to manage our more 491 00:24:09,599 --> 00:24:11,960 compromise ecosystems everywhere else. 492 00:24:12,279 --> 00:24:14,599 Speaker 1: This has been an incredible journey. We've gone from the 493 00:24:14,640 --> 00:24:18,480 crushing pressure of the abyssal planes and the Kermadec Trench. 494 00:24:18,200 --> 00:24:21,799 Speaker 2: To the frigid, sealed world of subglacial lakes in Antarctica 495 00:24:21,839 --> 00:24:22,759 and Greenland, and. 496 00:24:22,680 --> 00:24:25,359 Speaker 1: Then through the physical mazes of the star Mountains and 497 00:24:25,400 --> 00:24:28,000 the ethical boundaries of the Amazon. 498 00:24:27,640 --> 00:24:30,039 Speaker 2: And the common thread through all of it is isolation, 499 00:24:30,880 --> 00:24:35,039 whether it's physical, temporal, or ethical. Isolation creates these unique, 500 00:24:35,720 --> 00:24:39,640 highly specialized, and often really fragile, evolutionary pathways. 501 00:24:39,680 --> 00:24:41,400 Speaker 1: These aren't just empty spaces on the map. 502 00:24:41,519 --> 00:24:44,759 Speaker 2: No, they are dense, specific, vital systems. 503 00:24:44,440 --> 00:24:48,880 Speaker 1: And as we've discussed, understanding them, isn't just academic Subglacial 504 00:24:48,960 --> 00:24:52,920 lakes affect sea level rise, the abyssal planes hold genetic 505 00:24:52,920 --> 00:24:56,799 information that's at risk from mining. These remote zones hold 506 00:24:56,839 --> 00:24:59,440 fundamental knowledge about how our planet works. 507 00:24:59,319 --> 00:25:02,079 Speaker 2: Which, really this is a big question for you the listener, 508 00:25:02,119 --> 00:25:04,920 to think about. What does it mean that the least 509 00:25:04,960 --> 00:25:07,440 explored parts of our world are so often the most 510 00:25:07,480 --> 00:25:11,559 ecologically critical or the most fiercely protected. Yeah, we've kind 511 00:25:11,559 --> 00:25:13,759 of reached a point where the greatest discovery we can 512 00:25:13,839 --> 00:25:17,960 make might be realizing the value of just leaving certain 513 00:25:18,000 --> 00:25:18,720 places alone. 514 00:25:18,759 --> 00:25:22,519 Speaker 1: We started out talking about space exploration versus Earth exploration, 515 00:25:23,200 --> 00:25:25,880 but maybe the ultimate challenge is just knowing when to 516 00:25:25,920 --> 00:25:28,599 stop knowing where the line is. 517 00:25:28,599 --> 00:25:32,000 Speaker 2: Is the goal really to map every last centimeter, or 518 00:25:32,079 --> 00:25:34,799 is the higher challenge learning to respect the boundaries and 519 00:25:34,839 --> 00:25:37,440 the isolation of the places we already know about. 520 00:25:37,359 --> 00:25:39,680 Speaker 1: That contrast you brought up between the drive to mine 521 00:25:39,720 --> 00:25:43,119 the deep sea and the imperative to protect uncontacted tribes. 522 00:25:43,480 --> 00:25:44,279 It says it all. 523 00:25:44,359 --> 00:25:47,519 Speaker 2: It's the perfect dilemma. Yeah, sometimes the most responsible form 524 00:25:47,559 --> 00:25:50,240 of exploration is simply non interference. 525 00:25:50,559 --> 00:25:53,440 Speaker 1: Something profound to mull over. We have barely scratched the 526 00:25:53,480 --> 00:25:56,480 surface until the next deep dive. Keep digging.