0:00:01.023,0:00:02.666
As a boy in Lima,

0:00:02.690,0:00:04.801
my grandfather told me a legend

0:00:04.825,0:00:07.079
of the Spanish conquest of Peru.

0:00:08.007,0:00:11.546
Atahualpa, emperor of the Inca,[br]had been captured and killed.

0:00:11.570,0:00:14.553
Pizarro and his conquistadors[br]had grown rich,

0:00:14.577,0:00:17.763
and tales of their conquest[br]and glory had reached Spain

0:00:17.787,0:00:23.162
and was bringing new waves of Spaniards,[br]hungry for gold and glory.

0:00:24.055,0:00:26.953
They would go into towns and ask the Inca,

0:00:26.977,0:00:30.752
"Where's another civilization[br]we can conquer? Where's more gold?"

0:00:30.776,0:00:34.155
And the Inca, out of vengeance, told them,

0:00:34.648,0:00:36.257
"Go to the Amazon.

0:00:36.767,0:00:39.413
You'll find all the gold you want there.

0:00:39.437,0:00:44.151
In fact, there is a city called Paititi --[br]El Dorado in Spanish --

0:00:44.175,0:00:46.802
made entirely of gold."

0:00:47.303,0:00:49.199
The Spanish set off into the jungle,

0:00:49.223,0:00:52.785
but the few that return[br]come back with stories,

0:00:53.904,0:00:57.711
stories of powerful shamans,

0:00:57.735,0:01:00.639
of warriors with poisoned arrows,

0:01:00.663,0:01:04.441
of trees so tall they blotted out the sun,

0:01:04.465,0:01:09.217
spiders that ate birds,[br]snakes that swallowed men whole,

0:01:09.241,0:01:11.525
and a river that boiled.

0:01:13.795,0:01:15.779
All this became a childhood memory.

0:01:15.803,0:01:16.962
Fifteen years passed.

0:01:16.986,0:01:19.461
I'm working on my PhD at SMU,

0:01:19.485,0:01:23.389
trying to understand[br]Peru's geothermal energy potential,

0:01:23.413,0:01:25.459
when I remember this legend,

0:01:25.483,0:01:27.332
and I began asking that question.

0:01:28.316,0:01:30.863
Could the boiling river exist?

0:01:32.140,0:01:34.339
I asked colleagues from universities,

0:01:34.363,0:01:35.520
the government,

0:01:35.544,0:01:37.037
oil, gas, and mining companies,

0:01:37.061,0:01:39.967
and the answer was a unanimous no.

0:01:40.459,0:01:42.459
And this makes sense.

0:01:43.070,0:01:45.698
You see, boiling rivers[br]do exist in the world,

0:01:45.722,0:01:48.181
but they're generally[br]associated with volcanoes.

0:01:48.649,0:01:50.796
You need a powerful heat source

0:01:50.820,0:01:54.186
to produce such a large[br]geothermal manifestation,

0:01:54.210,0:01:59.414
and as you can see from the red dots[br]here, which are volcanoes,

0:01:59.438,0:02:02.256
we don't have volcanoes in the Amazon,

0:02:02.280,0:02:04.098
nor in most of Peru.

0:02:04.122,0:02:08.390
So it follows: we should not expect[br]to see a boiling river.

0:02:09.660,0:02:13.748
Telling this same story[br]at a family dinner,

0:02:13.772,0:02:16.242
my aunt tells me,

0:02:16.266,0:02:20.248
"But no, Andres, I've been there.[br]I've swum in that river."

0:02:20.898,0:02:24.535
(Laughter)

0:02:24.559,0:02:26.306
Then my uncle jumps in.

0:02:26.330,0:02:29.060
"No, Andres, she's not kidding.

0:02:29.084,0:02:33.067
You see, you can only swim in it[br]after a very heavy rain,

0:02:33.091,0:02:36.337
and it's protected by a powerful shaman.

0:02:36.361,0:02:38.678
Your aunt, she's friends with his wife."

0:02:39.257,0:02:41.062
(Laughter)

0:02:41.086,0:02:42.237
"¿Cómo?" ["Huh?"]

0:02:42.261,0:02:44.475
You know, despite all[br]my scientific skepticism,

0:02:44.499,0:02:48.931
I found myself hiking into the jungle,[br]guided by my aunt,

0:02:48.955,0:02:52.852
over 700 kilometers away[br]from the nearest volcanic center,

0:02:52.876,0:02:56.494
and well, honestly,[br]mentally preparing myself

0:02:56.518,0:03:00.894
to behold the legendary[br]"warm stream of the Amazon."

0:03:02.671,0:03:04.292
But then ...

0:03:04.316,0:03:05.638
I heard something,

0:03:07.255,0:03:08.704
a low surge

0:03:10.347,0:03:13.042
that got louder and louder

0:03:13.792,0:03:15.260
as we came closer.

0:03:16.300,0:03:20.228
It sounded like ocean waves[br]constantly crashing,

0:03:20.252,0:03:24.937
and as we got closer, I saw smoke, vapor,[br]coming up through the trees.

0:03:24.961,0:03:28.260
And then, I saw this.

0:03:29.791,0:03:32.260
I immediately grabbed for my thermometer,

0:03:32.284,0:03:35.561
and the average temperatures in the river

0:03:35.585,0:03:37.572
were 86 degrees C.

0:03:39.540,0:03:42.807
This is not quite[br]the 100-degree C boiling,

0:03:42.831,0:03:45.708
but definitely close enough.

0:03:46.296,0:03:49.388
The river flowed hot and fast.

0:03:50.181,0:03:53.829
I followed it upriver and was led by,[br]actually, the shaman's apprentice

0:03:53.853,0:03:55.637
to the most sacred site on the river.

0:03:55.661,0:03:57.067
And this is what's bizarre --

0:03:57.091,0:03:59.073
It starts off as a cold stream.

0:03:59.502,0:04:01.739
And here, at this site,

0:04:01.763,0:04:03.930
is the home of the Yacumama,

0:04:03.954,0:04:07.297
mother of the waters,[br]a giant serpent spirit

0:04:07.321,0:04:09.394
who births hot and cold water.

0:04:10.015,0:04:14.427
And here we find a hot spring,

0:04:14.451,0:04:19.809
mixing with cold stream water[br]underneath her protective motherly jaws,

0:04:19.833,0:04:23.078
and thus bringing their legends to life.

0:04:24.283,0:04:26.261
The next morning, I woke up and --

0:04:26.285,0:04:28.504
(Laughter)

0:04:28.528,0:04:30.559
I asked for tea.

0:04:30.583,0:04:32.823
I was handed a mug, a tea bag

0:04:32.847,0:04:35.175
and, well, pointed towards the river.

0:04:36.075,0:04:40.584
To my surprise, the water was clean[br]and had a pleasant taste,

0:04:40.608,0:04:43.602
which is a little weird[br]for geothermal systems.

0:04:44.441,0:04:45.989
What was amazing

0:04:46.013,0:04:48.997
is that the locals had always[br]known about this place,

0:04:49.021,0:04:52.725
and that I was by no means[br]the first outsider to see it.

0:04:53.701,0:04:56.638
It was just part of their everyday life.

0:04:57.115,0:04:59.809
They drink its water.

0:04:59.833,0:05:02.388
They take in its vapor.

0:05:02.412,0:05:04.103
They cook with it,

0:05:04.127,0:05:05.637
clean with it,

0:05:05.661,0:05:07.459
even make their medicines with it.

0:05:09.094,0:05:10.840
I met the shaman,

0:05:10.864,0:05:15.053
and he seemed like an extension[br]of the river and his jungle.

0:05:15.848,0:05:17.672
He asked for my intentions

0:05:18.609,0:05:20.188
and listened carefully.

0:05:21.262,0:05:24.373
Then, to my tremendous relief --

0:05:24.397,0:05:27.944
I was freaking out,[br]to be honest with you --

0:05:27.968,0:05:32.247
a smile began to snake across his face,[br]and he just laughed.

0:05:32.271,0:05:34.568
(Laughter)

0:05:35.796,0:05:40.391
I had received the shaman's blessing[br]to study the river,

0:05:40.415,0:05:43.819
on the condition that after I take[br]the water samples

0:05:43.843,0:05:45.359
and analyze them in my lab,

0:05:45.383,0:05:47.193
wherever I was in the world,

0:05:48.265,0:05:52.031
that I pour the waters[br]back into the ground

0:05:52.055,0:05:54.102
so that, as the shaman said,

0:05:54.126,0:05:56.871
the waters could find their way back home.

0:05:59.272,0:06:02.859
I've been back every year[br]since that first visit in 2011,

0:06:02.883,0:06:06.308
and the fieldwork has been exhilarating,

0:06:06.332,0:06:10.129
demanding and at times dangerous.

0:06:10.913,0:06:14.128
One story was even featured[br]in the National Geographic Magazine.

0:06:14.152,0:06:18.239
I was trapped on a small rock[br]about the size of a sheet of paper

0:06:18.263,0:06:20.303
in sandals and board shorts,

0:06:20.327,0:06:22.733
in between an 80 degree C river

0:06:22.757,0:06:26.486
and a hot spring that, well,[br]looked like this, close to boiling.

0:06:27.070,0:06:30.608
And on top of that,[br]it was Amazon rain forest.

0:06:31.206,0:06:33.712
Pshh, pouring rain, couldn't see a thing.

0:06:33.736,0:06:37.298
The temperature differential[br]made it all white. It was a whiteout.

0:06:38.956,0:06:40.361
Intense.

0:06:42.158,0:06:44.596
Now, after years of work,

0:06:44.620,0:06:50.262
I'll soon be submitting my geophysical[br]and geochemical studies for publication.

0:06:51.047,0:06:55.022
And I'd like to share, today,[br]with all of you here, on the TED stage,

0:06:55.046,0:06:58.236
for the first time,[br]some of these discoveries.

0:06:59.340,0:07:01.871
Well, first off, it's not a legend.

0:07:02.468,0:07:03.642
Surprise!

0:07:03.666,0:07:05.991
(Laughter)

0:07:06.015,0:07:08.529
When I first started the research,

0:07:08.553,0:07:11.532
the satellite imagery was too[br]low-resolution to be meaningful.

0:07:11.556,0:07:13.184
There were just no good maps.

0:07:13.754,0:07:16.145
Thanks to the support[br]of the Google Earth team,

0:07:16.169,0:07:17.514
I now have this.

0:07:19.251,0:07:24.601
Not only that, the indigenous name[br]of the river, Shanay-timpishka,

0:07:25.538,0:07:28.268
"boiled with the heat of the sun,"

0:07:29.540,0:07:34.919
indicating that I'm not the first[br]to wonder why the river boils,

0:07:34.943,0:07:38.170
and showing that humanity[br]has always sought to explain

0:07:38.194,0:07:39.733
the world around us.

0:07:41.526,0:07:43.924
So why does the river boil?

0:07:43.948,0:07:48.361
(Bubbling sounds)

0:07:48.385,0:07:50.880
It actually took me three years[br]to get that footage.

0:07:52.879,0:07:54.484
Fault-fed hot springs.

0:07:55.625,0:07:59.258
As we have hot blood running[br]through our veins and arteries,

0:07:59.282,0:08:04.330
so, too, the earth has hot water[br]running through its cracks and faults.

0:08:05.162,0:08:08.757
Where these arteries come to the surface,[br]these earth arteries,

0:08:08.781,0:08:11.155
we'll get geothermal manifestations:

0:08:11.179,0:08:15.199
fumaroles, hot springs[br]and in our case, the boiling river.

0:08:16.459,0:08:20.559
What's truly incredible, though,[br]is the scale of this place.

0:08:21.221,0:08:23.567
Next time you cross the road,[br]think about this.

0:08:24.527,0:08:27.199
The river flows wider than a two-lane road

0:08:27.223,0:08:29.087
along most of its path.

0:08:29.674,0:08:35.017
It flows hot for 6.24 kilometers.

0:08:36.223,0:08:37.732
Truly impressive.

0:08:39.077,0:08:42.077
There are thermal pools[br]larger than this TED stage,

0:08:42.101,0:08:44.577
and that waterfall that you see there

0:08:44.601,0:08:46.639
is six meters tall,

0:08:47.384,0:08:50.676
and all with near-boiling water.

0:08:52.243,0:08:54.299
We mapped the temperatures[br]along the river,

0:08:54.323,0:08:57.441
and this was by far the most[br]demanding part of the fieldwork.

0:08:57.866,0:09:01.553
And the results were just awesome.

0:09:01.577,0:09:04.730
Sorry -- the geoscientist[br]in me coming out.

0:09:04.754,0:09:07.180
And it showed this amazing trend.

0:09:07.204,0:09:09.420
You see, the river starts off cold.

0:09:09.444,0:09:12.439
It then heats up, cools back down,[br]heats up, cools back down,

0:09:12.463,0:09:15.081
heats up again, and then has[br]this beautiful decay curve

0:09:15.105,0:09:17.477
until it smashes into this cold river.

0:09:18.539,0:09:21.333
Now, I understand not all of you[br]are geothermal scientists,

0:09:21.357,0:09:23.582
so to put it in more everyday terms:

0:09:24.225,0:09:26.358
Everyone loves coffee.

0:09:26.382,0:09:27.651
Yes? Good.

0:09:28.517,0:09:32.200
Your regular cup of coffee, 54 degrees C,

0:09:32.224,0:09:34.334
an extra-hot one, well, 60.

0:09:34.896,0:09:37.067
So, put in coffee shop terms,

0:09:37.091,0:09:39.654
the boiling river plots like this.

0:09:40.401,0:09:41.900
There you have your hot coffee.

0:09:42.906,0:09:44.630
Here you have your extra-hot coffee,

0:09:44.654,0:09:46.828
and you can see[br]that there's a bit point there

0:09:46.852,0:09:49.840
where the river is still hotter[br]than even the extra-hot coffee.

0:09:49.864,0:09:51.856
And these are average water temperatures.

0:09:51.880,0:09:56.079
We took these in the dry season to ensure[br]the purest geothermal temperatures.

0:09:56.603,0:09:59.223
But there's a magic number here[br]that's not being shown,

0:09:59.247,0:10:01.777
and that number is 47 degrees C,

0:10:02.856,0:10:05.378
because that's where things start to hurt,

0:10:05.402,0:10:09.575
and I know this from very[br]personal experience.

0:10:10.186,0:10:13.012
Above that temperature,[br]you don't want to get in that water.

0:10:13.036,0:10:14.698
You need to be careful.

0:10:14.722,0:10:16.037
It can be deadly.

0:10:16.704,0:10:18.995
I've seen all sorts of animals fall in,

0:10:19.019,0:10:23.198
and what's shocking to me,[br]is the process is pretty much the same.

0:10:23.898,0:10:26.579
So they fall in and the first thing[br]to go are the eyes.

0:10:26.603,0:10:29.970
Eyes, apparently, cook very quickly.[br]They turn this milky-white color.

0:10:29.994,0:10:31.344
The stream is carrying them.

0:10:31.368,0:10:34.431
They're trying to swim out,[br]but their meat is cooking on the bone

0:10:34.455,0:10:35.621
because it's so hot.

0:10:35.645,0:10:37.490
So they're losing power, losing power,

0:10:37.514,0:10:40.904
until finally they get to a point[br]where hot water goes into their mouths

0:10:40.928,0:10:43.149
and they cook from the inside out.

0:10:44.030,0:10:48.672
(Laughter)

0:10:48.696,0:10:50.815
A bit sadistic, aren't we?

0:10:50.839,0:10:52.179
Jeez.

0:10:53.362,0:10:55.980
Leave them marinating for a little longer.

0:10:57.468,0:11:00.196
What's, again, amazing[br]are these temperatures.

0:11:00.220,0:11:03.698
They're similar to things that I've seen[br]on volcanoes all over the world,

0:11:03.722,0:11:06.259
and even super-volcanoes like Yellowstone.

0:11:06.896,0:11:08.204
But here's the thing:

0:11:10.173,0:11:15.172
the data is showing[br]that the boiling river exists

0:11:15.196,0:11:17.486
independent of volcanism.

0:11:18.491,0:11:21.911
It's neither magmatic[br]or volcanic in origin,

0:11:23.722,0:11:29.925
and again, over 700 kilometers away[br]from the nearest volcanic center.

0:11:30.543,0:11:34.909
How can a boiling river exist like this?

0:11:35.790,0:11:38.946
I've asked geothermal experts[br]and volcanologists for years,

0:11:38.970,0:11:43.787
and I'm still unable to find another[br]non-volcanic geothermal system

0:11:43.811,0:11:45.378
of this magnitude.

0:11:47.121,0:11:48.645
It's unique.

0:11:49.489,0:11:52.931
It's special on a global scale.

0:11:54.708,0:11:57.176
So, still -- how does it work?

0:11:58.460,0:12:00.596
Where do we get this heat?

0:12:01.186,0:12:03.279
There's still more research to be done

0:12:03.303,0:12:06.492
to better constrain the problem[br]and better understand the system,

0:12:06.516,0:12:08.842
but from what the data is telling us now,

0:12:08.866,0:12:12.230
it looks to be the result[br]of a large hydrothermal system.

0:12:13.151,0:12:14.611
Basically, it works like this:

0:12:14.635,0:12:17.943
so, the deeper you go[br]into the earth, the hotter it gets.

0:12:17.967,0:12:20.595
We refer to this[br]as the geothermal gradient.

0:12:21.460,0:12:26.388
The waters could be coming[br]from as far away as glaciers in the Andes,

0:12:26.412,0:12:28.411
then seeping down deep into the earth

0:12:28.435,0:12:31.202
and coming out to form the boiling river

0:12:31.226,0:12:34.233
after getting heated up[br]from the geothermal gradient,

0:12:35.311,0:12:37.550
all due to this unique geologic setting.

0:12:38.587,0:12:41.434
Now, we found[br]that in and around the river --

0:12:41.458,0:12:42.951
this is working with colleagues

0:12:42.975,0:12:45.062
from National Geographic,[br]Dr. Spencer Wells,

0:12:45.086,0:12:47.796
and Dr. Jon Eisen from UC Davis --

0:12:47.820,0:12:51.082
we genetically sequenced[br]the extremophile lifeforms

0:12:51.106,0:12:55.710
living in and around the river,[br]and have found new lifeforms,

0:12:55.734,0:12:59.149
unique species living[br]in the boiling river.

0:13:00.264,0:13:05.507
But again, despite all of these studies,[br]all of these discoveries and the legends,

0:13:06.499,0:13:07.910
a question remains:

0:13:09.704,0:13:12.624
what is the significance[br]of the boiling river?

0:13:14.601,0:13:19.247
What is the significance[br]of this stationary cloud

0:13:19.271,0:13:22.147
that always hovers[br]over this patch of jungle?

0:13:23.333,0:13:25.983
And what is the significance

0:13:26.007,0:13:28.990
of a detail in a childhood legend?

0:13:31.547,0:13:34.655
To the shaman and his community,[br]it's a sacred site.

0:13:35.414,0:13:37.759
To me, as a geoscientist,

0:13:37.783,0:13:40.626
it's a unique geothermal phenomenon.

0:13:42.074,0:13:45.772
But to the illegal loggers[br]and cattle farmers,

0:13:45.796,0:13:49.439
it's just another resource to exploit,

0:13:50.820,0:13:54.607
and to the Peruvian government,[br]it's just another stretch

0:13:54.631,0:14:00.425
of unprotected land ready for development.

0:14:02.186,0:14:05.782
My goal is to ensure[br]that whoever controls this land

0:14:05.806,0:14:09.924
understands the boiling river's[br]uniqueness and significance.

0:14:10.892,0:14:12.630
Because that's the question,

0:14:13.853,0:14:15.487
one of significance.

0:14:16.568,0:14:18.897
And the thing there is,

0:14:20.110,0:14:22.191
we define significance.

0:14:22.998,0:14:25.658
It's us. We have that power.

0:14:25.682,0:14:28.410
We are the ones who draw that line

0:14:28.434,0:14:30.782
between the sacred and the trivial.

0:14:31.736,0:14:34.012
And in this age,

0:14:34.036,0:14:37.534
where everything seems mapped,[br]measured and studied,

0:14:39.290,0:14:41.756
in this age of information,

0:14:42.899,0:14:46.471
I remind you all that discoveries[br]are not just made

0:14:46.495,0:14:51.058
in the black void of the unknown,

0:14:52.153,0:14:55.562
but in the white noise[br]of overwhelming data.

0:14:57.862,0:15:00.847
There remains so much to explore.

0:15:01.958,0:15:05.453
We live in an incredible world.

0:15:05.477,0:15:06.996
So go out,

0:15:08.306,0:15:10.163
be curious,

0:15:11.711,0:15:14.754
because we do live in a world

0:15:15.539,0:15:18.819
where shamans still sing[br]to the spirits of the jungle,

0:15:20.399,0:15:22.240
where rivers do boil,

0:15:23.299,0:15:25.835
and where legends do come to life.

0:15:27.018,0:15:28.199
Thank you very much.

0:15:28.223,0:15:35.206
(Applause)