And we had to fire back where humbert studied Mining Technology now researchers there are working on new ways of extracting metals. Out of the way. He wanted to see the world in its entirety at a time in european saw themselves as a period to other peoples and cultures aleksandr from home but sort of personal contact his famous expedition to the americas reveal to him how everything was connected multifaceted scientist exploring humanist combat is considered one of the last minute men. Alexander from home boy who was born in berlin at 769 growing up in a palace outside the city he was fascinated by rocks plants and insects from an early age after attending university. And working as a government mine inspector he set off for the americas in 799 it was a dream come true for a naturalist for 4 months we slept in the forests so rounded by crocodiles boas and jackie was eating nothing more than rice ants manioc and on occasion monkeys he wrote of the hardships and excitement of his expedition he returned after 5 years with a wealth of measurement data and botanical and geological specimens. Vulcanology zoology ethnology just 3 of the Many Research areas to which he made important contributions. Was celebrated in his lifetime he died in 859 in berlin his legacy is preserved in his great multivolume work cosmos a comprehensive treaties on science and nature. How relevant is humbug today. To find out our reporter Christiana Coleman headed out with a team to follow the route of her mothers expedition in south america. The trip took them to ecuador peru and colombia. In part one they climbed chimborazo an active volcano that is as much a challenge today as it was in a months time. 4000 meters above sea level on the north face of chimborazo the legendary volcano that an 1802. 00 proved an insurmountable challenge for alexandre. Mountain guide garcia wants to take us to the summit. Our team is struggling with the thin air at this altitude and we still have hours of ascent to head of us were following the route taken 2 centuries ago by the famous explorer and naturalist. And really question about timing and im really passionate about being in one thing so of course 200 years ago if someone as i write here and discovered these area and the like of course you fall in love with a lead in one thing. They can see how missionary he was thinking how he can get to the top if you imagine he didnt know how high eightys and just feel enough to go up and fight the measure the mountain and try to be enough. For. As we follow in the footsteps of onyx on the phone home board our expedition will take us halfway across south america. Our journey begins here in ecuador and one of the worlds highest capital cities. Quito was the window on the heavens he and his companions set up a base in a Spanish Colonial town their objective to explore the region and document everything they encountered along the way. The basement of ecuadors National Archives houses the priceless findings of their research trip. The maps correspondence and drawings produced by on board and stored here amount to over 4000 pages. Historian and home board expert is it going to be no youngness has examined all the documents. In the women the important thing is that both of the get one enormously important item is the passport issued to him but later that by the Spanish Government on may 7th mean 799 he is important but that game was for him to quote continue studying them i see and may collect sensitive observations and discover it was useful for the advancement of the Natural Sciences but it is so the less he said that without. The passport gave him board license to roam as he pleased through spains colonial territories an extraordinary privilege for the time and one that he made maximum use of. In the space of 5 years he traveled from venezuela to cuba colombia ecuador and peru then on to mexico exploring collecting and measuring everything he came across. From boats holistic approach to research combined precise data gathering with personal observations made during his journey he bridged the boundaries of scientific disciplines. Came to the americas to understand how all the forces of nature are intertwined and interconnected he was accompanied on his mission by his friend the botanist and may bump wrong the 2 men were on by jim but also the an active volcano in which at the time was considered the worlds highest mountain. Resolved to reach it some and. I thin old man up with him go up the mountain thats not something people do here normally at most maybe bring out luggage for visitors but no one goes up the mountain of their own accord was. I as a savior of him what i thought. When chimborazo cant be climbed by anyone who is bad or has failing. Or. Incredible not where it will be it can only be inclined to fight people who are healthy when commuter who are well fed and who are on good terms with the lord he will say yes if youve done something bad in your life you wont make it work you know if you try you end up in line to your own crazy good or dead horse or. Thats. Still determined to climb the colossus towering 6300 meters above sea level it was long considered. Climbers from across the world. Scored by latin americas 1st internationally licensed female. I remember one. And less. And i. Think youll. Just need to trust yourself listen. To. My heart to be fashionable. And because of that. I can inspire people to do the same. I never thought that im going to became the fares on the make up and be like that but now is part of me. A respect for scientific curiosity grows is where you approach the glacier its our 1st time with this kind of altitude. As we continue our ascent so we can also see distinct changes in the vegetation. Where. They stand now you can see. But theyre disappearing as soon as we go high up the glaciers near so just some plants can survive here now many few meters from down below to 300 meters is a big change. Is going to be in the next 100 meters and so is that the sergt. In these area b. Cannot survive these on and off oxygen for them to be alive here. The trek from quito up jim but also was home bought road like a botanical journey from the equator to the poles down in the valleys he saw tropical plants and further up the mountain vegetation similar to that in Northern Europe as the explorer looked down on the mountain ranges below him he perceived the world with different eyes. Later on board painter the now famous crosssection of chimborazo illustrating the different vegetation and climate zones it demonstrated the relationship between plant life and altitude and climate and patterns repeated across the planet the chimborazo map was a striking illustration of the complex interconnectedness of the natural world. And bolt was forced to abandon his expedition a few 100 meters short of the summit of chin but also his way blocked by an impassable ravine. But he had climbed higher than anyone before him and his world fame was guaranteed. Lets take a closer look at homeless generosity and that also known as the tabloid physique the diagram contains data of great interest to modern day reset his own climate and ecology. But now a team of scientists has found some discrepancies in the data we talked on skype with French Research it. Was currently on an expedition in ecuador and i asked him why hes so interested in the tablet physique. Working with colleagues. On. Climate change on High Altitude organisms. We soon realized it was. Should gets as old information as we care so historical old information we can call bear with a current was issued of organisms and of course in tropical regions we have both furious total rickles and who is one of the most important potential sources of information for thats going of historical records. Thats again there with his colleagues he found that some of him dots information about the altitude at which set some plans for granting was inconsistent. Plus another area didnt notice but we also realize that is that most of his observation about her did use but adjacent did not going from the chimborazo but from another monday in god and discern he was completely aware of that of course so the damage is it is not a say entity documents perfect that can be used by models they are just for new results its a very important. Documents for the history of science. This is a small painfully humble to canton 18 how to model a steam rediscovered it on one of their trips on timbits expedition still a source of inspiration yet of course its very inspiring and we had a description or how he climbed on the. He gets almost i saw snow blind he didnt have a. Good good protection of the eyes its a dirty job to say once you are so where he suffered a storm and the reason why he could not observe the education higher that you did. Is because there he was he suffered a stroke just during his time so of course and not to say about. Clothes where his clothes was not adapted to to carry a month or so of course a very pressing strength to do so such a long explanation its not a one in a sense to among. Several models explanation so of course its a mode. For more Fascinating Research results and expeditions go turn websites or funnel as on twitter and facebook and to check out our special birthday web page full of stories related to an extended from home by. Numerous species of plants and animals have been named after oleksandr fun but they range from penguins. To screw monkeys. And that and speaking of that if youre encountering sentinel questions about a special thing they do. Why do bats upside down. In fact they spend most of their time hanging with their heads pointing down even for months at a time when they hibernate. Nobody really knows how they evolve to do it. But that they do it has distinct advantages as research has demonstrated. Critical hanging from rafters or branches means they dont have to compete with other species for a place to sleep far from the ground theyre less vulnerable to predators. And if they do sense danger and they can make a quick getaway. Drop them flap and off they go in fact most bats can take off directly from the ground. But is it healthy to hang your head for hours or months on end uncomfortable well bats dont seem to mind that their blood can come from feet to head and back to the heart without any problem. Their body weight closes their claws by mechanical action it has to do with the way their tendons are attached. That means they dont expend any energy in order to roost upside down and if they die in that position theyll just stay put. But their hind legs and feet are not well suited to walking let alone running. Spots also hanging downwards when they sleep the differences they took their head up against their chest. And as far as humans are concerned theres no evidence we can sleep upside down. Bats are the only creatures known to science to hang their heads so much. If you read why are. You. Do you have a science question that youve always wanted answered it were happy to help out and send it to us as a video text ovoid smell if we answer it on the show well send you a little surprise as a thank you card just ask. We like to ask you questions too and for this Humble Program we wanted to know what you associate with alexander from home but. We got a lot of answers from latin america where humbert continues to be popular. Elizabeth estrada notes that hobart is very famous for discovering the ocean current that bears his name. Diego maldonado points out that he was a great student of geography biodiversity and the anthropology of ecuador and he quotes some board as saying ecuadorians are strange and unique beings they sleep calmly amid smoking volcanoes live in poverty and incomparable riches and reach choice in sad music. Blunkers writes that she says its him with education and the books with his impressions of mexico and she says he was a great historian. The better pin the lino from mexico says humboldt represents the kind of german who loves the world of science and truth and is an outstanding source with the understanding of mexico. Better often visits an answer castle the volcano also known as nevada to toluca. Standing on the brim he thinks about how this one man could explore so many areas in such a profound manner god was the perfect scholar a citizen of the world who sought the ultimate fronting. And beyond and he concludes the true name of america want to be bought land thanks for writing. Many modern technologies require special metals these resources are not always easy to come by but without them wed have no Wind Turbines and no batteries. In fight back in eastern germany scientists are searching for new ways of extracting minerals and 1st theyre not going under the ground but high above it. These men are Treasure Hunters searching for valuable minerals. They are following in the footsteps of alex hunter from white. Bear homemade drones designed to fly with sophisticated equipment of birth upwards of 100000 euros. The aerial vehicle scans large areas with the devices like this megadeth terminator. It measures variations in the make let it field of the earth which helps to pinpoint Mineral Deposits without elaborate and costly drugs the worst in the. We want to encroach as little as possible on people surroundings and environment because we want to gain acceptance on the population. The sun and the other aspects or efficiency and safety hard. Drive ins unable to gather data rapidly without having to go there ourselves in. The data taken by the individual instruments are combined to give geologists an idea of the structure of the subsonic. Then they can guess where and which minerals they may find. This method would have freed alex on the one who bought it in his day it was almost impossible to find deposits hidden deep underground. Down most. New back then mines were only in places where orders had been found on the surface when people found them they pursued them for today thats not possible anymore because practically the entire surface of the earth has been studied and we have to go down deep. There are currently around 5000 new minerals and many of them are under splay here in freiburg ringback over the centuries theyve been brought to the surface by minus and by researches like. Studied at the new we found at Mining Academy in freiburg. It was the 1st university of its kind in the word and here homeboy learnt the state of the art Mining Technology of his time. Yes at the buddhists this humble this one of the mining academies most famous students he look for minerals not just here in freiburg but all over the world and there. That is now the minerals have to be separated from the surrounding rock. Ready ready in freiburg who voted learned the techniques for doing that. Much dilutes how to crush the rock for example by using stem cells to break down the rock from the or mountains all they needed were methods for separating the larger pieces. That made it possible to extract silver iron and. But mina its like germanium indium and during our earth are a different story today we need them for when turbines electric car batteries and so. These elements are generally either not very abundant are not concentrated in deposits martin who drove studies how to recover these minerals from crushed rock. Using water and a number of chemicals that were frothy bafta is prepared for the minerals. Ideally the desired mineral particles will need to guess bubbles and rice to the surface. There they can be skimmed off layer by layer. The problem is this socalled flotation technique is not environmentally friendly in part because of the flotation reagents. One strategy and making the production more eco friendly focuses on the chemicals we have to Research Projects that are trying to replace the chemicals by biological agents that is we use microorganisms send their diverse interaction with the materials to get tailor made reagents from these microorganisms in the quarters ones who are designed not to release are produced naturally and are more ecologically compatible and now can help reduce the need for harmful some static reagents you deserve. Martin we would also like to reduce the amount of water at least for the purposes you would force them and of course in my research the dream would be to no longer use flotation but to find a separation process that works in the dry state so we dont have the water problem thats something were working on. Making flirtation more environmentally friendly would have another important impact it could then be used to recycle products to recover the valuable minerals. Present day treasure hunting has very much in whole spirit the big picture in mind. Our journey in the footsteps of alexander from home but continues next week when our reporter visits the avenue of the volcano in ecuador. Join us for more of his impressions inspired by her most expedition till then by. And with about. The world of. Us a kid zola took his music from the streets open a series of staging ground 0 and. Am broke all the rules for his time go the way 1. 75. The world is getting more similar. More concise tributes a lot of problems oh and the global 3000 talks with a team of british researchers who take a more optimistic view. The world is not always a good place but its much like carolyn i wonder how. Is the world really Getting Better job. Global 3000. 00 special reports. Started on this monday and sunday didnt. Hows your view of the world. Where i come from and not always that glitters is gold its just like this chinese food doesnt matter where i am its always reminds me of home after decades of living in germany chinas food is one of the things i miss the most but better taking a step back i see 600 to the difference with knowledge of many of the worlds 1st as an undergrad nation that exists to other parts of the board havent been implemented in china thats new but im not a Chinese People wondering if there are more to say but if you buy a bar i had to learn a lot of that is this is the job just under the my how i see it and understand why i love my job because i tried to do it exactly what it is an hour a day by name of the uninsured and i was added up to. Be a. Little. This is deja vu news live from berlin india makes a radical change to the disputed region of kashmir with the security crackdown underway delhi terminates the special status of its part of kashmir critics say india wants to change the demographics of this muslim majority state also coming up. On kongs leader kerry lam warns the territory is on the verge of a quote very dangerous situation for Thomas Thomas prodemocracy demonstrators again disrupt trade