you're watching dw news from berlin up. next we've got a documentary film for you taking us on the deep dive into the world of aero plankton. and if you don't know what that is, state to terry martin, thanks for watching the ice cold plastic underneath an expedition ventures on to places that no one has the climate research in the ice, the tasks much touch on dw, the we live in a well surrounded by and take lance of gases and want to make up the on site must

be a shielding us from the deadly vacuum of space. and these lands on teeming with life insects seats, poland, and bacteria. floats in the atmosphere. similar to the tanks on the drink with ocean currents, the tiny organisms dancing in the wind, a cold arrow plank. and for several decades, ero biology is focused on these organisms. the pizza, branch of biology, that's long been under appreciated era biologists study the movement of life in the atmosphere, whether the tiny organisms in a cloud, the rain drop or in the cost of a desert wind. learning about these and born organisms is becoming increasing the relevant things to concerns about of bio diversity health and the climate.

understanding how they influence our lives and the global animal and plant weld is increasingly important. swelling all around us is a valuable and still launch. the mysterious ecology is to be full of discoveries just waiting to be discovered. the one that i place you on that to the one to, to receive up here. you have the feeling you're far away from everything for them to choose, but that's exactly the point we want to find out if there's life at this altitude and what type of news. if all of you either can when you have a book in there circling the subject on the wind is blowing at about 20 kilometers per hour on. so a particle travel is a remarkable tony kilometers per hour. sounds like you to minutes. let's click on see the yeah, i'm

a to at the institute of chemistry oakland mall fell in central. france wants to learn more about micro organisms in the atmosphere. today he's on this time it's up to predict them as an altitude of almost 1500 meters to setting up time. tom trump set the observatory traps on essentially vacuum cleaners. the capture dice. select the tiny apple and travelers when p i'm a to looks into the skies. he knows that anything but empty the atmosphere around this is bustling with life. to escape unless 5th, the under. so now almost everything in the atmosphere comes from the earth surface . okay, and so the mirror image of the ground best. we also know that most fits all very dynamic oxygen. that is moving and makes things some a long day off. today winds sweep over all of a surfaces staring apple types of particles, lifeless,

and living there. and feasible to the naked eye, but it constantly around us. these particles float up to 5000 meters high and reflect the different type of tents on the ground. the the aerosols, brian's about forests. they can contain leaf dunst, poland, moans, and bacteria. the see the volume, so phone, imagine junky, very excited when it's windy mixed together to form a clinical footprints of this forest the which spreads across the whole land. very so they'll have bone while some of the major cities as the over a meadow. there might be grass clippings, small insects, and minuscule traces of sheets for over

a highway. a cloud might form of tie of particles, we will, droplets, and fine dust, high altitude winds mix the air results, and transport them far away. the. this into mixing happens continuously as it does a variety of life forms in the arrow penton sweat to long body ad conference, the place data, boucher and manuela paula shay welk at the national research institute of agriculture, food and environment in the plan in west and farms they're collecting samples from based on the line structure positions in the middle of the fields. it's essentially a joint insect vacuum cleaner. there's a strong acid from the trap. the position in, uh,

i just met through it though. i've had things that come on in a good 12 meters high that on or 40 feet to be exact, because it's an english model. it was metal. in addition to which up to may, we don't want to use it to catch insects that fly 2 meters above the ground. the flood, rather oregon is that were swept into the air, goes and travel greater. it isn't quite the contrary, it is long since that that reveals more about the arrow pointing of the whole region for your website on this keyboard wants you to know some of the items on wednesday, who is very good. do the 0, even lifeline says he wrote, this is the nice weather amount of will take it to the land on the inside. so the laundry is don't in isms an arrow painted. and they can stay in the for a few hours or several days and float up to 1500 meters, depending on their size and the wind speed. the trap socks and everything. but

policies by agricultural scientists use the results to warn the fall. most of clouds of a fade, so the past the trap operates. oh yeah, around the clock. i don't like, this is really a lot to it's because it's a sunny day use going up. i mean, i'm m as in a say, okay, another one is hiding last guess. you know, one another. a beat leaf if it, the beatles and flies bugs. even spite is a tremendous variety of species play a role in the invisible ariel by swelling above us. the gum done medium uh, what about just as the account myself as an allergy and small presentations in the seat that 2 cubic meter of air above our heads contained so many different

organisms of that, that included support on your call and bacteria preventative, but also small insect spiders, i tell you it was easy to use on site design. you took all the organisms right. the wins like flying compet the and gives them a chance to be nourished, to reproduce. and to so find the we've known about the existence of arrow pointing to nearly 200 years,

which is naturalist charles darwin noted in his journal during his expedition to the galapagos in 18. 35. the spiders were entangled in the ships rigging many miles from shaw. and in the 2nd ta for the 19th century, french scientist louis past due proved through a series of experiments. the particles were continuously suspended in the yeah, he called them organized coal puzzles, as to is remembered, is one of the fathers of modern micro biology. tobacco sits and strikes meningitis around that time. scientists discover diseases could be caused by such and bacteria. a new branch of science was born and wrote biology. scientists began comparing measurements in the same amount of that $55000.00 bacteria were found in the bustling pollute as a by lee and parents. but any $7600.00 were found among the trees in

a box. in the swiss alps the hotel even advertised with assign the claimed only $25.00 bacteria. the then there was the work of legendary pilot charles lindbergh in the 19 searches he attached. and it the soup divines to his plane and then flew over the icy landscapes of northern canada, collecting a variety of fungal, expose, poland, and micro algae. the samples supported the pieces that living things can survive long distance and travel at high altitudes. but in the years that followed arrow biology descended into obscurity. the organism suspended in yeah, was somewhat forgotten, the bidding p things in satellite imagery,

we kindled interest in the late 20th century. a scientist discovered unbelievable amounts of suspended micro organisms. or she was so filled up for sale, so i love the way down to when you blow the dust off a piece of furniture, you see that it's carried away with the air flow. it's like that it's the same in the atmosphere. now. the mass of these particles is so small that once they're born, they stay there and follow the so i stay yes, feel, oh cool. now find small to lack researchers the inter continental transport of desert task. he says roughly 2000000000 tons of sewing or dust rise from the laundries deserts every year and circulate in the atmosphere. these gigantic tasks around swift scene via satellite images in the 19 ages. aero biologist spend realized the true extent of circulating aero pine tone.

no, but certainly i met you on, you know, i don't know just contains not only mineral matter, but in some cases also living organic material to and give you micro organisms such as bacteria, viruses and fungi, meals as soon as the dust is kicked out, it carries this array of living micro organisms to completely new place this, which will be the, it's easy for a bacterium, fungal, small all virus to attach to a tiny speck of dust and take flight. the pretended winds does upgrades of sand blasting of tiny granules of clay on impact tons of dust and micro organisms sucked into boom and columns, reaching a height of 3 to 4 kilometers the hold up

a wall street. and we can track this dust over long distances. also the supers you satellite images can help visualize the formation of such a cloud over this. the hard as that within several hours. the cloud grows and starts moving to the area. i will say, don't, don't, i'll fast forward, there's will pre tunnel what goes set to goals mazda pursue days later. you can see these huge dustin masses reaching the atlantic ocean here. this was a few days later, they're already over western france. it will cuz they'll likely to send over the british ios or even scandinavia, a precaution was showing us coordinated ex, weather conditions high and low pressure areas. boom and cold and current. cold the dumpster rooms in or blew them away. they foam and highways, but circle the, the

kilometer. if the task cloud can cross the atlantic within a week, the, the atmosphere is a true transpose, a of like the book to do that. yeah. and that's a matter contains chemical elements. and in some instances, nutrients, the touch police desert does transports help balance eco systems on the earth surface. these ecosystem, this officer at the tiny organisms in arrow, pine tone travel incredibly long distance is that high altitudes. but how do they travel and how do they affect the ground?

the countless micro organisms eventually touch down somewhere on us of the body. the immediate cause of manual is in catalonia and researching what is known as micro bill deposition and its connections to climate change. he's working on a major study of micro organisms in the atmosphere and almost with a key science by his research is in the spanish baronies the to see the just see the coming from out of the 2 dimensions of the metal.

we're at an altitude of over 2000 meters, where there's little interference from local air pollution. i'm using pizza. we want to capture micro organisms that spread in the atmosphere and travel from continent to cutting it gas in the office. instead of going through them done a lot more so that you'll be going to do this on. we gathered rainwater in a collector for one week and the sample includes micro organisms and small particles request. we collect these in a filter and bring it to the land and i, you're the one of them which, which, which, which, which, which the most part people us get the most i can hear. you can see the particle. so like, you know, what's not, that's part of the water is clear again, because all the particles got stuck in our filter and was talking to a lot of people that sort of that because there are organic particles like bacteria . it fund guy holland. and it was on the but also in organic ones like clay

silicates and minerals that come from far away is almost because he's been in for another. and with us, what are some of those take us about a year and could be just from africa, for example, the 3rd, which was transported them yet most viewed system was washed out by the rain and the light. that's what we're capturing here. the water is probably really, there are thousands of millions of micro organisms in this building immediately means it's in the unit in griffin. these these continuous deliveries of micro organisms are a natural process that if a cod throughout us history once the particles land again, the tiny travelers have a significant impact on eco systems. some bacteria and help boost pond gross. by attaching to them and pulling nitrogen from the others, penetrate the soil and recycled data. organic manta viruses, and microscopic moans,

regulate animal and plant life. so let me throw and these will stick one ok. and when these micro organisms land in, they can colonize new habitat and we went to the states an excellent dispersal system for bacteria that i'm be allowing them to colonize the entire planet. they're small, reactive biological entities that land in a distant planet is whatever and create new life. even be some of this already of somebody that'll be the media. cast them i, yours team started micro organisms in rain want to the is and with the help of weather data trace, the arrow pine comes pathways. the scientists were able to show which region ocean all continent, the streams of arrow pine come came from and they discovered some remarkable patterns of the in the summer arrow plant on tends to

be local. it rises from the farmlands of spain and northern europe. above the city is rivers and lakes. but in the winter, the major streams of arrow pine to him come primarily from the atlantic ocean, bacteria and viruses cross the ocean within 3 days and to send over the mountains. already had left the middle resort that it was going to be un, might you better? when we analyze the initial results of storm xavier and june, we noticed trends that recur annually. this was an amazing discovery. how is it possible that the st micro organisms appear at the same time every year? i see those up, but it's gonna be moving. we know they travel over the sea or emerge from the nature. here are some plants growing. the spring of this growing the summer months and the cycles are mirrored in the atmosphere. so used to speak last time, you know, quarter and, and i'm with of the streams of arrow pine cones, a not some random mix of species drifting with no rhyme or reason. the microbial

mazda is the rise and settle at the own cycles and seasons, just like bands, flowers, and bumble bee, the but given that it is the transpose of life, the atmosphere kind of also poses a threat. among the multitude of microbes circling the skies a some to um say that humans can microscopic ero, painted, and make us sick. the on the flip flop. yes. smooth bobby 234. used to talk about my as a medic. explanations when it came to airborne diseases. also the prevention wasn't possible back then. the method of transmission wasn't really unknown because that meant that all human afflictions, but generally attributed to the environment. you know, some of the, the failed to submit this real nice old notion of

a noxious atmosphere that makes people sick, has some truth to it. we now know that all microbes and viruses floating into yeah, which can infect humans, animals and plants. but flu and foot and mouth disease can spread from bomb to bomb . with the help of the wind over several kilometers, adapt condition is can release legionella which causes potentially fatal pneumonia . the many fungal spawns that enter the atmosphere before settling in the soil. a microscopic taking time, bombs, the shopping. you visited, the visual, put those in a symbol. there are some pretty dangerous pathogenic, fun guy. the to the hospitals are mindful of this because when soil in sand and

move during construction workers and their adverse wins, this is ask for deal a sports and other harmful molds can enter clinics and cause epidemic loading, unloading for you. what is it to them? you don't need to be sees of the genus as for dealers are found everywhere. you're including in the atmosphere acute or if they appear in large amount. they're dangerous to him. you know, compromise that the gross, you know, the degree of what we keep switching to manage the science as shown. pathogens can spread of a medium distances droplet infection of a very short distance is of up to one meter, such as the influenza virus or the virus that causes cobit 19 is also being proven . the font that isn't solid evidence to show that transmission happens over a long distances of several 100 kilometers. the

reason for them to those few pathogens dangerous to humans can travel very long distance is such as you don't have. the corona virus was studied in the laboratory, but it's vulnerability and it turned out it's very sensitive to alex to yeah. a cause. does uv radiation and dryness quickly kill and render a virus harmless when it's suspended in the air outside optimal vapor tree? if i didn't think of the atmosphere is even more dangerous, but viruses than insect only one in a 1000000 microbes survives. it's flight c by google. cool and hold on to the activity. but there's a large numbers of bacteria and seemingly with some pathogens are not get a cause for concern because they're mostly dead. the only most we're talking about traces of genetic material. so spiral bacterial occurs acidic, but not live viruses. this is the lives of people. the men say, look, yeah,

it's very rare for individual viruses or bacteria to make you sick a lot. it takes a substantial viral load to become infected because luckily i bodies have strong defense and most likely to always low level who follows the organs immune systems. vigilant napa, the last most infectious diseases today transmitted via a different kind of and pump the way through our planes. passengers on board spread micro organisms all over the planet. in spring time, poland takes its turn on this giant and carousel pollen grains produced themselves . they often travel far and wide, and reproduce with the female gummy of other trees. this is beneficial to many living beings. the

little med johnny, the poland grains can break, releasing irritants that make poland allergy is a widespread problem. of the, at the university of little in france, you called all visa and now the usual on studying poland. they've captured from the yeah. they're examining whether poland grains breakout more easily when they encounter at pollutants. and this guy that i knew before. let me adjust this the live. what else did they put on the x to is

this, this poland has truly exploded on the national to credit. they know this is the sample from the books pulled and see if they could help cause that's where you can pull the polling this practice. and just to say, well, what is it and stuff? it's so mock long that it's deflated the, their protective membrane is really shredded. if they're how long they should get this, of the weather and for the next week to see if it's near, we see the broken poland, if which lost its original reproductive function. you can also see the release of the small particles, which are dangerous for people with as minus. that's it. for the like, walker sits immeasurable because i'm truly confident that, of course, not all pollen greens in the atmosphere are shown here has to mole. our job is to count them to cool. what's the percentage of damage, grand design, explore, and are they harmful to how it's curious because they seem to the to,

for us on the date the researchers want to better understand what happens between a paul and grain and a pollutant in the atmosphere. so that recreating this interaction in the power train, the appalling is intentionally damaged when it fits so feeling about follow confidence . interval rules are fallen, must suffer. this is the revenge of people with allergies. if i start with a stream of ozone that arrives here, and then i drop the falling into outlook into this makes the ozone molecules react with the surface of the fallen gram. but that's what interests me in this experimental physics dials. what was the buffer bundles and movie it was on? sometimes we talk about good and bad. oh, so i was fed the o zone in the upper atmosphere protects us from certain ultraviolet rays if you and does, therefore in good assistance, you may have found that like ground level. oh, so it's in the lower layers of air where we live, which is a pollutant location expose and we'll put in a while now expose the pole into

a slightly higher dose of ozone. it's equivalent to a peak exposure that happens in the summer time when there's a lot of air pollution as the bodies he subjects the polluted poland to a series of test. an intact pollen grain cannot enter longs, it's too large and is stopped by on nasal has. however, if the grain breaks it releases particles containing allergenic proteins. these can enter the broan, kill tubes and trick outages. all asthma the researchers are subjecting the pollen to the kinds of stress by experience out in the wild. one example these rain, which typically causes the grains to explode. this problem that's purposefully polluted in the lab rupture more easily and want to unhealthy poland. now the show assessors how much of the poland is damaged. ringback

the want you to introduce followed by a mechanical shock test. pulling that swept up by the wind, can collide with buildings and windshields, especially incentives, and then what happens? you cannot visa, sense healthy and polluted poland, crashing against the surface in a pond to go measuring device. then he calculates the number of grains that have been ruptured sold to lot 40 show their, their fish found that air pollution week into the pollen grain. so it's making it pro interruption, palm and today is more likely to trigger asthma attacks is because it breaks more easily in the atmosphere. present the suggested goal at seeing measurement with us little bits that effects our footprint on a micro scale future. clark law, i think our human activities have altered and polluted everything, even on small scale. so what do we use as a share of actually on the topic was that cling onto all the not released

from human activities. so deposit goals are released from com traffic, and oxide is inc. and manganese particles are released through industrial processes scientists. so just beginning to understand the significance of arrow plant on to of the systems and its inhabitants. and all the while schumann continue to pollute the must be in the book. we do compete to force, you know, tomorrow we burn lots of fossil fuels for transportation. proceed. do it for industry to, to discuss the food, a sofa sort of, to ality for to i today, large buyers can be seen from space, for example, and also a functional, this is all new c o nice, you know, manage will do for us to buy or is there a common phenomenon triggered by global warming always who walk you mentioned to,

to see call these fires or at least gas as an particles into the atmosphere across the sky is above us, inhospitable, where essentially burning down our planet as we burn, co oil and would the residential areas and daily activities generate huge amounts of particles and causes such as carbon dioxide, me say, and nitrogen oxides or the atmosphere as composition is radically changing. and that impacts aero plant on major and currents even at risk. and then the system that i most of the atmosphere ex circulation includes several car doors or flo highways that are influenced by low and high pressure areas. typical names they determine

the movement of air currents and because they didn't get any filters. but if i don't know, it's ok, we now know that this circulation could be changed by climate change in the month of july. the next few minutes be certain winds and currents that have been stable for hundreds or thousands of years can change. and the tendonitis wouldn't impact ecosystem for and how organisms or distribution plant at effect on a single, stainless, or least the knowledge of arrow biology is progressing. new research questions that constantly explode. scientists, as long as you know that micro organisms were passive during the journey through the atmosphere. the theory was that they effectively entered a sort of hyphenation by doing that time until returning to the ground mounted, it appears. some do manage to remain active. but walk in, they do in such a hostile surroundings. that's one of the questions p i'm

a to is exploring on the pleated on, you know, val, now was all the menu system. all know the new as of the cloudy weather today is great for cloud sampling. it's not yet freezing, but it almost feels like it don't call me it says, this is the nice big cloud that will give us lots of samples on us. come on, envelope enabled the of the at all. no thunder near the study. we're installing a droplet separator. it's essentially a cloud vacuum cleaner that we can use to collect the particle of these little cloud droplets better suspended in the air than yourself also, and only push them against the surface so that they trickle down. because then we can position a bile underneath and collect them till the party collected on the 2nd floor for this announced pounds of floating water

systems. the covers some 67 percent of the surface for ero paint. on clouts off an oasis, they're a source of water as well as food, things to plant debris in the water droplets. and when it rains, the arrow punk don't get a ride back down to the ground. so inventive isn't bacteria, ecommerce, for sake the doesn't, i want to know how bacteria lives in such a cloud. and i know you have huge amounts of droplets here. and there's roughly one bacterium in every $10000.00 over him is that curia may be isolated from each other . do they interact with each other? and if so, how, what does it like for them to be all alone? and are they all alone or all the all gathered in one droplets in the surrounding space is bigger than we think it's in the office on the cost. it also said welcome on a, i want to know how this life sustains itself because that's exactly what it does. it just lets us up to 50 percent of bacteria in

a cloud can be alive. they spend $3.00 to $10.00 days suspended in that, which means there's plenty of time for something to happen. like old living things area are constantly making different proteins to cling to adults to bond, to go to protect themselves from uv radiation or to produce digestive enzymes, researches, uh, looking at around one to to detect these tiny traces of life. it seems like the foundation is on and you guys are the call to new a as even some bacteria continue living in cloud. so you know, they absorb nutrients like carbon and nitrogen and sutrene that you see or do you also as a released c o 2 when they expire, the more that also molecules like sugars to better stick to surface. and she'll 1st don't, shep occlusal to the deluxe. hopefully i'll see, you know, there are many possible interactions on somebody pointed out between the micro

organism and its environment. the water droplets listed in the system the, the incredible diversity of bacteria and phone guy in p. i'm a toes experiments, reflects micro bills like in the pounds, but life in yeah is not easy. experts now believe that the atmosphere is not a habitat in the conventional sense wrap and so it remains a transit station, a tiny organisms the

some years ago. an astonishing discovery caused quietest among arrow biologists, a bacterium known to be abundant in nature, ending clowns was set to be capable of producing right. bio precipitation was coined to describe the rain making bacteria. a stunning revelation for people in the field of arrow biology, meteorology, and agricultural science. as a most all day in southern france, cindy morris is researching the curious ability of these bacteria. its name, sued them on us. so ring the ring. the can live on the surface of clubs and close disease. ok, the melodies,

jeremiah these by conductors are listen experiment to show you what this bacteria does to prolong. pro fair. are they pumped cindy morris spray the outer leaves the base while the light is with a solution containing the bacteria, the leaves in the middle. when not, then the plant was placed in a freezer at a temperature of minus 6 degrees for a few minutes. all was good. you can see a delta plot tissue that was the bacteria has frozen and then dried out this a shape but the tissue was out. the bacteria is in 1st, as all the pseudo minus the ring gay bands bonds by freezing them a gene in the bacterium makes a protein that can create ice crystals. it uses the crystals to destroy the palm samples and feed on them,

as it's believe the when found in counts these ice nucleation actors, bacteria speed up the formation of ice crystals which are essential for precipitation. it works in a test tube, at least from on say so on, on the coupon on barco shows that everyone knows you come prepared, the ice cube trays for a policy at the last minute because it takes time. okay, you need an excessive rates. it's a for used falls, so calculus shows key dose at to inside this to you. i have a suspension was bacteria. if the speed these 2 to minus 3 for malta, just give us, i'll show you what happens when i add some of it. is it just builds darrell, which is not like to but the low, low display stereo the

every way. as you can see, it's really the how does this phenomenon walk in the outside? well, is it possible for ice nucleation active bacteria to rise into the app from plants make contact with a cloud? and to activate this gene to phone range from the fire? precipitation seems promising. scientists are gaining

a better understanding of how the founded sacraments. they are connected through the rain cycle and micro organisms like suit amount us the ring gay on that they measure heat. su jeff measurements suggest that they can drive requirements rainy cycles, depend that rain today will affect the rain full of the future cost through interaction natural between then class will be out. it's a plot i'm micro organisms are using 5 y and they say it's most about the amount of right. yeah, these 2 top, the frequency of rain say posits are like quantity to pick. you told me so that's like whole space and then a small frequent rainfall with the help of plans that provide the right bacteria to the atmosphere. cindy morris is part of an international team of researchers who are imagining a new phone that's accurate account. yeah. they envision growing ponds. b shoes in special fields designed to encourage the growth of ice nucleation active bacteria.

perhaps one day, the special ero pants on organisms could even find droughts in certain areas. that's just one idea of how we could transform the weld. if we pay more attention to these mysterious organisms in the yeah, the

the answer is the conflict zone with the best in here as the munich security conference i sent to you in security, i'm confident providing the politicians. alexa, so how's the world reach the dangerous inflection point? my guess is we have the 2nd live experience of the highest levels in the us. nancy pelosi was covered in 30 minutes on the w to the points. strong opinions,

clear positions, international perspective. with the nato alliance expanding into the high north and premises presidents mount cause thing, he can't rule outstanding ground troops. crane with get cold into direct conflict with russia. find out on to the point to the point in 90 minutes on d. w. the these places in europe stepped into a bold adventure the treasure map for modern globetrotters. describe it as some of us wriggled bragging sites on youtube and also into the

the, this is the w and it was coming to live from berlin to bands for an investigation into house scores of guys im just died trying to get access to age shipments, abbas blames is really troops reopening pire israel says most of the dead were trampled in the stem p. now the united nations wants to know exactly what happened . also coming up with strong police presence on the day, alex said, nevada, these funeral is rescheduled in moscow. supporters risk arrest as they gather to say farewell to the kremlin credit. and as around holds key elections, authorities have a fight, hold their hands,

getting voters to the ballot box. plus as.