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National Geographic The Invisible World
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Though remarkably sensitive and |
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the human eye is an extremely limited |
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narrow window on our world |
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In the fragile film of a soap |
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unseen realm a miniature liquid |
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too small for our eyes to see |
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Vivid detail is also hidden within |
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Many events are simply too fast to |
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When time is compressed |
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once motionless sights magically |
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A voracious army of fire ants |
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It is an awesome |
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day long process too slow |
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Beyond the spectrum of visible |
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and extraordinary sights images |
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which elude the naked eye |
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Today, as never before |
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cameras and other instruments |
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that see are radically expanding the |
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of our vision and knowledge |
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and altering forever our image |
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Join us now on a visual journey beyond |
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on a voyage into "The Invisible World" |
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We are visual creatures |
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reliant on our eyes as our primary |
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Able at a glance to estimate size |
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measure depth, register movement |
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and instantly distinguish s million |
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our eyes are the most highly developed |
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Yet, despite our eyes' amazing powers |
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and remarkable versatility |
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there are infinite sights around |
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which we are totally blind |
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If our vision is expanded beyond |
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a whole new world of experience |
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Through the specialized eyes of |
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Fleeting movement hidden by time... |
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details shrouded by distance |
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are revealed as vivid images |
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which our eyes alone could |
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The camera must often come to the aid |
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What thousands of eyes have |
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we must rely on a camera to |
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Possessed with powers to reveal |
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that our unaided eyes cannot |
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cameras and other imaging tools are |
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reach of our vision probing |
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and unimagined realms that lie hidden |
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We delight in exploring the world |
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But even up close |
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our eyes can barely resolve objects |
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that are one three hundredths of |
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the size of a tiny grain of sand |
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What seems very small in human scale is |
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but the threshold of a microcosm |
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In a tiny drop of water |
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a bounty of life too small to see |
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Like spaceships from an alien world |
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delicate creatures called plankton |
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through their seemingly |
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Completely unknown until the invention |
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the discovery of plankton and other |
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When seen for the first time |
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it was difficult to believe |
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that living things could be so |
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drop of water could contain |
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Indispensable tools of science |
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modern microscopes fitted |
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with cameras can now easily |
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that were seen when man first |
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Bacteria. Discovered in 1674 |
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their tiny size and great abundance |
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A slice of leaf revealed a complex |
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which no one had dreamed existed |
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Blood was seen to be composed of |
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The sight of a cell dividing |
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of nature-another astounding discovery |
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which would help to lay the foundations |
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With a microscope that filters |
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the composition of the physical |
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When a liquid transforms into |
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when water turns to ice-the |
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that will form its structure |
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Recorded on film at actual speed |
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we can witness the other invisible |
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Seeing with a beam of electrons |
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a powerful new instrument called |
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has penetrated an uncharged level |
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For David Scharf, a researcher |
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it is a means to explore a whole |
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Though we seem to be leaving some |
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our voyage, in fact, is much |
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The cratered terrain we have left |
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the size of a grain of sand |
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The fragile structure of an alyssum |
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In the vacuum chamber of |
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a focused beam of electrons |
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across the flower's surface to |
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Zap |
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Through the microscope's probing eye |
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the tiny flower reveals a delicate |
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When magnified more than 20,000 times |
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we can see single grains of pollen |
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If we spy a little closer on the |
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we might come to feel like strangers |
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Zigzags of rough-hewn channels |
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are a magnified view of |
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in an ordinary phonograph record |
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This barren, rutted terrain is not |
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It is the porous surface of the |
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A tangled network of sinuous fibers |
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when enlarged 4,000 times |
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hardly resembles what we usually see |
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as a smooth sheet of writing paper |
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In the sofas and beds of even our |
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microscopic dust mites quietly |
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Like miniature dinosaurs from |
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their bodies rarely grow large |
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Dependent on us for survival |
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dust mites feed primarily |
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which our bodies constantly shed |
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What at first sight appears to |
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is actually a precision instrument |
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Its roughly chiseled surface offers |
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that this clumsy contraption is |
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actually the complex movement of |
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Our skin itself hides a miniature world |
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from the normal view of our eyes |
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When seen at high magnification |
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an alien landscape appears |
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Stubbles of hair grow like tree |
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whose complex ecology supports |
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On almost any strand of hair |
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In numerous forms, their population |
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and skin numbers in the tens |
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Our intimate fellow travelers |
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fungi have lived with us through |
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to establish a permanent niche |
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in the habitat of our skin |
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In the roots of everyone's eyelashes |
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called Demodex folliculorum |
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Apparently they cause us no harm |
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But why they are there and exactly |
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what they do have yet to be discovered |
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The varied micro-landscapes on the |
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also fall prey to less |
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Meet Pediculus humanus capitis |
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the head louse a tiny |
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which lives its life firmly attached |
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Sarcoptes scabiei, the scabies mite |
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is a microscopic creature that makes |
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by burrowing directly into the skin |
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On the warm, moist regions |
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there is life in enormous abundance |
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Bacteria the simplest form of |
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A single bacterium can multiply to |
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more than a million in about |
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and mo matter how much we wash |
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millions remain on our skin |
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Each of us is the keeper of a huge |
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In fact, at any given time |
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there are as many creatures |
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as there are people on Earth |
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If our numerous companions do |
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at least we have the consolation |
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that we are never completely alone |
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At the Enrico Fermi Institute of |
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a new frontier of the microworld |
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Using a powerful electron microscope |
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which took 14 years to develop |
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Dr. Albert Crewe has captured |
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what no one had ever seen |
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You are looking at atoms-uranium atoms |
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The smaller single specks are |
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each with a diameter of only a |
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The larger masses are clusters |
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Colorized artificially to enhance |
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atoms exhibit unpredicted movement |
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revealing that solid objects |
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when seen on an atomic scale |
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are actually a sea of moving particles |
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The level of magnification |
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on the home TV screen is |
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maybe 20 million, depending on |
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That's about the equivalent to blowing |
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to the size of the Earth |
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The ability to see single atoms |
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could have considerable importance |
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Where it will lead is very |
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except what we have is |
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a new way of looking at |
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And every time you have a new way |
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you find out something new |
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We are exiled from other worlds |
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In a world of motion |
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there is infinite detail too fast |
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In the 1870s an ingenious photographer |
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invented a way to record movements |
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A wager about the stride of |
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brought Muybridge to the stock farm |
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With a battery of 24 cameras |
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that were activated by threads |
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Muybridge captured aspects of motion |
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that had never been witnessed before |
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Muybridge's patron had bet that all |
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were sometimes simultaneously |
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Stop-action photography proved him |
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By projecting his photographs in |
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the first motion pictures were born |
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The movement of people as well |
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for Muybridge a passionate |
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Much more than just a |
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Muybridge's pioneering work was the |
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of the dynamics of physical motion |
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Today, modern high-speed cameras |
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with a clarity that Eadweard Muybridge |
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Slow-motion film is now |
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in analyzing athletic performance |
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For Dr. Gideon Ariel |
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a physical education expert |
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and a former discus thrower on the |
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slow-motion film is just the first |
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in the scientific coaching |
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Dr. Ariel has turned to the computer |
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for aid in the analysis of movement |
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Slow-motion film of an athlete |
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by frame onto a recording screen |
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Each touch of a sonic pen transmits |
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the dynamically changing positions |
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Human movement is governed by |
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that apply to the entire |
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And from the visual information |
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the computer can rapidly calculate |
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acceleration, and velocity in the |
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Computer-created images combined |
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with a mass of numerical data |
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where athletic technique |
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So, what coaches in the past thought |
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we are finding out you can not do |
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You have to quantify. |
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With the advent of computers |
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with much more objective |
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reliable information on how |
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Dr. Ariel's computer analysis |
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thrower Mac Wilkins revealed |
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that useful energy which would |
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was being wasted on ground friction |
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Additional force was being spent |
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by not rigidly planting his forward |
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Based on this analysis |
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Wilkins altered his |
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Several months later |
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in international competition |
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he threw the discus over 13 feet |
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and set a new world record |
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In a remarkable laboratory at the |
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time and motion are |
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With the aid of a pulsating |
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Dr. Harold Edgerton can freeze a flurry |
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Dr. Edgerton developed the strobe |
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Unable to see how electric |
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when they rotated at various speeds |
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he designed a light which |
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and brightly that motion seemed |
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Now we're going to do an experiment |
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bullet-a very high-velocity bullet |
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The playing card will be attached |
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The bullet will come out of the |
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If we aim it correctly |
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And we want to turn on a light |
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a very special strobe light |
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than a millionth of a second |
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in order to stop the bullet |
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and make a sharp, clear photograph |
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The sound of the bullet will trigger |
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which creates an image on film |
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A first shot will |
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Here we go |
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Now, the event as the strobe |
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Less than a millionth of a second |
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Another striking example of the |
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what Edgerton calls "making applesauce" |
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Perhaps the most dramatic of |
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combines the powerful strobe light |
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with a high-speed |
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There you go. All set? |
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Stretching events thousands of times |
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that can be seen and studied |
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The explosion of a firecracker |
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now slowed down 1,200 times |
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Examine the "plop" of a milkdrop |
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and it becomes a magical vision of |
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Unbounded by our human sense of time |
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specialized cameras can also record |
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For nature cinematographer |
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the technique of time-lapse |
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provides a fascinating window |
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on an otherwise hidden realm |
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By taking single photographs at longer |
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time and events are compressed |
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The two weeks it takes for |
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are telescoped into several seconds |
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A bunch of unripened bananas mature |
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The natural world is alive in ways |
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we cannot see-constantly in the |
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Over a period of days |
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tiny worms devour the leaf of a tree |
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An apple provides a week-long meal |
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for dozens of hungry grubs |
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In only four days a dead field |
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by a mass of maggots |
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From the unstoppable process of decay |
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there inevitably springs new life |
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in full and beautiful abundance |
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Even the passage of years is not |
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for the time-lapse camera |
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In less than half a minute |
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a boy can grow from four to 20 |
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and then return again to childhood |
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Our eyes perceive the world |
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only in the language of light |
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Yet light, visible light |
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is but a narrow slice of |
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within an infinite spectrum of |
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that constantly vibrate |
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When scientists analyze light |
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breaking it apart into its |
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the familiar rainbow of colors |
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Colors are the brain's code |
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for the wavelengths of light |
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Beyond this band of energy |
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The world around us hides |
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from our limited |
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By equipping a camera with |
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we can see the world reflected |
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light-the invisible wavelengths |
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In the 1930s, scientists discovered |
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that honeybees have |
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that extends beyond our own |
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On its daily search for nectar |
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the bee can sense its surroundings |
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Some flowers we see |
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have a very different |
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When viewed in ultraviolet light |
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new shadings and patterns appear |
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Helping to guide the bee |
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ultraviolet markings |
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have been discovered |
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Unseen ultraviolet rays stream |
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but they are only one kind of |
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that we must rely on cameras to reveal |
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We see the light of a burning match |
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but an image of its heat eludes us |
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If our eyes could see the part of |
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where red light turns to |
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our view of the world would suddenly |
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A technique called |
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allows us to see heat energy |
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that constantly flows all around us |
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A valuable new tool in medicine |
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super-sensitive infrared cameras |
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can detect slight variations |
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which often signal early warnings |
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of cancerous tumors and other diseases |
| 00:35:26 |
Each color represents a one-half |
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Red areas are the warmest |
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To a doctor's trained eye |
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the body's varied heat patterns |
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of vital diagnostic information |
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By photographing a subject |
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only the outer surface details are |
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Using another form of energy |
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we can penetrate solid matter |
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Discovered in 1895 |
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x-rays were briefly considered |
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by some to be a threat to |
| 00:36:51 |
However, fears were allayed at |
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and the x-ray was quickly put to use |
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as a valuable new tool of medicine |
| 00:37:12 |
Today, the power of the x-ray |
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is expanding our knowledge |
| 00:37:19 |
When fragile Egyptian mummies are |
| 00:37:23 |
scientists gain new insight into |
| 00:37:33 |
What time and wrappings have hidden |
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x-rays can still reveal |
| 00:37:42 |
X-rays of Yuya, a royal adviser |
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show obvious dental disease |
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Thuya, his wife, suffered painfully |
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from arthritis and a badly curved spine |
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The infant Pediamon received a less |
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His arms were amputated and his legs |
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were broken to fit an undersized coffin |
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For an unidentified mummy |
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Legs are intact |
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but the torso is |
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Pharaoh Amenhotep I |
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X-raying directly through his |
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that his body had been damaged |
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and repaired by priests |
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Perhaps no pharaoh is better known |
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that the young king Tutankhamun |
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Penetrating rays show that |
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was constructed in several parts |
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He beard was added last |
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attached to the chin by |
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The body of King Tut itself has |
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in hopes of finding evidence as to |
| 00:39:10 |
X-rays, however, show a young man |
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And unless there is evidence still |
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the reason for Tut's early death |
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Sound, like light, or heat, or x-rays |
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radiates all around us in the form |
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This image of a human hand was made |
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Using this technique |
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doctors can now see soft |
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that was not safely |
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Sensitive sound-imaging cameras |
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revolutionizing prenatal care |
| 00:40:07 |
Okay, I'm just going to |
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A tiny developing fetus can be seen |
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and monitored during growth |
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Seen here in profile |
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the fetus arches its back |
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It hiccups... then moves its arm |
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The baby's now sort of turned around |
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and it's looking at us to see |
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I can take a picture of the baby |
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I'll put this freeze frame |
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Today, a mother's first baby picture |
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with sound before the child is born |
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Pretty good |
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And everything else looks fine |
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The baby's moving around a lot |
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The baby's heart is beating fine |
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and you have a normal amount of |
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Who's it look like? You or Brad |
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I think it looks like me |
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A striking means of |
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at the turn of the century |
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of energy emanating from our bodies |
| 00:41:30 |
It is known as Kirlian or |
| 00:41:33 |
and almost everything filmed |
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with this technique shows an |
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Controversial and only |
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Kirlian photography is now |
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as a possible diagnostic tool |
| 00:42:04 |
To make a Kirlian photograph |
| 00:42:06 |
a finger is placed over a sheet |
| 00:42:09 |
which receives a burst of electricity |
| 00:42:11 |
from a metal plate beneath it |
| 00:42:13 |
When the film is developed |
| 00:42:15 |
the Kirlian aura appears |
| 00:42:20 |
Dr. Thelma Moss has conducted research |
| 00:42:23 |
on Kirlian photography at UCLA |
| 00:42:26 |
People are always asking |
| 00:42:27 |
"What is this Kirlian |
| 00:42:29 |
And the answer is |
| 00:42:31 |
But we've got some ideas |
| 00:42:35 |
because they are not the |
| 00:42:37 |
about what exists around |
| 00:42:39 |
We believe that not only is |
| 00:42:43 |
but that we are emanating |
| 00:42:46 |
that is energetic-bioenergetic |
| 00:42:48 |
if you like-and that tells us |
| 00:42:53 |
what is going on inside the body |
| 00:42:55 |
Kirlian fingertip images taken over |
| 00:42:58 |
as a depressant drug takes effect |
| 00:43:03 |
A mild stimulating drug seems to |
| 00:43:12 |
These Kirlian photographs record |
| 00:43:14 |
of a woman's monthly menstrual cycle |
| 00:43:28 |
A yogi's hands before |
| 00:43:29 |
and then during a state |
| 00:43:37 |
Though powerfully evocative |
| 00:43:38 |
the meaning and value of |
| 00:43:41 |
still remains largely unknown |
| 00:43:43 |
With further research it may prove |
| 00:44:03 |
At the Fermi National Accelerator |
| 00:44:06 |
we are being brought ever closer |
| 00:44:12 |
With huge, exotic equipment |
| 00:44:14 |
scientists are working to better see |
| 00:44:16 |
and understand the smallest |
| 00:44:20 |
of which all matter is made |
| 00:44:24 |
Only 25 years ago, atoms |
| 00:44:28 |
neutrons, and electrons |
| 00:44:31 |
were regarded as the |
| 00:44:35 |
Today it seems that atoms |
| 00:44:37 |
even tinier things called quarks |
| 00:44:48 |
Fermilab is, in a sense |
| 00:44:49 |
the world's largest and |
| 00:44:53 |
an awesome collection of machinery |
| 00:44:56 |
and see the objects within |
| 00:45:02 |
Buried underground |
| 00:45:04 |
a four-mile ring of powerful magnets |
| 00:45:08 |
which is rapidly accelerated |
| 00:45:10 |
When fired at their target |
| 00:45:12 |
they will act like a powerful hammer |
| 00:45:20 |
The process begins with |
| 00:45:22 |
and a massive jolt of power |
| 00:45:30 |
Hurled within seconds to nearly |
| 00:45:33 |
the beam of particles is aimed to |
| 00:45:37 |
The collision will be photographed |
| 00:45:54 |
When projected onto |
| 00:45:57 |
the resulting pictures show the |
| 00:46:00 |
by hundreds of liberated |
| 00:46:07 |
Each type of particle has its own |
| 00:46:11 |
of curving or spinning lines |
| 00:46:16 |
By carefully recording and studying |
| 00:46:19 |
we are gradually learning more |
| 00:46:22 |
and most elusive units of |
| 00:46:25 |
unseen entities called quarks |
| 00:46:30 |
Quarks, however, may well be composed |
| 00:46:34 |
We still do not know where, or if ever |
| 00:46:37 |
the world of the small will stop |
| 00:46:50 |
High above the Sonoran Desert |
| 00:46:54 |
the Kitt Peak National Observatory |
| 00:46:57 |
onto the realm of the very large |
| 00:47:02 |
The world's biggest collection |
| 00:47:04 |
Kitt Peak is dominated |
| 00:47:06 |
by the 19-story dome of the powerful |
| 00:47:17 |
Like most modern optical telescopes |
| 00:47:19 |
it is really a colossal camera with |
| 00:47:21 |
which to photograph the sky |
| 00:47:29 |
Galaxies. Only 60 years ago their |
| 00:47:34 |
But with the construction of larger |
| 00:47:37 |
thousands were seen and photographed |
| 00:47:40 |
Today astronomers estimate |
| 00:47:42 |
that the universe contains at least |
| 00:47:46 |
each with 100 billion stars |
| 00:47:56 |
Powerful instruments like |
| 00:47:59 |
are now seeing the heavens |
| 00:48:01 |
than has ever been possible |
| 00:48:04 |
Its light-collecting mirror can |
| 00:48:08 |
more than six million times fainter |
| 00:48:18 |
Astronomers today rarely |
| 00:48:20 |
look through a telescope directly |
| 00:48:28 |
An array of computers and image |
| 00:48:31 |
and make visible objects |
| 00:48:32 |
that the eye alone is not sensitive |
| 00:48:40 |
Artificial colorizing shows |
| 00:48:43 |
that would otherwise be missed |
| 00:48:47 |
Revealed on the telescope's computer |
| 00:48:51 |
the world's first image of the surface |
| 00:48:57 |
Known as Betelgeuse |
| 00:48:58 |
it lies 600 light years from Earth |
| 00:49:02 |
The computer-colorized contrasts |
| 00:49:04 |
are believed to be huge regions of |
| 00:49:09 |
Resolving this image through the |
| 00:49:12 |
a grain of sand from several |
| 00:49:20 |
Probing ever deeper into |
| 00:49:23 |
the powerful eye of the |
| 00:49:25 |
our horizons toward the limits |
| 00:49:30 |
From this exploration |
| 00:49:31 |
new and astonishing sights |
| 00:49:34 |
clues to such baffling questions as |
| 00:49:37 |
What are stars? |
| 00:49:42 |
Does the universe have an end |
| 00:49:57 |
At the Salt Lake City campus of |
| 00:50:01 |
a frontier of vision that was once |
| 00:50:03 |
as remote as the darkness |
| 00:50:05 |
has now been dramatically entered |
| 00:50:12 |
Craig has been totally blind |
| 00:50:16 |
But in a bold experiment |
| 00:50:18 |
doctors have surgically implanted |
| 00:50:21 |
of his brain an array of 64 tiny |
| 00:50:29 |
This ingenious feat of |
| 00:50:32 |
allows Craig to be literally |
| 00:50:47 |
Bypassing his useless eyes |
| 00:50:50 |
doctors can send images in the form |
| 00:50:53 |
directly to the visual center |
| 00:50:56 |
Okay, Craig, that's fine |
| 00:51:01 |
For Craig, it is a strange |
| 00:51:04 |
with his long lost sense of sight |
| 00:51:08 |
When Craig was linked to a |
| 00:51:10 |
he reported "seeing" both vertical |
| 00:51:13 |
and horizontal lines |
| 00:51:18 |
In this experiment |
| 00:51:19 |
a computer system will |
| 00:51:21 |
of dots representing the |
| 00:51:25 |
It is the same six-dot code |
| 00:51:32 |
The images that Craig sees will |
| 00:51:39 |
Go. First word |
| 00:51:43 |
I |
| 00:51:44 |
Okay, next word |
| 00:51:45 |
Okay. "H", "A", "D", had |
| 00:51:52 |
Next word |
| 00:51:53 |
"A", "C", "A", "T", cat, "A", "N", "D" |
| 00:52:07 |
Next word |
| 00:52:08 |
Craig has little trouble "seeing" |
| 00:52:11 |
that will form a sentence |
| 00:52:12 |
but scientists are working toward |
| 00:52:15 |
I had a cat and ball |
| 00:52:18 |
Researchers now foresee a day |
| 00:52:20 |
when a miniaturized system-including |
| 00:52:23 |
electronics in the glasses |
| 00:52:25 |
and electrodes on the |
| 00:52:27 |
artificial vision for the blind |
| 00:52:37 |
In the time it takes to blink an eye |
| 00:52:39 |
cameras can transport us to wondrous |
| 00:52:44 |
Revealing once hidden places that span |
| 00:52:46 |
from the reaches of outer space |
| 00:52:51 |
the magic eyes of cameras are |
| 00:52:55 |
our knowledge and perception |
| 00:53:07 |
In coming years |
| 00:53:08 |
our vision of the world will be |
| 00:53:13 |
For today we have only begun |
| 00:53:16 |
the invisible worlds all around us |
