- 2 months ago
Uses high-speed photography and specialized camera technology to reveal natural phenomena and biological mechanics that the human eye cannot perceive
这部影片带我们一窥一个引人入胜的平行世界，同时也让我们意识到人类视觉的局限性。在讲述其他故事之余，我们将深入探讨……
这部影片带我们一窥一个引人入胜的平行世界，同时也让我们意识到人类视觉的局限性。在讲述其他故事之余，我们将深入探讨……
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CreativityTranscript
00:03Ours is a high-speed world.
00:07Too fast for our senses.
00:09We see only a fraction of what goes on around us.
00:13It's a bit like viewing the world in time-lapse.
00:19What we can't see evades us,
00:22but it is there to be seen
00:24with the help of cutting-edge camera technology.
00:30This is the fascinating journey
00:32into a parallel universe of super-speed.
00:38Where moments of sheer magic
00:41are revealed in fantastic detail.
00:46And the invisible becomes visible.
00:51What the naked eye sees is just a tiny part
00:55of a much bigger reality.
00:58Now, super-slow-motion images uncover a mysterious cosmos.
01:03The world as we have never seen it before.
01:17Of how exceptional athletes like triple world boxing champion
01:22Susie Cantikian achieve their extraordinary abilities
01:25has long baffled science.
01:29But ultra-high-speed cameras now reveal
01:32that Susie punches faster than the human eye can see.
01:37A killer tongue strikes in just 130 milliseconds.
01:41Too fast to react to.
01:45In super-slow-motion, the Shaolin monk's legendary skills
01:50are shown in stunning detail.
01:59Carefully adapted cameras reveal a falcon's breathtaking high-speed perspective.
02:06Keeping seven balls in the air may seem impossible.
02:10But, using special eye-tracking devices,
02:13we explain how a juggler pulls off his high-speed act.
02:28Hamburg Harbour.
02:29A panorama full of visual attractions.
02:32Today, in just one hour,
02:34our eyes have to cope with more visual stimulants
02:37than we would have had to deal with in an entire day,
02:40just 200 years ago.
02:45Our eyes permanently scan our environment.
02:48We can register new information about four times a second.
02:52And that means we only ever see a fraction
02:56of what actually goes on right in front of us.
03:02Genghis is the best power mover in the world.
03:05His ultra-fast movements are fascinating,
03:07but we can never really see the detail.
03:25In super-slow-motion, the real magic behind his performance comes to life.
03:53But why do we miss so much of what goes on around us in real time?
04:10Our eyes perceive the world in single images.
04:14Between them, for a fraction of a second, we are blind.
04:18Our brain needs time to process the registered information.
04:25It's a bit like a flipbook.
04:27We register around 20 pictures a second,
04:30which the brain then interprets as continuous motion,
04:33just like a film.
04:36High-speed cameras, in contrast,
04:39can record several thousand images a second.
04:51Overloaded with stimulants and information,
04:54our eyes are simply not able to cope with the fast pace of the world.
04:58Nor do they need to.
05:00What we can see naturally is all we theoretically need to survive.
05:05High-speed cameras reveal details we're simply unable to register with the naked eye.
05:16But what is speed?
05:18What do we perceive as slow?
05:21And what do we consider fast?
05:25A roller-coaster ride allows us to enter a world of extremes.
05:40We are fascinated by speed.
05:43And for a few moments, our perception of time is left confused.
05:48Is there a difference between perceived time and actual time?
06:05People experiencing extraordinary events often explain how time stood still
06:11and everything happened as if in slow motion.
06:15So, do the felt seconds correspond to actual time?
06:21In fact, time is a construct of our senses.
06:25They parcel reality into small packages of time,
06:29which are then filed away in our brains.
06:33Only extraordinary experiences,
06:35and the technical tricks of new high-speed cameras,
06:39allow us to escape this pre-formatted perception of time and speed.
06:54It's as if we're looking into a new dimension of time,
06:58one we're usually excluded from.
07:02The magic of slow motion exposes the reality of speed.
07:14The flight of this great tit lasts only seconds.
07:18Too fast for us to make out details.
07:24But using high-speed cameras,
07:26we can unravel the fascinating airborne maneuvers
07:30of these tiny 20-gram aerial acrobats.
07:40During its approach to the nesting box,
07:43the little bird seems to be suspended in mid-air for a fraction of a second,
07:47wings folded neatly behind its back.
07:51How and why is not fully understood.
07:54It's probably to control aerodynamics and reduce drag.
08:01The flight of birds still poses many questions for modern science.
08:06Questions that could have far-reaching implications for future technology.
08:12Flying by beating your wings remains the most efficient method at low speeds,
08:18far superior to the mechanisms of propellers or engines.
08:24Ultra-slow motion footage can provide incredible new insights.
08:28But there are still many unknowns.
08:31How do birds behave at night?
08:33Or when flying through clouds and in bad weather?
08:38These are a few of the questions biologist Martin Wieckelski is trying to answer,
08:45using some unusual methods.
08:47In his Cessna, he follows signals emitted by tiny transmitters
08:52fitted to animals like birds, butterflies, insects and bats.
08:59The transmitters relay the animal's exact positions
09:02and measure their heartbeats.
09:04Like this blackbird, about to embark on its annual migration
09:09to its winter quarters over a thousand kilometers away in the south of France.
09:16Slow motion images, combined with the data from the transmitters,
09:20provide completely new insights into the aerial antics of birds,
09:24including the hunting behavior of falcons.
09:34Vyckelski is fascinated by these high-speed aerobatics.
09:42Falcons have a different perception of speed.
09:45They actually see in slow motion,
09:48enabling them to strike their prey in the space of just a split second.
09:55Fyckelski wants to find out if the fastest hunters on Earth are also the most successful,
10:00or if success is down to power and strength on impact with their prey.
10:07Together with falconer Paul Klima, he fits a camera to a peregrine falcon.
10:13Special sensors measure the bird's acceleration and heartbeat.
10:19The research is still in its infancy, and the forces at work are so powerful
10:24that the technology often succumbs to the bird's extreme maneuvers.
10:39But the camera strapped to the falcon's back gives a first-hand impression of its ultra-fast flying speeds.
10:47It also gives an initial insight into the falcon's in-flight behavior.
10:55But what exactly the bird's eye perceives remains a mystery.
11:05Well, it's really interesting to see what the falcon is looking at from this mounted camera.
11:11Because as a pilot, you want to know what these animals experience, what they see,
11:16and then how they decide to either sort of continue their flight or to dive down.
11:23It's when the falcon gears up to strike its prey that speeds of more than 300 kilometers per hour are
11:29often achieved.
11:40The falcons are some of the fastest birds in the world.
11:43They can speed up when they try to hit the target, when they try to hit a big bird or
11:49a small animal on the ground.
11:54They probably experience some of the biggest G-forces, similar to astronauts or fighter pilots.
12:02And we're trying to understand how they use these forces also to hit these targets.
12:12For some, the ability to fly as fast as a falcon is a dream.
12:16It may not be achievable in person, but specially designed model airplanes are the next best thing.
12:24Rafael Pirca has equipped his remote-controlled model with cutting-edge technology.
12:32Monitors have been built into a pair of skiing goggles, which transmit the high-definition images recorded by onboard cameras
12:40in real time.
12:44The planes can be controlled over long distances as they reach speeds of up to 180 kilometers per hour and
12:51climb to 5,000 meters.
12:55It almost feels like you're flying the models yourself and makes for an adrenaline-fueled ride.
13:01One that has already attracted millions of viewers on the internet.
13:14Engaging in high-speed aerial chases and daredevil maneuvers, the feeling of flying is virtually complete.
13:26But, as exciting as it is, this is still a far cry from the aerobatic maneuvers of the Peregrine Falcon,
13:34let alone its top speeds.
13:47Some people, however, really do live at top speed.
13:57Susie Kentikian is the fastest boxer in history, an unbeaten three-time world featherweight champion.
14:10The 24-year-old athlete is permanently in motion.
14:23During a fight, the graceful featherweight turns into a killer queen, seemingly able to anticipate every one of her opponent's
14:32punches.
14:35Susie Kentikian is faster than the human eye.
14:45So, what is her secret?
14:47How can she defy her own mind's processing time to react with such lightning speed?
14:56In slow motion, Susie appears to be dancing.
15:00Elastic steps and jumps, her body's supreme balance, and every detail of her agile movements become visible.
15:09But where does this petite fighting ace find her strength and speed?
15:14How can she anticipate her opponent's every move?
15:19Scientists want to understand how this super-fast boxer uses her body and senses.
15:27I would say that all this comes to me automatically.
15:31I'm the type of fighter who shouldn't spend too much time thinking in the ring.
15:35If I try to think too much, I can't really generate my punches.
15:39I'm the type of fighter who goes into a fight and immediately tries to act, without analyzing it all too
15:46much.
15:46A bit like starting a film and letting it run.
15:52Sports scientist Heiko Wagner is part of the research team.
15:56In order to measure Susie's muscle activity, he positions 20 electrodes on the athlete's skin.
16:05Infrared markers serve to construct a three-dimensional movement profile.
16:21Wired up like a cyborg, Susie begins the experiment.
16:40Film at high speed, a thousand frames a second, the anatomy of each punch becomes visible.
16:50The fists hit the punch bag at exactly 13 meters a second.
16:55That's almost a third faster than all previously measured male boxing legends.
17:02Susie Kentikian can reach an astonishing frequency of 400 punches a minute.
17:09We know data of Muhammad Ali.
17:12He punched less than 200 milliseconds.
17:16Our data of Susie Kentikian show that she is 50% faster than Muhammad Ali.
17:32It's her incredible speed that lies at the heart of Susie Kentikian's success.
17:43Her opponents are simply unable to see her punches coming, let alone react to them.
17:58The speed of her movement suggests to the scientists that this is no longer a process controlled and coordinated by
18:05active thoughts.
18:15A further experiment should shed more light on this.
18:19Six cameras register infrared flashes that are reflected by markers placed on the boxer's arms.
18:27The data allows the scientists to create an exact profile of her punches.
18:35The result is surprising.
18:38Robo Susie punches as predictably as a machine.
18:44One punch mirrors the next for minutes on end.
18:49As all professional boxers can read their opponents, they have, during years of training, acquired the possibilities to see even
19:04the slightest movement in the eye, the opening in the eye or something else.
19:08And so she can anticipate the punch before it even starts.
19:16Susie's incredible punching talent is the result of whatever processes take place inside her brain.
19:22Each deliberate movement begins in the part of the cerebral cortex reserved for motor function.
19:28From there, the order to move is issued via the cerebellum to the spinal cord and finally the muscles.
19:42Years of training create a program of movements that's processed in the cerebellum.
19:47This is where the sensory information needed for coordination is stored.
19:53In essence, the cerebellum begins to respond independently and routinely.
19:59Too many thoughts interfere with the routine.
20:06Susie Kontikyan can rely 100% on her automatic reactions and movements.
20:12But the moment she begins to think and analyze, perhaps to deliver an extra hard punch, the execution of that
20:20punch suffers.
20:22In a fight, she uses her extraordinary field for speed to assess her opponent's movements.
20:28This means she can anticipate the punches before they come.
20:34You definitely have to be able to feel the punch, in some ways be able to smell it.
20:40You can't just go for it in the first round.
20:43You first have to watch what she does, how she punches and how she reacts to me.
21:01If I would try to punch Susie's nose, which I would never dare to do,
21:07I would never succeed to really hit her.
21:11First of all, I would be much too slow.
21:15And second, she would anticipate any of my punches literally years before I can punch her.
21:26400 punches a minute is phenomenal.
21:29And for most of us, almost unbelievable.
21:34But, in comparison to the wingbeats of a bee, even Susie's boxing prowess seems incredibly slow.
21:43High above the rooftops of Frankfurt, we delve into the universe of the humble honeybee.
21:49An almost invisible world right in the heart of the metropolis.
22:04This is the home of 600,000 busy bees.
22:10Humans have kept bees for eons, yet their sophisticated insect societies continue to hold many secrets.
22:19Mysteries that remain invisible to the naked eye.
22:24This honeybee is about to land.
22:27A delicate creature executing a delicate procedure, revealed in astonishing detail through the macro lens of a high-speed camera.
22:39But, all is not what it seems.
22:42These delicate social insects aren't really known for their antisocial behaviour.
22:48The details revealed by the high-speed camera provide new insights.
23:12Bees are tiny aerial acrobats.
23:15While out collecting nectar from flowers, bees can hover in mid-air to harvest the precious liquid.
23:22Literally, on the fly.
23:38The bees' wings work like propellers, beating up to 270 times a second.
23:44They generate turbulences that keep the insects aloft and allow them to reach speeds of 30 km an hour.
23:54To add to their astonishing flying abilities, bees have an extraordinary sense of movement.
24:00They see in slow motion, so to speak.
24:11Insect eyes work much like high-speed cameras.
24:15But how do bees find their way back to the hive when searching for food sources?
24:22Bees perceive the world in completely different ways to humans.
24:26When following familiar roots, they resort to an astonishing trick.
24:31They switch their vision to black and white.
24:34This minimises the information registered by their eyes.
24:44Humans can only vaguely imagine the parallel universe in which bees live.
24:49They perceive movements as around 13 times slower than us.
24:54Because visual stimuli are processed more quickly.
25:03They also register an unbelievable number of images every second.
25:08Up to 330, compared to only 25 for humans.
25:20The way bees see flowers is particularly complicated.
25:24Each of their two compound eyes consists of about 6,000 individual eyes,
25:30which create a pattern of countless pixels.
25:34The image only becomes sharper when the bee comes closer.
25:48To ensure a safe approach,
25:50ultraviolet landing strips help guide the bees.
25:54And scout bees then have to relay the information
25:58about the best flower sources to their siblings back in the hive.
26:04This bee was first at their source early in the morning.
26:08Since then, it spent hours returning with more helpers.
26:12All here to harvest the nectar.
26:21The secret of bee language is the waggle dance,
26:25which serves to exchange information in the darkness of the beehive.
26:31The bee relaying the information begins to shake its body about 15 times a second.
26:37It dances more quickly if the flowers are particularly rich.
26:45To decode the signals,
26:47other bees try to get as close as possible
26:49and touch the bee with their antennas.
26:53High-speed cameras enable us to decode each dance move.
27:04The position in which the bees dance provides information about the direction of the nectar source.
27:11The duration suggests its distance.
27:14A highly complex array of processes,
27:17all taking place inside this tiny insect.
27:25Just as much of an enigma as the honey bee is the secret world of the Shaolin monks.
27:33Meditation is said to give the monks legendary power and strength.
27:41As well as breathtaking speed.
27:48Years of meticulous training, combined with a deep understanding of movement, speed and power,
27:55enable the monks to develop incredibly precise and harmonious movements.
28:05But what exactly happens to the energy delivered by the blow of one fighter
28:10and concentrated on a single point on the body of the other remains a mystery.
28:22Only their faces give away the concentration and physical exertion needed.
28:41Xiyan Yao is prepared to take part in an extraordinary experiment.
28:46He wants to burst a balloon by throwing a thin needle like a projectile through a pane of glass.
29:04It sounds impossible, but images recorded at a thousand frames a second provide the proof.
29:11The needle hits the glass with enormous force and crashes right through it.
29:28What is difficult today is to explain sufficiently the ability to combine and to concentrate energy from different areas,
29:40physical, mental energy, and to concentrate them and to focus on one special person.
29:46What is the point?
29:47But when looking to the technology, years ago we have not been able to explain or even to see the
29:55laser.
29:56And today it's not only possible to see and to analyze it, but also to use it for practical purposes.
30:05The Shaolin Monastery has been here in China's Henan Province for almost 1500 years.
30:14Legend has it that just a dozen of its monks could take on entire armies.
30:22Many children arrive at the monastery aged seven in order to train their chi, their inner strength.
30:29The chi can only be controlled and guided by the mind.
30:39It's a question of learning how to put mind over matter.
30:45Extreme concentration, meditation, years of training, and the pressure of not being allowed to fail.
30:53All of this comes together in strength and movements of the highest perfection.
31:02But the secret of the Shaolin teachings, the monk's chi, can't be captured by high-speed cameras.
31:10It's an exquisite state of mind.
31:28But cameras can capture the achievements of other record holders.
31:32The super-fast antics of animals.
31:35It isn't easy. To film them at high speed they have to get used to light.
31:40Lots of it.
31:43More frames a second means shorter exposure times and thus more light than for ordinary cameras.
31:53It takes an hour for this praying mantis to decide to strike.
32:01The strike itself is considerably quicker, just 45 milliseconds.
32:07There's no getting away from this super-fast attack.
32:12Thanks to its incredible camouflage, the praying mantis has no need to stalk its victims.
32:17It just waits for the prey to come within striking distance.
32:25The blue poison dart frog is also impressive.
32:29It strikes so quickly that it's almost impossible to see in real time.
32:42Flies would be ill-advised to relax when this tongue acrobat is about.
32:48It takes just 130 milliseconds to unleash its secret weapon.
32:53An automatic reaction to prey appearing in the frog's field of vision triggers its tongue.
33:03Other speed assassins can be found underwater.
33:09This time the high-speed camera is focused on a killer with a hunting technique that usually leaves onlookers baffled.
33:20The lionfish.
33:21The lionfish.
33:21One of the most ingenious, fastest hunters in the water.
33:29In real time, all we can see is small crustaceans mysteriously disappearing into the lionfish's gaping mouth, one after the
33:39other.
33:42But at a thousand frames a second, it's clear what makes the lionfish so deadly.
33:49An extendable mouth that hoovers up its prey.
34:06The pistol shrimp has an incredible weapon to stun intruders.
34:10It uses its pincer to accelerate a jet of water to 90 kilometers per hour in less than a thousandth
34:18of a second.
34:19It forms a superheated bubble of water vapor, which reaches more than 4,000 degrees and bursts with a bang
34:27loud enough to register on the sonar of submarines.
34:31Any enemies are quickly dispatched.
34:38But if the dexterity of a pistol shrimp is impressive, the skills of a juggler are equally remarkable.
34:45Daniel Hochsteiner seems to defy the laws of gravity.
34:50How does he do it?
34:53In super slow motion, the accuracy and precise timing of his movements, honed by years of training, are revealed.
35:01They're so accurate, they resemble those of the machine.
35:06Juggling happens far too quickly for the juggler to consciously react to the objects in the air.
35:12That would take far too long.
35:14And by the time the brain has decided how to act, three or even six more rackets are up in
35:20the air and have to be dealt with.
35:35The juggler has just 50 milliseconds to register an object in mid-air and keep the pattern going.
35:41But where does he focus his attention?
36:09intimidation
36:11Camera goggles allow us to uncover the secret.
36:15They record exactly what Daniel Hochsteiner is looking at.
36:18He focuses on just a single point in front of him.
36:28The question about the visual perception of a juggler
36:31is that it is impossible to track with your eyes every single ball.
36:38It is only possible to track the complete pattern of juggling.
36:43And therefore, if you do some experiments with so-called eye-tracking devices,
36:50you can see that the jugglers are focused on the crossing point of the balls.
36:59Sports scientist Heiko Wagner is himself a juggling enthusiast
37:03and dares to join the master juggler. No mean feat.
37:14Sports scientist Wagner wants to find out how the juggler's incredible speed can be explained.
37:20He attaches electrodes to the juggler's skin to measure his muscle activity.
37:28Biceps and triceps have to work together in a highly coordinated rhythm
37:33to achieve the precise throwing and catching patterns needed.
37:37Daniel Hochsteiner manages to reach a dynamic level
37:41that is almost at the boundaries of human reflexes.
37:45The scientists are impressed.
37:48Hochsteiner achieves six and a half throws a second.
37:52Each throw takes 150 milliseconds,
37:55during which the objects have to be thrown with exactly the same acceleration
37:59and at exactly the same angle.
38:02He's practiced these movements since he was a child
38:05and can now execute them without having to resort to conscious decision-making.
38:21So, what happens if Hochsteiner is blindfolded?
38:26Can he replicate his virtually automated pattern of movements?
38:30For most jugglers, it is nearly impossible to juggle blindly.
38:35So, blind juggling is highly complicated.
38:39But it is interesting that a normal juggler only needs 0.05 seconds for each ball
38:47to have enough information for a stable juggling.
38:54It's hard to believe, but Hochsteiner is able to juggle blindfolded.
39:01And even his muscle activity remains virtually identical,
39:05further proof of the high degree of precision achieved in each movement.
39:14But to keep track of seven balls in the air and react with split-second timing,
39:20even Hochsteiner requires his eyes as backup.
39:27A juggler of this calibre has to keep an eye on a general pattern of objects in mid-air,
39:32rather than monitoring each one individually.
39:50But how does a professional table tennis player manage to calculate the super-fast trajectory of his opponent's ball?
40:00Professionals like Christian Seuss have incredibly quick reactions.
40:04He's able to follow the ball even at speeds of 170 km per hour.
40:13Reading every letter of the stamp on the ball is going a bit far.
40:16That would be pretty hard.
40:18But we're certainly able to calculate quite a lot based on the opponent's movements and those of the ball.
40:24So we know how the ball is travelling and how we have to react to it.
40:31A genetic predisposition comes to the aid of top athletes,
40:35which allows them to see particularly sharply and maximises the speed of their nervous reactions.
40:41They often experience the match in slow motion and perceive the ball in oversized dimensions.
40:50It's virtually impossible to increase their speed simply by training.
40:55The fastest players can consciously react to a visual stimulus in less than 180 milliseconds.
41:0120 milliseconds faster than the average human.
41:11So what about animals?
41:13How quickly can they react to a situation?
41:21Kittens at play are irresistible and almost like little circus acrobats.
41:34They're incredibly elastic bodies allow them to stretch, turn in mid-air or roll up into a tight ball.
41:47Their ultra-flexible spines mean that they can twist in the air to land on their feet
41:53and cushion the impact of a fall from several metres up.
41:58Their mid-air jumps and twists are phenomenally accurate, but it takes time to master them.
42:07High-speed x-ray footage shows the cat's astonishingly precise movements.
42:16Cats are also remarkable for another adaptation,
42:19and their velvet paws have inspired the designers of car tyres looking for a solution to lethal aquaplaning.
42:30Heavy rainfall combined with high speeds result in a film of water under the tyre.
42:37The car begins to float and can no longer be controlled.
42:49A slip unlikely to happen to a cat.
42:52When putting on the brakes, or to get a more secure footing,
42:56the balls of their paws increase in size.
43:00It's as if the cat puts more rubber on the tarmac.
43:10Engineers have adopted these natural adaptations for the design of car tyres.
43:19Getting the tread of a tyre just right requires people with a sense for detail.
43:25Tyre carers.
43:27Prototypes are painstakingly created by hand.
43:30Each is made to measure.
43:36And each of the four tyres for a new test vehicle has to be identical.
43:41Only then can the car undertake the test.
43:54High-speed images demonstrate a second principle that minimises the risk of aquaplaning.
43:59When the road is wet, the tyre tread works like a system of channels.
44:05The water is transported away from the tyre to prevent the car from floating.
44:17At a thousand images a second, physicists are also trying to understand the workings of a cat's tongue.
44:25Unlike dogs, cats do not form a ladle.
44:28Instead, they dip the tip of their tongue into the liquid and they yank it back up at a speed
44:34of 78 centimetres a second, pulling a column of milk or water with it.
44:44At exactly the right moment, the cat closes its mouth. The milk is inside.
44:50Four tongue dips a second mean a tenth of a milliliter for the cat.
45:01Water takes on a different guise when viewed in slow motion.
45:05It suddenly looks like something that people have to fight to get through.
45:09It is, in fact, an elastic medium around 800 times denser than air, which exerts considerable forces on the human
45:19body.
45:21Dolphins seem to glide through the water with ease and achieve speeds of 55 kilometres an hour, around seven times
45:29faster than a human being.
45:37Effortlessly, they scud through the water.
45:40Part of their impressive speed is due to their torpedo-shaped body design.
46:02But there are also other forces at play.
46:05In slow motion, it's obvious how water pressure deforms a swimmer's skin.
46:10It slows us down and costs a lot of energy.
46:22But a dolphin's skin is much thicker and its surface like velvet.
46:28This means that the water slips evenly across it.
46:32Incredibly, a dolphin's skin cells regenerate every two hours.
46:37This permanent peeling reduces flow resistance.
46:45It's a principle that scientists want to apply to the skin regeneration of human beings.
46:51And dolphins can also teach us a thing or two about swimming techniques.
47:05The muscle power generated by its tail fin alone provides enough thrust to enable a dolphin to become airborne.
47:12The muscle power is a better off- topple.
47:31Water may be a tough element for us to move through.
47:35But since time immemorial humans have enjoyed being in the wet.
47:40Looking at a pool party in super slow motion makes water look as if it has a skin.
47:49It takes on an entirely different character.
48:10Darren Burrell, alias Burl the Bubble Guy, has found incredible ways of exploiting the viscosity of water when mixed with
48:18soap.
48:21Using his hands and mouth, he creates soap bubbles that are like fluid works of art.
48:27When viewed in slow motion, the magic comes into its own.
48:40Burl's fragile creations don't just inspire the imagination of children and onlookers.
48:46They are subjects for physicists, architects and mathematicians who study them to unravel the principles of perfect form and invisible
48:55forces.
49:00The bubbles are made of membranes of soap molecules which trap the water.
49:05As if by magic, they form spheres.
49:09The energetically most efficient form due to the smallest possible exposed surface.
49:18But they only last for a moment.
49:21In the blink of an eye, gravity exerts its force on the water, making the bubbles burst.
49:35In the blink of an eye.
49:42Artists have learned to use speed to enrapture our senses.
49:46They generate illusions, which sometimes make us see things that don't exist in reality.
49:52They exploit the gaps in our vision.
50:12A fire-eater's incredible abilities seem to go beyond what is humanly possible.
50:18How does he do it?
50:21By blowing the flame away from his face, he ensures that the high carbon dioxide content in his breath kills
50:29the flame before it touches his mouth.
50:38Fire has always held a fascination for humans.
50:41The combination of danger and mesmerizing naked flames make for a spellbinding display.
50:48Fire.
50:52Fire.
51:09Much of what we can barely comprehend in real-time is revealed in slow motion.
51:16Beyond our everyday lives and perceptions of the world, there is a parallel universe
51:22of incredible beauty and astonishing facts.
51:27Seeing it through the lens of a high-speed camera allows us to begin to understand how
51:34the world works.
51:55Thank you very much.