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For centuries,
the best clues to ancient life
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have come from fossils.
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00:00:13,333 --> 00:00:17,600
But now, a new window
on the past is opening.
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How can we travel back in time?
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Is there a time machine?
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Yes. It's DNA.
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It's ancient DNA.
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These are fragile molecules
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that fall apart
outside the body.
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How long can DNA survive?
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With ancient DNA,
we're trying to go back in time.
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But time is the enemy.
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A dramatic breakthrough
is transporting us
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millions of years back
into the past,
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to before the last Ice Age--
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revealing surprising
creatures that thrived
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when our planet was
far warmer than it is today.
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Could ancient genes
from this lost world
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help us adapt
to a changing planet?
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We are stealing genetic secrets
of the past...
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...so we can rescue the future.
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Go behind the scenes on
the "Hunt for the Oldest DNA."
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Right now, on "NOVA."
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DvX3M
opensubtitles
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Buried beneath Greenland's
ice sheet
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are the remains
of a living world that ended
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when the Ice Age began--
over two million years ago.
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One scientist is on a quest
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to reveal that lost world
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with ancient DNA.
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When I look at this place,
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I see one huge cold
storage room for ancient DNA.
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I spent my life trying
to find older and older DNA.
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And this is
the limit of the possible.
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And maybe it's impossible.
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What we are trying to recover
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is DNA millions of years older
than any DNA ever recovered.
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So we are trying to reach back
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before the last Ice Age.
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Once, fossils were our only hope
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of shedding light on
life in the distant past.
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But ever since scientists
first recovered DNA
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from an extinct
animal 40 years ago,
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fossil hunters have been sharing
the stage with gene hunters.
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We've peered into a fascinating
world of extinct species,
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Ice Age beasts,
even our Neanderthal cousins.
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When I look back in time,
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the sharpest tool I have
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is DNA-- the genes
of long dead plants and animals.
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This is a far more detailed
record
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of the past than the fossils
alone can ever give us.
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But the older DNA gets,
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the fainter the signal.
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The moment a living thing dies,
its DNA starts falling apart.
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Of course, we are
never going to stop wondering,
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"Exactly how far back
can we go?"
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What is the limit
of DNA preservation?
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You know what people mean
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when they say,
mission impossible, right?
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They actually mean
it might be possible.
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No one has ever
succeeded in getting DNA
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older than one million years.
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But our tools
are getting better.
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And as the technology
gets more powerful,
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these scientists are
chasing a new discovery.
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To everyone's surprise,
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the secret to smashing the limit
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could be lying
right beneath our feet.
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Now, we're on the verge
of recovering
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genetic traces of a lost world
from before the Ice Age.
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This ancient DNA,
forged in a hotter climate,
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might even help us
survive our own warming world.
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When I was in school,
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if you had said to my teacher,
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"Someday,
Eske will be a scientist,"
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they would have laughed.
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I mean,
I would have laughed too.
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I was a rebel, a troublemaker.
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I wasn't good
at the typical things
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that people connect
to being a scientist.
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I was a school failure.
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That's the truth.
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But I think
I have one capability
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which has proven super valuable:
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I have a very good imagination.
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I used to think
I was born too late
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when I realized
there's no frontiers left,
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everything is mapped.
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But there is a frontier.
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Our frontier is the deep past.
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That is where
we can still be explorers.
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In Iceland,
Eske Willerslev's team
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is pulling mud from
the bottom of frozen lakes,
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mud laced with DNA
from a long-gone world.
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DNA is a, a blueprint, right?
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It's the code who
makes you who you are.
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Different individuals
have different DNA codes.
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Different species
have different DNA codes.
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So, it means if you can pull out
a piece of the DNA code,
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you can actually map it to all
known DNA codes,
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all known blueprints.
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And then you can identify, well,
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what organism are
we talking about here?
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On this expedition,
Eske's team is hunting for DNA
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from before the Vikings settled
Iceland,
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about 1,200 years ago.
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1,200 years is nothing
in ancient DNA research,
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especially in
the Arctic where it's cold.
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Still, at a certain point, DNA
becomes too difficult to read.
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So, there is a limit.
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And I would say,
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I've always been obsessed
with this limit,
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to push this limit.
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How far can we go?
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I still haven't got
an answer to that question.
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But I'm sure
it's further than what we think.
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So, what is the limit?
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Back in the '90s,
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some scientists
got a little carried away.
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"Jurassic Park"
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was not a documentary.
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The early days of ancient
DNA were a bit of a disaster.
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Unless you were in PR,
in which case, it was fantastic.
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There was a whole bunch
of what we now know
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is complete nonsense that was
published with just abandon,
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00:08:06,966 --> 00:08:11,200
just excitement and enthusiasm
rather than actual science.
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I mean, everybody
wants there to be dinosaur DNA.
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And so, somebody who says, "Hey,
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"I got this really
well-preserved dinosaur.
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And guess what?
There's DNA in it!"
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Of course the media are gonna
be super excited about this!
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And Hollywood couldn't resist.
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So let's reconstruct
"Jurassic Park."
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Scientists go somewhere hot,
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because amber forms in
hot places,
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and they find a really beautiful
piece of amber,
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inside of which they can see
this fantastic insect
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that looks perfectly preserved.
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They take a big needle, and
they stick it into the insect,
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and they draw out blood,
presumably from a dinosaur.
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And then they take
that blood to the lab,
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and they do some magic
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that for some reason
involves frogs,
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even though we already
knew at the time
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that birds were the closest
living ancestor of dinosaurs.
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And then more magic
happens and,
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dinosaurs are back to life!
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But we now know a lot
more about DNA than we used to.
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And everything we know
tells us, no question about it,
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that this molecule just doesn't
stick around
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for millions
and millions of years.
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Dinosaurs have been extinct
for more than 65 million years.
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We will never get dinosaur DNA.
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"Jurassic Park"
is not going to happen.
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I'm sorry.
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Getting DNA out of
things that are alive is easy.
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This is because modern DNA,
DNA from living organisms,
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is in fantastic condition.
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Long strands of DNA,
if you can think of it
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kind of as party streamers.
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Ancient DNA
is more like confetti.
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The reason that modern DNA
party streamers get chopped up
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into the confetti
that is ancient DNA
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is because of random processes
that happen outside the body.
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Mostly things like UV
radiation from the sun.
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When we walk outside,
UV hits our skin
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and it gets into our cells,
and it damages our DNA.
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But when we're alive,
we have proofreading enzymes
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that will come along
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and fix those damages.
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Otherwise, we would get cancer
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every time we walked outside.
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But proofreading and fixing DNA,
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this is an energy-requiring
process.
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And after you're dead,
there is no more energy.
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With ancient DNA,
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it's always been a
needle in the haystack problem.
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This is a fragile molecule.
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So, even when we first
understood
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that DNA could stick around
after death,
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the question was,
how much and where?
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Early on, we thought
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only in soft tissue--
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so, a human mummy
or a frozen mammoth.
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In about 1990,
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we had the huge insight
that fossil bones
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and teeth could
protect DNA like time capsules.
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But well-preserved
fossils are rare.
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And fossils that contain DNA,
they're even rarer.
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So, in our field, that has been
one of the biggest challenges.
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We're all chasing
these precious time capsules.
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Three decades ago,
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Eske was determined
to join the hunt.
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But the odds were against him.
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In 1995,
I was a biology student
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and I wanted to do
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my research on ancient DNA.
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But I had no fossils.
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I wasn't famous, so nobody
wanted to give me fossils.
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00:12:03,066 --> 00:12:05,533
That was a bit of a problem.
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You want to do ancient DNA,
but you have no fossils.
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I remember I was in my flat,
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it was an awful day.
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The rain was just coming down,
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and leaves were
falling from the trees.
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00:12:22,366 --> 00:12:26,633
And I saw this woman
out walking her dog.
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00:12:26,633 --> 00:12:28,566
And she stops.
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00:12:28,566 --> 00:12:32,766
The dog squats, takes a poop.
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It's funny,
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00:12:35,733 --> 00:12:38,966
inspiration sometimes comes out
of the strangest times.
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I'm looking
at that miserable wet dog,
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00:12:44,133 --> 00:12:47,266
thinking, "Well, there's DNA
in the dog.
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00:12:47,266 --> 00:12:50,833
"So, there's DNA
in the dog poop, right?
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00:12:50,833 --> 00:12:53,866
But will it survive?"
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00:12:53,866 --> 00:12:55,766
We know there's
DNA in the leaves,
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00:12:55,766 --> 00:12:59,700
but we also do know that
these things will disappear.
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00:12:59,700 --> 00:13:03,366
After next rainfall,
the dog poop will disappear.
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00:13:03,366 --> 00:13:05,766
After a few years,
the leaves will be gone.
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00:13:05,766 --> 00:13:10,566
The question I asked myself was,
"What will happen to the DNA?
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00:13:10,566 --> 00:13:15,533
Will that be gone, too? Or will
that be preserved in the soil?"
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00:13:15,533 --> 00:13:18,166
Because if it's
preserved in the soil,
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00:13:18,166 --> 00:13:22,400
we don't need any fossils,
problem solved.
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So, I remember I went into
the coffee room
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in the Department of Zoology,
225
00:13:29,266 --> 00:13:31,333
where all the professors
were sitting,
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00:13:31,333 --> 00:13:33,200
you know, having their lunch.
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00:13:33,200 --> 00:13:35,200
And I came with this
idea saying, "Well, what about
228
00:13:35,200 --> 00:13:38,633
looking in, in the soil
for DNA of animals and plants?"
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00:13:38,633 --> 00:13:40,566
And they were laughing.
230
00:13:40,566 --> 00:13:43,200
And my, my
supervisor turned around,
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00:13:43,200 --> 00:13:44,466
he was head of department,
saying,
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00:13:50,566 --> 00:13:53,433
"I never heard
anything as stupid in my life."
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00:13:54,966 --> 00:13:57,900
No one had ever thought
to recover DNA from dirt.
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00:13:57,900 --> 00:13:59,666
And why would it be there?
235
00:13:59,666 --> 00:14:01,800
The idea is that DNA is,
is kind of known to be
236
00:14:01,800 --> 00:14:04,066
such an unstable
molecule in general.
237
00:14:04,066 --> 00:14:05,800
If you're working in
a molecular biology lab
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00:14:05,800 --> 00:14:07,600
and you don't look after your
DNA, it's gone very fast.
239
00:14:07,600 --> 00:14:10,433
So yeah,
it was a completely crazy idea
240
00:14:10,433 --> 00:14:12,166
that, that it would
even be found.
241
00:14:12,166 --> 00:14:15,066
I mean, that DNA enters
the environment is obvious
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00:14:15,066 --> 00:14:17,100
if an animal
urinates or defecates.
243
00:14:17,100 --> 00:14:20,466
But that DNA stays in the
environment, completely crazy.
244
00:14:22,033 --> 00:14:24,133
So, early on, we didn't know
245
00:14:24,133 --> 00:14:26,133
how long ancient
DNA could survive.
246
00:14:26,133 --> 00:14:28,233
But there was a second
really big hole
247
00:14:28,233 --> 00:14:30,600
contamination.
248
00:14:32,500 --> 00:14:36,266
Ancient DNA getting
mixed up with modern DNA.
249
00:14:37,966 --> 00:14:40,666
Well, the trouble is
that DNA is everywhere.
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00:14:40,666 --> 00:14:43,866
My DNA is now on
this chair and on my hands
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00:14:43,866 --> 00:14:45,633
and on my shirt,
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00:14:45,633 --> 00:14:48,833
and DNA is coming out of
my mouth as I talk.
253
00:14:48,833 --> 00:14:53,600
And there is microbial
DNA absolutely everywhere.
254
00:14:53,600 --> 00:14:56,633
So, when people were
sequencing these bones,
255
00:14:56,633 --> 00:14:58,666
they were getting DNA.
256
00:14:58,666 --> 00:15:01,300
And they were saying, "Wow,
there's DNA in these bones.
257
00:15:01,300 --> 00:15:03,100
It must be dinosaur DNA."
258
00:15:03,100 --> 00:15:05,500
I think there
was some dinosaur DNA
259
00:15:05,500 --> 00:15:07,700
that was published that they
were really excited about
260
00:15:07,700 --> 00:15:09,900
because it closely matched
a bird.
261
00:15:09,900 --> 00:15:12,633
Well, turns out
the field excavation team
262
00:15:12,633 --> 00:15:14,266
was having
a chicken dinner one night.
263
00:15:17,366 --> 00:15:20,866
In those early days,
when I was still a student,
264
00:15:20,866 --> 00:15:25,500
we were all struggling with
the problem of contamination.
265
00:15:25,500 --> 00:15:27,733
Which was the big downfall
266
00:15:27,733 --> 00:15:30,566
of the dinosaur DNA guys
of the '90s.
267
00:15:30,566 --> 00:15:32,533
And I decided, well,
268
00:15:32,533 --> 00:15:35,566
somehow, we are going to solve
that problem.
269
00:15:35,566 --> 00:15:39,000
I was working
on this with another student,
270
00:15:39,000 --> 00:15:41,100
Anders Hansen.
271
00:15:41,100 --> 00:15:46,566
So, we had this room that were
basically our clean laboratory.
272
00:15:46,566 --> 00:15:50,033
But we had a problem
with a mold contamination.
273
00:15:52,233 --> 00:15:54,700
And in the end,
we became so desperate,
274
00:15:54,700 --> 00:15:57,866
we decided, okay,
we will basically clean
275
00:15:57,866 --> 00:16:02,166
the entire room down
with very strong bleach.
276
00:16:05,300 --> 00:16:07,066
We knew, well,
it wasn't really allowed,
277
00:16:07,066 --> 00:16:08,833
and we didn't have
money for gas masks.
278
00:16:13,333 --> 00:16:16,266
Anders got,
got dizzy and threw up.
279
00:16:20,600 --> 00:16:22,666
And the security guard
was coming,
280
00:16:22,666 --> 00:16:26,000
saying, "What the
is going on here?"
281
00:16:26,000 --> 00:16:29,833
It's smelling like a swimming
pool in the entire building."
282
00:16:29,833 --> 00:16:34,100
And Monday morning,
we were, had to stand in front
283
00:16:34,100 --> 00:16:36,266
of the professor
and the lab director.
284
00:16:36,266 --> 00:16:37,833
And they were furious, right?
285
00:16:37,833 --> 00:16:39,300
I mean,
"What are you guys doing?
286
00:16:39,300 --> 00:16:41,900
I mean, do you know this
is totally illegal?"
287
00:16:43,366 --> 00:16:46,900
But the good news was even
though we, we got all this heat,
288
00:16:46,900 --> 00:16:49,833
the fungi contamination
were gone!
289
00:16:51,200 --> 00:16:54,666
Finally, Eske had a mold-free
lab.
290
00:16:54,666 --> 00:16:59,100
He first tried getting
DNA out of 2,000-year-old ice.
291
00:16:59,100 --> 00:17:01,333
We got ice cores from Greenland,
292
00:17:01,333 --> 00:17:04,433
and we showed we could
recover ancient fungi DNA
293
00:17:04,433 --> 00:17:08,266
trapped in the ice
without contamination.
294
00:17:08,266 --> 00:17:10,733
And that was big.
295
00:17:10,733 --> 00:17:14,133
So, then we knew,
we were ready to move
296
00:17:14,133 --> 00:17:19,100
to the next step--
searching for DNA in the dirt.
297
00:17:20,700 --> 00:17:23,900
So, I really believed
in this idea
298
00:17:23,900 --> 00:17:26,700
of environmental DNA
or dirt DNA.
299
00:17:26,700 --> 00:17:28,833
And more than that,
300
00:17:28,833 --> 00:17:33,133
that it could survive in the
environment as ancient DNA.
301
00:17:33,133 --> 00:17:34,333
But I had to prove it.
302
00:17:35,666 --> 00:17:41,300
So, I set out to retrieve
ancient DNA from the dirt.
303
00:17:41,300 --> 00:17:43,300
And at that point,
no one had done that.
304
00:17:44,400 --> 00:17:46,066
Eske was searching for DNA
305
00:17:46,066 --> 00:17:50,733
from the Ice Age,
which ended 12,000 years ago.
306
00:17:50,733 --> 00:17:53,833
It kept our planet in
a frigid grip
307
00:17:53,833 --> 00:17:57,433
for about two-and-a-half
million years.
308
00:17:57,433 --> 00:18:01,000
The Ice Age,
it's an amazing period.
309
00:18:01,000 --> 00:18:04,133
It's the time
of the big mammals.
310
00:18:04,133 --> 00:18:07,200
You have giant wolves,
giant beavers,
311
00:18:07,200 --> 00:18:10,366
mammoth, mastodons, right?
312
00:18:13,000 --> 00:18:15,166
So, I thought,
313
00:18:15,166 --> 00:18:18,100
imagine how much poop and urine
314
00:18:18,100 --> 00:18:21,766
these big mammals had
been producing over time, right?
315
00:18:21,766 --> 00:18:25,166
That is in the soil,
in the surrounding,
316
00:18:25,166 --> 00:18:27,833
frozen in time in the arctic.
317
00:18:29,933 --> 00:18:31,466
So, my idea was to bring back
318
00:18:31,466 --> 00:18:35,200
that Ice Age world
by retrieving DNA
319
00:18:35,200 --> 00:18:37,100
directly from the permafrost.
320
00:18:37,100 --> 00:18:39,733
And that permafrost
I got from Siberia.
321
00:18:43,733 --> 00:18:46,266
So, while everyone else
322
00:18:46,266 --> 00:18:48,933
was looking for DNA
in fossil bone and teeth,
323
00:18:48,933 --> 00:18:52,466
and discovering
one species at a time,
324
00:18:52,466 --> 00:18:56,066
I was looking in
the dirt for everything.
325
00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:02,366
It's one thing
to recover ancient DNA,
326
00:19:02,366 --> 00:19:04,966
but it's a far more
daunting challenge
327
00:19:04,966 --> 00:19:09,500
to read those tiny fragments
of genetic confetti.
328
00:19:09,500 --> 00:19:13,466
That is, to decode what kind
of ancient life they come from.
329
00:19:13,466 --> 00:19:15,266
The shorter the fragment,
330
00:19:15,266 --> 00:19:18,966
the harder it is to identify.
331
00:19:18,966 --> 00:19:21,566
A genome is like
a twisted ladder.
332
00:19:21,566 --> 00:19:23,800
So, if you think of
a long ladder,
333
00:19:23,800 --> 00:19:26,200
every rung is a base pair.
334
00:19:27,700 --> 00:19:32,766
And a base is a single
molecule-- A, T, G and C.
335
00:19:34,400 --> 00:19:37,566
A human genome
is incredibly long.
336
00:19:37,566 --> 00:19:40,233
It has three billion base pairs.
337
00:19:40,233 --> 00:19:43,133
So, that's three
billion rungs on the ladder.
338
00:19:43,133 --> 00:19:45,533
That's a big number.
339
00:19:45,533 --> 00:19:48,266
But when we're
working with ancient DNA,
340
00:19:48,266 --> 00:19:50,333
we're working with short pieces,
341
00:19:50,333 --> 00:19:53,366
pieces just a few rungs long.
342
00:19:53,366 --> 00:19:57,133
And we have to hope that those
little pieces
343
00:19:57,133 --> 00:19:59,766
contain enough
unique information
344
00:19:59,766 --> 00:20:02,200
that we can match
them to known DNA.
345
00:20:03,966 --> 00:20:06,433
Some of Eske's Siberian
permafrost
346
00:20:06,433 --> 00:20:09,100
was 400,000 years old.
347
00:20:09,100 --> 00:20:11,200
If he could identify species
348
00:20:11,200 --> 00:20:15,833
from ancient DNA frozen inside
it, he would set a new record.
349
00:20:18,400 --> 00:20:21,833
So, it's Christmas Eve,
and I'm, I'm sitting
350
00:20:21,833 --> 00:20:23,433
alone in the lab,
351
00:20:23,433 --> 00:20:26,366
everybody have already gone
home, right, for, for Christmas.
352
00:20:26,366 --> 00:20:31,666
And I'm, I'm basically checking
the DNA sequences
353
00:20:31,666 --> 00:20:34,866
that we got out of the dirt
and comparing those
354
00:20:34,866 --> 00:20:37,700
to all known DNA
sequences in the world.
355
00:20:37,700 --> 00:20:39,333
And when I see the results,
356
00:20:39,333 --> 00:20:44,433
the hairs on
my back are just rising.
357
00:20:44,433 --> 00:20:46,400
It was-- bang!-- woolly mammoth.
358
00:20:46,400 --> 00:20:48,000
It was-- bang!-- bison.
359
00:20:48,000 --> 00:20:51,833
It was-- bang!-- reindeer.
It was-- bang!-- hare.
360
00:20:51,833 --> 00:20:54,966
It was-- bang, bang, bang!--
361
00:20:54,966 --> 00:20:57,900
different types of plants.
362
00:20:59,200 --> 00:21:03,100
It worked better than
I could even have imagined.
363
00:21:04,600 --> 00:21:08,200
Eske had matched the ancient DNA
in his Siberian dirt
364
00:21:08,200 --> 00:21:11,566
to known species,
whose genetic sequences
365
00:21:11,566 --> 00:21:14,266
were collected
in a vast catalogue.
366
00:21:14,266 --> 00:21:17,966
And sure enough,
he found dozens of matches,
367
00:21:17,966 --> 00:21:20,500
including extinct species.
368
00:21:20,500 --> 00:21:22,566
Eske was the first to show
369
00:21:22,566 --> 00:21:25,766
that enough DNA can survive in
the dirt
370
00:21:25,766 --> 00:21:28,866
to paint a picture of the past.
371
00:21:30,200 --> 00:21:31,933
Still a student,
372
00:21:31,933 --> 00:21:34,733
he'd just sparked
a new field of science--
373
00:21:34,733 --> 00:21:37,900
ancient environmental DNA.
374
00:21:37,900 --> 00:21:39,966
The reason the technique
of environmental DNA works
375
00:21:39,966 --> 00:21:42,433
is that DNA is everywhere.
376
00:21:42,433 --> 00:21:44,933
It is raining DNA.
377
00:21:44,933 --> 00:21:48,666
The very problem we had
with DNA contaminating samples--
378
00:21:48,666 --> 00:21:51,700
that DNA is falling off of me
and coming out of my mouth
379
00:21:51,700 --> 00:21:53,733
and floating in the air
around me--
380
00:21:53,733 --> 00:21:57,366
that is exactly the opportunity
we have with environmental DNA.
381
00:21:57,366 --> 00:21:59,833
So I realized
it's not the scarcity
382
00:21:59,833 --> 00:22:01,933
of DNA that is limiting us.
383
00:22:01,933 --> 00:22:06,900
Environmental DNA is everywhere;
the limit is time.
384
00:22:06,900 --> 00:22:09,766
And this is really
when I started thinking,
385
00:22:09,766 --> 00:22:14,100
"Well, how far back in time
can we really push this?"
386
00:22:26,066 --> 00:22:28,100
So today we are in the
Holocene.
387
00:22:29,733 --> 00:22:32,833
That's about
the last 12,000 years.
388
00:22:34,966 --> 00:22:37,333
Before that,
it was the Pleistocene,
389
00:22:37,333 --> 00:22:40,100
a period of lots
of ice ages, more than 20,
390
00:22:40,100 --> 00:22:44,166
lasted about two-and-a-half
million years.
391
00:22:44,166 --> 00:22:46,466
And before that
was the Pliocene,
392
00:22:46,466 --> 00:22:48,966
when it was much warmer
than the Pleistocene.
393
00:22:51,366 --> 00:22:53,433
Yeah, it was a really
weird place,
394
00:22:53,433 --> 00:22:55,066
you would not
recognize that world.
395
00:22:58,166 --> 00:22:59,800
When you go
back three million years,
396
00:22:59,800 --> 00:23:01,300
you're in a way warmer climate.
397
00:23:01,300 --> 00:23:03,466
Earth was just hotter.
398
00:23:07,033 --> 00:23:08,966
And it had been that way
for a very long time,
399
00:23:08,966 --> 00:23:10,800
since before the extinction
400
00:23:10,800 --> 00:23:13,033
of the dinosaurs
65 million years ago.
401
00:23:16,733 --> 00:23:18,466
I'm a vertebrate paleontologist.
402
00:23:18,466 --> 00:23:20,200
I study the animals that lived
403
00:23:20,200 --> 00:23:22,233
in the Arctic
before the Ice Age.
404
00:23:22,233 --> 00:23:24,233
Mammals of the Pliocene Arctic.
405
00:23:25,233 --> 00:23:28,133
The reality is
we don't know very much.
406
00:23:28,133 --> 00:23:30,533
The time before
the Ice Age began, the Pliocene,
407
00:23:30,533 --> 00:23:32,566
it's kind of a lost world.
408
00:23:34,366 --> 00:23:37,833
We don't have full skeletons
of any Pliocene mammals.
409
00:23:39,400 --> 00:23:41,000
We just have fragments,
shards of bone,
410
00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:44,133
evidence of maybe 13 species.
411
00:23:47,500 --> 00:23:48,633
I still have so many questions.
412
00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:54,833
For a paleontologist like me,
it's really frustrating.
413
00:23:56,000 --> 00:24:00,700
So, where fossils are lacking,
could DNA help us?
414
00:24:00,700 --> 00:24:02,466
Could genetic traces
415
00:24:02,466 --> 00:24:05,400
really endure for millions
of years?
416
00:24:05,400 --> 00:24:11,400
Everything we knew about DNA
had told us that was impossible.
417
00:24:11,400 --> 00:24:15,266
The oldest DNA is the coldest
DNA.
418
00:24:17,233 --> 00:24:19,600
DNA is fragile,
419
00:24:19,600 --> 00:24:21,833
so it falls apart over time,
420
00:24:21,833 --> 00:24:24,633
but cold slows
that process down.
421
00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:31,333
No one has ever succeeded
422
00:24:31,333 --> 00:24:34,266
in getting DNA older
than one million years.
423
00:24:36,366 --> 00:24:39,933
But our tools
are getting better.
424
00:24:39,933 --> 00:24:42,566
So I think
the limits might change.
425
00:24:44,233 --> 00:24:48,400
Twenty years ago,
recovering 400,000-year-old DNA
426
00:24:48,400 --> 00:24:53,033
from Siberian permafrost was
an impressive leap back in time.
427
00:24:54,933 --> 00:24:57,600
The student
was suddenly a professor--
428
00:24:57,600 --> 00:24:59,566
the youngest in Denmark.
429
00:25:00,633 --> 00:25:04,100
But Eske's quest had just begun.
430
00:25:05,833 --> 00:25:07,166
So, I just happened to get
431
00:25:07,166 --> 00:25:10,000
this invitation from a group of
geologists
432
00:25:10,000 --> 00:25:13,566
to go up to
northeastern Greenland.
433
00:25:13,566 --> 00:25:16,700
And this is a remarkable place.
434
00:25:16,700 --> 00:25:18,866
I mean, there you have,
something called
435
00:25:18,866 --> 00:25:21,066
the Kap Kobenhavn Formation.
436
00:25:21,066 --> 00:25:25,233
And it's a super dry
and a super cold place.
437
00:25:25,233 --> 00:25:26,666
Naturally,
438
00:25:26,666 --> 00:25:30,600
I thought, northern Greenland
would hold the answer.
439
00:25:32,400 --> 00:25:37,466
If really old DNA is going to be
preserved anywhere, it's here.
440
00:25:42,600 --> 00:25:44,100
Northeastern Greenland--
441
00:25:44,100 --> 00:25:49,500
it's one of the most hostile
places on Earth, extremely cold.
442
00:25:49,500 --> 00:25:54,300
But even more important,
this is an Arctic desert.
443
00:25:56,700 --> 00:26:00,233
It was too dry
for glaciers to form.
444
00:26:00,233 --> 00:26:03,900
No glaciers
to grind away the landscape.
445
00:26:03,900 --> 00:26:08,866
The sediments up there
are perfectly preserved.
446
00:26:08,866 --> 00:26:10,766
In Kap Kobenhavn,
447
00:26:10,766 --> 00:26:13,566
you're literally walking on dirt
448
00:26:13,566 --> 00:26:15,266
from before the Ice Age.
449
00:26:16,466 --> 00:26:17,866
It's incredible.
450
00:26:17,866 --> 00:26:21,600
This place that is almost
barren ground today, right,
451
00:26:21,600 --> 00:26:26,400
in the sediments, we discovered
chunks of trees of wood
452
00:26:26,400 --> 00:26:29,433
that are three million years old
453
00:26:29,433 --> 00:26:31,400
but is still preserved there.
454
00:26:31,400 --> 00:26:33,033
I mean, you can basically
455
00:26:33,033 --> 00:26:36,166
take them up and use them
as fuel in your campfire.
456
00:26:37,400 --> 00:26:39,566
So this told me two things.
457
00:26:39,566 --> 00:26:41,100
First, Kap Kobenhavn
458
00:26:41,100 --> 00:26:43,833
must have looked very
different in the past.
459
00:26:43,833 --> 00:26:47,366
And secondly, this must be among
460
00:26:47,366 --> 00:26:51,200
the best places in the world for
long-term preservation of DNA.
461
00:26:53,900 --> 00:26:56,700
This gave me an idea.
462
00:26:57,700 --> 00:26:59,566
A naughty idea.
463
00:27:04,966 --> 00:27:08,233
What if we could just dig
in the dirt
464
00:27:08,233 --> 00:27:10,500
and recover DNA
millions of years old?
465
00:27:13,266 --> 00:27:14,433
If your goal is
466
00:27:14,433 --> 00:27:16,666
to get the oldest sample,
467
00:27:16,666 --> 00:27:20,666
then you go where that
oldest sample is likely to be.
468
00:27:20,666 --> 00:27:23,333
It reckons back to the age
of exploration, right?
469
00:27:23,333 --> 00:27:26,400
I mean, th... think about my,
my kids are in fourth grade,
470
00:27:26,400 --> 00:27:27,666
so they're learning about
471
00:27:27,666 --> 00:27:29,633
the explorers that went
around the world.
472
00:27:29,633 --> 00:27:33,333
And this is kind of, I think,
how Eske sees himself a bit.
473
00:27:33,333 --> 00:27:35,633
He's like, "you know what?
There's an Arctic desert.
474
00:27:35,633 --> 00:27:38,200
I'm gonna go there, and
I'm gonna get DNA from that."
475
00:27:38,200 --> 00:27:40,100
And he will because he's Eske.
476
00:27:40,100 --> 00:27:41,766
And that's how Eske works.
477
00:27:42,900 --> 00:27:46,333
In 2005, I published
this review paper
478
00:27:46,333 --> 00:27:49,300
where we basically
claimed, well,
479
00:27:49,300 --> 00:27:53,233
ancient DNA cannot survive
for more than one million years.
480
00:27:53,233 --> 00:27:55,500
That's the absolute limit.
481
00:27:55,500 --> 00:27:58,066
But in the back of my head,
482
00:27:58,066 --> 00:27:59,400
I was still wondering
483
00:27:59,400 --> 00:28:01,466
is that really true, right?
484
00:28:01,466 --> 00:28:05,400
Could DNA survive longer
than one million years
485
00:28:05,400 --> 00:28:07,533
in a place like
the Kap Kobenhavn Formation?
486
00:28:09,200 --> 00:28:11,866
So, on that
same expedition, I thought,
487
00:28:11,866 --> 00:28:16,633
"Hey! I mean, we're here!
Why not sample the sediments?
488
00:28:16,633 --> 00:28:20,933
You never know, we just
might be able to find DNA."
489
00:28:23,733 --> 00:28:27,733
I remember it was
pretty miserable up there.
490
00:28:27,733 --> 00:28:30,400
We were working in
the freezing Arctic desert,
491
00:28:30,400 --> 00:28:33,533
where it rained anyway.
492
00:28:33,533 --> 00:28:35,800
Still, we cored
into the frozen ground,
493
00:28:35,800 --> 00:28:38,500
and I got my crazy samples.
494
00:28:42,033 --> 00:28:46,200
So, I took the sediment samples
back to my lab in Copenhagen.
495
00:28:46,200 --> 00:28:49,133
And, to be honest,
496
00:28:49,133 --> 00:28:53,033
this was the beginning of
a very frustrating project.
497
00:28:54,833 --> 00:28:58,300
Those Greenland
samples would tease
498
00:28:58,300 --> 00:29:00,933
and torment Eske and his team
499
00:29:00,933 --> 00:29:04,400
for the next 15 years.
500
00:29:06,233 --> 00:29:09,900
In the early days, Astrid
Schmidt was a doctoral student
501
00:29:09,900 --> 00:29:12,133
in Eske's lab.
502
00:29:12,133 --> 00:29:14,866
When Eske offered her
the Greenland samples,
503
00:29:14,866 --> 00:29:17,166
she jumped on them.
504
00:29:17,166 --> 00:29:18,466
At that time,
505
00:29:18,466 --> 00:29:20,533
Eske was a, a star in
the scientific community,
506
00:29:20,533 --> 00:29:24,133
and I was inspired
by Eske's enthusiasm.
507
00:29:26,700 --> 00:29:30,366
We had a hypothesis that, if the
environment had been kept cold,
508
00:29:30,366 --> 00:29:33,433
and the temperatures had
not been moving up and down,
509
00:29:33,433 --> 00:29:35,700
fluctuated,
then we would have had
510
00:29:35,700 --> 00:29:37,633
at least a possibility
of finding
511
00:29:37,633 --> 00:29:41,033
ancient DNA.
512
00:29:41,033 --> 00:29:42,966
So, we were, being optimistic,
513
00:29:42,966 --> 00:29:46,433
knowing it was a long shot, but
also knowing that we could get
514
00:29:46,433 --> 00:29:48,466
ground-breaking results
from this.
515
00:29:50,000 --> 00:29:52,700
And there was DNA
in the samples.
516
00:29:52,700 --> 00:29:53,766
We could see it.
517
00:29:53,766 --> 00:29:55,800
But it was super degraded.
518
00:29:57,066 --> 00:29:58,300
It's not enough
519
00:29:58,300 --> 00:30:01,033
to see that your samples
contain ancient DNA.
520
00:30:01,033 --> 00:30:03,766
You have to be able
to identify that DNA
521
00:30:03,766 --> 00:30:06,600
and to know what forms
of life it came from.
522
00:30:06,600 --> 00:30:09,966
To do that, the fragments
need to be long enough.
523
00:30:09,966 --> 00:30:13,233
You need a certain number
of base pairs in a fragment.
524
00:30:13,233 --> 00:30:15,300
You need enough rungs
on your ladder.
525
00:30:16,666 --> 00:30:18,200
When Astrid started,
526
00:30:18,200 --> 00:30:21,866
scientists needed
at least 100 base pairs.
527
00:30:23,333 --> 00:30:24,800
We did everything we could
528
00:30:24,800 --> 00:30:26,400
with the technology
that existed,
529
00:30:26,400 --> 00:30:29,700
but we just couldn't overcome
the central problem.
530
00:30:29,700 --> 00:30:32,166
The Greenland DNA
was just too old,
531
00:30:32,166 --> 00:30:35,433
the fragments were too short.
532
00:30:35,433 --> 00:30:37,100
It was very frustrating.
533
00:30:37,100 --> 00:30:41,100
The DNA, after one million year,
was just total garbage.
534
00:30:41,100 --> 00:30:45,266
With, you can say, the
technology in hand at the time,
535
00:30:45,266 --> 00:30:47,700
the DNA
was completely unreadable.
536
00:30:47,700 --> 00:30:49,566
Well, Astrid,
537
00:30:49,566 --> 00:30:54,800
was one of many people in my lab
538
00:30:54,800 --> 00:30:58,866
that tried the Kap Kobenhavn
samples and basically failed.
539
00:30:58,866 --> 00:31:01,600
In retrospect...
540
00:31:01,600 --> 00:31:03,366
I was probably not
541
00:31:03,366 --> 00:31:05,166
a very good supervisor, right?
542
00:31:05,166 --> 00:31:10,066
Because I, I kind of pushed
for people to do these samples
543
00:31:10,066 --> 00:31:13,966
every time we had improvements
of our methodology,
544
00:31:13,966 --> 00:31:17,033
in a hope, "Well, this time,
they will work."
545
00:31:17,033 --> 00:31:20,966
If that happened,
it would be a career booster.
546
00:31:20,966 --> 00:31:23,000
But the...
547
00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:27,700
the risk associated with
this project was huge, right?
548
00:31:27,700 --> 00:31:30,633
So it was failure after failure.
549
00:31:30,633 --> 00:31:36,033
Kap Kobenhavn project was,
um, yeah, a bit sensitive.
550
00:31:36,033 --> 00:31:38,400
As a postdoc,
if you decided to invest
551
00:31:38,400 --> 00:31:41,666
your time in this,
it was the case of
552
00:31:41,666 --> 00:31:43,700
having only so many years
553
00:31:43,700 --> 00:31:46,700
to be able to produce
excellent research.
554
00:31:46,700 --> 00:31:48,666
If you're not able
to produce research
555
00:31:48,666 --> 00:31:50,600
because the technology
doesn't allow it,
556
00:31:50,600 --> 00:31:52,866
not because
you're a bad researcher,
557
00:31:52,866 --> 00:31:55,666
you still end up with
nothing to show for it.
558
00:31:56,666 --> 00:31:59,266
In 2013,
I left research science,
559
00:31:59,266 --> 00:32:03,166
and I didn't pursue science,
um, since then.
560
00:32:03,166 --> 00:32:06,233
I took a big risk,
and I paid a price.
561
00:32:10,266 --> 00:32:13,000
Yeah, but again...
the thing is, just like with...
562
00:32:13,000 --> 00:32:15,200
In Eske's lab,
students began calling
563
00:32:15,200 --> 00:32:16,900
the Greenland samples cursed.
564
00:32:18,500 --> 00:32:22,600
But Eske and his team
kept returning to Greenland,
565
00:32:22,600 --> 00:32:26,900
hoping to find DNA
in better condition.
566
00:32:26,900 --> 00:32:30,933
Meanwhile, four more students
suffered under the curse,
567
00:32:30,933 --> 00:32:35,400
failing to recover DNA
long enough to identify.
568
00:32:35,400 --> 00:32:38,200
They all changed careers.
569
00:32:39,433 --> 00:32:44,200
But as they left, new ones
stepped into their shoes.
570
00:32:44,200 --> 00:32:45,766
So, you, you can imagine
what I felt
571
00:32:45,766 --> 00:32:48,066
when this, these samples
landed on my table.
572
00:32:50,700 --> 00:32:51,866
So, I was a PhD student
573
00:32:51,866 --> 00:32:54,166
in Eske Willerslev's lab.
574
00:32:54,166 --> 00:32:57,200
This was my last option,
also, to succeed in a project
575
00:32:57,200 --> 00:32:59,233
that I was given
as a PhD student.
576
00:32:59,233 --> 00:33:02,533
I was coming to...
577
00:33:02,533 --> 00:33:07,233
the final tries of, of
actually making this a success.
578
00:33:07,233 --> 00:33:09,566
Back in the day, we needed
579
00:33:09,566 --> 00:33:13,833
almost hundred base pair
fragments to survive in a sample
580
00:33:13,833 --> 00:33:17,266
in order to retrieve
any DNA whatsoever.
581
00:33:18,266 --> 00:33:20,300
But the technology was changing.
582
00:33:20,300 --> 00:33:24,600
And I had a student, Mikkel,
who came to me with an idea.
583
00:33:24,600 --> 00:33:26,266
I was immediately excited.
584
00:33:26,266 --> 00:33:29,600
I thought,
"Yes, this could work."
585
00:33:29,600 --> 00:33:32,166
Mikkel suggested we use
586
00:33:32,166 --> 00:33:36,933
a powerful technique
called shotgun sequencing.
587
00:33:36,933 --> 00:33:39,966
Shotgun sequencing
itself wasn't new,
588
00:33:39,966 --> 00:33:43,300
but no one had ever used it
on dirt DNA.
589
00:33:43,300 --> 00:33:45,600
I don't know why, in retrospect.
590
00:33:45,600 --> 00:33:47,500
It seemed kind of obvious.
591
00:33:48,766 --> 00:33:51,666
First, Mikkel proved
that the shotgun technique
592
00:33:51,666 --> 00:33:56,466
could work on dirt DNA
several thousand years old.
593
00:33:56,466 --> 00:33:58,733
It really showed us
that we could actually
594
00:33:58,733 --> 00:34:01,333
get ancient environmental DNA
595
00:34:01,333 --> 00:34:03,866
even from
the very shortest threads
596
00:34:03,866 --> 00:34:06,500
that, that were
preserving in the samples.
597
00:34:06,500 --> 00:34:09,966
And the obvious next step
would actually be
598
00:34:09,966 --> 00:34:12,466
to take on the most
challenging project of them all.
599
00:34:12,466 --> 00:34:15,166
What we refer to as the curse,
600
00:34:15,166 --> 00:34:17,466
the Kap Kobenhavn Formation.
601
00:34:20,200 --> 00:34:22,100
In the early years
of ancient DNA,
602
00:34:22,100 --> 00:34:23,700
we had to decide which part
603
00:34:23,700 --> 00:34:25,233
of the genome to look at.
604
00:34:25,233 --> 00:34:28,333
Those are the giveaway parts
of the genome
605
00:34:28,333 --> 00:34:29,833
that we call barcodes.
606
00:34:29,833 --> 00:34:32,033
They reveal the identity
607
00:34:32,033 --> 00:34:33,200
of an organism.
608
00:34:33,200 --> 00:34:34,600
We matched those barcodes
609
00:34:34,600 --> 00:34:36,533
to our reference catalog,
610
00:34:36,533 --> 00:34:40,600
but those barcode fragments
had to be long enough.
611
00:34:40,600 --> 00:34:43,966
We know that DNA fragments
over a hundred base pairs
612
00:34:43,966 --> 00:34:46,500
just don't survive
millions of years,
613
00:34:46,500 --> 00:34:49,866
even frozen,
high up in the Arctic.
614
00:34:49,866 --> 00:34:53,500
So, shotgun sequencing
was a revolution.
615
00:34:53,500 --> 00:34:57,033
Now, instead of targeting
a specific part of the genome
616
00:34:57,033 --> 00:35:01,400
with precision, like with
a rifle, we're using a shotgun.
617
00:35:01,400 --> 00:35:04,266
A shotgun hits everything.
618
00:35:04,266 --> 00:35:05,900
With the shotgun method,
619
00:35:05,900 --> 00:35:09,166
we just sequence
all the DNA we can find.
620
00:35:09,166 --> 00:35:13,866
Then we look for matches
with every genome sequence
621
00:35:13,866 --> 00:35:16,866
for every organism
that we know of.
622
00:35:17,866 --> 00:35:22,133
It takes immense computing
power, billions of operations.
623
00:35:22,133 --> 00:35:25,033
And only now are computers
powerful enough
624
00:35:25,033 --> 00:35:28,200
to work with fragments
down to 30 base pairs.
625
00:35:30,866 --> 00:35:34,200
Imagine shredding
"War and Peace."
626
00:35:34,200 --> 00:35:38,500
All you have are short phrases,
not even sentences.
627
00:35:38,500 --> 00:35:41,300
And you walk into
the Library of Congress,
628
00:35:41,300 --> 00:35:43,400
and you start looking
for a match
629
00:35:43,400 --> 00:35:46,966
for each one of those phrases,
630
00:35:46,966 --> 00:35:49,866
book by book by book.
631
00:35:49,866 --> 00:35:52,566
There's another "War and Peace"
in there somewhere,
632
00:35:52,566 --> 00:35:56,500
but you need to work through
millions of other books
633
00:35:56,500 --> 00:35:58,466
before you find a match.
634
00:35:58,466 --> 00:36:03,000
And once you do,
your job is to reconstruct
635
00:36:03,000 --> 00:36:07,666
as many pages
of that novel as you can.
636
00:36:10,700 --> 00:36:14,866
So we were the first to use
shotgun sequencing on dirt.
637
00:36:14,866 --> 00:36:17,300
And when we did,
638
00:36:17,300 --> 00:36:19,533
man, it was powerful.
639
00:36:19,533 --> 00:36:21,600
In science,
640
00:36:21,600 --> 00:36:25,600
moments like this
actually feels like magic.
641
00:36:25,600 --> 00:36:27,366
I have no other way
of putting it.
642
00:36:27,366 --> 00:36:32,333
It was just like
that Christmas Eve 25 years ago.
643
00:36:32,333 --> 00:36:36,100
As if by magic, we were seeing
the genetic signatures
644
00:36:36,100 --> 00:36:38,800
of these plants
and animals appear.
645
00:36:38,800 --> 00:36:41,166
Bang, bang, bang.
646
00:36:41,166 --> 00:36:43,333
But it's different this time.
647
00:36:43,333 --> 00:36:45,766
Now, there's hundreds--
648
00:36:45,766 --> 00:36:50,166
fleas, lemmings,
arctic hare, geese, caribou.
649
00:36:50,166 --> 00:36:52,766
A whole forest ecosystem:
650
00:36:52,766 --> 00:36:56,433
larch, poplar, willow, spruce,
651
00:36:56,433 --> 00:36:58,633
ash, cedar trees.
652
00:36:58,633 --> 00:37:01,066
We're looking at a long list
653
00:37:01,066 --> 00:37:06,700
of organisms from a place
that today is an Arctic desert.
654
00:37:10,133 --> 00:37:12,133
Eske's team had recovered
655
00:37:12,133 --> 00:37:16,000
the genetic fingerprints
of a lost world--
656
00:37:16,000 --> 00:37:21,300
nine land and sea animals, from
horseshoe crabs to big mammals;
657
00:37:21,300 --> 00:37:26,100
over a hundred plants,
from mosses to forest trees;
658
00:37:26,100 --> 00:37:29,333
and nearly
2,000 other organisms,
659
00:37:29,333 --> 00:37:32,900
including bacteria and plankton,
660
00:37:32,900 --> 00:37:35,366
some of them extinct
and many of them
661
00:37:35,366 --> 00:37:38,666
never detected in the Arctic.
662
00:37:38,666 --> 00:37:40,900
But this incredible breakthrough
663
00:37:40,900 --> 00:37:44,333
created another problem.
664
00:37:44,333 --> 00:37:46,433
If you're claiming
to have recovered
665
00:37:46,433 --> 00:37:48,100
the world's oldest DNA,
666
00:37:48,100 --> 00:37:51,400
you'd better be
very sure about the date.
667
00:37:55,666 --> 00:37:58,533
We knew we were going
to get hammered.
668
00:37:58,533 --> 00:38:03,900
Extraordinary claims demand
extraordinary evidence, right?
669
00:38:03,900 --> 00:38:08,900
We had to be very sure about
the dates from Kap Kobenhavn.
670
00:38:08,900 --> 00:38:12,666
That took two more years
of hard work.
671
00:38:15,800 --> 00:38:16,933
Eske.
672
00:38:16,933 --> 00:38:19,300
We used a whole set
673
00:38:19,300 --> 00:38:21,233
of different methods.
674
00:38:21,233 --> 00:38:22,933
We looked for organisms
in the sediments
675
00:38:22,933 --> 00:38:25,100
that we knew lived on Earth
676
00:38:25,100 --> 00:38:26,800
for a known period of the past.
677
00:38:26,800 --> 00:38:28,733
We used the biological clock
678
00:38:28,733 --> 00:38:32,233
based on
how DNA mutates over time.
679
00:38:33,266 --> 00:38:35,966
And Eske's team used
three more independent methods
680
00:38:35,966 --> 00:38:39,800
to date the sediment
from Greenland.
681
00:38:39,800 --> 00:38:43,600
When their work was done, they
had made a remarkable discovery.
682
00:38:43,600 --> 00:38:49,266
The Cape Copenhagen DNA is
at least two million years old.
683
00:38:49,266 --> 00:38:51,400
It's important to understand
684
00:38:51,400 --> 00:38:54,266
that this is
the minimum possible age.
685
00:38:54,266 --> 00:38:59,833
Taking all the lines of
the dating evidence as a whole,
686
00:38:59,833 --> 00:39:04,133
the most likely age
of the Kap Kobenhavn DNA
687
00:39:04,133 --> 00:39:06,500
is actually 2.5 million years.
688
00:39:06,500 --> 00:39:09,100
This puts us
into the late Pliocene,
689
00:39:09,100 --> 00:39:14,466
which is the period just before
we start having glaciations.
690
00:39:14,466 --> 00:39:16,533
If Eske's DNA is that old,
691
00:39:16,533 --> 00:39:19,700
if it is Pliocene,
then that is huge.
692
00:39:20,766 --> 00:39:23,300
Eske had his hands on DNA
693
00:39:23,300 --> 00:39:26,233
from before the last Ice Age.
694
00:39:26,233 --> 00:39:28,200
Finally, we are catching sight
695
00:39:28,200 --> 00:39:31,566
of the living world
that existed in Greenland
696
00:39:31,566 --> 00:39:34,066
before the world grew cold.
697
00:39:35,533 --> 00:39:37,466
That was the moment.
698
00:39:37,466 --> 00:39:42,900
That was when we knew we had
something to tell the world.
699
00:39:43,900 --> 00:39:45,166
Sixteen years
700
00:39:45,166 --> 00:39:48,000
after Eske began collecting dirt
in Greenland,
701
00:39:48,000 --> 00:39:50,800
the breakthrough was published
in "Nature" magazine.
702
00:39:50,800 --> 00:39:55,200
It was covered by over 400
newspapers around the world.
703
00:39:55,200 --> 00:39:59,633
It even landed on the front page
of "The New York Times."
704
00:39:59,633 --> 00:40:03,466
This was one of the biggest
science stories of the year.
705
00:40:04,466 --> 00:40:07,666
Until this day,
the record for the oldest DNA
706
00:40:07,666 --> 00:40:10,333
was from a single fossil,
707
00:40:10,333 --> 00:40:13,933
a mammoth that lived just over
one million years ago,
708
00:40:13,933 --> 00:40:15,066
during the Ice Age.
709
00:40:15,066 --> 00:40:18,800
Using dirt DNA
instead of fossils,
710
00:40:18,800 --> 00:40:21,400
Eske's team
shattered that record,
711
00:40:21,400 --> 00:40:24,400
opening a window on
an unknown living world
712
00:40:24,400 --> 00:40:27,233
more than twice as old
as that mammoth.
713
00:40:28,533 --> 00:40:31,833
It feels almost magical
to be able to infer
714
00:40:31,833 --> 00:40:35,066
such a complete picture
of an ancient ecosystem,
715
00:40:35,066 --> 00:40:38,000
from tiny fragments
of preserved DNA.
716
00:40:40,200 --> 00:40:42,200
When I first heard
about the results
717
00:40:42,200 --> 00:40:43,966
from Kap Kobenhavn...
718
00:40:45,233 --> 00:40:47,633
I just said to myself,
"What?!"
719
00:40:47,633 --> 00:40:49,900
What we're talking about
720
00:40:49,900 --> 00:40:51,400
is pushing the record back
721
00:40:51,400 --> 00:40:52,866
to at least two million years,
722
00:40:52,866 --> 00:40:55,800
and I believe
much longer than that.
723
00:40:55,800 --> 00:40:57,733
It was a complete tour de force.
724
00:40:57,733 --> 00:40:59,566
What are my feelings
when I first saw this paper,
725
00:40:59,566 --> 00:41:01,633
is, stunned.
726
00:41:01,633 --> 00:41:04,866
I think we just never really
thought it would be possible,
727
00:41:04,866 --> 00:41:06,066
after years of trying,
728
00:41:06,066 --> 00:41:08,566
to get DNA from
these ancient ecosystems.
729
00:41:10,066 --> 00:41:12,133
We never thought
we'd see such a rich
730
00:41:12,133 --> 00:41:16,000
and diverse ecosystem
in Greenland.
731
00:41:16,000 --> 00:41:18,400
We're seeing
the very last Arctic forests
732
00:41:18,400 --> 00:41:21,966
from a hotter world
before the Ice Age.
733
00:41:21,966 --> 00:41:23,533
And these forests are unique.
734
00:41:23,533 --> 00:41:25,033
We have nothing like them today.
735
00:41:32,366 --> 00:41:33,966
I always knew
736
00:41:33,966 --> 00:41:36,400
that there was forest
in the High Arctic.
737
00:41:36,400 --> 00:41:41,700
I touched the wood
of ancient trees up there.
738
00:41:41,700 --> 00:41:44,966
But when we looked at
the sequences from Greenland,
739
00:41:44,966 --> 00:41:49,733
there was one
that completely shocked me,
740
00:41:49,733 --> 00:41:52,700
shocked everyone.
741
00:41:55,633 --> 00:42:00,533
To hear that there was mastodon
DNA from Kap Kobenhavn,
742
00:42:00,533 --> 00:42:04,700
this just struck me as,
"Whoa. How can that be?
743
00:42:04,700 --> 00:42:06,433
That is so far north."
744
00:42:06,433 --> 00:42:08,966
Relatives of
the modern elephant,
745
00:42:08,966 --> 00:42:11,533
mastodons were forest creatures
746
00:42:11,533 --> 00:42:14,666
that died out
at the end of the Ice Age.
747
00:42:14,666 --> 00:42:17,600
The closest to Cape Copenhagen
their remains have been found
748
00:42:17,600 --> 00:42:22,333
is almost 3,000 miles to
the south, in North America.
749
00:42:22,333 --> 00:42:23,600
It comes completely
out of the blue.
750
00:42:23,600 --> 00:42:25,766
And it was the first time
that we found
751
00:42:25,766 --> 00:42:29,233
such a large animal
in Greenland.
752
00:42:42,800 --> 00:42:47,533
So, after all those years,
we broke the curse
753
00:42:47,533 --> 00:42:49,700
of the Greenland samples.
754
00:42:50,733 --> 00:42:53,133
I guess you can say
it was a breakthrough
755
00:42:53,133 --> 00:42:56,633
that immediately
became a problem.
756
00:42:56,633 --> 00:42:58,500
The big question, of course, is
757
00:42:58,500 --> 00:43:01,566
how do such DNA survive
758
00:43:01,566 --> 00:43:04,333
beyond
the one-million-year-old limit?
759
00:43:05,700 --> 00:43:08,500
That was the mystery
we had to solve.
760
00:43:11,833 --> 00:43:14,600
It turns out, DNA survived
761
00:43:14,600 --> 00:43:17,166
such an incredible long time
762
00:43:17,166 --> 00:43:21,033
because of minerals in the soil.
763
00:43:22,566 --> 00:43:25,233
DNA is electrically charged.
764
00:43:25,233 --> 00:43:28,933
And many mineral particles
that you find in the soil
765
00:43:28,933 --> 00:43:31,833
is also electrically charged.
766
00:43:31,833 --> 00:43:36,000
So, therefore, DNA fragments
will basically bind itself
767
00:43:36,000 --> 00:43:41,233
around such sediment particles.
768
00:43:41,233 --> 00:43:44,266
And this will reduce
the rate of degradation,
769
00:43:44,266 --> 00:43:46,333
of the spontaneous reaction
770
00:43:46,333 --> 00:43:49,900
that are attacking the DNA
and breaking it up.
771
00:43:49,900 --> 00:43:52,666
So, yes,
it will still be degraded,
772
00:43:52,666 --> 00:43:54,466
it will still be destroyed,
773
00:43:54,466 --> 00:43:59,833
but the rate by which this is
happening is heavily reduced.
774
00:44:01,700 --> 00:44:05,266
It turned out that
particularly certain minerals
775
00:44:05,266 --> 00:44:10,366
of clay and quartz
binds the DNA very strong.
776
00:44:10,366 --> 00:44:15,766
If bound to clay and quartz,
DNA is basically frozen in time.
777
00:44:17,166 --> 00:44:20,100
What is super cool about
the Greenland breakthrough,
778
00:44:20,100 --> 00:44:22,233
is the discovery
that certain minerals
779
00:44:22,233 --> 00:44:25,500
can freeze DNA in time.
780
00:44:25,500 --> 00:44:28,500
Because this means
that everything we thought
781
00:44:28,500 --> 00:44:31,966
about the limits of DNA
preservation are out the window.
782
00:44:32,966 --> 00:44:35,666
Not back to
the age of dinosaurs,
783
00:44:35,666 --> 00:44:38,933
but far beyond the old
one-million-year limit.
784
00:44:40,766 --> 00:44:41,900
So, these cores
785
00:44:41,900 --> 00:44:42,900
that no one believed in
786
00:44:42,900 --> 00:44:44,266
turned out to contain
787
00:44:44,266 --> 00:44:46,666
the most amazing treasure.
788
00:44:46,666 --> 00:44:50,433
It just took us 15 years
to find out how to get it out.
789
00:44:50,433 --> 00:44:52,566
...amazing to...
790
00:44:52,566 --> 00:44:54,733
To be honest,
I never really lost faith
791
00:44:54,733 --> 00:45:00,500
because every limit
we have ever set, we broke.
792
00:45:05,033 --> 00:45:07,533
Until now, what we knew
of the living world
793
00:45:07,533 --> 00:45:11,800
before the Ice Age,
we learned from fossils.
794
00:45:11,800 --> 00:45:13,700
At the
Canadian Museum of Nature,
795
00:45:13,700 --> 00:45:17,400
Natalia Rybczynski only
has fragments of bone to study.
796
00:45:18,400 --> 00:45:22,500
But with the spectacular
discovery of DNA from Greenland,
797
00:45:22,500 --> 00:45:24,566
finally a detailed portrait
798
00:45:24,566 --> 00:45:27,533
of this lost world is emerging.
799
00:45:27,533 --> 00:45:32,500
And it's even stranger
than scientists expected.
800
00:45:32,500 --> 00:45:35,733
This was
a really weird environment.
801
00:45:35,733 --> 00:45:40,766
You had a forest where
half the year it was dark.
802
00:45:40,766 --> 00:45:46,000
And the other half the year
it was sunshine all day around.
803
00:45:46,000 --> 00:45:50,366
This means that all
the organisms we are uncovering
804
00:45:50,366 --> 00:45:54,500
had to survive
half the year in darkness.
805
00:46:06,433 --> 00:46:08,633
I think the thing
that really blew our minds
806
00:46:08,633 --> 00:46:12,833
from the Pliocene is the camel.
807
00:46:12,833 --> 00:46:15,233
How could this camel, known only
808
00:46:15,233 --> 00:46:17,366
by a few fragments of bone,
809
00:46:17,366 --> 00:46:19,800
survive so far north?
810
00:46:19,800 --> 00:46:22,800
The living world revealed
by the Greenland DNA
811
00:46:22,800 --> 00:46:25,033
gives us some clues.
812
00:46:25,033 --> 00:46:26,600
When you think
about camels today,
813
00:46:26,600 --> 00:46:28,300
it's really easy to imagine
814
00:46:28,300 --> 00:46:30,966
that they evolved
to live in the desert.
815
00:46:30,966 --> 00:46:35,066
And this is where the finding
of the High Arctic camel
816
00:46:35,066 --> 00:46:36,500
is so mind-blowing, right?
817
00:46:36,500 --> 00:46:39,400
Because it's not in a desert.
818
00:46:39,400 --> 00:46:42,333
It's living a complete
opposite to a desert.
819
00:46:42,333 --> 00:46:43,533
It's in a forest.
820
00:46:45,133 --> 00:46:49,033
Ever notice how huge
a camel's eye is?
821
00:46:49,033 --> 00:46:50,766
Well, it turns out
they have incredible vision,
822
00:46:50,766 --> 00:46:52,533
including night vision.
823
00:46:52,533 --> 00:46:55,800
That's pretty useful when it's
dark six months of the year.
824
00:46:57,833 --> 00:47:00,333
One of the, most dramatic features
825
00:47:00,333 --> 00:47:02,900
of the camel, it's the hump.
826
00:47:02,900 --> 00:47:05,366
It's actually
a specialized fat deposit.
827
00:47:05,366 --> 00:47:08,666
And when you think about
the importance of fat,
828
00:47:08,666 --> 00:47:10,033
energy storage,
829
00:47:10,033 --> 00:47:11,866
this is something that's
also very important
830
00:47:11,866 --> 00:47:15,000
for animals that survive
through harsh winters.
831
00:47:16,300 --> 00:47:18,933
The wide feet of camels,
832
00:47:18,933 --> 00:47:20,500
you know, it's listed
as one of the traits
833
00:47:20,500 --> 00:47:22,466
that helps them walk over sand,
834
00:47:22,466 --> 00:47:25,266
also would function well
in soft snow.
835
00:47:26,433 --> 00:47:28,133
We haven't found camel DNA
836
00:47:28,133 --> 00:47:29,500
from before the Ice Age.
837
00:47:29,500 --> 00:47:30,533
Not yet.
838
00:47:31,933 --> 00:47:33,166
But we have now
839
00:47:33,166 --> 00:47:35,133
recreated the forest world
840
00:47:35,133 --> 00:47:37,366
they were living in,
and Natalia's fossils
841
00:47:37,366 --> 00:47:39,466
tells us they were there.
842
00:47:41,833 --> 00:47:43,366
This is a forest that stretched
843
00:47:43,366 --> 00:47:47,866
from Greenland to Canada
on solid land without barriers.
844
00:47:56,033 --> 00:47:58,366
We used to believe that
ancient DNA could take you back
845
00:47:58,366 --> 00:48:00,200
a few thousand years.
846
00:48:00,200 --> 00:48:02,900
Today, we know we can see
millions of years back in time.
847
00:48:04,833 --> 00:48:07,366
Back to a hotter time,
848
00:48:07,366 --> 00:48:09,900
before the Ice Age,
849
00:48:09,900 --> 00:48:12,600
the Pliocene:
850
00:48:12,600 --> 00:48:15,566
a long-lost epoch
that climate scientists
851
00:48:15,566 --> 00:48:19,000
believe may hold
a lesson for us today.
852
00:48:20,433 --> 00:48:22,200
The Pliocene's a big
853
00:48:22,200 --> 00:48:24,366
red flashing light, right?
854
00:48:27,933 --> 00:48:30,866
The Pliocene was the last time
atmospheric CO2 levels
855
00:48:30,866 --> 00:48:32,133
were the same as today.
856
00:48:32,133 --> 00:48:33,600
You would have to go back
857
00:48:33,600 --> 00:48:37,066
three million years to find
a climate equivalent to
858
00:48:37,066 --> 00:48:38,333
what we're doing right now.
859
00:48:38,333 --> 00:48:41,100
That is a CO2 level of about
860
00:48:41,100 --> 00:48:43,833
400 parts per million
in the atmosphere.
861
00:48:47,233 --> 00:48:50,566
The new Pliocene has begun.
862
00:48:50,566 --> 00:48:51,833
It's called the Anthropocene.
863
00:48:53,066 --> 00:48:55,333
We've already altered
Earth's climate.
864
00:48:55,333 --> 00:48:58,266
We're living in a climate that
865
00:48:58,266 --> 00:49:01,933
is about one degree C warmer
globally than it should be.
866
00:49:06,066 --> 00:49:08,900
The climate of the Pliocene
is where we're going.
867
00:49:08,900 --> 00:49:11,633
It's like our instruction
manual for what's coming.
868
00:49:15,266 --> 00:49:17,400
When the Pliocene ended,
869
00:49:17,400 --> 00:49:19,466
and the Ice Age began,
that was a big blow.
870
00:49:19,466 --> 00:49:21,500
But it didn't end life on Earth.
871
00:49:21,500 --> 00:49:24,033
All life around us
has its evolutionary roots
872
00:49:24,033 --> 00:49:26,066
in a hotter world, including us.
873
00:49:27,133 --> 00:49:30,566
And that hotter world
could hold lessons
874
00:49:30,566 --> 00:49:33,800
for our own survival.
875
00:49:33,800 --> 00:49:35,100
Greenland proves
876
00:49:35,100 --> 00:49:37,733
we can go much deeper in time
877
00:49:37,733 --> 00:49:38,900
than what we thought we would.
878
00:49:40,333 --> 00:49:42,833
We now have the technology
879
00:49:42,833 --> 00:49:44,733
to go even farther back in time,
880
00:49:44,733 --> 00:49:46,566
potentially
many millions of years.
881
00:49:48,166 --> 00:49:49,566
We have access
to the genetic codes
882
00:49:49,566 --> 00:49:51,633
of plants and animals
that survived
883
00:49:51,633 --> 00:49:53,666
in different climates,
884
00:49:53,666 --> 00:49:55,800
hotter climates, drier climates.
885
00:49:55,800 --> 00:49:57,633
If we can sequence the genomes
886
00:49:57,633 --> 00:50:00,766
of those ancient organisms,
maybe they can help us.
887
00:50:00,766 --> 00:50:02,600
And I think
we're gonna need help.
888
00:50:02,600 --> 00:50:05,633
The rescue effort
has already started.
889
00:50:10,066 --> 00:50:13,900
Scientists in Copenhagen
have identified a gene
890
00:50:13,900 --> 00:50:15,966
from the Greenland DNA
that helped
891
00:50:15,966 --> 00:50:17,933
poplar trees grow in the extreme
892
00:50:17,933 --> 00:50:20,100
light conditions
of the High Arctic.
893
00:50:20,100 --> 00:50:25,033
And they've put that gene
into a modern barley plant.
894
00:50:25,033 --> 00:50:28,800
One day, when our climate
is much warmer,
895
00:50:28,800 --> 00:50:32,500
this barley might thrive
at the top of the world,
896
00:50:32,500 --> 00:50:35,566
just as those
ancient poplar trees did.
897
00:50:35,566 --> 00:50:37,766
This is a food plant
898
00:50:37,766 --> 00:50:41,333
engineered for a hot future.
899
00:50:43,166 --> 00:50:46,400
We are stealing
genetic secrets of the past
900
00:50:46,400 --> 00:50:50,300
so we can rescue the future.
901
00:50:52,033 --> 00:50:55,600
I want to do my part
to rescue the future.
902
00:50:58,300 --> 00:50:59,500
We are going to sequence
903
00:50:59,500 --> 00:51:03,700
thousands, millions
of ancient genomes
904
00:51:03,700 --> 00:51:07,466
from sediment samples
all over the world.
905
00:51:08,733 --> 00:51:11,666
Because we are now using robots
906
00:51:11,666 --> 00:51:13,533
across the entire pipeline,
907
00:51:13,533 --> 00:51:16,200
we can do 200 samples a week.
908
00:51:17,066 --> 00:51:20,466
We are starting
an industrial revolution
909
00:51:20,466 --> 00:51:23,600
in ancient DNA sequencing.
910
00:51:27,000 --> 00:51:30,533
Arctic barley
could be just the beginning.
911
00:51:30,533 --> 00:51:34,866
Scientists are gearing up to put
ancient genes into rice, wheat,
912
00:51:34,866 --> 00:51:38,800
and other foods to help
them thrive in a warming world.
913
00:51:44,133 --> 00:51:46,000
Today we take for granted
914
00:51:46,000 --> 00:51:51,200
that all organisms are shedding
DNA around in the environment.
915
00:51:51,200 --> 00:51:54,900
But, once, this was a new idea.
916
00:51:54,900 --> 00:52:00,633
It all started with
that dog pooping in the rain.
917
00:52:00,633 --> 00:52:03,433
And that is why we can do this,
918
00:52:03,433 --> 00:52:09,066
where a little bit of dirt
contains an entire living world.
71164
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