we begin in darkness then a single spark
and change ripples through the world the
seed in the soil seeks light the cell
splits into the mine pulses with
knowledge
today we know so much we have cracked
the code of life clinched the birth of
the cosmos explored infinities and yet
far more remains in darkness most of the
universe is of unknown substance our
minds our mystery to us in this darkness
all we have is our ideas so let us turn
their flame until they grow and spread
expanding circles of enlightenment
sparks of creation tonight live from
hangar one and NASA’s Ames Research
Center in Silicon Valley the brightest
stars from the worlds of sciences
technology and Hollywood
are gathered to award over 25 million
dollars for excellence in life science
mathematics and physics
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this is the breakthrough prize
scientists changing the world please
welcome your host Morgan Freeman
[Music]
welcome to the breakthrough prize
ceremony let’s take a journey back to
the 1600s to celebrate a birth not of a
person but the birth of an idea it began
as a faint notion in a few brave minds
at the forefront was a math professor in
italy named Galileo but he was not alone
a few other brave minds shared that
revolutionary that revolutionary notion
hard to say soon after his birth this
radical ideas grew stronger and it began
to spread the idea was simple to
discover the truth you must question
everything every explanation you’ve ever
been told for why things are as they are
and not merely question it but criticize
it try to disprove it test it on the
world if it fails the test throw it away
think of a new explanation then question
that explanation in your mission to get
closer to the truth and that idea is how
we got here is how so many of you are
here tonight with us though we’re
separated by mountains and oceans it’s
how we cured polio lit up the world
walked on the moon silence is not a
merely a topic in a text book science
science is a way of thinking the most
powerful one we ever dreamed of powerful
but fragile Galileo lived out his old
age under house-arrest
a planing the Earth spins his
contemporary Giordano Bruno who imagined
star systems beyond our own
was burned at the stake so they’re long
gone
their ideas endure today but make no
mistake their ideas all ideas are not
immortal
they must be nurtured in a society that
values truth or they may yet be
extinguished that is why it is time to
renew our commitment to the truth we
must honor those who relentlessly seek
it
we must rededicate ourselves to always
questioning we must have the courage to
live in doubt and in doing so we
celebrate what above all else makes us
human
imagining the new once everything was
new and very small the universe and all
it contains today took up about the
space of a grapefruit
over the millennia it’s well to the
scale of galaxies and released a burst
of light 13.8 billion years later a
pioneering team of physicists captured
that light and found within it an image
of our origin a snapshot of the dawn of
time and now it’s time for them to
receive their reward the first of the
breakthrough prize is three million
dollar gifts to our laureates to present
it please welcome multiple Emmy nominee
and neuroscientist dr. Mayim Bialik and
the president of tech incubator
ycombinator as incubator Y Combinator
scuse me Sam Altman
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
as a neuroscientist who plays a
neurobiologist on TV it is a great honor
to be here tonight among so many
brilliant minds and to stand with Sam
and help honor an ensemble cast that has
earned the breakthrough prize in
fundamental physics for me the key to
tech investing is having a long time
horizon if one day cities will be built
from scratch by solar-powered robots and
they will and I want to invest today but
the physicists we are honoring tonight
are working with the time horizon that
makes mine look kinda lame these guys
are really taking the long view plus
they’re looking backward they built W
map a NASA mission that looked as far
back in time as it’s possible to see the
W map we see a picture of the universe
as it was three hundred thousand years
after the Big Bang we’re looking at the
universe’s baby picture this room our
tired universe is filled with the
leftover light from the big night there
are a few hundred photons in every
little cubic inch of this room that are
photons have been traveling for 13.7
billion years it’s the oldest light
looking at the light we’re looking back
in time Nature has provided us with a
time machine and that is the speed of
light that radiation has streamed across
the cosmos
to us it comes to us and we just
recorded as a photograph essentially we
designed w Mac to go study the
temperature fluctuations of this light
and to characterize the pattern on the
sky because we knew that the pattern
would unravel the recipe for the
universe
you’re measuring the relative
temperature of two points of the
universe you’re measuring is that one
one ten thousandth or 1/100 thousandth
of a degree hotter than that one over
there to work with the level of
precision that we wanted across such
large areas of the sky we really need to
go to space and that’s why we built the
satellite that’s why we built W map you
spent many years of your life designing
and building and testing this instrument
yes lunch day the only other thing it
compares to is giving a giving birth
it was 1.5 million miles from the earth
it took a year of data to actually put
together a high-quality map of the sky
to my surprise we saw what we expected
to see with W map the tools we had were
good enough to explain what the universe
looked like 13.8 billion years ago
really for the first time with my
precision but just like with the baby
the genes are there already all the
stuff that’s gonna make it into an
adulterer there because if you have one
region that’s one ten-thousandth hotter
than the other
by the time you get to today that has
grown to be four super cluster of
galaxies that contains stars planets and
us
somehow we seem to have done it we think
we understand the physics that happened
in the universe’s first moments here it
is the infant universe for detailed maps
of the early universe that revealed the
evolution of the cosmos and the
fluctuations that seeded galaxies the
breakthrough prize and fundamental
physics is awarded to the W map science
team and its leaders Chuck Bennett
Gary Henshaw Norman Jurassic Lyman Paige
and David Spergel the W in W map stands
for the David
one of the founders of the
before the completion of the mission but
lived long enough to see its first
dramatic results
[Music]
[Applause]
it’s not at all obvious that we humans
on a tiny planet in the enormous
vastness of space could possibly answer
questions about the universe as a whole
but w map surveyed the patterns of the
oldest light and we used the laws of
physics to deduce from these patterns
answers to our questions
the result is relatively simple but
strange atoms make up only 5% of the
universe dark matter and dark energy
dominate science has let us extend our
knowledge of the universe to far beyond
our physical reach there is still much
we do not understand such as the first
moments of the universe so there will be
new breakthroughs in the future thank
you
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
climate change is an ex extinction
threat but plants control carbon out of
the air and store it in the ground can
harnessing the power of plants save our
planet
we’ll need a scientist who’s trying to
do just that when we return with the
breakthrough prize scientists changing
the world
today marks the end of an era in the
beginning of a new one
[Applause]
[Music]
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to vehicles people are going to see
amazing things from us here
the long road home is magnificent
unflinching masterful now we visit the
real events behind black Sunday with
author Martha Raddatz
I didn’t realize how that Dan Soder city
would stay with them here from the
soldiers and families who were there
your legs just trying to go weak it was
very hard I don’t think the bonds that
they made love a break and follow the
courage beyond the show if I ask how
long a road home it’s been for you road
never end
heroes of a long road home December 19th
at 11:00 on National Geographic Dian
Fossey was a hero died and undoubtedly
saved a species
neither destiny nor fate took me to
Africa I had a deep wish to live among
the mountain gorillas Diane really
conveyed her passion for these animals
and she had made enemies with a lot they
did believe in her black match what was
the motive for killing her we didn’t
member Dian Fossey secrets in the mist
premieres tomorrow at 9:00 on National
Geographic
find out this January on Florence the
unknown is a seduction science the
wonder of Startalk you can handle
Startalk
new episodes Sunday nights at 11:00
that’s kind of dope right that’s totally
though only on National Geographic
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
welcome back to the breakthrough prize
ceremony this is my second year hosting
this event proving once again that all
actors love a good sequel this year
breakthrough prize co founder Mark
Zuckerberg is away he taken a little
family break but he sent us this message
hey everyone URI and I created the
breakthrough prize to celebrate the
achievements of some of the world’s
greatest minds scientists fundamental
physicists and mathematicians whose
genius has helped us understand our
world and whose advances shape our
future Priscilla and I are sorry we
can’t be there tonight to celebrate with
you but I want to take a moment to
congratulate this year’s laureates for
your incredible achievements and thank
you for your contributions to humanity
it is because of you that we can imagine
a world where all diseases can be cured
in our children’s lifetime and where we
can all reach our full potential
the world needs your inspiration and
your reminder that although sometimes it
doesn’t feel this way we are making
steady progress towards building a
better future for everyone
congratulations to all of you and my
deepest thanks for all you do
a seed grows towards sunlight then
sprouts leaves to catch the Rays that
allow it to thrive a process so simple a
three-year-old can grasp it yeah all of
our civilization would be nothing
without it to introduce you to the
scientist who worked out how it happens
we have a scientist at the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission and the current
Miss USA Kara McCullough and joining her
is Kevin Systrom the co-founder and CEO
of Instagram
[Applause]
[Music]
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growth for anyone with a start-up that’s
something you think a lot about and it
all seems easy until you try to do it
yourself then you realize it’s really
complicated
our next laureate asks the same question
about plants to answer it she designed a
simple experiment and from it she
gleaned a fundamental new understanding
of plant genetics and now she’s using
plant genetics to address the
existential threat that we all face from
climate change climate change is a
planetary emergency as a scientist
working at the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission my job is to prepare for
emergencies the key is to predict how
each step could unfold and work out how
to minimize the fallout and that’s
exactly what this pioneering scientist
is doing but on a global scale a lot of
people will tell you who are scientists
and I did my first experiment when I was
four or something I wasn’t one of those
kids I don’t know exactly why it was a
late bloomer but I just was a late
bloomer
you have to kind of keep that sort of ah
you know when you have all about some
process and then you think okay how
could it have happened an experiment
that I did a long time ago that turned
out to be very important and the way we
think about how plants grow then how the
environment can come in and modify that
what’s an easier experiment than putting
plants in broad spectrum white light
versus the dark if you really want to
understand how plants grow and the dico
plant can grow for a while you can
imagine a plant in the jakka’s mostly to
see this way in the ground right so it
has to like grow up and find light
that’s why you have that big long stem
we look for plants that didn’t do what
the normal plant was doing we found
several mutants plants looked like they
had been in the light even though they
weren’t in the light
and then we also look for plants that in
the light look longer and more like
these guys growing in the dark by doing
that we actually were able to show how
plants grow it’s a very relevant
question right now because of global
climate change I actually think we have
a hundred years left on this planet at
most if we don’t start changing the ways
we grow plants we’re trying to create an
ideal plant one that would you know
sequester co2 so you have less
greenhouse gases because that’s what
plants do really well that’s what
photosynthesis is that’s taking co2 out
of the air and turning that into the
oxygen that we all need to breathe plus
you know sugars we’re gonna make plants
better at taking those sugars and
sticking them deep in the soil and I
think we can do that I’m working on
saving the world that’s right
[Music]
we’re discovering how plants optimize
their growth development and structure
to transform sunlight into chemical
energy our three million-dollar
breakthrough prize is awarded to Joanne
Cory
jo-ann Corey grew up as one of six
children four of them boys they
toughened me up she says her brothers no
one at work said anything nearly as mean
as those guys
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
okay follow my hands I’m gonna be moving
a lot plants are the foundation of all
life on Earth yet we are often blind to
their existence this recognition of the
discipline of plant genetics is
meaningful and far-reaching as our world
edges closer to a crisis of
sustainability I hope it will catalyze
greater awareness of the positive impact
that plants can have in the quality of a
few of human life our children and
grandchildren depend on that awareness
thank you
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
what defines living things perhaps most
clearly is their ability to reproduce
themselves but how do they do it we dive
deep into the heart of the cell to find
out when we return live on National
Geographic
[Music]
[Music]
what you want in Afghanistan this is the
war I got what do you know about it war
ain’t nothing out there like you think
it is you know training gonna prepare
you there’s no glory out there no hero
it’s just
death the long road home new episodes
Tuesdays at 10:00 on National Geographic
[Music]
we’re on the set of Mars season two hell
is gonna happen in season terrible what
attracted me to Mars was the human
component of it
season two goes into a lot more dynamics
the drama of the characters it’s one
thing to go to Mars it’s something else
to build a home it’s ten years later we
bring in a second colony with a
completely different agenda they’re
coming to look for resources and ways to
make money there’s gonna be conflict
there’s gonna be love hatred
relationships brief silence exploitation
and tension
I like when I’m in trouble when I get in
trouble a lot these gonna be quite epic
you know shake things up a little bit
helmets off because for me the unknown
is a seduction let’s do this the wonder
of Startalk the universe itself is a
drug wow man you flew my Startalk
new episodes Sunday nights at 11 that’s
kind of dope right that’s totally dope
only on National Geographic Dian Fossey
was a hero I undoubtedly saved a species
neither destiny nor fate took me to
Africa I had a deep wish to live among
the mountain gorillas Diane really
conveyed her passion for these animals
she had made enemies with a lot they did
believe in her black mat what was the
motive for killing her we did member
Dian Fossey secrets in the mist
premieres tomorrow at 9:00 on National
Geographic revisit the real events
behind the long road home with author
Martha Raddatz probably never be the
person I was for life left if I asked
how long a road home it’s been for you
road never end
heroes of a long road home December 19th
at 11:00 on National Geographic
I want you to imagine a single cell
bobbing in an ancient sea it splits in
two and the story of life is underway a
story whose beats are the constant and
perpetual splitting of cells one into
two two and two for child and two woman
to introduce a scientist who has spent
years untangling the threads of cell
division we have to film and television
stars who clearly love technology
and each other she’s a Golden Globe
nominated actress he’s an actor and tech
entrepreneur who has invested in
companies such as Airbnb Spotify uber
and Howells please welcome Mila Kunis
and Ashton Kutcher
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
Ashton and I are thrilled to be a part
of the show but the greatest show on
earth is what happens within us and by
us I mean women when I was pregnant I
had this app that told me every day how
big my daughter was the size of a guava
size of an avocado and eventually she
got too enormous to be compared to a
fruit but thanks guys
but the app also told me what was
growing and when the hands the eyes the
brain then you realize every moment
along the way requires the perfect
splitting of DNA and cells I can confirm
that Mila was totally obsessed with the
fruit AB and actually someone here
tonight probably invented the UI for
that so thank you
it those were fun nights as our children
grow up it is truly amazing to see what
could be shaped by the microscopic
process of cell division what we can see
is how delicate and how difficult that
process is we all grow up you know and
we listen to the teacher you either hear
something or you read something and you
don’t understand it your first reaction
from school is oh well I’m stupid
after many decades of feeling that I
realized that most of the time they
don’t understand it themselves realizing
that something doesn’t make sense
that is the key thing and something is
out there for everybody to see but
you’re the first person who doesn’t
accept that the conventional
explanations don’t work the way you pass
things on from generation to generation
whether or you sell an oak tree or a
human cell is continuity of cells
dividing and producing two new cells it
was a complete mystery that had been
described for a hundred years how the
DNA is the
two DNA’s are disjoined from each other
how do you ensure that one goes to the
left one goes to the right the silver
bites down the middle there is two
meters of DNA in every one of ourselves
how on earth does the cell know which of
that tangled mass of DNA needs to be
held together
it requires that creative step to
imagine something that if it did exist
you could now explain things that can’t
otherwise be explained I got back from a
very long climbing trip having spent
days dealing with ropes and carabiners
and clips and I had probably the most
important idea in my entire scientific
career you want to assemble this DNA
into one structure and this one into a
separate one even though you’re going to
separate them apart you must still hold
on to them in certain places and what we
realized is that they’re all held
together by the cohesion rings
and then it’s broken open and this is
one way this goes the other way and the
two DNA’s go for the start of the solo
you think gosh so that’s how it works it
is incredibly difficult to get in the
truth you can’t explain the world in
terms of what we already know you’ve got
to have to imagine something new
[Music]
for revealing the mechanism that
controls the separation of chromosomes
in cell division and prevents genetic
diseases such as cancer no big deal guys
our next breakthrough prize goes to kim
nasser when he’s not exploring from a
zone or climbing mountains
Kim Naismith and
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
the world we live in was forged by the
Enlightenment which stressed reason over
tradition now the medium by which ideas
are now evaluated has just undergone a
profound change and this has been
accompanied by a tendency to think that
what you say matters more than what can
be demonstrated my experience is that
discovering the truth is not easy but
immensely rewarding getting back to the
facts is crucial if we are to survive
long enough to find out that we are not
alone in this universe
we will then discover if the laws of
biology are as universal as those of
physics
[Music]
how many albert einsteins
and marie curie’s have come and gone
unknown because they lacked the ability
to describe their own ideas
sadly the brightest spark will die if it
does not catch that’s why we need not
just great scientists but great
communicators who can tell nature’s
story in a way that grips us in so doing
they expand their circles of
enlightenment to encompass thousands to
introduce you to an incredible young
science communicator please welcome one
of the founders of the breakthrough
prize
Julia Milner and Golden Globe nominee
and Arthur Lily Collins
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
in my advocacy for anti-bullying and
self-empowerment causes I have found
that the biggest gift a child can be
given is the opportunity to communicate
by having the chance to express
themselves kids not only discover who
they are they can change the entire
culture we wanted to inspire the next
generation with big ideas in math and
science and the people who really know
how to talk to kids are kids themselves
that’s why three years ago together with
Priscilla Chan and we support from Khan
Academy we established the breakthrough
junior challenge video competition for
high school students the winners this
year is remarkable science communicator
[Music]
now is a very very great time to live
for science since there is so much there
are so many unknown questions around the
world that mean that need answers
exactly what number is this
she says it’s six she says its night so
who’s right in my video one of the
recurring themes is how I apply physics
sir your life
it makes people relate to the concepts
on a much deeper level the really
mind-blowing idea here is that observers
and different frames will perceive
different versions of the same reality
and every observers frame is equally
valid Hilary has a really bright future
what makes her special is that she asked
questions beyond our lesson sometimes
she finds the answer by herself she goes
beyond
I was 14 at the time in eighth grade we
were really really surprised when just
suddenly the water came crashing down on
her windows everything broke we had to
rush to the Attic the Pacific Ocean just
crashed inside our house and filled the
entire house within about three minutes
or so after the typhoon everything was
gone so we have to start from scratch
that was stuff having no school
facilities at all it’s a great honor for
me to have to have a lab provided for
the school I get to help people tangibly
through this lab and it’s it feels
especially great since it aligns with
one of my biggest advocacy’s to extend
science education to others once we come
to understand physics we would start to
get deeper and deeper into understanding
the universe that’s one of the skills
that I think would make a better society
people who can think deeper than what
it’s than what it is at face value
[Music]
and tonight we have a surprise for
Hillary he just arrived to celebrate
your achievement ladies and gentlemen
please welcome the director of
Philippine science high school
Ronaldo Garcia
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
splendid evening ladies and gentlemen
Hilary remember this song this is your
quest to follow the star to reach the
unreachable star truly you have imbibed
in you the vision of the school a
passion for excellence pursuit of truth
and service to the nation I congratulate
you and your family for this feat we’re
all in this together your dream is now a
reality
let your star shine and be the best
scientists and expert it you can be
salamat po at Magan Ganga be
for her short film relativity and the
equivalents of reference frames the
winner of the 2003 junior challenge is
Hilary and Alice
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
I’ve always looked up to two kinds of
stars those that shine at night
enchanting my mind about the universe
and those two chime before me now these
amazing scientists inspiring me with
their genius and tenacity to pursue the
truth I’m grateful that this award has
allowed me to become a rising star with
even bigger dreams may this inspire more
young people especially my dear
Filipinos to look up and become
scientists themselves the stars that we
all should look up to thank you to all
those who supported me throughout this
journey
maraming salamat PO
[Music]
musical worlds joined together when rap
superstar Wiz Khalifa performs a
once-in-a-lifetime version of his number
one smash it see you again with Chinese
superstar cellist and actress Nana a
Yong when the breakthrough prize
continues
we’re on the set of Mars season two hell
is gonna happen in season two what
attracted me to Mars was the human
component of it
season two goes into a lot more dynamics
the drama of the characters it’s one
thing to go to Mars it’s something else
to build a home it’s ten years later we
bring in a second colony with a
completely different agenda they’re
coming to look for resources ahead ways
to make money there’s gonna be conflict
there’s gonna be love hatred
relationships grief science exploitation
and tension
I like when I’m in trouble when I get in
trouble a lot things gonna be quite epic
you know shake things up a little bit
helmets off cuz revisit the real events
behind the long road home with author
Martha Raddatz probably never be the
person I was for my left if I asked how
long a road home it’s been for you Road
never end
heroes of a long road home December 19th
at 11:00 on National Geographic the
unknown is a seduction the wonder of
Startalk Startalk new episodes Sunday
nights at 11:00 that’s kind of dope
right that’s totally those only on
National Geographic a good king will do
anything to secure his throne but what
if his very own sons threatened to steal
it all heavy is the head that wears the
crown and numbered are his days Savage
Kingdom up rising new episodes Fridays
at 9:00 or not geo wild the anticipation
the pursuit
the capture our filmmakers get you up
close look at how fast here Oh week-long
make credible big cat week begins Sunday
at 9:00
only on Nat Geo Wild I thought you
wanted Afghanistan this is the war I got
what do you know about it war ain’t
nothing out there like you think it is
you know training gonna prepare you
there’s no glory out there no hero
[Music]
death the long road home
new episodes Tuesdays at 10:00 on
National Geographic for me the unknown
is a seduction let’s do this the wonder
of Startalk
the universe itself is a drug wow man
you flew my mouth Startalk
new episodes Sunday nights at 11:00
that’s kind of dope right that’s totally
dope only on National Geographic the
anticipation the pursuit the capture our
filmmakers get you up close all right
look out back here Oh week
long make credible big cat week begins
Sunday at 9:00 only or NatGeo wild the
unknown is a seduction the wonder of
Startalk you can handle Startalk
new episodes Sunday nights at 11 that’s
kind of dope right that’s totally though
only on National Geographic
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
welcome back this is a celebration of
science and as we know every celebration
needs music to share their talents with
us are the youngest cellist ever to make
a solo recital debut in the National
Concert Hall of Taiwan and Beijing and a
Grammy Award nominated rapper whose song
see you again has been viewed on YouTube
over three billion times accompanied by
the Stanford everyday people choir here
are boo Yong Nana and Wiz Khalifa
[Applause]
[Music]
damn who knew all the planes we flew
good things we’ve been through that I’ll
be standing right here talking to you
about another path I know we loved to
hit the road and laugh but something
told me that it wouldn’t last had to
switch up look at things different see
the bigger picture those were the days
hard work forever pays now I see you win
the better place Oh
[Music]
talk about
[Music]
you were standing there by my side
and that you go be with me for the last
[Music]
[Music]
for watching waiting by the Spill the
struggle was smarter to the bridge of
oppression turns over what that wanna
never be broken the love will never be
bar
[Music]
we saw that we’ve got everything
you were standing there by my side
let’s go
yeah yeah
what
[Music]
spit up all day
yeah
[Music]
but I’ll see you again
[Music]
yeah
[Applause]
[Music]
when we return the breakthrough prize
continues live on National Geographic
[Music]
today marks the end of an era in the
beginning of a new one
[Applause]
this is what we
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Music]
to vehicles people are going to see
amazing things from us here
we’re on the set of Mars season two
hell’s gonna happen in season tittle
what attracted me to Mars was the human
component of it
season two goes into a lot more dynamics
the drama of the characters it’s one
thing to go to Mars it’s something else
to be able to home it’s ten years later
we bring in a second colony with a
completely different agenda they’re
coming to look for resources and ways to
make money there’s gonna be conflict
there’s gonna be love hatred
relationships reef science exploitation
and tension I like when I’m in trouble
when I get in trouble a lot things gonna
be quite epic
you know shake things up a little bit
helmets off coz the anticipation the
pursuit the capture our filmmakers get
you up close look out here Oh week-long
link Red Alert big cat Week begins
Sunday at 9:00
only on Nat Geo Wild a good king will do
anything to secure his throne but what
if his very own sons are the ones who
linger and plot and threaten to steal it
all heavy is the head that wears the
crown and number are his days Savage
Kingdom uprising new episodes Fridays at
9:00 or not geo wild
[Music]
revisit the real events behind the long
road home with author Martha Raddatz
probably never be the person I was for
my left if I asked how long a road home
it’s been for you road never end
heroes of a long road home December 19th
at 11:00 on National Geographic for me
the unknown is a seduction the wonder of
Startalk the universe itself is a drug
wow man you flew my mouth Startalk
new episodes Sunday nights at 11 that’s
kind of dope right that’s totally doe
only on National Geographic Good King be
warned
heavy is the head that wears the crown
and numbered are your days Savage
Kingdom uprising new episodes Fridays at
9:00 or not geo wild
[Applause]
[Music]
welcome back before I continue with this
let me just say to you explained to you
that the young cellist up here who young
nana is 17 years old stupid ideas do not
float around untethered in empty space
they inhabit the infrastructure of the
brain but if the brain starts to fail
these ideas are not just lost to their
creator but are lost to us all our neft
laureate has designed gene therapies to
target the diseases that robbed us of
ideas feelings and memories to tell us
more about him please welcome
breakthrough prize and Google co-founder
Sergey Brin and a multiple Golden Globe
and Emmy nominated actress Kerry
Washington
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in February this year tens of thousands
of people across the world took part in
the March for science
imagine this they took a stand for the
Enlightenment values of Reason evidence
respect for the truth and this is not
just a matter of principle it’s truly a
matter of life and death because science
remains the only tool we have to
understand the diseases that affect our
bodies and our minds I just met our next
laureate last night and he was so modest
that he just briefly mentioned his DNA
all ago therapies but that turns out to
be just the tip of the iceberg of his
long list of scientific discoveries and
furthermore this new kind of therapy
holds promise for many different
diseases in addition to the present
trials that are being conducted in
Huntington’s each year one breakthrough
prize is awarded to a scientist who’s
made significant advances in the fight
against neurodegenerative diseases which
genes are really driving disease you’d
like to treat the cells they’re driving
rapid disease progression
so we thought how could we do that
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the nervous system absolutely is an
interconnected neighborhood the human
brain is comprised of approximately a
hundred billion neurons very big cells
that have to live for our lifespans
they’re never replaced
they need help they’re so highly
interconnected that in the major
neurodegenerative diseases the
initiating events may be quite distant
from where the final failure is in the
one that we got started with ALS
sometimes called Lou Gehrig’s disease
the the field thought that the genetic
damage is only within the motor neurons
and we show that that was not true at
all the mutant gene is expressed in
every cell in the body and it damages
not just the motor neurons but the cells
that support the health of the motor
neurons can we use a designer DNA drug
approach to silence the bad gene those
sorts of approaches had been tried not
in the nervous system but in peripheral
tissues and they had failed time and
time again and the absolutely the first
at the tempt to put these designer DNA
drugs into the nervous system it
succeeded we introduced the drug into
the nervous system and we showed that we
could deliver it almost everywhere in an
effective way in a decade we are going
to see major changes in patient therapy
and outcome I am an optimist and I’ve
always been an optimist these gene
silencing approaches both the one that
we’ve developed and the ones that will
follow after are going to have major
effects
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for revealing the molecular development
of a type of inherited LS and
establishing anti sense therapy in
models of ALS and Huntington disease the
three million dollar breakthrough prize
is awarded to Don Cleveland John Leland
is truly
a lot of his best thinking
[Applause]
[Music]
science propelled America to greatness
and leadership in science is crucial for
America to maintain that greatness I
learned this lesson initially from my
father a physics professor and then I
watched him slowly disabled by
Parkinson’s disease which naturally
inter motivated my interest in
neuroscience I share this extraordinary
honor this today with my wife who
supported enabled me to pursue a career
that I love and with my colleagues and
trainees together we have used science
to decode the pathways that develop
rational therapies for diseases of the
nervous system thank you very much
[Applause]
[Music]
every year life scientists when new
ground in the battle against human
diseases but that battle is ongoing and
its costs remain heavy tonight we pay
tribute to some great minds taken from
us this past year Vera Rubin was born in
Philadelphia she started looking at the
sky at the age of 10 and simply got
hooked on watching stars
she changed our conception of what the
universe is made of our observations of
galaxies confirmed that most of the mass
and the cosmos is the mysterious
substance known as dark matter with this
discovery Vera Rubin took her place in
the pantheon of astronomy
Miriam music our name was born in Tehran
in 1977 she was a world-renowned
mathematician who explored the dynamics
of abstract surfaces
our fearlessness and persistence led her
to new connections between branches of
math she won the Fields Medal the
world’s most prestigious prize for
mathematicians under the age of 40 the
first woman and the first Iranian to
winner Miriam is Akane leaves us the
gift of newly opened paths to future
discoveries
audience tonight is areum’s husband Yong
Vaughn rocked over there
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the anticipation the pursuit the capture
our filmmakers get you up close Oh
incredible big cat Week begins Sunday at
9:00
only on Nat Geo Wild for me the unknown
is a seduction let’s do this the wonder
of Startalk the universe itself is a
drug wow man you flew my man Startalk
new episodes Sunday nights at 11:00
that’s kind of dope right that’s totally
dope
only on National Geographic we’re on a
set of Mars season two hell’s gonna
happen in season two what attracted me
to Mars was the human component of it
season two goes into a lot more dynamics
the drama of the characters
it’s one thing to go to Mars it’s
something else to be able to home it’s
10 years later we bring in a second
colony with a completely different
agenda they’re coming to look for
resources and ways to make money that’s
gonna be conflict that’s gonna be love
hatred relationships grief science
exploitation and tension I like when I’m
in trouble when I get in trouble a lot
things gonna be quite epic
you know shake things up a little bit
helmets off cuz I thought you wanted
Afghanistan this is the war I got what
do you know about it war ain’t nothing
out there like you think it is you know
training gonna prepare you there’s no
glory out there no hero
[Music]
death the long road home new episodes
Tuesdays at 10:00 on National Geographic
you
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[Applause]
every hour the average cell creates over
1 million proteins that we need to live
but as artists and scientists know and
yes even actors not every creation is a
masterpiece
our next laureates discovered the
cellular system that decides when a new
production needs to be pulled to
introduce them
please welcome YouTube CEO Susan
Wojcicki breakthrough prize co-founder
and CEO of 23andme
and a rotates watch its key how to get
it right and five-time Olympic gold
medalist swimmer Katie ledecky
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my sister and I are honored to stand
here with this remarkable athlete as her
record shows Katie knows what it takes
to win a race science can also become a
race but thankfully one in which in the
end everybody wins it’s an honor to be
standing on this stage with you two
remarkable women as an athlete you need
competitors to bring the best out of you
that’s splashed on the edge of my
peripheral vision means a rival is
closing that’s often what it takes to
surpass your own limits which brings us
to our next two winning scientists and
the gold medal worthy breakthrough that
they share through the race to new
discoveries over a decade
our next laureates uncovered the
extraordinary process known as the
unfolded protein response chaos this
chaos in the molecular scale it’s
constant movement random collisions but
somehow order comes out of this process
Casa Mori and my lab we pretty much went
parallel in this discovery we made
independent discoveries then we sort of
march down the path of discovery and
lockstep completion is very severe no
fear no surprise no suspicion and no
hesitation even though a port looks big
stronger big eye moving for us like an
even pitas our big guy but even though
opponents look so great
just go straight we make a faster
discovery of dude our system in our body
we discovered an absolutely unique and
unpredictable mechanism the unfolded
protein response protein as a machine
pretty much does all the reactions in a
Cell that make life possible protein
must have its own structure it’s
constantly changing shapes the idea is
to be in the correct shape to carry out
the function sometimes protein
spontaneous in his food it can cause
various diseases we can inhibit stop
this European we may be able to kill
cancer cells this field moved
dramatically forward because of this
composition with pedometer
looking into the unknown it’s sometimes
scary you have no idea where you’re
going
we are explorers that have to figure out
how nature evolved things and how they
work it’s very difficult to go to that
your own goal by directly but our DNA is
helix double helix so if you keep your
head looking up maybe a goal around in a
circle sometimes but someday
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for describing a cellular quality
control system that detects
disease-causing unfolded proteins and
triggers corrective measure the
breakthrough prize is awarded to kazoo
toshimori and Peter Volta positivism Ori
enjoys being an instructor in kendo a
modern Japanese martial art using bamboo
swords and protective armor
Peter Walter is a menace
when he’s not exploring molecules he’s
building sculptures as long as he is
[Applause]
I wanted to be PhD scientists from my
childhood after beginning I want to
study particle physics but I met
molecular biology when I was a freshman
at Kyoto University which fascinated me
after graduation I had a permanent job
as a biochemist but at age 30 I decided
to quit that job and came to the United
States to run marie-claire biology is a
new endeavor with no promise of a
success but my wife’s article said yes
to my decision and supported me
throughout and then IBM met Gerry in
some interesting project called our
whole protein response Murray Fatiha our
dust takes us in 1989
since then nearly 30 years I received
breakthrough through plugs the Japanese
barge of American Dreams thank you very
much
well what an incredible moment s
apologist we decipher the fundamental
principles of life and it’s really it’s
a fascinating job to figure out how
living cells accomplish their tasks that
these amazing tasks and from that we can
learn indeed what goes wrong in disease
and what goes wrong as we age our work
increases knowledge there’s a goal to
reduce human suffering and I really
thank the founders of this amazing award
for shining the spotlight on the value
of discovery in all of us all of you for
joining us tonight thank you
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we see the world with three dimensions
up and down right and left forward and
back can you imagine
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the surprising answer when we come back
to the breakthrough prize
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today marks the end of an era in the
beginning of a new one
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to vehicles people are going to see
amazing things from us here
the long road home is magnificent
unflinching masterful now we visit the
real events behind black Sunday with
author Martha Raddatz
I didn’t realize how that Dan Soder City
would stay with them here from the
soldiers and families who were there
their legs just kind of go weak it was
very hard I don’t think the bonds that
they made love a break and follow the
courage beyond the show if I ask how
long a road home it’s been for you road
never end heroes of a long road home
December 19th at 11:00 on National
Geographic for me the unknown is a
seduction the wonder of Startalk the
universe itself is a drug wow man you
flew my mouth Startalk
new episodes Sunday nights at 11 that’s
kind of dope right that’s totally doe
only on National Geographic a good king
will do anything to secure his throne
but what if his very own sons are the
ones who linger
and plot and threaten to steal it all
heavy is the head that wears the crown
and number are his days Savage Kingdom
uprising new episodes Fridays at 9:00 or
not geo wild we’re on a set of Mars
season two hell’s gonna happen in season
tittle what attracted me to Mars was the
human component of it
season two goes into a lot more dynamics
the drama of the characters it’s one
thing to go to Mars it’s something else
to build a home it’s 10 years later we
bring in a second colony with a
completely different agenda they’re
coming to look for resources and ways to
make money that’s gonna be conflict
that’s gonna be love hatred
relationships reef science exploitation
and tension
I like when I’m in trouble when I get in
trouble a lot these gonna be quite epic
you know shake things up a little bit
helmets off cuts
[Applause]
[Music]
the first great questioners of received
wisdom were not all scientists some in
fact were artisans they wondered how to
paint scenes with depth on a flat canvas
they imagined running strings through
the plane of a painting to find out
where they met in the process they
didn’t just discover perspective in art
they started a new field of math today
mathematicians have followed their lines
of logic to new dimensions literally to
introduce two windows of the
breakthrough priors and mathematics it
is my pleasure to introduce a former NFL
player for the Baltimore Ravens who
retired from football to continue
pursuing his PhD in mathematics at MIT
and joining him is a neuroscientist who
can co-founder who co-founded the
amazing AI company deepmind please
welcome John Herschel and demis hassabis
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I’m honored to be here tonight and
alongside Dennis my fellow MIT affiliate
go engineers Magnus to be honest my mom
would have preferred me to skip the
whole football thing and go straight to
the PhD but I love every moment of my
career and I’m thankful I didn’t have to
choose between my two passions to
athletes or others in short lived
physical careers I’d say this it’s not
too late to start an adventure of the
mind and in a subject like math the
challenge is endless because the playing
field is infinite so Jon you might be
surprised to hear that I too had a
short-lived career as a sports champion
before my PhD you know chasing glory
seeing off opponents twice my size but
enough about my dark past as a junior
chess player I share John’s passion for
mathematics as a discipline it’s enabled
me to program computer games study the
brain and build AI but it’s also an
arena of human creativity like art music
and sport which offers the joy of just
doing something beautiful purely for its
own sake and our next laureates have
devoted their entire lives to just that
Renaissance painters worked out how to
show death and the world in three
dimensions but of course that’s an
illusion it’s a mapping of the
three-dimensional world onto a
two-dimensional surface and in
mathematics there are dimensions higher
than the three dimensions were used to
the question for us was how to represent
higher dimensions four dimensions five
dimensions and so on using the rules of
algebra I think of dimension as the
number of degrees of freedom if you’re
on a point there’s no way to move or
align you move in one dimension you move
backwards and forwards a surface you
move in two directions we live in three
dimensions four dimensions if you count
time because that’s how many degrees of
freedom we have the objects that we try
and study are typically six dimensional
or even higher than six dimensional we
find the problem we are interested and
we solve it typically with nothing more
than pen and paper the problem that
James and I solved is called the finite
generation of the canonical ring
possibly the central problem of our
research area
Christopher now I had different
perspectives on this problem we both
attack the problem from a different
point of view it was the combination of
those two perspectives that somehow was
the state food one day we stumbled on a
very useful technique that we actually
developed because we have complementary
strengths Christopher is the far more
pragmatic than I am yes he’s the one who
wants to see the final product I’m the
dreamer
he’s the east under slave driver there
is a right answer once you prove a
theorem it’s true there’s no other way
about it
so I’ve always dreamed of solving a
problem like this but I never thought
that it would be realistic
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for transformational contributions to by
rational algebraic geometry especially
the minimal model program in all
dimensions the breakthrough prize is
awarded to Christopher haikon and James
McLaren
when he’s not working in higher math or
hiking with Jane
Kernan Christopher
six children
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Wow
what an inspiring evening we are truly
honored and humbled to receive this
recognition of our work we hope that
they will inspire others to pursue
research and mathematics we would also
like to share a deep gratitude to our
mentors colleagues and co-authors
without their mathematical contributions
and their support we would never have
been able to be part of these beautiful
discoveries which are really just the
finishing touch on a decade’s long
research program advanced by the vision
and the efforts of many brilliant
mathematicians sharing this process and
the success with them has been
exhilarating thank you
[Music]
[Applause]
the breakthrough prize scientists
changing the world will return on
National Geographic
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
for me the unknown is a seduction let’s
do this the wonder of Startalk the
universe itself is a drug wow man you
flew my mouth Startalk
new episodes Sunday nights at 11 that’s
kind of dope right that’s totally dope
only on National Geographic the
anticipation the pursuit the capture our
filmmakers get you up close here all
week long make red alert big cat Week
begins Sunday at 9:00 only on Nat Geo
Wild we’re on the set of Mars season two
hell is gonna happen in season two
what attracted me to Mars was the human
component of it season two goes into a
lot more dynamics the drama of the
characters
it’s one thing to go to Mars it’s
something else to be able to home it’s
ten years later we bring in a second
colony with a completely different
agenda they’re coming to look for
resources and ways to make money that’s
gonna be conflict is gonna be love
hatred relationships grief science
exploitation and tension I like when I’m
in trouble when I get in trouble a lot
these gonna be quite epic
you know shake things up a little bit
helmets off cuz today marks the end of
an era in the beginning of a new one
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Music]
to vehicles people are going to see
amazing things from us here
a good king will do anything to secure
his throne but what if his very own sons
are the ones who linger and plot and
threaten to steal it all heavy is the
head that wears the crown and number are
his days Savage Kingdom uprising new
episodes Fridays at 9:00 or not geo wild
you
[Applause]
[Music]
every moment is a beginning every new
idea that groves can trace its birth to
a spark of inspiration as 2017 comes to
its end let us look forward to the
breakthroughs of 2018 and celebrate the
new as we do so let us never forget that
the search for truth is never over and
the survival of truth is never assured
we have to choose do we stand with those
who wish to suppress the truth or stand
with those who seek it the answer is
clear to me to us and to those who love
knowledge and who we honor tonight and
now let us welcome back to the stage
those men and women who have dedicated
their lives to questioning everything
and searching for the truth
this year’s breakthrough prize laureates
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you
and change ripples through the world the
seed in the soil seeks light the cell
splits into the mine pulses with
knowledge
today we know so much we have cracked
the code of life clinched the birth of
the cosmos explored infinities and yet
far more remains in darkness most of the
universe is of unknown substance our
minds our mystery to us in this darkness
all we have is our ideas so let us turn
their flame until they grow and spread
expanding circles of enlightenment
sparks of creation tonight live from
hangar one and NASA’s Ames Research
Center in Silicon Valley the brightest
stars from the worlds of sciences
technology and Hollywood
are gathered to award over 25 million
dollars for excellence in life science
mathematics and physics
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this is the breakthrough prize
scientists changing the world please
welcome your host Morgan Freeman
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welcome to the breakthrough prize
ceremony let’s take a journey back to
the 1600s to celebrate a birth not of a
person but the birth of an idea it began
as a faint notion in a few brave minds
at the forefront was a math professor in
italy named Galileo but he was not alone
a few other brave minds shared that
revolutionary that revolutionary notion
hard to say soon after his birth this
radical ideas grew stronger and it began
to spread the idea was simple to
discover the truth you must question
everything every explanation you’ve ever
been told for why things are as they are
and not merely question it but criticize
it try to disprove it test it on the
world if it fails the test throw it away
think of a new explanation then question
that explanation in your mission to get
closer to the truth and that idea is how
we got here is how so many of you are
here tonight with us though we’re
separated by mountains and oceans it’s
how we cured polio lit up the world
walked on the moon silence is not a
merely a topic in a text book science
science is a way of thinking the most
powerful one we ever dreamed of powerful
but fragile Galileo lived out his old
age under house-arrest
a planing the Earth spins his
contemporary Giordano Bruno who imagined
star systems beyond our own
was burned at the stake so they’re long
gone
their ideas endure today but make no
mistake their ideas all ideas are not
immortal
they must be nurtured in a society that
values truth or they may yet be
extinguished that is why it is time to
renew our commitment to the truth we
must honor those who relentlessly seek
it
we must rededicate ourselves to always
questioning we must have the courage to
live in doubt and in doing so we
celebrate what above all else makes us
human
imagining the new once everything was
new and very small the universe and all
it contains today took up about the
space of a grapefruit
over the millennia it’s well to the
scale of galaxies and released a burst
of light 13.8 billion years later a
pioneering team of physicists captured
that light and found within it an image
of our origin a snapshot of the dawn of
time and now it’s time for them to
receive their reward the first of the
breakthrough prize is three million
dollar gifts to our laureates to present
it please welcome multiple Emmy nominee
and neuroscientist dr. Mayim Bialik and
the president of tech incubator
ycombinator as incubator Y Combinator
scuse me Sam Altman
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as a neuroscientist who plays a
neurobiologist on TV it is a great honor
to be here tonight among so many
brilliant minds and to stand with Sam
and help honor an ensemble cast that has
earned the breakthrough prize in
fundamental physics for me the key to
tech investing is having a long time
horizon if one day cities will be built
from scratch by solar-powered robots and
they will and I want to invest today but
the physicists we are honoring tonight
are working with the time horizon that
makes mine look kinda lame these guys
are really taking the long view plus
they’re looking backward they built W
map a NASA mission that looked as far
back in time as it’s possible to see the
W map we see a picture of the universe
as it was three hundred thousand years
after the Big Bang we’re looking at the
universe’s baby picture this room our
tired universe is filled with the
leftover light from the big night there
are a few hundred photons in every
little cubic inch of this room that are
photons have been traveling for 13.7
billion years it’s the oldest light
looking at the light we’re looking back
in time Nature has provided us with a
time machine and that is the speed of
light that radiation has streamed across
the cosmos
to us it comes to us and we just
recorded as a photograph essentially we
designed w Mac to go study the
temperature fluctuations of this light
and to characterize the pattern on the
sky because we knew that the pattern
would unravel the recipe for the
universe
you’re measuring the relative
temperature of two points of the
universe you’re measuring is that one
one ten thousandth or 1/100 thousandth
of a degree hotter than that one over
there to work with the level of
precision that we wanted across such
large areas of the sky we really need to
go to space and that’s why we built the
satellite that’s why we built W map you
spent many years of your life designing
and building and testing this instrument
yes lunch day the only other thing it
compares to is giving a giving birth
it was 1.5 million miles from the earth
it took a year of data to actually put
together a high-quality map of the sky
to my surprise we saw what we expected
to see with W map the tools we had were
good enough to explain what the universe
looked like 13.8 billion years ago
really for the first time with my
precision but just like with the baby
the genes are there already all the
stuff that’s gonna make it into an
adulterer there because if you have one
region that’s one ten-thousandth hotter
than the other
by the time you get to today that has
grown to be four super cluster of
galaxies that contains stars planets and
us
somehow we seem to have done it we think
we understand the physics that happened
in the universe’s first moments here it
is the infant universe for detailed maps
of the early universe that revealed the
evolution of the cosmos and the
fluctuations that seeded galaxies the
breakthrough prize and fundamental
physics is awarded to the W map science
team and its leaders Chuck Bennett
Gary Henshaw Norman Jurassic Lyman Paige
and David Spergel the W in W map stands
for the David
one of the founders of the
before the completion of the mission but
lived long enough to see its first
dramatic results
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[Applause]
it’s not at all obvious that we humans
on a tiny planet in the enormous
vastness of space could possibly answer
questions about the universe as a whole
but w map surveyed the patterns of the
oldest light and we used the laws of
physics to deduce from these patterns
answers to our questions
the result is relatively simple but
strange atoms make up only 5% of the
universe dark matter and dark energy
dominate science has let us extend our
knowledge of the universe to far beyond
our physical reach there is still much
we do not understand such as the first
moments of the universe so there will be
new breakthroughs in the future thank
you
[Music]
[Applause]
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climate change is an ex extinction
threat but plants control carbon out of
the air and store it in the ground can
harnessing the power of plants save our
planet
we’ll need a scientist who’s trying to
do just that when we return with the
breakthrough prize scientists changing
the world
today marks the end of an era in the
beginning of a new one
[Applause]
[Music]
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[Applause]
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to vehicles people are going to see
amazing things from us here
the long road home is magnificent
unflinching masterful now we visit the
real events behind black Sunday with
author Martha Raddatz
I didn’t realize how that Dan Soder city
would stay with them here from the
soldiers and families who were there
your legs just trying to go weak it was
very hard I don’t think the bonds that
they made love a break and follow the
courage beyond the show if I ask how
long a road home it’s been for you road
never end
heroes of a long road home December 19th
at 11:00 on National Geographic Dian
Fossey was a hero died and undoubtedly
saved a species
neither destiny nor fate took me to
Africa I had a deep wish to live among
the mountain gorillas Diane really
conveyed her passion for these animals
and she had made enemies with a lot they
did believe in her black match what was
the motive for killing her we didn’t
member Dian Fossey secrets in the mist
premieres tomorrow at 9:00 on National
Geographic
find out this January on Florence the
unknown is a seduction science the
wonder of Startalk you can handle
Startalk
new episodes Sunday nights at 11:00
that’s kind of dope right that’s totally
though only on National Geographic
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
welcome back to the breakthrough prize
ceremony this is my second year hosting
this event proving once again that all
actors love a good sequel this year
breakthrough prize co founder Mark
Zuckerberg is away he taken a little
family break but he sent us this message
hey everyone URI and I created the
breakthrough prize to celebrate the
achievements of some of the world’s
greatest minds scientists fundamental
physicists and mathematicians whose
genius has helped us understand our
world and whose advances shape our
future Priscilla and I are sorry we
can’t be there tonight to celebrate with
you but I want to take a moment to
congratulate this year’s laureates for
your incredible achievements and thank
you for your contributions to humanity
it is because of you that we can imagine
a world where all diseases can be cured
in our children’s lifetime and where we
can all reach our full potential
the world needs your inspiration and
your reminder that although sometimes it
doesn’t feel this way we are making
steady progress towards building a
better future for everyone
congratulations to all of you and my
deepest thanks for all you do
a seed grows towards sunlight then
sprouts leaves to catch the Rays that
allow it to thrive a process so simple a
three-year-old can grasp it yeah all of
our civilization would be nothing
without it to introduce you to the
scientist who worked out how it happens
we have a scientist at the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission and the current
Miss USA Kara McCullough and joining her
is Kevin Systrom the co-founder and CEO
of Instagram
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
growth for anyone with a start-up that’s
something you think a lot about and it
all seems easy until you try to do it
yourself then you realize it’s really
complicated
our next laureate asks the same question
about plants to answer it she designed a
simple experiment and from it she
gleaned a fundamental new understanding
of plant genetics and now she’s using
plant genetics to address the
existential threat that we all face from
climate change climate change is a
planetary emergency as a scientist
working at the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission my job is to prepare for
emergencies the key is to predict how
each step could unfold and work out how
to minimize the fallout and that’s
exactly what this pioneering scientist
is doing but on a global scale a lot of
people will tell you who are scientists
and I did my first experiment when I was
four or something I wasn’t one of those
kids I don’t know exactly why it was a
late bloomer but I just was a late
bloomer
you have to kind of keep that sort of ah
you know when you have all about some
process and then you think okay how
could it have happened an experiment
that I did a long time ago that turned
out to be very important and the way we
think about how plants grow then how the
environment can come in and modify that
what’s an easier experiment than putting
plants in broad spectrum white light
versus the dark if you really want to
understand how plants grow and the dico
plant can grow for a while you can
imagine a plant in the jakka’s mostly to
see this way in the ground right so it
has to like grow up and find light
that’s why you have that big long stem
we look for plants that didn’t do what
the normal plant was doing we found
several mutants plants looked like they
had been in the light even though they
weren’t in the light
and then we also look for plants that in
the light look longer and more like
these guys growing in the dark by doing
that we actually were able to show how
plants grow it’s a very relevant
question right now because of global
climate change I actually think we have
a hundred years left on this planet at
most if we don’t start changing the ways
we grow plants we’re trying to create an
ideal plant one that would you know
sequester co2 so you have less
greenhouse gases because that’s what
plants do really well that’s what
photosynthesis is that’s taking co2 out
of the air and turning that into the
oxygen that we all need to breathe plus
you know sugars we’re gonna make plants
better at taking those sugars and
sticking them deep in the soil and I
think we can do that I’m working on
saving the world that’s right
[Music]
we’re discovering how plants optimize
their growth development and structure
to transform sunlight into chemical
energy our three million-dollar
breakthrough prize is awarded to Joanne
Cory
jo-ann Corey grew up as one of six
children four of them boys they
toughened me up she says her brothers no
one at work said anything nearly as mean
as those guys
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
okay follow my hands I’m gonna be moving
a lot plants are the foundation of all
life on Earth yet we are often blind to
their existence this recognition of the
discipline of plant genetics is
meaningful and far-reaching as our world
edges closer to a crisis of
sustainability I hope it will catalyze
greater awareness of the positive impact
that plants can have in the quality of a
few of human life our children and
grandchildren depend on that awareness
thank you
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
what defines living things perhaps most
clearly is their ability to reproduce
themselves but how do they do it we dive
deep into the heart of the cell to find
out when we return live on National
Geographic
[Music]
[Music]
what you want in Afghanistan this is the
war I got what do you know about it war
ain’t nothing out there like you think
it is you know training gonna prepare
you there’s no glory out there no hero
it’s just
death the long road home new episodes
Tuesdays at 10:00 on National Geographic
[Music]
we’re on the set of Mars season two hell
is gonna happen in season terrible what
attracted me to Mars was the human
component of it
season two goes into a lot more dynamics
the drama of the characters it’s one
thing to go to Mars it’s something else
to build a home it’s ten years later we
bring in a second colony with a
completely different agenda they’re
coming to look for resources and ways to
make money there’s gonna be conflict
there’s gonna be love hatred
relationships brief silence exploitation
and tension
I like when I’m in trouble when I get in
trouble a lot these gonna be quite epic
you know shake things up a little bit
helmets off because for me the unknown
is a seduction let’s do this the wonder
of Startalk the universe itself is a
drug wow man you flew my Startalk
new episodes Sunday nights at 11 that’s
kind of dope right that’s totally dope
only on National Geographic Dian Fossey
was a hero I undoubtedly saved a species
neither destiny nor fate took me to
Africa I had a deep wish to live among
the mountain gorillas Diane really
conveyed her passion for these animals
she had made enemies with a lot they did
believe in her black mat what was the
motive for killing her we did member
Dian Fossey secrets in the mist
premieres tomorrow at 9:00 on National
Geographic revisit the real events
behind the long road home with author
Martha Raddatz probably never be the
person I was for life left if I asked
how long a road home it’s been for you
road never end
heroes of a long road home December 19th
at 11:00 on National Geographic
I want you to imagine a single cell
bobbing in an ancient sea it splits in
two and the story of life is underway a
story whose beats are the constant and
perpetual splitting of cells one into
two two and two for child and two woman
to introduce a scientist who has spent
years untangling the threads of cell
division we have to film and television
stars who clearly love technology
and each other she’s a Golden Globe
nominated actress he’s an actor and tech
entrepreneur who has invested in
companies such as Airbnb Spotify uber
and Howells please welcome Mila Kunis
and Ashton Kutcher
[Applause]
[Music]
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[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
Ashton and I are thrilled to be a part
of the show but the greatest show on
earth is what happens within us and by
us I mean women when I was pregnant I
had this app that told me every day how
big my daughter was the size of a guava
size of an avocado and eventually she
got too enormous to be compared to a
fruit but thanks guys
but the app also told me what was
growing and when the hands the eyes the
brain then you realize every moment
along the way requires the perfect
splitting of DNA and cells I can confirm
that Mila was totally obsessed with the
fruit AB and actually someone here
tonight probably invented the UI for
that so thank you
it those were fun nights as our children
grow up it is truly amazing to see what
could be shaped by the microscopic
process of cell division what we can see
is how delicate and how difficult that
process is we all grow up you know and
we listen to the teacher you either hear
something or you read something and you
don’t understand it your first reaction
from school is oh well I’m stupid
after many decades of feeling that I
realized that most of the time they
don’t understand it themselves realizing
that something doesn’t make sense
that is the key thing and something is
out there for everybody to see but
you’re the first person who doesn’t
accept that the conventional
explanations don’t work the way you pass
things on from generation to generation
whether or you sell an oak tree or a
human cell is continuity of cells
dividing and producing two new cells it
was a complete mystery that had been
described for a hundred years how the
DNA is the
two DNA’s are disjoined from each other
how do you ensure that one goes to the
left one goes to the right the silver
bites down the middle there is two
meters of DNA in every one of ourselves
how on earth does the cell know which of
that tangled mass of DNA needs to be
held together
it requires that creative step to
imagine something that if it did exist
you could now explain things that can’t
otherwise be explained I got back from a
very long climbing trip having spent
days dealing with ropes and carabiners
and clips and I had probably the most
important idea in my entire scientific
career you want to assemble this DNA
into one structure and this one into a
separate one even though you’re going to
separate them apart you must still hold
on to them in certain places and what we
realized is that they’re all held
together by the cohesion rings
and then it’s broken open and this is
one way this goes the other way and the
two DNA’s go for the start of the solo
you think gosh so that’s how it works it
is incredibly difficult to get in the
truth you can’t explain the world in
terms of what we already know you’ve got
to have to imagine something new
[Music]
for revealing the mechanism that
controls the separation of chromosomes
in cell division and prevents genetic
diseases such as cancer no big deal guys
our next breakthrough prize goes to kim
nasser when he’s not exploring from a
zone or climbing mountains
Kim Naismith and
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
the world we live in was forged by the
Enlightenment which stressed reason over
tradition now the medium by which ideas
are now evaluated has just undergone a
profound change and this has been
accompanied by a tendency to think that
what you say matters more than what can
be demonstrated my experience is that
discovering the truth is not easy but
immensely rewarding getting back to the
facts is crucial if we are to survive
long enough to find out that we are not
alone in this universe
we will then discover if the laws of
biology are as universal as those of
physics
[Music]
how many albert einsteins
and marie curie’s have come and gone
unknown because they lacked the ability
to describe their own ideas
sadly the brightest spark will die if it
does not catch that’s why we need not
just great scientists but great
communicators who can tell nature’s
story in a way that grips us in so doing
they expand their circles of
enlightenment to encompass thousands to
introduce you to an incredible young
science communicator please welcome one
of the founders of the breakthrough
prize
Julia Milner and Golden Globe nominee
and Arthur Lily Collins
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
in my advocacy for anti-bullying and
self-empowerment causes I have found
that the biggest gift a child can be
given is the opportunity to communicate
by having the chance to express
themselves kids not only discover who
they are they can change the entire
culture we wanted to inspire the next
generation with big ideas in math and
science and the people who really know
how to talk to kids are kids themselves
that’s why three years ago together with
Priscilla Chan and we support from Khan
Academy we established the breakthrough
junior challenge video competition for
high school students the winners this
year is remarkable science communicator
[Music]
now is a very very great time to live
for science since there is so much there
are so many unknown questions around the
world that mean that need answers
exactly what number is this
she says it’s six she says its night so
who’s right in my video one of the
recurring themes is how I apply physics
sir your life
it makes people relate to the concepts
on a much deeper level the really
mind-blowing idea here is that observers
and different frames will perceive
different versions of the same reality
and every observers frame is equally
valid Hilary has a really bright future
what makes her special is that she asked
questions beyond our lesson sometimes
she finds the answer by herself she goes
beyond
I was 14 at the time in eighth grade we
were really really surprised when just
suddenly the water came crashing down on
her windows everything broke we had to
rush to the Attic the Pacific Ocean just
crashed inside our house and filled the
entire house within about three minutes
or so after the typhoon everything was
gone so we have to start from scratch
that was stuff having no school
facilities at all it’s a great honor for
me to have to have a lab provided for
the school I get to help people tangibly
through this lab and it’s it feels
especially great since it aligns with
one of my biggest advocacy’s to extend
science education to others once we come
to understand physics we would start to
get deeper and deeper into understanding
the universe that’s one of the skills
that I think would make a better society
people who can think deeper than what
it’s than what it is at face value
[Music]
and tonight we have a surprise for
Hillary he just arrived to celebrate
your achievement ladies and gentlemen
please welcome the director of
Philippine science high school
Ronaldo Garcia
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
splendid evening ladies and gentlemen
Hilary remember this song this is your
quest to follow the star to reach the
unreachable star truly you have imbibed
in you the vision of the school a
passion for excellence pursuit of truth
and service to the nation I congratulate
you and your family for this feat we’re
all in this together your dream is now a
reality
let your star shine and be the best
scientists and expert it you can be
salamat po at Magan Ganga be
for her short film relativity and the
equivalents of reference frames the
winner of the 2003 junior challenge is
Hilary and Alice
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
I’ve always looked up to two kinds of
stars those that shine at night
enchanting my mind about the universe
and those two chime before me now these
amazing scientists inspiring me with
their genius and tenacity to pursue the
truth I’m grateful that this award has
allowed me to become a rising star with
even bigger dreams may this inspire more
young people especially my dear
Filipinos to look up and become
scientists themselves the stars that we
all should look up to thank you to all
those who supported me throughout this
journey
maraming salamat PO
[Music]
musical worlds joined together when rap
superstar Wiz Khalifa performs a
once-in-a-lifetime version of his number
one smash it see you again with Chinese
superstar cellist and actress Nana a
Yong when the breakthrough prize
continues
we’re on the set of Mars season two hell
is gonna happen in season two what
attracted me to Mars was the human
component of it
season two goes into a lot more dynamics
the drama of the characters it’s one
thing to go to Mars it’s something else
to build a home it’s ten years later we
bring in a second colony with a
completely different agenda they’re
coming to look for resources ahead ways
to make money there’s gonna be conflict
there’s gonna be love hatred
relationships grief science exploitation
and tension
I like when I’m in trouble when I get in
trouble a lot things gonna be quite epic
you know shake things up a little bit
helmets off cuz revisit the real events
behind the long road home with author
Martha Raddatz probably never be the
person I was for my left if I asked how
long a road home it’s been for you Road
never end
heroes of a long road home December 19th
at 11:00 on National Geographic the
unknown is a seduction the wonder of
Startalk Startalk new episodes Sunday
nights at 11:00 that’s kind of dope
right that’s totally those only on
National Geographic a good king will do
anything to secure his throne but what
if his very own sons threatened to steal
it all heavy is the head that wears the
crown and numbered are his days Savage
Kingdom up rising new episodes Fridays
at 9:00 or not geo wild the anticipation
the pursuit
the capture our filmmakers get you up
close look at how fast here Oh week-long
make credible big cat week begins Sunday
at 9:00
only on Nat Geo Wild I thought you
wanted Afghanistan this is the war I got
what do you know about it war ain’t
nothing out there like you think it is
you know training gonna prepare you
there’s no glory out there no hero
[Music]
death the long road home
new episodes Tuesdays at 10:00 on
National Geographic for me the unknown
is a seduction let’s do this the wonder
of Startalk
the universe itself is a drug wow man
you flew my mouth Startalk
new episodes Sunday nights at 11:00
that’s kind of dope right that’s totally
dope only on National Geographic the
anticipation the pursuit the capture our
filmmakers get you up close all right
look out back here Oh week
long make credible big cat week begins
Sunday at 9:00 only or NatGeo wild the
unknown is a seduction the wonder of
Startalk you can handle Startalk
new episodes Sunday nights at 11 that’s
kind of dope right that’s totally though
only on National Geographic
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
welcome back this is a celebration of
science and as we know every celebration
needs music to share their talents with
us are the youngest cellist ever to make
a solo recital debut in the National
Concert Hall of Taiwan and Beijing and a
Grammy Award nominated rapper whose song
see you again has been viewed on YouTube
over three billion times accompanied by
the Stanford everyday people choir here
are boo Yong Nana and Wiz Khalifa
[Applause]
[Music]
damn who knew all the planes we flew
good things we’ve been through that I’ll
be standing right here talking to you
about another path I know we loved to
hit the road and laugh but something
told me that it wouldn’t last had to
switch up look at things different see
the bigger picture those were the days
hard work forever pays now I see you win
the better place Oh
[Music]
talk about
[Music]
you were standing there by my side
and that you go be with me for the last
[Music]
[Music]
for watching waiting by the Spill the
struggle was smarter to the bridge of
oppression turns over what that wanna
never be broken the love will never be
bar
[Music]
we saw that we’ve got everything
you were standing there by my side
let’s go
yeah yeah
what
[Music]
spit up all day
yeah
[Music]
but I’ll see you again
[Music]
yeah
[Applause]
[Music]
when we return the breakthrough prize
continues live on National Geographic
[Music]
today marks the end of an era in the
beginning of a new one
[Applause]
this is what we
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Music]
to vehicles people are going to see
amazing things from us here
we’re on the set of Mars season two
hell’s gonna happen in season tittle
what attracted me to Mars was the human
component of it
season two goes into a lot more dynamics
the drama of the characters it’s one
thing to go to Mars it’s something else
to be able to home it’s ten years later
we bring in a second colony with a
completely different agenda they’re
coming to look for resources and ways to
make money there’s gonna be conflict
there’s gonna be love hatred
relationships reef science exploitation
and tension I like when I’m in trouble
when I get in trouble a lot things gonna
be quite epic
you know shake things up a little bit
helmets off coz the anticipation the
pursuit the capture our filmmakers get
you up close look out here Oh week-long
link Red Alert big cat Week begins
Sunday at 9:00
only on Nat Geo Wild a good king will do
anything to secure his throne but what
if his very own sons are the ones who
linger and plot and threaten to steal it
all heavy is the head that wears the
crown and number are his days Savage
Kingdom uprising new episodes Fridays at
9:00 or not geo wild
[Music]
revisit the real events behind the long
road home with author Martha Raddatz
probably never be the person I was for
my left if I asked how long a road home
it’s been for you road never end
heroes of a long road home December 19th
at 11:00 on National Geographic for me
the unknown is a seduction the wonder of
Startalk the universe itself is a drug
wow man you flew my mouth Startalk
new episodes Sunday nights at 11 that’s
kind of dope right that’s totally doe
only on National Geographic Good King be
warned
heavy is the head that wears the crown
and numbered are your days Savage
Kingdom uprising new episodes Fridays at
9:00 or not geo wild
[Applause]
[Music]
welcome back before I continue with this
let me just say to you explained to you
that the young cellist up here who young
nana is 17 years old stupid ideas do not
float around untethered in empty space
they inhabit the infrastructure of the
brain but if the brain starts to fail
these ideas are not just lost to their
creator but are lost to us all our neft
laureate has designed gene therapies to
target the diseases that robbed us of
ideas feelings and memories to tell us
more about him please welcome
breakthrough prize and Google co-founder
Sergey Brin and a multiple Golden Globe
and Emmy nominated actress Kerry
Washington
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
in February this year tens of thousands
of people across the world took part in
the March for science
imagine this they took a stand for the
Enlightenment values of Reason evidence
respect for the truth and this is not
just a matter of principle it’s truly a
matter of life and death because science
remains the only tool we have to
understand the diseases that affect our
bodies and our minds I just met our next
laureate last night and he was so modest
that he just briefly mentioned his DNA
all ago therapies but that turns out to
be just the tip of the iceberg of his
long list of scientific discoveries and
furthermore this new kind of therapy
holds promise for many different
diseases in addition to the present
trials that are being conducted in
Huntington’s each year one breakthrough
prize is awarded to a scientist who’s
made significant advances in the fight
against neurodegenerative diseases which
genes are really driving disease you’d
like to treat the cells they’re driving
rapid disease progression
so we thought how could we do that
[Music]
the nervous system absolutely is an
interconnected neighborhood the human
brain is comprised of approximately a
hundred billion neurons very big cells
that have to live for our lifespans
they’re never replaced
they need help they’re so highly
interconnected that in the major
neurodegenerative diseases the
initiating events may be quite distant
from where the final failure is in the
one that we got started with ALS
sometimes called Lou Gehrig’s disease
the the field thought that the genetic
damage is only within the motor neurons
and we show that that was not true at
all the mutant gene is expressed in
every cell in the body and it damages
not just the motor neurons but the cells
that support the health of the motor
neurons can we use a designer DNA drug
approach to silence the bad gene those
sorts of approaches had been tried not
in the nervous system but in peripheral
tissues and they had failed time and
time again and the absolutely the first
at the tempt to put these designer DNA
drugs into the nervous system it
succeeded we introduced the drug into
the nervous system and we showed that we
could deliver it almost everywhere in an
effective way in a decade we are going
to see major changes in patient therapy
and outcome I am an optimist and I’ve
always been an optimist these gene
silencing approaches both the one that
we’ve developed and the ones that will
follow after are going to have major
effects
[Music]
for revealing the molecular development
of a type of inherited LS and
establishing anti sense therapy in
models of ALS and Huntington disease the
three million dollar breakthrough prize
is awarded to Don Cleveland John Leland
is truly
a lot of his best thinking
[Applause]
[Music]
science propelled America to greatness
and leadership in science is crucial for
America to maintain that greatness I
learned this lesson initially from my
father a physics professor and then I
watched him slowly disabled by
Parkinson’s disease which naturally
inter motivated my interest in
neuroscience I share this extraordinary
honor this today with my wife who
supported enabled me to pursue a career
that I love and with my colleagues and
trainees together we have used science
to decode the pathways that develop
rational therapies for diseases of the
nervous system thank you very much
[Applause]
[Music]
every year life scientists when new
ground in the battle against human
diseases but that battle is ongoing and
its costs remain heavy tonight we pay
tribute to some great minds taken from
us this past year Vera Rubin was born in
Philadelphia she started looking at the
sky at the age of 10 and simply got
hooked on watching stars
she changed our conception of what the
universe is made of our observations of
galaxies confirmed that most of the mass
and the cosmos is the mysterious
substance known as dark matter with this
discovery Vera Rubin took her place in
the pantheon of astronomy
Miriam music our name was born in Tehran
in 1977 she was a world-renowned
mathematician who explored the dynamics
of abstract surfaces
our fearlessness and persistence led her
to new connections between branches of
math she won the Fields Medal the
world’s most prestigious prize for
mathematicians under the age of 40 the
first woman and the first Iranian to
winner Miriam is Akane leaves us the
gift of newly opened paths to future
discoveries
audience tonight is areum’s husband Yong
Vaughn rocked over there
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
the anticipation the pursuit the capture
our filmmakers get you up close Oh
incredible big cat Week begins Sunday at
9:00
only on Nat Geo Wild for me the unknown
is a seduction let’s do this the wonder
of Startalk the universe itself is a
drug wow man you flew my man Startalk
new episodes Sunday nights at 11:00
that’s kind of dope right that’s totally
dope
only on National Geographic we’re on a
set of Mars season two hell’s gonna
happen in season two what attracted me
to Mars was the human component of it
season two goes into a lot more dynamics
the drama of the characters
it’s one thing to go to Mars it’s
something else to be able to home it’s
10 years later we bring in a second
colony with a completely different
agenda they’re coming to look for
resources and ways to make money that’s
gonna be conflict that’s gonna be love
hatred relationships grief science
exploitation and tension I like when I’m
in trouble when I get in trouble a lot
things gonna be quite epic
you know shake things up a little bit
helmets off cuz I thought you wanted
Afghanistan this is the war I got what
do you know about it war ain’t nothing
out there like you think it is you know
training gonna prepare you there’s no
glory out there no hero
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death the long road home new episodes
Tuesdays at 10:00 on National Geographic
you
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every hour the average cell creates over
1 million proteins that we need to live
but as artists and scientists know and
yes even actors not every creation is a
masterpiece
our next laureates discovered the
cellular system that decides when a new
production needs to be pulled to
introduce them
please welcome YouTube CEO Susan
Wojcicki breakthrough prize co-founder
and CEO of 23andme
and a rotates watch its key how to get
it right and five-time Olympic gold
medalist swimmer Katie ledecky
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my sister and I are honored to stand
here with this remarkable athlete as her
record shows Katie knows what it takes
to win a race science can also become a
race but thankfully one in which in the
end everybody wins it’s an honor to be
standing on this stage with you two
remarkable women as an athlete you need
competitors to bring the best out of you
that’s splashed on the edge of my
peripheral vision means a rival is
closing that’s often what it takes to
surpass your own limits which brings us
to our next two winning scientists and
the gold medal worthy breakthrough that
they share through the race to new
discoveries over a decade
our next laureates uncovered the
extraordinary process known as the
unfolded protein response chaos this
chaos in the molecular scale it’s
constant movement random collisions but
somehow order comes out of this process
Casa Mori and my lab we pretty much went
parallel in this discovery we made
independent discoveries then we sort of
march down the path of discovery and
lockstep completion is very severe no
fear no surprise no suspicion and no
hesitation even though a port looks big
stronger big eye moving for us like an
even pitas our big guy but even though
opponents look so great
just go straight we make a faster
discovery of dude our system in our body
we discovered an absolutely unique and
unpredictable mechanism the unfolded
protein response protein as a machine
pretty much does all the reactions in a
Cell that make life possible protein
must have its own structure it’s
constantly changing shapes the idea is
to be in the correct shape to carry out
the function sometimes protein
spontaneous in his food it can cause
various diseases we can inhibit stop
this European we may be able to kill
cancer cells this field moved
dramatically forward because of this
composition with pedometer
looking into the unknown it’s sometimes
scary you have no idea where you’re
going
we are explorers that have to figure out
how nature evolved things and how they
work it’s very difficult to go to that
your own goal by directly but our DNA is
helix double helix so if you keep your
head looking up maybe a goal around in a
circle sometimes but someday
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for describing a cellular quality
control system that detects
disease-causing unfolded proteins and
triggers corrective measure the
breakthrough prize is awarded to kazoo
toshimori and Peter Volta positivism Ori
enjoys being an instructor in kendo a
modern Japanese martial art using bamboo
swords and protective armor
Peter Walter is a menace
when he’s not exploring molecules he’s
building sculptures as long as he is
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I wanted to be PhD scientists from my
childhood after beginning I want to
study particle physics but I met
molecular biology when I was a freshman
at Kyoto University which fascinated me
after graduation I had a permanent job
as a biochemist but at age 30 I decided
to quit that job and came to the United
States to run marie-claire biology is a
new endeavor with no promise of a
success but my wife’s article said yes
to my decision and supported me
throughout and then IBM met Gerry in
some interesting project called our
whole protein response Murray Fatiha our
dust takes us in 1989
since then nearly 30 years I received
breakthrough through plugs the Japanese
barge of American Dreams thank you very
much
well what an incredible moment s
apologist we decipher the fundamental
principles of life and it’s really it’s
a fascinating job to figure out how
living cells accomplish their tasks that
these amazing tasks and from that we can
learn indeed what goes wrong in disease
and what goes wrong as we age our work
increases knowledge there’s a goal to
reduce human suffering and I really
thank the founders of this amazing award
for shining the spotlight on the value
of discovery in all of us all of you for
joining us tonight thank you
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we see the world with three dimensions
up and down right and left forward and
back can you imagine
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the surprising answer when we come back
to the breakthrough prize
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today marks the end of an era in the
beginning of a new one
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to vehicles people are going to see
amazing things from us here
the long road home is magnificent
unflinching masterful now we visit the
real events behind black Sunday with
author Martha Raddatz
I didn’t realize how that Dan Soder City
would stay with them here from the
soldiers and families who were there
their legs just kind of go weak it was
very hard I don’t think the bonds that
they made love a break and follow the
courage beyond the show if I ask how
long a road home it’s been for you road
never end heroes of a long road home
December 19th at 11:00 on National
Geographic for me the unknown is a
seduction the wonder of Startalk the
universe itself is a drug wow man you
flew my mouth Startalk
new episodes Sunday nights at 11 that’s
kind of dope right that’s totally doe
only on National Geographic a good king
will do anything to secure his throne
but what if his very own sons are the
ones who linger
and plot and threaten to steal it all
heavy is the head that wears the crown
and number are his days Savage Kingdom
uprising new episodes Fridays at 9:00 or
not geo wild we’re on a set of Mars
season two hell’s gonna happen in season
tittle what attracted me to Mars was the
human component of it
season two goes into a lot more dynamics
the drama of the characters it’s one
thing to go to Mars it’s something else
to build a home it’s 10 years later we
bring in a second colony with a
completely different agenda they’re
coming to look for resources and ways to
make money that’s gonna be conflict
that’s gonna be love hatred
relationships reef science exploitation
and tension
I like when I’m in trouble when I get in
trouble a lot these gonna be quite epic
you know shake things up a little bit
helmets off cuts
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the first great questioners of received
wisdom were not all scientists some in
fact were artisans they wondered how to
paint scenes with depth on a flat canvas
they imagined running strings through
the plane of a painting to find out
where they met in the process they
didn’t just discover perspective in art
they started a new field of math today
mathematicians have followed their lines
of logic to new dimensions literally to
introduce two windows of the
breakthrough priors and mathematics it
is my pleasure to introduce a former NFL
player for the Baltimore Ravens who
retired from football to continue
pursuing his PhD in mathematics at MIT
and joining him is a neuroscientist who
can co-founder who co-founded the
amazing AI company deepmind please
welcome John Herschel and demis hassabis
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I’m honored to be here tonight and
alongside Dennis my fellow MIT affiliate
go engineers Magnus to be honest my mom
would have preferred me to skip the
whole football thing and go straight to
the PhD but I love every moment of my
career and I’m thankful I didn’t have to
choose between my two passions to
athletes or others in short lived
physical careers I’d say this it’s not
too late to start an adventure of the
mind and in a subject like math the
challenge is endless because the playing
field is infinite so Jon you might be
surprised to hear that I too had a
short-lived career as a sports champion
before my PhD you know chasing glory
seeing off opponents twice my size but
enough about my dark past as a junior
chess player I share John’s passion for
mathematics as a discipline it’s enabled
me to program computer games study the
brain and build AI but it’s also an
arena of human creativity like art music
and sport which offers the joy of just
doing something beautiful purely for its
own sake and our next laureates have
devoted their entire lives to just that
Renaissance painters worked out how to
show death and the world in three
dimensions but of course that’s an
illusion it’s a mapping of the
three-dimensional world onto a
two-dimensional surface and in
mathematics there are dimensions higher
than the three dimensions were used to
the question for us was how to represent
higher dimensions four dimensions five
dimensions and so on using the rules of
algebra I think of dimension as the
number of degrees of freedom if you’re
on a point there’s no way to move or
align you move in one dimension you move
backwards and forwards a surface you
move in two directions we live in three
dimensions four dimensions if you count
time because that’s how many degrees of
freedom we have the objects that we try
and study are typically six dimensional
or even higher than six dimensional we
find the problem we are interested and
we solve it typically with nothing more
than pen and paper the problem that
James and I solved is called the finite
generation of the canonical ring
possibly the central problem of our
research area
Christopher now I had different
perspectives on this problem we both
attack the problem from a different
point of view it was the combination of
those two perspectives that somehow was
the state food one day we stumbled on a
very useful technique that we actually
developed because we have complementary
strengths Christopher is the far more
pragmatic than I am yes he’s the one who
wants to see the final product I’m the
dreamer
he’s the east under slave driver there
is a right answer once you prove a
theorem it’s true there’s no other way
about it
so I’ve always dreamed of solving a
problem like this but I never thought
that it would be realistic
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for transformational contributions to by
rational algebraic geometry especially
the minimal model program in all
dimensions the breakthrough prize is
awarded to Christopher haikon and James
McLaren
when he’s not working in higher math or
hiking with Jane
Kernan Christopher
six children
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Wow
what an inspiring evening we are truly
honored and humbled to receive this
recognition of our work we hope that
they will inspire others to pursue
research and mathematics we would also
like to share a deep gratitude to our
mentors colleagues and co-authors
without their mathematical contributions
and their support we would never have
been able to be part of these beautiful
discoveries which are really just the
finishing touch on a decade’s long
research program advanced by the vision
and the efforts of many brilliant
mathematicians sharing this process and
the success with them has been
exhilarating thank you
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[Applause]
the breakthrough prize scientists
changing the world will return on
National Geographic
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
for me the unknown is a seduction let’s
do this the wonder of Startalk the
universe itself is a drug wow man you
flew my mouth Startalk
new episodes Sunday nights at 11 that’s
kind of dope right that’s totally dope
only on National Geographic the
anticipation the pursuit the capture our
filmmakers get you up close here all
week long make red alert big cat Week
begins Sunday at 9:00 only on Nat Geo
Wild we’re on the set of Mars season two
hell is gonna happen in season two
what attracted me to Mars was the human
component of it season two goes into a
lot more dynamics the drama of the
characters
it’s one thing to go to Mars it’s
something else to be able to home it’s
ten years later we bring in a second
colony with a completely different
agenda they’re coming to look for
resources and ways to make money that’s
gonna be conflict is gonna be love
hatred relationships grief science
exploitation and tension I like when I’m
in trouble when I get in trouble a lot
these gonna be quite epic
you know shake things up a little bit
helmets off cuz today marks the end of
an era in the beginning of a new one
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
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to vehicles people are going to see
amazing things from us here
a good king will do anything to secure
his throne but what if his very own sons
are the ones who linger and plot and
threaten to steal it all heavy is the
head that wears the crown and number are
his days Savage Kingdom uprising new
episodes Fridays at 9:00 or not geo wild
you
[Applause]
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every moment is a beginning every new
idea that groves can trace its birth to
a spark of inspiration as 2017 comes to
its end let us look forward to the
breakthroughs of 2018 and celebrate the
new as we do so let us never forget that
the search for truth is never over and
the survival of truth is never assured
we have to choose do we stand with those
who wish to suppress the truth or stand
with those who seek it the answer is
clear to me to us and to those who love
knowledge and who we honor tonight and
now let us welcome back to the stage
those men and women who have dedicated
their lives to questioning everything
and searching for the truth
this year’s breakthrough prize laureates
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you
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