How Tech Works (2012–…): Season 1, Episode 9 - Episode #1.9 - full transcript
On this episode
of How Tech Works...
We're going to check out
the latest
in facial
recognition technology.
And... we'll meet a couple
of grown-up rocket boys
who take their hobby
very seriously.
Hi there! I'm Basil Singer,
and you are in for
one incredibly "out there"
episode of How Tech Works .
We're going to meet
a former secret operative
from the British government
with the keys to the X-files.
Plus, we'll see how CT scans
are saving soldiers' lives,
in real time
on the battlefield.
But first,
Imagine, if you will,
a typical day in London.
You wake up, grab a coffee,
dash to the tube, go to work,
pick up dinner,
and grab a cab home.
In that time, guess how often
you've been captured on CCTVs?
Around 300!
Facial recognition technology
is getting
more and more sophisticated.
But things like time of day,
and the direction you're facing
can make it difficult
for security officers
to know that it's you.
So we're going to catch up
with a team in Bristol
working to change that.
If you think
it's hard to pick out
a particular face in a crowd?
Try getting a computer
to do it, and do it well.
What we're trying to do
is develop technology
that's able to be more robust
at recognizing a person's face.
Say hello
to the new face
of recognition software,
set to change the way
a computer sees you.
If you think about
the technology that's used now,
what tends to happen
is that a 2D image is captured
and then various features
are measured.
So for example,
length of a nose,
the distance between the eyes.
And ratios are taken
of those features
and used to form a signature
that can recognize a person.
Melvyn Smith's team
is trying to overcome
one big problem.
If that person
changes their expression,
or changes the pose,
looks to one side,
or even
if the lighting changes,
then those sorts of systems
can fail.
So together
with colleagues
at Imperial College London,
they created PhotoFace.
A system that gives computers
a lot more to go on.
We illuminate the face
in different ways,
using different
lighting set ups.
A camera shoots
500 frames per second.
Its four lights
are synchronized to go off
in such quick succession
it looks like a single flash.
An ultrasound sensor
triggers it.
So I'm gonna pass through now.
Just like that.
So just a simple stroll through.
Nothing complicated.
And what it's doing now
is just a little bit
of processing
to estimate my shape.
And there you can see,
it's estimated my shape.
And hopefully, there you go,
it's recognized who I am,
so it knows
that I can pass through.
PhotoFace
takes four images,
lit at different angles,
and compiles them into one.
So this is four raw images
of me that we captured before.
and we have to convert that
into shape information.
What it's showing is that
the blue areas
are at a grazing angle
to the camera, like that,
and then the green areas
are more parallel,
and then red areas
are that way.
It's just a way of
visualizing it.
But essentially what we have
is the orientation
of the skin
at each point on the image.
What that means is
we can capture very fine,
textural features on the face,
the wrinkles, the pores,
all the blemishes
that we naturally have,
we can capture all that detail.
So in addition to capturing
the shape of the face,
we can also use
those blemishes
as a kind of signature
to recognize someone.
The system
recognizes faces,
even under changing light.
If we change
the lighting conditions,
doesn't make any difference.
If the sun's out,
we can take that
into consideration.
That doesn't change
the 3D shape.
As long as we know where
these raw images are from,
the 3D shape of my face
is constant.
Could you just
move slowly your lips?
Across the hall,
colleagues are working
on a 4D system.
It's a variation on PhotoFace,
using strobe lights instead.
We are going to capture
the face of somebody,
and then use
that information to create 3D,
but we'll do it in real time.
They can look
at the changing face
any way they want.
it allows us to have
high resolution information
so we could zoom
on parts of the face.
and have a closer look at it.
That also opens up
possibilities in biometrics,
because we might be able
to use the way in which
a person smiles as a biometric.
For example,
the way you and I smile
is probably subtly different,
the way the smile develops
across the face.
So, that in itself
could be a useful biometric.
Systems like this
make it easier
for security teams to
identify a suspect in a crowd.
Because they can alter
the image-on-file
for comparison.
So, the person
you see in the crowd
may be standing to one side
so their face isn't clear,
and the lighting
may not be ideal.
So what you could do is
take the model that you have
of that person's face,
and then synthetically alter
that model to match
the face in the crowd.
So you would alter
the direction in which
it is looking,
alter the lighting
that's applied to it,
to make it as similar
as possible
to what you're actually seeing,
and then look for a match.
It could also
be used in the movie business.
If you think of what
you see at the cinema nowadays,
it's very impressive.
You go to see a 3D movie,
it looks very realistic,
but it's not interactive.
So if you move your head
to one side,
things don't change
as they do in the real world.
And also different people
in different locations
in the cinema would be able
to see different things.
So what we want to be able
to do is capture something
that's much more immersive
and much more realistic.
In the more
immediate future,
4D imaging could change lives.
So the idea is that
we could have some technology
like this,
that a general practitioner
could use,
to capture a very accurate
and very realistic description
of a skin condition,
and then send that over
the internet to a specialist
in a remote location,
who could interact with that
as though they were
with the patient.
All of which
adds up to imaging
that's almost... almost...
better than the real thing.
And speaking of real things,
when it comes to rockets,
it's hard to top
the Saturn rockets
used by NASA
in the '60s and '70s.
But while those behemoths
are now a thing of the past,
I want you to meet
a group of rocketeers
who are scaling things down,
and having a real blast!
See what I did there?
Have a look.
Ignition.
The last time
the Apollo launched,
it was more than 40 years ago.
But at this farm
in Bethesda, Maryland,
two men have
their sights set on
re-living
and re-igniting history
It goes all the way
back to fourth grade.
One of the kids' older brother
came in and launched
a bunch of Estes,
A, B and C rockets
out in the field
behind the school,
and something
just clicked in my head.
-Okay, hold on a minute.
-Okay.
I know I used to watch
all of the space launches on TV
back in
the '70s, so...
I've been interested in it
for years.
Steve Eves
and Vern Hoag
are gadget wielding,
blast testing rocketeers.
The kind that spend
thousands of hours tinkering
with every detail of building
a scale model rocket.
The ultimate payoff is
to put a smile on your face.
This is all
for bragging rights,
just to say you did it.
These guys have
thousands of dollars
tied up in these rockets,
and they're doing it
just because it's cool.
Today's launch
features a pair
of Saturn 1B replicas.
Ignition.
They're one ninth the size
of the original Apollo.
Both Steve and Vern
started working
on their identical rockets
nearly two years ago.
We actually did not know
that the other was building
these rockets
until we were about
six months into the project.
Alright, powering up
arch number three,
check the continuity
on the pre-tensioner.
The weight of
this rocket is 400 kilograms.
When assembled
and prepped for launch,
they each stand
eight meters tall.
It's going to be fun, yeah.
It's something
you'll never forget!
We drove all the way
from Connecticut.
Did you really?
It's not
a cheap hobby.
If you woke up and just
wanted to do this one day,
it's about $15,000 to fly
something like this one time.
The electrical
components that trigger
the launch and collect
the data are key.
The amount of electronics
is absolutely phenomenal.
We have approximately
ten onboard computers
that are extremely expensive.
Recovery is paramount.
Time
for Vern's launch.
-Ready under feet, Mike?
-Ready.
Go in three,
two, one, ignition!
No! No!
Heads up! Heads up!
Stand clear!
Do not try and touch the rocket!
That big booster's
coming down right by us.
I guess I wish
I knew what happened more.
That's pretty tough.
Vern's rocket drag
separated, literally
pulling the two
rocket sections apart
a lot earlier
than it should have.
Then, the parachutes slid out
early, and it became unbalanced.
In mere seconds,
thousands of hours and
dollars are blown apart.
It hasn't soaked in yet.
I don't know,
I might just build another one.
We'll pick it up and see
what we can come up with.
Now Steve
has even more pressure
weighing on his rocket.
The blood pressure is going up,
butterflies are in the stomach,
there's a whole herd of them
in there.
All
pre-systems checked,
and another Saturn 1B rocket
ready for launch.
Okay folks,
it's time.
Three, two, one, ignition!
We got two chutes!
Yes! Yes!
We got two chutes!
This time, success.
I feel great,
rocket's basically intact.
We may have a little bit
of damage, but it flew good.
Nobody was hurt,
we had a great flight.
Everything's good.
Two endings.
Not all happy,
but these rocketeers are in it
for the thrill, no matter what.
I will rebuild this
and it will fly again.
One thing about
this hobby is,
if you can't handle
crashing them, don't fly them.
That is, in fact,
part of the hobby.
It's a rocket. Nobody knows
what's going to happen
until you hit the button.
Don't you move! We've got
lots more How Tech Works
coming up after the break.
Welcome back to How Tech Works .
I'm Basil Singer.
Now, our next story takes us
deep into the paranormal.
You're about to meet a man
who spent his career
investigating UFO sightings
for the British government.
You're about to see
how the most skeptical
of the non-believers among us
must finally admit
there is actually
something out there.
Well, have a look
and decide for yourselves.
Before there was
Fox Mulder,
there was Nick Pope.
My job was to investigate
the two or three hundred
UFO sightings
that were reported every year,
to see if there was evidence
of any potential threat
to the United Kingdom,
or anything of more
general defense interest.
When the Ministry
of Defense decided to open
a UFO investigation division,
Nick Pope got the call
to lead it.
At first, I was a little worried
that this would look
rather odd on my CV.
But of course I found
the whole subject intriguing.
He was the
first official investigator,
but he had lots to work with.
The Ministry of Defense's
UFO project goes right back
to the 1950s.
The thought was that however
crazy some of the stories
about flying saucers sounded,
if there was something
operating in our airspace,
we ought to know what it was.
Most of
the documents are now housed
at the national archives.
There are
tens of thousands of pages
of documentation on UFOs.
This includes over 12,000
sighting reports that the MOD
received over the years.
Including a memo
from Britain's
most famous civil servant,
Winston Churchill.
What does all this stuff
about flying saucers amount to?
What can it mean?
What is the truth?
Let me have a report
at your convenience.
Investigating
the paranormal is like
working a cold case.
Going through old files
and re-interviewing witnesses.
From there, it's a process
of elimination.
Let's check the flight
paths, weather balloon launches,
satellites, meteors,
all the sorts of things
that you know give rise
to misidentifications.
Nick found
that 80% of the reports
have rational explanations.
Others remain a mystery.
In around 15% of cases,
there was insufficient
information to come to
a definite opinion,
leaving 5% genuinely unknown.
UFOs are seen
by all kinds of people.
But some witnesses
are considered
more reliable than others.
Inevitably, the ones that were
of particular interest
were when the witnesses
were police officers,
military personnel and pilots.
And this is because
those people we regarded
as trained observers.
A police officer is well able
to estimate the distance
that an object is from
his perspective, or the speed.
The same with a pilot,
of course.
Britain's
most famous case,
on par with Roswell,
happened at Rendlesham Forest,
December 1980.
This is the East Gate
at Woodbridge Base.
And it's from this point
that the security personnel
in 1980, saw strange lights
in the forest out there.
And they thought that
an aircraft had crashed.
This is the exact spot
where in 1980 it's claimed
that the UFO landed.
The two United States
Air Force airmen actually got
close enough for one of them
to touch the side
of this thing.
Strange indentations
were found in the ground
where this thing
was supposed to have
come down on three legs.
Let's
identify that as point one.
That stake there,
so y'all know where it is
if we have to sketch it.
Got that, Sergeant Nevilles?
Yes, sir.
What they found was that
radiation levels peaked
in the three indentations
and around the sides
of some of the trees here.
You're
getting readings on the tree
you've taken samples from,
on the side facing the
suspected landing site.
When the UFO
came back the next night,
Deputy Base Commander
Colonel Charles Halt
went out to debunk the event.
Hey, this is eerie.
- Is it back again?
- Yes, sir.
See if you can
get the StarScope on it.
I notice that all the barnyard
animals have gotten quiet now.
Instead,
he became a witness.
This is the spot where,
on the second night,
Colonel Halt and his men
encountered the UFO.
At one point, it fired
a narrow beam of light
down at the ground, that came
very close to his position.
Subsequently, the UFO
was zigzagging around,
as if it was performing
a grid search, Halt said.
And then it shot off
at high speed.
Colonel Halt said that
When he was witnessing the UFO,
the nearby farmyard animals
were going into
an absolute frenzy, as if
something was spooking them.
Nick says
if there was ever a case
to make a skeptic
into a believer, this was it.
Multiple witnesses,
military personnel
from the two bases at
Bentwaters and Woodbridge.
Radiation readings taken
at the landing site.
This wasn't just
lights in the sky,
this thing actually came down.
I'm not sure what people
should draw from any of this.
I think to a certain extent,
the debate about UFOs
is quite polarized.
Skeptics aren't going to be
convinced unless we do have
the archetypal landing
on the White House lawn.
A physical artifact
seems the only way
to end the debate.
It's one of the great
tenets of science,
you must have repeatability.
So scientists must be able
to get this artifact to do
something that we can't do.
And it mustn't be just once.
And while Nick
doesn't believe
in little green men,
he does say: We're not alone.
In this infinite
universe,
with the laws of physics
and chemistry being constant,
I think it's inconceivable
that it's just us.
I'm sure the universe
is teeming with life.
The question of whether
we're being visited or not
is a separate one.
I can't rule out
the possibility,
but the truth of the matter is,
I don't know
Finally, I want to take you to
a farm in the American Midwest,
where a radiologist
and a military physician
have partnered up
to solve a mystery,
like those
forensic crime shows,
and it all starts
with a rifle...
and a phantom leg.
A very real-looking
phantom leg.
It's an odd task.
Duct taping an artificial leg
to a work bench,
only so it can be
riddled with bullets.
Yeah, shooting a body part,
to me never seems natural.
I like to look past that
a little bit,
and what we gain through
this research is going to help
the soldiers and sailors
and marines in the future.
As a military doctor,
Michael Frew has seen
a lot of trauma. But he never
thought he'd be asked
to re-create a sniper
scenario on his farm
out in Lovettsville, Virginia.
Well, he knew we had a range
that was available,
he knew we had weapons,
and he knew we liked to shoot.
Radiologist
Dr. Les Folio
is the man behind this.
When we image this,
as we'll see later,
we look at the path,
measure that angle,
and provided we know
the position, like we do here,
and we often do
for field conditions
because of security cameras,
we can recreate that scene,
if you will,
of what that angle is,
where did that shooter
shoot from.
So,
with a clinometer in hand,
Les begins the day by marking
targets and choosing angles.
So even down here will work,
so about six shots.
An Olympic
pool length away,
the sniper gets into position.
He will be aiming at targets
the size of a penny.
We chose this weapon,
which is a Remington 700,
because it fires
a 30 OTT 6 round
that is very similar in size
and shape and capacity
that our soldiers use.
Yeah, 92. So it was
a two degree pitch down.
We're looking at
plus or minus five degrees.
Okay, I think
we're ready to shoot.
Range is live.
Let's go check.
Target hit.
Next time they want to
make sure they get bone.
This one obviously didn't
hit bone, because it's scraped
and you can see
the internal tissues here,
the red, they look like muscle,
that's what they're made for.
Range is live.
Probably right on.
A stark difference
between the entry
and exit wounds.
Every shot counted.
Well, the CT
will tell the story.
So,
with the badly wounded limb,
Les heads to the lab.
Computer tomography
is the main stay of imaging
when it comes to
ballistic trauma.
We're dealing with
metallic fragments
or bone fragments that have
been secondary missiles.
The images
are revealing.
The bullet enters.
Hits the fibula and then
tibia before exiting.
So, now that the blast test
dummy leg has been
scanned in the CT, we can see
the wound path nicely here.
The imagery proves
that this method
can accurately confirm
where a sniper was standing,
and where the leg
was most vulnerable.
A big turning point, not only
to help solve cold cases,
also to help the living.
A radiologist can quickly
paint the picture,
and then we can do
more effective CT triage,
which means the triage not just
into the CT, "who's next?",
because you may have
20 people waiting,
but who then is next
for the operating room
based on the critical organs
damaged in that wound path.
Beyond the lab,
this data is being compared
to combat casualty files,
teaching soldiers how to
better position themselves
in war, and prompting
the creation of
more protective body armor.
Just one more thing
Dr. Les Folio can be proud of.
You know those forensic
crime shows are still
quite popular,
well I think we've got
the inspiration
for a new series here.
Yes, CSI radiologist
on the scene.
Well, that's all we've
got time for today.
Thanks very much for watching
How Tech Works .
Until next time,
I'm Basil Singer.
of How Tech Works...
We're going to check out
the latest
in facial
recognition technology.
And... we'll meet a couple
of grown-up rocket boys
who take their hobby
very seriously.
Hi there! I'm Basil Singer,
and you are in for
one incredibly "out there"
episode of How Tech Works .
We're going to meet
a former secret operative
from the British government
with the keys to the X-files.
Plus, we'll see how CT scans
are saving soldiers' lives,
in real time
on the battlefield.
But first,
Imagine, if you will,
a typical day in London.
You wake up, grab a coffee,
dash to the tube, go to work,
pick up dinner,
and grab a cab home.
In that time, guess how often
you've been captured on CCTVs?
Around 300!
Facial recognition technology
is getting
more and more sophisticated.
But things like time of day,
and the direction you're facing
can make it difficult
for security officers
to know that it's you.
So we're going to catch up
with a team in Bristol
working to change that.
If you think
it's hard to pick out
a particular face in a crowd?
Try getting a computer
to do it, and do it well.
What we're trying to do
is develop technology
that's able to be more robust
at recognizing a person's face.
Say hello
to the new face
of recognition software,
set to change the way
a computer sees you.
If you think about
the technology that's used now,
what tends to happen
is that a 2D image is captured
and then various features
are measured.
So for example,
length of a nose,
the distance between the eyes.
And ratios are taken
of those features
and used to form a signature
that can recognize a person.
Melvyn Smith's team
is trying to overcome
one big problem.
If that person
changes their expression,
or changes the pose,
looks to one side,
or even
if the lighting changes,
then those sorts of systems
can fail.
So together
with colleagues
at Imperial College London,
they created PhotoFace.
A system that gives computers
a lot more to go on.
We illuminate the face
in different ways,
using different
lighting set ups.
A camera shoots
500 frames per second.
Its four lights
are synchronized to go off
in such quick succession
it looks like a single flash.
An ultrasound sensor
triggers it.
So I'm gonna pass through now.
Just like that.
So just a simple stroll through.
Nothing complicated.
And what it's doing now
is just a little bit
of processing
to estimate my shape.
And there you can see,
it's estimated my shape.
And hopefully, there you go,
it's recognized who I am,
so it knows
that I can pass through.
PhotoFace
takes four images,
lit at different angles,
and compiles them into one.
So this is four raw images
of me that we captured before.
and we have to convert that
into shape information.
What it's showing is that
the blue areas
are at a grazing angle
to the camera, like that,
and then the green areas
are more parallel,
and then red areas
are that way.
It's just a way of
visualizing it.
But essentially what we have
is the orientation
of the skin
at each point on the image.
What that means is
we can capture very fine,
textural features on the face,
the wrinkles, the pores,
all the blemishes
that we naturally have,
we can capture all that detail.
So in addition to capturing
the shape of the face,
we can also use
those blemishes
as a kind of signature
to recognize someone.
The system
recognizes faces,
even under changing light.
If we change
the lighting conditions,
doesn't make any difference.
If the sun's out,
we can take that
into consideration.
That doesn't change
the 3D shape.
As long as we know where
these raw images are from,
the 3D shape of my face
is constant.
Could you just
move slowly your lips?
Across the hall,
colleagues are working
on a 4D system.
It's a variation on PhotoFace,
using strobe lights instead.
We are going to capture
the face of somebody,
and then use
that information to create 3D,
but we'll do it in real time.
They can look
at the changing face
any way they want.
it allows us to have
high resolution information
so we could zoom
on parts of the face.
and have a closer look at it.
That also opens up
possibilities in biometrics,
because we might be able
to use the way in which
a person smiles as a biometric.
For example,
the way you and I smile
is probably subtly different,
the way the smile develops
across the face.
So, that in itself
could be a useful biometric.
Systems like this
make it easier
for security teams to
identify a suspect in a crowd.
Because they can alter
the image-on-file
for comparison.
So, the person
you see in the crowd
may be standing to one side
so their face isn't clear,
and the lighting
may not be ideal.
So what you could do is
take the model that you have
of that person's face,
and then synthetically alter
that model to match
the face in the crowd.
So you would alter
the direction in which
it is looking,
alter the lighting
that's applied to it,
to make it as similar
as possible
to what you're actually seeing,
and then look for a match.
It could also
be used in the movie business.
If you think of what
you see at the cinema nowadays,
it's very impressive.
You go to see a 3D movie,
it looks very realistic,
but it's not interactive.
So if you move your head
to one side,
things don't change
as they do in the real world.
And also different people
in different locations
in the cinema would be able
to see different things.
So what we want to be able
to do is capture something
that's much more immersive
and much more realistic.
In the more
immediate future,
4D imaging could change lives.
So the idea is that
we could have some technology
like this,
that a general practitioner
could use,
to capture a very accurate
and very realistic description
of a skin condition,
and then send that over
the internet to a specialist
in a remote location,
who could interact with that
as though they were
with the patient.
All of which
adds up to imaging
that's almost... almost...
better than the real thing.
And speaking of real things,
when it comes to rockets,
it's hard to top
the Saturn rockets
used by NASA
in the '60s and '70s.
But while those behemoths
are now a thing of the past,
I want you to meet
a group of rocketeers
who are scaling things down,
and having a real blast!
See what I did there?
Have a look.
Ignition.
The last time
the Apollo launched,
it was more than 40 years ago.
But at this farm
in Bethesda, Maryland,
two men have
their sights set on
re-living
and re-igniting history
It goes all the way
back to fourth grade.
One of the kids' older brother
came in and launched
a bunch of Estes,
A, B and C rockets
out in the field
behind the school,
and something
just clicked in my head.
-Okay, hold on a minute.
-Okay.
I know I used to watch
all of the space launches on TV
back in
the '70s, so...
I've been interested in it
for years.
Steve Eves
and Vern Hoag
are gadget wielding,
blast testing rocketeers.
The kind that spend
thousands of hours tinkering
with every detail of building
a scale model rocket.
The ultimate payoff is
to put a smile on your face.
This is all
for bragging rights,
just to say you did it.
These guys have
thousands of dollars
tied up in these rockets,
and they're doing it
just because it's cool.
Today's launch
features a pair
of Saturn 1B replicas.
Ignition.
They're one ninth the size
of the original Apollo.
Both Steve and Vern
started working
on their identical rockets
nearly two years ago.
We actually did not know
that the other was building
these rockets
until we were about
six months into the project.
Alright, powering up
arch number three,
check the continuity
on the pre-tensioner.
The weight of
this rocket is 400 kilograms.
When assembled
and prepped for launch,
they each stand
eight meters tall.
It's going to be fun, yeah.
It's something
you'll never forget!
We drove all the way
from Connecticut.
Did you really?
It's not
a cheap hobby.
If you woke up and just
wanted to do this one day,
it's about $15,000 to fly
something like this one time.
The electrical
components that trigger
the launch and collect
the data are key.
The amount of electronics
is absolutely phenomenal.
We have approximately
ten onboard computers
that are extremely expensive.
Recovery is paramount.
Time
for Vern's launch.
-Ready under feet, Mike?
-Ready.
Go in three,
two, one, ignition!
No! No!
Heads up! Heads up!
Stand clear!
Do not try and touch the rocket!
That big booster's
coming down right by us.
I guess I wish
I knew what happened more.
That's pretty tough.
Vern's rocket drag
separated, literally
pulling the two
rocket sections apart
a lot earlier
than it should have.
Then, the parachutes slid out
early, and it became unbalanced.
In mere seconds,
thousands of hours and
dollars are blown apart.
It hasn't soaked in yet.
I don't know,
I might just build another one.
We'll pick it up and see
what we can come up with.
Now Steve
has even more pressure
weighing on his rocket.
The blood pressure is going up,
butterflies are in the stomach,
there's a whole herd of them
in there.
All
pre-systems checked,
and another Saturn 1B rocket
ready for launch.
Okay folks,
it's time.
Three, two, one, ignition!
We got two chutes!
Yes! Yes!
We got two chutes!
This time, success.
I feel great,
rocket's basically intact.
We may have a little bit
of damage, but it flew good.
Nobody was hurt,
we had a great flight.
Everything's good.
Two endings.
Not all happy,
but these rocketeers are in it
for the thrill, no matter what.
I will rebuild this
and it will fly again.
One thing about
this hobby is,
if you can't handle
crashing them, don't fly them.
That is, in fact,
part of the hobby.
It's a rocket. Nobody knows
what's going to happen
until you hit the button.
Don't you move! We've got
lots more How Tech Works
coming up after the break.
Welcome back to How Tech Works .
I'm Basil Singer.
Now, our next story takes us
deep into the paranormal.
You're about to meet a man
who spent his career
investigating UFO sightings
for the British government.
You're about to see
how the most skeptical
of the non-believers among us
must finally admit
there is actually
something out there.
Well, have a look
and decide for yourselves.
Before there was
Fox Mulder,
there was Nick Pope.
My job was to investigate
the two or three hundred
UFO sightings
that were reported every year,
to see if there was evidence
of any potential threat
to the United Kingdom,
or anything of more
general defense interest.
When the Ministry
of Defense decided to open
a UFO investigation division,
Nick Pope got the call
to lead it.
At first, I was a little worried
that this would look
rather odd on my CV.
But of course I found
the whole subject intriguing.
He was the
first official investigator,
but he had lots to work with.
The Ministry of Defense's
UFO project goes right back
to the 1950s.
The thought was that however
crazy some of the stories
about flying saucers sounded,
if there was something
operating in our airspace,
we ought to know what it was.
Most of
the documents are now housed
at the national archives.
There are
tens of thousands of pages
of documentation on UFOs.
This includes over 12,000
sighting reports that the MOD
received over the years.
Including a memo
from Britain's
most famous civil servant,
Winston Churchill.
What does all this stuff
about flying saucers amount to?
What can it mean?
What is the truth?
Let me have a report
at your convenience.
Investigating
the paranormal is like
working a cold case.
Going through old files
and re-interviewing witnesses.
From there, it's a process
of elimination.
Let's check the flight
paths, weather balloon launches,
satellites, meteors,
all the sorts of things
that you know give rise
to misidentifications.
Nick found
that 80% of the reports
have rational explanations.
Others remain a mystery.
In around 15% of cases,
there was insufficient
information to come to
a definite opinion,
leaving 5% genuinely unknown.
UFOs are seen
by all kinds of people.
But some witnesses
are considered
more reliable than others.
Inevitably, the ones that were
of particular interest
were when the witnesses
were police officers,
military personnel and pilots.
And this is because
those people we regarded
as trained observers.
A police officer is well able
to estimate the distance
that an object is from
his perspective, or the speed.
The same with a pilot,
of course.
Britain's
most famous case,
on par with Roswell,
happened at Rendlesham Forest,
December 1980.
This is the East Gate
at Woodbridge Base.
And it's from this point
that the security personnel
in 1980, saw strange lights
in the forest out there.
And they thought that
an aircraft had crashed.
This is the exact spot
where in 1980 it's claimed
that the UFO landed.
The two United States
Air Force airmen actually got
close enough for one of them
to touch the side
of this thing.
Strange indentations
were found in the ground
where this thing
was supposed to have
come down on three legs.
Let's
identify that as point one.
That stake there,
so y'all know where it is
if we have to sketch it.
Got that, Sergeant Nevilles?
Yes, sir.
What they found was that
radiation levels peaked
in the three indentations
and around the sides
of some of the trees here.
You're
getting readings on the tree
you've taken samples from,
on the side facing the
suspected landing site.
When the UFO
came back the next night,
Deputy Base Commander
Colonel Charles Halt
went out to debunk the event.
Hey, this is eerie.
- Is it back again?
- Yes, sir.
See if you can
get the StarScope on it.
I notice that all the barnyard
animals have gotten quiet now.
Instead,
he became a witness.
This is the spot where,
on the second night,
Colonel Halt and his men
encountered the UFO.
At one point, it fired
a narrow beam of light
down at the ground, that came
very close to his position.
Subsequently, the UFO
was zigzagging around,
as if it was performing
a grid search, Halt said.
And then it shot off
at high speed.
Colonel Halt said that
When he was witnessing the UFO,
the nearby farmyard animals
were going into
an absolute frenzy, as if
something was spooking them.
Nick says
if there was ever a case
to make a skeptic
into a believer, this was it.
Multiple witnesses,
military personnel
from the two bases at
Bentwaters and Woodbridge.
Radiation readings taken
at the landing site.
This wasn't just
lights in the sky,
this thing actually came down.
I'm not sure what people
should draw from any of this.
I think to a certain extent,
the debate about UFOs
is quite polarized.
Skeptics aren't going to be
convinced unless we do have
the archetypal landing
on the White House lawn.
A physical artifact
seems the only way
to end the debate.
It's one of the great
tenets of science,
you must have repeatability.
So scientists must be able
to get this artifact to do
something that we can't do.
And it mustn't be just once.
And while Nick
doesn't believe
in little green men,
he does say: We're not alone.
In this infinite
universe,
with the laws of physics
and chemistry being constant,
I think it's inconceivable
that it's just us.
I'm sure the universe
is teeming with life.
The question of whether
we're being visited or not
is a separate one.
I can't rule out
the possibility,
but the truth of the matter is,
I don't know
Finally, I want to take you to
a farm in the American Midwest,
where a radiologist
and a military physician
have partnered up
to solve a mystery,
like those
forensic crime shows,
and it all starts
with a rifle...
and a phantom leg.
A very real-looking
phantom leg.
It's an odd task.
Duct taping an artificial leg
to a work bench,
only so it can be
riddled with bullets.
Yeah, shooting a body part,
to me never seems natural.
I like to look past that
a little bit,
and what we gain through
this research is going to help
the soldiers and sailors
and marines in the future.
As a military doctor,
Michael Frew has seen
a lot of trauma. But he never
thought he'd be asked
to re-create a sniper
scenario on his farm
out in Lovettsville, Virginia.
Well, he knew we had a range
that was available,
he knew we had weapons,
and he knew we liked to shoot.
Radiologist
Dr. Les Folio
is the man behind this.
When we image this,
as we'll see later,
we look at the path,
measure that angle,
and provided we know
the position, like we do here,
and we often do
for field conditions
because of security cameras,
we can recreate that scene,
if you will,
of what that angle is,
where did that shooter
shoot from.
So,
with a clinometer in hand,
Les begins the day by marking
targets and choosing angles.
So even down here will work,
so about six shots.
An Olympic
pool length away,
the sniper gets into position.
He will be aiming at targets
the size of a penny.
We chose this weapon,
which is a Remington 700,
because it fires
a 30 OTT 6 round
that is very similar in size
and shape and capacity
that our soldiers use.
Yeah, 92. So it was
a two degree pitch down.
We're looking at
plus or minus five degrees.
Okay, I think
we're ready to shoot.
Range is live.
Let's go check.
Target hit.
Next time they want to
make sure they get bone.
This one obviously didn't
hit bone, because it's scraped
and you can see
the internal tissues here,
the red, they look like muscle,
that's what they're made for.
Range is live.
Probably right on.
A stark difference
between the entry
and exit wounds.
Every shot counted.
Well, the CT
will tell the story.
So,
with the badly wounded limb,
Les heads to the lab.
Computer tomography
is the main stay of imaging
when it comes to
ballistic trauma.
We're dealing with
metallic fragments
or bone fragments that have
been secondary missiles.
The images
are revealing.
The bullet enters.
Hits the fibula and then
tibia before exiting.
So, now that the blast test
dummy leg has been
scanned in the CT, we can see
the wound path nicely here.
The imagery proves
that this method
can accurately confirm
where a sniper was standing,
and where the leg
was most vulnerable.
A big turning point, not only
to help solve cold cases,
also to help the living.
A radiologist can quickly
paint the picture,
and then we can do
more effective CT triage,
which means the triage not just
into the CT, "who's next?",
because you may have
20 people waiting,
but who then is next
for the operating room
based on the critical organs
damaged in that wound path.
Beyond the lab,
this data is being compared
to combat casualty files,
teaching soldiers how to
better position themselves
in war, and prompting
the creation of
more protective body armor.
Just one more thing
Dr. Les Folio can be proud of.
You know those forensic
crime shows are still
quite popular,
well I think we've got
the inspiration
for a new series here.
Yes, CSI radiologist
on the scene.
Well, that's all we've
got time for today.
Thanks very much for watching
How Tech Works .
Until next time,
I'm Basil Singer.