Episode 10 Richard Hammond's Miracles of Nature


Episode 10

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Animals are amazing.

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That's astonishing!

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And the more we find out about them, the more amazing they seem.

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That's why scientists all over the world

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are trying their best to copy them.

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'Making brand-new inventions...' Tomato juice.

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..based on what animals can do.

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PHONE RINGS

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'Some are astounding.' We have just dived under the sea!

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'Some, bizarre.'

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This is not at all pleasant.

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Yes! It's gone!

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But they are all inspired by the miracles of nature.

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Episode Ten.

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How scientists have found the next best thing to a spider's web...

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under the sea.

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Spider silk is an amazing material.

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It is so light, that a strand long enough to circle the planet

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would weigh less than 1kg.

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but it is strong enough to stop a fly...

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in full flight.

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It is a remarkable material.

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One we have been trying to copy for the best part of 50 years.

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Because a material this light and this strong would be really useful.

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But we have still not managed it

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and real silk is just too tricky to collect.

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But now, scientists have found another natural substance

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that might just be able to rival spider silk.

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The real surprise is where they have found it.

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Somewhere out here.

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Eddie, I'd be no good at this, I can't see it.

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Well, it's around here somewhere.

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'Luckily, I've got marine biologist Eddie Kisfaludy along to help.

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'Once we can get past the language barrier.'

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-You call them "boo-ees."

-They are boo-ees.

-It's a buoy.

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-It's buoys?

-Yeah.

-No, "boys" is like a little kid.

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-No, it's not a boo-ee.

-This is a boo-ee.

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These are several boo-ees, in fact.

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-Ah, there it is. Good work.

-You see? I got it!

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Ah-ha! I got it, I got it, I got it!

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'Now, if you are remotely squeamish, you might want to look away.

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'Because what's at the bottom of this rope

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'isn't immediately appealing.'

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So these are them!

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Not pretty, are they?

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No, they're disgustingly ugly, to be quite honest.

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These are hagfish.

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Not really fish, they're more like eels.

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-Yeah.

-They don't have any scales or fins.

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They don't have any eyes to speak of,

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so they have to make a living

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by feeling and smelling their way around on the deep sea.

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It's almost like a snake that crawls around on the sea floor.

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'I don't know, it's probably just the rocking,

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'but I am suddenly feeling just a little bit queasy.

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'Mainly because I know what's going to happen

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'when we get them back to shore.'

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Now, the thing is,

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it's actually quite easy to persuade a spider to make silk for you.

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I've done it, in fact.

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But you would not believe the bother we're going to have to go to

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to get hagfish to do something similar.

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First of all, we have to fill that purpose-built tank

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with 400 gallons of water.

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Then we add to it the 150 hagfish that Eddie and I caught.

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Then we need something with them to stir them,

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something in the tank to stir them up and provoke a stir. It's...

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it's me.

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I am the stirrer.

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In there...

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with the hagfish.

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I just...is this really necessary?

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Unfortunately, Eddie assures me that it is.

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And he's wasting no time in getting our experiment ready.

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This might look like a very big tank for 150 small fish.

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But apparently, what they're going to do requires quite a bit of room.

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'Eddie's idea is that I play the part of a big, aggressive predator.

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'And the hagfish are my frightened prey.'

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'But I have a feeling that the hagfish are not the only ones

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'who are going to be frightened.'

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'Especially when I see how Eddie intends getting me in there.'

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You know how people have those bucket lists

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of things you should do before you die?

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This was never on mine.

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Eurgh!

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'Now, if you thought the hagfish's looks were bad,

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'just wait till you see what their party trick is.'

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Ooh!

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'Because hagfish have the power to slime.

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'Big time.' That's disgusting!

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I'm not hurting any of these fish.

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I am just alarming them.

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Ohh!

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This is their natural, in-built response.

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You see, he thinks I'm a predator after him,

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so rather than bite or swim away, he just sends out a tonne of slime.

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'The point of it is that that slime would instantly clog up

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'the mouth of any fish coming in for a nibble.'

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I mean, they don't bite.

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Well, I don't think they bite.

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I've just persuaded one of these guys to come and say hello,

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and actually... if you look, you can see...

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along the side, these tiny, white holes,

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they look a bit like mouth ulcers, actually.

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And that's where it makes the slime to protect itself.

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'And you can see now why we needed such a big tank.'

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Apparently, just one of these fish can make enough slime

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to fill a bucket of water in seconds.

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So they produce a lot of this stuff.

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Just to make sure they don't get eaten by something else.

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I mean, it would put me off, to be fair.

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I'm not hungry.

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This is a lot of slime in here, now.

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Ohh!

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Now, this might look pretty disgusting,

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and to be fair, in fact, it is,

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but there's a good reason why we're doing this,

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not just to have a laugh at my expense,

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cos it's about the slime,

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and it's about what the slime is actually capable of.

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It's probably time I got out now.

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Yeah.

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Let's get me out of here.

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It's...ohh!

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Oh, this is...not at all...

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pleasant.

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It's not nice.

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However, this stuff, disgusting as it is,

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is quite fascinating.

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'I know it doesn't look much like spider silk,

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'or feel like it...'

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Ohh!

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'But that's because I haven't finished with it yet.

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'To turn this into something that can compete with spider silk,

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'I need to put it on my special hagfish slime hanger.'

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And now, I think, a shower.

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'Leaving my hagfish slime to dry out overnight.'

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Now, this might not look like it,

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but this in fact is the hagfish slime that I harvested yesterday.

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Overnight, the sea water has drained away and evaporated,

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and it's dried.

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So I think a scientific test is called for right here, right now.

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'With some fishing weights from Eddie's boat.'

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There's a 5oz one.

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I'm hanging it on.

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'That's about 150g.'

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10oz.

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'300g.'

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OK, that's pretty good.

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Right, I'm going to go for a heavier weight. Let's see.

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'400g.'

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16oz.

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'450g.'

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OK, so now we're on...

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40. '1,100g. More than a bag of flour.'

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45...

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'And we're up near spider silk territory.'

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55 ounces, and I've run out of weights.

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OK, it's not the most scientifically rigorous of tests,

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and it may be a while yet

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before you pull on your brand-new hagfish sweater,

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but the fact is,

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this could be really useful.

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Because one day hagfish slime could be used to make

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everything we once wanted to make spider silk.

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Finding a kind of spider silk under the sea.

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If that's not one of the miracles of nature, I'd like to know what is.

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