All language subtitles for 15f8fa631c294196a9ad58753aba434f.eng

Meteors, bombarding the Earth from space.

Material from other bodies
in our solar system

is continually raining down
on the planet Earth.

NARRATOR:
And with that are billions

of microscopic alien life-forms.

800 million viruses

are falling from the skies

every single day.

NARRATOR:
Is our planet properly prepared

for an extraterrestrial
invasion... of disease?

BILL BIRNES:
What if the terrible plagues

that ravaged the Earth
were the result

of alien viruses

that are constantly
bombarding the planet?

NARRATOR:
But are these alien viruses

meant to harm us...
or change us

in ways we can hardly imagine?

ANDREW COLLINS:
Sometimes, viruses help

human evolution.

GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS:
It is a deliberate

artificial change of our DNA.

NARRATOR:
There is a doorway

in the universe.

Beyond it is
the promise of truth.

It demands
we question everything

we have ever been taught.

The evidence is all around us.

The future is
right before our eyes.

We are not alone.

We have never been alone.

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NARRATOR:
A Stanford University study

published in the journal eLife,

reveals a remarkable finding
that dramatically changes

our understanding
of human evolution.

The study reports that since
modern humans first emerged

from earlier primates,
roughly one third

of their evolutionary
adaptations have been caused

not by means of natural
selection, but by viruses.

KIRSTEN FISHER:
We have genes in our own genome

that were derived
from a retrovirus

at some point in our history.

And some actually have
important functions

for our development as humans.

This suggests that
there has been some kind

of symbiotic relationship
with viruses

since the beginning
of life itself.

Sometimes, viruses
help human evolution.

NARRATOR:
According to another study,

one important human adaptation
that resulted from a virus

is a special layer
of the human placenta

that prevents the fetus
from being rejected

by the mother's body.

The genes that create this
tissue are called syncytins

and they were not originally
found in human ancestors.

FISHER:
They were acquired at

a couple different points
in our history,

about 25 and 40 million
years ago.

And they're important
for the connection

between the mother
and the fetus.

NARRATOR:
Some scientists now believe

that viral genes like this
were as important

for human evolution
as natural selection.

HOOVER: I think
that horizontal gene transfer

being carried out
by viruses or phages

was probably the primary
mechanism whereby changes

in species and major changes
within a species occurred.

NARRATOR:
Was it by pure chance

that viruses helped
to create a species

as sophisticated as humans?

Or might this viral evolution
have been intelligently

directed by beings
from outer space?

Anthropologists are telling us that humans evolved
Anthropologists are telling us that humans evolved

over time out of Africa
and that we had certain,

uh, genetic leaps...

uh, became greater
and so these genetic leaps

throughout evolutionary history
might have just been

a natural thing, but they could
have been engineered as well.

TSOUKALOS:
There is no doubt in my mind

that viruses that have
originated from space

somehow had to do with our
development here on Earth.

However, it is very clear

that the ancient astronaut
theory proposes

that the one reason
why we became humans

as we are today
is not due to an accident

by some natural virus
from outer space,

but a deliberate, artificial
change of our DNA.

NARRATOR:
Could humans be the subject

of a bioengineering project
by extraterrestrials

who use viruses from space
to alter our evolution?

And if so, could those viruses

have been delivered
to Earth in comets?

Ancient astronaut theorists
point to a curious event

in our evolutionary history:

The moment humans
almost went extinct.

Around 75,000 years ago,
there was a bottleneck

in human evolution.

It's suggested
that the human population

actually went down from millions

down to just a few thousand.

This is certainly something
that genetics backs up.

And we have to ask ourselves
what was going on at this time.

PHILIP IMBROGNO: Originally,
geologists believed that

that bottleneck
of humanity was caused

by the supervolcano in,
uh, Sumatra exploding.

Now, recent finds have indicated
that's not the case

and they're leaning more towards

a virus, a plague,
that was genetically

programmed for early humans.

Wiped them out.

NARRATOR:
One controversial theory

is that the cause
of this bottleneck event

was not just a virus,
but a virus

that was brought to Earth
on a comet.

According to this theory,
a comet slammed into the planet

with such devastating force,
that it created

a nuclear winter...

killing almost all
human life on Earth.

Almost. Because those
that could survive

both the nuclear winter
and the alien virus

emerged as a profoundly altered
and improved species.

It was immediately
following this event

that humans first began
to leave evidence

of symbolic thinking, art, music
and advanced language.

Somehow, human beings

reached another stage
of evolution.

It was the transformation
of the human brain.

Could it be,
and we believe it did happen,

that alien viruses infected
Planet Earth

at this inflection point

of the extinction
of the human species.

They implanted viruses
in the human species

that changed the brain.

NARRATOR:
But could viruses really survive

in the frozen vacuum of space?

And if so, could they
have come here

not by accident,
but as some kind

of extraterrestrial invasion?

Ancient astronaut theorists
say yes and suggest

further clues might be found
by examining a controversial

theory that comets,
far from being lifeless,

are brimming with alien microbes

and they are headed our way.

NARRATOR:
Boston, Massachusetts.

August 27, 1918.

Two sailors visit the sick bay
at a seaside pier

with frightening symptoms.

Their bodies are literally
covered with dark splotches,

they suffer from severe bleeding

and they are foaming
at the mouth.

The next day, eight more arrive
with the same symptoms.

And, in just a few weeks,
thousands die,

as Boston falls into the grip
of one of the deadliest

viral outbreaks of all time,
the Spanish flu.

FISHER:
The 1918 Spanish flu epidemic

is probably the worst epidemic
in recorded human history.

Medical historians estimate

that up to 20 million

people, uh, died
during that epidemic.

BIRNES:
It didn't just focus

on one group of people.

People from the very top
echelon of society

all the way to the working poor

were struck down
by the Spanish flu.

NARRATOR:
Half a world away, the same

influenza epidemic ravages
populations across India.

Its starting point is traced
back to the city of Bombay.

And there's a strange connection
between these two outbreaks:

They began on the same day.

One of the things that's not
often discussed

is that the great flu
epidemic began

on the same day
in two different places:

In Boston and on the other side
of the world in Bombay.

Now, those are
two spots on the Earth

that are virtually
on opposite ends

and you have to wonder
how that is possible because

you can't travel, within a day,
by ship from Boston to India.

And air travel, at the time,
didn't exist.

IMBROGNO:
How does an outbreak occur

of the same virus on places

so spread apart

in 1918 in less than 24 hours?

The answer is that the virus
probably fell from space.

Perhaps the Earth was grazed
by the tail of a comet...

and so that's why we had
the outbreak of the epidemic

on two sides of the planet.

NARRATOR:
Until recently,

it was believed that radiation,
extreme temperatures

and the vacuum of space...

That is to say,
the absence of any oxygen...

Would kill any life-form.

- ASTRONAUT: Pressurization, go Atlas.
- ASTRONAUT 2: Go Centaur.

NARRATOR: But ever since humans
first ventured into space,

scientists have been finding
evidence to the contrary.

NASA's unmanned
Surveyor 3 lander

touches down on the Moon

and begins its mission
collecting soil

from the lunar surface.

Two years later,

astronauts
on the Apollo 12 mission

recover parts of Surveyor 3
and return them to Earth.

To the astonishment
of scientists,

living strep bacteria
is found on the probe.

But this is only the first
of many cases of microorganisms

surviving space travel.

HOOVER:
There have been experiments

in which microorganisms
have been flown

to the International
Space Station

and exposed to the hard vacuum
and the radiation

and the temperature changes
of deep space.

And many
of those organisms survived.

NARRATOR:
Incredibly,

several types of bacteria
have thrived back on Earth

after spending up to two years

outside
the International Space Station.

But even more surprisingly,
this durability isn't reserved

for single-celled organisms
alone.

In September 2007,
a Russian Soyuz rocket

carried tiny animals
called tardigrades into space

to test their legendary ability

to thrive
in extreme environments.

HOOVER: Tardigrades
are called water bears.

Uh, they're found in the polar
regions on mosses and so forth,

and they're beautiful
little animals.

They have a very unusual
life history,

and there were experiments in
which tardigrades were carried

to the International
Space Station,

and they were found
to survive exposure

to the deep space environment.

And after they were
brought back,

there were several
of the tardigrades

that were still alive.

Now, in the last 20 years,
it was shown beyond any doubt

that microbes are essentially
born space travelers.

They can survive almost any of
the rigors that you can think of

that would greet them in space.

High temperatures,

high radiation,

intense cooling

and even intense heating.

It's also well established
that microorganisms can

very easily survive
in bodies like comets

and could well live in bodies
like Europa and Enceladus

because there is ice there,
there is liquid water oceans

underneath the icy crust.

NARRATOR: In recent years,
astronomers are identifying

more and more planets that could
potentially harbor life.

Some believe that microbial life

first evolved on one
of these distant planets.

Eons later, meteor impacts
blasted some of them into space,

where they took root in comets.

But even if true,

how could they descend to Earth
and infect humans?

HOOVER: We know for a fact
that material from other bodies

in our solar system
is continually raining down

on the surface
of the planet Earth,

and it could well be
bringing with it dead

and possibly even living
microorganisms

as it enters the Earth's
atmosphere and then lands

in oceans or lakes
or streams of the planet.

NARRATOR: Could this
explain many of the plagues

that sickened and killed
millions throughout history?

In 2007, an international team
of researchers set up

a research facility in the
Sierra Nevada mountains of Spain

to collect data on microbes
falling to Earth from the sky.

What they discovered
remains controversial.

The total amount of viruses

that were falling down
on the Earth

was something like
800 million individual viruses

per square meter of the Earth.

The conclusion they came to,
of course, was that

this was essentially viruses
that were lofted

from the surface of the Earth,

taken up to the clouds
and brought back.

Now, I think some would have
been recirculated in this way,

but not all,

and I feel that this is

one of the most striking
examples of science

being essentially dishonest
in its conclusions.

These 800 million viruses
per square meter

falling on the Earth
must include viruses

that are coming from outside.

NARRATOR:
Although some scientists believe

that life on Earth
actually originated

with microbes
that rained down from comets,

a theory known as panspermia,

an even more
controversial theory

called directed panspermia

proposes that these comets
were sent here not by accident,

but deliberately.

If I'm an alien species,

and I want to start a colony
on a different planet,

think of what we're doing now.

We want to send human beings
back to the Moon.

We want to send
human beings to Mars.

What if that's not
what they did?

What if the ancient aliens
didn't send complete life-forms,

but sent
submicroscopic life-forms?

NARRATOR: Mainstream
scientists remain skeptical

that microbes can survive
for thousands of years

inside icy comets, much less
that they might be sent to Earth

deliberately
to alter human evolution.

But others argue that the proof

can be found
right here on Earth,

in the closest environment
we have to comets:

The icy depths of glaciers.

TSOUKALOS:
April 17, 2019..

Ancient astronaut theorist
Giorgio Tsoukalos

and retired NASA scientist
Dr. Richard Hoover

are about to board a helicopter
bound for a massive ice cave

in the Canadian wilderness.

All right, you ready for this?

- Yes, absolutely.
- All right.

NARRATOR: Dr. Hoover spent most
of his career studying fossils

for signs of extraterrestrial
microscopic life,

and is a leading proponent
of panspermia,

the idea that life on Earth
originally rained down

from comets in outer space.

He has invited Giorgio
to accompany him

while he investigates
the Whistler ice cave...

I always love this.

NARRATOR: Where he is
confident they will find

the glacial ice
teeming with microbial

and perhaps even more
sophisticated life-forms.

Life-forms that may be
thousands of years old.

HOOVER:
Oh, this is just...

- absolutely magnificent.
- It really is.

NARRATOR: If alien viruses
are reaching Earth,

Dr. Hoover suggests that those
that don't find a host

could survive
within such an environment

for long periods of time.

Today, he'll examine the glacier

for the perfect samples
to analyze in his laboratory.

So, Richard,
how excited are you to be here

to conduct this experiment?

(chuckles):
Well, I'm tremendously excited.

- This-this is absolutely a-a marvelous opportunity...
- Yeah.

To do more studies
of life in ice.

NARRATOR: After a 20-minute
helicopter ride, the team arrives

at the Whistler ice cave
in the Pemberton glacier.

TSOUKALOS:
Wow.

- This is incredible.
- HOOVER: Yeah, amazing.

HOOVER:
Look at that.

There must be a thousand shades
of blue in this ice cave.

Just absolutely fantastic.

And here we see all of these
magnificent shades of blue,

and up there you see
big streaks of black.

Glaciers like to eat rocks,
and as they eat rocks,

the rocks gather inside,
and when the sun shines

through the ice
and hits the rocks,

it can cause it to melt and form
nice little pools of water,

and then when bacteria
and algae grow in there

and respire and produce their...
their photosynthetic products,

they make their own atmosphere.

So, around every tiny rock

in this glacier,
there is a tiny planetary system

with its own biology,
its own atmosphere,

its own soil, in effect.
And its own oceans.

NARRATOR: The ice here is tens
of thousands of years old.

But Dr. Hoover believes
it is teeming with life.

Wow. I mean,
this is, uh, spectacular.

So, you just described,
basically, our environment

- on a microscopic level.
- Exactly.

HOOVER: There is an enormous
amount of biology above us

and throughout
this wonderful glacier.

What we're about to do
is take a core sample

of this beautiful blue ice.

TSOUKALOS: So,
what are you looking for specifically

- right now?
- What I want to do first is

chop away an outer layer
and get into the inner ice.

We'll be looking inside of the
ice for the ice microorganisms.

Now we know there
can't possibly be

any contamination,

because this ice has been
in the glacier

and now is only freshly exposed.

And now we take the core.

Now we're into the ice.

I'll pull the ice core out.

- It's okay?
- Mm-hmm.

And that's enough, right?

- That's enough. Yeah.
- Okay, great.

For that first sample.

- Yeah, cap that.
- Okay.

All the microorganisms
that grow in ice

typically grow
very, very slowly.

So... In fact, there are
some microorganisms

that only reproduce once
every half a century,

- or once a century.
- Mm-hmm.

So the microbes that are
found in here,

are they in suspended animation,
or are they moving around?

Probably both.

So, essentially,
what you're saying

is that this entire cave

- is filled with life.
- Yes.

But not just that.

This entire ice cap
is filled with life.

There is this enormous amount
of microorganisms

that live and thrive
and love to live

in these low temperatures
of the...

of the ice cave
that we have here,

and ice caves
and icy, uh, glaciers

all over the planet Earth.

And probably all over
icy regions

within our entire solar system,
and maybe...

maybe widely distributed
throughout the entire universe.

Are we essentially inside
the interior of a... of a comet?

- Is this what it looks like?
- Well...

Yes. Microorganisms
can live in ice,

and ice is the dominant
component of comets.

Organisms can remain alive
and protected by

the icy material of the comet

until it arrives into
another solar system

and blows off chunks of material
that can find a planet

that it can consider
a wonderful home.

And so, this basically ties in
to the whole idea of panspermia.

Water is a wonderful
radiation shield.

And when you have
a comet that is

a few miles in diameter,

on the inside
of that cometary crust,

there is all of this
magnificent ice that has been

frozen, and then reworked
with material going in and out.

So comets are not just

a magnificent place
for panspermia.

I am convinced that comets are
an absolutely wonderful place

for the origin of life.

NARRATOR: Incredibly, Giorgio
and Dr. Hoover discover

that the glacier isn't home
to just microscopic life.

This is magnificent.
Look, these ice worms.

This one has just
crawled out of the glacier.

- Oh, wow.
- He's deep in the ice. Look at this.

Over here, two more ice worms.

They're all in here.

TSOUKALOS: He's clearly
looking for something.

HOOVER:
Yeah, he's hunting.

We discovered life in the most
inhospitable of environments.

NARRATOR:
Amazingly, Dr. Hoover has found

some of the rarest animals
on Earth.

Ice worms only exist
in a handful of locations

in North America.

But how can animals
live and thrive

in frozen blocks of ice?

So, how have these
ice worms come about?

HOOVER: This is an incredible
evolutionary phenomenon.

They have apparently evolved
to be able to

live and grow and feed
and reproduce

inside of glacial ice and snow.

They are feeding on algae,
cyanobacteria

and other bacteria
that live in the ice,

and they can make burrows
through the ice,

just like an earthworm
makes burrows through the soil.

And we may see
similar kinds of organisms

on the polar cap of Mars,
or perhaps even in

craters on the moon,
or perhaps the icy moons

of our solar system,
like Europa and Enceladus.

You know, it's kind of
incredible, because we came here

in the hopes of finding
microbial life,

and here we are
looking at ice worms,

which are actual animals.

So this is more
than what we'd hoped for.

It-it's incredible.

NARRATOR:
As Giorgio and Dr. Hoover

take their samples to a lab
to be analyzed,

what kind of life-forms
might they find

within the Pemberton glacier?

Could it support the theory
that life on comets

is more common than
we ever thought possible?

And if so, is it just
the random byproduct

of a universe that is teeming
with various forms of life?

Or is it part of
a more strategic plan?

A plan deliberately designed
to alter human evolution?

NARRATOR: Ancient astronaut theorist Giorgio Tsoukalos
- TSOUKALOS: See anything? -HOOVER: Oh, yes, yes.

And retired NASA scientist
Dr. Richard Hoover

have just collected
deep ice core samples

from the Pemberton glacier
in Whistler, Canada.

First sample that we got.

NARRATOR: Now back in the
lab, they are hoping

to observe microorganisms
that remain dormant

within the glacial ice

and are just now
returning to life

for the first time
in thousands of years.

- See anything?
- Oh, yes. Oh, yes, yes.

We've got bacteria.

This is fantastic.
I mean,

look at this one
spinning right here.

This one just moved
straight across the screen.

And this one is tumbling.

And notice there's a cell
that has just undergone

cell division.
Here's another one that's

- just undergone cell division.
- Okay.

The quest for
extraterrestrial life, to me,

has been a lifelong one,
as it has been with you.

So I've traveled around
the world, climbing pyramids.

I've looked at statues, I've
been to hundreds of museums.

I've read countless
ancient texts.

And here, we are looking
at something

that shows extraterrestrial life
that may have come here

millions of years ago.

The fascinating thing is
that a far more

extraordinary hypothesis
than the existence

of extraterrestrial life

is the hypothesis that
life exists on the planet Earth

and nowhere else
in the universe.

If that were to turn out to be
what really is the case,

then we would be
completely unique,

and we would be different
from everywhere else

in the universe.

And that would be
an amazing discovery.

Much more amazing

than finding out that bacteria
or ice worms

are crawling around on
the surface of Europa today.

This is incredibly fascinating,
you know.

And it's also refreshing
to hear an actual NASA scientist

telling me these things.

NARRATOR: If,
as Dr. Hoover's research indicates,

icy comets are ideal incubators
for extraterrestrial life,

and if microorganisms are
incredibly common

in the universe, is the Earth
being regularly bombarded

by tiny alien life-forms?

Life-forms that could
not only grow and mutate,

but could also pose
a deadly threat to mankind?

Sussex, England, 1992.

Cattle are slaughtered
by the thousands

as government officials
try to prevent the spread

of the most frightening
new disease on Earth

called "mad cow disease."

It is an entirely new kind
of illness

caused by bizarre proteins
called prions.

FISHER: So, mad cow really
sort of challenged our,

uh, traditional concepts
of disease causation

in the sense that it wasn't
a bacterium, wasn't a virus.

It's actually sort of like
rogue proteins

that don't fold correctly

and sort of pass on that
information to other proteins,

and that sort of makes them
dysfunctional as well.

NARRATOR: Some of the microbes
found in cometary debris

contain chemical structures
very similar to prions.

HOOVER: They could have
been introduced from space

because of the fact that
mad cow disease

seemed to have appeared
rather abruptly

and been transferred
rather widely.

NARRATOR: According to
ancient astronaut theorists,

the sudden appearance
of mad cow disease

raises an intriguing question.

Could many of history's
worst epidemics

have come from space?

And if so, did they come here
purely by chance,

or were they sent here
on purpose?

BIRNES: What if the terrible
plagues that ravaged the Earth

were the result of alien viruses

that are constantly
bombarding the planet?

NARRATOR:
August 26, 1976.

The small village of Yambuku
in Zaire

is struck by a deadly disease
that causes victims

to ooze blood
from every orifice.

The name of the disease: Ebola.

Ebola is a viral
hemorrhagic fever

of humans and other primates,

so it causes, like,
massive internal bleeding

and often death in, like,
over 50% of cases.

NARRATOR: Initially thought
to be a new disease,

alert historians recognized
the symptoms of Ebola

as being identical to those
of an epidemic

that ravaged the Roman Empire
nearly 2,000 years ago.

In 250 AD, the Plague of Cyprian

struck the city of Carthage
in North Africa.

Incredibly contagious,
it caused infected victims

to ooze blood
from every orifice,

just like Ebola virus,

and killed off
half the population.

But just as quickly
as it appeared,

the plague seemed to disappear
completely from the planet.

If Ebola is present on Earth
in the third century,

then disappears all the way
through to the 1970s,

if it isn't somewhere
hiding on Earth,

is it possible that it was
out in space itself?

Perhaps on a comet?

And that this is the reason
why it returned

on a comet itself to rain down
more misery on humanity?

NARRATOR: Was the virus
that we know as Ebola

really dormant
for nearly 20 centuries?

Or was it deliberately sent
to Earth not once but twice?

As far as ancient astronaut
theorists are concerned,

the answer is obvious.

And as proof, they point
to accounts concerning

another of history's
worst plagues:

The Black Death.

TSOUKALOS: What's interesting
about these accounts

is that they seem to
have originated

after something strange
was seen up in the sky.

For example,
they saw this black shield

travel across,
and then it is also described

that this black dust

came off that particular object.

IMBROGNO:
Also, in the wheat fields,

they reported these
strange figures

holding some type of device,
like a sickle.

Some people feel today
these reports were

some types of extraterrestrials
causing the disease.

NARRATOR:
Ironically,

with half the population gone,

those who survived the plague

enjoyed twice the wealth
and natural resources

of the previous generation.

They also had much stronger
immune systems.

So, could this have been part

of some deliberate
extraterrestrial plan?

Ancient astronaut
theorists believe

that such an audacious notion
is possible.

If you're an alien culture

and you're seeing Earth
overpopulating

to the point where the planet
can't sustain the population,

- what do we do with animals in the wild?
- (gunshot)

We cull them.

What if these plagues
were alien cultures culling us?

BARA: Well, these could
actually be designer viruses,

designer bacteria
that are sent here

to kill people with specific
genetic weaknesses

and make the rest of the
gene pool that much stronger.

NARRATOR: But if extraterrestrials
are trying to cull our population

or strengthen our genetic makeup

through the introduction
of microbes, why?

Some ancient astronaut
theorists suspect

that the ultimate objective
is to make us more like them.

July 2013.

Scientists announce
the discovery

of an entirely new class

of extremely large microbes
called Pandoraviruses.

Up to 94%
of the Pandoravirus genome

has nothing in common with
any other life-form on Earth.

FISHER: These very large
viruses, the Pandoraviruses,

they have a very high frequency
of genes that basically don't

correspond to any other genes

in-in other organisms
that we know of.

NARRATOR:
While seemingly alien,

Pandoraviruses do share
one thing in common

with all life on Earth: DNA.

Those who endorse panspermia say
that this supports

a key part of their hypothesis.

Namely, that all life in
the universe is based on DNA,

and therefore,
that life on Earth

is closely related
to life everywhere.

If DNA is present
throughout space

and we are a product of that DNA

and the other species elsewhere
in the galaxy

are also the result
of the same DNA,

then very clearly
there's some kind of

symbiotic relationship
between all of us.

NARRATOR:
If all life in the universe

is based on DNA,

then aliens would be
closely related to humans.

Is this why so many
abductees report

that their alien abductors
are so interested

in human genetic material?

Many abductees have talked about

how they were taken
on board UFOs

and subjected
to medical experimentation.

Witnesses talk about blood,
sperm, eggs

being removed from their bodies.

IMBROGNO: It's very possible
that an alien intelligence

is tinkering with our DNA

to try to make us
more compatible to them.

And that perhaps one day,
the two species will unite.

And they will no longer
be our gods,

but we will be their equals.

BARA: If aliens are
using these microbes

to make us more like them,
then obviously we're gonna start

to show signs of that sort of
genetic physical evolution.

In other words, our testosterone
levels should go down,

we're going to become
more frail,

we're probably going
to become more androgynous.

Our intelligence
is gonna be spiked.

NARRATOR: Some point out that these
changes are happening already.

BIRNES: There are
trends in the evolution

of human beings right now.

Sperm counts are going down.

Sperm counts are
going down, by the way,

as the world's population
is crashing

through eight billion
to ten billion.

BARA: Maybe we'll become
more like the aliens,

and perhaps that means that
we're actually more compatible

with them genetically,

if that path is the one
that's laid out.

So, you could actually look
at the development

of higher intelligence
as, again,

kind of a genetic Trojan horse

that eventually leads us
to a point

where it's far easier for us
to be crossed genetically

with alien species.

NARRATOR: Could human
beings be the subjects

of an ingenious
bioengineering project

conducted by extraterrestrials?

Ancient astronaut
theorists believe

that not only is the answer yes,

but that this process,
while at times painful,

will ultimately
benefit humanity.

But they also warn
that the extraterrestrials

may have another agenda,

one that doesn't benefit us,
but them.

NARRATOR: The scientific
journal Current Biology

reports that biologists
at the University of Rochester

have solved the mystery
of the pea aphid,

a tiny sap-sucking insect
that is normally wingless

but periodically develops wings

when it needs to seek out
new plants to colonize.

What they found
is that the genes

that form the on/off switch
for wings belong to a virus,

the genome of which
has become fully incorporated

into that of its host.

The researchers suggest
that while this is beneficial

to the aphid,
it is actually the virus

that induces wing development

in order to spread
itself around.

NARRATOR: Similarly,
it was also found in 2019

that many wasps carry a virus
that increases their longevity,

enabling the virus
to be spread further.

FISHER: Viruses sort of
straddle our concepts

of living or nonliving

because they require a host

in order to reproduce themselves

and also to carry out
any life function.

So they can't metabolize
or utilize their own energy.

They have to rely
on a host cell to do that

and to make copies
of themselves as well.

NARRATOR:
On its own, a virus is inert.

It only comes to life
and is able to reproduce

once it comes in contact
with a host.

Like the viruses themselves,
if extraterrestrials

are altering humans,
is it perhaps

to further their own species?

Are they slowly transforming us

into new incarnations
of themselves,

not to advance humankind,
but their own kind?

Perhaps.

But some ancient astronaut
theorists suggest

that, as is the case
with the aphid

and also the wasp,

this process might be
mutually beneficial.

POPE:
One theory is that these

extraterrestrial visitors,

they are a dying race,

and that they are injecting
new genetic material

which will help save them.

Another related theory is...
Let's take human DNA,

let's take alien DNA, and let's
create something even better.

TSOUKALOS:
I think that humankind

has been part of a...
eternal experiment,

something that's begun
a long, long time ago,

and I think that this is
an ongoing process.

Now, figuring out
what the change is,

is... your guess
is as good as mine.

COLLINS:
If we find that viruses

do come from space, then we know

that because there is
a relationship between viruses

and evolution,
that this is something

that must be universal.

It's something that connects us

with every other
possible life source

everywhere out there
in the universe.

NARRATOR: Is it possible that the
history of disease on our planet

is not only a human story,

but an extraterrestrial one?

As far as ancient astronaut
theorists are concerned,

the answer is a profound "yes."

And if such a notion is true,
they insist that

these so-called
"alien infections"

are not meant to destroy us,
but to serve as a kind

of inoculation,
a preparation for the day

when mankind comes face-to-face
with its alien relatives.

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