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BELL RINGS Ooh, a treasure chest! | 0:00:02 | 0:00:04 | |
That looks very mysterious, Colin. | 0:00:04 | 0:00:07 | |
It belonged to my great, great, great-granduncle Percy. | 0:00:07 | 0:00:10 | |
It's been in our family for years. | 0:00:10 | 0:00:13 | |
-PROFESSOR MCCORK: -Ah, he must've been a pirate. | 0:00:13 | 0:00:15 | |
Ooh, how exciting! Imagine life as a pirate, Jonathan. | 0:00:15 | 0:00:20 | |
You could have your own parrot and an eye patch and... | 0:00:20 | 0:00:22 | |
and you could make me walk the plank if I'm late for work. | 0:00:22 | 0:00:25 | |
It would be quite a step up from floor manager. | 0:00:25 | 0:00:29 | |
-Arrr! Shiver me timbers! -Uh! | 0:00:29 | 0:00:32 | |
-BELL RINGS -Positions, everyone! | 0:00:32 | 0:00:34 | |
'This is Brain Freeze. | 0:00:34 | 0:00:37 | |
'With Dr Knowles, | 0:00:37 | 0:00:40 | |
'Professor McCork, | 0:00:40 | 0:00:43 | |
'Colin, the floor manager | 0:00:43 | 0:00:46 | |
'and Ms Hucklebuck. | 0:00:46 | 0:00:48 | |
'STAND BY!' | 0:00:48 | 0:00:50 | |
Come on, everybody! | 0:00:50 | 0:00:51 | |
-BOTH: -It's time for... | 0:00:54 | 0:00:56 | |
Today we're asking, | 0:00:59 | 0:01:00 | |
is everyone related? | 0:01:00 | 0:01:02 | |
To try and answer this, | 0:01:02 | 0:01:03 | |
let's start at the present day and work backwards. | 0:01:03 | 0:01:06 | |
If we assume that every person | 0:01:06 | 0:01:08 | |
has two biological parents, | 0:01:08 | 0:01:10 | |
four grandparents, | 0:01:10 | 0:01:11 | |
eight great-grandparents and so on, | 0:01:11 | 0:01:13 | |
the numbers continue to double | 0:01:13 | 0:01:15 | |
with each generation we go back | 0:01:15 | 0:01:17 | |
and soon become very large. | 0:01:17 | 0:01:20 | |
By the time we've gone back about 2,000 years, | 0:01:20 | 0:01:22 | |
our family tree would consist of | 0:01:22 | 0:01:24 | |
one quintillion separate individuals. | 0:01:24 | 0:01:27 | |
One quintillion? | 0:01:27 | 0:01:29 | |
But that's more than the number of people that have ever lived. | 0:01:29 | 0:01:32 | |
Exactly! It seems that we simply have too many ancestors. | 0:01:32 | 0:01:36 | |
-So what's going on? -Join us after the break to find out. | 0:01:36 | 0:01:39 | |
And we're clear! | 0:01:39 | 0:01:41 | |
I can picture it now. | 0:01:41 | 0:01:43 | |
Captain Jonathan, just like Percy the Pirate. | 0:01:43 | 0:01:47 | |
Swashbuckling on the high seas. Arrr! | 0:01:47 | 0:01:50 | |
Discovering buried treasure. Arrr! | 0:01:50 | 0:01:54 | |
Flying big aeroplanes all around the world. | 0:01:54 | 0:01:56 | |
-Uh, I think that's a pilot you're thinking of, Professor. -Oh, yeah. | 0:01:56 | 0:02:00 | |
Well, I would like to honour Percy's memory, | 0:02:00 | 0:02:02 | |
but all this pirate stuff sounds terribly dangerous. | 0:02:02 | 0:02:06 | |
Nonsense! Let's get you in shipshape. | 0:02:06 | 0:02:09 | |
But I can't read a compass. | 0:02:09 | 0:02:11 | |
I'm allergic to seafood! | 0:02:11 | 0:02:13 | |
BELL RINGS | 0:02:13 | 0:02:15 | |
Hm. Something's not right here. | 0:02:15 | 0:02:17 | |
So, tell us, Dr Knowles, | 0:02:23 | 0:02:24 | |
what's the story with the one quintillion ancestors? | 0:02:24 | 0:02:27 | |
The problem of having too many ancestors can be explained by | 0:02:27 | 0:02:31 | |
the fact that many of these are in fact the same person occupying | 0:02:31 | 0:02:35 | |
multiple places on the family tree. | 0:02:35 | 0:02:37 | |
Over many generations, | 0:02:37 | 0:02:39 | |
descendants of these individuals | 0:02:39 | 0:02:40 | |
actually ended up having children together, | 0:02:40 | 0:02:42 | |
even though they were in fact distant relatives. | 0:02:42 | 0:02:45 | |
So, is everyone related then? | 0:02:45 | 0:02:48 | |
Well, yes. Even you and me. | 0:02:48 | 0:02:51 | |
Some scientists believe that every single person on earth | 0:02:53 | 0:02:56 | |
is at least 50th cousins with everybody else. | 0:02:56 | 0:02:59 | |
And if you live in the same country | 0:02:59 | 0:03:01 | |
and are of the same ethnicity as someone, | 0:03:01 | 0:03:03 | |
chances are it's even closer. | 0:03:03 | 0:03:05 | |
Phew! I think I need a rest after all this. | 0:03:05 | 0:03:08 | |
See you next time, folks! | 0:03:08 | 0:03:10 | |
And we're clear...oh. | 0:03:11 | 0:03:13 | |
Hey, guys, I think there's something you need to know | 0:03:13 | 0:03:16 | |
-about Percy the Pirate. -Huh? | 0:03:16 | 0:03:19 | |
Look, he was an astronaut as well. | 0:03:19 | 0:03:22 | |
And a gladiator. | 0:03:22 | 0:03:24 | |
And a giant chicken. | 0:03:24 | 0:03:26 | |
No, he wasn't any of these things. | 0:03:26 | 0:03:28 | |
Percy worked as a floor manager at a costume and fancy dress shop! | 0:03:28 | 0:03:33 | |
Ah-ha! A floor manager, just like me. | 0:03:33 | 0:03:37 | |
The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. | 0:03:37 | 0:03:40 | |
Well, I guess you can follow in Percy's footsteps after all, Colin - | 0:03:40 | 0:03:44 | |
by staying right where you aRRR! | 0:03:44 | 0:03:47 | |
Arrr! | 0:03:47 | 0:03:48 | |
THEY LAUGH | 0:03:48 | 0:03:50 | |
Brain Freeze. | 0:04:02 | 0:04:03 |