Unit 1: Sport Climbing

Narrator: Sport climbing is more popular than ever before. And its origins can be traced
back to the walls of the Verdon Gorge in France 40 years ago.

Emily Harrington: Modern day climbing and mountaineering began in the European Alps.
Climbers during that time considered the outlying cliffs to be more like training grounds for
the bigger objectives in the mountains. The Verdon Gorge was actually big enough and
inspiring enough to become an objective in its own. Matt and I have known each other since
we were kids, growing up, climbing in the gym, doing competitions. It's sort of fitting that
we would come back and explore the origins of sport climbing together.

Matt Segal: On Verdon! It's pretty good here. It's absolutely an amazing limestone canyon.
It's kind of equated to the Grand Canyon of France, but in climbing terms, I would consider it
more of, like, the Yosemite Valley of Europe.

Emily Harrington: The early climbers, the early mountaineers in the 1960s actually thought
that the Verdon Gorge was impossible to climb. It was too big; it was too blank, and it was
too difficult.

Francois Guillot: Our objective was to, in the summer, go in the Alps and do big ascents as
alpinists. So, at that time, the Verdon was not even considered as a place climbable. But I
decided to have a double-check.

Alan Carne: The Verdon in the late 70s—it wasn't really a climbing destination. There were
relatively few routes here, just these big crack systems.

Narrator: Until the early 1980s, the only way to climb Verdon was using anchors along
cracks in the rock. The huge blank walls were too challenging. But then new technology
introduced a new era in the history of climbing. For climbers like Francois Guillot, the hilti—
a new type of power drill—began a climbing revolution, allowing climbers to try much more
challenging routes. They could just focus specifically on pure difficulty. Pichenibule was one
of the first routes where climbers began to climb out onto the flat rock faces rather than
using cracks in the rock.
Emily Harrington: You can't just be strong. You have to be a rock-climber.

Narrator: One of the pioneers in tackling these overhanging rocks was J.B. Tribout. In the
mid-1980s, he developed a new route called The Specialist, which was much more
demanding than any previous routes.

Alan Carne: This vision really set the pace for the direction that sport climbing would go
over the next several decades. We're still just beginning to realize how hard we can climb.
And that passion for pushing limits that's started here in the Verdon continues around the
world today.

Francois Guillot: The concept of hard depends on how strong you are.

Alan Carne: Sport climbing is evolving faster and stronger than it ever has. And it's inspiring
to think that it all began almost 40 years ago within the walls of the Verdon Gorge.
Unit 2: The Beauty of Ugly Food

Ron Clark: They could be a little sunburnt, they could be a little too big, a little too small.
There's just a lot of produce that, uh, doesn't make it to market.

Narrator: There's nothing wrong with this produce except that it's ugly.

Jordan Figueiredo: Most produce standards are grocery chosen. So they think that their
customers want to see produce that looks like a perfect size, a perfect shape. Approximately
26 percent of produce in the US gets rejected based on these specifications. The cosmetic
standards don't affect taste or nutrition at all.

Narrator: And those cosmetic standards are pretty strict. California pears, for instance, are
sorted in massive packing sheds. Each pear is examined for looks, size, and shape. The
perfect looking pears are boxed and shipped to retailers. A pear with nicks and bruises will
be sent to canneries and juicers. But then there is the fruit that breaks the rules: Too big,
too small, or just goofy looking. Those pears are tossed right in the trash.

Chuck Baker: When I see pears that I've grown, it makes me sad that they're going to throw
it away. Nothing real wrong with it. I think it's got a mark on it from rubbing the bark. The
mountains of fruit that we waste is amazing.

Narrator: Every year, farmers throw away 6 billion pounds of ugly or misshapen produce
simply because grocery stores won't buy it. But one businessman thinks consumers would
actually buy ugly food, if they had the choice.

Ron Clark: It's up to us to put pressure on the retailers and use all of the food that farmers
grow for us. We're trying to introduce this whole new concept to American consumers.

Narrator: Ron Clark co-founded a start-up called Imperfect that sells slightly flawed produce
at a steep discount. The company buys produce that would otherwise be tossed from farms.

Ron Clark: I spend many, many years walking orchards like this and identifying sort of the
sweet spot in the distribution system where it's just a little below market grade but way
above processor grade.

Narrator: Since July, the company has rescued 11 thousand pounds of California pears.
Ron Clark: You wouldn't believe the number of growers that are calling us right now
because there's such a pent up demand out there. As far as scalability, this could just blow
up. We're in a great California chain called Realies, and we're doing a pilot program with
them and ten other stores. They've agreed to be the first major grocery chain in America to
feature this kind of produce. If American consumers embrace this, then other chains start to
pick it up. I think the floodgates are going to open.
Unit 3: Protecting Pandas

Narrator: If there's one animal that lives up to the saying you are what you eat, it's probably
the giant panda. What giant pandas eat affects many different parts of their lives.

For one, giant pandas have to eat, and eat, and eat. Pandas can spend more than half of
each day eating. This is because pandas mostly eat bamboo, which is a giant woody grass.
Bamboo is a very poor of source of nutrition for pandas. It's low in protein and high in fiber,
a material which is very difficult to digest. Since 99 percent of a panda's diet is bamboo,
pandas need to eat a lot of it, 9 to 18 kilograms a day.

Pandas also have tiny cubs because of their poor diet. Baby pandas are born blind, helpless,
and tiny. They weigh just 140 grams and are about one thousandth the size of their mother.
No other mammals' babies are born so much smaller than the adult of its species. This, too,
is partly due to their bamboo diet. But once born, panda cubs grow quickly. One-year-old
pandas can weigh about 45 kilograms.

Pandas' black and white fur may help them camouflage. Once again, we can look at a
panda's diet to help understand why its fur is the color it is. In winter, many animals lose
their darker fur and grow white fur. But since pandas are always moving around in search of
bamboo, they can't change their fur quickly enough to match their background like other
animals can. So being both black and white may help them to hide in snow, as well as
among the dark leaves of the forest. In the past, pandas lived in and traveled across much
larger areas of land and faced multiple predators. So, at the time, they may have relied
more on their black and white camouflage.

Today, however, the main threat to pandas is not from predators, but rather from a loss of
bamboo. Human development has driven wild pandas into the mountains, away from their
usual habitats and the bamboo they need. Climate change also threatens more than a third
of the bamboo habitat that pandas rely on.

The good news is that the giant panda is no longer classified as endangered, only vulnerable.
Today, about 1,850 pandas remain in the wild in China, an increase of 17 percent over the
past decade.
Unit 4: Earthquakes 101

Narrator: The ground starts to shake, walls shift, and glasses rattle. Soon, everything begins
to collapse. These are signs of what could be a powerful earthquake. We've seen the
destruction they cause. Some of us may have even lived through one. And we know they
can be devastating. But where do they come from?

While the ground beneath us may seem solid, the surface of the earth isn't completely
stable. Earth's crust is made up of 12 major tectonic plates. These huge pieces of land float
on super hot magma and constantly move around. They shift, bump, and push against each
other. When the movement of two plates against each other is violent enough, an
earthquake is created. The stronger the earthquake is, the more destruction it will cause.

The most violent earthquakes start in a subduction zone where one tectonic plate is pushed
beneath another. While one plate is pushed downward, the other is pushed upwards. This
type of quake hit Nepal in April 2015, destroying many buildings and killing over 8,000
people. And when this type of quake happens under the ocean, it can create giant waves
called tsunami, which have killed thousands in Japan and Indonesia. On average,
earthquakes kill about 10,000 people per year. Sometimes numbers are even higher. The
shallow quake that hit Haiti in 2010 killed over 300,00 people, making it one of the deadliest
on record.

It is estimated that there are 500,000 detectable quakes on earth each year. 100,000 of
these can be felt. And 100 of them cause actual damage. The magnitude, or strength, of a
quake is measured using the Richter scale, which runs from zero to ten, ten being the
strongest. Every whole number increase means ten times more movement on the ground.
In recorded history, the world has never experienced a ten on the Richter scale. But
scientists predict an average of at least one major earthquake of magnitude 8 or higher
every year. And we need to prepare for them.

Engineers are designing buildings that are stronger and more flexible, and scientists are
looking for ways to predict future earthquakes and learn when and where they will strike
next. All this is done in hopes that we can one day learn to predict earthquakes accurately.
Then we'll be able to protect more homes and countless lives from once deadly
earthquakes.
Unit 4: Earthquakes 101

Narrator: The ground starts to shake, walls shift, and glasses rattle. Soon, everything begins
to collapse. These are signs of what could be a powerful earthquake. We've seen the
destruction they cause. Some of us may have even lived through one. And we know they
can be devastating. But where do they come from?

While the ground beneath us may seem solid, the surface of the earth isn't completely
stable. Earth's crust is made up of 12 major tectonic plates. These huge pieces of land float
on super hot magma and constantly move around. They shift, bump, and push against each
other. When the movement of two plates against each other is violent enough, an
earthquake is created. The stronger the earthquake is, the more destruction it will cause.

The most violent earthquakes start in a subduction zone where one tectonic plate is pushed
beneath another. While one plate is pushed downward, the other is pushed upwards. This
type of quake hit Nepal in April 2015, destroying many buildings and killing over 8,000
people. And when this type of quake happens under the ocean, it can create giant waves
called tsunami, which have killed thousands in Japan and Indonesia. On average,
earthquakes kill about 10,000 people per year. Sometimes numbers are even higher. The
shallow quake that hit Haiti in 2010 killed over 300,00 people, making it one of the deadliest
on record.

It is estimated that there are 500,000 detectable quakes on earth each year. 100,000 of
these can be felt. And 100 of them cause actual damage. The magnitude, or strength, of a
quake is measured using the Richter scale, which runs from zero to ten, ten being the
strongest. Every whole number increase means ten times more movement on the ground.
In recorded history, the world has never experienced a ten on the Richter scale. But
scientists predict an average of at least one major earthquake of magnitude 8 or higher
every year. And we need to prepare for them.

Engineers are designing buildings that are stronger and more flexible, and scientists are
looking for ways to predict future earthquakes and learn when and where they will strike
next. All this is done in hopes that we can one day learn to predict earthquakes accurately.
Then we'll be able to protect more homes and countless lives from once deadly
earthquakes.
Unit 5: Ha Long Bay

Narrator: As the sun rises on Vietnam's Ha Long Bay, boats big and small leave the shore,
sailing over emerald waters through the maze-like channels that link the bay's sixteen
hundred islands. For centuries, this unique seascape has inspired wonder. This region of
northeastern Vietnam has been home to humans for thousands of years. However, most of
the islands remain uninhabited and largely unaffected by human hands, even though the
bay is very popular with tourists.

The name Ha Long is Vietnamese for descending dragon. According to one legend, when the
Viet people were attacked, a dragon flew down from heaven to protect them. The creature
sprayed not only fire but also emeralds and jade stones that formed Ha Long's jewel-like
islands. Scientifically, these islands are rock towers called karsts. They were formed over
millions of years, as seashells and sand fell to the sea floor and eventually became solid
limestone. Rain and rivers flowed over the stone, carving deep channels between each
tower. The karst towers at Ha Long Bay are unique because they are half covered by sea
water which has cut even further into the stone, forming caves and tunnels that visitors
today can explore.

Adding to the wonder of this landscape, are two national parks on On Cat Ba island and Bai
Tu Long bay. Together, these natural sanctuaries make up the On Cat Ba archipelago which
has been a protected site since 1994 and is enjoyed by visitors from all over the world.
Unit 6: World of Caffeine

Narrator: From morning coffee to afternoon tea, today, caffeine is a daily part of life for
millions of people. But just what is caffeine? Caffeine is a chemical compound that occurs
naturally in coffee beans, tea leaves, cacao beans, and some tree nuts. From these, we have
been making caffeinated beverages for centuries.

In its different forms, caffeine entered our diets at different times, in different places
around the world. For instance, coffee became popular in the 15th and 16th centuries,
especially among the people of the Ottoman Empire. But cacao beans may have been
consumed in Mesoamerica thousands of years earlier, from around 1400 BC. Likewise, while
the origins of tea drinking in China, according to legend, date back over 5 thousand years, it
only really caught on in Britain from the mid-18th century.

Today, caffeine can be found nearly everywhere, and more and more caffeinated products
are available from traditional beverages to caffeine-infused energy drinks. In the United
States, nearly 90 percent of the population has at least one caffeinated drink every day. Up
to 400 milligrams of caffeine (or about 4 cups of coffee) is considered safe for an adult.
However, some consume even more than this amount. Too much caffeine for any one
person can cause negative side effects such as migraines, insomnia, nervousness, and
muscle tremors. In fact, 1 tablespoon of pure caffeine, equal to drinking 75 cups of coffee at
once, can cause lethal results.

As such, while caffeine may provide benefits such as increased focus, alertness, and energy,
consuming too much can have considerable risks.
Unit 7: Wave Power

Narrator: In our quest to find new sources of renewable energy, engineers are turning to
the ocean, a resource that has one big advantage over all of its competitors.

Richard Yemm: I think we can say that, effectively, the opportunities are unlimited. 70
percent of the world's surface is covered in oceans, and all oceans generate large waves and
there is power available on any coastline facing those.

Narrator: Wave power is accessible to everyone, and advocates say that it could provide
energy for hundreds of thousands of homes. Richard Yemm agrees. His invention, aptly
named Pelamis, after a tropical sea snake, looks just like that: a giant red snake, floating on
the ocean's surface. And as it bounces up and down on water, it turns the power of the
waves into electricity. Here's how it works: waves move the cylinders floating on the ocean's
surface. Inside the cylinders are hydraulic ramps. These water pumps force the water
through a hydraulic motor under high pressure. And this, in turn, drives an electrical
generator which produces electricity. Pelamis can generate 750 kilowatts of energy but the
plan is to create farms of these sea snakes.

Richard Yemm: The kind of format that we would expect would be an array of machines
sharing mooring points between themselves to create a grid of, perhaps, thirty, fifty, a
hundred machines covering a couple of square miles of sea surface.

Narrator: And that's enough electricity to light up a small city. The technology was first
tested in a lab where wave stimulators recreated all types of weather conditions. Then,
scale models were created and tested in open water. But the real challenge lies ahead.

John Constable: I imagine it's going to be quite challenging. These are very powerful forces,
particularly for those traveling with waves. They've really got to design the technology to
survive in a very hostile place, the sea.

Narrator: After five long years, the time has finally arrived to test a life-size prototype. And
it's happening here, off the coast of Scotland.

Richard Yemm: The premise is unique in that it combines features which are very
survivable; it's long and thin so when big waves come through, its streamline presents the
minimal area to these ocean monsters and storms. But it's that same long, thin form that, in
small ways, is the optimal hydrodynamic shape for capturing power.

Narrator: But, today, the team runs into a problem. One of the hydraulic ramps
malfunctions and Pelamis is taken back to shore for repairs.

Richard Yemm: I think survivability as being a critical issue for everyone in the marine
environment. It's one of the biggest factors that we must address if we're going to create
economic wave energy.

Narrator: And creating economic energy is key. Pelamis already has its first commercial
client in Portugal. After years of tests, the first machines were in place and generating
energy in Portugal in 2008. The potential of wave power is tremendous, accessible to all,
and limitless in supply. Some believe it may very well change the way we think about energy
in the future.

Alex Salmond: This is technology which doesn't offer tens or even hundreds of megawatts
of power. As we get better at it, as it's deployed, as we get the economies to scale, as the
technology is honed and improved, this is technology of gigawatts of power.
Unit 8: Building a Rain Forest

Narrator: Home to thousands of living animals and about 20 million specimens, the
California Academy of Sciences is the largest green museum in the world.

Chris Andrews: Creating a living rain forest inside a building, in San Francisco, is a challenge.

Narrator: The rain forest exhibit is like nothing else in the world. Guests can walk up a spiral
ramp, inside the glass dome, all the way up through the trees to the canopy. They can also
ride a glass elevator all the way down to a tunnel under the forest. A lot of work was put
into bringing the rain forest to life. Inside the dome is a towering rain forest that's rich with
life. Chris Andrews was one of the many people involved in creating this rain forest.

Chris Andrews: We're standing here with this great view, sort of halfway up the rain forest,
if you will. And you're seeing the birth of a rain forest. We've got our major trees in here
now; that are about seven of those and those are obviously going to grow in over time and
reach the top of the dome in here. So it's hot, it's humid—it will feel like a rain forest, it will
smell like a rain forest; we've toyed with the idea of getting some mosquitoes and letting
them go in here so you'll—just kidding—so you'll get the whole experience. But the goal
really is to have people get kind of an essence of rain forest. You can never ever replace
nature with these kinds of exhibits. But hopefully what you can do is give people just an
inkling of what it might be like.

Narrator: Beneath the rain forest, the new aquarium has the deepest tank for a coral reef in
the world. You could fill 5000 bathtubs with all the water in the tank. Where does all that
water come from? Straight from the Pacific Ocean. So the fish and corals are all living in real
ocean water. Water is let in through valves and it takes several hours to fill the coral reef
tank. Chris Andrews describes bringing in the animals to their new home.

Chris Andrews: It's like a modern-day Noah's ark, in a way, where except the animals aren't
coming in two by two, they're coming in dozens or hundreds, or sometimes only in ones.
And it's the ones that are in ones that are obviously extremely precious.

Narrator: And one of those precious animals is Diego, a turtle, who was carefully
transported to his new home.
Animal Handler: He's doing good; he's very relaxed inside the tub here so it should be really
easy to move at this point.

Narrator: Diego is only one of the many types of animals living in this artificial coral reef.
There are now many other species such as stingrays and sharks, as well as four thousand
other fish at the California Academy of Sciences.
Unit 9: Drone Delivery

Matt Sweeny: There's already more than half a million drones that have been registered in
the US. There's nothing quite like a flying robot delivering a package into your hands within
minutes of placing an order. That is a magical experience.

Narrator: That magical experience isn't as far away as you might think. Flirtey is the first
company to get government approval to make deliveries by drone, beating out Amazon and
Google.

Operator: Uh- D.Z. IP. Are you ready to go? Ok, we are clear and ready for you to deliver.

Narrator: We're in the desert outside of Reno Nevada, at a secret site where this small
startup regularly tests its delivery drones.

Spencer Soper: And what is this scenario we're thinking about today, tell us about that,
what the customer application of this would be?

Matt Sweeny: So, the customer application is simple. You open your smart phone, you push
a button in order to order over the counter medicine. We load up a package, they take off
vertically, they fly based on pre-defined GPS coordinates to the customer's home location or
smart phone location. And then when the customer is ready to receive the delivery, the
drone hovers at about fifty feet, which is above trees, above buildings, and above power
line.

So, it was at about hundred feet, it paused, and now it's coming down to 45 feet to hover
and lower the package to us. We've designed custom packaging to ensure that cold food
stays cold, hot food stays hot, and delicate foods stay unbroken.

So, Spencer, another Flirtey drone delivery.

Spencer Soper: Chili dog here. Pink bismuth here.

Matt Sweeny: Exactly.

We then fly back and land autonomously where we took off from, reload the drone, and
conduct that delivery again.
Narrator: All that testing in the desert is paying off. Flirtey drones are already delivering
Domino's pizza in New Zealand. And, in July, Flirtey teamed up with 7-11 to make the first
drone delivery of over the counter medicine to a customer's home in the United States.

Matt Sweeny: When we're operating in a neighborhood near you, we'll be able to deliver to
you within ten minutes of you placing an order. We've designed and built our drones to
carry up to five and a half pounds for up to ten miles. The hexacopter is powered by lithium
polymer batteries so they're electrically powered green aircraft.

Narrator: Right now, Flirtey is beating the tech goliaths in drone delivery. The next step is
turning that head-start into profit. To do that, Matt Sweeny will have to convince a lot of
shoppers that a magical experience of a box dropped from the sky, is worth a premium
delivery fee.

Matt Sweeny: Why does society need drone delivery? If you're hungry, would you want
your pizza delivered by drone or by cars during peak hour traffic? And if your kids are sick,
would you want the over the counter medicine, delivered from 7-11 within ten minutes by
Flirtey or would you prefer to load your kids into the car at night and take them down into
the store? And within several years, drone delivery will be as common as seeing a truck
delivering packages on the street today.
Unit 10: Brain Power

Narrator: The brain is the most complex organ in the human body. As part of our nervous
system, it coordinates all of the body's functions. An adult brain weighs about 1.4 kilograms.

It is divided into four main areas: the cerebrum, the cerebellum, the brain stem, and the
diencephalon. The largest section is the cerebrum, which makes up over three quarters of
the brain's volume. Made up of neurons and nerve fibers, it receives information from
neurons all over the brain and body and controls higher functions such as learning,
reasoning, and speech, plus senses like sight and hearing.

Under the cerebrum is the second largest part of the brain, the cerebellum, which is also
made of nerve cells and nerve fibers. These fibers carry signals to other parts of the brain
and spinal cord. The cerebellum is responsible for coordinating muscle movements,
particularly those that control the body's balance.

The third area, the brain stem, lies in front of the cerebellum, and connects the brain to the
spinal cord. It is made up of three parts. These help the brain process sensory information
such as taste, control the body's movement, auditory, and visual processing, and create
motor and sensory pathways between the brain and the spinal cord. Then, together, these
three parts of the brainstem control functions like cardiac activity, respiration, digestion,
and sleep.

The fourth area, the diencephalon, makes up the core of the brain. and the hypothalamus
and pituitary gland, which help process sensory information and produce and regulate the
brain's chemicals. These chemicals help to control our weight and behaviors like eating and
drinking. Together, the brain's four main parts make sure our body functions correctly.

Through exercise and a balanced diet, we, in turn, can help keep our brain healthy so that it
continues to keep our body working well for many years to come.
Unit 11: The Genius of Picasso

Narrator: Where does genius come from? According to Pablo Picasso, his own journey to
becoming a genius began at birth with a puff of smoke in the face from his uncle's cigar. But
it is more likely that Picasso was simply born with a rage to master, a strong drive or passion
to succeed and push the boundaries of art. This drive led Picasso to buck traditions and
create new styles of art.

I am not in favor of following any determined school, he said, because that only brings
about similarity among adherents. When Picasso moved to Paris at the age of 22, he spent
time with many other creative artists and writers. They inspired one another, and from this,
emerged Picasso's most famous contribution to art history. A new style of art called cubism.

Cubism showed us the world as Picasso saw it: a world of irregular shapes and unusual
forms. A picture used to be a sum of additions, Picasso said. With me, a picture is a sum of
destructions.

Throughout his career, Picasso often reinvented his medium and style and made thousands
of works of art including sculptures, drawings, and paintings.

Scientists have discovered that art like Picasso's invites us to think creatively. It's because
our brains enjoy taking the incomplete clues and filling in the missing details. Picasso's effect
is to make us see the world differently. It's part of what makes him an artistic genius. For
Picasso, the picture lives only through the man who is looking at it.
Unit 12: Mysteries of Pluto

Narrator: At the edge of our solar system, lies the dwarf planet, Pluto. It's located within the
Kuiper belt—an area filled with thousands of small icy celestial bodies. While it's one of the
largest objects in the Kuiper belt, Pluto is only half as wide as the United States and about
two-thirds the size of Earth's moon. It takes two hundred and forty-eight earth years to orbit
the sun. And it does so from a distance of 3.6 billion miles, 40 times the space between the
Earth and the sun.

This extreme distance from the solar system's main source of heat means extreme
temperatures for Pluto, ranging between minus two hundred and twenty-six and minus two
hundred and forty degrees Celsius. Due to the frigid temperatures on Pluto's surface, its
core, made of rocks and metals, is covered with a mantle of ice.

And its crust is made of rock material and layers of frozen gases. These frozen gases cover
Pluto's surface which stretches over 6.4 million square miles, making it a little larger than
Russia. The icy terrain there is much like Earth's with polar ice caps, valleys, plains, and
craters. But unlike Earth, Pluto has giant mountains of ice, floating on rivers of frozen
nitrogen.

Pluto was first discovered in 1930, by American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh. It was named
after the Roman god of the underworld, and was considered the solar system's ninth planet.

But in 2006, Pluto lost this status after objects of similar size to Pluto were discovered in the
Kuiper belt. These discoveries caused scientists to re-consider Pluto's status as a planet.
They decided that a true planet, has to: orbit the sun, not be a moon, have enough mass to
form a round shape, and also be able to clear its own path of orbit of debris. This, Pluto
cannot do. So, Pluto was removed from our list of true planets and re-classified as a dwarf
planet.

Pluto's story represents our continuing search for new discoveries and our ever-changing
understanding of the universe.