1 00:00:01.235 --> 00:00:03.769 NARRATOR: Billions of Earth-like planets... 2 00:00:03.804 --> 00:00:06.171 MICHAEL DENNIN: Why would there be this vast universe 3 00:00:06.207 --> 00:00:07.606 and just us? 4 00:00:07.641 --> 00:00:11.944 NARRATOR: ...each capable of sustaining life. 5 00:00:11.979 --> 00:00:13.557 DAVID CHILDRESS: In many ways, it's like finding 6 00:00:13.581 --> 00:00:14.880 the Garden of Eden. 7 00:00:14.915 --> 00:00:17.549 NARRATOR: ...and each with possible evidence 8 00:00:17.585 --> 00:00:20.185 that we are not alone. 9 00:00:20.221 --> 00:00:22.688 GIORGIO TSOUKALOS: We have this imprint 10 00:00:22.723 --> 00:00:26.358 within all of us, that our origin is out there. 11 00:00:26.394 --> 00:00:30.596 That life as we know it, on planet Earth... 12 00:00:30.631 --> 00:00:32.498 originated elsewhere. 13 00:00:34.350 --> 00:00:36.835 NARRATOR: Since the dawn of civilization, 14 00:00:36.871 --> 00:00:38.470 mankind has credited 15 00:00:38.506 --> 00:00:40.639 its origins to gods 16 00:00:40.674 --> 00:00:43.776 and other visitors from the stars. 17 00:00:43.811 --> 00:00:46.745 What if it were true? 18 00:00:46.781 --> 00:00:49.148 Did extraterrestrial beings 19 00:00:49.183 --> 00:00:52.184 really help to shape our history? 20 00:00:52.219 --> 00:00:56.722 And, if so, might this explain our search... 21 00:00:56.757 --> 00:00:59.458 for another Earth? 22 00:01:28.722 --> 00:01:32.891 NARRATOR: July 23, 2015. 23 00:01:32.927 --> 00:01:35.194 After more than six years 24 00:01:35.229 --> 00:01:38.597 of observing over 150,000 star systems 25 00:01:38.632 --> 00:01:41.266 within the Milky Way galaxy, 26 00:01:41.302 --> 00:01:45.300 NASA scientists, using the Kepler Telescope, 27 00:01:45.390 --> 00:01:48.974 discover what they believe to be an Earth-like planet, 28 00:01:49.900 --> 00:01:52.678 located 1,400 light years away. 29 00:01:53.781 --> 00:01:56.810 Kepler-452B... 30 00:01:56.117 --> 00:01:59.284 Or Earth 2.0, as it has become known... 31 00:01:59.320 --> 00:02:02.521 Is 60% larger than Earth. 32 00:02:02.556 --> 00:02:05.924 The exo-planet orbits a star slightly larger 33 00:02:05.960 --> 00:02:08.260 and brighter than our sun 34 00:02:08.620 --> 00:02:11.997 and falls within that star's "Goldilocks zone"... 35 00:02:12.320 --> 00:02:13.932 making it a leading candidate 36 00:02:13.968 --> 00:02:18.137 to prove life exists on a planet other than our own. 37 00:02:18.172 --> 00:02:20.806 Some planets are too close to their stars, 38 00:02:20.841 --> 00:02:22.474 so they're too hot. 39 00:02:22.510 --> 00:02:23.809 Some of them are too far away, 40 00:02:23.844 --> 00:02:24.910 so they're too cold. 41 00:02:24.945 --> 00:02:26.712 Recently, they found one 42 00:02:26.747 --> 00:02:28.981 which they've actually called the Goldilocks planet. 43 00:02:30.417 --> 00:02:32.500 As you can probably surmise from that, 44 00:02:32.860 --> 00:02:34.419 that means that it's almost just right. 45 00:02:34.455 --> 00:02:36.421 What that means is that there's a potential 46 00:02:36.457 --> 00:02:40.626 that it might be teeming with life. 47 00:02:40.661 --> 00:02:42.572 PAUL DAVIES: The problem looking for Earth-like planets 48 00:02:42.596 --> 00:02:45.597 beyond the solar system is they're hard to spot. 49 00:02:45.633 --> 00:02:48.700 There may be billions within our galaxy alone 50 00:02:48.736 --> 00:02:51.503 that satisfy roughly the conditions 51 00:02:51.539 --> 00:02:53.605 of being Earth-like. 52 00:02:53.641 --> 00:02:56.410 They have to have a magnetic field and a few other conditions 53 00:02:56.760 --> 00:02:58.100 that will be congenial for life, 54 00:02:58.450 --> 00:02:59.645 but the liquid water, as well, 55 00:02:59.680 --> 00:03:01.547 I think everybody agrees, is key. 56 00:03:01.582 --> 00:03:04.950 The Kepler discovery made people sit up and take notice, 57 00:03:04.985 --> 00:03:08.587 'cause it would possibly have the all-important liquid water 58 00:03:08.622 --> 00:03:11.890 that is the key to looking for life 59 00:03:11.125 --> 00:03:13.358 as we know it beyond the solar system. 60 00:03:15.863 --> 00:03:18.497 NARRATOR: Of the 100 billion stars that make up 61 00:03:18.532 --> 00:03:21.767 the Milky Way galaxy, astronomers now estimate 62 00:03:21.802 --> 00:03:24.903 that one in five has an Earth-sized planet 63 00:03:24.939 --> 00:03:27.573 with the potential for life. 64 00:03:27.608 --> 00:03:31.743 And NASA scientists predict that we are likely to find 65 00:03:31.779 --> 00:03:36.615 signs of alien life by the year 2025, 66 00:03:36.650 --> 00:03:40.519 bringing us ever closer to answering the age-old question: 67 00:03:40.554 --> 00:03:44.489 "Are we really alone in the universe?" 68 00:03:44.525 --> 00:03:46.580 DENNIN: Humans are really excited 69 00:03:46.930 --> 00:03:47.559 about life on other planets. 70 00:03:47.595 --> 00:03:49.595 There's a lot of empty space out there, 71 00:03:49.630 --> 00:03:52.231 and it would be a big waste, if there wasn't more life. 72 00:03:52.266 --> 00:03:55.534 Why would there be this vast universe 73 00:03:55.569 --> 00:03:58.971 and just us? 74 00:03:59.600 --> 00:04:01.390 Forever people have wondered, "Are we alone? 75 00:04:01.750 --> 00:04:03.800 "Is there life out there? 76 00:04:03.430 --> 00:04:05.877 Are there other intelligent beings?" 77 00:04:05.913 --> 00:04:08.800 And that's why we're so insistent upon 78 00:04:08.115 --> 00:04:09.548 searching for another Earth. 79 00:04:12.453 --> 00:04:14.219 I think there's that need to realize 80 00:04:14.255 --> 00:04:16.421 that we're not alone in the universe. 81 00:04:16.457 --> 00:04:18.230 We want answers. 82 00:04:18.580 --> 00:04:20.325 We're going out into space because we want to find out 83 00:04:20.361 --> 00:04:23.895 are there other beings out there like us? 84 00:04:27.835 --> 00:04:29.145 NARRATOR: Since the Ancient Babylonians 85 00:04:29.169 --> 00:04:32.700 first documented observations of Venus, 86 00:04:32.106 --> 00:04:35.874 humans have speculated that inhabited worlds 87 00:04:35.909 --> 00:04:40.178 may exist beyond Earth. 88 00:04:40.214 --> 00:04:42.800 And from the time of the ancient Greeks, 89 00:04:42.116 --> 00:04:44.490 philosophers and scholars 90 00:04:44.840 --> 00:04:46.652 have theorized on the probability 91 00:04:46.687 --> 00:04:49.955 of the existence of otherworldly civilizations 92 00:04:49.990 --> 00:04:53.625 other than our own. 93 00:04:55.629 --> 00:04:59.698 In 1961, radio astronomer Frank Drake 94 00:04:59.733 --> 00:05:03.435 was the first to publicly propose a mathematical argument 95 00:05:03.470 --> 00:05:06.104 for the likelihood of the existence 96 00:05:06.140 --> 00:05:08.730 of intelligent extraterrestrial life 97 00:05:08.108 --> 00:05:10.876 in the galaxy. 98 00:05:10.911 --> 00:05:13.679 DENNIN: Frank Drake developed an equation 99 00:05:13.714 --> 00:05:15.792 that took the probability of different things happening: 100 00:05:15.816 --> 00:05:19.685 Having the right type of sun, having the right type of planet, 101 00:05:19.720 --> 00:05:21.253 how many planets and stars there were 102 00:05:21.288 --> 00:05:25.757 and made an estimate of how likely life would be. 103 00:05:25.793 --> 00:05:29.127 JOHN BRANDENBURG: The Drake equation would seem to logically 104 00:05:29.163 --> 00:05:31.697 predict tens of thousands 105 00:05:31.732 --> 00:05:33.632 of civilizations out there, 106 00:05:33.667 --> 00:05:37.169 that we ought to be able to hear on radio traffic. 107 00:05:40.400 --> 00:05:42.774 NARRATOR: But if there is such a high probability 108 00:05:42.810 --> 00:05:45.243 for the existence of intelligent life-forms 109 00:05:45.279 --> 00:05:49.810 elsewhere in the universe, why haven't we encountered them? 110 00:05:49.116 --> 00:05:52.117 SEAGER: If there are so many other planets out there, 111 00:05:52.152 --> 00:05:54.252 and if the chance for 112 00:05:54.288 --> 00:05:56.221 intelligent life out there is high, 113 00:05:56.256 --> 00:05:58.190 why hasn't anyone visited us? 114 00:05:58.225 --> 00:06:01.593 BRANDENBURG: The human race should be typical 115 00:06:01.628 --> 00:06:04.663 of what intelligent life is like in the rest of the cosmos. 116 00:06:04.698 --> 00:06:07.833 Plus the cosmos is much older than the human race. 117 00:06:07.868 --> 00:06:11.403 We tend to expand into all possible living spaces. 118 00:06:11.438 --> 00:06:13.149 Intelligent life in the rest of the universe 119 00:06:13.173 --> 00:06:15.730 should probably act like that, too. 120 00:06:15.109 --> 00:06:18.243 People like us should be filling the cosmos. 121 00:06:18.278 --> 00:06:20.178 Everywhere we point a radio telescope 122 00:06:20.214 --> 00:06:22.147 we should be picking up noise. 123 00:06:22.182 --> 00:06:23.949 Instead, there's nothing. 124 00:06:27.121 --> 00:06:29.688 NARRATOR: While radio telescopes have yet to pick up 125 00:06:29.723 --> 00:06:32.691 a transmission from other intelligent beings 126 00:06:32.726 --> 00:06:36.194 in the universe, ancient astronaut theorists propose 127 00:06:36.230 --> 00:06:38.830 that contact has, in fact, 128 00:06:38.866 --> 00:06:42.734 already taken place. And evidence of this 129 00:06:42.770 --> 00:06:46.371 can be found throughout the world. 130 00:06:46.407 --> 00:06:50.208 The question "where are they?" should be answered with: 131 00:06:50.244 --> 00:06:53.779 "Look at the ancient astronaut theory," 132 00:06:53.814 --> 00:06:57.820 because we are suggesting 133 00:06:57.117 --> 00:06:58.950 that there is evidence 134 00:06:58.986 --> 00:07:02.387 that goes back thousands of years 135 00:07:02.423 --> 00:07:05.991 by the stories that we have of gods... 136 00:07:06.260 --> 00:07:09.561 Lowercase "G"... Descending from the sky. 137 00:07:09.596 --> 00:07:12.931 It doesn't matter on what continent. 138 00:07:12.966 --> 00:07:16.601 Every single continent was visited. 139 00:07:16.637 --> 00:07:18.970 CHILDRESS: I would say that 140 00:07:19.600 --> 00:07:20.372 the evidence is there 141 00:07:20.407 --> 00:07:23.742 and it's all around us, whether it's in 142 00:07:23.777 --> 00:07:25.710 megalithic sites that are 143 00:07:25.746 --> 00:07:28.780 aligned to constellations, 144 00:07:28.816 --> 00:07:32.117 such as the Great Serpent Mound in Ohio. 145 00:07:34.288 --> 00:07:38.223 Even the pyramids at Giza. 146 00:07:38.258 --> 00:07:41.893 And even stories of beings coming down in spaceships, 147 00:07:41.929 --> 00:07:43.295 interacting with people. 148 00:07:43.330 --> 00:07:45.263 Evidence is overwhelming 149 00:07:45.299 --> 00:07:48.233 that there are extraterrestrials all over the universe, 150 00:07:48.268 --> 00:07:49.801 and that they're coming here. 151 00:07:52.473 --> 00:07:55.400 NARRATOR: According to ancient astronaut theorists, 152 00:07:55.750 --> 00:07:58.477 one of the earliest and most compelling pieces of evidence 153 00:07:58.512 --> 00:08:02.314 to support the notion that extraterrestrials have, in fact, 154 00:08:02.349 --> 00:08:05.917 visited Earth, can be found 155 00:08:05.953 --> 00:08:08.186 with an ancient Sumerian cylindrical seal 156 00:08:08.222 --> 00:08:11.523 known as VA243. 157 00:08:11.558 --> 00:08:15.260 Author Zecharia Sitchin was the first to suggest 158 00:08:15.295 --> 00:08:17.796 that on this seal, 159 00:08:17.831 --> 00:08:21.600 which is estimated to be at least 4,500 years old, 160 00:08:21.635 --> 00:08:24.836 is a depiction of our solar system. 161 00:08:26.406 --> 00:08:28.440 JASON MARTELL: You can see in the seal that there's 162 00:08:28.475 --> 00:08:30.876 a whole complete model of the solar system 163 00:08:30.911 --> 00:08:33.678 accurately being displayed with the sun in the center. 164 00:08:33.714 --> 00:08:37.716 Now, till the time of Copernicus and Galileo, 165 00:08:37.751 --> 00:08:39.885 no one knew that we actually orbited the sun, 166 00:08:39.920 --> 00:08:42.854 so the only explanation is someone who had this knowledge 167 00:08:42.890 --> 00:08:44.356 gave it to humanity, 168 00:08:44.391 --> 00:08:47.459 and that there has been extraterrestrial presence 169 00:08:47.494 --> 00:08:49.494 in interaction with people in the past. 170 00:08:49.530 --> 00:08:51.496 And we see this across the globe. 171 00:08:54.835 --> 00:08:56.268 NARRATOR: Throughout the world, 172 00:08:56.303 --> 00:08:59.137 ancient cultures have told stories of gods 173 00:08:59.172 --> 00:09:02.400 descended from specific star systems. 174 00:09:02.750 --> 00:09:05.430 The Maya associated their gods 175 00:09:05.780 --> 00:09:07.412 with the Pleiades star cluster, 176 00:09:07.447 --> 00:09:12.150 as did the Native Americans, hundreds of miles away. 177 00:09:12.185 --> 00:09:15.854 The Dogon tribe and the ancient Egyptians 178 00:09:15.889 --> 00:09:19.124 believed their gods came from the star Sirius. 179 00:09:22.863 --> 00:09:24.140 ERICH VON DANIKEN: In old Egypt, 180 00:09:24.164 --> 00:09:26.932 we have, for example, Osiris, 181 00:09:26.967 --> 00:09:29.401 who comes from Orion. 182 00:09:29.436 --> 00:09:32.904 Osiris was married to Isis. 183 00:09:32.940 --> 00:09:34.906 Isis comes from the star of Sirius. 184 00:09:34.942 --> 00:09:38.900 These extraterrestrials, the so-called gods, 185 00:09:38.450 --> 00:09:43.810 they pointed up to the sky and said, "Look, this is our home." 186 00:09:45.520 --> 00:09:47.852 NARRATOR: Is it possible that there are intelligent beings 187 00:09:47.888 --> 00:09:51.590 inhabiting other planets within our solar system, 188 00:09:51.625 --> 00:09:55.160 as ancient astronaut theorists contend? 189 00:09:55.195 --> 00:09:58.196 If so, could they have once sought out Earth 190 00:09:58.231 --> 00:10:01.766 as we now seek other habitable planets? 191 00:10:03.837 --> 00:10:06.204 Perhaps further evidence will be revealed 192 00:10:06.239 --> 00:10:09.941 with our plans to colonize Mars. 193 00:10:13.146 --> 00:10:16.681 NARRATOR: Spring 2013. 194 00:10:16.717 --> 00:10:20.285 The Mars One project solicits candidates 195 00:10:20.320 --> 00:10:23.254 for their proposed settlement on Mars. 196 00:10:23.290 --> 00:10:26.925 Over 200,000 people apply 197 00:10:26.960 --> 00:10:29.294 for the chance to be the first humans 198 00:10:29.329 --> 00:10:31.262 to colonize the Red Planet. 199 00:10:31.298 --> 00:10:34.299 Only 24 will be selected. 200 00:10:34.334 --> 00:10:37.936 None are expected to return. 201 00:10:37.971 --> 00:10:40.305 BRANDENBURG: The Mars One mission 202 00:10:40.340 --> 00:10:42.374 is a very ambitious mission. 203 00:10:42.409 --> 00:10:45.944 They've canvassed the whole world's aerospace contractors 204 00:10:45.979 --> 00:10:49.280 and tried to make heavy use of the experience 205 00:10:49.316 --> 00:10:51.516 on the space station, where they've made living modules. 206 00:10:51.551 --> 00:10:54.219 Those same modules can be brought to Mars 207 00:10:54.254 --> 00:10:57.880 and support human life. 208 00:10:57.124 --> 00:11:01.260 NARRATOR: Scientists are testing working models 209 00:11:01.610 --> 00:11:02.460 of living quarters for Mars, 210 00:11:02.496 --> 00:11:06.698 such as NASA's Deep Space Habitat. 211 00:11:06.733 --> 00:11:09.434 Engineers designed these pods 212 00:11:09.469 --> 00:11:14.406 to be constructed remotely, before humans arrive. 213 00:11:14.441 --> 00:11:18.877 Once built, the habitats will supply oxygen and water 214 00:11:18.912 --> 00:11:21.790 and minimize the harmful effects 215 00:11:21.114 --> 00:11:25.116 of atmospheric radiation to humans. 216 00:11:25.152 --> 00:11:28.530 Yet even these engineering feats 217 00:11:28.880 --> 00:11:30.388 won't allow humans to live on Mars 218 00:11:30.424 --> 00:11:33.191 for extended periods of time. 219 00:11:38.131 --> 00:11:39.964 DENNIN: We have tried experiments 220 00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:43.100 with actually making a survivable environment 221 00:11:43.360 --> 00:11:44.736 in a pod, 222 00:11:44.771 --> 00:11:47.205 and it seems to be very, very hard to do 223 00:11:47.240 --> 00:11:49.700 for a very long scale. 224 00:11:49.420 --> 00:11:53.780 If we want long-term habitation on Mars 225 00:11:53.113 --> 00:11:54.846 and colonization of Mars, 226 00:11:54.881 --> 00:11:57.716 personally, I vote for terraforming. 227 00:12:00.721 --> 00:12:03.540 NARRATOR: Terraforming is the process 228 00:12:03.900 --> 00:12:06.691 of turning an environment unsuitable for human habitation 229 00:12:06.727 --> 00:12:10.128 into one that mankind can live in. 230 00:12:10.163 --> 00:12:14.766 Scientists are currently researching the various ways 231 00:12:14.801 --> 00:12:18.336 we might someday terraform an entire planet. 232 00:12:18.371 --> 00:12:20.939 DENNIN: When you think about terraforming Mars, 233 00:12:20.974 --> 00:12:23.908 the key, really, is getting a dense atmosphere 234 00:12:23.944 --> 00:12:27.312 that forms protection from the radiation from the sun, 235 00:12:27.347 --> 00:12:30.480 makes the temperature really high enough, 236 00:12:30.830 --> 00:12:33.852 and gets things going with plant life and oxygen. 237 00:12:33.887 --> 00:12:36.421 So one question is, where do you get that denser atmosphere? 238 00:12:36.456 --> 00:12:38.560 Couple of options: 239 00:12:38.910 --> 00:12:40.910 There is various amounts of gases 240 00:12:40.127 --> 00:12:42.227 trapped in the polar caps, 241 00:12:42.262 --> 00:12:46.264 so you can imagine melting those, releasing the gas. 242 00:12:47.934 --> 00:12:50.340 DAVIES: Terraforming another planet 243 00:12:50.700 --> 00:12:53.605 is a very, very long-term prospect. 244 00:12:53.640 --> 00:12:55.340 Now, if we were going to terraform Mars 245 00:12:55.375 --> 00:12:58.443 to make it more Earth-like, we can think of ways of doing that. 246 00:12:58.478 --> 00:13:00.211 We can seed it with microbes 247 00:13:00.247 --> 00:13:04.480 that might produce a thicker atmosphere. 248 00:13:04.840 --> 00:13:07.318 You can dramatically modify conditions on a planet 249 00:13:07.354 --> 00:13:08.920 by suitable intervention, 250 00:13:08.955 --> 00:13:11.790 and Mars would seem to be a good one to do it for. 251 00:13:11.825 --> 00:13:13.858 Mars was once much more Earth-like. 252 00:13:13.894 --> 00:13:15.927 Perhaps we could bring it back, 253 00:13:15.962 --> 00:13:17.729 make it more Earth-like again. 254 00:13:17.764 --> 00:13:20.198 BRANDENBURG: Earth's early atmosphere 255 00:13:20.233 --> 00:13:22.600 and Mars' present atmosphere, 256 00:13:22.636 --> 00:13:24.502 in composition, are very similar. 257 00:13:24.538 --> 00:13:27.205 Earth had a lot of water vapor, 258 00:13:27.240 --> 00:13:29.908 nitrogen, and carbon dioxide. 259 00:13:29.943 --> 00:13:34.145 That's what Mars' atmosphere consists of. 260 00:13:36.583 --> 00:13:39.450 NARRATOR: Ancient astronaut theorists propose 261 00:13:39.486 --> 00:13:42.987 that if humans are planning to one day give Mars 262 00:13:43.230 --> 00:13:44.923 a breathable atmosphere, 263 00:13:44.958 --> 00:13:48.259 extraterrestrials may have done the same thing with Earth, 264 00:13:48.295 --> 00:13:52.630 millions of years ago. 265 00:13:52.980 --> 00:13:53.598 There's a distinct possibility 266 00:13:53.633 --> 00:13:56.501 that the Earth could've been terraformed. 267 00:13:56.536 --> 00:13:59.971 When you look at the development of Earth, what you see is that, 268 00:14:00.600 --> 00:14:04.142 at every stage, the planet got exactly what it seemed to need 269 00:14:04.177 --> 00:14:08.460 to develop into this beautiful blue world that we live on. 270 00:14:08.810 --> 00:14:11.182 When we needed oxygen, there was bacteria introduced 271 00:14:11.218 --> 00:14:12.717 into the ecosystem 272 00:14:12.752 --> 00:14:14.519 that actually sucked up carbon dioxide 273 00:14:14.554 --> 00:14:19.257 and methane gas and-and pumped out oxygen. 274 00:14:19.292 --> 00:14:20.959 We're looking at what Mars is, 275 00:14:20.994 --> 00:14:23.228 and we're thinking of trying to build an atmosphere 276 00:14:23.263 --> 00:14:24.963 and everything else. 277 00:14:24.998 --> 00:14:27.760 And the first question you'd have to ask yourself is: 278 00:14:27.100 --> 00:14:30.869 Did extraterrestrials come here and do the same thing? 279 00:14:33.874 --> 00:14:35.874 NARRATOR: But how did our planet, 280 00:14:35.909 --> 00:14:38.509 that was once devoid of oxygen, 281 00:14:38.545 --> 00:14:41.946 turn into the lush green world we know today? 282 00:14:44.284 --> 00:14:46.351 Scientists have struggled for years 283 00:14:46.386 --> 00:14:51.589 to discover just how Earth became habitable. 284 00:14:51.625 --> 00:14:54.225 There's always been a-a problem about life on Earth. 285 00:14:54.261 --> 00:14:55.927 Did it actually start here on Earth, 286 00:14:55.962 --> 00:14:57.595 or come here from somewhere else? 287 00:14:57.631 --> 00:15:01.532 There's no known transition from non-life to life 288 00:15:01.568 --> 00:15:03.501 that we can all agree on. 289 00:15:03.536 --> 00:15:06.738 Seeing as we don't know how life began, it's up for grabs. 290 00:15:06.773 --> 00:15:09.641 But we know, on Earth, it was microbes 291 00:15:09.676 --> 00:15:11.876 that made the oxygen atmosphere. 292 00:15:15.882 --> 00:15:18.249 NARRATOR: Although scientists agree 293 00:15:18.285 --> 00:15:20.351 that Earth's oxygenated atmosphere 294 00:15:20.387 --> 00:15:24.389 most likely can be attributed to the presence of microbes, 295 00:15:24.424 --> 00:15:26.257 many theories exist 296 00:15:26.293 --> 00:15:30.295 as to where exactly these organisms came from. 297 00:15:30.330 --> 00:15:33.310 One intriguing speculation 298 00:15:33.660 --> 00:15:36.534 that has caught the attention of ancient astronaut theorists 299 00:15:36.569 --> 00:15:41.606 involves grooved metal balls called Klerksdorp spheres. 300 00:15:41.641 --> 00:15:44.575 These mysterious round objects 301 00:15:44.611 --> 00:15:48.513 were found scattered in mineral deposits in South Africa 302 00:15:48.548 --> 00:15:51.716 that date back 3 billion years. 303 00:15:51.751 --> 00:15:56.721 There are people that argue that these spheres are natural, 304 00:15:56.756 --> 00:15:59.724 but there's really no natural objects 305 00:15:59.759 --> 00:16:01.626 that bear any resemblance to them at all. 306 00:16:01.661 --> 00:16:05.630 And the fact that they're buried in rock that is so old indicates 307 00:16:05.665 --> 00:16:09.200 that somebody sort of scattered them throughout the planet. 308 00:16:09.235 --> 00:16:13.271 They appear to be metallic, constructed spheres 309 00:16:13.306 --> 00:16:16.708 in which you could have placed bacterial life 310 00:16:16.743 --> 00:16:19.510 that would definitely have been able to then spill out 311 00:16:19.546 --> 00:16:22.680 into the ecosystem, multiply, divide, 312 00:16:22.716 --> 00:16:25.116 and change the environment, 313 00:16:25.151 --> 00:16:29.153 exactly as we're proposing to do on the planet Mars. 314 00:16:29.189 --> 00:16:30.755 We might say that this is just 315 00:16:30.790 --> 00:16:33.358 a natural occurring thing on Earth, 316 00:16:33.393 --> 00:16:36.260 but this may be evidence that Earth was seeded 317 00:16:36.296 --> 00:16:41.650 by some kind of bacteria or microbes brought here 318 00:16:41.101 --> 00:16:43.835 and what we have today has been purposely created 319 00:16:43.870 --> 00:16:48.206 by beings with tremendous powers and knowledge. 320 00:16:52.979 --> 00:16:55.346 NARRATOR: Did extraterrestrial beings 321 00:16:55.382 --> 00:16:57.515 introduce organisms to Earth 322 00:16:57.550 --> 00:16:59.183 that started life, 323 00:16:59.219 --> 00:17:03.287 just as humans may someday do to Mars? 324 00:17:03.323 --> 00:17:06.591 If so, could our ancestral origin 325 00:17:06.626 --> 00:17:10.962 actually come from another planet in the galaxy? 326 00:17:10.997 --> 00:17:15.166 The answer may be right in front of us, 327 00:17:15.201 --> 00:17:17.502 lying within the physiology 328 00:17:17.537 --> 00:17:19.871 of our own bodies. 329 00:17:28.281 --> 00:17:31.282 NARRATOR: Tell al-Uhaymir, Iraq. 330 00:17:31.317 --> 00:17:35.386 Here, in what was once the ancient Sumerian city of Kish, 331 00:17:35.422 --> 00:17:37.955 archaeologists unearthed 332 00:17:37.991 --> 00:17:40.291 the world's oldest written document. 333 00:17:40.326 --> 00:17:43.194 The Kish tablet 334 00:17:43.229 --> 00:17:45.496 dates to 3,500 BC, 335 00:17:45.532 --> 00:17:49.500 and is believed to pre-date both the Sumerian cuneiform 336 00:17:49.536 --> 00:17:51.969 and Egyptian hieroglyphic writing 337 00:17:52.500 --> 00:17:55.706 by nearly a hundred years. 338 00:17:55.742 --> 00:17:58.509 Developing the ability to express thoughts 339 00:17:58.545 --> 00:18:00.945 through written language is one of the first ways 340 00:18:00.980 --> 00:18:02.914 in which man separated itself 341 00:18:02.949 --> 00:18:06.584 from the rest of the animal kingdom. 342 00:18:06.619 --> 00:18:09.387 In the 5,000 years since, 343 00:18:09.422 --> 00:18:12.957 humans have harnessed electricity, 344 00:18:12.992 --> 00:18:14.959 split the atom, 345 00:18:14.994 --> 00:18:17.195 developed computers, 346 00:18:17.230 --> 00:18:20.498 and placed a man on the Moon. 347 00:18:20.533 --> 00:18:23.340 No other species on Earth 348 00:18:23.690 --> 00:18:25.203 can claim such unique achievements 349 00:18:25.238 --> 00:18:27.472 in such a short span of time. 350 00:18:28.708 --> 00:18:30.541 In comparison to other animals, 351 00:18:30.577 --> 00:18:32.900 our evolution is pretty brief. 352 00:18:32.450 --> 00:18:33.845 Um, it's-it's been a fairly short time, 353 00:18:33.880 --> 00:18:35.513 only a couple of million years, probably, 354 00:18:35.548 --> 00:18:36.914 since the first hominids. 355 00:18:36.950 --> 00:18:39.584 WARD: One of the great scientific questions 356 00:18:39.619 --> 00:18:41.986 is why is it our species 357 00:18:42.210 --> 00:18:44.755 uniquely arose into this 358 00:18:44.791 --> 00:18:47.358 truly advanced technological intelligence 359 00:18:47.393 --> 00:18:49.293 that we have. 360 00:18:49.329 --> 00:18:53.164 Clearly, there's nothing else on planet Earth that is like us. 361 00:18:53.199 --> 00:18:55.600 There are many intelligences, but nothing 362 00:18:55.635 --> 00:18:59.103 is wielding technology to the extent that we do. 363 00:18:59.139 --> 00:19:02.340 DAVIES: If we just had to sort of go back to the jungle, 364 00:19:02.375 --> 00:19:04.809 the proverbial jungle, and just survive, 365 00:19:04.844 --> 00:19:07.979 most of us wouldn't really live for very long. 366 00:19:08.140 --> 00:19:09.780 Human beings, apart from their intelligence, 367 00:19:09.816 --> 00:19:13.518 uh, really are not very well-suited 368 00:19:13.553 --> 00:19:16.200 to occupying a wide range of environments. 369 00:19:16.489 --> 00:19:18.189 (crying) 370 00:19:18.224 --> 00:19:20.202 NARRATOR: In addition to our incredible intelligence, 371 00:19:20.226 --> 00:19:24.280 biologists have also noted contrasts 372 00:19:24.630 --> 00:19:27.765 between human physiology and other animals. 373 00:19:27.800 --> 00:19:29.780 FISHER: Compared to other animals, 374 00:19:29.102 --> 00:19:30.535 I think we're a little odd. 375 00:19:30.570 --> 00:19:32.570 A baby horse is born, for instance, it's able 376 00:19:32.605 --> 00:19:36.240 to walk around and do its own thing, like, immediately. 377 00:19:36.276 --> 00:19:39.110 The same is certainly not true of a... of a human infant. 378 00:19:39.145 --> 00:19:40.811 We are pretty helpless. 379 00:19:40.847 --> 00:19:43.848 We're born before we're quite neurologically cooked. 380 00:19:43.883 --> 00:19:47.685 There are many vulnerabilities which go alongside 381 00:19:47.720 --> 00:19:51.122 our much-vaunted intelligence. 382 00:19:51.157 --> 00:19:55.226 We became bipeds and that freed up our forelimbs 383 00:19:55.261 --> 00:19:58.663 to be able to manipulate objects, make tools and so on. 384 00:19:58.698 --> 00:20:00.731 But it comes at a price, 385 00:20:00.767 --> 00:20:04.669 because we've got these back problems. 386 00:20:04.704 --> 00:20:06.737 WILLIAM LEONARD: Lower back pain is something 387 00:20:06.773 --> 00:20:09.941 that is virtually unknown in other primate species, 388 00:20:09.976 --> 00:20:12.643 whereas it's something that is very common 389 00:20:12.679 --> 00:20:14.145 in contemporary humans. 390 00:20:16.115 --> 00:20:19.817 NARRATOR: In 2013, ecologist Dr. Ellis Silver 391 00:20:19.852 --> 00:20:23.688 set forth in his book Humans Are Not From Earth 392 00:20:23.723 --> 00:20:27.291 a possible theory to explain why humans 393 00:20:27.327 --> 00:20:31.128 seem so evolutionarily unsuited to the planet. 394 00:20:31.164 --> 00:20:32.797 BARA: Dr. Ellis Silver 395 00:20:32.832 --> 00:20:35.266 developed an idea that perhaps the human race 396 00:20:35.301 --> 00:20:38.269 did not actually naturally evolve here on the Earth, 397 00:20:38.304 --> 00:20:39.870 but somewhere else. 398 00:20:39.906 --> 00:20:42.173 DAVID WILCOCK: Silver's book raises a lot 399 00:20:42.208 --> 00:20:44.809 of very provocative and intriguing questions. 400 00:20:44.844 --> 00:20:46.777 For example, why is it that 401 00:20:46.813 --> 00:20:49.780 we get cataracts from the sun? 402 00:20:49.816 --> 00:20:52.617 Why is it that the sun seems to hurt us 403 00:20:52.652 --> 00:20:54.418 if we go out for too long? 404 00:20:54.454 --> 00:20:57.822 So Dr. Silver suggests that we might've come from a planet 405 00:20:57.857 --> 00:21:00.625 with different solar exposure. 406 00:21:00.660 --> 00:21:03.527 We also have 223 genes 407 00:21:03.563 --> 00:21:05.630 that appear in human DNA 408 00:21:05.665 --> 00:21:09.367 that do not appear in any other species on Earth, 409 00:21:09.402 --> 00:21:10.835 suggesting, again, 410 00:21:10.870 --> 00:21:12.703 that there's something unusual about us. 411 00:21:14.700 --> 00:21:16.340 BARA: They've discovered that astronauts, 412 00:21:16.376 --> 00:21:17.942 when they're in space, 413 00:21:17.977 --> 00:21:21.379 their circadian rhythms actually change from 24 hours... 414 00:21:21.414 --> 00:21:23.381 Like we have when we're here on Earth... 415 00:21:23.416 --> 00:21:26.984 To 24.9 hours, which is the exact circadian rhythm 416 00:21:27.200 --> 00:21:29.620 or the exact length of a Martian day, 417 00:21:29.656 --> 00:21:31.522 not an Earth day. 418 00:21:31.557 --> 00:21:35.326 NOORY: The patterns of who we are as human beings 419 00:21:35.361 --> 00:21:38.763 doesn't fit into some of the other creatures 420 00:21:38.798 --> 00:21:39.864 that are on this planet. 421 00:21:39.899 --> 00:21:42.333 Dr. Silver, his theory was 422 00:21:42.368 --> 00:21:46.300 that we were either brought here or seeded here, 423 00:21:46.390 --> 00:21:49.173 but clearly of an extraterrestrial origin. 424 00:21:49.208 --> 00:21:51.676 CHILDRESS: We are, in a sense, 425 00:21:51.711 --> 00:21:53.711 transplanted here 426 00:21:53.746 --> 00:21:56.981 from some other solar system. 427 00:21:57.160 --> 00:22:00.217 And Neanderthals were already here 428 00:22:00.253 --> 00:22:04.322 and we are a cross-bred... 429 00:22:04.357 --> 00:22:06.290 part-alien race 430 00:22:06.326 --> 00:22:09.226 that's part Neanderthal and part extraterrestrial. 431 00:22:09.262 --> 00:22:12.663 NARRATOR: Might Dr. Silver's observations 432 00:22:12.699 --> 00:22:14.765 of human physiology be proof 433 00:22:14.801 --> 00:22:17.668 that we are a hybrid species, 434 00:22:17.704 --> 00:22:21.872 one whose origin comes from a celestial place? 435 00:22:21.908 --> 00:22:25.109 Ancient astronaut theorists say yes, 436 00:22:25.144 --> 00:22:27.411 and claim further evidence can be found 437 00:22:27.447 --> 00:22:30.881 in the narratives of numerous religions. 438 00:22:32.552 --> 00:22:36.253 Brigham Young, one of the most important leaders 439 00:22:36.289 --> 00:22:37.555 of the Mormon religion, 440 00:22:37.590 --> 00:22:40.691 proposed that the biblical Adam 441 00:22:40.727 --> 00:22:42.626 was not created on Earth, 442 00:22:42.662 --> 00:22:45.596 but was born to parents on another world 443 00:22:45.631 --> 00:22:47.898 and then was brought to our planet. 444 00:22:47.934 --> 00:22:50.434 In the Zohar, 445 00:22:50.470 --> 00:22:52.837 the primary text of Jewish mysticism, 446 00:22:52.872 --> 00:22:55.639 a similar story is told. 447 00:22:55.675 --> 00:22:58.376 TZADOK: Adam actually had parents. 448 00:22:58.411 --> 00:23:01.746 A mother and a father. 449 00:23:01.781 --> 00:23:04.515 And that God took Adam 450 00:23:04.550 --> 00:23:07.840 from whatever place that he came from... 451 00:23:07.120 --> 00:23:09.860 We don't understand what that is, 452 00:23:09.122 --> 00:23:12.523 another dimension, another world, we don't know. 453 00:23:12.558 --> 00:23:14.392 We are half physical 454 00:23:14.427 --> 00:23:17.595 and we are half something much greater. 455 00:23:17.630 --> 00:23:22.400 Celestial, extraterrestrial, divine. 456 00:23:22.435 --> 00:23:26.170 TSOUKALOS: According to the ancient astronaut theory, 457 00:23:26.205 --> 00:23:29.974 we were created in the image of the gods 458 00:23:30.900 --> 00:23:32.309 and those stories are reflected 459 00:23:32.345 --> 00:23:34.712 in all of our ancient legends. 460 00:23:34.747 --> 00:23:38.716 For example, the Native American culture clearly states 461 00:23:38.751 --> 00:23:42.653 that our entire planet was seeded. 462 00:23:42.688 --> 00:23:44.855 LOGAN HAWKES: In the ancient American world, 463 00:23:44.891 --> 00:23:46.524 part of their core belief system is that 464 00:23:46.559 --> 00:23:49.427 they may not have originated on Earth. 465 00:23:49.462 --> 00:23:51.662 We know that the Hopi, for example, 466 00:23:51.697 --> 00:23:54.432 believed that they were brought to the Earth 467 00:23:54.467 --> 00:23:58.102 by star people from the Orion system. 468 00:23:58.137 --> 00:24:00.104 NARRATOR: Is it really possible 469 00:24:00.139 --> 00:24:02.740 that our origins are not entirely 470 00:24:02.775 --> 00:24:04.308 from this planet? 471 00:24:04.343 --> 00:24:06.610 And if so, does this explain 472 00:24:06.646 --> 00:24:10.581 why we are drawn to the search for an other Earth? 473 00:24:10.616 --> 00:24:12.983 Perhaps the answers lie 474 00:24:13.190 --> 00:24:16.320 in ancient tales told across the world 475 00:24:16.355 --> 00:24:20.570 of a paradise lost forever. 476 00:24:23.290 --> 00:24:27.932 NARRATOR: In October of 2018, 477 00:24:27.967 --> 00:24:30.201 the James Webb Space Telescope... 478 00:24:30.236 --> 00:24:32.837 The most powerful telescope ever built... 479 00:24:32.872 --> 00:24:35.206 Will take its place in the cosmos, 480 00:24:35.241 --> 00:24:39.243 nearly one million miles from Earth. 481 00:24:40.713 --> 00:24:43.470 It is just the latest tool 482 00:24:43.820 --> 00:24:45.282 in our endless pursuit of locating 483 00:24:45.318 --> 00:24:48.619 another habitable planet. 484 00:24:48.654 --> 00:24:51.880 Since Galileo Galilei 485 00:24:51.123 --> 00:24:54.992 first aimed a telescope skyward in 1609, 486 00:24:55.270 --> 00:24:59.330 billions of dollars and countless resources 487 00:24:59.365 --> 00:25:02.266 have been spent on humanity's search 488 00:25:02.301 --> 00:25:04.602 for an other Earth. 489 00:25:04.637 --> 00:25:06.904 It is more than a search 490 00:25:06.939 --> 00:25:09.340 for intelligent life in the universe. 491 00:25:09.375 --> 00:25:12.109 The quest to explore the universe 492 00:25:12.144 --> 00:25:15.446 is nothing less than our longing for transcendence. 493 00:25:15.481 --> 00:25:17.781 It is a search for meaning. 494 00:25:17.817 --> 00:25:20.784 It is a search for what is beyond our understanding. 495 00:25:20.820 --> 00:25:24.421 WILCOCK: Could there also be a yearning 496 00:25:24.457 --> 00:25:27.558 and a longing for some other planet 497 00:25:27.593 --> 00:25:29.360 that we came from? 498 00:25:29.395 --> 00:25:31.962 And so when we look up at the stars, there's this 499 00:25:31.998 --> 00:25:34.665 genetic beckoning that we feel 500 00:25:34.700 --> 00:25:36.166 to want to explore, 501 00:25:36.202 --> 00:25:38.869 to want to find out what happened to us. 502 00:25:38.905 --> 00:25:40.771 How did we end up here? 503 00:25:40.806 --> 00:25:43.107 NARRATOR: Is it possible 504 00:25:43.142 --> 00:25:46.710 that our attempt to locate life on other planets 505 00:25:46.746 --> 00:25:49.847 is, in fact, a quest to locate 506 00:25:49.882 --> 00:25:52.483 our extraterrestrial origins, 507 00:25:52.518 --> 00:25:54.952 as ancient astronaut theorists propose? 508 00:25:56.322 --> 00:25:59.757 If so, is this drive deeply ingrained 509 00:25:59.792 --> 00:26:02.126 in our genetic memory? 510 00:26:02.161 --> 00:26:03.961 CHILDRESS: In many ways, it's like 511 00:26:03.996 --> 00:26:07.431 finding the Garden of Eden, where we came from. 512 00:26:07.466 --> 00:26:10.000 And perhaps the Garden of Eden was on another planet, 513 00:26:10.360 --> 00:26:14.572 and this is part of our own DNA, 514 00:26:14.607 --> 00:26:17.174 to find out where we came from. 515 00:26:19.110 --> 00:26:21.779 NARRATOR: The tale of a lost paradise 516 00:26:21.814 --> 00:26:25.149 is among the most enduring myths in the world. 517 00:26:25.184 --> 00:26:30.421 Celtic legends speak of the mysterious Island of Avalon 518 00:26:30.456 --> 00:26:33.424 that required supernatural transport to visit. 519 00:26:33.459 --> 00:26:36.460 The Buddhist and Hindu traditions tell 520 00:26:36.495 --> 00:26:39.363 of the forbidden land of Shambhala. 521 00:26:39.398 --> 00:26:41.465 And in the Taoist tradition, 522 00:26:41.500 --> 00:26:44.535 they refer to various celestial paradises 523 00:26:44.570 --> 00:26:46.737 where the immortals reside. 524 00:26:46.772 --> 00:26:49.390 In the Taoist tradition, there's a belief 525 00:26:49.750 --> 00:26:51.308 that, um, immortals who ascend 526 00:26:51.344 --> 00:26:54.440 to these paradises and to heavens, 527 00:26:54.800 --> 00:26:56.413 they can actually be demoted 528 00:26:56.449 --> 00:26:59.950 for bad behavior or misconduct, and banished. 529 00:26:59.986 --> 00:27:02.860 And when they are banished, they are banished, 530 00:27:02.121 --> 00:27:04.221 typically, back to Earth. 531 00:27:07.994 --> 00:27:10.160 NARRATOR: Might the cross-cultural stories 532 00:27:10.196 --> 00:27:15.990 of a utopian world be not mythology, but actual history? 533 00:27:15.134 --> 00:27:17.935 Could these stories be evidence 534 00:27:17.970 --> 00:27:21.271 that life came to Earth from another planet? 535 00:27:21.307 --> 00:27:25.376 Ancient astronaut theorists say yes, 536 00:27:25.411 --> 00:27:28.679 and suggest that further proof may be found 537 00:27:28.714 --> 00:27:33.417 in the historical records of a tiny farming town in England. 538 00:27:36.489 --> 00:27:37.755 Woolpit Village. 539 00:27:37.790 --> 00:27:40.570 The 12th century AD. 540 00:27:42.528 --> 00:27:45.950 Two small children mysteriously appear 541 00:27:45.131 --> 00:27:46.930 near the opening of a cave... 542 00:27:46.966 --> 00:27:52.269 A boy and a girl speaking in a language that is indecipherable. 543 00:27:52.304 --> 00:27:56.173 But even more odd... Their skin is green. 544 00:27:56.208 --> 00:27:58.709 SABINA MAGLIOCCO: The farmers in the area 545 00:27:58.744 --> 00:28:03.881 who were harvesting vegetables came upon these two children. 546 00:28:03.916 --> 00:28:05.716 Their skin was green, 547 00:28:05.751 --> 00:28:09.453 and their clothing was said to be made of a strange fabric. 548 00:28:09.488 --> 00:28:11.221 It was a fabric unfamiliar 549 00:28:11.257 --> 00:28:13.570 to the people who were describing them. 550 00:28:13.920 --> 00:28:15.559 KATHLEEN McGOWAN COPPENS: The children are immediately 551 00:28:15.594 --> 00:28:18.529 whisked off and put into isolation 552 00:28:18.564 --> 00:28:21.980 from the rest of the village for several days, 553 00:28:21.133 --> 00:28:24.334 because no one is sure if they're actually human. 554 00:28:24.370 --> 00:28:27.137 MAGLIOCCO: The children said that they came 555 00:28:27.173 --> 00:28:29.540 from the land of Saint Martin, 556 00:28:29.575 --> 00:28:34.511 a land that was, in many ways, much like Earth. 557 00:28:34.547 --> 00:28:36.914 They described the place that they came from 558 00:28:36.949 --> 00:28:41.652 as not being as bright as our land is. 559 00:28:41.687 --> 00:28:45.550 There was no bright sun, there was no dark night, 560 00:28:45.910 --> 00:28:47.624 but it was a sort of twilit land 561 00:28:47.660 --> 00:28:51.595 with the sky the color of early evening. 562 00:28:51.630 --> 00:28:55.999 NARRATOR: Prominent 12th century historian William of Newburgh 563 00:28:56.350 --> 00:28:59.236 included a detailed account of the Green Children 564 00:28:59.271 --> 00:29:03.240 in his major work, History of English Affairs. 565 00:29:03.275 --> 00:29:06.877 He noted that they eventually acclimated 566 00:29:06.912 --> 00:29:08.512 to their new environment. 567 00:29:08.547 --> 00:29:10.614 YOUNG: The children gradually became 568 00:29:10.649 --> 00:29:12.150 part of the community. 569 00:29:12.510 --> 00:29:15.185 The boy, the younger of the two children, died, 570 00:29:15.221 --> 00:29:18.522 but the girl survived, and there are some serious tracking 571 00:29:18.557 --> 00:29:20.257 of her descendants, indicating 572 00:29:20.292 --> 00:29:22.626 that she is a real person in history. 573 00:29:22.661 --> 00:29:25.863 NARRATOR: Many theories have been proposed 574 00:29:25.898 --> 00:29:29.266 as to where exactly these children came from. 575 00:29:29.301 --> 00:29:31.902 McGOWAN: The most popular theory seems to be 576 00:29:31.937 --> 00:29:35.372 that they came from another planet, 577 00:29:35.407 --> 00:29:36.852 a planet with a different type of orbit, 578 00:29:36.876 --> 00:29:38.709 a planet that was not exposed to the sun. 579 00:29:40.913 --> 00:29:42.780 NARRATOR: Does the well-documented account 580 00:29:42.815 --> 00:29:46.116 of the Green Children of Woolpit give credence 581 00:29:46.152 --> 00:29:49.520 to the existence of another inhabited world 582 00:29:49.880 --> 00:29:51.880 separate from our own? 583 00:29:51.123 --> 00:29:55.125 Some ancient astronaut theorists suggest 584 00:29:55.161 --> 00:29:58.195 that another Earth may exist, not in space, 585 00:29:58.230 --> 00:30:01.131 but deep within the Earth, 586 00:30:01.167 --> 00:30:04.670 right under our feet. 587 00:30:07.439 --> 00:30:12.900 NARRATOR: June 13, 2014. 588 00:30:12.440 --> 00:30:15.145 Scientists researching the Earth's mantle 589 00:30:15.181 --> 00:30:18.182 announce that they have found what they believe 590 00:30:18.217 --> 00:30:22.186 to be a vast body of water, three times the volume 591 00:30:22.221 --> 00:30:24.121 of all of our oceans combined, 592 00:30:24.156 --> 00:30:26.156 contained within a mineral layer 593 00:30:26.192 --> 00:30:30.294 400 miles inside the Earth. 594 00:30:30.329 --> 00:30:33.263 The discovery shakes the foundation 595 00:30:33.299 --> 00:30:36.366 of what scientists and scholars thought they knew 596 00:30:36.402 --> 00:30:40.103 about the ground under our feet. 597 00:30:40.139 --> 00:30:42.773 We have just scratched the surface of the Earth. 598 00:30:42.808 --> 00:30:45.108 We drilled down, like, eight miles, 599 00:30:45.144 --> 00:30:47.544 and we had to stop because it got too hot. 600 00:30:49.810 --> 00:30:50.981 Out of 4,000 miles... 601 00:30:51.160 --> 00:30:53.150 Basically to the core of the Earth... 602 00:30:53.185 --> 00:30:54.418 We went down eight. 603 00:30:54.453 --> 00:30:55.619 That's nothing. 604 00:30:56.755 --> 00:30:58.455 AGNEW: We have more than 70 605 00:30:58.490 --> 00:31:00.858 active space programs right now. 606 00:31:00.893 --> 00:31:03.560 We can tell you more about the surface of the Moon 607 00:31:03.596 --> 00:31:07.564 than we can the surface underneath our own oceans. 608 00:31:09.768 --> 00:31:12.402 NARRATOR: Our scientific understanding 609 00:31:12.438 --> 00:31:14.238 of the internal structure of the Earth 610 00:31:14.273 --> 00:31:18.742 is primarily based on observations of seismic waves 611 00:31:18.777 --> 00:31:20.878 generated during earthquakes 612 00:31:20.913 --> 00:31:24.748 and knowledge of Earth's gravitation field. 613 00:31:24.783 --> 00:31:27.751 Since we have not actually drilled down far enough 614 00:31:27.786 --> 00:31:30.320 to confirm these findings, 615 00:31:30.356 --> 00:31:32.356 could it be that we may be wrong 616 00:31:32.391 --> 00:31:36.260 about the composition of our own Earth? 617 00:31:36.295 --> 00:31:40.297 Some ancient astronaut theorists say yes, 618 00:31:40.332 --> 00:31:43.934 and suggest that according to our earliest mythologies, 619 00:31:43.969 --> 00:31:47.671 an other Earth might not be found in the heavens, 620 00:31:47.706 --> 00:31:50.807 but deep within our own planet. 621 00:31:50.843 --> 00:31:54.244 AGNEW: One of the most consistent themes that we find 622 00:31:54.280 --> 00:31:56.747 in ancient cultures, when we travel around the world, 623 00:31:56.782 --> 00:32:00.117 is the idea that there is another world, 624 00:32:00.152 --> 00:32:04.187 another Earth, inside of the planet. 625 00:32:04.223 --> 00:32:07.157 One of those is the Maya tradition. 626 00:32:07.192 --> 00:32:11.161 They have a holy book called the Popol Vuh. 627 00:32:11.196 --> 00:32:13.830 Inside this book, it talks about two twin boys 628 00:32:13.866 --> 00:32:16.199 that came up out of the Earth, 629 00:32:16.235 --> 00:32:20.537 and were actually the first humans on the planet. 630 00:32:20.572 --> 00:32:23.707 And to this day, they still believe 631 00:32:23.742 --> 00:32:27.144 that life force comes from inside the planet, 632 00:32:27.179 --> 00:32:29.279 not from outside, in heaven. 633 00:32:29.315 --> 00:32:31.715 The Mayans have this, 634 00:32:31.750 --> 00:32:33.817 the Tibetans have this, 635 00:32:33.852 --> 00:32:36.687 the Hopi Indians have this. 636 00:32:36.722 --> 00:32:38.956 CHILDRESS: Within Buddhism, there's stories 637 00:32:38.991 --> 00:32:41.792 of a place called Agarta, or Agarte, 638 00:32:41.827 --> 00:32:43.827 which is an inner world. 639 00:32:43.862 --> 00:32:45.629 And it's inhabited, too, by people, 640 00:32:45.664 --> 00:32:48.131 and that they are an advanced race. 641 00:32:48.167 --> 00:32:51.401 And even that they have trains and vehicles 642 00:32:51.437 --> 00:32:55.238 that are moving through this inner Earth. 643 00:32:55.274 --> 00:32:59.643 TZADOK: The most ancient teachings share with us 644 00:32:59.678 --> 00:33:01.912 the shocking revelation 645 00:33:01.947 --> 00:33:04.715 that the Garden of Eden was on no place 646 00:33:04.750 --> 00:33:06.283 on the face of the Earth, 647 00:33:06.318 --> 00:33:08.852 but rather, the Earth is hollow, 648 00:33:08.887 --> 00:33:11.655 and that the Garden of Eden 649 00:33:11.690 --> 00:33:14.691 is an entire domain in inner Earth. 650 00:33:14.727 --> 00:33:17.928 So, are these stories literal? 651 00:33:17.963 --> 00:33:20.497 There are those who believe that they are. 652 00:33:20.532 --> 00:33:22.933 NARRATOR: Is it possible 653 00:33:22.968 --> 00:33:25.535 that an other Earth can be located 654 00:33:25.571 --> 00:33:28.305 within the confines of our own planet? 655 00:33:28.340 --> 00:33:32.642 Historically, underground realms were not relegated 656 00:33:32.678 --> 00:33:34.378 to mere mythology. 657 00:33:34.413 --> 00:33:36.680 Well-respected scientists 658 00:33:36.715 --> 00:33:39.483 and mathematicians have long speculated 659 00:33:39.518 --> 00:33:43.687 about a theory that became known as Hollow Earth. 660 00:33:43.722 --> 00:33:45.288 DENNIN: The scientist Edmond Halley 661 00:33:45.324 --> 00:33:47.290 is most famous for Halley's Comet. 662 00:33:47.326 --> 00:33:49.559 He was also very interested in the Earth, 663 00:33:49.595 --> 00:33:52.462 and one of the challenges is, was trying to figure out 664 00:33:52.498 --> 00:33:54.542 what was the real structure of the inside of the Earth. 665 00:33:54.566 --> 00:33:58.769 He had a fascinating theory of not just a hollow Earth, 666 00:33:58.804 --> 00:34:00.904 but a Earth with multiple layers 667 00:34:00.939 --> 00:34:02.806 and many different atmospheres 668 00:34:02.841 --> 00:34:05.575 with many different layers of land and earth, 669 00:34:05.611 --> 00:34:09.513 circling and being concentric as you went towards the center. 670 00:34:09.548 --> 00:34:12.816 NARRATOR: 75 years later, 671 00:34:12.851 --> 00:34:16.530 18th century mathematician Leonhard Euler 672 00:34:16.880 --> 00:34:18.455 put forth his own Hollow Earth theory, 673 00:34:18.490 --> 00:34:20.524 with no concentric shells 674 00:34:20.559 --> 00:34:24.828 and a sun at the center, spanning 600 miles. 675 00:34:24.863 --> 00:34:27.764 AGNEW: Euler was a gifted mathematician. 676 00:34:27.800 --> 00:34:30.100 He developed this idea 677 00:34:30.135 --> 00:34:33.703 that the planet, Earth, is not only hollow 678 00:34:33.739 --> 00:34:37.740 but the poles are actually thinned. 679 00:34:37.109 --> 00:34:40.277 And there are actually entrances into the inner core 680 00:34:40.312 --> 00:34:44.381 at the North and South Poles of the Earth. 681 00:34:44.416 --> 00:34:46.750 He imagined that there were advanced civilizations 682 00:34:46.785 --> 00:34:48.752 living inside the planet. 683 00:34:48.787 --> 00:34:52.756 NARRATOR: Ideas of an occupied Hollow Earth 684 00:34:52.791 --> 00:34:55.525 would be revisited nearly two centuries later, 685 00:34:55.561 --> 00:35:00.797 in 1947, when famous polar explorer Admiral Richard Byrd 686 00:35:00.833 --> 00:35:06.169 flew reconnaissance missions over the North Pole. 687 00:35:06.205 --> 00:35:09.773 Byrd allegedly reported in his private journal, 688 00:35:09.808 --> 00:35:12.742 about a mysterious land beyond the North Pole, 689 00:35:12.778 --> 00:35:16.713 which he called the Center of the Great Unknown. 690 00:35:16.748 --> 00:35:20.317 AGNEW: Admiral Richard Byrd was able to fly 691 00:35:20.352 --> 00:35:21.585 to the North Pole and back, 692 00:35:21.620 --> 00:35:24.788 and recorded flying over lush green areas 693 00:35:24.823 --> 00:35:26.556 where none should have been. 694 00:35:26.592 --> 00:35:29.926 And then, three years later, he flew over the South Pole. 695 00:35:29.962 --> 00:35:32.462 BARA: It's rumored that when Admiral Byrd's task force 696 00:35:32.498 --> 00:35:34.131 actually got to Antarctica, 697 00:35:34.166 --> 00:35:35.999 that one of the first things they discovered 698 00:35:36.340 --> 00:35:40.370 was an entrance into a Hollow Earth civilization 699 00:35:40.405 --> 00:35:45.642 that was populated by very, very advanced beings. 700 00:35:45.677 --> 00:35:48.912 Admiral Byrd made a lot of unusual statements, 701 00:35:48.947 --> 00:35:51.448 including talking about 702 00:35:51.483 --> 00:35:54.284 what he called a new kind of craft 703 00:35:54.319 --> 00:35:57.200 that could fly from pole to pole. 704 00:35:57.550 --> 00:36:01.591 This was reported in newspapers in Chile and Argentina 705 00:36:01.627 --> 00:36:05.128 and ultimately in English papers, too. 706 00:36:05.164 --> 00:36:07.831 And when Byrd got back to the United States, 707 00:36:07.866 --> 00:36:09.633 he was brought back to Washington, 708 00:36:09.668 --> 00:36:12.802 where he was questioned very heavily about his statements. 709 00:36:12.838 --> 00:36:17.207 And allegedly he was told to stop talking about this. 710 00:36:18.410 --> 00:36:19.809 NARRATOR: Is it possible 711 00:36:19.845 --> 00:36:21.778 that entrances to another world 712 00:36:21.813 --> 00:36:24.814 can be found at the Earth's poles? 713 00:36:24.850 --> 00:36:26.550 And if so, 714 00:36:26.585 --> 00:36:30.587 did Admiral Byrd actually pass through one of them? 715 00:36:30.622 --> 00:36:33.757 According to some ancient astronaut theorists, 716 00:36:33.792 --> 00:36:36.927 such gateways do exist, 717 00:36:36.962 --> 00:36:39.196 but rather than leading to inner Earth, 718 00:36:39.231 --> 00:36:43.233 they may be portals to another dimension. 719 00:36:49.541 --> 00:36:53.109 NARRATOR: Lively, Ontario, Canada. 720 00:36:57.149 --> 00:37:00.483 Just over one mile deep underground 721 00:37:00.519 --> 00:37:04.721 is one of the most isolated physics labs in the world, 722 00:37:04.756 --> 00:37:07.824 SNOLAB. 723 00:37:07.859 --> 00:37:11.661 The facility was built deep within the Earth 724 00:37:11.697 --> 00:37:15.398 in order to block out cosmic radiation. 725 00:37:15.434 --> 00:37:17.867 This could allow scientists to possibly 726 00:37:17.903 --> 00:37:20.704 catch a glimpse of an element that they are confident 727 00:37:20.739 --> 00:37:23.873 exists throughout the cosmos, 728 00:37:23.909 --> 00:37:27.444 but have been unable to detect. 729 00:37:27.479 --> 00:37:31.448 Physicists claim that everything we can observe 730 00:37:31.483 --> 00:37:35.452 accounts for less than five percent of the universe. 731 00:37:35.487 --> 00:37:39.389 What constitutes the rest is completely unknown, 732 00:37:39.424 --> 00:37:42.325 but is thought to include a mysterious substance 733 00:37:42.361 --> 00:37:44.894 called dark matter. 734 00:37:46.431 --> 00:37:48.898 We know that most of the matter in the universe 735 00:37:48.934 --> 00:37:51.368 is not made of atoms or atomic nuclei. 736 00:37:51.403 --> 00:37:53.360 'S something else entirely. 737 00:37:53.710 --> 00:37:56.873 There's a long list of what dark matter might be, 738 00:37:56.908 --> 00:37:58.942 and some things we know about already, 739 00:37:58.977 --> 00:38:00.577 black holes, for example, 740 00:38:00.612 --> 00:38:05.480 that's making up part of the mass of the universe. 741 00:38:05.830 --> 00:38:06.983 If you look out in the solar system, 742 00:38:07.190 --> 00:38:10.887 you can see the orbits of various galaxies, universes, 743 00:38:10.922 --> 00:38:12.856 solar systems, planets, all of these, 744 00:38:12.891 --> 00:38:15.125 and you can map their orbits, and you realize 745 00:38:15.160 --> 00:38:17.472 that there's missing matter that you can't see through light. 746 00:38:17.496 --> 00:38:20.630 This is what we call dark matter. 747 00:38:23.135 --> 00:38:25.402 NARRATOR: The existence of dark matter 748 00:38:25.437 --> 00:38:29.339 was not scientifically accepted until the 1980s. 749 00:38:32.544 --> 00:38:34.144 Since that time, 750 00:38:34.179 --> 00:38:36.120 many scientific speculations have been made 751 00:38:36.480 --> 00:38:39.115 as to its true nature. 752 00:38:39.151 --> 00:38:41.918 Theories range from it being the glue 753 00:38:41.953 --> 00:38:44.921 that holds together the visible universe 754 00:38:44.956 --> 00:38:47.857 to a shadow galaxy that contains within it 755 00:38:47.893 --> 00:38:51.861 a parallel universe. 756 00:38:51.897 --> 00:38:56.599 One theory is, is that, uh, the dark matter particles 757 00:38:56.635 --> 00:39:00.770 are particles that are not really part of this universe. 758 00:39:00.806 --> 00:39:03.840 These hidden dimensions somehow allows 759 00:39:03.875 --> 00:39:06.900 this dark matter to exist. 760 00:39:06.440 --> 00:39:08.110 It's like a secret room. 761 00:39:08.460 --> 00:39:09.813 You own a big mansion and it turns out 762 00:39:09.848 --> 00:39:12.749 there's a secret room in it and you just don't know where it is. 763 00:39:12.784 --> 00:39:16.520 WILCOCK: Scientists are saying these higher dimensions 764 00:39:16.880 --> 00:39:19.122 may, in fact, coexist with our own 765 00:39:19.157 --> 00:39:22.926 and could, in fact, represent habitable layers of reality 766 00:39:22.961 --> 00:39:25.280 that are hidden from us... 767 00:39:25.630 --> 00:39:29.650 A world that is outside of our physical ability to measure 768 00:39:29.101 --> 00:39:31.701 but that has people living in it. 769 00:39:31.737 --> 00:39:33.470 And those people could be coming and going 770 00:39:33.505 --> 00:39:36.573 to our reality all the time. 771 00:39:39.644 --> 00:39:41.845 NARRATOR: Could an extraterrestrial world 772 00:39:41.880 --> 00:39:45.115 actually be located in a parallel universe, 773 00:39:45.150 --> 00:39:49.552 hidden within dark matter? 774 00:39:49.588 --> 00:39:53.223 If so, might our current scientific exploration 775 00:39:53.258 --> 00:39:55.992 of dark matter lead us to discover 776 00:39:56.270 --> 00:39:59.763 that we are not alone in the cosmos? 777 00:40:04.669 --> 00:40:08.605 But whether an other Earth exists in another dimension... 778 00:40:08.640 --> 00:40:11.740 under our feet... 779 00:40:11.109 --> 00:40:14.177 or in a distant galaxy... 780 00:40:14.212 --> 00:40:19.315 What would its discovery mean for the future of humanity? 781 00:40:19.351 --> 00:40:22.719 YOUNG: If we were to discover the other Earth, 782 00:40:22.754 --> 00:40:25.622 the place we have sought, the missing world, 783 00:40:25.657 --> 00:40:29.559 it would be profoundly humbling. 784 00:40:29.594 --> 00:40:33.963 So this would be quite a paradigm shift. 785 00:40:33.999 --> 00:40:37.834 History would change in a very major way. 786 00:40:37.869 --> 00:40:41.137 WILLIAM HENRY: If we were to find another planet 787 00:40:41.173 --> 00:40:43.640 with life on it, it would affirm 788 00:40:43.675 --> 00:40:47.430 what spiritual and sacred traditions have been saying: 789 00:40:47.780 --> 00:40:51.414 That we are, in fact, part of a larger family 790 00:40:51.450 --> 00:40:53.750 of, perhaps, other civilizations. 791 00:40:55.520 --> 00:40:57.620 TSOUKALOS: We have this cosmic origin. 792 00:40:57.656 --> 00:41:01.691 We have this imprint within all of us 793 00:41:01.726 --> 00:41:05.128 that our origin is out there. 794 00:41:05.163 --> 00:41:08.598 If we discover intelligent life, 795 00:41:08.633 --> 00:41:11.134 the question we then have to ask, 796 00:41:11.169 --> 00:41:15.805 are those the same people that visited us in the past? 797 00:41:18.777 --> 00:41:20.977 NARRATOR: Is mankind on the brink of uncovering 798 00:41:21.120 --> 00:41:25.548 definitive evidence that we are not alone? 799 00:41:25.584 --> 00:41:28.952 Will we learn that there is other intelligent life 800 00:41:28.987 --> 00:41:30.653 in the universe, 801 00:41:30.689 --> 00:41:35.592 perhaps far older and more advanced than humans? 802 00:41:35.627 --> 00:41:38.695 And might such a discovery force us 803 00:41:38.730 --> 00:41:42.999 to redefine everything we know about ourselves? 804 00:41:43.340 --> 00:41:45.101 Perhaps, one day soon, 805 00:41:45.136 --> 00:41:48.872 we will find that there is an other Earth 806 00:41:48.907 --> 00:41:52.642 and not just one, but thousands. 807 00:41:52.677 --> 00:41:56.813 CAPTIONING PROVIDED BY A+E NETWORKS