And we kick off with a dispatch from our reporter christiane home on. To mark the 250th birthday of alexander from home but because dan traveled to ecuador peru and colombia 3 countries that the great naturalist explored during his expedition to the americans. Part 2 of the trip takes us to the volcanoes of ecuador. Meaning. The entire planet to work eternal as a single ball carrier like hearth for subterranean fire breaks forth you know from one of these openings now from another. That is how alexander for im bored. Recalled years expedition through the andes in his book and views of nature in 100002 the naturalist and explorer traveled to ecuador to study the i asked active volcanoes on the planet and we are following in his footsteps unfortunately they were more afraid of what. They think these guys crazy about try to go to us to work with. Was fascinating it was quite a sight. Its a good thing that she decided to do that in this country because there was a description. Of she made it work and come on this persons. Home bolt hole the dozens of measuring instruments with him up to the crater of between shots he wanted to find empirical evidence that volcanoes were connected underground and that eruptions could create Mountain Ranges now basic knowledge for volcanologists like but among scientists have determined that the pitching can a complex is more than a 1000000 years old its youngest crater was torn out of the Mountain Range by a gigantic eruption 1000 years ago as the researchers thermal imaging camera shows the chincha is very much alive today. Like up to something like. 10 shearers with a camera telling of its. Activity called from its below there and all the rangers are just coming side is. Able to work and then you can have an explosive doctor because the pressure isnt chrism in. The crater. And then you could have explosives as i would have before. 73. 00 volcanoes more than a dozen of them still active all crowded together in a stretch of less than 200 kilometers. Called this unique mountain chain the avenue of the volcanoes nowhere else in the world other so many volcanoes in such a small space millions of people in ecuador live under the constant threat of an eruption. Its a threat monitored by scientists at the Geophysical Institute in quito. For all the technical advances since one boats day precise forecasts remain elusive but the team is able to closely observe activities inside the volcano from temperature fluctuations to expanding magma chambers and increased gas emissions and he changes could be an indication of an imminent eruption. And then theres the status report from the refuge the volcano is completely submerged in the clouds not possible to observe any emissions of gas over. Again well scott rubio is the one Man Patrol Team on cotopaxi one of the most active volcanoes in the ecuadorian andes the volcano is under permanent surveillance. Uncle and also as hes known up here at the mountain refuge is not easily shaken. Minor tremors inside the crater are par for the course and often felt in his launch. The. Interruption would give us no more than 5 minutes to respond up here on cotopaxi if the volcano gives us enough time we follow a strict evacuation plan but if not ill just take my place in the front row to watch this magnificent natural spectacle and then goodbye im not afraid. We hike across the barren landscape at the foot of cotopaxi were walking over what were once deep gorges filled in by the countless tons of mud and debris that have swept through here over the course of millennia. 23456 different layers. And maybe the last one the one and close to the top is the one that was producing during the 877. 00 or ocean the last bigger ocean in could have actually working at a higher amount flow its produced when. They were to know its coming on eruption and delicious melts a lot more 6000 meters and then you can imagine a mushing the potential energy when the water start to frodo and finally after descending 345 even market one 3rd from the top of the work i know we can do the process but our lives from. The powerful volcanic mudflows can reach speeds of up to 60 Kilometers Per Hour destroying everything in their path the last major eruption of cotopaxi devastated the town of la to conga. Its modern day residents have no more than 5 minutes to evacuate if the volcano begins to rumble as it did most recently in 2015. Dollars all who obviously we went outside and saw that the volcano had already started spewing ash. We knew we had to pack a thing as and get out of town when the busy i thought we was but we found shelter under the roof of our house and waited there. In the cloud of ash descended and the children became sick thats when we fled. In. Our journey through the avenue of the volcanoes and is at the chilean tosa a colossal rock hurled a distance of 13 kilometers from cotopaxi. The awesome Destructive Force or volcanoes was to stay on humble its mind long after he returned from his and you 6 preditions. Years later he explained to the world how most can run his forced up to the surface from the earths interior to form the outer face several our planet a truly groundbreaking scientific insight. Cannick eruption spiel mineral rich nava and ash from the earths crust onto its surface. Thats why the soil around volcanoes is often supa 1st so while volcanic eruptions can be terrifying they also provide a Rich Foundation for life and on the topic of life seine from india sent in a question. How could life arise from in organic matter. And unlike dead matter living organisms need nutrition they reproduce and develop in part according to a genetically programmed plan but how did life originate and where there are many different theories heres one. The story began some 4000000000 years ago thats when the 1st primitive organisms appeared on earth temperatures had dropped on the early earth. Water vapor condensed into rain and filled basins on the surface to form oceans. By examining the genomes of simple microbes researchers concluded that their earliest ancestors probably resided in oh i do thermal vents on the ocean floor. These kinds of active hot springs are known to exist today in the deepest part of the atlantic ocean. So this might be one of the best places to go in search of the origin of life. Beneath the sea floor the rock pretty tight reacts with water to produce hydrogen which reduces c o 2 to form methane in the presence of iron containing minerals in the sea bed these molecules can combine to form amino acids and other Building Blocks of life. Too late in the creators of the bedrock they may then have undergone a chain of chemical reactions developing into ever more complex bio molecules that ultimately became self replicating the next crucial step was the formation of membranes which would have enabled the 1st cells to exist independently as organisms. Over time this ill screw larger and more complex this state rise to you carry it these are organisms like ourselves each of who sells has its d. N. A. Packed into a cell nucleus surrounded by a membrane and the rest is history. If outlet is red white are great but im afraid. Do you have a science question that youve always wanted answered it were happy to help out 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 cannot just ask. This was one of the most stunning fossil finds of recent years in 2014 scientists in chile discovered the petrified remains of whales dating back 5000000 years its believed the mammals were stranded after ingesting toxic algae. Fossils provide clues about the past and their popular in museums but then this Natural HistoryMuseum Showcases specimens ranging from dinosaurs to a very special bird. And this is yet. Our best specimen. But its also a symbol of the museum. That xander found humboldts parrot yacob who sat on his shoulder for 35 years. Later it turned out that jacobo was in fact female no matter how bugs bird is something of an icon for the berlin Natural History museum which likes to play up the association with home but the berlin born polymath is still celebrated for his expedition to the americas and for the wealth of days or specimens and notes he brought back with him. The newseum director has a clear goal Yohannes Fogel wants to take a position on debates in society and present nature in context much in the tradition of humbled. Doesnt really interest me as a Museum Director is how can we raise the next generation of humboldts. Can we get young people excited about nature from nature both as a scientific and as a societal or political topic and how can we get them to pursue it with passion and throughout their lives you leave that for me is the legacy of. Some of the objects that brought back from his expeditions are here in the Natural History museum above all mineral specimens. All together the museum houses 30000000. 00 objects including the popular terran a saurus rex skeleton tristan. Only a few of these objects make it into exhibitions most of them are kept out of the limelight in the museum repositories but for the Research Carried out in the museum for objects like this archaeopteryx an ancient relative of modern day birds are just as useful stored in a drawer scientists often make important discoveries in the collection for example bone deformities found in a 150000000 year old dinosaur skeleton might have been caused by a viral disease. Here in the museum we have people who were able to discover Something Special in the specimens paleo pathologists who study the evolution of diseases. And they Say Something odd they take a c. T. Scan and all of a sudden this bone could be the earliest evidence for a certain disease causing virus in the history of the earth. It was. Just like that. In conspicuous display. To see if it has discovered or. Theyre coming into a room like this you might wonder do we really have to keep all of this. Absolutely says Museum Director johan this. What were looking at here are birds nests and they are the future of the Natural History museum of phineas nests are a window into time when they were collected 150 years ago these bird species still existed. So did the plants the necessary made of. A lot of that has vanished today but with the help of genetics we can look into this these are ecosystems frozen in time i know from them we can read how the world was 150 years ago. Whether its exploring ecosystems with genetic analysis or making objects available worldwide through digitize ation modern technologies are taking the museum from the past to the future digital record of these moths collected in vietnam makes the journey there are necessary now researchers anywhere in the world can access them on a computer. Museum intends to digitize all 30000000 specimens in its collections. We have a Global Collection and we want to be part of a bigger Global Network with someone like alexander fun who is the great role model he was the 1st globally thinking politically thinking networks of german scientists. The exhibitions present the world in the tradition of home as a holistic entity from the origin of the earth to simulations of how it might look 250000000 years from now. Wants to make his museum fit for the future. What drives me its not just the interplay of responsibility and freedom but a very interesting piece of wisdom from africa. The best time to have planted a tree was 20 years ago the 2nd best time is today. And that is what should guide us we shouldnt moan about whether we should have rescued the world 20 years ago or not and what we did wrong back then but instead. We have to actively shape today and tomorrow. And the study of nature is a major contribution to that goal as oleksandr from home world showed. For more about alexander for hundreds adventures check out our special online coverage to mark his 250th birthday. D. W. Dot com slash science or find us on social media. Because you know we often take to facebook to ask you what you think about various issues. This time we asked how you feel about tattoos. So long can he james would like to get one that his mother wanted him for religious reasons. Says tattoos are a way to express your personality she says it all depends on what you want to say she herself doesnt have one and she says thats a form of selfexpression to. Sunny auto cockcrow we joyeux points to the artistic merits of tattoos describing them as an asset for both the artist and the person receiving the tattoo. Body art is popular all around the world one survey found that nearly half of people in italy are into. The incidence is almost as high in sweden the United States australia and argentina. And while tattoos arent that common everywhere in countries like brazil france and germany over a 3rd of people reports having at least one. But what do tattoos actually do in the party lets take a look at the science. Michelle hale has been thinking about this tattoo for years hes come to ritchie an artist who specializes in brightly colored and photo realistic. Misha is a paramedic and he wants a blue star with the serpent and twined rod of his clip of God Associated with healing and medicine does he actually know why tattoos dont disappear over time. Very deep into a deeper layer of the skin so when it regenerated doesnt come out. The Scientific Consensus was that pigments were locked into a layer of connected to recent Research Shows they actually end up in white blood cells called macrophages. Marsay is a port city on the french mediterranean coast tattoos are a common sight here. Lots of people have them. A team of immunologists at x. Mercy university thinks they might have figured out why tattoos are permanent. And they use the how this super mouse. Its been specially bred so that researchers can target and kill the macrophages in its skin. This is done under completely sterile conditions because macrophages are a crucial part of the immune system. Just cellular debris and foreign substances. Immunologist. Has tattooed the tails of several mice. If the tattoo pigment really isnt golf by the macrophages that it should disappear as soon as the macrophages die. But it doesnt. Hoping for some answers he examines the macrophages of the tattooed mouse skin under the microscope. What we see that. Its with the ink and as you can see here all the ink in the now if you wait a bit longer. By new. And thats what you find here. Again. This is a brand new insight so the researchers want to make sure theyre not mistaken that really is passing between the macrophages so they transfer the skin of a tattooed mouse onto an un tattooed one to see the color transfers with. And indeed the macrophages from the un tattooed mouse take up the past to it from the tattooed mouse. Where theyve. Always taking it and then and then again. That also explains why tattoos often face or become blurry over time the new macrophages dont manage to catch all the ink thats been released. So what happens to the ink that escapes medical physicist. Is researching that at the university of lincoln in germany. He cut open the lymph nodes. And discovered that some of the pigment had ended up there he found green and red. That about 30 percent of the pigments remain in the skin but the person with the tattoo hardly notices the reduction because the colors are so intense the rest gets carried off. In the lymph nodes in the liver a smaller amount was eventually expelled from the body. Anybody who wants to get a tattoo should be aware of the fact that a lot. Of the pigment will remain in their body for ever and that includes cancer causing substances. So what happens when someone wants to remove their tattoo. I want to wear short sleeves at family events or in the summer i cant identify with my tattoos anymore its not me i want them removed the step scientific. The standard way to remove tattoos nowadays is by laser. I really have to force myself to go its very painful to have to snip the laser blasts the pigment molecules into smaller pieces and destroys the enclosing macrophages other macrophages take up some of this pigment so it doesnt disappear straight away i need to has to have 4 appointments and all the latest findings from france might change these painful procedures that would be the. Move to make sure that the michael. Anymore and 2 of the says that would be draining the big months out of the skin. But trying to switch off the immune response briefly for the duration of the laser removal procedure is a suggestion that professor boiler rejects. The laser destroys tissue in the skin it causes tiny tears on the skin surface the years let him start tyria so its not a good idea to knock out the microfiche is the very souls that would heal the wound and attack the bacteria. But michele for one is certain he wont ever need to go through the removal process. I want to keep it forever its also. Probably good he feels that way because that tattoo is here to stay. And thats. From tomorrow today tonight next time for the latest installment of our expedition in the footsteps of home but until then its goodbye take care. A virtue also with unparalleled talents. A biography that spans continents. A career marked by on usual coincidences. One of the most sought after violinists of our time. Daniel hope. The sound of life in 75 minutes on d w. Small so can inspire big changes in the people making it possible on the go africa the fantastic right trying that as they set out to safe environments. To learn from one another. And Work Together for the future. Itself eco looking for. W. Robots theyre still in the Development Phase of sleep but its going to happen when they grow a lot. Will shoot guns and machines being able to peacefully coexist. Or are we on the verge of a remodelers. If we just bumble into this totally unprepared with our heads in the sand she seemed to think about what could go wrong then lets face it its probably going to be the biggest mistake in human history. Artificial intelligence is now spreading throughout our society. Looks to dismiss the beginning of the digital age. Will we be subjected to continuous state surveillance. Ok i will experts be able to agree on technical guidelines or will this Technology Create deadly new autonomous weapon systems. Collapse starts aug 14th on t. W. Cox. This is g. W. News coming to you live from violence in hong kong reaches new levels as authorities try to gain the upper hand over antigovernment protests brutal seems as Riot Police Chase protesters into a city subway using tear gas and columns it appeared to be toughening their approach to demonstrators challenging chinese rule in the territory. Monsoon rains in india leave more than 140 people dead and hundreds of thousands more displaced a false the self of the coming