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Join us on a journey through the possibilities of survival and what it takes to endure in the face of extinction-level events. Would you have what it takes to survive? Watch to find out.
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00:02Around 66 million years ago, dinosaurs disappeared from the Earth, except for the ones that eventually turned into birds.
00:10Suddenly, the Earth went from the age of dinosaurs to the age of mammals.
00:15Scientists have special names for these time periods.
00:18The Cretaceous and Paleogene.
00:21And the event itself is called the KPG, or KT extinction.
00:29Picture this dramatic moment in Earth's history.
00:31It happened in the blink of an eye.
00:33A colossal asteroid as big as Mount Everest, and traveling at lightning speed, slammed into Earth.
00:42It crashed down in what we now call Southern Mexico, at a place known as the Chicxulub Crater.
00:50The impact was gigantic.
00:53Everything close to it was instantly vaporized, creating an enormous burst of energy.
00:59One of the most powerful in billions of years.
01:02Nothing could survive near the crash site.
01:05As the fiery aftermath cooled, the Earth's surface went haywire.
01:10The ground twisted and trembled, causing unbelievable earthquakes.
01:14The continent started to literally bounce.
01:17Then, the ocean floor got all stirred up, provoking the gigantic tsunami.
01:22Massive waves surged inland around the Gulf of Mexico.
01:26The debris that got blasted into the sky started falling back to Earth like a rainstorm.
01:32Even if you weren't close to the huge pieces falling in Mexico, you'd still get hit by smaller, super-hot
01:39bits flying through the air.
01:40This heated up the atmosphere so much that forests all over the world burst into flames.
01:49The dinosaurs that lived far away from the impact area first felt a little rumble.
01:55Suddenly, the sky turned dark and gloom, as if it was nighttime during the day.
02:00The temperatures dropped drastically, and this night during the day lasted for several weeks.
02:06And then, a blanket of ash started slowly covering the entire planet.
02:12Nasty things like carbon dioxide and bits of the seafloor started floating around in the air.
02:17This messed with the temperatures once again, making it swing wildly.
02:22The Earth was hot and cold at the same time.
02:26Nature was suffering.
02:28Forest fires, no sunlight, dangerous gases in the atmosphere.
02:32All this caused big problems for plant-eating dinosaurs.
02:36They started to vanish, and the meat-eaters were having a feast.
02:41But not for long.
02:42Soon enough, the whole food chain fell apart.
02:45This is when somewhere between 50 and 80% of dinosaurs said their final goodbyes.
02:51What's even sadder is that this number only counts the different types of dinosaurs.
02:56If we look at the number of individual dinosaur lives lost, it's even higher.
03:02Here's an interesting fact.
03:04If the asteroid had hit just 30 seconds earlier or later, landing in the Atlantic or Pacific,
03:10rather than just off the coast of Mexico, we might have had some non-avian dinosaurs still around today.
03:17But the way it happened, the asteroid struck with a force equal to 10 billion Hiroshima's.
03:26But the only ones who made it were our mammalian ancestors.
03:31They were little shrew-like creatures who had super-fast energy systems, adaptable diets, or clever hiding spots.
03:38These early mammals survived because they were tiny and didn't need much food.
03:43We're incredibly lucky that they survived this chaos.
03:46They probably didn't even understand what was happening.
03:49They just noticed the horrible smell, huge bodies everywhere, acid rain and volcanoes erupting.
03:56So now that we know how terrible this event actually was, let's talk about a big question.
04:03Could we, modern humans, survive something like this?
04:07Well, it depends.
04:09Research from a different asteroid impact about 790,000 years ago suggests we could, but it wouldn't be easy.
04:20In that other event, a massive asteroid hit Earth once again.
04:26Just like with the Chicxulub asteroid, it sent debris into the atmosphere that covered a tenth of the planet's surface.
04:32Scientists found the pieces of that asteroid's impact, glassy rocks called tektites.
04:39They analyzed these rocks and discovered a rare mineral called rheodite.
04:44It requires extremely high pressure and temperatures to form.
04:48After studying it, scientists assumed that the impact happened in Southeast Asia, probably near Thailand.
04:54The planet, strangely, they still haven't found the exact crater.
04:59But the main thing is, the asteroid collision did happen, and our ancestors were around during this.
05:05It surely got their attention, even though they might not have fully grasped what was happening.
05:11The debris from this event would have caused significant climate changes.
05:15It's tough to understand how it affected our humans' evolution.
05:19All that we know is that we survived it.
05:25Currently, there are about 1,200 asteroids on a list of potential asteroid threats, but luckily, we're not in immediate
05:33danger.
05:34These asteroids are smaller than 0.6 miles in diameter.
05:38The chance of a massive asteroid like the one that hit Chicxulub between 3 to 9 miles wide striking Earth
05:44is incredibly low.
05:45Major events like this happen about once every 100 to 200 million years.
05:53On top of that, most asteroids are located between Mars and Jupiter and don't pose a threat to Earth.
06:00However, there are thousands of smaller asteroids that could potentially hit us.
06:05Most of these are small and burn up in the atmosphere, causing no harm.
06:09Some larger ones could damage buildings or cities, but wouldn't threaten all life on our blue planet.
06:18But what if a comet or a serious asteroid were to collide with Earth today?
06:23In that case, first of all, it could alter Earth's orbit.
06:27The initial energy released during an impact would cause a scorching blast wave of 570 degrees Fahrenheit.
06:35The fire would ignite vast areas of the Earth's surface.
06:38Then, it would cause a long-term impact on winter.
06:42The smoke from the megafires, along with dust and water vapor, would form a thick layer of clouds in the
06:48upper atmosphere.
06:49Just like with the dinosaur event, it would reduce sunlight and cause temperatures to drop for decades.
06:56Most plant life would die off within weeks.
06:59Large trees might survive for decades due to stored sugars and a slow metabolism.
07:03Beyond that, not much life would remain, except for microbes and smaller creatures.
07:12There are three possible strategies for humans to deal with all this mess.
07:16The best strategy is to prevent the impact in the first place.
07:20Scientists are already searching for asteroids that might cross Earth's path, and discussing how to defend against them.
07:27One option is to use our biggest weapons to break up the asteroid into smaller pieces.
07:32These tiny pieces could miss Earth or burn up in our atmosphere.
07:37That would work for asteroids around 0.6 miles wide.
07:41However, this won't work for massive Chicxulub-sized asteroids.
07:45The amount of energy we'd need to destroy them exceeds our entire current arsenal.
07:51But, if we notice the asteroid early enough, maybe a series of blasts could change its course and save the
07:57day.
07:58And, according to the researchers, asteroids larger than 25 miles in size would be nearly impossible to stop with our
08:05current technology.
08:07Luckily, the chances of something like this hitting Earth are very tiny.
08:15But, okay, what if we can't prevent the impact?
08:18Here comes the second strategy.
08:20We'd have to go deep underground and create large bunkers.
08:24We know that many burrowing or deep sea species survived the mass extinction 66 million years ago.
08:30So, these underground habitats could protect us from the direct impact effects like blasts and fires, as well as an
08:37impact winter.
08:38We'd have to harness the Earth's natural heat and live inside protective domes.
08:43They could be built in stable continental cores or deep beneath the oceans.
08:48We'd have some essential supplies like food, medicine, fuel, and water.
08:53Maybe even have some gene banks to preserve species.
08:57And the last strategy would be to copy the movie, Don't Look Up, and to ignore the problem until it's
09:02too late.
09:03We know that it would take collaboration among governments and institutions from many countries to design, build, and launch a
09:11series of devices into space in order to prevent the impact.
09:15If humanity will be able to pull that cooperation off, that would be a miracle.
09:20In any case, NASA takes the threat of asteroids pretty seriously.
09:24It has a well thought out plan involving early detection, assessment, deflection strategies, collaboration, public communication, and backup plans to
09:34protect Earth from these cosmic dangers.
09:36So, we can only hope that if something like that happens, logic would prevail.
09:46Imagine a universe made of antimatter.
09:49In this alternate reality, the building blocks of matter are made up of particles with opposite charges, creating a strange
09:57and wondrous world.
09:59What would it look like?
10:00Would the laws of physics be inverted?
10:02Would time run backwards?
10:04Buckle up and let's find out.
10:07First off, let's figure out what antimatter is.
10:10We know that our universe is composed of matter.
10:14Matter is made up of tiny particles called atoms.
10:17These atoms are made up of protons, neutrons, and electrons, which together form matter and make up everything around us
10:25and what we're all made of.
10:27Antimatter, on the other hand, is just like regular matter, but the opposite.
10:32Just like how superheroes have opposite powers from their villains, antimatter has opposite properties from regular matter.
10:39So, while regular matter has protons with positive charges, antimatter has antiprotons with negative charges.
10:47Instead of electrons, we have positrons, and instead of neutrinos, we have antineutrinos.
10:53It's like the mirror image of everything we're familiar with.
10:58Now, here's an interesting part.
11:00When an antimatter particle and a matter particle collide, they annihilate each other and release a huge amount of energy.
11:09This is both a benefit and a drawback.
11:12On one hand, because of this property, studying antimatter is very difficult and expensive.
11:18We have to be very careful to ensure that antiparticles don't come into contact with ordinary atoms and don't annihilate
11:25each other.
11:26On the other hand, the huge amount of energy they release could revolutionize our lives.
11:32Perhaps one day, we'll start using them in propulsion systems for space travel.
11:37Imagine how amazing that would be!
11:40Scientists suggest that at the beginning of the creation of our universe, immediately after the Big Bang, matter and antimatter
11:48were equal.
11:49But this raises the question, where did the antimatter go?
11:53If they were truly equal, our universe would have been instantly destroyed before it could have been formed.
12:00Particles and antiparticles would have annihilated each other.
12:04Unfortunately, scientists themselves are not sure.
12:08They have a theory that the laws of physics were slightly different in the early universe, leading to an imbalance
12:14between matter and antimatter.
12:17So, after the Big Bang, particles and antiparticles began to mutually annihilate each other.
12:23However, for some reason, antimatter started to disappear.
12:28In the end, matter won.
12:30This process led to the creation of our universe.
12:33In the science world, it's known as baryogenesis.
12:37However, there are also scientists who offer more grandiose ideas.
12:43For example, a team of Canadian scientists from the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, led by Neil Turok, have proposed
12:51their own theory.
12:52They suggest that two universes were born at the moment of the Big Bang, our universe and a parallel one,
12:59consisting of antimatter.
13:01This is where all the antimatter has gone.
13:04According to this theory, at the time of the Big Bang, two universes were born, and then they separated.
13:10As the distance between these universes grew, the interaction between particles and antiparticles became weaker and weaker, until matter won
13:20in our universe and antimatter in the other.
13:23But, the most important question is, what would this mysterious universe made up of antimatter look like?
13:32You may imagine a universe where everything is flipped.
13:36The stars shine with an eerie blue light instead of yellow.
13:39Buildings are made of glass that reflects light in the opposite direction.
13:43And laws of physics work in the opposite way.
13:46After all, antimatter has the opposite charge of normal matter.
13:51So, isn't that logical?
13:53However, it's not that simple.
13:56Initially, scientists believed that this universe could be identical to ours in everything.
14:02All due to a property that used to be known as CP symmetry.
14:07The C stands for charged symmetry and means that each elementary particle has a twin with an opposite charge.
14:14The P stands for parity symmetry, meaning the symmetry of space.
14:20That is, all three directions in our world have opposite directions in the alternate universe.
14:27This basically means something like, laws of physics are the same no matter what the location is and what type
14:33of particle is being considered.
14:36So, if you were to run the laws of physics in reverse, or in a different location, or with different
14:42particles, the results should be the same.
14:45In simple words, scientists initially assumed that the universe of antimatter would be a mirror image of ours.
14:52It would be a pretty boring world where everything would be exactly the same as here.
14:57But, in the 1950s, scientists were mind blown by an unexpected discovery.
15:04Neither of these symmetries held true.
15:07For example, if you take a piece of cobalt-60, it will emit particles that spin in one direction.
15:13But if you take the opposite of cobalt-60, the particles it emit will spin in the opposite direction.
15:20But they were expected to spin in the same direction.
15:23So, what's going on here?
15:26Basically, it turned out that CP symmetry didn't work for certain weak nuclear reactions.
15:32The weak nuclear force is just weird like that, I suppose.
15:36This observation puzzled scientists for years.
15:40And then, they finally figured out how to solve this mystery.
15:44They added another letter to CP symmetry, T, which stands for Time Reversal Symmetry.
15:51This means that the antimatter universe, time, must flow from the future to the past.
15:58In this case, the CPT property held true.
16:01So, it turns out that the antimatter universe would be a mirror image of our universe,
16:07but with time flowing in the opposite direction.
16:11So, there may be a version of you in this antiverse, watching this video on your upside-down computer, already
16:18knowing the ending.
16:20Isn't that crazy?
16:22So, although this universe would look similar to ours, it would also be fundamentally different.
16:28In this world, things would unravel instead of coming together.
16:32For example, broken objects would come back together to form whole objects.
16:37People would age in reverse, like Benjamin Button.
16:40And apples would fly up from Newton's head back to the tree.
16:45This, of course, is all purely hypothetical.
16:48It's very difficult for us to imagine a world where time flows backwards.
16:53We can only imagine how surreal this inverted reality would look like.
16:57But this is what the data suggests for now.
17:00There might be something we don't know yet that would make the antimatter world different.
17:05But, as far as we know today, it seems this is what a mirror world made of antimatter would look
17:11like.
17:13Scientists are still studying antimatter and its properties.
17:16Understanding these properties is important for a number of reasons.
17:20First of all, it gives us a better understanding of the universe and its origins.
17:25The imbalance between matter and antimatter in our world is one of the biggest mysteries in physics.
17:32Studying antimatter can help us understand why this is the case.
17:37Second, it would give us a better understanding of particle physics and subatomic particles.
17:42This knowledge can help us unlock the secrets of the universe and make new discoveries in physics.
17:48And, of course, let's not forget about all the possible technological advancements.
17:54Antimatter has the potential to be used as a source of fuel for future space missions and other technologies.
18:00We could use this in propulsion systems to travel from planet to planet.
18:06We could also use antimatter in medicine, for example, for cancer treatment.
18:11Also, in medical imaging, antimatter particles can be used to produce high-resolution images of the inside of the body,
18:18giving doctors a better view of what's going on.
18:22So, in other words, understanding the properties of antimatter is very important for science.
18:27It's a fascinating field of study that has the potential to unlock some of the biggest secrets in the universe.
18:34A universe made of antimatter would be a fascinating place.
18:38It would be very interesting to visit there and see how everything works.
18:43And the true nature of an antimatter universe remains a mystery, waiting to be explored and understood.
18:49But, let's hope that we'll figure these mysteries out in the future.
18:53To be continued...
18:55To be continued...
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