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Once upon a time,
there was a tiny, neglected plant.

A plant capable of working wonders.

An ingenious and resilient plant.

Long underestimated.

It is a plant that excites
the passions of the scientists

working to unveil its mysteries.

It grows everywhere on the planet.

It transcends the landscape.

And gives us a glimpse
of surprising magical worlds.

This small organism tells
a marvellous story about our world.

Mosses are essential to
life on Earth,

and they have been reshaping
our planet since the dawn of time.

In Japan, mosses are revered.

The Japanese look upon them

as Westerners might look upon
a heavenly constellation,

with the same awe and wonder.

Here, the forces of nature,

such as the wind, the rivers,

animals, and moss

are venerated. They are careful
not to disturb the plant

and let it cover sacred sites.

They care for the mosses
with endless skill and patience.

They go out of their way to protect
and contemplate the mosses.

Every detail is important.

Anything that might disturb or harm
the moss is meticulously removed,

as if each sprig
were a priceless treasure.

The garden at Kokedera,

also known as the Moss Temple,

is an extraordinary sanctuary.

It is home to more than
120 species of moss.

Unlike the complex Latin names
used in Europe,

the Japanese give mosses
more delicate, intuitive names

like Spiral Moss...

..Whip Moss...

..Shining Branch...

..White Hair...

..and Grandfather's Beard.

Mould Moss is very easy to locate.

All you have to do is bend down,

take a sniff,

and let yourself be
guided by its characteristic odour.

Other mosses give off the aroma
of peppers, cucumbers or oysters.

In this temple, each sprig of moss

is treated like a precious jewel,

fragile and delicate.

But there are other,
less hospitable places

where the mosses can show off their
exceptional capacities for survival.

The volcanic highlands
of Lakagigar in Iceland

reveal some of
the superpowers of moss.

How did our frail little mosses

manage to invade these lunar
landscapes scorched by lava flows?

In 1783, one of the most
violent volcanic eruptions

of the last 10,000 years
happened here.

Magnea Magnusdottir
is an enthusiastic biologist.

She's studying the grey,
velvety moss

that covers the surface
of this area - the Racomitrium.

It has taken over two centuries

for nature to produce this
fragile coat of moss.

60 centimetres thick,

it covers this vast,
ten-metre-high lava field.

Over time,
the moss has grown thicker.

It has created a fertile,
stable topsoil

that allows flowering plants
and shrubs to grow.

The moss is a pioneer plant.

It has taken hold
where no-one expected it to -

in this harsh,
inhospitable landscape.

To understand how that was possible,

we have to go back to a key moment
in our planet's history.

450 million years ago, the oceans
underwent an enormous upheaval.

Algae took advantage of the tidal
ebb and flow to move onto the land,

gradually adapting
and evolving into mosses.

Their spread provided a layer
of soil over the volcanic rock.

These very first terrestrial plants

were one of the main sources
of oxygen in the atmosphere,

enabling other forms of life
to evolve and thrive.

Mosses have colonised nearly
the entire surface of the Earth,

transforming an arid planet
into a lush planet.

Mosses grow nearly everywhere
on the Earth.

We have discovered close to
25,000 species.

The conditions in the gorges
of the Toul-Goulic in Brittany

are ideal for mosses.

The light is filtered
by leafy branches.

And it is always humid.

Moss grows everywhere.

Moss specialists, or bryologists,

come from near and far to study
these mosses, or bryophytes.

Vincent Hugonnot is one of
France's leading bryologists.

He never goes anywhere
without his favourite tool.

Grasping the beauty of mosses

is first of all
learning how to look at them.

Observing them reveals surprising
and widely varying forms.

Because what bryologists like best
is recognising and naming mosses,

detecting the rarest species
and immersing themselves

in anatomical detail.

Close observation of the mosses

transforms them into lush jungles

inhabited by fantastic creatures.

An invaluable network
of living beings which spread,

decompose and regulate
the microflorae of the ground.

These miniature forests are home
to crawling springtails,

curious hairy moss mites

and slimy roundworms.

If we look even more closely...

..we can make out these unusual
micro shrimps, called rotifers,

and strange little
eight-legged creatures

that browse on the surface
of the mosses -

tardigrades, or water bears.

These amazing creatures
are quite resourceful.

They can slow down their metabolism
to withstand drought,

a fascinating adaptation
that they share with mosses.

This heightened tolerance to drought
and the moss' capacity to revive

when conditions become favourable
again are major assets.

They allow mosses to withstand
extreme conditions

better than any other plants,

even in the harshest environments.

A British ecologist came
face-to-face with this phenomenon,

called reviviscence,

on an expedition to the South Pole
to study global warming.

This is Peter Convey.

In 2014, he revived a moss plant
embedded in the frozen soil.

His discovery sent a shock wave
through the scientific community.

What we were trying to do
was to sample a core

through one of these
deep peat banks.

So several cores were taken

to be analysed for various chemicals

that are indicators of climate.

But we took an extra core

simply because we wanted to analyse

the biological properties

of the core itself.

So, not the chemistry,
not the climate reconstruction.

We simply wanted to see, was there
any life within the core itself?

We wrap it up carefully and cleanly.

We pack it into boxes
and we carry it

round about an hour and a half's
walk back to the station

where we can put it in freezers,
and that's all we do with it.

On the station,
we store them in freezers

until we can get them
back to the UK.

Peter Convey came to analyse
the soil chemistry.

This moss sample was not
the primary focus of his expedition.

But because he was interested in
the characteristics of bryophytes,

his attention was drawn
to the exceptional thickness

of the moss sample he took.

We have a very clear clue
that these moss banks are old,

for the very simple reason
that in the Antarctic

mosses grow about
half a centimetre a year.

So if you've got
a two-metre-thick moss bank,

you've got many centuries
of moss at the bottom,

you know it's going to be old.
The only way to test how old it is

is to use radiocarbon dating.

So the key thing, if we know
we've got a metre of moss -

we had a metre and a half
of the moss in this core -

we know that the bottom of that
is many centuries old.

So the next question was to find out
how many centuries old.

The thawed out moss
immediately showed signs of life,

and thanks to carbon-14 dating,
Peter made a remarkable discovery.

He had revived
a 1,500-year-old moss.

It was around when the Roman Empire
was on the decline.

I was rather excited!
I mean, that really...

It was a brand-new discovery.

This moss was happily growing away
on Signy Island

a millennia and a half
before we discovered Antarctica.

It's a step change
in our understanding

of how long something can survive
for. It obviously was alive,

we haven't created life, but
we've stimulated it back into growth

and it's by far the oldest one I'm
aware of that that's happened to.

Could it be that mosses
have discovered

the secret of immortality?

What is for certain is that
they are still full of mysteries.

And what about these colonies
of moss called glacier mice?

They can survive on ice.

Their most surprising characteristic
is not their tolerance for cold,

but their capacity to move
two and a half centimetres a day.

Neither wind nor gravity
explain this phenomenon.

So how do they do it?

One explanation
is that our glacier mouse

protects the ice beneath it
from the sun.

When the ice around it melts,

the moss is left perched
on a little ice island

it has protected
from the sun's ultraviolet rays.

It eventually tips over
and the process starts again,

slowly transforming the moss
into a rolling ball.

So much for the old saying

a rolling stone gathers no moss.

Mosses are discreet,
but grow all over the world.

They can cope with extreme
temperature swings

ranging from
-40 to +70 degrees Celsius.

Bryophytes include mosses
that can survive

in the hot springs in Iceland.

Like this moss, the Solenostoma,

that clings to rocks
in scorching Icelandic rivers.

Bryophytes are one of the organisms
most capable of adapting

to climate change.

How can a plant be so resilient?

How has it managed to grow
everywhere on the planet?

What is it secret?

The moss' extreme resilience
lies in its simplicity.

It is an organism that has
no flowers, no seeds and no roots.

The moss does not draw the
nutriments it needs from a soil,

but from direct contact
with air and water.

A few drops of water

are enough to trigger
the moss' reproductive cycle.

Water activates the spermatozoids,

which swim to the female gamete.

Fertilisation takes place.

And a fairy-like ballet begins.

After three weeks, the miraculous
cycle of life gets under way.

Long filaments rise towards the sky.

They are topped by small pods
which swell and open.

They explode, releasing thousands
of spores, like a firework display,

giving life to a new generation
of baby mosses.

Mosses have retained features

inherited from
their aquatic origins.

As they evolved,

they survived on a planet
with no atmosphere,

bombarded by the radiation
from the sun and space.

This could help explain their
resistance to the radioactivity

in the contamination zone
around Fukushima in Japan.

Professor Masaki Shimamura

is the director of the
Bryological Society of Japan.

He has been studying the impact of
the nuclear catastrophe on mosses.

This bioaccumulation by the mosses

has led Professor Shimamura
to conclude

that the forests and dams
are the most contaminated areas.

Rainwater soaks down
to the bottom of the valley,

where record levels of radioactivity
can be observed.

The radioactivity
is then captured by the mosses.

Lacking the protective cuticle found
on the surface of most plant leaves,

the water is absorbed
into the interior of the moss,

which then stores the contaminants.

Bryophytes are very sensitive

and respond quickly
to environmental changes.

Mosses are reliable early warning
systems which allow us to measure

the quantity of radioactive
pollution in contamination zones.

If their DNA is damaged
by pollutants,

they continue to develop,
even after a nuclear catastrophe.

But that is not all.

Mosses can also auto-regenerate

from a piece of stem
or a damaged leaf.

This miracle is possible thanks to
a cell only found in ferns, algae

and moss, which is capable of
reprogramming itself very quickly,

like a stem cell.

Like the heads
of the mythical Hydra,

each tiny,
ripped off fragment of moss

can give birth to multiple
autonomous clones.

A major asset
when it comes to expanding

and conquering new territories.

But this depends on our little moss
encountering no new pollutants.

Otherwise, it can become very
vulnerable, like here in Iceland,

near this geothermal plant

that uses volcanic energy
to heat the capital Reykjavik.

To withstand the poisonous Gaussian
plumes, the mosses need help.

Magnea has come to their rescue
with an original recipe.

It took her several years
to perfect it.

First, pick sprigs of moss,

taking care not to leave any holes.

Place the moss in a container

and carefully disentangle it.

Roughly cut the moss.

A garden strimmer may be used.

Pour in gallon after gallon
of fermented milk

and stir thoroughly

until you have a unique moss soup.

The mixture is transported
to the site of the damage

and applied by hand.

A milky crust develops,

holding the chopped sprigs in place,

and they rapidly multiply.

Thanks to Magnea's magic potion...

..and the capacity of the moss
to regenerate,

it will take less than two years
to restore this site.

Iceland is a sanctuary for nature.

The country boasts
some strange species of moss.

One of them even breathes.

But is it actually a moss?

The golden plover has a very special
relationship with the mosses

that grow on the Icelandic heath.

This bird lays its eggs
in the ground

in a little hollow dug by the male.

At birth, the chicks' down mimics
the moss and its environment.

The golden plovers'
adult plumage is dynamic,

but the chicks remain carefully
camouflaged on the heath.

In Vietnam, the mimicry is even
more marked in the mossy frog.

There are no soft,
velvety feathers here,

but a slimy, knobbled epidermis.

When in danger,
this amphibian freezes

and imitates a bryophyte
to hide from its predators.

The fox is also a valued friend
to a certain species of moss

that only grow on fox excrement.

Tetraplodon belongs to one of the
most elegant moss families on Earth,

but has a taste for faeces
and putrefaction.

It is also capable
of olfactive mimicry,

giving off a perfect imitation
of fox excrement odour...

..to attract coprophagic flies.

This is an effective collaboration
with the insect,

allowing the moss to spread
its spores by proxy into the wild.

A unique feature amongst mosses

and a fine example of collaboration

and co-evolution between species.

It reveals an aptitude in mosses
to adapt in order to survive...

..provided they do not
run into any obstacles.

Humans are hindering
the spread of mosses

and have declared war on them.

In many countries,

they are considered parasitic plants

associated with mould and decay.

They eliminate the mosses
with chemical herbicides,

which are also toxic for the wider
environment and even for humans.

A researcher at
the Sorbonne University in Paris

may have found a formula
that could change this approach.

Emmanuel Baudouin is working
on a patent for a natural herbicide.

The adventure began in 2017
when Bastien Nay, a chemist,

asked Emmanuel Baudouin
to work with him

on a naturally occurring
molecule - Radulanin A.

It comes from Radula,
a common moss found in our forests.

They discovered that this molecule

possesses amazing
herbicidal properties.

Emmanuel Baudouin
chose a tiny flowering plant

as a subject for his experiment.

Thale cress.
It is considered a weed.

He asked his team to mix the
Radulanin molecule from the moss

with the samples of thale cress
in a liquid solution.

The objective of the experiment was
to test the herbicidal properties

of Radulanin A on the cress plant.

It is an ironic twist
that this moss

could someday contribute
to the elimination of other mosses.

Even though we cannot explain why,

it possesses the same devastating
capacities as glyphosate.

Mosses, long overlooked by science,

are gradually yielding up
their secrets,

and new fields of exploration
are opening up for researchers.

On the majestic, wild
Japanese island of Yakushima,

the mosses communicate
with the trees.

The mountain is covered by a forest
of 1,000-year-old trees,

and is home to the yakusugi...

..giant cedar trees
which are considered sacred.

It is also a realm of mosses.

A pilgrimage site for bryologists
from all over the world.

In this fairy tale undergrowth
inhabited by deer and macaques...

..the mosses absorb considerable
quantities of water

which they redistribute
to the roots of the tall trees.

The thousands of species
of moss thriving here

still have many secrets to reveal.

Some protect the giant cedar trees
from pathogenic bacteria

thanks to their
antibacterial properties.

Like guardians,

they have a considerable effect
on the habitat that they colonise.

This antibacterial action shows
just how much science could learn

from these mosses
in the search for new medicines.

These tiny plants,
too long overlooked,

could play a pivotal role
in unexpected fields of science.

In one of Europe's oldest
observatories in Copenhagen,

astrophysicist Jophiel Wiis

and his colleagues
on the SpaceMoss programme

have genetically modified a moss.

His goal is to study the moss'
capacity to survive

in the hostile environment on Mars.

When you do space travel,

every kilo that you bring into orbit

or to another planet
is immensely expensive.

And just the medicine alone
for a three-year journey

where you want to make sure
that people are healthy

and come back safe,
you need so much medicine,

so much food, so much equipment
and supplies, so much of everything.

And if we can make a moss
that is capable of producing

certain types of medicine, then you
just have to bring a little patch

of the moss
that can produce penicillin

or whatever compound you're after.

In the near future,
moss could produce medicine

that astronauts
could cultivate on Mars.

On the condition, of course, that
Wiis' genetically modified moss

survives the Martian environment.

So how can the moss' resistance
be tested on Earth?

The members
of the SpaceMoss laboratory

at the National Institute of
Copenhagen came up with a solution.

They designed a machine

that artificially reproduces
the Martian environment.

On Mars you need something that's
very, very harsh and resilient.

Mosses can survive
a lot of extreme situations.

They don't grow very fast, but...

..they just stick around
when other things die.

And that's something you need
if you want to go to space.

OK, so we have the moss.

And the Mars Chamber.

And then we have the sluice here.

Which is the entrance
to the Mars volume.

And in here we can place
the moss...in the sluice.

Then we can go over here.

The sluice port...

Get the moss into the main chamber.

Close up the sluice port again,
all the way.

When the airlock closes,

the chamber becomes
completely airtight.

The moss then experiences
a simulation

of extreme atmospheric
conditions on Mars.

Pump in a lot of CO2 in order to
simulate the Martian atmosphere.

That's over here.

And on...

That creates a vacuum inside
of the tiny chamber.

So we have the Martian atmosphere
in the whole chamber

and then we have a tiny volume
where you also have the pressure,

or the lack of pressure.

That's the UV lamp turning on. And
then we have a Martian atmosphere.

Inside the chamber,
we have the Martian pressure,

the Martian radiation,
the temperature,

and if we also want Martian soil
and perchlorates,

we can put it under the sample
that we put into the chamber.

It is as if Jophiel's moss has been
transported 70 million kilometres,

and he can observe all the effects
of the Martian environment

on the moss plant.

And that's a very good
simulation of Mars.

Jophiel's modified moss survive
temperature swings found on Mars,

which can range from +25 degrees

to -120 degrees Celsius
in a single night.

The first stage of the research
has been completed.

NASA is interested
in the SpaceMoss programme

and has contacted the laboratory.

Jophiel is a candidate to join
the European Space Agency

and one day hopes to test
his mosses in outer space.

So we think of the Earth
as the blue planet

and we think of Mars
as the red planet.

But I think it would be so cool if,
in hundreds of years,

we would be looking up at Mars
and thinking about it

as the green planet, because mosses
had covered the entire surface.

It may or may not happen,
but I think it would be awesome.

But to me, personally,
I think travelling into space

and going to other planets

and becoming a multiplanetary
species is just...

..such a romantic idea.

For Jophiel, mosses might help
open doors to interplanetary travel.

These were the first plants to
successfully colonise our planet.

Could this scenario
repeat itself elsewhere?

In the course of evolution,
mosses have acquired the capacity

to resist extreme temperatures,
pollution and radiation.

Understanding their versatility
and resistance

could lead us towards
future discoveries

and allow us to imagine
new scientific perspectives.

These magical mosses work wonders

and we are only beginning
to understand their secrets.