0 00:00:06,873 --> 00:00:11,469 This man is about to be dropped the height of a 12-storey building. 1 00:00:15,548 --> 00:00:18,813 All to explore our experience of time. 2 00:00:25,658 --> 00:00:31,187 Time drives every second of our lives in ways we can scarcely imagine. 3 00:00:35,502 --> 00:00:37,367 But what is time? 4 00:00:39,873 --> 00:00:44,435 This is a quest to understand time and our place within it. 5 00:00:47,747 --> 00:00:48,475 It's ajourney 6 00:00:48,548 --> 00:00:52,177 that starts with cutting edge discoveries into what makes us tick. 7 00:00:55,588 --> 00:01:00,321 And ends with the mind-boggling implications of cosmological time. 8 00:01:07,467 --> 00:01:10,436 It's ajourney that reveals something extraordinary. 9 00:01:13,773 --> 00:01:15,468 The more we understand time, 10 00:01:16,042 --> 00:01:19,910 the more we find that it is time that makes us uniquely human. 11 00:01:56,282 --> 00:01:59,843 Time is the greatest force in our lives. 12 00:02:03,156 --> 00:02:04,453 It drives us all. 13 00:02:09,729 --> 00:02:12,061 We are all obsessed by time. 14 00:02:12,432 --> 00:02:14,332 We never can seem to get enough of it. 15 00:02:15,034 --> 00:02:15,966 Time is invisible, 16 00:02:16,436 --> 00:02:17,425 time is untouchable, 17 00:02:17,837 --> 00:02:20,203 and yet time rules our lives. 18 00:02:25,044 --> 00:02:28,639 As a physicist I've spent most of my life studying time, 19 00:02:28,982 --> 00:02:33,043 and I know it's one of the greatest mysteries in all of nature. 20 00:02:36,356 --> 00:02:38,119 We all know that time is out there, 21 00:02:38,558 --> 00:02:43,018 but we can't see it, feel it, taste it, touch it, or smell it. 22 00:02:47,167 --> 00:02:49,931 So how does it exert such power over our lives? 23 00:02:52,772 --> 00:02:55,070 In this programme I'm going to find out. 24 00:02:58,945 --> 00:03:01,209 This is the story of personal time, 25 00:03:01,681 --> 00:03:04,241 the everyday time that shapes us as people. 26 00:03:17,797 --> 00:03:22,063 It's midnight on Newport Beach, just outside Los Angeles. 27 00:03:24,304 --> 00:03:28,365 I've come here to experience a remarkable feat of timing. 28 00:03:38,184 --> 00:03:42,314 And sure enough, and sure enough they're coming right on schedule. 29 00:03:43,990 --> 00:03:46,322 These fish, called grunions, 30 00:03:46,392 --> 00:03:50,192 are arriving here on this beach on this night 31 00:03:50,563 --> 00:03:53,191 within a precise two-hour window. 32 00:03:55,802 --> 00:03:58,168 There are masses of them already. 33 00:04:01,441 --> 00:04:02,465 This is truly amazing. 34 00:04:03,843 --> 00:04:06,539 I've never quite seen anything like this in my life before. 35 00:04:09,816 --> 00:04:11,408 Hundreds of them on this beach. 36 00:04:11,884 --> 00:04:13,112 This is remarkable. 37 00:04:15,388 --> 00:04:16,377 Within minutes, 38 00:04:16,489 --> 00:04:19,322 the hundreds have turned into thousands, 39 00:04:20,260 --> 00:04:22,251 all arriving right on cue. 40 00:04:25,531 --> 00:04:26,293 Somehow, 41 00:04:26,532 --> 00:04:28,295 somehow without a compass, 42 00:04:28,534 --> 00:04:29,967 with a GPS system, 43 00:04:30,036 --> 00:04:30,730 without a wristwatch, 44 00:04:30,803 --> 00:04:32,065 without a calculator - 45 00:04:32,572 --> 00:04:35,268 they're able to navigate the Pacific Ocean. 46 00:04:35,608 --> 00:04:38,270 They know to come right here to Newport beach, 47 00:04:38,611 --> 00:04:41,341 right on time, and it's almost like clockwork. 48 00:04:43,016 --> 00:04:45,610 And the reason they've come here is to mate. 49 00:04:47,253 --> 00:04:51,883 They have just two hours, just two hours to carry on the species. 50 00:04:52,258 --> 00:04:54,852 This is really an exquisite sense of timing that they have. 51 00:04:55,895 --> 00:04:58,159 And they get it right every single time. 52 00:05:01,200 --> 00:05:02,758 Time is a force of nature 53 00:05:03,102 --> 00:05:05,696 that these creatures have to obey. 54 00:05:06,105 --> 00:05:07,595 And if they don't obey, 55 00:05:07,674 --> 00:05:09,335 then they simply don't reproduce at all. 56 00:05:09,709 --> 00:05:12,507 So time is more than simply an abstract concept. 57 00:05:12,779 --> 00:05:15,771 For them, time is life and death. 58 00:05:18,584 --> 00:05:22,645 If they get their timing wrong then they simply vanish as a species. 59 00:05:25,191 --> 00:05:29,252 The grunions achieve their remarkable timing by following cues 60 00:05:30,930 --> 00:05:32,727 from the moon and the tides. 61 00:05:36,235 --> 00:05:38,635 But it's not something they think about. 62 00:05:39,872 --> 00:05:44,138 Their timing, however precise, is purely an instinct. 63 00:05:58,324 --> 00:06:01,725 But surely we humans are different from the grunions? 64 00:06:01,961 --> 00:06:04,452 We do what we what we want when we want. 65 00:06:05,898 --> 00:06:07,559 We are separate from the animals. 66 00:06:07,633 --> 00:06:10,193 We think about time, we know about time. 67 00:06:10,937 --> 00:06:15,306 Our timing, surely, is driven by choice not instinct? 68 00:06:15,742 --> 00:06:17,334 But is it possible, 69 00:06:17,944 --> 00:06:22,381 is it possible that we might be hardwired and not even know it? 70 00:06:35,194 --> 00:06:36,593 In 1962, 71 00:06:37,096 --> 00:06:42,295 one man decided to find out if we were unknowingly controlled by time. 72 00:06:46,038 --> 00:06:48,632 Michel Siffre, a French geologist, 73 00:06:48,708 --> 00:06:51,199 went to live in a cave for two months, 74 00:06:52,178 --> 00:06:54,908 initially with the aim of studying a glacier. 75 00:06:55,515 --> 00:06:59,383 As a young geologist I decided to stay two months 76 00:06:59,652 --> 00:07:01,620 to study this ice, you know. 77 00:07:01,854 --> 00:07:04,948 And at the beginning the study was only geology. 78 00:07:05,057 --> 00:07:07,491 And then I have the idea of my life, 79 00:07:07,560 --> 00:07:11,155 I decide not to take a watch in the cave. 80 00:07:11,364 --> 00:07:14,856 I decided to live without any time cues. 81 00:07:17,103 --> 00:07:19,298 The decision to live without a watch, 82 00:07:19,972 --> 00:07:21,462 completely alone, 83 00:07:22,608 --> 00:07:26,066 was the beginning of a ground breaking series of experiments. 84 00:07:28,347 --> 00:07:33,944 I decided to live following er, my er, feeling of er, hungry, 85 00:07:34,020 --> 00:07:35,851 my feeling of going to sleep. 86 00:07:35,988 --> 00:07:41,654 In the cave it's always dark, then your body follow its own sense. 87 00:07:42,762 --> 00:07:45,526 Isolated in his own world of time, 88 00:07:45,598 --> 00:07:48,590 Michel reported everything he did to a surface team. 89 00:07:51,437 --> 00:07:53,598 And I decide to call them 90 00:07:53,706 --> 00:07:55,537 when I wake, when I eat, 91 00:07:55,608 --> 00:07:57,701 when I make pee-pee and when I go to sleep. 92 00:07:57,777 --> 00:08:01,144 Dejeuner, menu - deux salmons. 93 00:08:01,214 --> 00:08:05,412 It wasn't long before Michel had completely lost track of time. 94 00:08:06,352 --> 00:08:11,119 As soon as you pass the first night in the cave you are lost in time. 95 00:08:11,457 --> 00:08:15,086 You are lost, completely lost, 96 00:08:15,194 --> 00:08:17,526 and you don't know if you have slept 97 00:08:17,597 --> 00:08:21,260 only one or two hours, or if you slept ten hours. 98 00:08:29,575 --> 00:08:33,170 Despite the fact that Michel had lost track of time in his mind, 99 00:08:33,379 --> 00:08:36,439 the data on the surface began to reveal a pattern. 100 00:08:38,284 --> 00:08:40,616 Even after months of isolation, 101 00:08:40,686 --> 00:08:45,988 his body continued to follow a roughly 24-hour cycle of sleeping and waking. 102 00:08:48,294 --> 00:08:49,420 Astonishingly, 103 00:08:49,529 --> 00:08:53,488 something was controlling his timing - from within. 104 00:08:54,000 --> 00:08:59,768 The main result of the experiment was that human has a body clock. 105 00:09:00,339 --> 00:09:05,800 Independently, completely independent from the earth's cycle. 106 00:09:07,079 --> 00:09:11,038 Michell Siffre's experiment had proven for the first time 107 00:09:11,183 --> 00:09:14,914 that it isn't only animals who are slaves to their body clock. 108 00:09:18,357 --> 00:09:19,346 For us too, 109 00:09:19,859 --> 00:09:25,491 time is an inbuilt biological mechanism controlling our behaviour. 110 00:09:35,808 --> 00:09:36,866 It makes sense to me 111 00:09:36,943 --> 00:09:40,902 that our sleeping and waking would be controlled by the body clock. 112 00:09:44,050 --> 00:09:46,348 But since Siffre's experiment, 113 00:09:46,419 --> 00:09:49,684 scientists are discovering that time plays a much bigger part 114 00:09:49,755 --> 00:09:51,382 than we'd ever realised. 115 00:09:59,932 --> 00:10:02,196 And over the next 24 hours, 116 00:10:02,268 --> 00:10:04,759 I'm having a series of tests to find out. 117 00:10:04,837 --> 00:10:06,702 - You must be Benita, right? - Yes, I am. 118 00:10:06,772 --> 00:10:07,568 - Yes. - I see. 119 00:10:07,773 --> 00:10:09,468 So you'll be the one administering 120 00:10:09,542 --> 00:10:11,976 this battery of medieval tortures, I understand. 121 00:10:12,044 --> 00:10:13,636 Hopefully not that bad, Michio. 122 00:10:13,779 --> 00:10:15,406 Now, what we're going to be doing today 123 00:10:15,481 --> 00:10:17,244 is looking at all the things within the body 124 00:10:17,316 --> 00:10:18,340 which change across the day 125 00:10:18,417 --> 00:10:20,783 but aren't as obvious as things like the sleep/wake cycle 126 00:10:20,853 --> 00:10:21,911 which everybody knows. 127 00:10:23,556 --> 00:10:25,490 Pop that into your mouth, chew on it for a bit. 128 00:10:25,558 --> 00:10:26,422 See how far forward - 129 00:10:26,492 --> 00:10:29,461 Benita's going to look for the effects of time in everything. 130 00:10:30,029 --> 00:10:31,018 My stress hormones. 131 00:10:31,097 --> 00:10:32,086 Thanks very much. 132 00:10:32,164 --> 00:10:33,859 - My flexibility. - Hard as you can. 133 00:10:33,933 --> 00:10:35,366 Even my muscle strength. 134 00:10:37,136 --> 00:10:38,797 You tell me when it hurts. 135 00:10:41,607 --> 00:10:43,097 It's beginning to hurt. Stop. 136 00:10:43,376 --> 00:10:44,172 Okay. 137 00:10:44,644 --> 00:10:47,477 Time runs through every aspect of our bodies. 138 00:10:49,482 --> 00:10:50,716 According to Benita, 139 00:10:50,716 --> 00:10:53,150 it affects just about everything we do. 140 00:11:08,768 --> 00:11:09,496 Michio. 141 00:11:10,236 --> 00:11:11,669 Oh, there's no escaping. 142 00:11:11,737 --> 00:11:12,260 No. 143 00:11:13,305 --> 00:11:14,203 Okay. 144 00:11:15,641 --> 00:11:16,608 Throughout the day, 145 00:11:16,676 --> 00:11:20,203 my physical performance seems to be changing dramatically. 146 00:11:20,279 --> 00:11:21,712 Ladies and gentlemen, 147 00:11:21,781 --> 00:11:25,217 we are now on our descent and will shortly be landing. 148 00:11:28,621 --> 00:11:32,455 I knew that somebody knew something about the fourth dimension, 149 00:11:32,558 --> 00:11:34,526 that somebody knew something about - 150 00:11:34,593 --> 00:11:36,458 I'm terribly sorry, can we interrupt you? 151 00:11:36,529 --> 00:11:39,396 - Oh, okay. - Can you just do one of these tests for me again, please? 152 00:11:39,465 --> 00:11:40,363 Sorry about that. 153 00:11:41,133 --> 00:11:45,661 Even the chemicals in my saliva are subject to time's influence. 154 00:11:46,072 --> 00:11:47,369 Thanks very much. 155 00:11:47,440 --> 00:11:48,634 - Thank you. - Okay. My pleasure. 156 00:11:48,974 --> 00:11:51,602 Somebody knew something about space warp. 157 00:11:58,350 --> 00:11:59,552 So, how did I do? 158 00:11:59,552 --> 00:12:01,884 Better that time. 15 seconds. 159 00:12:02,221 --> 00:12:03,449 - Very good - Well done. 160 00:12:15,601 --> 00:12:19,435 So at last, 24 hours after the tests began, 161 00:12:19,505 --> 00:12:22,099 I'm going to find out just what was going on. 162 00:12:23,576 --> 00:12:24,975 - Oh hello, Michio. - Hi. 163 00:12:25,044 --> 00:12:26,671 - Nice to see you again. - Hi. Hi. 164 00:12:26,746 --> 00:12:27,610 So shall we have a look at 165 00:12:27,680 --> 00:12:29,341 - some of the results we got the other day. - Yes, I'm dying to find out 166 00:12:29,415 --> 00:12:30,143 what happened. 167 00:12:30,216 --> 00:12:30,773 Right. 168 00:12:30,850 --> 00:12:31,942 After being put through the wringer. 169 00:12:32,251 --> 00:12:33,081 Well, that's right. 170 00:12:33,853 --> 00:12:37,254 So we'll start off with the saliva samples that we took. 171 00:12:37,323 --> 00:12:39,018 Do you remember, that was to look at cortisol. 172 00:12:39,091 --> 00:12:40,319 - How can I forget? - Yes. 173 00:12:40,526 --> 00:12:43,825 Which is a hormone related to stress and it has a daily rhythm. 174 00:12:44,163 --> 00:12:45,152 Now, look at that. 175 00:12:45,231 --> 00:12:47,256 I would have thought it would be at the bottom. 176 00:12:47,333 --> 00:12:49,528 You know you're rested in the morning, you're groggy. 177 00:12:49,602 --> 00:12:51,160 I would have thought that you're unstressed. 178 00:12:51,237 --> 00:12:52,966 Yes, maybe your stress levels aren't high, 179 00:12:53,038 --> 00:12:55,598 but the - the levels of cortisols are high, 180 00:12:55,674 --> 00:12:57,608 so that when you get up in the morning 181 00:12:57,676 --> 00:12:59,405 you should be wide awake 182 00:12:59,478 --> 00:13:01,275 - and able to go and do things. - I see. 183 00:13:01,347 --> 00:13:04,544 So this is basically our evolutionary cup of coffee then, right? 184 00:13:04,617 --> 00:13:05,811 Yes, that's right, yes. 185 00:13:05,885 --> 00:13:07,352 This is what gets us going in the morning. 186 00:13:07,419 --> 00:13:08,681 - Yes, it helps. - I see. 187 00:13:08,754 --> 00:13:10,085 It helps indeed. 188 00:13:10,956 --> 00:13:13,857 It turns out that almost all our body processes 189 00:13:13,926 --> 00:13:15,484 follow predictable cycles. 190 00:13:16,128 --> 00:13:18,255 They are controlled by time. 191 00:13:18,330 --> 00:13:21,265 So tell me now, how did I do on the pain test? 192 00:13:21,333 --> 00:13:23,927 You can see a difference between the morning and the afternoon. 193 00:13:24,003 --> 00:13:24,731 Yeah, that's quite dramatic, 194 00:13:24,804 --> 00:13:25,395 - Iook at that. - Yeah. 195 00:13:25,471 --> 00:13:29,305 Why is it that the pain threshold changed in my body during the day? 196 00:13:29,375 --> 00:13:30,103 It's quite dramatic. 197 00:13:30,442 --> 00:13:31,602 Yes, it is, and it's 198 00:13:31,677 --> 00:13:35,113 because the nerves are less sensitive later on in the day, 199 00:13:35,347 --> 00:13:37,247 so that it takes more to excite them 200 00:13:37,316 --> 00:13:39,716 to send the message to the brain to say 'ouch'. 201 00:13:40,319 --> 00:13:42,321 And if we get the strength up, you can see here. 202 00:13:42,321 --> 00:13:43,788 What we were actually measuring because - 203 00:13:43,856 --> 00:13:47,257 And all these different processes are governed by one master clock, 204 00:13:48,294 --> 00:13:52,128 a central timer that orchestrates every bit of our biology. 205 00:13:52,198 --> 00:13:55,497 - Fully, because it was using your leg muscles and your back muscles. 206 00:13:55,768 --> 00:13:58,362 So all of these parameters that we've measured today, 207 00:13:58,437 --> 00:13:59,870 the rhythms are all controlled - 208 00:14:00,339 --> 00:14:02,330 - from one small group of cells - 209 00:14:02,541 --> 00:14:05,408 which make up something called the super-charismatic nucleus, 210 00:14:05,477 --> 00:14:07,707 which is buried right in the middle of the brain. 211 00:14:12,318 --> 00:14:16,482 And this is where the master clock is, deep within our brains. 212 00:14:17,890 --> 00:14:22,418 A cluster of only 20,000 cells, no bigger than a pea. 213 00:14:24,363 --> 00:14:28,595 An organ of time that synchronises every process in the body. 214 00:14:38,010 --> 00:14:40,171 Benita's experiment made me realise 215 00:14:40,246 --> 00:14:43,181 how utterly fundamental the body clock is. 216 00:14:45,684 --> 00:14:46,946 If it goes wrong, 217 00:14:47,086 --> 00:14:51,045 we're thrown completely out of sync with the entire world around us. 218 00:15:03,502 --> 00:15:05,970 In the middle of the night, at 3am, 219 00:15:06,639 --> 00:15:09,005 when most people are sleeping soundly, 220 00:15:09,842 --> 00:15:13,903 two inhabitants of Liberty, North Carolina are starting their day. 221 00:15:16,882 --> 00:15:21,012 My daughter and I have always gotten up early. 222 00:15:21,120 --> 00:15:22,553 For us that means 223 00:15:22,855 --> 00:15:25,415 er, we get up, our normal getting up time, 224 00:15:25,491 --> 00:15:28,255 rising time, is about three, three-thirty. 225 00:15:28,427 --> 00:15:31,294 Erm, the oddity about it is that for us 226 00:15:31,363 --> 00:15:35,231 sometimes it doesn't even matter how late we've been up the night before. 227 00:15:35,301 --> 00:15:36,996 We will still get up at that same time. 228 00:15:40,406 --> 00:15:46,106 Clay McQuerry and his daughter Bethany wake up at this time, day in, day out. 229 00:15:49,181 --> 00:15:51,308 But they didn't choose this lifestyle. 230 00:15:51,617 --> 00:15:53,448 They have an incredibly rare disease 231 00:15:53,519 --> 00:15:56,249 that forces them to run on a different schedule, 232 00:15:56,855 --> 00:15:58,846 in the lonely hours of the morning. 233 00:16:10,169 --> 00:16:13,138 ...get some of those fries in the grocery section. 234 00:16:13,205 --> 00:16:14,365 I'm able to get a lot done 235 00:16:14,440 --> 00:16:18,774 before I even go to work and before really most people's day starts. 236 00:16:19,812 --> 00:16:23,077 I'll go to the store and get groceries, you know, 237 00:16:23,148 --> 00:16:26,276 five, five-thirty in the morning sometimes just to beat the crowd. 238 00:16:29,221 --> 00:16:30,813 Without any hope of a cure, 239 00:16:31,090 --> 00:16:35,288 Clay and Bethany have had to adjust to this dislocation in time. 240 00:16:36,161 --> 00:16:37,628 I'll get them. 241 00:16:40,132 --> 00:16:41,895 I'll go to sleepovers and 242 00:16:41,967 --> 00:16:44,060 of course I'm the first one to fall asleep ever, and 243 00:16:44,136 --> 00:16:48,004 so I never know what's going on after when I fall asleep. Or sometimes 244 00:16:48,073 --> 00:16:50,871 I'll go to concerts and stuff and I'll get kind of tired - 245 00:16:50,943 --> 00:16:54,174 I'll have take a caffeine pill to help me stay awake and stuff. 246 00:16:55,147 --> 00:16:56,307 For Clay and Bethany, 247 00:16:56,382 --> 00:16:58,612 it's like living in a different time zone. 248 00:16:59,084 --> 00:17:00,745 And biologically they are. 249 00:17:00,886 --> 00:17:02,046 Yeah, I'm hungry. 250 00:17:02,287 --> 00:17:03,219 Recently 251 00:17:03,288 --> 00:17:07,281 they've discovered their condition is caused by an abnormal body clock. 252 00:17:08,927 --> 00:17:13,125 It's ASPS, or Advanced Sleep Phase Syndrome. 253 00:17:13,932 --> 00:17:15,126 Approximately two years ago, 254 00:17:15,200 --> 00:17:16,690 that's when we found out about 255 00:17:16,769 --> 00:17:18,600 er, what ASPS is, 256 00:17:18,670 --> 00:17:21,264 and what it involves, what it's like. 257 00:17:21,807 --> 00:17:24,640 My dad, he er, grew up as a dairy farmer, 258 00:17:24,710 --> 00:17:27,508 and so he got up at four o'clock in the morning and milked the cows. 259 00:17:27,579 --> 00:17:30,571 So for him ASPS worked out beautifully 260 00:17:30,649 --> 00:17:33,777 erm, you know, to be able to get up early and to do that. 261 00:17:34,086 --> 00:17:36,077 Er, so when we were growing up, 262 00:17:36,188 --> 00:17:41,182 I guess I kind of wondered if I just kind of inherited it from him 263 00:17:41,260 --> 00:17:42,318 as a dairy farmer. 264 00:17:43,829 --> 00:17:47,356 Virtually, you know, we don't get past er, first format - 265 00:17:47,433 --> 00:17:48,593 - you know, he had to kind of stand there 266 00:17:48,667 --> 00:17:50,100 I think Bethany and I are very close. 267 00:17:50,169 --> 00:17:50,965 I think because 268 00:17:51,036 --> 00:17:53,971 we've had those early mornings together all of her life, 269 00:17:54,106 --> 00:17:55,539 that I would think 270 00:17:55,607 --> 00:17:59,043 I have a - a closer relationship than I would think than some fathers, 271 00:17:59,111 --> 00:18:01,102 because they haven't been able to have that time together. 272 00:18:01,380 --> 00:18:04,611 Like Mr Owen says, it's a great day to be a marching blue jay. 273 00:18:07,386 --> 00:18:10,150 But ASPS doesn't affect the whole family. 274 00:18:10,923 --> 00:18:12,117 - Talked to us after the game. 275 00:18:16,395 --> 00:18:17,760 Clay and Bethany have it. 276 00:18:18,263 --> 00:18:21,664 But Clay's wife Janelle and their son Casey don't. 277 00:18:23,502 --> 00:18:26,960 And this means that their family is divided in time. 278 00:18:28,774 --> 00:18:30,241 There's been times when I wish, 279 00:18:30,309 --> 00:18:33,278 you know, we would kind of function the same as other families. 280 00:18:34,813 --> 00:18:38,010 It does make it hard when you're wanting to be together, 281 00:18:38,150 --> 00:18:39,845 if we want to do something in the evening. 282 00:18:40,319 --> 00:18:44,881 So I think we - we intentionally plan to do things mid-morning. 283 00:18:45,057 --> 00:18:46,217 Er, we go to matinees 284 00:18:46,291 --> 00:18:49,192 for movies instead of going to the evening movies. 285 00:18:49,294 --> 00:18:52,195 But we just don't schedule a lot in the evenings. 286 00:18:55,334 --> 00:18:59,794 Only a handful of families in the world are known to have ASPS. 287 00:19:03,375 --> 00:19:05,775 And their DNA is helping scientists to 288 00:19:05,844 --> 00:19:08,404 unpick the very basis of our body clock. 289 00:19:15,454 --> 00:19:19,948 It turns out that our body's time is controlled by just a few genes, 290 00:19:21,126 --> 00:19:23,959 and a single mutation on a single gene 291 00:19:24,029 --> 00:19:26,827 is enough to cause it to go completely adrift. 292 00:19:29,635 --> 00:19:33,503 Studying these genes has revealed something quite extraordinary. 293 00:19:43,715 --> 00:19:45,808 These same few body-clock genes 294 00:19:45,884 --> 00:19:48,444 seem to be present in all plants and animals, 295 00:19:49,054 --> 00:19:50,180 and this suggests 296 00:19:50,255 --> 00:19:53,315 they must be one of life's most fundamental building blocks. 297 00:19:58,197 --> 00:19:58,720 For me 298 00:19:58,797 --> 00:20:01,425 I find it absolutely astounding 299 00:20:01,500 --> 00:20:04,992 that the biological clocks ticking away in my body 300 00:20:05,070 --> 00:20:07,436 are about the same as those of the grunion. 301 00:20:07,673 --> 00:20:12,508 Imagine, it's in the birds, in cows, flies. 302 00:20:12,578 --> 00:20:13,442 Plants too. 303 00:20:13,645 --> 00:20:14,942 Even bacteria. 304 00:20:15,447 --> 00:20:18,644 We all share the same biological mechanisms for time. 305 00:20:23,155 --> 00:20:26,522 So the rhythm of our daily lives comes from within us. 306 00:20:26,992 --> 00:20:30,792 Our fundamental experience of time turns out to be internal, 307 00:20:31,530 --> 00:20:35,330 written into the DNA of every single cell of our bodies. 308 00:20:38,870 --> 00:20:42,966 But in the past couple of hundred years, that's all changed. 309 00:20:54,052 --> 00:20:57,749 The rule of nature has been replaced by the rule of machines. 310 00:20:58,123 --> 00:20:58,953 Industry, 311 00:20:59,024 --> 00:21:00,855 global travel and electric light 312 00:21:00,926 --> 00:21:02,757 have created a brave new world 313 00:21:02,828 --> 00:21:05,353 in which we control the length of our days. 314 00:21:05,931 --> 00:21:07,796 We're no longer at the whim of nature. 315 00:21:08,367 --> 00:21:12,201 Technology has allowed us to create our own time, 316 00:21:12,271 --> 00:21:13,499 but at a faster pace. 317 00:21:19,177 --> 00:21:22,738 Now from dawn to dusk we are driven by time, 318 00:21:23,682 --> 00:21:26,150 by what feels like an external force 319 00:21:26,218 --> 00:21:30,086 relentlessly ticking off the seconds and minutes of our lives. 320 00:21:32,157 --> 00:21:37,754 But could even our sense of the march of time ultimately come inside of us? 321 00:21:46,571 --> 00:21:51,099 It seems we all have a sense of time passing, and how much. 322 00:21:51,843 --> 00:21:54,175 Even in a completely empty environment, 323 00:21:54,246 --> 00:21:56,214 in the absence of any information. 324 00:22:00,285 --> 00:22:01,980 We still have this ability. 325 00:22:02,354 --> 00:22:04,549 It's like a sixth sense. 326 00:22:05,090 --> 00:22:07,888 So there's something going on inside of us, 327 00:22:08,126 --> 00:22:10,060 something in our mind 328 00:22:10,128 --> 00:22:12,995 that allows us to judge the amount of time passing. 329 00:22:14,966 --> 00:22:18,800 And scientists have asked the question, how do we do this? 330 00:22:27,346 --> 00:22:29,712 At Duke University in North Carolina, 331 00:22:30,048 --> 00:22:32,915 scientists have made an astonishing discovery. 332 00:22:42,461 --> 00:22:43,291 Oh, welcome. 333 00:22:44,162 --> 00:22:46,187 I'm going to take part in an experiment 334 00:22:46,264 --> 00:22:48,824 to reveal just how we sense time passing. 335 00:22:49,801 --> 00:22:53,737 It's all down to something Warren Meck calls the stopwatch. 336 00:22:54,673 --> 00:22:57,403 So you believe that there's a stopwatch in my brain 337 00:22:57,476 --> 00:22:58,704 that's sort of ticking away, right? 338 00:22:58,777 --> 00:23:00,335 I mean, how can that be? 339 00:23:01,113 --> 00:23:03,513 Well, the idea is - is that there's a brain circuit 340 00:23:03,582 --> 00:23:06,449 in there that's very selective for keeping track of time, 341 00:23:06,852 --> 00:23:08,513 and that when we put you in the scanner 342 00:23:08,587 --> 00:23:11,078 we can actually see the - that circuit at work. 343 00:23:12,224 --> 00:23:13,851 It's going to light up in some sense? 344 00:23:13,925 --> 00:23:15,950 Your - your machine's going to be able to ride in 345 00:23:16,027 --> 00:23:18,154 and see certain centres of the brain lighting up? 346 00:23:18,397 --> 00:23:21,924 Well, we can get you to focus on just the duration of the events in there, 347 00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:24,662 they'll put a spotlight on this stopwatch. 348 00:23:24,736 --> 00:23:25,168 So you're right, 349 00:23:25,237 --> 00:23:26,864 we're - we're going to be able to activate it 350 00:23:26,938 --> 00:23:28,496 and just look right into the brain. 351 00:23:35,647 --> 00:23:38,115 The hope is that Warren Meck and his team 352 00:23:38,183 --> 00:23:42,085 will be able to identify which area of the brain is active 353 00:23:42,154 --> 00:23:43,519 while I'm timing something. 354 00:23:45,390 --> 00:23:46,687 Michio, can you hear me okay? 355 00:23:47,025 --> 00:23:49,516 I'm going to have you respond to the duration stimuli 356 00:23:49,594 --> 00:23:52,222 as to whether they're shorter or longer. Are you ready? 357 00:23:56,101 --> 00:23:59,400 It's incredible to think it's actually possible 358 00:23:59,471 --> 00:24:02,372 to detect my experience of time passing. 359 00:24:11,783 --> 00:24:13,011 And eitherjust send it over. 360 00:24:13,285 --> 00:24:14,047 Let's take a look. 361 00:24:14,119 --> 00:24:15,279 Oh, look at that. 362 00:24:15,353 --> 00:24:17,378 Wow, that's - that's my brain. 363 00:24:17,556 --> 00:24:19,319 Over here we're looking for 364 00:24:19,391 --> 00:24:21,256 what parts of your brain were activated 365 00:24:21,326 --> 00:24:24,318 when you were trying to time the duration of those stimuli. 366 00:24:24,563 --> 00:24:25,325 Warren, look at this. 367 00:24:25,397 --> 00:24:28,332 This is by far the brightest part of the timing - 368 00:24:28,400 --> 00:24:30,061 er, part of the brain. 369 00:24:30,135 --> 00:24:31,363 What - what's happening there? 370 00:24:31,703 --> 00:24:34,194 Well, this is the - the front part of your brain where the 371 00:24:34,272 --> 00:24:36,035 critical part of the stopwatch is. 372 00:24:37,075 --> 00:24:38,167 It's astonishing. 373 00:24:38,510 --> 00:24:40,102 I'm looking at the very cells 374 00:24:40,178 --> 00:24:43,272 which sense time passing, seeing them in action. 375 00:24:46,551 --> 00:24:48,849 So this is what's beating then, right? 376 00:24:48,920 --> 00:24:50,012 So the stopwatch is right there? 377 00:24:50,355 --> 00:24:51,049 Right. 378 00:24:51,122 --> 00:24:54,114 Now what's inside there that is actually beating? 379 00:24:54,192 --> 00:24:55,625 Is it a chemical reaction? 380 00:24:55,694 --> 00:24:57,025 Is it a - a nervous reaction? 381 00:24:57,095 --> 00:24:59,427 What is it inside there that's clicking away? 382 00:24:59,498 --> 00:25:02,934 Right, well there are thousands of brain cells inside of there 383 00:25:03,001 --> 00:25:04,992 that beat in a regulated fashion 384 00:25:05,070 --> 00:25:09,564 and they serve as the essentially the tick-tock of the stopwatch. 385 00:25:11,543 --> 00:25:14,205 So even this sense of time passing 386 00:25:14,546 --> 00:25:17,572 is embedded within the neurochemistry of our brains. 387 00:25:19,484 --> 00:25:22,476 A cluster of cells near the base of our brain 388 00:25:22,554 --> 00:25:25,955 releases a chemical that acts as a start signal. 389 00:25:30,295 --> 00:25:33,423 This then triggers a group of neurons at the front of the brain 390 00:25:33,498 --> 00:25:34,430 to fire together, 391 00:25:34,966 --> 00:25:36,900 but each to a different beat. 392 00:25:41,206 --> 00:25:43,606 And it's this pattern of beats that signals 393 00:25:43,675 --> 00:25:45,939 how much time has elapsed. 394 00:25:53,685 --> 00:25:55,710 This process is happening constantly, 395 00:25:56,054 --> 00:25:57,851 without us even knowing it. 396 00:25:58,223 --> 00:26:01,317 We're continually timing the world around us. 397 00:26:06,197 --> 00:26:08,097 So if Warren is right 398 00:26:08,233 --> 00:26:11,691 it means that he's been able to isolate the circuits 399 00:26:11,770 --> 00:26:14,466 that allow us to judge the passing of time, 400 00:26:14,906 --> 00:26:16,430 the organ, so to speak, 401 00:26:16,508 --> 00:26:19,944 that allows us to measure the beat of time itself. 402 00:26:30,155 --> 00:26:34,751 The discovery of thestopwatch might even explain a bizarre phenomenon. 403 00:26:40,765 --> 00:26:42,528 In life threatening situations, 404 00:26:42,701 --> 00:26:45,192 people say that time slows down. 405 00:26:46,338 --> 00:26:49,705 So much that they could see every tiny detail. 406 00:26:57,682 --> 00:27:01,277 The question is, does time really slow down? 407 00:27:01,753 --> 00:27:04,415 Or is itjust imagined? 408 00:27:10,528 --> 00:27:11,859 We're going to find out. 409 00:27:13,965 --> 00:27:16,525 Psychologist Dr David Eagleman 410 00:27:16,601 --> 00:27:20,469 is about to conduct the first ever scientific experiment 411 00:27:20,538 --> 00:27:23,473 to explore whether time really does slow down 412 00:27:24,876 --> 00:27:27,003 in a near death situation. 413 00:27:35,787 --> 00:27:39,314 In order to measure how fast people's brains are taking in information, 414 00:27:39,391 --> 00:27:42,258 we've built this device, which we call the perceptual chronometer. 415 00:27:42,494 --> 00:27:47,522 And the idea is that numbers flash very rapidly on this LED screen. 416 00:27:47,699 --> 00:27:49,496 They flash so rapidly 417 00:27:49,567 --> 00:27:52,400 that a normal brain in normal circumstances 418 00:27:52,470 --> 00:27:54,438 can't see what's being flashed here. 419 00:27:54,773 --> 00:27:56,798 But if time were running in slow motion, 420 00:27:56,875 --> 00:27:58,843 then you should be able to distinguish the numbers. 421 00:27:59,411 --> 00:28:02,710 Jesse Kallus has volunteered to be our guinea pig. 422 00:28:03,415 --> 00:28:05,474 Can you see that there are numbers flashing on the screen here? 423 00:28:05,550 --> 00:28:05,948 Yes. 424 00:28:06,017 --> 00:28:07,951 Okay, these are flashing at a slow rate. 425 00:28:08,019 --> 00:28:09,782 - Lf I speed this up, at some point - - Okay 426 00:28:09,854 --> 00:28:13,119 First David has to make sure that Jesse can't read the numbers 427 00:28:13,191 --> 00:28:14,954 when time is running normally for him. 428 00:28:15,460 --> 00:28:17,257 It's very difficult to read what the numbers are, 429 00:28:17,328 --> 00:28:18,659 - pretty impossible? - Yes, very difficult. 430 00:28:18,730 --> 00:28:19,196 Okay. 431 00:28:19,264 --> 00:28:21,061 So are you able to read what's on the screen now? 432 00:28:21,132 --> 00:28:23,032 Erm, yes. 433 00:28:24,936 --> 00:28:26,904 How about now? 434 00:28:27,939 --> 00:28:29,099 Er, yes. 435 00:28:29,908 --> 00:28:30,675 Okay. 436 00:28:30,675 --> 00:28:32,700 And here, can you read the number at all? 437 00:28:32,777 --> 00:28:33,436 No, not at all. 438 00:28:33,511 --> 00:28:33,977 Okay. 439 00:28:35,180 --> 00:28:37,114 Just do this number here. 440 00:28:37,916 --> 00:28:39,076 Yeah, great. 441 00:28:40,785 --> 00:28:41,444 Is that too tight? 442 00:28:41,519 --> 00:28:42,076 No. 443 00:28:44,289 --> 00:28:45,847 There's no way to fake this test, 444 00:28:45,924 --> 00:28:50,122 because if time is not running more slowly he can't see the sequence. 445 00:29:01,973 --> 00:29:02,871 Nervous. 446 00:29:03,942 --> 00:29:04,874 It's a long way down. 447 00:29:18,590 --> 00:29:19,579 Drop zone clear. 448 00:29:22,260 --> 00:29:25,991 Jesse is about to free fall from a height of 33 metres, 449 00:29:26,998 --> 00:29:28,932 12 storeys above the ground. 450 00:29:32,237 --> 00:29:36,640 The question is, will he be able to read the number on the way down? 451 00:30:02,867 --> 00:30:03,799 It was great. 452 00:30:04,369 --> 00:30:06,200 Jesse, did you see any numbers on the way? 453 00:30:06,271 --> 00:30:07,568 Yeah. 56. 454 00:30:07,772 --> 00:30:10,002 56, all right, let's verify that. 455 00:30:12,177 --> 00:30:12,472 Okay, 456 00:30:12,544 --> 00:30:16,139 the number that was actually presented was a five and zero. 50. 457 00:30:16,414 --> 00:30:18,439 The zero happens to look a lot like a six. 458 00:30:18,683 --> 00:30:20,412 So what this means is that 459 00:30:20,618 --> 00:30:23,951 at least mostly he was able to see a presentation rate 460 00:30:24,022 --> 00:30:26,422 that he was not able to see under normal circumstances. 461 00:30:27,025 --> 00:30:28,492 Maybe what we can do is try it again 462 00:30:28,560 --> 00:30:31,586 and see if- see if he got the numbers right this time. 463 00:30:32,430 --> 00:30:32,987 Again? 464 00:30:33,298 --> 00:30:33,957 Again. 465 00:30:34,232 --> 00:30:35,130 Okay. 466 00:30:43,408 --> 00:30:44,966 I find this result fascinating. 467 00:30:46,311 --> 00:30:49,041 Would have loved it he saw both numbers exactly correctly. 468 00:30:49,447 --> 00:30:52,041 But this at least suggests to me 469 00:30:52,116 --> 00:30:54,983 that he's able to take in information faster than he was before. 470 00:31:15,006 --> 00:31:15,734 96. 471 00:31:16,274 --> 00:31:17,104 96. 472 00:31:18,509 --> 00:31:19,476 That's what I saw. 473 00:31:22,747 --> 00:31:26,444 It is 98. 474 00:31:26,718 --> 00:31:27,548 Hey, that's great. 475 00:31:29,888 --> 00:31:31,753 So for a second time 476 00:31:31,856 --> 00:31:35,383 Jesse has seen a number very similar to the one on the screen. 477 00:31:35,760 --> 00:31:37,625 These results, they are very encouraging, 478 00:31:37,695 --> 00:31:39,026 because this is the first evidence 479 00:31:39,097 --> 00:31:41,565 that somebody's brain can speed up 480 00:31:41,633 --> 00:31:45,626 and they can see the world more slowly during a high adrenalin situation. 481 00:31:48,973 --> 00:31:53,376 This is the first demonstration that time really can slow down. 482 00:31:58,716 --> 00:31:59,478 But how? 483 00:32:06,324 --> 00:32:07,757 Back at Duke University, 484 00:32:07,892 --> 00:32:11,089 Warren Meck is exploring this remarkable phenomenon 485 00:32:11,963 --> 00:32:14,761 by giving mind-altering drugs to rats. 486 00:32:19,604 --> 00:32:23,005 We're particularly interested in drugs like cocaine and marijuana, 487 00:32:23,708 --> 00:32:26,336 because we believe they can distort time perception 488 00:32:26,411 --> 00:32:28,709 by compressing time or lengthening time. 489 00:32:30,014 --> 00:32:31,311 Hi, Ray. Is everything ready? 490 00:32:31,449 --> 00:32:32,108 Hi, Warren. 491 00:32:32,216 --> 00:32:33,274 Yeah, everything's ready. 492 00:32:33,451 --> 00:32:34,247 Good, let's go. 493 00:32:35,920 --> 00:32:36,750 He's going to test 494 00:32:36,821 --> 00:32:40,348 whether these chemicals change the stopwatch mechanism 495 00:32:40,425 --> 00:32:42,791 that allows the rats to measure time. 496 00:32:51,302 --> 00:32:53,930 So the rats have had their drugs for about 20 minutes now. 497 00:32:54,339 --> 00:32:56,967 As you can see, the marijuana rat has mellowed out. 498 00:32:57,108 --> 00:32:58,632 The cocaine rat's 499 00:32:58,710 --> 00:33:01,804 gotten quite mad and is trying to escape out of his cage here. 500 00:33:03,848 --> 00:33:05,782 The saline rat is just acting normally. 501 00:33:08,987 --> 00:33:11,956 The plan is to give the animals a timing task. 502 00:33:15,593 --> 00:33:19,427 The rats have previously been trained to measure time precisely. 503 00:33:20,932 --> 00:33:23,765 If the rat presses a lever after 12 seconds, 504 00:33:23,835 --> 00:33:25,735 he gets a reward of a food pellet. 505 00:33:27,605 --> 00:33:31,302 But if he's too early or too late, he gets nothing. 506 00:33:36,547 --> 00:33:40,950 The rat given saline only does this task perfectly 507 00:33:41,019 --> 00:33:43,487 and presses the lever after 12 seconds, 508 00:33:44,188 --> 00:33:45,314 the correct time. 509 00:33:53,164 --> 00:33:55,029 Next, the rat on cocaine. 510 00:34:02,473 --> 00:34:04,839 For this rat, time seems to zip by. 511 00:34:05,109 --> 00:34:07,771 It presses the lever after only eight seconds. 512 00:34:17,722 --> 00:34:20,316 And lastly, the rat on marijuana. 513 00:34:26,164 --> 00:34:29,133 Here time seems to have ground to a halt. 514 00:34:29,867 --> 00:34:33,530 This rat doesn't press until 16 seconds have passed. 515 00:34:38,276 --> 00:34:40,938 So overall we're seeing a modulation of the stopwatch, 516 00:34:41,079 --> 00:34:44,382 where we can speed up the stopwatch and slow down the stopwatch, 517 00:34:44,382 --> 00:34:47,351 or we can maintain normal speed under controlled conditions. 518 00:34:49,287 --> 00:34:52,017 So it seems that our very real experience 519 00:34:52,090 --> 00:34:54,524 of time speeding up or slowing down 520 00:34:54,892 --> 00:34:57,486 can be directly influenced by chemicals. 521 00:35:01,332 --> 00:35:05,132 And this could account for what's happening in the free fall. 522 00:35:09,807 --> 00:35:10,637 Under high stress, 523 00:35:11,075 --> 00:35:12,372 we release adrenalin, 524 00:35:12,577 --> 00:35:14,101 and this, just like a drug, 525 00:35:14,479 --> 00:35:19,041 affects the chemical pathway of our stopwatch, slowing down time. 526 00:35:32,663 --> 00:35:35,496 It seems that even our sense of time passing, 527 00:35:36,734 --> 00:35:40,067 something that seems so much a part of the outside world, 528 00:35:41,506 --> 00:35:46,034 is an internal process, a fundamental part of our psychology. 529 00:35:58,022 --> 00:36:02,618 But not all our sense of time can come from within. 530 00:36:03,628 --> 00:36:04,754 As a physicist, 531 00:36:04,829 --> 00:36:09,061 I know that the external world dictates the way time flows. 532 00:36:10,868 --> 00:36:11,562 Thank you. 533 00:36:14,272 --> 00:36:16,433 I'd like a er, black coffee. 534 00:36:16,741 --> 00:36:17,730 A coffee. 535 00:36:18,376 --> 00:36:22,472 And that surely has to have an impact on the way we experience it. 536 00:36:25,349 --> 00:36:27,613 In some sense, we are prisoners of time. 537 00:36:27,885 --> 00:36:28,874 You can't escape it. 538 00:36:29,086 --> 00:36:31,816 You can'tjump out of time, you can't stop time. 539 00:36:32,123 --> 00:36:34,148 And so then the question is what is it? 540 00:36:35,426 --> 00:36:39,453 One thing we know is that time always marches forward. 541 00:36:39,664 --> 00:36:41,689 It never falters or freezes. 542 00:36:49,774 --> 00:36:51,639 These rules seem obvious. 543 00:36:52,009 --> 00:36:52,771 But in fact, 544 00:36:52,843 --> 00:36:56,506 it isn't immediately clear how or why they come about. 545 00:36:59,684 --> 00:37:01,652 When I was doing physics for the first time, 546 00:37:01,852 --> 00:37:03,911 I had - I had the shock of my life - 547 00:37:04,188 --> 00:37:05,815 when I suddenly realised 548 00:37:05,890 --> 00:37:09,291 that the laws of physics do allow you to go backwards in time. 549 00:37:13,464 --> 00:37:15,455 There's nothing in the laws of physics 550 00:37:15,533 --> 00:37:17,467 that says time has to go forward. 551 00:37:20,338 --> 00:37:22,033 And so then the question is - 552 00:37:22,440 --> 00:37:25,102 why does time run forward and not backward? 553 00:37:30,448 --> 00:37:32,439 It is possible, technically speaking, 554 00:37:32,516 --> 00:37:35,314 that everything could be run in reverse. 555 00:37:40,258 --> 00:37:43,591 The reason we don't see time reverse in real life 556 00:37:43,894 --> 00:37:49,526 isn't because it's impossible, only very, very improbable. 557 00:37:51,269 --> 00:37:53,635 So we can't re-form a broken cup, 558 00:37:54,105 --> 00:37:57,074 or for that matter, undo the memories of it breaking. 559 00:38:00,411 --> 00:38:01,639 It is so improbable 560 00:38:01,712 --> 00:38:04,146 that it's not going to happen in your lifetime. 561 00:38:04,448 --> 00:38:07,110 Or, for that matter, the lifetime of the universe. 562 00:38:17,495 --> 00:38:19,520 There's a remarkable consequence to this: 563 00:38:21,832 --> 00:38:24,300 The past is always fixed in our memories 564 00:38:24,568 --> 00:38:26,866 and the future is yet to come. 565 00:38:35,379 --> 00:38:40,009 And this creates our crucial human awareness of the arrow of time. 566 00:38:41,218 --> 00:38:43,982 Of past, present and future. 567 00:39:00,604 --> 00:39:05,439 The whole of human society is built around our ability to comprehend time 568 00:39:05,776 --> 00:39:08,210 as the past, present and future. 569 00:39:10,581 --> 00:39:12,572 Everything we do, every action, 570 00:39:12,783 --> 00:39:14,580 requires that we understand 571 00:39:14,652 --> 00:39:16,677 what's just happened and anticipate 572 00:39:16,754 --> 00:39:17,812 what will happen next. 573 00:39:21,158 --> 00:39:24,457 This understanding is one of the greatest of our human abilities, 574 00:39:24,795 --> 00:39:26,660 and we use it continually. 575 00:39:28,799 --> 00:39:31,768 I constantly think of the past and the future, 576 00:39:32,236 --> 00:39:35,637 but I know, I know that I live in just one time, 577 00:39:35,840 --> 00:39:37,398 and that is the present. 578 00:39:40,878 --> 00:39:43,472 The question is how long does the present last? 579 00:39:45,316 --> 00:39:47,910 Perhaps no more than just a fraction of a second. 580 00:39:53,391 --> 00:39:56,224 And our mental understanding of the present - 581 00:39:56,927 --> 00:39:59,020 - perhaps it lasts just long enough 582 00:39:59,096 --> 00:40:01,792 for us to hold onto and join our thoughts. 583 00:40:06,303 --> 00:40:08,828 But imagine that was all you had. 584 00:40:09,306 --> 00:40:11,797 Just the sliver of time that is the present, 585 00:40:12,243 --> 00:40:14,302 without any memories of the past, 586 00:40:14,745 --> 00:40:16,713 nor expectations of the future. 587 00:40:20,584 --> 00:40:24,281 What would it mean to have no place in time? 588 00:40:30,861 --> 00:40:34,627 One man is consigned to live entirely within the present, 589 00:40:35,065 --> 00:40:37,090 with terrible consequences. 590 00:40:40,204 --> 00:40:44,106 Clive Wearing has the worst case of amnesia ever known. 591 00:40:48,279 --> 00:40:50,645 Twenty years ago he lost his memory, 592 00:40:51,248 --> 00:40:52,647 and now his wife Deborah, 593 00:40:52,783 --> 00:40:55,411 is the only person he recognises. 594 00:41:12,236 --> 00:41:16,400 Clive really only has less than 30 seconds memory. 595 00:41:17,241 --> 00:41:21,177 And sometimes it's as little as perhaps seven seconds. 596 00:41:21,278 --> 00:41:22,905 It's as little as a sentence. 597 00:41:22,980 --> 00:41:25,744 I'm going to see your sister, Adele. 598 00:41:25,883 --> 00:41:27,874 - Her daughter's got married recently. - Oh, I see. 599 00:41:27,952 --> 00:41:28,816 In New Zealand. 600 00:41:29,320 --> 00:41:30,651 And so they're having a party. 601 00:41:30,721 --> 00:41:35,556 Funny how the ladies acquire a different title when they get married. 602 00:41:35,626 --> 00:41:37,526 Do you know who I'm going to see tomorrow? 603 00:41:38,529 --> 00:41:39,393 Buckingham Palace? 604 00:41:39,463 --> 00:41:40,521 No, really guess. 605 00:41:40,664 --> 00:41:41,358 I don't know. 606 00:41:41,432 --> 00:41:42,160 You don't know? 607 00:41:42,233 --> 00:41:42,824 Adele. 608 00:41:42,900 --> 00:41:43,559 Oh, I see. 609 00:41:43,634 --> 00:41:44,999 Do you know - do you know why I'm going? 610 00:41:45,069 --> 00:41:45,728 No. 611 00:41:46,237 --> 00:41:48,000 She's having a party at her house tomorrow. 612 00:41:48,072 --> 00:41:48,902 It's her birthday? 613 00:41:48,973 --> 00:41:49,632 No. 614 00:41:50,140 --> 00:41:51,072 Do you know why? 615 00:41:51,609 --> 00:41:52,769 It's to do with her daughter. 616 00:41:53,444 --> 00:41:54,206 Oh I see. 617 00:41:55,279 --> 00:41:56,837 Do you know why her daughter's having a party? 618 00:41:56,914 --> 00:41:57,608 No. 619 00:41:57,681 --> 00:41:58,147 Guess. 620 00:41:58,215 --> 00:41:58,874 No, idea. 621 00:41:58,949 --> 00:41:59,813 She's just got married. 622 00:41:59,884 --> 00:42:00,373 Oh, I see. 623 00:42:00,451 --> 00:42:01,383 She's just got married. 624 00:42:01,452 --> 00:42:03,283 And do you know what country she's got married in? 625 00:42:03,354 --> 00:42:03,911 No idea. 626 00:42:03,988 --> 00:42:04,784 In New Zealand. 627 00:42:04,855 --> 00:42:05,617 Oh, I see. 628 00:42:06,290 --> 00:42:08,258 The sentence he is in, 629 00:42:08,826 --> 00:42:11,920 he will probably have forgotten the sentence before. 630 00:42:12,129 --> 00:42:15,997 You ask him a question er, and he'll give you an answer. 631 00:42:16,267 --> 00:42:18,360 But while he's giving the - the answer 632 00:42:18,736 --> 00:42:21,227 he's already forgotten the question. 633 00:42:21,472 --> 00:42:22,666 That's how short it is. 634 00:42:23,507 --> 00:42:24,906 I'm going to see your kids tomorrow. 635 00:42:25,509 --> 00:42:26,407 You'll see my kids? 636 00:42:26,477 --> 00:42:27,307 Yeah, your children. 637 00:42:27,378 --> 00:42:28,470 What are they up to now? 638 00:42:28,879 --> 00:42:30,847 - Do you know what they're up to now? - No. 639 00:42:30,915 --> 00:42:32,177 Guess what you think they're up to. 640 00:42:32,249 --> 00:42:33,375 No idea. Couldn't guess. 641 00:42:33,450 --> 00:42:35,315 I don't know what their O Levels were. 642 00:42:35,386 --> 00:42:37,513 They hadn't got O Level last time I was conscious of them. 643 00:42:37,588 --> 00:42:39,954 So I don't know what possible thing could do. 644 00:42:40,758 --> 00:42:42,055 I couldn't possibly guess. 645 00:42:42,126 --> 00:42:45,323 Well, where do you think they are? 646 00:42:45,396 --> 00:42:45,953 No idea. 647 00:42:47,097 --> 00:42:48,029 Don't know where I am. 648 00:42:49,400 --> 00:42:53,803 Well, Anthony, who's the oldest, what do you think he's doing? 649 00:42:54,371 --> 00:42:55,099 I don't know. 650 00:42:56,006 --> 00:42:58,031 You see, he hadn't go O Levels last time I was conscious. 651 00:42:58,108 --> 00:43:00,941 - So I don't know what he's good at. - He's got - he's got a PhD now. 652 00:43:01,011 --> 00:43:01,875 Has he? Good for him. 653 00:43:03,280 --> 00:43:07,148 Imagine never recognising your own children or your own home. 654 00:43:08,018 --> 00:43:09,610 Not even knowing who you are. 655 00:43:10,921 --> 00:43:13,481 Not being able to hold onto the past or present 656 00:43:13,557 --> 00:43:16,048 for long enough to imagine the future. 657 00:43:16,660 --> 00:43:18,924 Do you recognise this place? Blue Anchor? 658 00:43:20,197 --> 00:43:21,425 I prefer the White Anchor. 659 00:43:22,533 --> 00:43:23,761 You think you've been here before? 660 00:43:23,934 --> 00:43:24,593 No. 661 00:43:25,235 --> 00:43:26,167 Hlt's not familiar? 662 00:43:26,236 --> 00:43:26,793 No. 663 00:43:30,107 --> 00:43:33,338 Lamb, pork -Chicken? 664 00:43:33,410 --> 00:43:34,775 - Chicken, I think - - Chicken. 665 00:43:34,845 --> 00:43:35,243 Yes. 666 00:43:35,312 --> 00:43:36,609 Char grilled stuffed chicken. 667 00:43:36,680 --> 00:43:37,738 Yes, that'll be marvellous. 668 00:43:37,815 --> 00:43:39,510 Oh, that's what we were talking about, 669 00:43:39,583 --> 00:43:42,950 the mozzarella and - mozzarella and basil. 670 00:43:44,455 --> 00:43:47,822 Not only is Clive unable to remember what he's ordered for lunch, 671 00:43:48,459 --> 00:43:51,895 but he can't remember which flavours belong to which foods. 672 00:43:53,464 --> 00:43:54,488 What have you ordered? 673 00:43:54,565 --> 00:43:55,054 I don't know. 674 00:43:56,467 --> 00:43:57,365 It looks like chicken. 675 00:43:59,370 --> 00:44:00,098 What's it on? 676 00:44:01,472 --> 00:44:02,200 Salad. 677 00:44:02,272 --> 00:44:03,000 Salad? 678 00:44:03,841 --> 00:44:04,671 Cooked salad. 679 00:44:04,742 --> 00:44:05,504 Cooked salad. 680 00:44:07,678 --> 00:44:10,806 Since Clive is unaware of anything that's just happened, 681 00:44:11,615 --> 00:44:14,106 he perpetually thinks that he has just come round 682 00:44:14,184 --> 00:44:16,550 from a lengthy period of unconsciousness. 683 00:44:19,523 --> 00:44:20,922 I've never seen anyone at all. 684 00:44:20,991 --> 00:44:22,720 I don't think I've ever heard a word until now. 685 00:44:23,961 --> 00:44:26,225 I've never had a dream even, day and night the same. 686 00:44:26,397 --> 00:44:27,022 Blank. 687 00:44:27,731 --> 00:44:28,720 Precisely like death. 688 00:44:29,733 --> 00:44:30,757 No thoughts at all. 689 00:44:30,868 --> 00:44:33,564 The brain has been inactive and day and night exactly the same. 690 00:44:33,637 --> 00:44:34,626 No dreams even. 691 00:44:43,714 --> 00:44:45,306 Every time he sees Deborah, 692 00:44:45,449 --> 00:44:48,179 he believes it's the first time in years. 693 00:44:52,089 --> 00:44:57,049 He's stranded, if you like, on this tiny scrap of time. 694 00:44:58,028 --> 00:45:00,326 He has no past that he knows about 695 00:45:00,597 --> 00:45:03,930 and he has no specific idea of the future. 696 00:45:04,601 --> 00:45:07,536 All he has is void behind him. 697 00:45:08,072 --> 00:45:08,936 It's been like death. 698 00:45:09,707 --> 00:45:11,299 I've never seen a human being before, 699 00:45:11,375 --> 00:45:12,933 never had a dream or a thought. 700 00:45:13,010 --> 00:45:14,705 The brain has been totally inactive, 701 00:45:14,978 --> 00:45:16,138 day and night the same. 702 00:45:16,847 --> 00:45:17,814 No thoughts at all. 703 00:45:18,649 --> 00:45:21,447 And as far as I'm concerned, the doctors have been totally incompetent. 704 00:45:21,518 --> 00:45:24,112 I've never seen a doctor in the whole time. 705 00:45:24,188 --> 00:45:25,815 Oh look who's come. 706 00:45:27,891 --> 00:45:34,524 Oh! 707 00:45:34,598 --> 00:45:35,565 Marvellous. 708 00:45:38,502 --> 00:45:40,163 That was a very musical kiss. 709 00:45:40,471 --> 00:45:42,939 I'm dizzy, I don't know which part of the room I'm standing in. 710 00:45:44,475 --> 00:45:45,942 Can we dance? 711 00:45:47,044 --> 00:45:48,272 Before his illness, 712 00:45:48,612 --> 00:45:51,945 Clive was a successful conductor and musicologist. 713 00:45:56,019 --> 00:45:58,817 And one of the few things that have survived 714 00:45:58,956 --> 00:46:01,390 is Clive's ability to play the piano. 715 00:46:04,828 --> 00:46:07,388 It has been devastatingly sad 716 00:46:07,564 --> 00:46:10,226 to watch how frustrating it is for Clive, 717 00:46:10,400 --> 00:46:14,393 who's the man I love, to suffer so horribly. 718 00:46:17,441 --> 00:46:19,909 I do not know of a more horrific 719 00:46:19,977 --> 00:46:21,137 state to be in 720 00:46:21,478 --> 00:46:24,379 than to have no knowledge of the whole of your life. 721 00:46:24,448 --> 00:46:27,383 No knowledge of any events that have ever happened to you 722 00:46:27,551 --> 00:46:31,351 and no idea of anything except now. 723 00:46:35,959 --> 00:46:39,827 Clive's tragedy is to feel such intense human emotions 724 00:46:40,063 --> 00:46:43,260 without ever being able to anchor them into his memory. 725 00:46:46,370 --> 00:46:49,339 He's a man utterly lost in time. 726 00:46:54,778 --> 00:46:55,540 Lovely. 727 00:46:55,946 --> 00:46:56,742 Very good. 728 00:47:09,359 --> 00:47:12,529 Time is so much a part of us 729 00:47:12,529 --> 00:47:15,259 that we rarely question our experience of it. 730 00:47:17,067 --> 00:47:19,592 Yet it's knitted into the fabric of our being, 731 00:47:19,970 --> 00:47:24,737 and without it our ability to live a normal life is destroyed. 732 00:47:27,010 --> 00:47:30,571 All this adds up to a uniquely human experience 733 00:47:31,081 --> 00:47:34,881 that has made me think about time in an entirely new way. 734 00:47:36,220 --> 00:47:37,278 As a physicist 735 00:47:37,354 --> 00:47:41,017 I've been trained to believe that time - time is mechanical, 736 00:47:41,191 --> 00:47:42,158 it's objective, 737 00:47:42,226 --> 00:47:44,922 time beats at definite rates throughout the universe. 738 00:47:47,197 --> 00:47:49,427 But in the end, as a human being, 739 00:47:50,133 --> 00:47:53,000 I've come to realise that time is also intimate. 740 00:47:54,972 --> 00:47:57,304 Our perception of time can change. 741 00:47:57,608 --> 00:48:00,133 Time can speed up, time can slow down. 742 00:48:02,079 --> 00:48:04,843 So in the end time is very personal. 743 00:48:05,482 --> 00:48:06,915 It comes from within.