All language subtitles for The.Proof.Is.Out.There.S06E11.1080p.WEB.h264-EDITH_track3_[eng]

- Tonight on "The
Proof Is Out There."

A photo bomb in Brazil.

Did this man capture a UFO
while snapping a selfie?

- He alleges that
his home was raided

by soldiers looking
for more evidence.

- [Tony] Could a
massive burst of energy

be a sign that we are not alone?

- Some say that the burst of
energy would be something

that's propelling
a giant spacecraft.

- [Tony] A mystery
over Skinwalker Ranch?

What's this flying above one

of America's most notorious
paranormal hotspots?

- I was about to pass
Skinwalker Ranch.

They were just leapfrogging
between clouds.

I was so dumbfounded.

- [Tony] A mysterious
Roman artifact.

Did the ancients master
stunning modern technology?

- There are some who believe

that the Lycurgus
Cup is so advanced

that the Romans simply could
not have created it themselves.

- [Tony] And, a gigantic
creature is lurking

by the side of a road.

Is it a hungry Bigfoot?

- Sasquatches are
known scavengers.

People have reported seeing
these things eating roadkill.

- Around the globe are videos,

[witness screaming]

photos,

And sounds that
defy explanation.

[electric whirring]

- [Expert] We don't know
where they come from,

who made them, or
how they operate.

- [Tony] What are they?

- [MJ] Some sort of
bizarre mutation.

- [Marc] What's exciting
is nobody really knows.

- Extraordinary claims
need extraordinary proof.

- I'm Tony Harris,

and as a journalist
for more than 30 years,

I've followed the facts
where they take me.

Now, I'm bringing that
spirit of investigation

to the world's strangest
sounds and images.

- [Witness] It's
coming towards us.

- [Tony] We'll analyze
each one with top experts.

- It's a credible case,
it's a credible video.

- [Tony] And pass a
verdict on what it is.

- This video was clearly faked.

- The proof starts now.

[dramatic music]

Good evening and welcome to
"The Proof Is Out There."

Can you guess the Oxford
English Dictionary's

Word of the Year for 2013?

It wasn't swag, it wasn't YOLO.

It was selfie.

That means both the word

and the pictures have
become commonplace.

But have you ever seen a
selfie photobombed by a UFO?

You're about to.

It's 2011 at Chapada Diamantina
National Park in Brazil.

Eddie Moralez is driving out

to a remote waterfall
when he says

he notices a mysterious
craft hovering above his car.

Eddie quickly jumps
out of the vehicle

and makes a run for it, but
not before capturing this.

A perfectly spherical
orb appears to float

behind a visibly shocked Eddie.

He takes several photos
with the object,

each one adding to the mystery.

In some, the objects
appear metallic.

Others show what look like three

small landing lights
around the bottom.

But Eddie isn't out
of the woods yet.

- According to
Eddie, he was unable

to start the car immediately
after his sighting.

And there's a lot of accounts

where people see objects
hovering in the sky

and experience car trouble.

Electrical systems fail,

and the belief is that the
UFO is somehow disrupting

the electrical signals
from the technology.

- [Tony] When Eddie
finally does make it home,

he shares the photos online,

dubbing them the first
ever UFO selfies.

The pictures draw
massive attention,

but according to Eddie,
it's not all good.

- He alleges that his home

was raided by soldiers

in military camouflage,
looking for more evidence.

And they subjected him
to intense interrogation,

so intense, in fact, that he
was hospitalized as a result.

- [Tony] According to some,
this wouldn't be the first time

the Brazilian government
has concealed claims

of UFO activity.

It all goes back to one

of the country's most
famous UFO cases,

which occurred 34 years prior
and about 1,000 miles north

in a town called Colares.

- The Colares UFO
incident of 1977

is what we call a mass sighting.

So several hundred people in
the town saw strange lights,

and several alleged that they
were injured by these lights.

- [Tony] The Brazilian
Air Force even

investigated the
claims, in an effort

known as Operation Prato,
which means Operation Saucer.

- Officially, the Brazilian
government has come out

and said that it found no
evidence of anything unusual.

However, some ufologists believe

that that's simply a coverup.

- [Tony] So what's
going on in Brazil?

Maybe Eddie's photos
can reveal the truth.

- A lot of people online
believe that the base

of this round object,
that reflective part,

shows distant worlds

and acts as a sort of
portal to a far away place.

There's people who believe
that what Eddie saw

was not necessarily
a UFO as an object,

but rather a portal
to another dimension.

[camera clicks]

- I'm terrible at this.

Selfies are usually meant
to capture our best selves,

but they can capture
a lot more than that.

For example, in March of 2025,

a South Carolina thief
accidentally snapped a selfie

while stealing a trail
cam from someone's home.

Take a look at that.

He captured proof
of his own crime.

But did Eddie's selfie
capture proof of a UFO?

[tense music]

- We don't see any
propulsion system.

We don't see any flight
control surfaces.

There aren't many
conventional objects

that can maintain a perfect
spherical shape in flight.

- [Tony] True, but
we can think of one.

- I think, perhaps, one of
the more plausible theories

is that this might be some
kind of spherical drone,

which is usually
a permeable shell

around a coaxial drone,

but it looks a
little bit too solid

to be that type of drone to me.

- [Tony] Then could this
be something as simple

as a water droplet
on the camera lens?

- This looks a little
bit like a drop of water,

but water drops on the lens,

even if you use a macro
lens, aren't in focus.

You actually have to
have the water drop

some distance away
from the lens.

If you put the drop on the
lens, you don't see that shape.

So this is not a water
drop on the lens.

- [Tony] So could it
just be a balloon?

- I can't see a tether
or string to the object

that might indicate
it's a balloon,

but at the same time
we know that, you know,

balloons can be spherical,

and so this could quite
easily be some type

of a mylar party balloon

where you're looking
at the back side of it,

giving you that
reflective quality.

- [Tony] Of course,
that would call

Eddie's entire
story into question,

and maybe it should.

- We're led to believe
that something shut down

the electronics in the
eyewitness' vehicle

but evidently had no
effect on his camera phone

or whatever he filmed
the pictures with.

- I don't think people
will be taking the time

to take selfies if there
was a weird object

floating around in the sky.

[tense music]

- Our verdict, this is a hoax
made possible by a simple,

spherical balloon.

But as far as we're concerned,

that Colares case is still open.

Some people, including
our own Lou Elizondo,

are convinced the Brazilian
government hasn't released

all the information they have.

We'll be ready when they do.

Now let's talk about weaponry.

If you're a "Star
Wars" fan, like I am,

you've probably dreamed of
wielding a real-life lightsaber

or firing a blaster gun,

but that's impossible, right?

Well, we know that military
technology is rapidly advancing,

and this next video might
be proof of a laser weapon

that could change everything.

It's March 2023, at
an unknown location.

It seems to be an ordinary night

until something strange
flits across the landscape.

This cell phone
video shows a series

of red beams firing
down from the sky

into a fenced-off area.

As each beam approaches the
ground, it takes a sharp turn,

shooting straight
toward the fence

and whipping by the camera.

Watch how the beams seem
to pass through the fence.

They don't destroy it,

but they do appear to disturb it

as if warping space
in their wake.

Many are quick to speculate

that the beams could
be some sort of laser

or directed energy weapon.

- What a directed
energy weapon is

is nothing more
than taking a band

of the electromagnetic spectrum,

and then using that to
either intercept missiles,

for example, high-energy lasers,

or even fry an enemy's
communication system.

- [Tony] But if it's a
directed energy weapon,

whose is it?

- People may be surprised to
learn that the US government

and her adversaries
have had a deep

and rich involvement
in the development

of directed energy type weapons.

And so every year, there's
new developments in this.

- [Tony] Believe it
or not, this footage

of a US-made laser weapon
dates all the way back to 1973,

and the technology
has only gotten better

and more widespread
in the years since.

- In fact, handheld laser
weapons are being used

in the field by soldiers today.

We have a video from
November of 2021

that shows a conflagration
between Polish

and Belarusian troops.

[beeping]

And the Belarusian troops appear
to be using a laser weapon

to blind their
Polish counterparts.

- [Tony] There's
also space-based

laser technology, like
this mysterious sight,

caught on camera in the skies

over Hawaii in 2023.

That video sparked fear

that laser weapons firing
down from space may be closer

than we realize.

The US military officially
started researching directed

energy weapons in the 1960s.

After all this time,

is it possible someone else
is beating us in the directed

energy arms race?

We asked our experts to
take their best shots.

[tense music]

First, the good news.

Those green lasers
over Hawaii turned out

to be pollution-detecting
LiDAR, not a weapon.

And when it comes
to our video,

we know that real laser weapons
look less like "Star Wars,"

and more like those
Belarusian beams.

- You're not going to see
them as we do in this video,

so definitely isn't any
type of sophisticated,

classified, or secret
direct energy weapon.

- [Tony] So is it a faked video?

Looking closer, we
find an important clue.

- What we're seeing here
looks like slowed down video

of something that's actually
moving a lot faster,

because we see
these long streaks.

So it seems to be footage
that has been slowed down

that has a lot of motion blur.

- [Tony] And there's
something else off about it.

- It looks like this
video has been reversed.

The biggest tell is the fact
that when they're coming down,

they're coming from different
points on the screen,

whereas they're all going
back to a single source.

- With the video slowed
down to its original speed

and reversed,

the origin and identity of
the beams becomes clear.

- What we're seeing here
is very consistent to me

with tracer fire,

which is a type of munition
that has a pyrotechnic in it

that allows someone to see

where they're
firing at nighttime.

And then the upward movement

is the actual
pyrotechnic going up

after the bullet itself
impacts with the target.

- [Tony] That means the beams
aren't going through the fence,

they're being shot by
someone inside of it.

But then how come the
chain links on the fence

look like the bullets are
hitting and moving them?

- When you slow down a video

to make things seem
to move slower,

you actually have to
create additional frames.

It seems to be using a
frame blending technique

called obstacle flow
or motion flow,

where the algorithm
tries to figure out,

from previous frames, what
should be in the next frame.

- [Tony] West
demonstrates with a video

of himself waving a flashlight,

- I take that same video

and turn it to 1/4
speed with optical flow

and you see straight away
the light itself looks like

it's moving correctly,

but the background
is being distorted.

So this is exactly
the same thing

that is happening in this video.

[tense music]

- Our verdict, tracer fire.

This video is not proof of
an advanced laser attack.

It's a hoax.

But be advised, in 2024,

the Belarusian Defense
Ministry announced plans

to develop more laser
weapons based on, quote,

"New physical principles."

We will be on the
lookout for those weapons

in the near future.

- The only place
more Bigfoot-ish

than Washington
State and Oregon,

is Canada,

where the Bigfoot Field
Researchers Organization

has documented more
than 300 credible

reports of the creature.

Can we add this next
video to the list?

March 4th, 2007,
a man and his son

are driving down a back
road in Peguis, Manitoba,

when they spot something
strange up ahead.

The son quickly grabs
his dad's video camera

and captures this.

The shot zooms in, and
we're able to see

a blurry figure from
a good distance away,

emerging from behind a ridge.

It's dark and uniform in color,

with a bouncy step and arms
swinging widely at its sides.

The camera shakes,

and by the time we're
back on the figure,

it's disappearing
into the forest.

According to the experts,
there's an interesting reason

so many Bigfoot sightings

happen next to major roadways.

- Roadkill.

Sasquatches are
known scavengers.

That's a very easy food supply.

And if you're gonna walk
the roadsides looking

for dead animals to eat,

that's an efficient way
to bring calories in

without expending
practically any.

And, you know, about
half of Sasquatch reports

happen as road crossings.

- [Tony] And in Manitoba,
Sasquatch sightings

go back nearly a century.

- One of the most compelling
stories happen in 1941

to a 17-year-old named Peter.

He was hunting meat
for his family.

He was out there
and he saw a moose,

and he took a shot at
it, and dropped it.

But as he approached,
he was aghast

to see a human-shaped
figure covered in hair,

lying dead on the
ground in front of him.

- [Tony] According to the story,

the young hunter was perplexed
as to what he had shot,

since the term Bigfoot hadn't
even been invented yet.

- He estimates the
animal was probably

at least 7.5 or 8 feet,
and he was terrified.

He thought he might
have killed somebody.

But he started looking
into Bigfoot stuff himself

and a researcher named
Kurt Nelson came along.

And Kurt recorded this story
62 years after it happened.

- The late comedian Mitch
Hedberg may have put it best

when he said, "Bigfoot is
blurry, that's the problem.

It's not the
photographer's fault."

Maybe so, Mitch, but we still
need to get to the bottom

of this blurry Bigfootage.

[tense music]

First things first,

could this possibly be the
misidentification of a bear,

since this particular
region is filled with them?

- The northern area
of Manitoba is one

of the only places in the
world where all three species

of North American bears coexist.

The American black
bear, the grizzly bear,

and the polar bear.

However, although bears
stand on their hind legs

when they're curious

or they're trying to get a
better view of something,

they rarely just walk around
on their back two legs

when they could
be using all four.

- [Tony] So, could
this bipedal beast

be a Canadian Sasquatch?

- Especially interesting is
the line between the shoulders

and the upper back of the head.

Instead of a contour of
the back of the skull

and the taper of the
neck as in the human,

there's a remarkably straight
line from shoulder to head.

This is kind of suggestive
of the Sasquatch

because of its very high
attachment on the skull.

On the other hand,
I must say, it looks

remarkably like a hoodie.

- [Tony] And as far as the
figure itself is concerned,

there are some red flags.

- Sasquatch descriptions
by eyewitnesses

usually describe something

that's much bulkier,
that's much larger.

It's almost like a
gorilla on long legs.

Whereas this has the proportions

and the slenderness
of a typical person.

- [Tony] And it's not just the
figure itself that's suspicious.

- The person who recorded it
does not want to be interviewed.

It seems like they are trying
to be low-key about it,

but still put it out there.

If they really did find
something incredible,

why wouldn't they
want to talk about it?

- [Tony] So we dug deeper,

and found out local
police reports said

a hoaxer was running
rampant in the area.

- At this time and
in this vicinity,

the mounties
apprehended a youngster

who was terrorizing campers

with a gorilla costume.

[tense music]

- Our verdict, whether this
was a merry prankster or not,

we agree this figure
is definitely human,

but our friends from the north

are still furiously
hunting the creature.

In fact, a recent
Canadian man's obsession

with the beast was cited
in a judge's decision

about paying alimony
in his divorce.

That's about as real as it gets.

- [Tony] Utah's world
famous paranormal hotspot,

Skinwalker Ranch, is 512
acres of anomalous activity.

The site has been
monitored for decades,

but have you ever
wondered what goes on

just outside the property?

In this next video, one local

saw something down the
road from Skinwalker Ranch

that she couldn't explain
and we couldn't ignore.

November 6th, 2022, it's 5:00 PM

in a region of Utah
known as Uinta Basin.

Jessica Blunt is driving
her bus down Highway 191

when she notices something
out of the ordinary

materializing in the sky.

- I continued driving, but I
watched it for a few minutes

before I could even grasp
that something was happening.

- [Tony] Jessica pulls over
to the side of the road

and records this.

Two amorphous lights
float high above a group

of trees at sunset.

As the left light
drifts to the side,

another seems to drop from
the light on the right.

Then, the lights
undulate and morph a bit

before dissolving into the
air one after the other.

- This thing had to have been
several football fields wide.

It shifted from this dome shape

into this triangular shape,

and it like, opens out and
then just disappeared.

- [Tony] The sighting
leaves Jessica confounded.

- I haven't been able to
find anybody that could say

that it is a explainable object,

but I would love to
know if anybody else

has seen anything like it.

- [Tony] As it turns
out, plenty of people

have seen plenty of
things right around here.

That's because Jessica's
sighting is just down the road

from the legendary
Skinwalker Ranch.

- We have these very,
kind of spooky tales.

There have been stories of
strange animal mutilations.

There have been stories
of ghost sightings.

There have been stories
of UFO and UAP sightings.

There have been stories of
strange electrical phenomena,

and apparitions, and
that type of thing.

- I've been to
Skinwalker Ranch myself.

And while our team didn't
experience anything unusual

that particular day,

other visitors have reported
strange symptoms like vertigo,

nausea, and even
temporary paralysis.

Is Jessica's sighting tied to
the ranch's uncanny energy?

[tense music]

Before we start scanning
for Skinwalkers,

could these strange shapes

actually be something
completely normal?

- It could be a distant cloud
that is only illuminated

in the very top
portion of the cloud.

This is due to the curvature of
the Earth as the sun is setting.

However, we don't have
any clouds reported

anywhere across
northeastern Utah

on November 6th, 2022.

- [Tony] Okay, not clouds, fine.

But Utah is home to
several military bases

like the Dugway Proving Ground.

Could we be looking at something

made by afterburners
from a fighter jet?

- This could potentially explain

why there's a pair of features,

if we're talking about a
pair of engines on a jet.

However, this would not
explain why these two features

are not perfectly the same and
symmetric in their behavior.

With jet afterburners,
you're typically gonna see

a shock, diamond,
or ring formation.

That's not exactly what
we see in this video.

- [Tony] Instead, we consider
another feature of the area.

- There are a lot of oil

and gas fields across
the Uinta Basin.

About 280 billion cubic feet

of gas are extracted every year.

My leading theory is that
what we're looking at

is gas flares due to
the oil and gas fields.

- Gas flaring is the practice
of burning excess gas,

often to relieve pressure
and prevent explosions.

- There might be a stack
in this general vicinity.

We just can't see it

because the sun is
starting to set,

it's getting dark out there.

Maybe there's some
fog or something

that is impeding our visibility.

This area has always been
known for peculiar sights,

but I don't believe it's a UFO.

If it is a UFO, then it needs
to call the fire department.

[tense music]

- Our verdict, given all the oil

and gas fields in
the Uinta Basin,

we think the probability
Jessica saw fire

from a gas flare is high.

But that doesn't explain all
the other strange phenomena

on Skinwalker Ranch.

We think the probability we'll
see more oddities in the area

is also high.

- "Islands in the Stream"
is a famous duet

between Dolly Parton
and Kenny Rogers.

If we could afford
to license it,

we would be playing
it right now.

Well, you know, it might
also be the perfect title

for our next story, in
which a pair of islands

seemingly move or float
to their own beat.

Check it out.

July 10th, 2022,

Begansar Protected
Lake, Indonesia.

It's an overcast afternoon,

but a serene moment
by the lake is broken

when an eyewitness
sees something

shifting in the landscape
and records this.

What at first appears to be
an ordinary stand of trees

reveals itself to be
an island on the move.

Moments later, we can see
a second small landmass

following in the
wake of the first.

In this sped-up footage,

we can see these
strange islands rotating

and changing direction.

- According to some estimates,

as many as 50 people
have hitched a ride

around the lake on
these land masses.

And according to the people
who live around the lake,

they actually move in
a recognizable pattern.

They begin their journey
around 8:00 AM, and by 3:00 PM,

they're back in their
original position.

- [Tony] It's almost as
though these islands are alive

or being moved by
a sentient force.

- There's an Indonesian
legend about a large,

snake-like creature
called Naga Padoha

that lives in the underworld
and is said to support

and even move around the
Earthly realm above.

But there's also a more
scientific explanation

for what might be happening
with these islands.

According to one paleobiologist,

he's actually seen
trees move 65 feet

in search of better
soil or better sun,

a process that he says
takes up to two years.

So could the trees on
these islands actually be

looking for better light?

- [Tony] And islands do
move for other reasons.

- In 2019, a husband and wife
team of Australian sailors

encountered this extraordinary
floating landmass

in the midst of their
voyage to the Fiji Islands.

It was 58 square miles,

about the size of
20,000 football fields,

and it was later identified

as a textbook example of
a floating pumice raft.

A pumice raft is a landmass

of porous, soft pumice stone.

Active underwater volcanoes

spew out lava.

As this lava cools,

it congeals into pumice stone,

which can form, essentially,
a floating island.

- It is a scientific fact

that all land on
Earth is on the move.

Experts say that, on average,

land masses naturally
move at a rate

of about 1.5 centimeters a year.

Incidentally, that's
about the same growth rate

as our toenails.

But these islands are
moving much farther

and faster than that.

So what exactly is
pulling the strings here?

Let's check with the experts.

[tense music]

Some wonder if this could
simply be an optical illusion,

known as the parallax effect,

which we've seen before.

Is that what's happening here?

- With optical
illusions like parallax,

if something is closer to the
camera and it's being recorded

and the camera is moving
at a high rate of speed,

it can make it
look like the thing

that we're passing is moving
at a high rate of speed.

In this case,
different situation.

We have a stationary camera
and an object that's moving,

thus giving a fixed perspective

and not the result of an
optical illusion like parallax.

- [Tony] What about that
pumice raft theory?

Well, it won't float.

We checked, and
there are no reports

of an underwater volcano
here to form one,

but the answer might be a
different geological phenomenon.

- There is a plant that,
it grows in this water

and it actually has the
consistency to hold together

and form, like a mat.

And what you see is
this mat is broken off

and it's moving with respect
to the water currents.

- [Tony] These masses,
called tussocks,

typically occur in wetland areas

when growths of vegetation

move outward from the
shoreline and break off.

As the land mass floats
into deeper waters,

it uses the oxygen in its
root mass for buoyancy.

- Although these islands
here are very similar

to floating islands,

they're unique in Indonesia
because of their size.

You don't normally
see these large trees

and everything forming and
floating on these things

in the other parts of the world.

[tense music]

- Our verdict,
natural phenomenon.

We agree with our experts that
these islands are tussocks

propelled by the
water's current.

Let's just hope they
don't stray too far

before our next
trip to Indonesia.

- In ancient Rome,
there was no shortage

of lasting innovation.

Consider the massive aqueducts,

one of which still feeds
into the Trevi Fountain

more than 2,000 years
after its construction.

But what we are
about to show you

is such a wonder of design,

it's a mystery how the
Romans ever made it.

Rome, the fourth century AD.

The empire begins a monumental
conversion to Christianity.

But before the pagan gods
are banished altogether,

one is immortalized in an object

as mysterious as
it is beautiful.

This is the Lycurgus Cup.

Its carved glass depicts
the mythological conflict

between the cup's namesake,
King Lycurgus of Thrace,

and the Roman god
of wine, Bacchus.

When the cup is lit from the
front, it appears a jade green,

but watch it as it transforms

into a ruby red when
it's lit from behind.

How is this possible?

- One of the reasons the
Lycurgus Cup attracts

so much attention now is because

it's an early example
of nanotechnology.

So, you've got these
minute particles,

literally hundreds of atoms
across, in the glass.

In the case of the Lycurgus Cup,

they're made of an alloy
of gold and silver.

- [Tony] Hang on.

Nanotechnology is a
modern innovation, right?

That's how, today, we
make dichroic glass,

famed for changing color
based on light exposure.

The very concept
of nanotechnology

wasn't introduced until 1959.

So how can we explain the
ancient Romans using it

to create this cup at
least 1,600 years ago?

- There are some who believe
that the Lycurgus Cup

is so advanced that
the Romans simply

could not have created
it themselves.

You might think this sounds
kind of far out there,

but the annals of imperial
Rome actually have

what some people believe
are encounters with UFOs.

One from the year 100 BC
has two Roman consuls

seeing an unknown
circular object

in the sky, moving
from west to east.

That's made some people
wonder if the Lycurgus Cup's

advanced technology was
actually given to the Romans

by ancient astronauts.

- [Tony] This isn't
the only example

of a seemingly
advanced Roman artifact

whose origins have
been lost to time.

- There's another bizarre piece

of Roman technology
called the dodecahedra.

They're these 12-sided
bronze objects.

Hundreds of experts
have posed guesses

as to what these
things could be,

from a weapon, to a
talisman for good luck,

to a device for divination.

So the verdict is
still out on that one.

- How advanced is
the Lycurgus Cup?

Well, scientists are studying it

in an effort to improve
cloaking technology.

Theoretical simulations suggest

that modifications in
the cup can turn objects

placed inside it invisible.

How did the ancients create
this remarkable artifact?

We turn now to our
experts to find out.

[tense music]

With technology this
advanced, is it possible

that extraterrestrials
really were involved?

- We would expect in the
vast corpus of Roman art

to find at least one
example that clearly was

some sort of extraterrestrial
teaching techniques.

And yet, we have
nothing like that.

- [Tony] But perhaps the Romans

did represent extraterrestrials
in their art all the time.

Some have argued that
images of Roman gods

with all their assorted
powers are interpretations

of extraterrestrials.

That includes gods like the one
carved into the cup, Bacchus.

- People suggest that
perhaps this is the God

who taught them this
kind of technology,

being extraterrestrial.

But Bacchus is a party god
[transition whooshing]

He's in charge of fun and
libations and drunkness.

And if we were gonna see
one connected to technology,

we'd expect perhaps Vulcan

or another god that was
connected to craftsmen.

- [Tony] But we
still have to explain

how the Romans mastered
nanotechnology.

- The gold and silver particles

that create the color change
effect are approximately

50 nanometers in
size in this cup.

But particles or particulates
of such a small size

can be created through patient
grinding of silver and gold.

- When you're making
something at scale,

that's an opportunity
for both experimentation

but also accidental discovery.

And I think either it
was a happy accident

that happened during
mass production,

or experts who spent
their entire life

studying glass
made an innovation.

- [Tony] But then,
why don't we see

more ancient objects like this?

Well, there probably
were others.

They just didn't
survive the centuries.

- This is the only
intact example.

But we do have fragments of
the type of glass used here

that go back to a similar
ancient timeframe.

So things get forgotten
and they get rediscovered.

So I think it's a mistake to
look at all of human history

as some sort of
linear progression

and then claim that if
something is too advanced,

allegedly, for a certain
ancient time period.

[tense music]

- Our verdict, this is a
case of trial and error.

We can't say exactly what trials
and errors were involved,

but to the ancient Roman artisan

who created this
masterpiece, cheers.

- The search for
extraterrestrial life

isn't just about
biological specimens.

Scientists are increasingly
searching for techno signatures

or technical traces
of intelligent life.

And one new discovery
may be proof

that's eight billion years old.

Take a look.

It's June 10th, 2022,

at the Murchison Radio
Astronomy Observatory

in Western Australia.

A radio telescope is
surveying the sky

when it picks up
something unprecedented.

In less than a
millisecond, radio waves,

a form of light invisible
to the human eye,

strike the telescope
in what's known

as a fast radio burst, or FRB.

They've been detected before,

but astronomer Alexa Gordon

has never seen any like this.

- It was four times as
energetic as any other one.

It broke models for

how energetic we
think FRBs could be.

- [Tony] The astronomers
get to work tracing

where it came from,

and that's when they find this.

It's an image from the
Hubble Space Telescope.

Specifically, the
area of deep space

where scientists believe
the FRB originated.

Those blue and orange
streaks, those are galaxies.

- We traced it back to

this compact group of galaxies
that are really rare.

It's this incredibly dense
system of many galaxies,

and we've never seen
that before for FRBs.

- [Tony] News of the fantastic
FRB takes the world by storm.

After all, it's as powerful
as the sun's emissions

over the course of 30 years.

But it's not the first FRB to
catch humankind's attention.

- The first FRB was
discovered in 2007

by a team of astrophysicists
led by Duncan Lorimer.

To this day, the cause
of the Lorimer Burst

is still unknown.

- And then in 2015,

scientists actually discovered
the first repeated FRBs,

which all seemed to come
from the same direction.

That totally upended
the previous assumption

that FRBs were coming

from some kind of
cataclysmic explosion.

Because if they were repeated,

then clearly whatever
was creating them

hadn't been destroyed.

- So some believe that
the only explanation

for these FRBs could be
alien intelligent life.

So the burst of energy
we see would be something

that's propelling a
planet-sized spacecraft,

and we're capturing
a brief moment

of that expelling energy.

- [Tony] And here's where this
one gets really out there.

The galaxies where this
FRB originates are about

8 billion light years away.

That means a radio
burst that reaches us

from those galaxies must
be 8 billion years old,

and this may be just the
tip of the cosmic iceberg.

- In April 2024, scientists
recorded another FRB,

and it was later determined

to be the farthest
FRB ever recorded.

It originated 9.1
billion light years away.

Do these FRBs indicate that
technological civilizations

were thriving across the
universe billions of years ago?

- Aliens and their
ships are said

to possess enormous
amounts of energy.

In fact, this CIA document
includes a wild account

of Soviet soldiers who allegedly
shot down a flying saucer,

only to be turned to
stone when the aliens

inside exploded in
a ball of light.

Now, this is an
unverified story,

but could this FRB
be scientific proof

of immense alien energy?

[tense music]

Before we consider the cosmic,

we first ask if this FRB

might have originated
right here on Earth.

In astronomy, this is
known as a peryton.

- A peryton event is a
short, manmade radio signal.

For instance, once in
Australia, a radio phenomenon

that was alleged to have
been from outer space

was actually attributed

to a nearby microwave.

And so this can create
the illusion of an FRB.

I don't think that's what's
happening here, however,

'cause we've had
multiple confirmations

of not just this FRB, but
other fast radio bursts.

- [Tony] If the FRB
really does trace back

to this cluster of galaxies,

could this simply be an
energetic celestial body

like a magnetar?

- A magnetar is a magnetic star

that releases a tremendous
amount of energy

in the form of magnetism.

Could it be a magnetar?

Well, not an isolated one.

We're talking about
energies even greater

than just one star.

So a single magnetar
would not rival the energy

being seen with our
instruments today.

- [Tony] Could that energy
be the lingering signature

of an alien species?

Perhaps a powerful
craft or even a weapon?

Problem is, we don't think
intelligent life was even

around 8 billion years ago.

- We think the universe is
only 13.8 billion years old.

So this signal
would've been sent

when the universe was less
than six billion years old.

I don't think the universe
would've had enough time

in order for intelligent life
to have evolved somewhere.

- We will eventually unravel
the mystery of these objects.

But at the present time,

this FRB still remains
a cosmic mystery.

[tense music]

- Our verdict, this
remains unexplained.

We're not sure what produced
this 8-billion-year-old FRB,

but let's hope it doesn't
take another 8 billion years

to find out.

And that's our show for tonight.

Thank you so much for watching,

and let's keep those
cameras rolling.

[dramatic music]