most of the earth-- about 70% of the earth is the mantle. this is inaccessible except by seismic waves. occasionally, a piece of the mantle gets shoved up on top of the crust. everybody's familiar with the crust. that's what we live on. that's where we get our resources, but it's only a very thin scum on top of the mantle. even today, more than 4.5 billion years after the formation of the earth, there are two layers of the planet that remain molten or partially molten. the uppermost mantle beneath the crust has now solidified, but a zone beneath it several hundred kilometers thick approaches the temperature of melting. this is where the lava in most oceanic volcanoes comes from. the outer part of the earth's core is also still completely molten, but the inner core, although even hotter, remains solid. this is due to the fact that when rock melts, it expands. but at the center of the earth, the pressure of the 5,000 kilometers of overlying rock is so enormous that no expansion is possible, and as a result, the superheated iron cannot turn liq

we always see the sky from earth but we have never seen her with -- earth from the sky. his mission is to bring some emotion into that task and maybe make you cry when you see a map, which would be the ultimate resolution of those two conflicting things. next we have david mcconville. his passion is linking art, design, and it science and the pursuit -- to complete -- address global challenges. i would have to say his motto is -- he is co-founder of the illuminati design and engineering firm and its creative director of a collaboration of artists, scientists and educators using storytelling of dialogue around the community and science centers across the united states. finally we have kenji williams. he is an award winning film maker, a music producer, a theatrical show director and a classically trained violinist. he also is linking art and science. you can see a thing shaping up here. he has worked with -- green bay right let -- right brain left brain functions together. he has toward eight countries and reached 200,000 people in that person and about 6 million through

or rose on earth and came to mars. because of the dynamics of early solar system, it is easy to believe it started there and came here, rather than the other way around. or did life come and see both planets. that's if it had the same dn that we do. if it doesn't have the same dn a or is life or was life living now on mars, that's even more profound. that means that two little planets, right next to each other, independently formed life. and if that's true, then life by logical extension is probably ubiquitous throughout the universe. lots and lots of life everywhere. so big questions, some of which we may get the beginnings of the answers to from curiosity and from its precursor missions. the mars exploration rovers. spirit and opportunity. opportunity is still functioning onmars. those guys told us an awful lot about this water story. so the water story continues. >> okay. >> dave, we got a big night ahead of us. we o would like you to hang about us for the rest of the hour, maybe longer, as we keep a close eye on th

have ever been mined on earth. many of the most valuable metals that we have here are only accessible because of asteroids that have crashed into earth we're going to where those valuable resources live so a lot of our problems in energy and mineral resources can be solved by going out into space and bringing them back. we can also we've also already benefited from things like. you know telecommunications and things like x x m and sirius radio that allow information to get around the earth much better all right so it seems like there is a lot of possibilities out there what are the values and commercializing space exploration and making space travel available for regular people do you think it will make this mission more feasible i think a lot of the question needs to be i think part of your question needs to be turned on its head. if we're not doing this for the people what is the point. if we're not going into space so that most people can go so that this becomes a place that humanity can expand to. what is the p

settlement patterns, too, respond to earth's physical systems. when viewed from space, the limitations are glaring. foale: the vast area of the world can be described as one color, brown. mostly a brown desert. and that is the absolutely most striking thing about it, is you suddenly realize the places to live in the world are few and far between and we are already living there. we have found them, and that's where we've made our homes. so our living resources are actually quite limited in terms of space. narrator: take the case of egypt. it's larger than texas plus oklahoma, but 95% of its 65 million people live in the narrow ribbon of the nile river valley and its delta. astronauts saw this pattern graphically illuminated as they flew over at night. night views from space can tell us a lot, but not just about population density. they often reveal levels of economic development. i remember going over tokyo, and you could see the whole japanese island as if it had been drawn out on a map because they have put streetlights along every inch of their

it's just that the earth is curving under. let me give you a fact that a geography teacher can tell you about. if you go out 8 kilometers, that's 8,000 meters this way, you'll find out there is a five meter vertical drop. you will be 5 meters higher than you were over here. we live in a world that for every 8 kilometers you go out, tangent-wise, there's a 5 meter drop. that's all i'm saying. but that 5 meters turns out to be interesting, because we've learned something about 5 meters, gang, haven't we? what have we learned about 5 meters? let's suppose we take this laser, throw it away and we put a cannon, a cannon, newton's cannon. we'll put it right here and we fire a cannonball. is that cannonball gonna follow that straight, straight path? the answer begins with an n. hc? how come? because it's not beginning with a g. don't understand it very well but we have it a little bit together. what is it called? - gravity. - gravity. gravity is gonna pull which way, up or down? - down. - down. watch. let's suppose i fired the cannon

after earth fire, she could not get passed the fire. water follow it had ship and wind was able to go across and follow and find him. it was after many years that wind was able to find him. i'll read that last part. [inaudible] all living in the americas, i saw the taken shackled to the land from sun up to sun down working tobacco, sugar cane and rice. i listen to them tell stories different but strangely familiar. now prayer rabbit. i stopped by kitchens and watched our women with cook yams, rice, oh kra and beans. our children had not forgotten. and i rejoice, led by the sound of a black smith's hammer, i travel to charleston, south carolina, john shannon, black smith. a large european with red hair, comfortable. they were apprentices to all africans new and old, familiar yet fresh. i have sold another of your beautiful gape with the rice design, how did you learn to craft so well? a young man stepped into the light. i learned by reaching back with one hand and stretching forward with the other he said. people said you are a genius. m

know, we've always seen sort of the sky from earth but, you know, we've never seen earth from the sky except for that great blue marble picture from space. and his mission is to make -- to bring some emotion into that, that task and maybe make you cry when you see a map would be the ultimate resolution of those two conflicting thing next up, we have david mcconville. david is the president of the buckminster fuller institute, where his passion is linking art, design and science in the pursuit of -- to complete global -- to address global challenges. and i would have to say probably his motto is "it's the system, stupid." right? (laughter) mr. mcconville: fair enough, but -- ms. tischler: because that's what bucky was all about. david is also co-founder of the elumenati design and engineering firm and he's creative director of the worldviews network, which is a collaboration of artists, scientists and educators using storytelling, dialogue around the -- around community resilience in science centers across the united states. finally, we have kenji williams. kenji is a founder and direc

does that benefit -- is that of benefit to us humans here on this earth today? i would like to think it is. you can go deeper, but let me get a little more philosophical. curiosity is the essence of human existence. who are we? where are we? where do we come from? where are we going? is mars' like us -- is mars' like earth? what does mars look like? i don't know. i don't have the answers to those questions. but i want to find out. it is in our hearts and souls, the desire to find out and seek knowledge. discovery is what it is all about. yes, we have been there, but we have not been everywhere. there is a bottom to the ocean. you can walk to the top of the highest mountain on this planet and you can walk to the depths of the deepest ocean, but you are still on earth. and there is a difference between the frontier of space, to seek knowledge. is their life on mars? i know there have to be other reasons to go. that that alone is not enough. but that is one of the driving thinks. is our destiny, i believe, to explore the unknown. god knows, for every answer we get,

the john meer institute and friends of the earth. and so, friends of the earth was about a year old at this time make inc. and chris, got after damon said, you've got to have a proper newspaper. there's plenty of news to report and there's a big hole and a good place for something like that in this movement. and dave thought that was a terrific idea and encouraged him. so about a week later maybe you're too, david never said anything about this too many of us back in office. they were all three people very think. and so i'm sitting at the desk and this kid walks in the front door and says hi, i'm chris condon and dave are our has started me to start a newspaper her for news of the earth and i just rented space at "rolling stone." can you give me a check for $5000? [laughter] and i said no. i don't have any checks. i don't know you from adam. if i had $5000 i would give it to you anyway. dave would come and give us $100 so we could go buy stationery and pens once in a while. so in the end though, this got a fire lit under everybody an

what you walk in is a dripping tunnel the first that goes deep into the earth. the only light is what you're wearing in your head. if you can avoid falling in the puddles and you stop hitting yourself in the head, and you convince you're not nervous you notice your surroundings. you notice you're walking on a train track. >> there's general accidents associated with any kind of heavy construction job. but everybody here knows it's so dangerous we take lot of steps necessary to be careful with explosives or with just communication with each other so everybody knows what the other person is doing. >> reporter: and that train that i worried about, well just as we got to an intersection here came one. >> hey, frank. >> just two more. >> the train packing a load of rocks headed down the passage we had just walked through. mike assured us nobody gets hit by trains here. a luxury elevator arrived which we were told would carry us to another tunnel 1,050 0e 1,050 -- 1,500 feet. >> we tag it all day, and at the end of the day we know who's left in the mine and for some r

in university they don't teach you that the earth has eyes but the farmers know the earth has eyes you know and through its eyes the earth sees and cries if you take care of it it's happy and if you destroy it your earth cries we set out to convert the poor of us with them and we ended up being converted the farmers have worshiped the mountains for centuries the mountains provide water and water is life. but newcomers have arrived from a different world for them mountains are gone and gold this money. we. really believe you know discovered circulation some number of years ago. it's true it's a good deposit we've always been here both before and even to give the maximum upside to our investors in a rising gold market every ten dollar movement in the in the price of gold. increases to go on. increases our cash flow by about fifty million dollars increases our earnings by about thirty million dollars. the miners have already destroyed several mountains their next project is mt keeley's but the farmers to stop them. think that if. that's what. the farmers flock the only road to the mine to

the distance between planet earth and planet mars. curiosity is now beaming amazing photos back to earth of the martian landscape. >> it just looks a lot like what you see out in the mojave desert. it's really cool, sought kind of makes you feel at home. what's going to be interesting is to find out all the ways that it's different. >> curiosity will explore rock and martian soil searching for whether life ever existed on mars. the rover will dig for none other than the building blocks of life. carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorous, sulfur. the jet propulsion laboratory team at nasa came up with the idea and then the reality that landed curiosity. engineer adam stelzner led the nasa team. >> curiosity being on the surface of mars is something that could only have been done in the usa. the ingenuity, the practicality, all of those things wrapped together are what's necessary to do a huge engineering feat like this. >> question. besides possibly finding evidence of life on mars, a scientific breakthrough, can this mission yiel

the reason we don't have realtime is it takes 14 minutes for the signal to get from mars to the earth at the speed of light. >> stephen: it happens and 14 minutes later we know what happened on mars. actually faster than nbc can tell us what is happening in london. [cheers and applause] wow, impressive. is there any chance it's going to run into the opportunity rover up there? because opportunity is up there still alive, snriet. >> yes. >> stephen: and i imagine very lonely. >> it may be. >> stephen: that brings up an interesting question -- >> that brings up an interesting question. i'm going to make a bold prediction it will discover absolutely nothing. it will rove around for two years drilling into the rocks ann curry liesing if there was life or mars or organic material but it's not going to discover anything. >> stephen: well, thank you so much for joining us. >> but the scientists on earth are going to discover incredible things. it's going to be two years of amazing science. >> stephen: the robot will get information it won't make the connection. >> yes. >> stephen: you scared

no one on earth will be able to see the curiosity rover on the descent thousands expected to get the first signals weather is survives or fails among them mission participant chris mckay >>> all watch the clock at 1031 if the mission land successfully a big sigh of relief and years of exploration on mars >>> the rover have to survive the heat and a complicated loring on cables from the spaceship >>> the possibility will find a different type of life than on earth would i call second genesis >>> it will scoop up march rock and soil and analyze it with a spectrometer >>> we know mars had water we should be on the track of what stuff it of what live is made from and that is organics >>> he'll push it will better understand life on earth >>> we can then compare life forms and see what earthlings and martians and soda speak are different >>> by making that comparison will learn more about life than just getting out is on earth >>> the two and a half billion dollar mission is risky >>> we had to try six times before we got to the moon and three years later we had footprints of neil armstro

>> today on earth focus excerpts from the 2011 environmental film festival in the nation's capital, texas oilmen on the truth behind the oil industry, the downside of wind turbines, and an irish community torn apart by conflict over a gas pipeline. miles benson speaks with the filmmakers who explore the drama behind our relentless quest for energy. coming up on earth focus >> it was a great festival >> one of the problems is there are too many good films at the same time >> we brought over 200 students, all freshman who are ready to help in public policy and to help our environment & the earth and this is one of the things we're doing for that. >> these are good ideas because they are really informative, educational, well done, entertaining and most of them are free. >> 2011 is a record year for the annual environment film fest in the nation's capital. over a 12 day period in mid-march, more than 30,000 film-goers participated in the event the largest number ever in the festival's 19 year history >> we really hope to bring the highest quality films out there that are about the environment

. >>> no one on earth will see the curiosity rover on his descent to mars thousands expected at nasa ames to get the first signals telling whether it survives or fail. among them chris mckay >>> all the watching the clock if this land successfully in a big sigh of relief, and then years of exploration on mars. >>> the new curiosity will have to survive heat and complications of being lowered from the ship. >>> there's a possibility will find a different kind of life than on earth a second genesis >>> the reliever will scoot but rock and soil and analyze and with a spectrometer chisholm when a march that water and had the habit that we should be on track to see what life is made of that is organics >>> he hopes to study and a life on mars will help us understand life on earth >>> if we can find that we can compare life forms >>> and see what earthlings and marcion's soda speak to similarly >>> we might learn more about life than we ever will then just getting on earth. >>> the two and a half billion dollar mission is risky >>> three years later we had footprints of neil armstrong on t

return one of them, any one of them, to the earth and look. such foolish skipping, such telling of bad jokes, such feasting. even a cucumber, even a single anise seed, feasting. and, last poem, foolish of me and yet optimism. the title is only optimism. the other part was a preface. more and more, i have come to admire resilience, not the simple resistance of a pillow whose foam returns over and over to the same shape, but the sinuous tenacity of a tree finding the light newly blocked on one side, it turns in another. a blind intelligence, true, but out of such persistence arose turtles, rivers, mitochondria, figs, all this resinous, unretractable, earth. the next reader is summer brenner. . >> i'm going it read today an excerpt from anana, queen of heaven and earth. i wanted to say a few words about anana. this is the oldest literary work that we have. these are the cuniform tablets that were excavated in the late 1880's and early 1890's by the university of pennsylvania. tens of thousands of fragments of cuniform fragments. the story of anan

friends of the earth was earth was about a year old by the time this happened, i think, and chris common.after david said you have to have a proper newspaper. there's plenty of news to report, and there is a big hole in a good place for something like that in this movement. and they thought that was a terrific idea. and he encouraged them. until about a week later or two, david never said anything about the patent office. there were only three people there, i think. and so i am sitting at the desk and this kid walks in the front door and says hello, i'm chris common and they broward has hired me to start a newspaper for friends of the earth. and i have just spoke with rolling stone and can give me a check for $5000. and i said no. >> i don't have any checks. i don't know you from adam, if i had $5000, i wouldn't give it to you anyway. we were living hand to mouth. we would buy stationery and pens once in a while. so in the end, this got a fire lit under everybody. and we started this paper within a couple of months, and we did it within the office to deal with rolling stone or whatever that mi

they were focusing on an earth orbiting manned labratory.nly much later did we learn that they had, in fact -- did have a lunar landing program and theirs was a cover story for the failures of their gigantic lunar rocket. the space race faded away. it was the ultimate peaceful competition. u.s.a. versus u.s.s.r. i'll not assert that it was a diversion that prevented the war. nonetheless, it was a diversion. it was intense and it did allow both sides to take the high road with the objectives of science and learning and exploration. eventually, it provided a mechanism for engendering cooperation between former adversaries. in that sense, among others, it was an exceptional national investment for both sides. so i close remembering goddard, governance, and geophysics. the american, robert goddard, invented the liquid propellant rocket, germany used his technology to develop a large strategic weapon, the governance competition between superpowers resulted in the military development of very high performance rockets, a scientific program in geoph

the john mayer institute and friends of the earth.and so, friends of the earth was about a year old at this time i think. and chris condon, and got after dave inside, you have to have a proper newspaper. you know, there's plenty of news cheroot port and they said they'd call and a good base for something like that in this movement. and dave thought that was a terrific idea and encouraged him. and so about a week later maybe or two, david never said anything about this to us in the office. they were all but three people in the office i think then. so i am sitting at the desk and this kid walks in the front door and says hi, i am chris condon and dave brower is heard me to start a newspaper for friends at the earth and it just rented the space it "rolling stone." can you give me a check for $5000? and i said no, i don't have any checks. i don't know you from adam. if i had $5000 i wouldn't give it to you anyway. we were living hand to mouth. david givens money so we could buy stationery and pens once in a while. so in the end though, th

parcel along the surface of the earth. you have solar cells and then mills, biofuels all the systems waste which is -- which was important which is the surface of the earth will ignoring almost infinite to have an open intros of energy below the surface of the earth that can be reached with a very small footprint on the earth's of usable land. >> what is altruism and have is that fit into capitalism? >> altruism is an orientation toward the needs of others. i believe capitalism is intrinsically altruistic. capitalism is based on making investments without any assurance that others will respond to them. capital investments only work if they're respond imaginatively to the needs of others, and that's why i think capitalism is intrinsically altruistic. socialism, believe, is intensively based on greed. as by an invisible hand to an ever growing welfare state because the truly greedy person, then get a washington to get guarantees for the investments. guaranteed investments of the definition of socialism. the socialists and tr

below the surface of the earth that can be reached with a very small footprint on the earth's usable land. >> george gilder, what is all tourism and how does that fit into a capitalist system? >> it is an orientation towards the needs of others. and i believe capitalism is intrinsically altruistic. that is to say that capitalism is based on making investments without any assurance that others will respond to them. capitalist investments only work if they respond imaginatively to the needs of others, and that is why i think capitalism is intrinsically altruistic, while socialism is, i believe, intrinsically based on greed. maybe the greed for power. but i believe that real greed leaves an invisible hand to an ever-growing welfare state. because the truly greedy person at goldman sachs goes to washington to get guarantees for the investments. and guaranteed investments are the definition of socialism. socialism tries to guarantee the work of things, rather than the rights to do things. the property rights are capital strides, but you don't have any right to a guarantee of the actual in

earth art and cheese. l. and -- chinese opera and alfred hitchcock, walt whitman and whole hog cooking. what we do is sleep here things according to how they sound good next to each other and that sounded great. tequila and dark energy in the universe. [laughter] so you start to get what happens, your mind immediately makes the connection doesn't it? soul food and existentialism. prairie dogs and gertrude stein. and then the one which of course is obvious, marxism and kittens, kittens, kittens. now the point of all of this is that the mind naturally follows existing patterns when thinking about any subject. think about where you want to go to dinner on an average day and your mind will always go to the same places that it always goes to. you have got to check the mind to get to something new. by forcing the mind to make a connection with indifferent rounds it fosters new patterns of ranking bringing us out of the old patterns. which is why salman rushdie says a bit of this and a bit of that is how the newness

the new born grass trampled beneath the earth. no one else should die here. there was a flash, no, 2 secrets locked in a fire ball. the shift of wind the sudden weight of blue heat formless days worn past, changed since the coming of endless night. >> and my last poem -- speaks to world events. and now i'm also thinking about the atrocities in berma. called the world i leave you. once there were 2 towers then there were none. i searched among the rubble for bones of men. what kind of world i leave you, what's human left of race? what more can i give you to resurrect your faith? smiles, i give and laughter like rain, flakes of snow that gently splay against the window pain. light transformed to rainbow, sweat om