All language subtitles for S01E09 - Genetic Clues of Human Origin.en

[THEME MUSIC]

My name's Gregg Braden, and
I'd like to welcome you to this

very special presentation
of "Missing Links",

the deep truth of our origin
history, destiny, and fate.

In the last episode, I
shared the new evidence

that is absolutely shaking the
foundation of modern science

when it comes to the story
of human evolution, us

and where we come from.

Advanced CSI-like
technology is now

revealing DNA
evidence in our time

that Charles Darwin simply
could not have known in his.

The DNA that was supposed
to represent our ancestors

is now telling us a story--

it's our story--
and the story is

that we are not the product
of the long, slow process

of evolution that we see
for other forms of life.

So I want to be very clear.

DNA is telling us that
evolution is a fact.

It's just not our story.

The DNA is also telling
us that we did not

descend from primitive beings
such as ancient Neanderthals.

The DNA is telling us that
we appeared on this earth

suddenly, in evolutionary
terms, as what

are called now anatomically
modern humans, AMH.

We appeared about
200,000 years ago,

and the thing is we haven't
changed since we appeared.

So now that we
know what we're not

and we know how
quickly we did appear,

the questions that come
to mind are why and how.

Why did we suddenly appear?

Why did we show up on this
earth 200,000 years ago,

and how did it happen?

Well, that's what this
episode is all about.

In this episode, we'll
answer these questions.

And in doing so, we're
going to open the door

to an even deeper mystery.

Because the answer
to the mystery

begins in our chromosomes.

So one of the mysteries
when it comes to our origin

has always been our DNA,
specifically the way

that our DNA compares to our
nearest primate neighbors,

the great apes and chimpanzees.

And part of that
mystery is simply

in the sheer number of
chromosomes that we have.

Humans have 46 chromosomes.

The apes have 48.

And the question
has always been,

why do they have more than us?

Why do they appear to have two
more chromosomes than we do?

Well, it was only with
advances in genetic research

relatively recently that
the answer to this mystery

has been determined.

The mystery has been solved.

But in solving the mystery,
it's opened the door

to an even deeper
mystery, and this

is something that
happens over and over

and over again in this
study of our origin.

So when we look at the
genome for the primates,

when we look at their 48
chromosomes, what we find

is that there is a place,
chromosome number 2, where they

have two separate chromosomes.

And only recently
have scientists

found that in the human genome,
our human chromosome number 2

is actually made of a very
specific, very precise union

of those two
primate chromosomes.

Let me say that again.

The mystery as to
why we seem to have

fewer chromosomes
than other primates

is because there are
two of theirs that

were fused into one of ours.

And that brings us to the
mystery of that chromosome--

why it was fused,
how it was fused,

what the fusion looks like.

It's all about human
chromosome number 2.

Human chromosome
number 2 has always

been fascinating to scientists.

It is one of the largest
chromosomes in the human body.

It makes about 8% of the DNA
in every cell in our body.

And the way that this
chromosome has formed

is very controversial
right now, so much so

that it was the subject
of an entire study.

It has been the subject
of entire conferences

that last a week and longer
on human chromosome number 2.

But what I'd like
to do right now,

I'm going to begin with
a technical paper that

was published.

So this is peer
reviewed science.

This isn't theory.

It's not hypothesis.

It is peer reviewed science
that now is telling us

precisely how these two
primate chromosomes were

fused to give us the
one chromosome that

makes us unique.

It makes us who we are.

It gives us the abilities that
we have that sets us apart

from all other life.

And I think because
of that, it's

worth taking a deeper
look at this chromosome.

So I'm going to
read to you directly

from a technical research
paper, the "National

Academy of Sciences"--
proceedings of the "National

Academy of Sciences."

Let me read what they say in
their language, and then let's

you and I talk about
what that means.

And we'll use some
graphics to help break this

down a little bit.

In the proceedings from the
"National Academy of Sciences"

in the journal that
is titled "Genetics",

the subtitle tells
the whole story.

The "Origin of
human chromosome 2:

An ancestral
telomere-telomere fusion."

So before we go
any further, I want

to talk to you about
what a telomere is.

When we look at the ends
of a human chromosome,

what we see is the
chromosome that

looks essentially like a little
X. And within that X, the DNA--

the strands of the
DNA, the double helix--

are within that X. All right?

At the end of each
strand of chromosome,

there's a very
special kind of DNA.

It is a repeating
sequence, the same sequence

over and over and over again.

And this sequence is
called a telomere.

And we're going to
talk a lot about this

later in this episode.

But what I want you
to know right now

is that those telomeres--

at the end of each
repeating sequence,

they are the key to what
the scientists found

about the fusion of the primate
chromosomes that give us

our chromosome 2,
that makes us unique,

because the fusion happened
at the end of those two

telomere sequences.

So I'm going to go back.

I'm going to read precisely
what this paper is saying,

and then we're going
to break this down.

I'm going to cut to
the chase, once again,

because I don't think we want to
read through the entire paper.

I'm going to go to the last
sentence of the conclusion

of the study from the "Origin
of human chromosome number 2"

And it says that "we conclude
that human chromosome number 2

is the relic of an ancient
telomere-telomere fusion."

All right?

And the paper goes on to say--

and this is what's
really important here--

not only did the fusion
happen, the paper says,

"this fusion must
have been followed

by the elimination of
overlapping functions

as well as by events that
stabilize the fusion."

Now, what are they saying here?

Well, it's telling
us two things.

First of all, they're telling
us that the second largest

chromosome in our body is
the chromosome that makes us

unique, that gives us the
advanced abilities that we have

that no other form of life
has-- things like intuition

and things like logic, all
of those kinds of things--

that chromosome is the
result of an ancient fusion.

OK?

So that's the first
thing it's telling us--

that somehow through
a mechanism that

is not completely understood,
the primate, the great ape

chromosomes were fused to
make us who we are today.

Number one-- this is where
it gets really interesting.

Because they say that
the fusion that happen

could not happen under
natural conditions,

at least as we know
those conditions today.

This isn't something that
you see happen all the time.

And here's the reason why--

not only did the fusion occur,
the telomere-telomere fusion.

After it happened,
the redundant,

the overlapping portions
from the two chromosomes,

were removed so that
the chromosome became

efficient and very stable.

And that is something.

The precision and the timing
with which that happened

is where the mystery
really unfolds.

So let's take a
look at this again.

I want to show this to you
graphically so in your mind

you have a sense.

If you look at your screen,
let's go through this breakdown

how the chromosomes
actually came apart,

how they came back together,
and what that means to us today.

What you're seeing on the screen
is a graphic representation.

These are two
separate chromosomes.

So these were two
chromosomes already existing

in the primate genome, in the
great apes and the chimpanzees.

We're seeing a dotted line
across those chromosomes.

For a reason that we
don't understand--

we're not sure what
happened-- there was a break,

something broke or cut or
sliced those chromosomes.

And they were broken in
the way that you're seeing

on your screen right now.

Portions of those were deleted.

That material--
the longer portions

on the lower part of the graph,
the lower part of the chart--

it disappeared.

So that material
no longer exists.

Above the two portions
that you see are now free

actually came together
and fused at the ends,

as you're seeing on
your screen right now.

And that fusion created the
longer human chromosome number

2.

It makes 8% of the
DNA, as I mentioned,

in every cell in our body.

However, that's not
the end of the story

because after the fusion
happened, as you can imagine,

each of those chromosomes
was independent unto itself

before the fusion.

So each of those chromosomes
had information to help it

function in the way that it did.

When they were fused--

when the two pieces
came together--

all of a sudden there
were overlapping functions

that actually would have
made human chromosome

number 2 less efficient.

And to deal with that in a way
that is not understood today,

the overlapping
functions were either

turned off within the DNA--

they shut down within
the chromosomes--

or completely
removed altogether.

That is what changes the story.

So what we're looking
at is the mystery

of an ancient
telomere-telomere fusion.

The function, the precision, the
timing with which this fusion

happened, the fact that
it happened quickly,

the fact that it
is so precise that

certain redundant
functions were removed

and portions were
deleted, it tells us

that something more than
evolution has happened here.

Evolution, as we know it today,
cannot and does not explain

this fusion.

And this fusion is
key because it's

the fusion that makes us human.

It's the fusion
that sets us apart

from all other form of life.

It appears to be
intentional, and this

is where we begin to kind of
open the door to forbidden

territory in science.

So I'm sharing with
you the science--

this is peer reviewed science
that tells us what happened.

And we've just done that.

Now there's this gray, this
shady kind of fuzzy area--

why would something
like that happen?

There appears to be an
intent underlying this,

and scientists don't
know who or how or why.

And I don't either for certain.

I have my sense, my
suspicions, but I'd

like to explore some
possibilities with you.

Because the
conventional thinking--

when we hear about the fusion of
DNA a long time ago and the way

that that happened--

we're taught to think
in binary terms.

We say, well, it's
either evolution.

And if it's not evolution,
it's creationism.

OK?

Creationism invoking
religion, invoking God,

invoking a lot of things
that seem to be hot buttons

for a lot of people just
because of the implications.

And I think for
that reason-- that's

why it has become forbidden
territory in science.

Science simply cannot
prove these things.

But there's a third option, a
third option that has happened.

For the fusion to
occur the way it did,

a mutation had to occur.

That fusion is a mutation.

It means that two genes mutated
into the new human chromosome

number 2, or two
chromosomes mutated

into the new human
chromosome number 2.

Because that is a
mutation, the third option

is now recognizing that.

The third option is
called directed mutation.

Directed mutation-- it means
it didn't happen spontaneously

from a natural process.

Something directed the mutation.

We don't know what
it was for sure.

And this is opening the doors
to new possibilities in science

and in scientific thinking.

So where and how
that happened, that's

where the study is
going right now.

And what the studies
are showing us

is telling a story that,
while it's new for science,

in our most ancient and
cherished spiritual traditions

we've heard this story
in different ways

many times before.

So when we talk about
this directed mutation,

it opens the door to one of
the most controversial facets

of evolutionary
theory and the ideas

and the beliefs that
support it and do not.

That is called
intelligent design.

Intelligent design--
precisely what it says,

that there is a design
that is in place underlying

the genetic
structure of all life

and that some form
of intelligence

has been the one to direct that.

For many people, this is where
the religious implications

come in.

For me, it doesn't
have to be that way.

It doesn't have to
be about religion.

It may, but it
doesn't have to be.

But the strongest evidence,
the strongest argument,

for what is called directed
mutation and intelligent design

comes from a principle
that I alluded to

in the previous episode,
but I didn't really

explain it very much because
I knew we would here.

It's called
irreducible complexity.

Irreducible complexity.

Here's what I mean by that.

If you are walking
in a field and you

find a watch, a watch
lying on the ground,

it is a safe assumption to
make that some intelligence

underlies the creation
of that watch.

The way the gears come
together and interlock

and the way that those gears
produce a function that

is useful and
meaningful obviously

reflects some
intent, some design.

And that's very different
than if we were just

to find a rock
laying on the ground,

and we say, well, that rock may
have been put there last week.

It could have been there
for a billion years.

But it didn't necessarily take
any intention to put it there.

So I'm just using
that as an example

because scientists use--

some scientists-- are using this
idea of irreducible complexity

to validate this idea
that there is some intent

under this directed mutation.

What irreducible
complexity says to us,

it says that a
system can only work

when all the pieces are in place
to function at the same time.

So when you think
about our watch,

it wouldn't work for one
gear to show up 100 years ago

and then another gear
show up 100 years later

and then another gear
show up 100 years later.

I mean, the pieces
may not even be there,

or they may corrode over
those hundreds of years.

So you get the idea of
what I'm saying here.

All the pieces for the
watch have to be in place

and available at the
same time for that watch

to become a watch and
function as it does.

That idea, that principle,
applies to so many facets

of biological life.

It's kind of like the
idea of a mouse trap.

And this is an idea that
scientists use a lot when

they're making this argument.

If you look at a mousetrap-- and
it's a very simple mechanism.

But if any one portion
of that mousetrap

were not there in the
moment it was needed,

it wouldn't function
as a mouse trap.

You could have the base.

You could have the
cheese for the bait.

But if that spring
isn't there, it's

not going to be a mousetrap.

If you have the spring and
the cheese but no base,

there's no contraption.

There's no mechanism
for it to work.

So again, you're seeing
this idea in principle.

Let's take a look at what
it means in real life.

And this is so amazing
when you really begin

to think about these things.

I mentioned the cells earlier.

Our cells are so complex.

Back in the early
1900s, cells were

thought of as little bags,
literally little sacks of fluid

and some sticky gooey stuff.

Science had no idea of literally
the hundreds of thousands

of mechanisms that
have to be working

in place in the cell
at the same time,

such as a cell has to be
able to nourish itself.

So the cell has to be
able to take in food,

process that food in the way
that is meaningful to the cell,

and then distribute
that beyond the cell

to the rest of the body.

If you're taking in
that food, then somehow

you have to eliminate that food.

So the elimination
system has to be there

or the cell won't
live very long.

So if the elimination
system were there first

and the cell were not taking
in food, that wouldn't work.

If the food was coming in
no way to eliminate it,

that wouldn't work.

If the cell could not
reproduce itself in some way

to create another
and another cell

or if the cell could not
repair and heal itself

in one way or another,
then the cell's life

wouldn't last very long.

All of these things
had to be in place

at precisely the same
time for the cell

to work the way it works.

Another place where
we see this is

with the function of human
blood, in the hemoglobins.

There are 20 proteins that have
to be in place simultaneously

for the clotting of
blood in our bodies.

And I want you to think
about what this means.

20 proteins-- they
have to be there.

If they were not there
with the first organism,

the first time that organism
received a cut or a scratch

that we take for granted
is going to heal quickly--

if those 20 proteins were
not already in place,

then the clotting
couldn't happen.

And that organism would
bleed and bleed and bleed

until it bled out,
until it died.

If even one of those
proteins is missing,

the clotting mechanism
doesn't work.

And another place--
I'm just going

to give you another example so
you see these aren't anomalies.

The cilia-- cilia are
the little wavy tails

that we see on the ends
of some kinds of bacteria.

We see them on
the ends of sperm,

and that makes them
really important

because the sperm
couldn't go anywhere

to create life if
they didn't have

the cilia, the little tails.

And many of the bacteria
couldn't function

the way they do without these.

And for those cilia
to work, there

is a very complex series
of over 40 mechanisms

that must be in
place for the nerves,

for the chemical reactions,
for the growth of the cells,

so that little tail can wiggle
and move in a fluid medium.

If they're not
there all at once,

they're not going to work.

They cannot evolve slowly,
gradually over a long period

of time--

just as the 20 proteins didn't,
just as what's happening

in our cells didn't.

So what I am sharing
with you now--

just so very clear about this--

irreducible complexity says that
there are some forms of life

that simply can not
evolve from simpler forms

gradually, slowly over
long periods of time.

I've just given
you three examples.

Well, DNA is another example.

DNA is a beautiful example
because it is the very basis--

it's the blueprint-- for
what's happening in our bodies.

And scientists now
are recognizing this.

And I just want
to share with you

from a very well known
scientist exactly.

I want you to hear his
words, in scientific words,

about what this means when we're
seeing it so you know it's not

just me, my opinion, my theory.

This is where a body
of scientific thinking

is now going.

So here is what this
scientist is saying.

This is from Dr. Cohen,
published in a research paper.

It was released in 1984.

He's a mathematician and
a member of the New York

Academy of Sciences.

So this is a very well
credentialed scientist.

And what he's saying
is this-- quote--

he says, "At the moment, when
the DNA/RNA system became

understood," he said, "the
debate between evolution

and creation should have
come to a screeching halt

because the
implications of the DNA

and the RNA are
obvious and clear."

So what he's saying is that the
moment our technology advanced

to the point where we could see
what it takes for DNA and its

complement, RNA, to
work in our bodies,

the complexities are so great
that the evolutionary theory

simply cannot explain
those complexities.

So he's saying this whole debate
should have come to an end.

It is obvious he's saying,
as a mathematician,

that there is some intent,
perhaps an intelligence.

Definitely something
is directing

this experience,
this mechanism, that

is at the core of our lives.

This hearkens back to the
very idea of our origin.

Who are we?

Where did we come from?

What is it that combined those
two chromosomes to produce

our one, chromosome
number 2, that

sets us apart from all other
life and makes us unique.

So I'd like to take this
opportunity and share with you

yet another perspective.

And for me, this is a
very personal perspective

because it involves
a research project

that I began over 30 years ago.

My background is scientist.

I was a degreed geologist
with a background

in marine ocean and life
sciences and mathematics

and physics.

All of these things worked
together for me early

in my life.

And when I looked
at them honestly and

asked myself truthfully
and factually--

what is nature telling us?

My sense at that time
early in my life was there

is something, something
more than evolution

that underlies our
existence, something

that is not being acknowledged
in the mainstream.

And while the fossils
are interesting,

I don't think they're about us.

And while the DNA is now
telling us more information,

we're still lacking a context.

And this may be one of
those places where we're not

going to find the answer
in the mystery itself,

where we'll have to find
the answer in other avenues

that help us to understand and
lead to solving this mystery.

So for me, a passion of
mine, as I mentioned earlier,

has been to look for clues in
our most ancient and cherished

traditions to see what those
clues may be saying to us

or what did our ancestors
know in their time

that we're only beginning
to discover in ours.

And I've always had
a very strong sense

that if we know where and
how to look into our past

that there are insights that
have been preserved in some

of our most ancient
texts and traditions,

insights that maybe just aren't
so well understood today.

So I'm going to share
with you very quickly--

I'm going to condense
30 years of research

into a project that
can only happen when

we cross the traditional
boundaries of science

and spirituality.

Now, I was told as a
scientist that these two

are mutually incompatible.

You must choose-- I was told--

the path of science or
the path of spirituality,

that the two were in
fact mutually exclusive.

Here's my thinking.

We're living in a
time of extremes.

We owe it to ourself to draw
upon every facet, every source

of information possible,
to give ourselves

whatever it is we
need and to call

whatever it is that exists so
that we can weave a new story--

honestly answer the
questions for ourselves

that we can thrive in
our time of extremes

so we can end the suffering and
move into a new way of living

and thinking.

And for me, I believe those
clues exist in our past

as well as in the
new discoveries

we're talking about now.

So here's what
that meant for me--

I went into one of
the oldest and most

mysterious spiritual texts that
has ever been known to exist.

And it's called
the Sefer Yetzirah.

It is a Hebrew text that is so
mystical that the rabbis say

it is not even something
that can be studied

by traditional students because
the mystery is so deep and so

great.

It's a relatively short text,
only about 1,000 lines long.

And it's only been
translated into English once.

And I took that translation,
and I read it through it very,

very carefully as a scientist.

And what I found is this--

the Sefer Yetzirah
is essentially

a step-by-step description
as if someone, an observer,

were present the day that the
universe and humankind were

created, an observer
describing the process in line

after line, the 1,000
lines, what it took

to get us where we are today.

But the text is 3,000 years old.

Whoever wrote that
text, 3,000 years old,

and it may be that whoever
wrote it received it

from a wisdom that's even
older than 3,000 years.

Whoever it is that put
that text together,

they didn't know
what we know today.

They didn't know about science.

They didn't know about the
periodic table of elements.

So I began to interpret
the text through the eyes

of a scientist.

And when the text began talking
about the elements of the earth

and of the wind and of
the sun, I asked myself

if I were writing
this text today,

are those the words
that I would use?

And my answer was, probably not.

As a scientist, when
I talk about the sun,

rather than calling
it the sun, I

would refer to the most
dominant element in the sun,

which is hydrogen. When
I talk about the air,

the wind, I would refer to the
most dominant element, which

is oxygen. And I began to
look at these overlaps.

Well, there's
another great mystery

when it comes to the
languages of our past.

Scientists know this.

Linguists know this very well.

Every language,
every single alphabet

that has ever been
known to exist,

bar none, cuneiform, Arabic,
Hebrew, Sanskrit, every Greek,

every alphabet that's
ever been created

has always had a mysterious
number linked to the letter

that it represents.

No one knows for sure where
those numbers came from.

The numbers never change.

They are a constant.

So the numbers that are
linked to the letters

of ancient alphabets--

they allow us to think of
those alphabets mathematically.

So here's what I
did as a scientist.

I compared the ancient
texts 3,000 years old

and the elements
that it describes

that make us with the elements
of the periodic table.

The ancient elements of
hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen,

and carbon we find in the
periodic table as the letters,

and they have numbers
associated with them.

And the numbers that I linked
from those ancient alphabets,

as I looked at the atomic
mass and the atomic weight

of our elements, lo and
behold, they are the same.

They overlap.

The atomic mass of
hydrogen links precisely

with very specific letters
in ancient Hebrew, Arabic,

and Sanskrit.

The atomic mass for
oxygen links precisely

with letters in those
ancient alphabets.

So here's what I did.

I replaced the letters
in the ancient text

with the elements of
the periodic table.

And when I did that
and applied it to DNA--

because DNA is made of hydrogen,
nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon

in different combinations--

when I took the
ancient alphabets

and I replaced the elements of
the DNA with those alphabets,

the DNA began to read as you
read the letters in a sentence

in the page upon a book.

Our DNA holds a
message that can only

be read by crossing the
traditional boundaries

of science and spirituality.

And it helps us one more piece
with this clue of our origin

because the very first
sentence, the very first line

of every strand
of every human DNA

says exactly the same thing.

And here's what it says--

when we replace those letters
with the periodic table

and we begin reading the
text, the very first sentence

in every strand of DNA
literally says the words

"God Eternal Within The Body."

"God Eternal Within the Body."

It doesn't say who God
is, how that got there,

or why it's there.

I'm just sharing with
you what happens when we

marry science and spirituality.

So that gives us
one more insight.

Now that we know that we
appeared on this earth 200,000

years ago and we know
that we haven't changed

and now that we know that the
DNA that makes us who we are

appears to be more than a
random process of biology,

the question now is what does it
mean to have that kind of DNA?

What do we do with it?

How do we awaken the
extraordinary abilities

that that DNA, that fusion,
gives to us in our lives

and gives to no
other form of life?

In our next episode, that's
what we're going to explore.

I want to thank you for joining
me for this program today.

And be sure to tune
in for our next

all new episode of
"Missing Links",

the deep truth of our origin
history, destiny, and fate.