[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:06.83,0:00:07.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Homer's "Odyssey",
Dialogue: 0,0:00:07.88,0:00:10.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,one of the oldest works \Nof Western literature,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:10.14,0:00:12.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,recounts the adventures \Nof the Greek hero Odysseus
Dialogue: 0,0:00:12.90,0:00:16.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,during his ten-year journey home\Nfrom the Trojan War.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:16.34,0:00:19.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Though some parts \Nmay be based on real events,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:19.17,0:00:23.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the encounters with strange monsters,\Nterrifying giants and powerful magicians
Dialogue: 0,0:00:23.85,0:00:26.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,are considered to be complete fiction.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:26.29,0:00:29.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But might there be more to these myths\Nthan meets the eye?
Dialogue: 0,0:00:29.67,0:00:32.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Let's look at one famous episode \Nfrom the poem.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:32.14,0:00:34.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In the midst of their long voyage,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:34.29,0:00:38.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Odysseus and his crew find themselves\Non the mysterious island of Aeaea.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:38.78,0:00:42.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Starving and exhausted, some of the men\Nstumble upon a palatial home
Dialogue: 0,0:00:42.93,0:00:47.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,where a stunning woman welcomes them\Ninside for a sumptuous feast.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:47.45,0:00:51.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Of course, this all turns out to be \Ntoo good to be true.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:51.31,0:00:54.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The woman, in fact, \Nis the nefarious sorceress Circe,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:54.68,0:00:57.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and as soon as the soldiers\Nhave eaten their fill at her table,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:57.90,0:01:02.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,she turns them all into animals\Nwith a wave of her wand.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:02.18,0:01:04.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Fortunately, one of the men escapes,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:04.35,0:01:07.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,finds Odysseus \Nand tells him of the crew's plight.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:07.50,0:01:10.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But as Odysseus rushes to save his men,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:10.36,0:01:12.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,he meets the messenger god, Hermes,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:12.76,0:01:15.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who advises him to first consume\Na magical herb.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:15.56,0:01:17.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Odysseus follows this advice,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:17.61,0:01:20.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and when he finally encounters Circe,\Nher spells have no effect on him,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:20.97,0:01:25.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,allowing him to defeat her\Nand rescue his crew.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:25.28,0:01:28.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Naturally, this story of witchcraft\Nand animal transformations
Dialogue: 0,0:01:28.75,0:01:32.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was dismissed as nothing more \Nthan imagination for centuries.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:32.75,0:01:36.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But in recent years, the many mentions\Nof herbs and drugs throughout the passage
Dialogue: 0,0:01:36.87,0:01:39.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,have piqued the interest of scientists,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:39.34,0:01:41.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,leading some to suggest
Dialogue: 0,0:01:41.22,0:01:45.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the myths might have been \Nfictional expressions of real experiences.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:45.51,0:01:48.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The earliest versions of Homer's text
Dialogue: 0,0:01:48.68,0:01:52.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,say that Circe mixed baneful drugs\Ninto the food
Dialogue: 0,0:01:52.49,0:01:56.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,such that the crew might utterly forget\Ntheir native land.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:56.18,0:01:59.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,As it happens, one of the plants growing\Nin the Mediterranean region
Dialogue: 0,0:01:59.65,0:02:02.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is an innocent sounding herb\Nknown as Jimson weed,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:02.85,0:02:05.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,whose effects include pronounced amnesia.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:05.76,0:02:09.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The plant is also loaded with compounds\Nthat disrupt the vital neurotransmitter
Dialogue: 0,0:02:09.87,0:02:12.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,called acetylcholine.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:12.72,0:02:15.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Such disruption can cause \Nvivid hallucinations,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:15.55,0:02:17.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,bizarre behaviors,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:17.25,0:02:20.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and general difficulty distinguishing\Nfantasy from reality,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:20.75,0:02:22.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,just the sorts of things
Dialogue: 0,0:02:22.13,0:02:26.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which might make people believe \Nthey've been turned into animals,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:26.40,0:02:29.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which also suggests that Circe\Nwas no sorceress,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:29.18,0:02:34.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but in fact a chemist who knew how\Nto use local plants to great effect.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:34.67,0:02:37.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But Jimson weed is only half the story.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:37.30,0:02:39.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Unlike a lot of material in the Odyssey,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:39.51,0:02:44.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the text about the herb that Hermes\Ngives to Odysseus is unusually specific.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:44.23,0:02:46.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Called moly by the gods,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:46.16,0:02:49.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it's described as being found\Nin a forest glen,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:49.36,0:02:52.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,black at the root \Nand with a flower as white as milk.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:52.80,0:02:55.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Like the rest of the Circe episode,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:55.17,0:02:58.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,moly was dismissed \Nas fictional invention for centuries.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:58.83,0:03:03.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But in 1951, Russian pharmacologist\NMikhail Mashkovsky
Dialogue: 0,0:03:03.01,0:03:05.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,discovered that villagers \Nin the Ural Mountains
Dialogue: 0,0:03:05.74,0:03:09.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,used a plant with a milk-white flower\Nand a black root
Dialogue: 0,0:03:09.20,0:03:12.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to stave off paralysis \Nin children suffering from polio.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:12.73,0:03:14.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The plant, called snowdrop,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:14.47,0:03:17.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,turned out to contain a compound\Ncalled galantamine
Dialogue: 0,0:03:17.81,0:03:21.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that prevented the disruption\Nof the neurotransmitter acetylcholine,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:21.56,0:03:24.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,making it effective in treating\Nnot only polio
Dialogue: 0,0:03:24.26,0:03:28.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but other disease, such as Alzheimer's.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:28.08,0:03:30.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,At the 12th World Congress of Neurology,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:30.11,0:03:33.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Doctors Andreas Plaitakis \Nand Roger Duvoisin
Dialogue: 0,0:03:33.72,0:03:38.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,first proposed that snowdrop was, in fact,\Nthe plant Hermes gave to Odysseus.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:38.90,0:03:41.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Although there is not much direct\Nevidence that people in Homer's day
Dialogue: 0,0:03:41.91,0:03:45.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,would have known about \Nits anti-hallucinatory effects,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:45.26,0:03:48.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we do have a passage from 4th century\NGreek writer Theophrastus
Dialogue: 0,0:03:48.88,0:03:53.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,stating that moly \Nis used as an antidote against poisons.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:53.60,0:03:55.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, does this all mean
Dialogue: 0,0:03:55.40,0:03:59.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that Odysseus, Circe, and other characters\Nin the Odyssey were real?
Dialogue: 0,0:03:59.41,0:04:01.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Not necessarily.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:01.27,0:04:05.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But it does suggest that ancient stories\Nmay have more elements of truth to them
Dialogue: 0,0:04:05.12,0:04:07.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,than we previously thought.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:07.36,0:04:10.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And as we learn more\Nabout the world around us,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:10.19,0:04:12.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we may uncover some of the same knowledge
Dialogue: 0,0:04:12.63,0:04:15.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,hidden within the myths \Nand legends of ages passed.