0:00:00.346,0:00:02.176 What do you guys think? 0:00:02.706,0:00:07.190 For those who watched[br]Shere Khan's memorable TED talk, 0:00:07.190,0:00:10.322 I am a typical example [br]of what he describes 0:00:10.322,0:00:12.706 as "a body carrying a head," 0:00:13.346,0:00:15.737 a university professor, right? 0:00:15.737,0:00:19.217 You might think it was not fair 0:00:19.217,0:00:22.080 that I've been lined up to speak[br]after these first two talks 0:00:22.080,0:00:24.124 to speak about science. 0:00:24.774,0:00:28.272 I can't move my body to the beat, 0:00:28.272,0:00:31.184 and after a scientist[br]who became a philosopher, 0:00:31.184,0:00:33.126 I have to talk about hard science. 0:00:33.126,0:00:36.154 It could be a very dry subject. 0:00:36.154,0:00:39.679 Yet, I feel honored. 0:00:39.679,0:00:41.462 Never in my career, 0:00:41.462,0:00:43.023 and it's been a long career, 0:00:43.023,0:00:45.256 have I had the opportunity to start a talk 0:00:45.256,0:00:48.264 feeling so inspired. 0:00:48.264,0:00:52.144 Usually, talking about science 0:00:52.144,0:00:55.304 is like exercising in a dry place. 0:00:56.284,0:00:59.516 However, I've had the pleasure 0:00:59.516,0:01:02.895 of being invited to come here[br]and talk about water. 0:01:03.885,0:01:06.768 The words "water" and "dry"[br]don't match, right? 0:01:07.426,0:01:10.916 Even better is to talk about water[br]in the Amazon, 0:01:10.916,0:01:15.950 which is the splendid cradle [br]of life, right? Fresh life. 0:01:15.950,0:01:18.028 So, this is what inspired me. 0:01:18.028,0:01:20.230 That's why I'm here,[br]although I'm carrying 0:01:20.230,0:01:22.143 my head over here, sort of, 0:01:22.143,0:01:26.237 I am trying, or will try to convey[br]this inspiration. 0:01:26.237,0:01:29.617 I hope this story will inspire you[br]and that you'll spread the word. 0:01:31.317,0:01:35.637 We know that there is controversy. 0:01:35.637,0:01:38.160 The Amazon is the "lung of the world", 0:01:38.940,0:01:44.426 because of its massive power[br]to have vital gases exchanged 0:01:44.426,0:01:46.245 between the forest and the atmosphere. 0:01:46.245,0:01:50.345 We also hear about[br]the storehouse of biodiversity. 0:01:50.345,0:01:54.651 While many believe it, 0:01:54.651,0:01:56.197 few know it. 0:01:56.197,0:01:58.075 If you go out there, in that marsh, 0:01:58.075,0:02:01.913 you'll be amazed at the... 0:02:01.913,0:02:03.957 You can barely see the animals. 0:02:03.957,0:02:08.011 The Indians say, "The forest[br]has more eyes than leaves." 0:02:08.011,0:02:10.987 This is true, and I will try[br]to show you something. 0:02:10.987,0:02:14.168 But today, I'm going to use[br]a different approach, 0:02:14.168,0:02:17.188 one that, inspired by these[br]two initiatives here, 0:02:17.188,0:02:19.869 a harmonic and a philosophical one, 0:02:19.869,0:02:23.998 I'll try to use an approach[br]that's slightly materialistic, 0:02:23.998,0:02:27.216 but it attempts to convey[br]that, in nature, there is also 0:02:27.216,0:02:30.310 extraordinary philosophy and harmony. 0:02:30.310,0:02:32.271 There will be no music in my presentation, 0:02:32.271,0:02:36.494 but I hope you'll all notice the music[br]of the reality I'm going to show you. 0:02:36.494,0:02:39.107 I'm going to talk about physiology --[br]not about lungs, 0:02:39.107,0:02:42.635 but other analogies with human physiology, 0:02:42.635,0:02:44.744 especially the heart. 0:02:44.744,0:02:46.762 We'll start... 0:02:49.132,0:02:53.720 by thinking that water is like blood. 0:02:54.500,0:02:59.349 The circulation in our body[br]distributes fresh blood, 0:02:59.349,0:03:01.959 which feeds, nurtures, and supports us, 0:03:01.959,0:03:06.337 and brings the used blood back[br]to be renewed. 0:03:06.337,0:03:10.659 In the Amazon, things happen similarly. 0:03:10.659,0:03:15.766 We'll start by talking about[br]the power of all these processes. 0:03:15.766,0:03:20.387 This is an image 0:03:20.387,0:03:23.198 of rain in motion. 0:03:23.198,0:03:27.211 What you see there[br]is the years passing in seconds. 0:03:27.211,0:03:30.159 The rains all over the world.[br]What do you see? 0:03:30.159,0:03:32.019 The equatorial region, in general, 0:03:32.019,0:03:33.882 and the Amazon specifically, 0:03:33.882,0:03:36.751 is extremely important[br]for the world's climate. 0:03:36.751,0:03:38.916 It's a powerful engine. 0:03:38.916,0:03:44.212 There is an intense evaporation[br]taking place here. 0:03:44.212,0:03:46.834 If we take a look at this other image 0:03:46.834,0:03:49.616 that shows the water vapor flow... 0:03:49.616,0:03:52.801 you have dry air in black,[br]moist air in grey, 0:03:52.801,0:03:54.232 and clouds in white. 0:03:54.232,0:03:59.908 What you see there is an extraordinary[br]resurgence in the Amazon. 0:03:59.908,0:04:02.031 What phenomenon -- if it's not a desert, 0:04:02.031,0:04:07.277 what phenomenon makes the water[br]gush from the ground into the atmosphere 0:04:07.277,0:04:10.360 with such power [br]that we can see it from space? 0:04:10.360,0:04:11.902 What phenomenon is this? 0:04:11.902,0:04:14.770 It could be a geyser. 0:04:14.770,0:04:18.588 A geyser is underground water[br]heated by magma, 0:04:18.588,0:04:19.998 which explodes into the atmosphere, 0:04:19.998,0:04:23.668 and transfers this water [br]to the atmosphere. 0:04:23.668,0:04:26.534 We don't have geysers in the Amazon,[br]unless I am wrong. 0:04:26.534,0:04:28.502 I don't know of any. 0:04:28.502,0:04:32.906 But we have something plays the same role, 0:04:32.906,0:04:36.298 with much more elegance: 0:04:36.298,0:04:39.194 the trees, our good old friends, 0:04:39.194,0:04:42.008 that, like geysers, 0:04:42.008,0:04:47.086 transfer an enormous amount of water[br]from the ground to the atmosphere. 0:04:47.086,0:04:52.783 There are 600 billion trees[br]in the Amazon forest, 600 billion geysers. 0:04:52.783,0:04:56.756 This is done with[br]an extraordinary sophistication. 0:04:56.756,0:04:58.251 They don't need the heat of magma. 0:04:58.251,0:05:01.262 They use the sunlight to do this process. 0:05:01.262,0:05:04.793 So, in a typical sunny day in the Amazon, 0:05:04.793,0:05:07.723 a big tree manages[br]to transfer 1,000 liters of water 0:05:07.723,0:05:10.032 during its transpiration. 0:05:10.032,0:05:11.447 1000 liters. 0:05:11.447,0:05:16.642 If we take all the water from the Amazon, 0:05:16.642,0:05:18.505 which is a very large area, 0:05:18.505,0:05:21.585 and add it up to all this water[br]that is released by transpiration, 0:05:21.585,0:05:24.291 which is the sweat of the forest, 0:05:24.291,0:05:26.985 we'll get to an incredible number: 0:05:26.985,0:05:29.781 20 billion metric tons of water. 0:05:29.781,0:05:31.375 You know -- in one day. 0:05:31.375,0:05:33.562 Do you know how much that is? 0:05:33.562,0:05:36.122 The Amazon River,[br]the largest river on Earth, 0:05:36.122,0:05:37.593 one fifth of all the fresh water 0:05:37.593,0:05:41.012 that leaves the continents of the[br]whole world ends up in the oceans, 0:05:41.012,0:05:46.042 dumps 17 billion metric tons[br]of water a day in the Atlantic Ocean. 0:05:46.042,0:05:47.441 This river of vapor 0:05:47.441,0:05:49.566 that comes up from the forest[br]and goes into the atmosphere 0:05:49.566,0:05:51.310 is greater than the Amazon River. 0:05:51.310,0:05:53.187 Just to give you an idea. 0:05:53.187,0:05:56.813 If we could take a gigantic kettle, 0:05:56.813,0:05:59.642 one that you plugged into[br]a power socket, an electric one, 0:05:59.642,0:06:02.140 and put the 20 billion[br]metric tons of water in it, 0:06:02.140,0:06:05.490 how much power would you need[br]to evaporate this water? 0:06:05.490,0:06:08.247 Any idea? A really big kettle. 0:06:08.247,0:06:10.432 A gigantic kettle, right? 0:06:10.432,0:06:12.518 50 thousand Itaipus. 0:06:12.518,0:06:16.264 Itaipu is still the largest[br]hydroelectric plant in the world. 0:06:16.264,0:06:18.027 and it's something Brazil is very proud of 0:06:18.027,0:06:20.136 because it provides[br]more than 30% of the power 0:06:20.136,0:06:22.093 consumed in Brazil. 0:06:22.093,0:06:26.785 And the Amazon is here,[br]doing it for free. 0:06:26.785,0:06:31.657 It's a vivid and extremely powerful plant,[br]providing environmental services. 0:06:34.137,0:06:35.608 Related to this subject, 0:06:35.608,0:06:38.596 we are going to talk about[br]what I call the “Paradox of Chance”, 0:06:38.596,0:06:40.764 which is curious. 0:06:40.764,0:06:42.476 If you look at the world map -- 0:06:42.476,0:06:43.835 it's easy to see this -- 0:06:43.835,0:06:46.904 you'll see that, in the equatorial zone,[br]you have the forests, 0:06:46.904,0:06:50.116 and the deserts are organized[br]at 30º north latitude, 0:06:50.116,0:06:53.199 30º south latitude, aligned. 0:06:53.199,0:06:56.243 Look over there, in the southern[br]hemisphere, the Atacama; 0:06:56.243,0:06:58.840 Namibia Kalahari in Africa;[br]the Australian desert. 0:06:58.840,0:07:01.994 In the northern hemisphere,[br]the Sahara, Sonoma, etc. 0:07:01.994,0:07:06.433 There is an exception, and it's curious: 0:07:06.433,0:07:09.520 It's the quadrangle that ranges from[br]Cuiabá to Buenos Aires, 0:07:09.520,0:07:11.323 from São Paulo to the Andes. 0:07:11.323,0:07:14.437 This quadrangle[br]was supposed to be a desert. 0:07:14.437,0:07:16.956 It's on the line of deserts. 0:07:16.956,0:07:20.010 Why isn't it one? That's why I call it[br]the “Paradox of Chance”. 0:07:20.010,0:07:23.449 What do we have in South America[br]that is different? 0:07:24.279,0:07:26.448 If we can use the analogy 0:07:26.448,0:07:30.580 of the blood circulating in our bodies, 0:07:30.580,0:07:33.662 like the water[br]circulating in the landscape, 0:07:33.662,0:07:37.788 we see that the rivers are veins, 0:07:37.788,0:07:42.333 they drain the landscape,[br]they drain the tissue of nature. 0:07:42.333,0:07:44.288 Where are the arteries? 0:07:44.288,0:07:46.323 Any guess? 0:07:46.323,0:07:48.139 What takes... 0:07:48.139,0:07:53.402 How does water irrigate[br]the tissues fo nature 0:07:53.402,0:07:56.585 and bring everything back[br]through the rivers? 0:07:56.585,0:07:59.606 There is a new type of river, 0:07:59.606,0:08:02.897 which originates in the blue sea, 0:08:02.897,0:08:06.247 then flows through the green ocean -- 0:08:06.247,0:08:09.244 it not only flows, but it is also[br]pumped by the green ocean -- 0:08:09.244,0:08:12.299 and falls on our land. 0:08:12.299,0:08:14.507 All our economy, that quadrangle, 0:08:14.507,0:08:19.037 70% of the GDP in South America[br]comes from that area. 0:08:19.037,0:08:20.675 It depends on this river. 0:08:20.675,0:08:22.727 This river flows invisible above us... 0:08:22.727,0:08:24.915 we are floating here on this floating hotel, 0:08:24.915,0:08:27.870 on one of the largest rivers on Earth, 0:08:27.870,0:08:31.259 which is the Black River. It's a bit dry and rough, 0:08:31.259,0:08:34.349 but we are floating here, 0:08:34.349,0:08:37.516 and above us there is this invisible river passing. 0:08:37.516,0:08:39.939 This river has a pulse. 0:08:39.939,0:08:42.327 Here it is. 0:08:42.327,0:08:44.562 That's why we also talk about the heart. 0:08:44.562,0:08:47.763 You can see the season of the year there... There is the rainy season. 0:08:47.763,0:08:49.936 In the Amazon, we used to have two seasons, 0:08:49.936,0:08:51.962 the humid season and an even more humid one. 0:08:51.962,0:08:54.671 Now we have a dry season. 0:08:54.671,0:08:58.274 You can see it covering that region 0:09:01.633,0:09:05.151 which, otherwise, would be a desert. 0:09:05.151,0:09:07.634 It's not. 0:09:07.634,0:09:13.031 We, scientists... 0:09:13.031,0:09:17.718 you see that I have a problem here 0:09:17.718,0:09:19.290 to take my head from one side to the other. 0:09:19.290,0:09:22.283 Scientists study how it works, why, etc. 0:09:22.283,0:09:24.668 and these studies are generating a series of discoveries 0:09:24.668,0:09:27.649 which are absolutely fabulous 0:09:27.649,0:09:29.997 to raise our awareness of the wealth, 0:09:29.997,0:09:33.522 the complexity, and the wonder that we have, 0:09:33.522,0:09:35.520 of the symphony we have in this process. 0:09:35.520,0:09:38.493 One of them is how the rain is formed. 0:09:38.493,0:09:39.952 Above the Amazon, there is clean air, 0:09:39.952,0:09:44.366 as there is above the ocean. 0:09:44.366,0:09:46.753 The blue sea has clean air and forms few clouds, 0:09:46.753,0:09:48.423 it almost doesn't rain. 0:09:48.423,0:09:51.361 The green ocean has the same clean air, but forms a lot of rain. 0:09:51.361,0:09:53.625 What is happening here that is different? 0:09:53.625,0:09:58.503 The forest emits smells, 0:09:58.503,0:10:01.180 and these smells are condensation nuclei 0:10:01.900,0:10:06.712 that form drops in the atmosphere. 0:10:06.712,0:10:09.856 Then clouds are formed and there is torrential rain. 0:10:09.856,0:10:12.133 The watering can of the Garden of Eden. 0:10:12.133,0:10:17.464 This relation between a living thing, which is the forest, 0:10:17.464,0:10:20.449 and a non-living thing, which is the atmosphere, 0:10:20.449,0:10:23.961 is ingenious in the Amazon, 0:10:24.641,0:10:25.950 because the forest provides water and seeds, 0:10:25.950,0:10:27.344 and the atmosphere forms the rain and gives them back, 0:10:27.344,0:10:30.654 guaranteeing the forest's survival. 0:10:30.654,0:10:35.715 There are other factors as well. 0:10:35.715,0:10:37.775 We've talked a little about the heart, 0:10:37.775,0:10:43.487 let's now talk about another function, that is the liver! 0:10:43.487,0:10:46.317 When humid air, with high humidity and radiation are combined 0:10:46.317,0:10:48.637 with this organic material, 0:10:48.637,0:10:50.041 which I call “exogenous vitamin C”, generous vitamin C is in the form of gas, 0:10:50.041,0:10:53.538 plants release antioxidants 0:10:53.538,0:10:57.045 that react with pollutants. 0:10:57.045,0:10:59.662 You can rest assured 0:10:59.662,0:11:01.715 that you are breathing the purest air on Earth, here in the Amazon 0:11:01.715,0:11:05.569 because the plants take care of this characteristic as well. 0:11:05.569,0:11:07.905 This benefits the way plants work, 0:11:07.905,0:11:10.493 another ingenious cycle. 0:11:10.493,0:11:14.024 Speaking of fractals, 0:11:14.024,0:11:17.736 and their relation with the way we work, 0:11:17.736,0:11:21.714 we can establish other comparisons. 0:11:21.714,0:11:25.533 As in the upper airways of the lung, 0:11:25.533,0:11:27.170 the air in the Amazon is free of excess dust. 0:11:27.170,0:11:30.224 The dust in the air that we breathe is cleaned by the airways. 0:11:30.224,0:11:32.426 This keeps the excess dust from harming the rainfall. 0:11:32.426,0:11:35.057 When there are fires in the Amazon, 0:11:35.057,0:11:37.009 the smoke stops the rain, it stops raining, 0:11:37.009,0:11:39.805 the forest dries up and catches fire. 0:11:39.805,0:11:41.834 There is another fractal analogy. 0:11:41.834,0:11:46.120 Like the veins and arteries, 0:11:46.120,0:11:48.863 the rain water is a feedback. 0:11:48.863,0:11:52.495 It returns to the atmosphere. 0:11:52.495,0:11:54.810 Like endocrinal glands and hormones, 0:11:55.490,0:11:59.435 there are those gases which I told you about before 0:11:59.435,0:12:01.234 that are formed and released into the atmosphere, like hormones, 0:12:01.234,0:12:06.307 that help in the formation of rain. 0:12:06.307,0:12:08.179 Like the liver and kidneys, as I've said, the cleaning of the air. 0:12:08.179,0:12:11.581 And, at last, like the heart, 0:12:11.581,0:12:15.731 pumping water from outside, from the sea, 0:12:15.731,0:12:18.389 into the forest. 0:12:18.389,0:12:20.627 We call it the "biotic moisture pump," 0:12:20.627,0:12:22.181 a new theory that is explained in a very simple way. 0:12:22.181,0:12:25.280 If there is a desert in the continent 0:12:25.280,0:12:28.762 and a nearby sea, 0:12:28.762,0:12:31.528 evaporation is greater in the sea, 0:12:31.528,0:12:35.266 and it sucks the air above the desert. 0:12:35.266,0:12:36.978 The desert is trapped in this condition, it will always be dry. 0:12:36.978,0:12:39.281 If you have the opposite situation, a forest, 0:12:39.281,0:12:42.179 the evaporation, as we showed, is much greater, because of the trees, 0:12:42.179,0:12:46.676 it inverts the relationship. 0:12:46.676,0:12:49.063 The air above the sea is sucked in 0:12:49.063,0:12:50.418 and humidity is imported. 0:12:50.418,0:12:53.462 This is a satellite photo taken one month ago. 0:12:53.462,0:12:58.192 That's Manaus down there, we're down there, 0:12:58.192,0:13:00.016 it shows this process. 0:13:00.016,0:13:02.333 It is not a little river, one of those that flow into a canal. 0:13:02.333,0:13:05.638 It is a mighty river that irrigates South America, 0:13:05.638,0:13:10.208 among other things. 0:13:10.208,0:13:11.786 This image shows those paths, all the hurricanes 0:13:11.786,0:13:15.250 that have been recorded. 0:13:15.250,0:13:17.485 You can see that in the red square, there hardly are any hurricanes. 0:13:17.485,0:13:20.343 This is not by chance. 0:13:21.053,0:13:25.645 This pump that sucks the moisture into the continent, 0:13:25.645,0:13:28.265 also speeds up the air above the sea 0:13:28.265,0:13:30.225 and this prevents hurricane formation. 0:13:30.225,0:13:32.710 To close this part and summing up, 0:13:32.710,0:13:36.341 I'd like to talk about something different. 0:13:36.341,0:13:38.939 I have several colleagues 0:13:38.939,0:13:41.684 who worked in the development of these theories. 0:13:41.684,0:13:43.809 They think, and so do I, 0:13:43.809,0:13:47.845 that we can save planet Earth. 0:13:47.845,0:13:50.251 I'm not talking only about the Amazon. 0:13:50.251,0:13:53.086 The Amazon teaches us a lesson 0:13:53.086,0:13:54.993 of how pristine nature works. 0:13:54.993,0:13:58.370 We didn't understand these processes before 0:13:58.370,0:14:00.077 because the rest of the world is messed up. 0:14:00.077,0:14:02.172 Here, we can understand it. 0:14:02.172,0:14:05.597 These colleagues propose 0:14:05.597,0:14:07.709 that we can, yes, we can, save other areas, 0:14:07.709,0:14:10.324 even deserts. 0:14:10.324,0:14:12.540 If we can establish forests 0:14:12.540,0:14:15.614 in these other areas, we can revert climate change, 0:14:15.614,0:14:20.508 including global warming 0:14:20.508,0:14:22.286 I have a dear colleague in India 0:14:22.286,0:14:25.284 named Suprabha Seshan, 0:14:25.284,0:14:27.851 who has a motto, 0:14:27.851,0:14:32.036 "Gardening back the biosphere", 0:14:32.036,0:14:35.622 "Reajardinando a biosfera", in Portuguese. 0:14:35.622,0:14:38.632 She does wonderful work rebuilding ecosystems, 0:14:38.632,0:14:40.515 we need to do this. 0:14:40.515,0:14:43.499 Having closed this quick introduction, 0:14:44.649,0:14:48.282 we see the reality that we have out here 0:14:48.282,0:14:52.169 of drought, this climate change, 0:14:52.169,0:14:55.267 things that we already knew. 0:14:55.267,0:14:57.462 I'd like to tell you a short story. 0:14:57.462,0:15:00.087 Once, about four years ago, 0:15:00.087,0:15:03.648 I attended the presentation of a text by Davi Copenaua, 0:15:03.648,0:15:06.471 a wise representative of the Ianomami people 0:15:06.471,0:15:08.464 that went more or less this: 0:15:08.464,0:15:11.145 Doesn't the white man know 0:15:11.145,0:15:12.588 that if he destroys the forest the rain will end? 0:15:12.588,0:15:16.194 And that if the rain ends, there will be no drinking water 0:15:16.904,0:15:19.034 or food? 0:15:19.034,0:15:22.712 I heard that and my eyes welled up 0:15:22.712,0:15:27.746 because, oh, my... 0:15:27.746,0:15:30.385 I've been studying this for 20 years, with a super computer, 0:15:30.385,0:15:34.327 tens, thousands of scientist, 0:15:34.327,0:15:35.773 and we are starting to reach this conclusion that he already knows! 0:15:35.773,0:15:39.536 A critical point is that the Ianomami have never deforested. 0:15:39.536,0:15:45.342 How could they know the rain would end? 0:15:45.342,0:15:50.157 That bugged me 0:15:50.157,0:15:54.744 and I was befuddled. 0:15:54.744,0:15:56.447 How could he know that? 0:15:56.447,0:15:57.866 Some months later, I met him at another event and said: 0:15:57.866,0:16:02.105 "Davi, how did you know that destroying the forest the rain ends? 0:16:02.105,0:16:05.167 He replied: "The forest spirit told us." 0:16:05.167,0:16:11.174 For me, this was a "game changer," 0:16:11.174,0:16:13.127 a radical change. 0:16:15.697,0:16:19.072 I said: 0:16:19.932,0:16:23.140 "Gosh, why am I doing all this science, 0:16:23.140,0:16:27.928 to reach a conclusion that he already knows?" 0:16:27.928,0:16:30.712 Then something absolutely critical hit me. 0:16:30.712,0:16:32.900 It is that... 0:16:32.900,0:16:35.262 Seeing is believing. 0:16:35.262,0:16:36.665 "Out of sight, out of heart." 0:16:36.665,0:16:39.188 This is a need that who came before me pointed out 0:16:39.188,0:16:40.932 that we need to see things... 0:16:40.932,0:16:42.822 We, I mean, western society 0:16:42.822,0:16:45.164 that is becoming global, civilized, 0:16:45.164,0:16:48.130 we need to see, if we don't see, we don't register the information. 0:16:48.130,0:16:50.837 We live in ignorance. 0:16:50.837,0:16:52.797 Thus, I make this proposal: 0:16:52.797,0:16:54.539 let's... of course, the astronomers would spend on this 0:16:54.539,0:16:56.914 let's turn the Hubble upside down. 0:16:56.914,0:17:00.734 And let's make the Hubble look down here, 0:17:00.734,0:17:02.117 rather than to the end of the universe, 0:17:02.117,0:17:05.787 the wonderful end of the universe. 0:17:05.787,0:17:07.826 Now, we have a practical reality, 0:17:07.826,0:17:09.492 we live in an unknown cosmos, 0:17:09.492,0:17:12.778 we're ignorant, 0:17:12.778,0:17:15.396 we're trampling on this wonderful cosmos 0:17:15.396,0:17:16.969 that shelters and houses us. 0:17:16.969,0:17:19.939 Talk to any astrophysicist, 0:17:19.939,0:17:22.673 the Earth is a statistical improbability. 0:17:22.673,0:17:24.922 The stability and comfort that we enjoy 0:17:24.922,0:17:28.951 with the droughts of the Black River, 0:17:29.431,0:17:31.541 all the heat and cold and all, 0:17:31.541,0:17:32.920 there is nothing like it in the universe, that we know of. 0:17:32.920,0:17:37.466 Then, let's turn the Hubble down here and look at the Earth. 0:17:37.466,0:17:40.693 Let's start with the Amazon! 0:17:40.693,0:17:42.744 Let's dive, 0:17:42.744,0:17:44.773 let's reach out the reality we live in daily, 0:17:44.773,0:17:46.678 and look at it, since that's what we need, 0:17:46.678,0:17:48.589 Davi Copenaua doesn't need this. 0:17:48.589,0:17:50.484 He already has something that I think I missed. 0:17:50.484,0:17:54.864 I was educated by television. 0:17:54.864,0:17:56.986 I think that I missed this, 0:17:56.986,0:18:00.192 an ancestral record, 0:18:00.192,0:18:03.563 a valuation of that which I don't know, which I haven't seen. 0:18:03.563,0:18:06.337 He is no doubting Thomas. 0:18:06.337,0:18:09.543 He believes with veneration and reverence, 0:18:09.543,0:18:11.888 in that which the ancestors and the spirits taught them. 0:18:11.888,0:18:13.758 As we can't, let's look into the forest. 0:18:13.758,0:18:16.862 Even with the Hubble up there, 0:18:16.862,0:18:19.148 looking into the sky... 0:18:19.148,0:18:22.018 This is a bird's-eye view. 0:18:22.018,0:18:24.256 Even when this happens, 0:18:24.256,0:18:26.475 we also see something that we don't know. 0:18:26.475,0:18:28.162 The Spanish called it the green inferno. 0:18:28.162,0:18:31.309 If you leave here, go into the bushes, and get lost, 0:18:31.309,0:18:34.563 and by any chance you head west, 0:18:34.563,0:18:36.054 it's 550 miles to Colombia, 0:18:36.054,0:18:38.350 and another 600 miles to somewhere else, 0:18:38.350,0:18:40.135 then you can figure out why they called it the green inferno. 0:18:40.135,0:18:44.691 But go and look at what is in there. 0:18:44.691,0:18:48.749 It is a live carpet. 0:18:48.749,0:18:50.401 Each color there is a tree species. 0:18:50.401,0:18:53.645 Each tree, each tree top, 0:18:53.645,0:18:56.554 has even 10,000 species of insects in it, 0:18:56.554,0:18:59.983 let alone the millions of species of fungi, bacteria, and all. 0:19:00.983,0:19:02.853 All invisible. 0:19:02.853,0:19:04.664 All an even stranger cosmos to us 0:19:04.664,0:19:06.708 than the galaxies billions of light years away from the Earth 0:19:06.708,0:19:09.596 that the Hubble brings to our newspapers everyday. 0:19:09.596,0:19:12.971 I close my talk here. 0:19:12.971,0:19:15.632 I have a few seconds left, 0:19:15.632,0:19:18.017 showing this wonderful being. 0:19:18.017,0:19:20.548 When we see the Morpho butterfly in the forest, 0:19:20.548,0:19:23.758 we feel like someone left the door to paradise open 0:19:23.758,0:19:27.049 and that this creature escaped from there, 0:19:27.049,0:19:28.773 Because it's so beautiful. 0:19:28.773,0:19:30.150 However, I cannot close 0:19:30.150,0:19:31.913 without showing a tech side, 0:19:31.913,0:19:34.015 we are tech arrogant. 0:19:34.015,0:19:39.456 We deprive nature of its technology. 0:19:39.456,0:19:44.083 A robotic hand is technological, 0:19:44.083,0:19:46.348 mine is biological, 0:19:46.348,0:19:48.262 and we don't think about it anymore. 0:19:48.262,0:19:52.465 Let's then look at the Morpho butterfly, 0:19:52.465,0:19:53.935 an example of an invisible technological competence of life. 0:19:53.935,0:19:59.011 It is at the very heart of our possibility of surviving on the planet. 0:19:59.011,0:20:02.043 Let's zoom in on it. 0:20:02.043,0:20:04.440 Again, there is the Hubble. 0:20:04.440,0:20:07.968 Let's get into the butterfly's wings, 0:20:07.968,0:20:10.836 the scholars have tried to explain: "Why is it blue?" 0:20:10.836,0:20:14.529 Let's zoom in on it. 0:20:14.529,0:20:19.019 What you see is that the architecture of the invisible humiliates 0:20:19.019,0:20:20.673 the best architects in the world. 0:20:20.673,0:20:23.327 All this on a tiny scale. 0:20:23.327,0:20:24.696 Besides the beauty and functioning, there is another side to it. 0:20:24.696,0:20:26.748 All in nature 0:20:26.748,0:20:30.427 that is organized in extraordinary structures has a function. 0:20:30.427,0:20:33.208 This function, of the Morpho butterfly, it is not blue, 0:20:33.208,0:20:34.563 it does not have blue pigments. 0:20:34.563,0:20:36.940 It has photonic crystals on the surface, 0:20:36.940,0:20:41.350 according to the person who studied it, 0:20:41.350,0:20:42.702 extremely sophisticated crystals. 0:20:42.702,0:20:48.012 Our technology had nothing like that at the time. 0:20:48.012,0:20:50.584 Hitachi has now made a monitor 0:20:50.584,0:20:53.006 that uses this technology, 0:20:53.006,0:20:54.913 and it is used in optical fibers to transmit... 0:20:54.913,0:20:58.427 Janine Banes, who's been here several times, talks about it, biomimetics. 0:20:58.427,0:21:01.454 My time is up. 0:21:01.454,0:21:04.628 Then, I'll wrap up with what is at the base of this capacity, 0:21:04.628,0:21:08.319 of this competence of biodiversity, 0:21:08.319,0:21:11.159 of producing all these wonderful services. 0:21:11.159,0:21:13.916 The living cell. 0:21:13.916,0:21:17.927 It is a structure with a few microns, which is an internal wonder, 0:21:17.927,0:21:19.985 there are TED talks about it, I won't drag on, 0:21:19.985,0:21:21.869 but each person in this room, including myself, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 has 100 trillion of this micromachine in his body, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 so that you can enjoy this well-being. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Imagine what is out there in the Amazon forest. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 100 trillion, this is greater than the number of stars in the sky. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We are not aware of it. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Thank you so much.