Alien Worlds (2020) s01e03 Episode Script

1
[thunder crashing]
[rainfall]
[dog barking]
[birds calling]
[varied bird calls]
[wings fluttering]
[narrator] The Earth,
home to millions of species.
[man talking on radio]
[woman singing]
But what might live beyond?
Astronomers have discovered
thousands of planets
outside our solar system.
They believe there are trillions more.
If life exists on only a fraction of them,
then the universe must be alive.
[creatures calling]
All living things have the same needs.
To feed
reproduce
and evolve.
By applying the laws of life on Earth
to the rest of the universe
it's possible to imagine
what could live
on alien worlds.
[cicadas chirping]
Planets beyond our solar system
are known to astronomers as exoplanets.
They are all
trillions of miles from Earth.
And yet, it might be possible
to detect a faint signature of life,
from the light of the stars they orbit.
Every star is sending to us
light of all different colors.
So, if we can catch that light
in our telescope
and put it through an instrument
that spreads the light out into a rainbow,
and we look in great detail
at that rainbow,
we will find the chemical fingerprints
of the elements in the atmosphere
of that star.
This is one of those rainbows captured
by the telescope of a distant star
about 12 light-years away,
the star Tau Ceti.
We can see these dark lines, like
from hydrogen in the star's atmosphere.
Down here, we see these
three characteristic lines of magnesium.
So, this is the atmosphere of the star,
but what we wanna do is catch light
that passes through
the atmosphere of an exoplanet,
to capture the chemical fingerprint of
that atmosphere in exactly the same way.
In 2012, this sort of fingerprint
was visible in our own solar system.
When Venus passed in front of the sun,
it was silhouetted against it.
For a moment, a tiny halo appeared,
the atmosphere of Venus.
It's this sliver of light
astronomers are looking for.
If they can analyze
the atmosphere of distant exoplanets
silhouetted against distant stars,
they might find proof of life.
[seabirds calling]
[bird calls slowing]
[Natalie] We've thought very carefully
about what the signs of life will be.
So we look around and we look
at what's in the atmosphere
that could be remotely detectable
from light-years away.
And it always leads us back
to the same gas.
Oxygen.
50 to 70 percent of oxygen
in our atmosphere
is actually coming from the ocean
which is the lungs of planet Earth.
The process that drives the growth
of the giant kelp in the oceans,
and, in fact, all the forests
that we see on the land,
is photosynthesis.
What interests me most
about photosynthesis
is the waste product
that gets tossed away,
and that's the oxygen
that goes into the atmosphere.
We think that almost all
of the oxygen in our atmosphere
is produced by photosynthesis,
by life here on planet Earth.
If you see it in abundance,
you know that
the planet is a living world.
Among trillions of worlds
out there,
those with more oxygen
are more likely to sustain life.
Imagine a planet like Earth
orbiting not one star
but two.
This is Eden.
[creatures singing and calling]
The light from its twin stars
powers photosynthesis
pumping oxygen into the atmosphere
allowing life to thrive.
[cooing]
[sniffing]
Grazers feed on low-lying fungus
[twig snaps]
but they're constantly alert to danger.
The canopy is home to predators
[chattering]
perfectly evolved
to live among the trees
[snuffling]
[chattering]
waiting for their moment to strike.
[chattering]
- [rustling]
- [purring]
[screeching]
On the ground, the grazer has the edge.
It's faster in a chase.
[squawking]
But the predator has evolved
a special weapon.
This time, the grazer escapes
and the predator conserves its energy.
[birdsong]
On any planet, energy is precious.
Starlight is a virtually infinite source.
But the trick is
to turn that light into life.
[man] We are in the tropical rainforest.
There are more types of plants and
animals here than anywhere else on Earth.
The trees and plants
are soaking up the sun's energy.
By the magic of photosynthesis,
they convert sunlight into glucose energy,
in other words, sugar.
You can see it and even taste it.
You can actually taste
the energy from the sun.
Plants act like batteries,
capturing the sun's energy as glucose.
Herbivores eat plants.
Carnivores eat herbivores.
Every link in the food chain
depends on the transfer
of this glucose energy.
And in this forest,
one animal can't get enough of the stuff.
[humming]
The hummingbird.
[Alejandro] Hummingbirds can move
their wings over a hundred times a second.
[chirping]
[humming]
You can feel how much energy
they are spending just by being there.
This frenzy of activity
is fueled by glucose-rich nectar.
[Alejandro] This is a device that
from the front, it looks like a flower,
so a hummingbird comes
and it feeds from it.
And there is one.
It's going back and forth.
Come on, you can do it.
Uh Okay, so now, he's drinking.
The device measures
the nectar the bird is drinking
and the oxygen it is breathing.
We calculate the energy intake
from the nectar
and the energy output from the oxygen
and we can calculate very accurately
how much energy the bird is using.
A hovering hummingbird
consumes oxygen at an incredible rate.
Ten times faster than an Olympic sprinter.
The more oxygen it can get into its cells,
the faster it can burn glucose,
which unlocks the energy within.
On Earth, 21 percent
of the atmosphere is oxygen
fueling the diversity of life around us.
On Eden, there's ten percent more oxygen
than on Earth
so life here can be more diverse
more energetic
more competitive.
[panting]
[animals and birds calling]
Summer is breeding season for grazers.
Always fearful of predators,
they don't spend time finding a mate.
Instead, they produce worm-like spawn.
Each needs to fuse with another
to create an embryo.
For protection, they form a cocoon.
Suspended above the ground,
the embryos can grow,
away from predators.
Here on Earth,
the threat of death is a huge factor
in the evolution of life.
[David] Predation is everywhere.
There's not an organism out there
that doesn't run the risk
of being eaten by another organism.
The aspect that I'm interested in
is how predation shapes reproduction.
They're gonna be comin' in here.
This river is perfect
for studying guppy fish
and their patterns of reproduction.
- [man] Here. Here's another male.
- [David] Yeah, yeah.
This is an easy neighborhood.
Here, guppies live
with only one other species of fish,
and it's a fish that rarely eats guppies
or harasses guppies.
They can swim wherever they want without
any risk of somebody trying to eat them.
- Oh, right. There you go. All right.
- [man] Here we go.
Here we have some babies that
we just caught. We have five of them here.
They may look small to you, but that's
really big for a newborn baby guppy.
The guppies here invest a lot of effort
in relatively few offspring.
Downstream, it's a different story.
[David] Okay!
Wow.
This boulder
is a natural barrier, dividing the river.
Below it lurks danger.
A guppy life down here is
pretty much like the life of a fugitive.
You're always on the run from predators.
If a guppy were to swim out here
it wouldn't last a second.
The only defense
the guppies have
is to produce lots of offspring,
in the hope that some will survive
to adulthood.
Okay, I've two babies from up there,
where guppies live without predators,
and four from down here,
where guppies live with predators.
There's a dramatic difference in size.
Those that are from here
are much, much smaller
than the ones that I caught
above the barrier.
Moms don't have a big prospect of living
to the future, no matter what they do.
So the best strategy down here
is to make many small babies.
- [birds calling]
- [animal barking]
The guppies have evolved
two different ways of breeding.
Having a few large babies
or lots of small ones.
The deciding factor
is the threat from predators.
[David] If you're one of the prey items,
you're gonna die young,
so you better live fast.
You better put a lot into having babies,
because if you don't, you'll go extinct.
Such a strategy
would apply on any planet
wherever one species preys on another.
On Eden, the grazers have evolved
to breed fast.
They produce as many offspring
as quickly as possible
to ensure the survival of the species.
[birds squawking]
But in the forest,
they're never truly safe.
As summer ends,
the fungi grow orange-colored fruit
which attract grazers.
- [whoosh]
- [squeaking]
Spores within the fruit
spread an infection.
[growling]
[chatters]
Now, when predators attack,
infected grazers don't run.
They've lost their fear instinct.
[grazer squeals]
[predator chattering]
[squeals]
[growling]
It's an easy meal
but a poisonous one.
[wails]
The fungi have used the grazers
to infect and kill the predators.
Such complex relationships
between species exist on Earth
but not all are so lethal.
The Hadza are hunter-gatherers,
living off the land.
[man, speaking Hadza] My name is Palango.
As a man, my job is to hunt.
I always carry a bow and arrow
for protection
because the bush
has many dangerous animals.
One high-calorie food is prized
above all else.
Honey.
But finding fresh honey is difficult.
The bees move their nests
from season to season.
So the Hadza call on help.
[whistling]
[continues whistling]
[Palango, in Hadza]
Honeyguides are very clever birds.
[whistles]
They know where honey is,
and they will take you there.
[honeyguide chirping]
She makes a special cry
[whistling]
and I whistle back.
[honeyguide chirping]
[whistling]
If I follow her, she will lead me
directly to the honey.
[whistling]
- [honeyguide chirping]
- [Palango whistling]
The honeyguide has lived up to its name.
It's led them to a bees' nest
in a baobab tree.
The hunters need the bird
to find the bees.
And the bird needs the hunters
to access the honey.
[Palango] The honeyguides
take us to the bees.
But the bees are aggressive.
So she needs our help.
Climbing up a baobab tree
is very hard and dangerous.
One day I fell.
We use smoke to get the bees drunk
and chase them out of the nest.
The risk is worth it.
Fresh, rich, honey.
Palango makes sure
the bird gets its share.
It's a win-win situation.
A complex relationship between species
is known as symbiosis.
The richer the ecosystem,
the more complex the relationship.
On Eden, a deadly three-way symbiosis
has evolved
centered around the fungi.
- [twig snaps]
- [chattering]
First, they feed the grazers.
- [whoosh]
- [squeaks]
Then, they infect them
to poison the predators.
[wails]
And the fungi do all this
to grow their next generation
which feeds on the bodies
of the dead predators.
[bird calls echoing]
On Earth, fungi play a crucial,
but invisible role
in the life of any forest,
behind the scenes.
[man] So, I think most people think
the first complex life on our planet
was something like insects,
or maybe even the dinosaurs.
But, actually,
hundreds of millions of years before that,
really the first complex
multicellular organisms were these things.
Fungi.
We know of at least 140,000 species,
but that's likely to be less
than ten percent of the real total.
There's probably thousands
of different fungal species
just in this forest alone.
Okay, so we've actually got
three mushrooms here
and you can actually see these dotted
all throughout the forest.
But what's amazing
is that these mushrooms
are really just the tip of the iceberg.
When we look below the surface,
most of the fungus is actually
in these little tiny little threads,
that go all throughout the soil.
And this is called the mycelium,
and it connects
all of the other mushrooms in this area.
There can be tens of kilometers
of these tiny microscopic fungi
spreading throughout the entire soil.
The tree needs those fibers to survive,
because the tree can capture
carbon from the atmosphere,
and it provides that carbon to the fungus.
In contrast, the fungi access
nitrogen and phosphorus from the soil,
which they give
in exchange for that carbon.
So, really, it's a mutualism
that benefits both of the organisms.
Possibly the most extraordinary thing
about this mycelial system
is just how connected it is.
So, the fungi that are attached
to the roots of this tree
will also be attached
to the roots of that tree,
and that tree over there,
and they will also be connected
to their neighbors
via the same mycelial system
that is really going tree to tree to tree.
The mycelial network
is like a circuit of wires and nodes
through which information can flow.
And with it,
fungi can maintain the forest.
So, if we have one tree over there
that's dying,
it might reallocate more nutrients
towards that tree,
so that the tree can do better
and, as a result,
the fungal system does better.
Similarly, if there's disturbance
at some part of the fungal network,
it will remove nutrients away
so that it can minimize
the impact of that disturbance.
It's these invisible ecosystem engineers
that are keeping the entire system
functioning in a really healthy way.
This system has become known
as the Wood Wide Web,
and it sounds like a bit of a joke,
but, really, it doesn't function
so differently from the internet,
keeping all of the organisms
connected in the forest system.
[whirring sound effects]
This process is happening
all across the planet,
in every ecosystem we can imagine.
So, if we're gonna get a lush ecosystem
on some alien planet out there,
I bet you that it's underpinned
by something like
this massive mycelial system.
[birds calling]
[insects chirping]
- [squeaks]
- [whoosh]
Life in the forests of Eden is a trade-off
between fungi, grazers and predators.
[growling]
[wails]
But there are greater
celestial forces at play.
Eden has stronger seasons than on Earth,
greater fluctuations
of light and warmth from its twin stars.
[sniffing]
[chattering]
As winter approaches,
the remaining predators migrate
chasing the light.
[chattering]
The remaining grazers die.
It's the same every winter.
Nothing grows in the dark forest
[rustling]
[creaking sounds]
except the embryos in their cocoons.
[crunching sounds]
[rumbling sounds]
Just as the season starts to change
the grazers hatch
taking their cue
from the return of the twin stars.
[birdsong]
On Earth, life does the same thing,
using the seasons as a clock.
It's midsummer,
the longest day of the year.
[woman] There's a lot of fly fishermen
out this time of year
because this is the time of year
that the fish are biting,
because there is an abundant food source
in the river,
and that food source
are all these guys, the mayfly nymph.
So, we think of mayflies as flying around
on the land with us,
but they spend the vast majority
of their life cycle living down
on the bottom of the river,
developing, growing,
and it's all really building up
to this one time in the year
where they're all going to emerge.
Yellow Breeches River
feeds the Susquehanna.
Beneath these waters,
millions of mayflies
are primed and ready to go.
And when the sun sets, they emerge
[crowd cheering and applauding]
en masse.
[Allison] There are just so many insects
that seemingly came out of nowhere.
It really almost feels like
an alien invasion.
Mayflies live, at most, for two days.
In that time, they must find a mate
to pass on their genes.
[Allison] They have one shot,
they have one chance, and if they miss it,
it's game over for that mayfly.
[cheering and applause]
Once they've mated,
the females return to the river
to lay their eggs,
and then die.
[Allison] Each of these little white dots
is a mayfly
that successfully made it back
to the water and has laid eggs.
They are floating down by the thousands,
by the hundreds of thousands.
They have started the next generation
that will continue on
and do this again next year
in this really precisely timed event.
The rhythm of the seasons
is always dictated
by the tilt of a planet towards its star.
Earth is tilted at an angle
of 23-and-a-half degrees.
On Eden, that angle is 40 degrees,
so more light spreads across
more of the planet's surface.
And more light means more life.
It's spring, and there's food to eat
but the new grazers need to grow
as fast as possible
[distant roaring]
[roaring and chattering]
before the predators return
and the life cycle repeats.
Wondrous creatures
fed by glucose
powered by oxygen
nourished by starlight.
What is true on Eden
may be true throughout the universe
that all life depends
on the flow of energy.
How might life adapt
on a different world,
inhabited by intelligent beings,
intelligent enough to make a new home
among the stars?