00:00:30 It's great to be back for another TV season.

00:00:32 Yeah, the show should be even more fun than last year.

00:00:34 Fun? Yeah, but a lot of work too.

00:00:37 And I've got this killer schedule.

00:00:39 Look at this. I've got to take chemistry this year.

00:00:42 Oh, big deal. Chemistry's a breeze.

00:00:44 Maybe for you. I can't even imagine remembering all of those formulas.

00:00:47 Chemistry is a lot more than a bunch of formulas.

00:00:50 Have you ever done an experiment?

00:00:51 No, not really.

00:00:53 I've got a great idea. Come with me.

00:01:01 Hey, Professor, okay if we use the lab for a few experiments?

00:01:05 Sure, as long as you wear your safety glasses and be sure to wear a lab apron.

00:01:10 I'll be here if you need me.

00:01:12 Alright, thanks.

00:01:14 Thank you.

00:01:17 Are you sure about this?

00:01:19 Ah, don't worry. I've had a lot of practice doing experiments.

00:01:22 Besides, the Professor's right here.

00:01:25 Why do we have to wear all this?

00:01:27 Wait, is it dangerous?

00:01:29 No, it's just for safety reasons.

00:01:31 We chemists like to take safety pretty serious, you know?

00:01:38 What are you doing?

00:01:39 Making slime.

00:01:41 You mean like the toy?

00:01:42 I didn't know you could make that stuff by yourself.

00:01:44 Ah, it's easy. I learned this when I was way, way better than you.

00:01:47 Oh, really?

00:01:48 Yeah.

00:01:49 I'm going to make slime.

00:01:51 How do you make that stuff by yourself?

00:01:52 Ah, it's easy. I learned this when I was way, way back in high school.

00:01:55 Yeah, way, way back in ancient times.

00:01:59 Tetracycline, an antibiotic developed by 20th century scientists for fighting infection.

00:02:05 Anthropologists working with analytical chemists found traces of this so-called modern drug

00:02:11 in the naturally mummified remains of Nubians,

00:02:14 a group of people that lived in the Sahara some 1,500 years ago.

00:02:19 They were taking the tetracycline, but it's unlikely they were taking it intentionally.

00:02:23 It's more likely that they were getting it by accident when they were consuming soured grain

00:02:27 or molded grain that they'd been storing in the ground.

00:02:30 The bacteria molding the grain was producing tetracycline in the mold.

00:02:33 Dr. Van Gerven is among a group of scientists analyzing the remains of these desert-preserved mummies,

00:02:39 many of them children.

00:02:41 They're hoping to learn how disease and malnutrition affected the people of the northern Sudan.

00:02:46 It's one of the most difficult environments in the world.

00:02:49 We know they suffered from a variety of nutritional problems.

00:02:51 They were anemic and ironed.

00:02:53 Their diet was low in protein.

00:02:55 They had protein malnutrition.

00:02:57 Their growth was being stunted during parts of their lives.

00:03:01 The children, as evidenced in their teeth and their bones,

00:03:04 had recurrent episodes of stress where their growth was being interrupted.

00:03:08 We see all this evidenced in the remains.

00:03:10 Through mechanical and chemical analyses of these mummies,

00:03:13 researchers are learning how to help the children of today's world live healthier, longer lives.

00:03:19 For the American Chemical Society, I'm Randy Atkin.

00:03:22 Miami scientists investigating a mysterious epidemic of cocaine-related deaths

00:03:27 have uncovered a disturbing trend.

00:03:30 Medical examiners performing chemical analyses during autopsies

00:03:34 are finding more and more bodies with blood levels of cocaine that should not kill,

00:03:40 along with evidence that an all-too-common practice does.

00:03:44 Researchers say those who drink alcohol to ease the pain of a cocaine-related crash are tempting fate.

00:03:51 Some of the unpleasant sensations are somewhat moderated by the alcohol,

00:03:57 and the pleasurable sensations perhaps are intensified.

00:04:01 I think we're beginning to understand the mechanism,

00:04:04 and I think we're beginning also to recognize the hazardous nature

00:04:09 of the chemical reactions that are taking place in their body.

00:04:14 Scientists now know that in the liver, cocaine and alcohol react to form cocaethylene,

00:04:20 a rarely studied drug Dr. Hearn had seen for years in his chemical analyses of blood.

00:04:25 In animal studies, the drug is one-and-a-half times more lethal than cocaine itself.

00:04:31 And in humans...

00:04:32 We know that there is a correlation under some circumstances with sudden death.

00:04:38 Biochemical studies suggest cocaethylene flips the brain's pleasure switches

00:04:43 even more efficiently than cocaine,

00:04:45 perhaps making addiction more likely and more difficult to break.

00:04:50 A man breathing liquid in the science fiction movie The Abyss.

00:04:54 The scene is fiction. The science is real.

00:04:58 This mouse is actually breathing a liquid.

00:05:01 Called a perfluorochemical, the liquid holds even more life-sustaining gases than air

00:05:07 and is harmless to the lungs.

00:05:09 The mouse lives.

00:05:11 In practice, this odorless chemical fills the delicate interior of the lungs

00:05:16 without any irritation.

00:05:18 Actually used as a therapy for several premature babies to date,

00:05:23 the liquid chemical has demonstrated the potential

00:05:26 of prolonging womb-like conditions in underdeveloped lungs.

00:05:30 By putting a fluid in the lung rather than a gas,

00:05:33 it's much easier to expand these lungs at lower pressure

00:05:36 and therefore is less likely to damage the lungs of these infants.

00:05:40 There are other applications for this fluid.

00:05:43 Dr. Schaefer says using a perfluorochemical

00:05:45 for target-specific delivery of cancer-killing agents

00:05:49 could improve lung cancer therapy.

00:05:51 Other adult applications would include a variety of respiratory diseases.

00:05:56 There are similar problems that occur in adults with respiratory distress

00:06:00 in which this fluid might be also very useful.

00:06:04 Also with smoke inhalation and other kinds of trauma which occur to the lungs,

00:06:08 the fluid could also be used for those patients as well as the babies.

00:06:12 Researchers are also exploring the use of liquid breathing

00:06:15 for fighting infections such as pneumonia.

00:06:18 They're considering its use as an imaging tool.

00:06:21 It may even prove useful in aiding the successful breeding of endangered species.

00:06:26 For the American Chemical Society, I'm Randy Atkins.

00:06:30 Chemistry in the movies?

00:06:32 What, you never saw Ghostbusters?

00:06:34 Well, of course I did.

00:06:35 And you remember ectoplasm?

00:06:37 Just add a little bit of this food coloring and, uh...

00:06:45 Voila! Ectoplasm.

00:06:47 Prepare to be slimed.

00:06:48 Hey, don't mess with me.

00:06:50 Why don't you lighten up? You always take things so seriously.

00:06:53 Hey, chemistry is serious.

00:06:55 Okay, it's fun too, but most of all it's important.

00:06:58 Like liquid breathing, chemistry saves lives.

00:07:02 Off the coast of the Bahamas, a search for treasure.

00:07:06 Treasure potentially hidden within the soft, exposed life clinging to ocean floors.

00:07:11 Here, many creatures survive thanks to complex chemical defenses.

00:07:16 Scientists are hoping some of these same chemicals

00:07:19 will one day help cure a variety of human diseases.

00:07:22 If it pays off, it's going to be extremely rewarding

00:07:26 because it means that we're going to find a cure for a disease

00:07:30 for which there was no treatment or cure.

00:07:32 So on ship, collected sea life and associated bacteria

00:07:35 are screened for biological activity.

00:07:38 Samples that show promise are subjected to much more elaborate analysis on shore.

00:07:44 We select the organisms that we want to work on chemically

00:07:47 based on the biological activity of the extracts

00:07:50 as opposed to searching for novel structures

00:07:54 and then trying to find a biological activity.

00:07:57 Some drugs might need chemical fine-tuning

00:07:59 to increase their effectiveness in humans.

00:08:02 And even if a perfect drug is found, in most cases...

00:08:06 The chemical senses will be required

00:08:09 to be able to produce larger quantities

00:08:12 because the resources, the source in the ocean is limited, is finite.

00:08:19 And while several promising chemicals are in various stages of testing,

00:08:23 the worldwide hunt for such underwater treasures goes on.

00:08:27 Illinois farmland in the dead of winter, rock-hard and barren.

00:08:32 But inside this building, crops are thriving year-round.

00:08:36 Sun and soil aren't needed.

00:08:38 Pests are not a problem.

00:08:41 We do not use any insecticides.

00:08:43 We're able to get by with that because we're going from seed to harvest in 28 days.

00:08:47 And most insects cannot have a cycle time

00:08:50 from pupa to maturity in that period of time.

00:08:54 Plants can grow up to 100 times more efficiently here than they can outdoors.

00:08:59 It's a perfect spring day in here every day.

00:09:03 The world's only farming operation with a completely controlled environment.

00:09:07 From the chemistry of the air and water supply

00:09:10 to the amount of light and heat given off by these water-insulated lamps.

00:09:14 We start with the seeds and we get them started.

00:09:18 Then we let them come out and establish small plants.

00:09:23 We take the best of those small plants and put them on these conveyors.

00:09:28 They spend two weeks in here on the conveyors and they're done.

00:09:31 They're harvested, packaged, and sent to market.

00:09:34 The products grown here are generally more expensive than traditional produce,

00:09:38 but many consumers think it's worth it.

00:09:41 There's never any dirt to wash off this spinach.

00:09:44 Not only that, but the leaf itself is much smoother.

00:09:47 It looks nicer, and since we serve, the spinach is very visible

00:09:50 in the salads that we use and the sautés.

00:09:52 It has to be a good-looking leaf.

00:09:54 Leafy vegetables and herbs are currently the most practical products

00:09:57 grown using this new system.

00:09:59 But the potential exists for almost any plant imaginable.

00:10:04 Human beings walking on the moon.

00:10:07 Although first seen more than 20 years ago, the pictures still captivate us,

00:10:12 as do the more than 800 pounds of lunar rocks and soil brought to Earth.

00:10:17 Stored here in a specially constructed building

00:10:19 at Johnson Space Center in Houston,

00:10:21 the samples are selectively distributed to laboratories throughout the world.

00:10:26 A chemistry lab is trying to determine whether lunar material

00:10:29 could support life on the moon.

00:10:32 Experts say constantly transporting life's essentials to a human colony

00:10:36 would not be practical.

00:10:38 Hydrogen is the key element in addition to oxygen.

00:10:42 With hydrogen and oxygen, we can then combine those

00:10:45 with chemical processes we know and produce water.

00:10:48 Hydrogen is in the lunar samples brought to the moon by solar winds,

00:10:52 atomic particles from the sun that never reach Earth

00:10:55 and its magnetic field.

00:10:57 To extract that hydrogen, small amounts of the samples

00:11:00 are exposed to extremely high temperatures.

00:11:03 The amount released is then recorded with highly sensitive detection techniques.

00:11:07 Early results suggest that mining the moon

00:11:10 should produce more than enough hydrogen for water.

00:11:13 In fact, researchers are hopeful there'll be enough left over

00:11:17 for use in propulsion.

00:11:19 The challenge of today has forged man's destiny of tomorrow.

00:11:25 A few parting words from the last man to walk on the moon.

00:11:29 Will the destiny he speaks of include a lunar base?

00:11:32 If so, scientists are confident the moon's soil

00:11:35 holds enough hydrogen to support life.

00:11:40 Wouldn't it be cool to live on the moon?

00:11:42 Earth to Tatiana. I thought we were going to do some experiments.

00:11:45 Oh, sure. What's next?

00:11:47 I got a good one for you. Ever heard of chemiluminescence?

00:11:50 Chem-what?

00:11:51 Watch this.

00:11:54 Mm-hmm.

00:11:56 Give it a good shaking like that.

00:12:00 And then...

00:12:04 Yes.

00:12:07 Wow! Is that getting hot?

00:12:09 Nope. Room temperature.

00:12:11 See, this stuff glows thanks to chemical reaction.

00:12:14 You ever catch any lightning bugs? Same thing.

00:12:16 Oh, kind of like those glow rings in light sticks.

00:12:18 You've got it.

00:12:19 So if chemistry's so serious,

00:12:21 how come all we've done so far is make toys?

00:12:23 What, are you kidding?

00:12:25 They actually use this slime for babies' diapers.

00:12:28 It's super absorbent. It keeps babies dry.

00:12:31 See, this chemiluminescence,

00:12:33 they use this in dark places like coal mines.

00:12:35 They even paint this stuff on spacecrafts.

00:12:38 Okay, okay, I believe you. Got any other experiments?

00:12:40 You're gonna love this one. It's called the rope trick.

00:12:43 We did it last year in my chemistry class.

00:12:47 All righty.

00:12:50 Now, this takes a little bit of time,

00:12:52 but when it's finished, it's worth it.

00:13:00 All right.

00:13:02 Now, this one,

00:13:04 you gotta pour it in real smooth.

00:13:07 Make sure it hits the glass first, you know?

00:13:12 Feel slow.

00:13:16 As I said, once it's finished, you're gonna love it.

00:13:24 All righty.

00:13:26 Put this down here like this.

00:13:32 And here we go.

00:13:36 What is that?

00:13:38 It's nylon.

00:13:40 Get out of here.

00:13:42 No, seriously, it's nylon.

00:13:44 Well, actually, it's nylon 610. It's a polymer.

00:13:46 A what?

00:13:48 A polymer. It's really a big molecule

00:13:50 made from lots of smaller molecules all hooked up together.

00:13:53 If you want, you can make a rope out of this.

00:13:56 Manufacturers use nylon to make clothes, shoes, plastic toys,

00:13:59 you know, pantyhose, all kinds of things.

00:14:02 So what are we gonna make?

00:14:04 Well, nothing really. I was just gonna throw it away.

00:14:07 Are you crazy? You can recycle this plastic.

00:14:10 One of the great successes of modern times, plastic.

00:14:14 The packaging industry loves it, and it's easy to see why.

00:14:18 Chemical architects have made plastic versatile,

00:14:21 lightweight, and virtually indestructible.

00:14:24 Trouble is, that strength has become its greatest weakness.

00:14:28 There's no way of disposing of it.

00:14:30 There's no way of disposing of it. It's driving us crazy.

00:14:33 Look at the stuff we can't use on beaches.

00:14:36 I mean, what do you do with this stuff?

00:14:38 You just keep building landfills?

00:14:40 Many agree that solving some of these problems

00:14:42 is worth the extra money it'll cost

00:14:44 to give plastic a degradable chemistry.

00:14:46 But the effects of current technologies are still largely unknown.

00:14:51 Degradable plastics are not a panacea

00:14:53 to the plastic solid waste problem.

00:14:56 They're one potential solution,

00:14:58 and when applied to particular articles,

00:15:00 it can be a very useful solution.

00:15:02 Even as legislation forces degradable plastics into the marketplace,

00:15:06 chemists are busy ironing out a few wrinkles.

00:15:09 They're addressing questions such as product quality

00:15:12 and attempting to gain approval for its use in contact with food.

00:15:16 Meanwhile, new degradable plastics are being developed.

00:15:19 This one is produced by bacteria

00:15:22 and is said to be totally biodegradable.

00:15:25 It's a renewable natural material,

00:15:27 a plastic that comes from agriculture rather than from oil,

00:15:31 and it degrades completely and safely back into nature

00:15:36 as carbon dioxide and water.

00:15:38 Although the pursuit of degradable plastics

00:15:40 is a step in the right direction,

00:15:42 some feel we'd do better by simply cutting down

00:15:44 on the amount of plastic trash we generate.

00:15:47 Of course, there is the option of recycling.

00:15:50 While the plastics industry has talked about recycling,

00:15:53 we really haven't seen the kind of large-scale recycling

00:15:57 that's necessary to really make a dent

00:16:00 in that segment of our waste stream, and we have to.

00:16:03 We also have to be a little more careful

00:16:05 how and where we dispose of our plastic trash

00:16:08 because it can and does kill.

00:16:12 A plastic explosive downed Pan Am Flight 103 late in 1988,

00:16:17 killing 270 people.

00:16:20 As the search continues for the terrorists responsible,

00:16:23 airports throughout the world continue beefing up security.

00:16:27 While metal detectors and x-ray machines

00:16:29 are useful for finding guns,

00:16:31 in most cases they're unable to detect plastic explosives.

00:16:35 The terrorist has unlimited flexibility in what he can use,

00:16:40 so we must build a machine that will detect the explosive,

00:16:44 in this case, in any configuration,

00:16:48 in any presentation, any type of explosive,

00:16:50 commercial or military.

00:16:52 Now being tested, this new walk-through chemical sensing device

00:16:55 uses gentle puffs of air to ruffle clothing

00:16:58 and loosen the minute amounts of vapor

00:17:00 given off by all objects, even plastics.

00:17:03 A more powerful suction system

00:17:05 simultaneously draws air from around the person

00:17:08 and into the complex workings of the machine.

00:17:11 There, a series of sensitive chemical tests

00:17:14 sort through the collected vapors,

00:17:16 looking for the specific chemical fingerprint of an explosive.

00:17:20 This is the strength of the technique that it cannot be fooled.

00:17:24 You can't put a surrogate compound in

00:17:26 thinking it will detect it or mask it.

00:17:28 It doesn't see the mask.

00:17:30 A machine developed for examining checked baggage

00:17:32 is now being used here in the U.S. for many international flights.

00:17:36 The device bombards passing baggage with neutrons,

00:17:39 causing plastic explosives to emit gamma radiation.

00:17:43 A computer detects this emission and warns security personnel.

00:17:47 Officials say these and other new devices

00:17:49 won't mean an end to current methods of security.

00:17:52 Taken together, they will make the work of the terrorist

00:17:55 that much tougher.

00:17:57 March 1989.

00:17:59 Alaska's Prince William Sound

00:18:01 is blanketed by almost 11 million gallons of oil

00:18:05 before a leak is plugged in the grounded Exxon Valdez.

00:18:08 It's the biggest spill in U.S. history,

00:18:11 and while courtroom battles and largely futile cleanup efforts

00:18:14 dominated attention soon after the spill,

00:18:17 lower-profile work done in labs like this may prove more significant.

00:18:22 Here, biochemists are beginning to understand

00:18:24 Mother Nature's own cleanup system,

00:18:27 an invisible workforce that can biochemically convert

00:18:30 the hydrocarbons that make up oil into harmless atoms and molecules.

00:18:35 Bacteria are the things that in the end will consume

00:18:39 almost all of the hydrocarbons.

00:18:41 When we last looked, they were working on the three-ring compounds and larger.

00:18:46 The smaller ones were gone.

00:18:49 Unfortunately, Mother Nature's system takes time.

00:18:52 Here, ten months after the spill, the effects are still visible.

00:18:56 Though all but invisible today, many large hydrocarbon compounds remain.

00:19:02 That's why chemists in this lab are studying

00:19:04 the sediments of Prince William Sound.

00:19:07 They're hoping to learn how oil affects nature

00:19:09 in the time it takes the bacteria to clean things up.

00:19:13 Chemistry is the link that lets us know exactly where the oil was

00:19:19 and then relate that to the prolonged impact

00:19:23 that oil that enters the sediments can have

00:19:26 on the animals that live there and the other animals that eat those animals.

00:19:32 Important research, considering humans sit atop of that food chain.

00:19:37 Turmoil in the Middle East has once again pointed

00:19:40 to America's dependence on foreign oil.

00:19:43 Once again, the search is on for independent fuel sources.

00:19:47 In a project that began more than ten years ago,

00:19:50 America looked here to the miles of unused land

00:19:53 in America's desert southwest, not to pump fuel from below,

00:19:58 but to make it above ground in ponds like these.

00:20:02 There's enough underground water here to fill acres of such ponds.

00:20:06 It's highly saline water and there's relatively little opportunity,

00:20:10 even for genetically engineered plants, to be grown in areas like this.

00:20:13 Microalgae, on the other hand, are very tolerant to this kind of salinity.

00:20:17 Microalgae are microscopic plants that can biochemically produce

00:20:20 high levels of lipid oil, oil that can be converted into gasoline

00:20:25 and in the process provide an environmental benefit.

00:20:28 Turns out that to make oil, the microalgae readily gobble up carbon dioxide or CO2,

00:20:34 a major gas contributing to global warming and the enhanced greenhouse effect.

00:20:40 We plan to use directly the CO2 which is emitted from power plants to feed these ponds.

00:20:49 The ponds recreate the chemical and physical conditions

00:20:52 found in the shallow seas of ancient times,

00:20:55 where prehistoric microalgae produced the petroleum we use today.

00:20:59 Experts at the Solar Energy Research Institute predict that in the 21st century,

00:21:05 3% of all U.S. energy could come from ponds like these.

00:21:10 For the American Chemical Society, I'm Randy Atkins.

00:21:14 Unbelievable! Tiny plants that make fuel for cars.

00:21:17 At the same time, they're cleaning the air.

00:21:19 Yeah, let's hope they figure out how to do that in a big way.

00:21:21 Who knows, maybe we can give up shipping oil in big tankers.

00:21:24 Well, so what's next?

00:21:25 Actually, I gotta get going. I still have to find my English class.

00:21:28 Oh, come on, just one more.

00:21:30 Okay, but we gotta be quick.

00:21:32 Here, hold on to this wire.

00:21:34 No way.

00:21:35 Hold on, it's safe.

00:21:36 You sure?

00:21:37 Yeah.

00:21:38 All right.

00:21:40 Now let me light this here.

00:21:47 All right, now put in the flame.

00:21:51 So what's so big about that?

00:21:52 All right, hold on, hold on.

00:21:54 Let's try this one.

00:21:58 Wow, green.

00:22:00 All right, now you pick this one and put it in there.

00:22:08 Cool, looks like fireworks.

00:22:11 Did you say fireworks?

00:22:14 Fireworks just wouldn't have the same zip, bang, and sparkle

00:22:18 were it not for the inventive artistry of professional pyrotechnicians.

00:22:22 Artists at Zambelli Internationale in Newcastle, Pennsylvania,

00:22:26 not only manufacture the fireworks, but also run the shows.

00:22:30 And while fireworks are fundamentally gunpowder explosions,

00:22:34 the artistry involves choreographing spectacular displays

00:22:38 built around a variety of chemical reactions.

00:22:41 It's this combination that produces the oohs and ahs

00:22:44 from an appreciative audience.

00:22:46 Once the fireworks maker chooses the colors he wants,

00:22:49 the appropriate chemical powders are compressed into small pellets called stars.

00:22:53 A Roman candle will contain several of these stars,

00:22:56 which are shot one at a time,

00:22:58 while a large aerial shell may contain hundreds of these stars,

00:23:01 which leave trails of brilliant color in the sky when the shell explodes.

00:23:05 The display fireworks maker uses various combinations of stars

00:23:09 that we call salutes, or large firecrackers, to produce his different effects.

00:23:13 Today's most elaborate fireworks displays are produced by licensed professionals.

00:23:18 Theirs is a field that successfully combines both science and showbiz.

00:23:22 Not only must they understand chemistry and physics,

00:23:25 but must also possess the aesthetic sense necessary to create

00:23:29 what in effect amounts to a full symphony of sight and sound.

00:23:34 For the American Chemical Society, I'm Randy Atkins.

00:23:39 So what is chemistry?

00:23:41 Chemistry is everything.

00:23:43 Professor, we cleaned up, so thanks for letting us use the lab.

00:23:48 Great.

00:23:49 I had no idea chemistry could be so much fun.

00:23:52 Fun, but important too.

00:23:54 In fact, a lot of people make a living doing chemistry.

00:23:56 You mean they actually get paid to do experiments?

00:23:58 All the time.

00:23:59 Wow, what a cool job.

00:24:01 Talk about jobs. We better get back to ours or we're not going to lose it.

00:24:04 Let's get to the studio.

00:24:20 H-E, helium, L-I, lithium, N-A, sodium, C, and zinc.

00:24:32 Uncle Phil, please, do you mind turning the music back on?

00:24:34 I'm trying to study.

00:25:31 H-E, helium, L-I, lithium, N-A, sodium, C, and zinc.