Unit 1: Space Food

Narrator: Since the start of human space flight, NASA has worked to improve the quality
and variety of food for its astronauts. NASA food scientists design special menus that
provide astronauts with the food they need to live in space for long durations.

Eating on Earth is very different from eating in space. Space food needs to be easy to hold
and eat in zero gravity. It also needs to be healthy and taste good.

This is NASA's Space Food Systems Laboratory. Here, NASA's space food scientists work to
improve the astronauts' food. It's important that the astronauts get a balanced diet. A lot of
the food the astronauts eat is freeze-dried. When food is freeze-dried, most of the water is
removed from inside it, so the food becomes much lighter. Also, freeze-dried food can be
kept for a long time without needing to be stored in a fridge.

Astronauts rarely get the chance to make their own food, but it does happen on special
occasions. These astronauts are enjoying a pizza party! When Italian astronaut Paolo
Nespoli mentioned to his team on Earth how much he missed his favorite food, NASA sent a
variety of ingredients on the next supply ship. This included pre-cooked pizza bases, tomato
sauce, cheese wedges, and various topping options, including olives and pepperoni. The
astronauts used scissors to slice the floating pizzas, but only after letting them spin around
in microgravity for fun.
Unit 2: The Lion’s Roar

Narrator: Maybe you already know that lions are big cats. Weighing up to 500 pounds and
growing up to ten feet long, lions are the second largest members of the cat family after
tigers. But here are some things you probably didn't know about them.

Lions have extremely loud roars. A lion's roar can be heard up to 5 miles, or 8 kilometers
away. It can be as loud as thunder. Lions begin to vocalize—or make sounds—as soon as
they are born. But the sounds they make turn into roars at about one year old. Roaring
allows lions to communicate. Lions roar to tell others to stay away from their territory. They
also roar to communicate with other lions in their family.

Lions are the only cats that regularly live in social groups, called prides. These prides are
family units. A pride can have as few as three and as many as forty lions. Usually, one
dominant male lion leads each pride. But sometimes there can be more than one male lion
leading the family. The rest of the pride's adult members are females—lionesses. They work
together to catch food for the pride and to feed their cubs.

Lions were once scattered worldwide. About 124, 000 years ago, many different species of
lions lived all over the planet. This included the American lions of North America, and cave
lions that lived throughout Asia and Europe. Unfortunately, these lions became extinct by
8,000 B.C. Today, we have just two types of lion. The African lion from sub-Saharan Africa,
and the Asiatic lions of India. The numbers of these lions have declined due to poaching,
habitat loss, and disease. Only 20 thousand African lions remain in the wild, and only 500
Asiatic lions, leaving us all to wonder what the future is for the king of beasts.
Unit 3: Walking with Giants

Narrator: Rapa Nui (or Easter Island) is best known for its ancient statues, the Moai. For
some, these giant statues are evidence that aliens once visited earth, and that these aliens
made and moved the Moai. Scientists, however, have more earth-bound theories. Most
scientists agree that the stone statues were built far away from where they were eventually
placed. The question is, "How were they moved?"

In 1955, Norwegian adventurer and scientist Thor Heyerdahl suggested that the Moai were
perhaps dragged on top of tree trunks. This would have been very hard work, but it's
possible.

In 1970, William Mulloy, an American researcher, theorized that the Rapa Nui people used a
giant V-shaped frame to carry the Moai. However, others suggested this was unlikely.
Traditional stories say the statues "walked," so perhaps they were moved in a way that
looked like walking.

In 1986, Czech engineer Pavel Pavel worked with Heyerdahl to come up with a way of
moving a statue with a twisting motion. And a year later, Charles Love stood his Moai
upright, and rolled it forward on a sled on top of wooden logs. But for many, this still didn't
look like walking.

So in 2011, Terry Hunt and Carl Lipo tried a new approach. They looked at the shape of the
Moai statues standing along Rapa Nui's ancient roads and found that their bottoms were
not flat. As a result, they suggested another possible way the statues were moved. Perhaps
three small groups of Rapa Nui moved the statue. Two groups to walk the statue forward,
and one from behind to keep it standing. Hunt and Lipo tested their theory using a team of
18 people, and a specially-created 3-meter-high statue. It was a great success.

While no single theory has solved the puzzle of the walking Moai, they have provided
interesting new ideas about this ancient mystery.
Unit 4: Dragon Boat Festival

Narrator: Every year on the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar, people all over
the world celebrate "Duanwu Jie" or as it has become known in English, the Dragon Boat
Festival. The festival has been celebrated in China for over 2,000 years.

Customs vary from place to place—as do the boats. The longest boats can be 35 meters long
and need up to sixty people to paddle them. Each boat has a drummer. Team members
must follow the drummer's beat to make sure everyone paddles at the same speed. When
the drum beats get faster, the team paddles faster! In some places, the races are intense,
athletic contests, such as this tournament in Xi'an, Shaanxi. Crowds are treated to closely
fought races, as well as other forms of entertainment.

Another tradition of Dragon Boat Festivals is the eating of Zongzi—sticky rice dumplings
with various fillings. Like the festivals, the Zongzi flavors vary by region. Northern regions of
China prefer sweet zongzi, while southern areas prefer non-sweet versions.

Since 2008, the dragon boat festival has been celebrated as a public holiday in China. And, in
2009, the festival was added to the UNESCO World Intangible Cultural Heritage List. The
festival is likely to continue for many years to come.
Unit 5: Digging into the Past

Aubrey Jane Roberts: Climbing rivers! Like a boss! Knocking rocks down! Like a boss! Being a
young girl, loving dinosaurs is a little bit unusual, and everyone thought I was kind of weird.
But you sort of get over that, and just follow your passion, and it's sort of great, really.

I'm part of a research group which is based at the University of Oslo. We're searching for
these marine reptile fossils in rocks that were deposited underwater but through time have
been lifted up.

Being a paleontologist, I realize that it's actually quite backbreaking sometimes. The feeling
of finding something is amazing, just sort of turning over a rock and finding something
underneath makes your heart leap.

I love paleontology because there's always new scientific discoveries popping up all the
time—new dinosaurs, new prehistoric animals—there's always something new to discover,
and we know so little about the history of life.
Unit 6: Ocean Megabuilders

Narrator: The bright colors of coral reefs can be seen in warm seas all around the planet.
But they are not just beautiful, they are also hugely important to our oceans.

One: Corals are actually animals. Though they may look like colorful plants, coral are in fact
made up of tiny animals called polyps. Polyps can range from the size of a pinhead to a bit
larger than a basketball.

Two: Corals are mega builders. Each polyp builds itself a skeleton out of limestone. These
skeletons join together to form large colonies of hard corals. As polyp colonies grow over
hundreds and thousands of years, they join with other colonies and become reefs that can
stretch over hundreds of kilometers. The largest coral reef is Australia's Great Barrier Reef.
It began growing about 20, 000 years ago.

Three: Coral reefs are some of the most diverse ecosystems on Earth. Though they cover
less than one percent of the ocean floor, coral reefs are home to 25 percent of all sea
creatures. Up to two million species live in coral reefs around the world.

Four: Coral provide a window to the past. As coral grow over thousands or millions of years,
their limestone skeletons form layers. These are similar to tree rings. They vary in thickness
based on ocean conditions at the time. Scientists can study these layers to learn what the
Earth's climate may have been like in the distant past.

But what about the future? Unfortunately, climate change is dangerous for Earth's coral
reefs, the animals that live there, and the 500 million people around the world who depend
on reef fish for food. Unless we can slow down climate change, scientists warn that our
oceans could lose many of their colorful reefs by the end of the 21st century.
Unit 7: Flowers from Ecuador

Robin Peñaherrera: Well, we ship from the farm, on Friday night, gets on a plane on
Saturday morning. It goes to Miami, and from Miami it is trucked all over the United States,
and it takes anywhere between one to four days to get to the destinations all over.

Narrator: One of those destinations is Alan Woods Flowers. At the store, workers cut the
flowers, and put them in water so they start drinking and growing.

Allan Woods: At this shop, we will sell about 4,000 roses on Valentine's Day itself. It's the
single busiest day of the year for our shop in terms of dollar value—and stress. Most of
them come from Ecuador.

Nathalie Cely: Last year, we export to United States around 660 million of fresh cut flowers.
I would say that from that amount, a hundred million dollars are roses.

Narrator: Around 25 percent of roses in the United States come from Ecuador. Ecuador's
flower industry has grown quickly in recent years. This has helped create employment for
many people in the northern part of the country. Around 60,000 people now work in the
industry.

Nathalie Cely: But for myself, this industry is very close to my heart because 50 percent of
the job creation is for women.

Narrator: Many of Ecuador's flower companies also operate under fair trade laws. This
means that workers can expect to receive a fair wage and good working conditions. Robin
Peñaherrera has worked for 25 years in Ecuador's flower industry. He's seen the positive
changes the industry has brought about in parts of the country. But why are flowers so
popular?

Allan Woods: I've always enjoyed them. They're kind of addictive. Really brings a magic to
an interior.
Unit 8: The Legend of Marco Polo

Narrator: Italy 1296 A.D., the explorer Marco Polo is in jail. He is afraid he will die there,
alone and unknown. With the help of a fellow prisoner, Polo writes a book to tell the world
about his amazing adventures prior to his time in jail. Polo tells of the journey he undertook
to Cathay, modern day China, a civilization so advanced, they could predict the movement
of the moon and stars. According to historian Valerie Hansen, China then was a very foreign
place to Europeans.

Valerie Hansen: Maybe like the South Pole is to us today. That you can go, but it's a huge
journey; not many people go.

Narrator: Polo's tale has become one of the most famous adventure stories ever written.
But some wonder, could this incredible story really be true? According to his story, Marco
Polo set off for China in 1271 A.D., traveling as a merchant. His unparalleled journey took
him over 8,000 kilometers along the routes of the old Silk Road. Eventually, he reaches the
remote Taklamakan Desert. Modern day explorer Charles Blackmore knows how dangerous
the Taklamakan can be.

Charles Blackmore: The temperature of the desert is formidable in the summer. The
temperature can reach up to 130 degrees Fahrenheit. There's no water in the desert, there's
no wells, so you're walking through a sea of sand, and it's very difficult to think that you
might come out the other end.

Narrator: Polo claims he did just that, and made it all the way to Shangdu and the summer
palace of Kublai Khan. But some people have their doubts.

Valerie Hansen: The reason I don't think Marco Polo went to China is that there are basic
factual inaccuracies in the book. He says he's at a battle that took place in 1273, and we
know the battle took place in 1268, which is before he gets there.

Narrator: One of the things Marco Polo describes in his book, is a fish that was a hundred
feet long that had fur on it. Others, who believe Polo's claims, point to details that could not
have been invented in Europe. Marco Polo, for example, was the first European to write
about coal.
Marco Polo: Throughout the province of Cathay there are large black stones dug from the
mountains, which burn and make flames, like logs.

Morris Rossabi: Marco Polo was definitely in China, I am absolutely convinced of it because
of the tremendous detail in his book.

Narrator: In it, Marco Polo describes Kublai Khan's great summer palace.

Marco Polo: The hall is so vast that it could sit six thousand for one banquet.

Morris Rossabi: The city was excavated in the 1930s, and they found that the placement of
the buildings and the style of the buildings was exactly the way Marco Polo had described
them.

Narrator: Whether Marco Polo did make it to China or not, his tale would be translated into
many languages, and inspire many more explorers. As it will for a long time to come.
Unit 9: The Global Village

Narrator: Welcome to New York City. There are people here from every corner of the world,
raised in different cultures, with different experiences. Today, some New Yorkers are
attending a very special meeting. These people all took part in the Genographic Project.
They have taken DNA tests to learn about their ancestors. Together, they are going to travel
back through time and find out where we all come from.

Presenter: Good morning everybody. How are you? Let's wave those flags!

Narrator: First, everyone is divided into five groups. They are grouped according to the
region of the world their most recent genetic ancestors moved to.

Presenter: You are basically standing in the part of the world, if you imagine this is a world
map that your ancestors came from most recently.

Narrator: Each group is given a different colored flag. The red flags represent the people
whose ancestors arrived in North and South America about 14,000 years ago.

Presenter: So, these are descendants of the first inhabitants of the Americas, the Native
Americans. So, you guys are the farthest point on the human journey! Now I'm going to
switch all the way to the other extreme of the globe. This big group over here, the
Europeans! Let's see those flags!

Narrator: The blue flags represent people whose recent ancestors came from Europe.

Presenter: Your ancestors were pretty amazing people, too.

Narrator: They began living in Europe about 35,000 years ago. But the genetic tests show
that before they came to Europe and the Americas, the ancestors of both groups lived in
one region: Central Asia.

Presenter: You all share a genetic marker in common, a guy who was living in Central Asia
around 40,000 years ago. So, at that point, there were no Europeans, there were no Native
Americans, there were Central Asians.

Narrator: And now the pink flags representing people from East and South Asia. Their
ancestors arrived in Asia about 45,000 years ago.
Presenter: Now if we could ask everybody in Central Asia and everybody in East Asia to
coalesce over here to the Middle East, around 50,000 years ago or so.

Narrator: As we can see, Europeans, North Americans, South Americans, East Asians, and
Southeast Asians all share a common ancestor in the Middle East. So we are now down to
two groups: one in the Middle East, the other in Africa. Will they too join together?
Absolutely. But where? Where did humans live first? In Africa! Human beings only moved
from Africa to the Middle East about 60,000 years ago.

Presenter: Welcome home, everybody!

Narrator: This means that all of us alive today can trace our family histories back to Africa.
In fact, we have spent most of our history as a species—3/4 of it—living only in Africa. From
there, our ancestors began their journeys all around the globe. But what does this news
mean to the people who participated in the project?

Participant: We're all very, very similar, no matter what we say or do, no matter what
language we speak. We're all the same.

Narrator: Just think—every person on the planet is connected to every other person. We
are truly one world.
Unit 10: The Sled Dogs of Greenland

Narrator: Greenland's sled dogs are one of the world's oldest breeds. They are descended
from animals that traveled with the Inuit people when they began their journey from Siberia
to Greenland a thousand years ago. Until recently, they had been a necessity to their
owners—hunters and fishermen who live on Greenland's ice. But as global temperatures
rise, the landscape is changing. And as the landscape changes, so do traditions which have
been around for centuries.

Finn Sistall, a fisherman, grew up with sled dogs. His family needed them to cross the ice,
which was solid for more than half the year. But that is now a thing of the past. In Greenland
today, there is simply less solid ice, and most fishermen use boats instead of dog sleds. So,
Finn's family had to give up their team of 19 dogs.

The town of Ilulissat is home to 4,500 people and 4,000 dogs. Teams of sled dogs have quite
simply become an expense most families can no longer afford. Many of these unwanted
dogs are therefore left out in the cold with little care and not enough food. But there is
hope. Marit Holm is a vet who works to help the dogs.

Marit Holm: So, that's what I do, I drive around and look after the dogs.

Narrator: Marit specializes in sled dog care. Every day, she patrols the town looking for dogs
who need help. The government has also passed laws that say owners must take better care
of their dogs.

Marit Holm: The dogs are hungry, so I have to be a little bit careful not to get bitten.

Narrator: Marit checks each dog, and cares for the sick. She also teaches the owners and
their children, the next generation of Greenlanders, to take better care of their dogs.

Marit Holm: It doesn't seem to be sick. He's very skinny. So, I have to try to find out who's
the owner and talk to him.

Narrator: With help from people like Marit, the future for the sled dogs is looking a little
brighter.
Unit 11: Smile Trial

Narrator: A smile is a powerful thing. Did you know that when you smile at someone, they
are likely to smile right back? But did you also know that a fake smile is one of our most
common non-verbal lies. Today, we're going to test your ability to spot a fake smile. One of
these smiles is real, and the other is fake.

Which one do you think is fake?

If you picked the one on the left, you were correct. OK, let's try that again!

The one on the right is fake. Were you surprised? It's harder than you thought, right? If you
didn't get these correct, you're not alone. Research showed that people only get the correct
answer about 50 percent of the time.

So, how do you spot a fake smile? First, you need to know what a real smile looks like.
Scientists have learned that a real smile involves the muscles around the eyes. A genuine
smile is called a "Duchenne smile". Guillaume Duchenne was a scientist who in the mid-
1800s ran experiments to learn about facial expressions. He used electricity to move the
muscles around people's mouths, making fake smiles. Then he compared them to real
smiles by telling his test participants a joke. And the difference was clear. What he
discovered was that a real smile causes the muscles around your eyes to move, creating
lines—or crinkles.

Scientists now know this is because real smiles are made by the area of the brain related to
emotion, so our whole face moves. But a fake smile is made by a part of the brain called the
motor cortex. This part controls movements that we choose to make. Now that you know
the trick, let's see if you can pick out the fake smile.

Which smile is real? The right? Or the left? Look closely at the eyes.

The smile on the left is real. Want to try another one? What do you think? See how the skin
around the eyes moves?

The left smile is real. Okay. One more. Which smile is real? Right or left?

Can you see how her eyes are different on the right image? That's the real smile.
Unit 12: Sea Caves

Nicolas Barth: Yeah let's go for it! I actually went to New Zealand to study the other side of
the island. But to satisfy my curiosity, I started exploring this coastline. And that turned out
to be the day that I actually discovered the longest sea cave in the world.

Narrator: To survey the cave, geologist Nicolas Barth and his team paddled their canoes
through the cave's tunnels. They discovered that Matainaka Cave is around one point five
kilometers long—70 percent longer than any other sea cave in the world.

This cave system on the Otago Coast contains six of the ten longest sea caves in the world.
Exploring sea caves is a very difficult task. Some parts of the cave are extremely narrow.
Others are filled with water right up to the ceiling. The team must swim underwater to find
their way out to the next section of the cave.

In this part of the cave, the team found some creatures called isopods. In larger rooms, they
found some impressive rock formations. These formations carry a record of climate change
over time. It's one more piece of the global climate puzzle.

The team is also studying the cave for evidence of past earthquakes and tsunamis. Such data
helps geologists understand the area's risk for earthquakes and tsunamis in the future. The
team also mapped the cave using both traditional 2-D cave surveys. And also, newer 3-
dimensional surveying tools. With these 3-D tools, the geologists can get better data about
the shape and structure of the caves. Barth's study of Matainaka Cave has also shown that it
is around 80,000 years old and getting about 2 centimeters deeper each year. But there is
still a lot of work for these geologists to do, and future studies will hopefully reveal even
more about this incredible place.