WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.580 - So Gretchen, what else lives in caves? 2 00:00:02.580 --> 00:00:05.034 - Perhaps the organisms that are most home in caves 3 00:00:05.034 --> 00:00:08.101 are microbes, which are microscopic organisms 4 00:00:08.101 --> 00:00:09.912 that are part of our everyday lives. 5 00:00:09.912 --> 00:00:11.995 The microbes that live in caves could help us 6 00:00:11.995 --> 00:00:15.106 develop new medicines, such as antibiotics. 7 00:00:15.106 --> 00:00:17.816 Scientists are also really interested 8 00:00:17.816 --> 00:00:21.218 in microbes that live in caves called extremophiles 9 00:00:21.218 --> 00:00:24.270 because they have adapted to extreme environments 10 00:00:24.270 --> 00:00:27.133 similar to what we might find on other planets. 11 00:00:27.133 --> 00:00:28.868 Dr. Boston from NASA is going 12 00:00:28.868 --> 00:00:30.701 to tell us more about microbes. 13 00:00:30.701 --> 00:00:32.017 (water drops) 14 00:00:32.017 --> 00:00:34.368 - My name is Penny Boston and I'm 15 00:00:34.368 --> 00:00:38.287 an astrobiologist and a cave scientist 16 00:00:38.287 --> 00:00:41.290 who focuses on geomicrobiology. 17 00:00:41.290 --> 00:00:43.475 I work in the United States, in the state of 18 00:00:43.475 --> 00:00:46.940 New Mexico, and I visit caves all over the world 19 00:00:46.940 --> 00:00:50.097 and look at the microorganisms that live there. 20 00:00:50.097 --> 00:00:51.794 I study what they do to the rocks 21 00:00:51.794 --> 00:00:54.955 and minerals, and unique biosignatures 22 00:00:54.955 --> 00:00:57.042 that they may be producing because of 23 00:00:57.042 --> 00:00:59.319 those interactions with the minerals. 24 00:00:59.319 --> 00:01:03.152 So that's the setting that brings me to caves. 25 00:01:05.273 --> 00:01:08.159 And part of the reason that we are tremendously 26 00:01:08.159 --> 00:01:11.878 interested in the kinds of life forms that we 27 00:01:11.878 --> 00:01:13.890 find in the subsurface is for 28 00:01:13.890 --> 00:01:15.473 a number of different reasons. 29 00:01:15.473 --> 00:01:18.384 One is because they're very poorly studied here on Earth. 30 00:01:18.384 --> 00:01:20.198 There's very little work that has been done on 31 00:01:20.198 --> 00:01:23.804 these organisms, so it's an entire area 32 00:01:23.804 --> 00:01:27.169 of Earth biology that has only 33 00:01:27.169 --> 00:01:29.294 been studied a very little bit. 34 00:01:29.294 --> 00:01:31.863 So that's one major aspect of it. 35 00:01:31.863 --> 00:01:35.071 The second aspect of it, is looking for 36 00:01:35.071 --> 00:01:38.343 environments that have different aspects of them 37 00:01:38.343 --> 00:01:43.093 that might be important models for life on other planets. 38 00:01:44.689 --> 00:01:47.965 So for example, on Earth, we have hot caves, 39 00:01:47.965 --> 00:01:51.375 we have cold caves, we have acid caves, 40 00:01:51.375 --> 00:01:54.711 we have caves with poisonous gases in them. 41 00:01:54.711 --> 00:01:58.204 All of these different kinds of examples 42 00:01:58.204 --> 00:02:02.018 can inform us about how microbial life 43 00:02:02.018 --> 00:02:05.647 rises to the occasion and learns to adapt 44 00:02:05.647 --> 00:02:08.411 and live in these kind of environments. 45 00:02:08.411 --> 00:02:12.837 One of the other important aspects of caves and 46 00:02:12.837 --> 00:02:16.079 space exploration, is that we now know that there 47 00:02:16.079 --> 00:02:19.396 are many caves on other bodies in the solar system, 48 00:02:19.396 --> 00:02:22.854 particularly Mars and Earth's moon. 49 00:02:22.854 --> 00:02:26.847 We have detected and mapped many of these features. 50 00:02:26.847 --> 00:02:30.791 And so, the potential exists for future human use 51 00:02:30.791 --> 00:02:34.368 for human exploration, in these kinds of structures. 52 00:02:34.368 --> 00:02:37.285 The ability of the rock that is the 53 00:02:39.245 --> 00:02:43.511 overlying material over a cave, is very good at helping 54 00:02:43.511 --> 00:02:47.678 to screen out very high energy ionizing radiation. 55 00:02:48.977 --> 00:02:51.712 And this is a major hazard in space flight 56 00:02:51.712 --> 00:02:55.094 and space habitation on other planets. 57 00:02:55.094 --> 00:02:57.702 And so, these natural features, because they 58 00:02:57.702 --> 00:03:01.279 already exist in these environments, provide us 59 00:03:01.279 --> 00:03:04.079 with an ability to actually modify those for 60 00:03:04.079 --> 00:03:07.496 human use, with much less payload penalty 61 00:03:08.641 --> 00:03:11.252 than if we had to take all of that structure 62 00:03:11.252 --> 00:03:14.899 and all of that radiation protection with us. 63 00:03:14.899 --> 00:03:17.435 A very important aspect of being in the 64 00:03:17.435 --> 00:03:21.018 subsurface and using caves as an analog for 65 00:03:22.947 --> 00:03:25.362 extreme environments like other planetary 66 00:03:25.362 --> 00:03:27.504 surfaces, is because it really is 67 00:03:27.504 --> 00:03:30.881 psychologically a transforming experience. 68 00:03:30.881 --> 00:03:34.433 When you go into the subsurface for a short trip 69 00:03:34.433 --> 00:03:36.823 into a show cave, for example, you don't 70 00:03:36.823 --> 00:03:39.531 really feel the full extent of it. 71 00:03:39.531 --> 00:03:44.281 But when you explore caves, and you are in for many days, 72 00:03:45.160 --> 00:03:49.138 your whole sensory abilities are different. 73 00:03:49.138 --> 00:03:51.638 You don't hear the same things that you hear on the surface. 74 00:03:51.638 --> 00:03:53.464 You don't smell the same smells. 75 00:03:53.464 --> 00:03:57.688 You don't feel the wind on your skin in the same way. 76 00:03:57.688 --> 00:04:00.539 And so, you don't see the same way, because you're 77 00:04:00.539 --> 00:04:03.191 restricted to the light that you have with you. 78 00:04:03.191 --> 00:04:07.654 And so, this really is like entering an alien world. 79 00:04:07.654 --> 00:04:10.701 It's like going on an expedition to another planet. 80 00:04:10.701 --> 00:04:15.017 And so, for training people to experience that 81 00:04:15.017 --> 00:04:18.855 as a preparation for operations in extreme 82 00:04:18.855 --> 00:04:21.450 environments and outer space environments, 83 00:04:21.450 --> 00:04:24.113 it's an invaluable analog, and we have used 84 00:04:24.113 --> 00:04:26.682 that in many different contexts. 85 00:04:26.682 --> 00:04:29.121 And so, I recommend it as an experience 86 00:04:29.121 --> 00:04:32.038 that all people who are aspiring to 87 00:04:33.353 --> 00:04:35.808 go into space or do other very 88 00:04:35.808 --> 00:04:38.322 difficult tasks would benefit from. 89 00:04:38.322 --> 00:04:41.108 (drum roll) 90 00:04:41.108 --> 00:04:42.872 - I want to visit caves on other planets. 91 00:04:42.872 --> 00:04:46.015 - That would be amazing, but for now, there's a lot 92 00:04:46.015 --> 00:04:48.253 for us still to learn and discover in caves 93 00:04:48.253 --> 00:04:49.625 right here on Earth.