And find out how to turn Carbon Dioxide into plastic. 170 large piles of studs or cans in a line running along 10 kilometers of sure line for millennia they went unnoticed submerged in the waters of Lake Constance in Central Europe they form a remarkable manmade monument. All told it consists of more than 120000 tons of stone about as much as went into building the cathedral in cologne. If each stone weighs 2 kilograms on average then the structures at the lake consist of 60000000. 00 stones. Today it would take more than 8000 truckloads to move them but these were all transported by hand. The latest Analysis Shows that they must have been put there by Human Rights Research teams have been trying to find out when the. Cans were built and wind. 2019 a team of archaeologists and geologists sets up a tiny drilling platform on Lake Constance their aim to find out when mysterious cans on the lakes bed were built. From the university of and his team are experts at Geological Drilling they want to take samples from deep inside the lake to determine the age of the stone piles resting on it 1st the rig has to be anchored and then maneuvered into a precise location using g. P. S. Just said geologists combine an impressive wealth of knowledge. I hope with the drilling that we can determine the age of but more accurately is it really prehistoric if it is prehistoric was a made during the bronze age or the new olympic. Team hopes the drilling samples will allow it to form a better picture of the sediment by the can. Chose the drilling sites that allows us to get down to the light which will show us how they developed over time. The scientists used Ground Penetrating radar measurements to select the site they highlighted all the sediments on which they can fly if the research has succeeded determining the age of the sediments from a drilling sample they can deduce the minimum age of the cam. The main tool of the experiment has a plastic tube which will be driven down by the trail through the sediment layers. Of. The drill casing with the plastic pipe inside just brought into position. Time to start. Using a hammer and drill they drive the device 6 meters deep into the bed if they like. Once they reach the desired depth the scientists hold the drill back up to the surface with the layers of earth trapped in its core. Its all running according to plan the sediments packed solid inside the plastic. So. Its now we cut it into a metre long sections then it goes off to the lab where we get to work on it and the sections contain thousands of years of Lake Constance history and maybe a hint about the age of the mysterious can. A few days later in the cool room that burn universitys Geological Institute and so met he and his team take a closer look at the sediment inside the plastic tubes theyve already determined the most promising layers. What weve laid out comes from a 6 metre deep hole so here we have the lake bed now and in 6 metres depth is the formally the bottom maybe a few 1000 years ago cedars had started depth of about 3 metres according to the radar picture it has to be here somewhere we expect to find the former lake bed on which they built the mounds. So the idea is the ice cut through that and see if we can find any organic material we can date with the radio carbon method. In the laboratory the plastic tube sections a cut open lengthwise. The sediment layers carefully separated. From those who. Would put it down back there ok. In front of a little pressure. Pull it back so that the surface is here. Perfect wonderful. Scan after of ives an exact image of the cools interior hopefully it will show enough traces of organic fossils that can be used to gauge the lay is a huge. If you zoom right in you can see lots of black spots in the core samples we hope its organic material plant remains in sufficient quantity to date yeah now in order to isolate the tiriel were taking individual samples from the core or. If theres no organic material it wont be possible to carbon date the samples. Fortunately the geologists managed to isolate a few minute would fragments and some plant remains. As cool we found quite a bit not too much but with enough small bits and a large one for us to take them into the sea 14 lab and ask them to date it signal for all. The sophisticated procedure is needed to date the fragments and along with them the cans themselves because she doubted his team watching out for telltale traces of the carbon isotope called c. 14. C. 14 can be found wherever this carbon means in any living materials but also in part in carbonaceous minerals any way you find carbon youll find sand 14 to fit to fall. In a series of steps the samples are cleaned and prepared for measurement. If that carbon 14 content can be deter. And then so can the age. The age of a sample can be determined by tracing the decay of its c 14 component we know the unique specific carbon 14 content of a fresh sample we can compare that to the content of an old sample in which the c. 14 has decayed over time the extent of decay tells us how old the sample is. The samples are ready for testing only a minute 400 micrograms thats not point 0004 grams left but thats more than enough for an accelerator mass spectrometer the machine breaks the sample down into its smallest individual components until finally only the c 14 atoms remain physical thats the key to the samples age. But we can observe that down here only we can see that this sample comes from a period between 3403650 years to see roughly speaking the sample is some 5 and a half 1000 years old. 5500 years that means the cans are from the neolithic age. Theres no holding back the archaeologists now they take a dredge out onto the lake and bring part of one of the stone piles to the surface for investigation in part of the whole archaeologist was lloyd singer makes a promising find. There was a steak on this block once and the really exciting thing is you can see the remains of the steak and the sediment. Its been moved but its still in proximity and that shows us someone drove a stake in down there and that its not just driftwood and because its been shaped we can assume that it was driven into the ground at the same time as the karen here. The excavations promised to reveal more secrets concealed in the camp. To meet the humans who most likely built the cairns in Lake Constance we would have to journey back in time past the middle ages the roman empire before the celts before the bronze age back 5 and a half 1000 years to the neolithic age. At a time when europe was partially copulated the lakes near the alps would have been lined with houses on low still. The population might have seen very useful by our standards few people live to old age. Life was simple and hard. People farm the land raised cattle and went hunting. They only survived by living in communities. Behind mortality rate meant that women as givers of life had a special status as illustrated by these clay pots with moldings in the form of breasts or this wall sculpture one of the oldest and biggest in europe 2 features clay breasts. Their belief to depict the female ancestors of various lineages. The famous mural was also found by like constance. There is evidence suggesting that a European Network already existed in the neolithic age goods and Raw Materials have been found in the region around Lake Constance that were imported from across the continent. Including copper ceramics and even jewelry. Another thing that people from across europe appeared to have in common already was an appreciation of megaliths large stone manmade monuments such as stonehenge in england. And canada in brittany but now europe has another nearly landmark unlike constance dubbed the swiss stonehenge. Of course the scientists want to know what purpose the stone pile served maybe the people in the new listing age built them to celebrate the summer and winter solstice the piles are aligned along the suns. Big bonfires on the piles as part of a ritual. Its just one of the many riddles yet to be uncovered about the find in the lake. Another remarkable find in this neanderthal skeleton that archaeologists recently excavated in the senate in northern iraq. It is around 70000 years old the position it was found in suggests that it was buried with care. The left hand bend towards the head the right arm lies at an angle on the chair the head is bedded on the stone. Its the best preserved discovery of its kind in a quarter of a century the researchers hope it will tell them more about the burial rituals and of our neanderthal cousins. Well see you on facebook what you think archaeologists might discover about 5000 years from now. When indonesia reckons theyll find devices they think are junk like mobile phones computers and. Nicholas is pessimistic saying that they wont be any archeologists in 5000 years because they wont be any more people. Alphonso from mexico jokes that the archaeologists in the future will find all those socks back out lost in the washing machine. And cherry says that the main thing theyll find from us is plastic lots and lots of plastic along with discarded phones and other devices. And indeed all the plastic we produce today is likely to stick around for hundreds of years. Each year around 8000000 more tons of plastic end up in the sea and are moved around the planet by wide ranging ocean currents currents that play a key role for life in our planet. But how do they arise if you are in el salvador and sent in a question about the us. What causes ocean currents a flow like vast rivers with no water driven near the shore by the rise and fall of tides at high tide water flows towards the coast at low tide it flows away from its. Surface currents of the ocean are propelled by strong persistent winds. While further down variations in temperature and salinity drive deep ocean currents. Cold salty water is denser than warmer water with a low salt content so it sinks towards the bottom of the ocean. The speed of the water flow depends on the topography of the seabed. The variations in temperature and salt content also cause of finance. An unknown as the global Conveyor Belt its a system of currents that transports water around the world. Ocean currents crucially affect climate for example the humbled current brings cold water teeming with nutrients from the antarctic to the collaborators islands for 6 months of the year. They feed the tiny plant on and algae that form the base of the food chain providing sustenance for swarms of fish and also for the marine ikhwan are the only lizard that lives and forage is in the sea. On land meanwhile life in these months is hard theres hardly any rainfall wildlife including the collapse of his giant tortoise have to embark on perilous journeys in search of food but in the other half of the year food is available in abundance thats when the wet season comes with a panama current bring in warmer waters. This current isnt nearly as rich in nutrients so much of the islands marine life heads off to colder climes aquatic animals that remain have to make do and finally Climate Change is taking a toll on ocean currents exactly how is the subject of intense research. As we heard ocean currents are critically important for marine life cold oxygenated currents are a source of life under water. But sometimes the local ecosystem tips out of balance when one species takes over. For example a kind of seaweed. Thats in mexico and inventor has found a way to use it. Brown seaweed on the mexican coastline a disaster for the environment and the terrorist industry but for all my vasquez its free building material. We extract all the water and remove the garbage we continue that process until the seaweed itself starts to produce a kind of organic clay and becomes a hard resistant mass. He produces his own bricks that are 60 percent seaweed a 1000000 tons of the saga so much. Can be washed up on the yucatan peninsula over the course of one year the problem has exploded in the last decade. It comes from all the pollution caused by human activity all those chemicals washing and cleaning agents that end up in the sea. The algae feed on causing them to grow and multiply. Them every day for a nickel rivera and her team clean up the beaches before the seaweed starts to decompose a process that would release all fear of acid and toxic gases devastating to the coastal ecosystem. Its important to support initiatives like on mars where. We just collect the seaweed were happy to then pass it on to others who can do something with it the main thing is for it to not be polluting the environment. That cares and his team makes the seaweed with mud and other organic materials and then stomp on it with their feet to press it together it takes around 20 tons of seaweed to produce one house hes actually a gardener by trade and initially used the seaweed for compost it took a while to get the consistency right for Building Blocks and to ensure the bricks would no longer release toxins and. Since i 1st came up with the idea weve been improving the formula every day and now we have a patent and we have the best organic product for building. That cares donated this house to a family who lost their home in a fire one 3rd of the local population lives in poverty including monica gomez and her 6 children. Now this house is cooler theyre all gone in the sun its very hard. Many of my neighbors now want to. See. The circus and brakes are said to be more robust to the word and cheaper to produce than cement theyve generated huge interest. I havent really invented anything im just giving back to the belongs to it problem into an opportunity. Experts see Great Potential in his idea otel chain in mexico has now started a project with its aiming to build part of a resort with some breaks Foreign Companies are also showing interest and theres certainly no shortage of the seaweed on mexicos caribbean coastline. Theres so many clever ideas around for turning golf h. Into something valuable like making elegant clothes out of plastic waste. Collecting beverage bottles and using them to build boats. Or even houses. And recycling plastic to lower c o 2 emissions. But now it team of researchers wants to make new plastic bags of c o 2. Plastic circuit make the class nerd a multitalented who no one really likes. There are some good reasons for that even though plastics have the answer to all kinds of needs in the household as Construction Material in cars or aircraft. Plastics are carbon based substances synthesized from hydrocarbons from crude oil so theyre not sustainable thats exactly what these 3 chemists bear which i know 1st of gertler and voltaire like not want to change. Plastics has been based on fossil resources and fossil resources are finite but there is one source which is infinite and that is Carbon Dioxide. Carbon dioxide the Greenhouse Gas imagine simply getting the carbon for plastics out of the air thereby reducing Oil Consumption and atmospheric levels of c o 2 to Problem Solved at one fell swoop. But the researchers not only want to make c o 2 base plastic they wanted to be easily recyclable lets do what they did and go right back to square one. A typical plastic consists of long molecular chains of carbon atoms with lots of Hydrogen Atoms not much more but to actually make a plastic the constituent molecules have to be induced to bond properly. The hydrocarbons from oil are bursting with energy and looking for any excuse to react with something. The c o 2 molecule is a marriage unreactive a regular couch potato of a molecule. Of. The sea oats why is the c o 2 is a decidedly sluggish molecule it needs a politics just like in real life to any job and get the lazy dog moving. In the reagan home and some believe that you need a catalyst to bring the 2 together and get a bonding started its all to form the final compound fairbairn known as the movie. And just what is this catalyst well its not a magic potion but it does lower in the visions enough to allow the 2 partners that have a Certain Affinity to hook up properly. Its like at a party the guys want to dance with the gals but are too shy to ask for when the d. J. Puts on the right music then wish everything comes together music is the catalyst. And this white powder is the catalyst for our reluctant c o 2 the result of hears of research it persuades Carbon Dioxide to react with other chemicals. The result is this viscous fluid a polio or a problem eric molecule incorporating numerous oxygen atoms for the polio is used as the basis for a variety of plastics such as polyurethane foam for mattresses derived from c o 2 from the atmosphere. Do you can set high end our innovation was to be which will utilize it as a kind of Technology Platform that way we can easily broaden it spectrum of occupations bring us into areas like elastic fibers theres a fast on. That means clothes could also be made of. To and future but clothing doesnt last forever what happens then here the new plastic has another advantage the c o 2 it contains x. Is a built in breaking point unable in the poem are to be split up and then easily recycled that doesnt work with pure carbon chain plastics. Vision is to become more focused on circularity in 10 years time well be seeing many more chemically recycled products like its just a good way towards our vision of a circular economy. But. The goal is to make our resource footprint smaller to move away from a linear economy which turns resources into waste to a circular one based on recycling. The problem is right why are the only thing you need to. 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. Get in touch with us on our website d w dot com slash science or drop us a line on twitter and facebook. Next week and the usual storage system for Sustainable Energy gravity battery its inventor wants to build a tower of stacked cement blocks to store excess energy how does that work join us next time to find out until then but i. Good. To. Be. Above for. 250 years of looking page over a major anniversary. Are a smoker shooting a travels to be on a lift your for over 3 decades and roaches masterpieces and long may discover crops that find history. Of a lot of questions that need answering following the footsteps of the great before chickie and. Coming up on w. M c overcome boundaries. Changing the world with dad. No words required. But a full body and. John home of the most. Part. 21. To 30 minutes on w. Beethoven is for me. Its for. Beethoven is for him. Its for her. And beethoven is for. Beethoven is for everyone. Beethoven 2020. The 50th anniversary here on d w. They were forced into a nameless mass. Their bodies near tools. The history of the slave trade is africas history. Describes how the greed for power and for profit plummeted and entire continent into chaos and violence the slave system created the greatest planned accumulation of wealth the world had ever seen up to that moment in time. From its very beginnings until this very day she meant trafficking has shaped the law. This is the journey back into the history of slavery i think will truly be making progress when we all accept the history of slavery as all of our history. Our documentary series slavery routs starts march 9th on d w. This is news and these are our top stories. One porter of italys population is in lockdown as the country battles to contain the corona Virus Outbreak the quarantine affects much of northern italy including one body and the cities of milan and venice the countrys death toll has climbed to maybe 370 people. Frances ban together of more than 1000. 00 people to stop the Coronavirus Spread germany is considering a similar move