WEBVTT 00:00:01.023 --> 00:00:02.666 As a boy in Lima, 00:00:02.690 --> 00:00:04.801 my grandfather told me a legend 00:00:04.825 --> 00:00:07.079 of the Spanish conquest of Peru. 00:00:08.007 --> 00:00:11.546 Atahualpa, emperor of the Inca, had been captured and killed. 00:00:11.570 --> 00:00:14.553 Pizarro and his conquistadors had grown rich, 00:00:14.577 --> 00:00:17.763 and tales of their conquest and glory had reached Spain 00:00:17.787 --> 00:00:23.162 and was bringing new waves of Spaniards, hungry for gold and glory. 00:00:24.055 --> 00:00:26.953 They would go into towns and ask the Inca, 00:00:26.977 --> 00:00:30.752 "Where's another civilization we can conquer? Where's more gold?" NOTE Paragraph 00:00:30.776 --> 00:00:34.155 And the Inca, out of vengeance, told them, 00:00:34.648 --> 00:00:36.257 "Go to the Amazon. 00:00:36.767 --> 00:00:39.413 You'll find all the gold you want there. 00:00:39.437 --> 00:00:44.151 In fact, there is a city called Paititi -- El Dorado in Spanish -- 00:00:44.175 --> 00:00:46.802 made entirely of gold." NOTE Paragraph 00:00:47.303 --> 00:00:49.199 The Spanish set off into the jungle, 00:00:49.223 --> 00:00:52.785 but the few that return come back with stories, 00:00:53.904 --> 00:00:57.711 stories of powerful shamans, 00:00:57.735 --> 00:01:00.639 of warriors with poisoned arrows, 00:01:00.663 --> 00:01:04.441 of trees so tall they blotted out the sun, 00:01:04.465 --> 00:01:09.217 spiders that ate birds, snakes that swallowed men whole 00:01:09.241 --> 00:01:11.525 and a river that boiled. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:13.795 --> 00:01:15.779 All this became a childhood memory. 00:01:15.803 --> 00:01:16.962 And years passed. 00:01:16.986 --> 00:01:19.461 I'm working on my PhD at SMU, 00:01:19.485 --> 00:01:23.389 trying to understand Peru's geothermal energy potential, 00:01:23.413 --> 00:01:25.459 when I remember this legend, 00:01:25.483 --> 00:01:27.332 and I began asking that question. 00:01:28.316 --> 00:01:30.863 Could the boiling river exist? NOTE Paragraph 00:01:32.140 --> 00:01:34.339 I asked colleagues from universities, 00:01:34.363 --> 00:01:35.520 the government, 00:01:35.544 --> 00:01:37.037 oil, gas and mining companies, 00:01:37.061 --> 00:01:39.967 and the answer was a unanimous no. 00:01:40.459 --> 00:01:42.459 And this makes sense. 00:01:43.070 --> 00:01:45.698 You see, boiling rivers do exist in the world, 00:01:45.722 --> 00:01:48.181 but they're generally associated with volcanoes. 00:01:48.649 --> 00:01:50.796 You need a powerful heat source 00:01:50.820 --> 00:01:54.186 to produce such a large geothermal manifestation. 00:01:54.210 --> 00:01:59.414 And as you can see from the red dots here, which are volcanoes, 00:01:59.438 --> 00:02:02.256 we don't have volcanoes in the Amazon, 00:02:02.280 --> 00:02:04.098 nor in most of Peru. 00:02:04.122 --> 00:02:08.390 So it follows: We should not expect to see a boiling river. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:09.660 --> 00:02:13.748 Telling this same story at a family dinner, 00:02:13.772 --> 00:02:16.242 my aunt tells me, 00:02:16.266 --> 00:02:20.248 "But no, Andrés, I've been there. I've swum in that river." NOTE Paragraph 00:02:20.898 --> 00:02:24.535 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:02:24.559 --> 00:02:26.306 Then my uncle jumps in. 00:02:26.330 --> 00:02:29.060 "No, Andrés, she's not kidding. 00:02:29.084 --> 00:02:33.067 You see, you can only swim in it after a very heavy rain, 00:02:33.091 --> 00:02:36.337 and it's protected by a powerful shaman. 00:02:36.361 --> 00:02:38.678 Your aunt, she's friends with his wife." NOTE Paragraph 00:02:39.257 --> 00:02:41.062 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:02:41.086 --> 00:02:42.237 "¿Cómo?" ["Huh?"] NOTE Paragraph 00:02:42.261 --> 00:02:44.475 You know, despite all my scientific skepticism, 00:02:44.499 --> 00:02:48.931 I found myself hiking into the jungle, guided by my aunt, 00:02:48.955 --> 00:02:52.852 over 700 kilometers away from the nearest volcanic center, 00:02:52.876 --> 00:02:56.494 and well, honestly, mentally preparing myself 00:02:56.518 --> 00:03:00.894 to behold the legendary "warm stream of the Amazon." NOTE Paragraph 00:03:02.671 --> 00:03:04.292 But then ... 00:03:04.316 --> 00:03:05.638 I heard something, 00:03:07.255 --> 00:03:08.704 a low surge 00:03:10.347 --> 00:03:13.042 that got louder and louder 00:03:13.792 --> 00:03:15.260 as we came closer. 00:03:16.300 --> 00:03:20.228 It sounded like ocean waves constantly crashing, 00:03:20.252 --> 00:03:24.937 and as we got closer, I saw smoke, vapor, coming up through the trees. 00:03:24.961 --> 00:03:28.260 And then, I saw this. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:29.791 --> 00:03:32.260 I immediately grabbed for my thermometer, 00:03:32.284 --> 00:03:35.561 and the average temperatures in the river 00:03:35.585 --> 00:03:37.572 were 86 degrees C. 00:03:39.540 --> 00:03:42.807 This is not quite the 100-degree C boiling 00:03:42.831 --> 00:03:45.708 but definitely close enough. 00:03:46.296 --> 00:03:49.388 The river flowed hot and fast. 00:03:50.181 --> 00:03:53.829 I followed it upriver and was led by, actually, the shaman's apprentice 00:03:53.853 --> 00:03:55.637 to the most sacred site on the river. 00:03:55.661 --> 00:03:57.067 And this is what's bizarre -- 00:03:57.091 --> 00:03:59.073 It starts off as a cold stream. 00:03:59.502 --> 00:04:01.739 And here, at this site, 00:04:01.763 --> 00:04:03.930 is the home of the Yacumama, 00:04:03.954 --> 00:04:07.297 mother of the waters, a giant serpent spirit 00:04:07.321 --> 00:04:09.394 who births hot and cold water. 00:04:10.015 --> 00:04:14.427 And here we find a hot spring, 00:04:14.451 --> 00:04:19.809 mixing with cold stream water underneath her protective motherly jaws 00:04:19.833 --> 00:04:23.078 and thus bringing their legends to life. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:24.283 --> 00:04:26.261 The next morning, I woke up and -- NOTE Paragraph 00:04:26.285 --> 00:04:28.504 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:04:28.528 --> 00:04:30.559 I asked for tea. 00:04:30.583 --> 00:04:32.823 I was handed a mug, a tea bag 00:04:32.847 --> 00:04:35.175 and, well, pointed towards the river. 00:04:36.075 --> 00:04:40.584 To my surprise, the water was clean and had a pleasant taste, 00:04:40.608 --> 00:04:43.602 which is a little weird for geothermal systems. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:44.441 --> 00:04:45.989 What was amazing 00:04:46.013 --> 00:04:48.997 is that the locals had always known about this place, 00:04:49.021 --> 00:04:52.725 and that I was by no means the first outsider to see it. 00:04:53.701 --> 00:04:56.638 It was just part of their everyday life. 00:04:57.115 --> 00:04:59.809 They drink its water. 00:04:59.833 --> 00:05:02.388 They take in its vapor. 00:05:02.412 --> 00:05:04.103 They cook with it, 00:05:04.127 --> 00:05:05.637 clean with it, 00:05:05.661 --> 00:05:07.459 even make their medicines with it. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:09.094 --> 00:05:10.840 I met the shaman, 00:05:10.864 --> 00:05:15.053 and he seemed like an extension of the river and his jungle. 00:05:15.848 --> 00:05:17.672 He asked for my intentions 00:05:18.609 --> 00:05:20.188 and listened carefully. 00:05:21.262 --> 00:05:24.373 Then, to my tremendous relief -- 00:05:24.397 --> 00:05:27.944 I was freaking out, to be honest with you -- 00:05:27.968 --> 00:05:32.247 a smile began to snake across his face, and he just laughed. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:32.271 --> 00:05:34.568 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:05:35.796 --> 00:05:40.391 I had received the shaman's blessing to study the river, 00:05:40.415 --> 00:05:43.819 on the condition that after I take the water samples 00:05:43.843 --> 00:05:45.359 and analyze them in my lab, 00:05:45.383 --> 00:05:47.193 wherever I was in the world, 00:05:48.265 --> 00:05:52.031 that I pour the waters back into the ground 00:05:52.055 --> 00:05:54.102 so that, as the shaman said, 00:05:54.126 --> 00:05:56.871 the waters could find their way back home. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:59.272 --> 00:06:02.859 I've been back every year since that first visit in 2011, 00:06:02.883 --> 00:06:06.308 and the fieldwork has been exhilarating, 00:06:06.332 --> 00:06:10.129 demanding and at times dangerous. 00:06:10.913 --> 00:06:14.128 One story was even featured in National Geographic Magazine. 00:06:14.152 --> 00:06:18.239 I was trapped on a small rock about the size of a sheet of paper 00:06:18.263 --> 00:06:20.303 in sandals and board shorts, 00:06:20.327 --> 00:06:22.733 in between an 80 degree C river 00:06:22.757 --> 00:06:26.486 and a hot spring that, well, looked like this, close to boiling. 00:06:27.070 --> 00:06:30.608 And on top of that, it was Amazon rain forest. 00:06:31.206 --> 00:06:33.712 Pshh, pouring rain, couldn't see a thing. 00:06:33.736 --> 00:06:37.298 The temperature differential made it all white. It was a whiteout. 00:06:38.956 --> 00:06:40.361 Intense. NOTE Paragraph 00:06:42.158 --> 00:06:44.596 Now, after years of work, 00:06:44.620 --> 00:06:50.262 I'll soon be submitting my geophysical and geochemical studies for publication. 00:06:51.047 --> 00:06:55.022 And I'd like to share, today, with all of you here, on the TED stage, 00:06:55.046 --> 00:06:58.236 for the first time, some of these discoveries. NOTE Paragraph 00:06:59.340 --> 00:07:01.871 Well, first off, it's not a legend. 00:07:02.468 --> 00:07:03.642 Surprise! NOTE Paragraph 00:07:03.666 --> 00:07:05.991 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:07:06.015 --> 00:07:08.529 When I first started the research, 00:07:08.553 --> 00:07:11.532 the satellite imagery was too low-resolution to be meaningful. 00:07:11.556 --> 00:07:13.184 There were just no good maps. 00:07:13.754 --> 00:07:16.145 Thanks to the support of the Google Earth team, 00:07:16.169 --> 00:07:17.514 I now have this. 00:07:19.251 --> 00:07:24.601 Not only that, the indigenous name of the river, Shanay-timpishka, 00:07:25.538 --> 00:07:28.268 "boiled with the heat of the sun," 00:07:29.540 --> 00:07:34.919 indicating that I'm not the first to wonder why the river boils, 00:07:34.943 --> 00:07:38.170 and showing that humanity has always sought to explain 00:07:38.194 --> 00:07:39.733 the world around us. NOTE Paragraph 00:07:41.526 --> 00:07:43.924 So why does the river boil? NOTE Paragraph 00:07:43.948 --> 00:07:48.361 (Bubbling sounds) NOTE Paragraph 00:07:48.385 --> 00:07:50.880 It actually took me three years to get that footage. NOTE Paragraph 00:07:52.879 --> 00:07:54.484 Fault-fed hot springs. 00:07:55.625 --> 00:07:59.258 As we have hot blood running through our veins and arteries, 00:07:59.282 --> 00:08:04.330 so, too, the earth has hot water running through its cracks and faults. 00:08:05.162 --> 00:08:08.757 Where these arteries come to the surface, these earth arteries, 00:08:08.781 --> 00:08:11.155 we'll get geothermal manifestations: 00:08:11.179 --> 00:08:15.199 fumaroles, hot springs and in our case, the boiling river. NOTE Paragraph 00:08:16.459 --> 00:08:20.559 What's truly incredible, though, is the scale of this place. 00:08:21.221 --> 00:08:23.567 Next time you cross the road, think about this. 00:08:24.527 --> 00:08:27.199 The river flows wider than a two-lane road 00:08:27.223 --> 00:08:29.087 along most of its path. 00:08:29.674 --> 00:08:35.017 It flows hot for 6.24 kilometers. 00:08:36.223 --> 00:08:37.732 Truly impressive. 00:08:39.077 --> 00:08:42.077 There are thermal pools larger than this TED stage, 00:08:42.101 --> 00:08:44.577 and that waterfall that you see there 00:08:44.601 --> 00:08:46.639 is six meters tall -- 00:08:47.384 --> 00:08:50.676 and all with near-boiling water. NOTE Paragraph 00:08:52.243 --> 00:08:54.299 We mapped the temperatures along the river, 00:08:54.323 --> 00:08:57.441 and this was by far the most demanding part of the fieldwork. 00:08:57.866 --> 00:09:01.553 And the results were just awesome. 00:09:01.577 --> 00:09:04.730 Sorry -- the geoscientist in me coming out. 00:09:04.754 --> 00:09:07.180 And it showed this amazing trend. 00:09:07.204 --> 00:09:09.420 You see, the river starts off cold. 00:09:09.444 --> 00:09:12.439 It then heats up, cools back down, heats up, cools back down, 00:09:12.463 --> 00:09:15.081 heats up again, and then has this beautiful decay curve 00:09:15.105 --> 00:09:17.477 until it smashes into this cold river. NOTE Paragraph 00:09:18.539 --> 00:09:21.333 Now, I understand not all of you are geothermal scientists, 00:09:21.357 --> 00:09:23.582 so to put it in more everyday terms: 00:09:24.225 --> 00:09:26.358 Everyone loves coffee. 00:09:26.382 --> 00:09:27.651 Yes? Good. 00:09:28.517 --> 00:09:32.200 Your regular cup of coffee, 54 degrees C, 00:09:32.224 --> 00:09:34.334 an extra-hot one, well, 60. 00:09:34.896 --> 00:09:37.067 So, put in coffee shop terms, 00:09:37.091 --> 00:09:39.654 the boiling river plots like this. 00:09:40.401 --> 00:09:41.900 There you have your hot coffee. 00:09:42.906 --> 00:09:44.630 Here you have your extra-hot coffee, 00:09:44.654 --> 00:09:46.828 and you can see that there's a bit point there 00:09:46.852 --> 00:09:49.840 where the river is still hotter than even the extra-hot coffee. 00:09:49.864 --> 00:09:51.856 And these are average water temperatures. 00:09:51.880 --> 00:09:56.079 We took these in the dry season to ensure the purest geothermal temperatures. NOTE Paragraph 00:09:56.603 --> 00:09:59.223 But there's a magic number here that's not being shown, 00:09:59.247 --> 00:10:01.777 and that number is 47 degrees C, 00:10:02.856 --> 00:10:05.378 because that's where things start to hurt, 00:10:05.402 --> 00:10:09.575 and I know this from very personal experience. 00:10:10.186 --> 00:10:13.012 Above that temperature, you don't want to get in that water. 00:10:13.036 --> 00:10:14.698 You need to be careful. 00:10:14.722 --> 00:10:16.037 It can be deadly. NOTE Paragraph 00:10:16.704 --> 00:10:18.995 I've seen all sorts of animals fall in, 00:10:19.019 --> 00:10:23.198 and what's shocking to me, is the process is pretty much the same. 00:10:23.898 --> 00:10:26.579 So they fall in and the first thing to go are the eyes. 00:10:26.603 --> 00:10:29.970 Eyes, apparently, cook very quickly. They turn this milky-white color. 00:10:29.994 --> 00:10:31.344 The stream is carrying them. 00:10:31.368 --> 00:10:34.431 They're trying to swim out, but their meat is cooking on the bone 00:10:34.455 --> 00:10:35.621 because it's so hot. 00:10:35.645 --> 00:10:37.490 So they're losing power, losing power, 00:10:37.514 --> 00:10:40.904 until finally they get to a point where hot water goes into their mouths 00:10:40.928 --> 00:10:43.149 and they cook from the inside out. NOTE Paragraph 00:10:43.440 --> 00:10:48.672 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:10:48.696 --> 00:10:50.815 A bit sadistic, aren't we? 00:10:50.839 --> 00:10:52.179 Jeez. 00:10:53.362 --> 00:10:55.980 Leave them marinating for a little longer. 00:10:57.468 --> 00:11:00.196 What's, again, amazing are these temperatures. 00:11:00.220 --> 00:11:03.698 They're similar to things that I've seen on volcanoes all over the world 00:11:03.722 --> 00:11:06.259 and even super-volcanoes like Yellowstone. NOTE Paragraph 00:11:06.896 --> 00:11:08.204 But here's the thing: 00:11:10.173 --> 00:11:15.172 the data is showing that the boiling river exists 00:11:15.196 --> 00:11:17.486 independent of volcanism. 00:11:18.491 --> 00:11:21.911 It's neither magmatic or volcanic in origin, 00:11:23.722 --> 00:11:29.925 and again, over 700 kilometers away from the nearest volcanic center. NOTE Paragraph 00:11:30.543 --> 00:11:34.909 How can a boiling river exist like this? 00:11:35.790 --> 00:11:38.946 I've asked geothermal experts and volcanologists for years, 00:11:38.970 --> 00:11:43.787 and I'm still unable to find another non-volcanic geothermal system 00:11:43.811 --> 00:11:45.378 of this magnitude. 00:11:47.121 --> 00:11:48.645 It's unique. 00:11:49.489 --> 00:11:52.931 It's special on a global scale. 00:11:54.708 --> 00:11:57.176 So, still -- how does it work? 00:11:58.460 --> 00:12:00.596 Where do we get this heat? 00:12:01.186 --> 00:12:03.279 There's still more research to be done 00:12:03.303 --> 00:12:06.492 to better constrain the problem and better understand the system, 00:12:06.516 --> 00:12:08.842 but from what the data is telling us now, 00:12:08.866 --> 00:12:12.230 it looks to be the result of a large hydrothermal system. NOTE Paragraph 00:12:13.151 --> 00:12:14.611 Basically, it works like this: 00:12:14.635 --> 00:12:17.943 So, the deeper you go into the earth, the hotter it gets. 00:12:17.967 --> 00:12:20.595 We refer to this as the geothermal gradient. 00:12:21.460 --> 00:12:26.388 The waters could be coming from as far away as glaciers in the Andes, 00:12:26.412 --> 00:12:28.411 then seeping down deep into the earth 00:12:28.435 --> 00:12:31.202 and coming out to form the boiling river 00:12:31.226 --> 00:12:34.233 after getting heated up from the geothermal gradient, 00:12:35.311 --> 00:12:37.550 all due to this unique geologic setting. NOTE Paragraph 00:12:38.587 --> 00:12:41.434 Now, we found that in and around the river -- 00:12:41.458 --> 00:12:42.951 this is working with colleagues 00:12:42.975 --> 00:12:45.062 from National Geographic, Dr. Spencer Wells, 00:12:45.086 --> 00:12:47.796 and Dr. Jon Eisen from UC Davis -- 00:12:47.820 --> 00:12:51.082 we genetically sequenced the extremophile lifeforms 00:12:51.106 --> 00:12:55.710 living in and around the river, and have found new lifeforms, 00:12:55.734 --> 00:12:59.149 unique species living in the boiling river. NOTE Paragraph 00:13:00.264 --> 00:13:05.507 But again, despite all of these studies, all of these discoveries and the legends, 00:13:06.499 --> 00:13:07.499 a question remains: 00:13:09.704 --> 00:13:12.624 What is the significance of the boiling river? 00:13:14.601 --> 00:13:19.247 What is the significance of this stationary cloud 00:13:19.271 --> 00:13:22.147 that always hovers over this patch of jungle? 00:13:23.333 --> 00:13:25.983 And what is the significance 00:13:26.007 --> 00:13:28.990 of a detail in a childhood legend? NOTE Paragraph 00:13:31.547 --> 00:13:34.655 To the shaman and his community, it's a sacred site. 00:13:35.414 --> 00:13:37.759 To me, as a geoscientist, 00:13:37.783 --> 00:13:40.626 it's a unique geothermal phenomenon. 00:13:42.074 --> 00:13:45.772 But to the illegal loggers and cattle farmers, 00:13:45.796 --> 00:13:49.439 it's just another resource to exploit. 00:13:50.820 --> 00:13:54.607 And to the Peruvian government, it's just another stretch 00:13:54.631 --> 00:14:00.575 of unprotected land ready for development. NOTE Paragraph 00:14:02.186 --> 00:14:05.782 My goal is to ensure that whoever controls this land 00:14:05.806 --> 00:14:09.924 understands the boiling river's uniqueness and significance. 00:14:10.892 --> 00:14:12.630 Because that's the question, 00:14:13.853 --> 00:14:15.487 one of significance. 00:14:16.568 --> 00:14:18.897 And the thing there is, 00:14:20.110 --> 00:14:22.191 we define significance. 00:14:22.998 --> 00:14:25.658 It's us. We have that power. 00:14:25.682 --> 00:14:28.410 We are the ones who draw that line 00:14:28.434 --> 00:14:30.782 between the sacred and the trivial. 00:14:31.736 --> 00:14:34.012 And in this age, 00:14:34.036 --> 00:14:37.534 where everything seems mapped, measured and studied, 00:14:39.290 --> 00:14:41.756 in this age of information, 00:14:42.899 --> 00:14:46.471 I remind you all that discoveries are not just made 00:14:46.495 --> 00:14:51.058 in the black void of the unknown 00:14:52.153 --> 00:14:55.562 but in the white noise of overwhelming data. NOTE Paragraph 00:14:57.862 --> 00:15:00.847 There remains so much to explore. 00:15:01.958 --> 00:15:05.453 We live in an incredible world. 00:15:05.477 --> 00:15:06.996 So go out. 00:15:08.306 --> 00:15:10.163 Be curious. 00:15:11.711 --> 00:15:14.754 Because we do live in a world 00:15:15.539 --> 00:15:18.819 where shamans still sing to the spirits of the jungle, 00:15:20.399 --> 00:15:22.240 where rivers do boil 00:15:23.299 --> 00:15:25.835 and where legends do come to life. NOTE Paragraph 00:15:27.018 --> 00:15:28.199 Thank you very much. NOTE Paragraph 00:15:28.223 --> 00:15:36.809 (Applause)