Episode 7 Blow Your Mind


Episode 7

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BOTH: We are Dr Chris and Dr Xand.

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We're tracking down the most awesome...

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..incredible...

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BOTH: ..and epic things in the universe!

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BOTH: Come with us

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and discover unbelievable things that will blow your mind!

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Blow Your Mind will be bringing you loads of top experts

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and scientists to help you find out more about some amazing stuff...

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..from the Arctic to elephants, spaceships to sharks,

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and this week it's all about ice.

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Yes, frozen water.

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So, hold on to your brains.

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BOTH: Here's what's coming up!

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Neptune skipper Ragi has a nightmare docking at the berg.

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We confront the biggest, scariest and most awe-inspiring land predator

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in the natural world - the polar bear.

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And we set foot for the first time on a mega berg.

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Chris, a week ago,

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if you'd told me I would be desperate to find out more about

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icebergs, well, I wouldn't have believed you,

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but they are incredibly cool.

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-I know.

-I mean, really, properly, excitingly cool.

-I do know.

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And dangerous, like, dangerously cool.

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Yeah, I do know, Xander, I'm the one who lived on an iceberg

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and I'm telling you all this stuff!

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Well, hurry up and tell us some more, then.

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Last time, you were on the Neptune

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and the captain was just about to attempt to dock the ship

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to let you and the team put some scientific kit onto the berg.

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It looked pretty dangerous. What happened?

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Well, like anything to do with icebergs, it wasn't easy,

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but I'll show you. See for yourself.

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I had joined a bunch of scientists in Greenland.

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Our journey started on a glacier, but now we were stalking an iceberg,

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trying to climb aboard to continue our icy experiments.

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Today's team of intrepid explorers and scientists are...

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..Chris Packham, wildlife and nature expert...

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..expedition doctor and all-round brave guy, me...

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Dr Helen Czerski, physicist and oceanographer...

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..Andy Torbet, extreme explorer and glacial diver...

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..Doug Allan, polar cameraman and glacial diver...

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..Peter Wadhams, ocean physicist and ice expert...

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..Ragi Elson, Arctic sailor and the ship's captain.

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Ragi is really experienced in the seas of the Arctic.

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Because of that, he was incredibly cautious of landing the team

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on an iceberg that was actually moving.

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You should always take the worst scenario and work from that.

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Be prepared for the worst.

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Ships the size of Neptune can be badly damaged by the super-hard ice

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of a berg, which is why Ragi was super cautious

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and took things very, very slowly.

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Ragi was still taking it slowly as he guided the Neptune alongside the ice.

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It's impossible to predict how a moving berg will behave.

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Collisions are hard to avoid.

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RADIO CHATTER

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And there was another unexpected problem.

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The team had discovered a huge ledge of ice jutting out

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just beneath the water.

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This is known as an ice ram, and it was right under the ship.

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There's several hundred thousand tonnes of ice down there

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and we're on top of it.

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If a crack opened and it broke off,

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the buoyancy would bring the whole thing up above sea level

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and we would be tipped over one way or the other.

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It looks like a nice, neat place to moor,

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but actually it's quite dangerous.

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That's another reason why Ragi was

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so keen not to make contact with the berg.

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But then...

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That's the second time the Neptune had slammed into the berg.

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That was enough for Ragi.

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He insisted on searching for a safer landing site.

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Wowee. That looks really tricky, Chris.

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The skipper has so much to think about when he's docking that ship.

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It's scary to think it would just be tossed in the air

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if a part of that berg rolled.

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Yes, if it rolls, the force that would be released is massive,

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easily enough to tumble our little ship.

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-So the skipper is absolutely right be careful.

-Yeah, for sure.

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He's got all of our lives in his hands.

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I didn't realise when you went on this expedition

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-it would be so dangerous.

-Well, you know, I'm very brave,

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so I was fine, which is a good thing, because ice isn't the only danger.

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We were about to come very close

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to one of the most terrifying other dangers -

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much to Chris Packham's delight. Check this out!

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As skipper Ragi scoured the berg for a new docking place,

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we soon discovered that we were not the only tourists in the area.

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-There's a polar bear swimming, what, 50 metres off the ship?

-Really close.

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And he's just hanging out.

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This is all my Christmases come at once. A polar bear.

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I really, really, really hoped to see one,

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but I never thought we would.

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But then, you know, these are marine mammals.

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They can cover great distances in the sea,

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and they frequently do, swimming between the ice floes.

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How exciting, though, honestly.

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Polar bears hunt on sea ice for most of the year, but it was summer,

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so most of the sea ice had melted,

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and the team's berg was the only ice left in the area.

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This bear wasn't alone.

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There was another bear up on the berg.

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A polar bear on our iceberg. Hold on, hold on.

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Oh, I don't believe it. I really don't.

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There's actually another bear on the ice.

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Through my binoculars, it's a little speck.

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So, in the space of just half an hour, we've seen three polar bears.

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One in the water off the ice berg,

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one here, happy, smiling,

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and about 500 metres over there is a third bear on our iceberg.

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It is bear-tastic.

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Look at him. He's just lovely. Lovely, lovely bear.

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Despite the team's excitement,

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these predators were a real problem for the science team.

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Bears are really curious,

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and capable of attacking anything or anyone that enters their territory.

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The intention is to go on that iceberg, but three bears

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in 15 minutes, that adds a bit of excitement to the whole thing.

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I can see why everyone was so excited.

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I've only ever seen polar bears in zoos

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and they're pretty impressive there.

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It must be mind-blowing to see them in the wild.

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Yes, wild is the right word, because that is what you have to

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remember all the time - they are wild, and they're hunters.

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A male bear can get up to ten feet tall standing up,

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and they can weigh up to 1,000 kilos.

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And they just see other animals and humans as food.

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So, you can see why we had to be very, very careful.

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The next day we saw even more. Take a look.

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In a single day, we saw five more bears.

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That's eight altogether.

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Our safety officer called an emergency meeting.

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There are going to be a few simple rules here

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that I think all of us can just get into our minds early on.

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Number one, nobody is wandering off the ship on their own.

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Number two, you've got to make sure there are watchers out.

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Number three, you're going to need some equipment with you to

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make sure that you can fend off the bear if he comes too close.

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Having seen bears stalking seals on ice similar to this,

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they are very clever.

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They will see a seal from a long way away and they will take

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advantage of the dips and hollows to stay out of sight.

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Just try to be super bear aware.

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If suddenly you find one very close,

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then drop a piece of clothing on the ice.

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Put a pair of dirty socks in your pocket.

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Something nice and smelly, so you've got a couple of things to drop.

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They will buy you vital seconds.

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The Inuit have a great saying,

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which says it's not the bear you can see that's going to get you.

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So, it's the one you can't see that will get you.

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Good advice about the socks. Xand? Xand?

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I was just taking Chris Packham's advice.

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I never would have thought a bear would be interested in my socks.

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-Xand, there aren't any bears around here.

-That's cos I've got my socks.

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-They'll keep anything away.

-Urgh!

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Anyway, we did eventually make it onto the ice, despite the bears.

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The next morning, we found a mooring spot.

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RADIO CHATTER

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Ragi had found what he thought was an ideal place for the Neptune

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to dock, but the bear risk called for additional safety measures.

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Here is the rifle.

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He would be on guard.

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He's a Greenlander, and used to living with the threat of bears.

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Let's hope we don't have to use it.

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The man leading the shore party was Andy Torbet.

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About to get the gangway across to the iceberg,

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and take those first few steps.

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We'll recce sites that we can get these big ship anchors in.

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The point of all this, is to get the scientists on there safely

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so we can do the science.

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Let's go.

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LAUGHTER

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That's why we need crampons.

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-First on the iceberg! How does it feel?

-It's awesome.

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This is where the adventure properly starts.

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After Andy slipped, the rest of the crew went more carefully.

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This is how you imagine big lumps of ice.

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-Feel that on the top, feel it on the top.

-It's just like marble, isn't it?

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There's nothing, there's no give in that.

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'They needed ice that was hard and stable to attach the ropes to.'

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-That's fine, go for there.

-'So, the drilling got under way.

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'But before too long, they had company.'

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He does seem to be moving a little bit towards the left, doesn't he?

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-He is, he's walking left.

-Yeah, exactly.

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Oh, eyes on! He's just there.

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-Here he is. Look.

-He's very close.

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-Very close to us.

-Could you give us an update on the situation?

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He's still moving left to right.

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Very good, thank you.

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'As long as the bear kept its distance, the team could carry on.'

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Beautiful.

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Yep, through, through.

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Yeah!

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Couple more. One more.

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Awesome. Done.

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First step on the iceberg.

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First person to fall over on the iceberg.

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Yes, I think... Yeah.

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A rather unceremonious first step for man, a giant leap for mankind.

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Yeah.

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The bears certainly made the team work quickly.

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It took two days to find a safe place to dock,

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but only an hour to actually moor.

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For the moment, the bears had gone

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and the scientists could get onto the ice.

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Wow, that is absolutely fascinating stuff.

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What did it feel like when you touched it?

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I mean, it looks like it would be snowy and soft,

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but I heard Helen say it was like marble.

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It was like marble, absolutely solid, hard ice.

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And it was brilliant the scientists made it onto the ice,

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but there was this constant fear of polar bears.

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They look so cute, though, don't they?

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Yeah, but you have to keep reminding yourself they're potentially very

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dangerous - they are one of the top predators on the planet.

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That is mega-scary. I did like Andy's little routine

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when he stepped on the ice for the first time.

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-Yeah, that was pretty funny.

-Can we see it again?

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-No, it's not fair, he slipped.

-Come on, you're never fair.

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-Show it again.

-All right, run the VT!

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OK, Andy, let's go then.

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LAUGHTER

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-That was really good. Can we just see it once more?

-OK, here goes.

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Oops!

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-Poor old Andy. Gets me every time.

-I know.

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But seriously, it did take us all by surprise just how hard

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-and slippy the ice was.

-It took you by surprise that ice was slippy?

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Anyway, it's time for us to go,

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-but there's lots more from the mega berg to come.

-Like what?

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Well, looking underwater, for starters.

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It's incredible down there,

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and Chris gets help from the divers to examine

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some amazing creatures that light up all by themselves.

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But that's just a couple of the many things that will blow your mind!

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