Connect; 111; Sally Seidel, Victor Polyak and Yemane Asmerom, Dr. Larry Sklar

>> HEAVY QUARKS ARE INTERESTING, BECAUSE THEY DON'T APPEAR IN OUR DAILY LIFE. THE HEAVY QUARKS WE ONLY FIND IN PARTICLE COLLIDER EXPERIMENTS OR IN COSMIC RAYS, BUT IT TURNS OUT THAT THEY MIGHT ACTUALLY HOLD THE KEYS TO THE ANSWER OF THE QUESTION: WHY IS THERE MATTER, BUT NO ANTIMATTER PRESENT IN OUR UNIVERSE TODAY? >> THE MOMENTOUS HIGGS BOSON DISCOVERY OPENED THE DOOR TO NEW UNDERSTANDINGS OF THE UNIVERSE. WHAT ARE THE BASIC FORCES THAT HAVE SHAPED OUR UNIVERSE SINCE THE BEGINNING OF TIME? PHYSICIST DR. SALLY SEIDEL AND HER TEAM USE THE LARGE HADRON COLLIDER AT CERN FOR ANSWERS. >> THESE MEGAFAUNA BASICALLY BECAME INSTINCT AT ABOUT THE SAME TIME THAT HUMANS WERE ESSENTIALLY ARRIVING ON THE CONTINENT. DID HUMAN KILLING DO IT, OR WAS IT CLIMATE? WAS IT SOME ASTEROID THAT IMPACTED THE EARTH? WE WOULD LIKE TO ARGUE THAT, IN FACT, CLIMATE WAS THE MAIN FACTOR FOR THE DEMISE OF THE MEGAFAUNA. AND SO THIS WAS A VERY, VERY, VERY DRAMATIC EVENT. >> WHAT KILLED OFF THE MASSIVE WOOLLY MAMMOTH AND

RESHAPED THE EARTH? SCIENTIST VICTOR POLYAK AND PROFESSOR YEMANE ASMEROM FIND EVIDENCE FROM AN LIKELY PLACE DEEP BELOW THE EARTH'S SURFACE THAT POINTS TO CLIMATE CHANGE. DR. LARRY SKLAR, DIRECTOR OF THE CENTER FOR MOLECULAR DISCOVERY, ANSWERS THE QUESTION: HOW ARE NEW MOLECULES DISCOVERED? WELCOME TO CONNECT, WHERE EACH MONTH WE CONNECT WITH THE GREAT PEOPLE AND INSPIRED THINKING FOUND AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO. CONNECT IS NEXT! SEIDEL. SHE IS A PHYSICIST AND A PROFESSOR AT UNM. SO SALLY, TELL US ABOUT THIS RESEARCH THAT YOU AND YOUR TEAM ARE DOING IN LOOKING FOR THIS ILLUSIVE PARTICLE. >> WE'RE MEMBERS OF THE LARGE HADRON COLLIDER, WHICH IS A LARGE EXPERIMENTAL FACILITY IN GENEVA, SWITZERLAND. SEARCH FOR NEW PHYSICS, WHAT WE CALL PHYSICS BEYOND THE

STANDARD MODEL. ANYTHING THAT'S NOT YET BEEN DISCOVERED, BUT MIGHT EXPLAIN ONE OF THE FUNDAMENTAL QUESTIONS THAT ARE OF INTEREST TO THE MODERN SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY. THE HIGGS BOSON IS POSITED AS THE SOURCE OF MASS OF ALL PARTICLES THAT HAVE MASS IN THE UNIVERSE. >> WHEN YOU SAY SOURCE OF MASS, WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? >> MASS IS THE AMOUNT OF STUFF IN AN OBJECT. IT'S SORT OF LIKE THE WEIGHT OF THE OBJECT. HOW DOES THE HIGGS BOSON GIVE MASS TO PARTICLES? SUPPOSE THAT I HAVE A PARTICLE MASS, AND I JUMP INTO A SWIMMING POOL. I FIND THAT WHEN I'M IN THE POOL, IT'S MUCH HARDER TO RUN BECAUSE OF THE RESISTANCE OF THE WATER. THE HIGGS PARTICLE IS THOUGHT TO BE A CONDENSATE OF A HIGGS FIELD THAT FILLS ALL OF THE UNIVERSE, AND THAT HIGGS FIELD INTERACTS WITH PARTICLES TO SLOW THEM DOWN IN THE SAME WAY THAT THE WATER OF THE SWIMMING

POOL SLOWS ME DOWN IF I TRY TO RUN. SO WE THINK THAT THE HIGGS FIELD INTERACTS WITH PARTICLES IN THE SAME WAY. IT PRODUCES SOME SORT OF RESISTANCE, EFFECTIVELY, THAT MAKES THEM BEHAVE AS THOUGH THEY HAVE MASS. >> SLIGHT DIFFERENCES COULD MAKE ALL THE DIFFERENCE. >> COULD MAKE ALL THE DIFFERENCE. >> SO MAYBE THAT'S WHY WE HAVE TO BUILD THESE VERY INTRICATE AND COMPLICATED TECHNOLOGY, PIECES OF TECHNOLOGY, TO UNDERSTAND SOMETHING SO SMALL. >> THAT'S RIGHT. THE LARGER THE COLLIDER, TYPICALLY THE HIGHER THE ENERGY THAT IT CAN WITH AS THEY ORBIT IN THE TUNNEL. THE DEEPER INTO THE CORE OF A SYSTEM WE WANT TO PROBE, THE MORE ENERGY WE NEED. SO, FOR EXAMPLE, SUPPOSE THAT I HAD HERE A PEACH AND WE WANTED TO KNOW, IS THERE A PIT INSIDE THE PEACH? IF I JUST GRAZE IT WITH MY

FINGER LIGHTLY, JUST A LITTLE BIT OF ENERGY, I'LL ONLY SENSE WHAT THE SURFACE OF THE PEACH IS LIKE, AND IF I POKE IT A LITTLE HARDER, I MIGHT GET MY THUMB INTO THE PEACH, BUT I HAVE TO USE A LOT MORE ENERGY TO POKE ALL THE WAY TO THE CORE OF THE FRUIT IN ORDER TO FIND OUT IF THERE'S A PIT. SO THE MORE ENERGY THAT WE NEED, THE LARGER THE COLLIDER HAS TO BE. AND WE'RE INTERESTED IN UNDERSTANDING WHAT'S AT THE VERY, VERY CORE OF A FUNDAMENTAL PARTICLE. >> IN EFFECT, THE BIGGER THE COLLIDER, THE MORE ACCELERATION. >> SO THE REASON THAT WE WANT A HIGH-ENERGY PROTON IS BECAUSE WE WANT, WHEN THEY COLLIDE, FOR THEM TO COMPLETELY ANNIHILATE THE TWO PROTONS THAT ARE COLLIDING, AND THEY ARE REPLACED BY THEIR EQUIVALENT ENERGY. THIS IS THE FAMOUS EQUATION FROM EINSTEIN - E=MC2. IT TELLS US THAT IF WE HAVE A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF MASS, IT CAN CONVERT IT INTO A

CERTAIN AMOUNT OF ENERGY. AND WHAT WE'RE DOING IS WE'RE GIVING THE UNIVERSE THE OPPORTUNITY, THE ADEQUATE AMOUNT OF ENERGY TO GO AHEAD AND PRODUCE WHATEVER PARTICLES ARE POSSIBLE. AND SOMETIMES THOSE ARE HIGGS BOSONS, SOMETIMES PARTICLES. THE PARTICLES IN THE COLLIDER COLLIDE EVERY 25 NANOSECONDS. SO IF YOU BREAK A SECOND DOWN INTO A BILLION PARTS, ONE OF THOSE PARTS IS A NANOSECOND. AN ENORMOUS AMOUNT OF INFORMATION IS PRODUCED AND HAS TO BE RECORDED, SO WE NEED AN EXTREMELY COMPLEX AND ACTUALLY PHYSICALLY ENORMOUS MULTI-STORY DEVICE, SOME PEOPLE HAVE CALLED IT THE WORLD'S MOST COMPLICATED CAMERA, TO CAPTURE WHAT'S PRODUCED IN THAT INSTANT. SO THAT'S WHY THESE EXPERIMENTS HAVE TO BE SO LARGE AND COMPLEX, BECAUSE SO MUCH INFORMATION IS PRODUCED, AND IT'S PRODUCED AT SUCH AN EXTREMELY HIGH

RATE. THE PRODUCTION OF A HIGGS PARTICLE DOESN'T HAPPEN CONSTANTLY AT THE LARGE HADRON COLLIDER, IT HAPPENS RARELY. SO WE HAVE TO MAKE THE CONDITIONS FOR IT AVAILABLE TIMES EVERY DAY IN ORDER TO CAPTURE THE FEW OCCURRENCES IN WHICH IT'S ACTUALLY PRODUCED. >> TALK TO ME A LITTLE BIT ABOUT UNM'S CONTRIBUTION. >> WE USE WHAT ARE CALLED OR SILICON PIXEL DETECTORS. THESE ARE SMALL SILICON DEVICES, NOT SO DIFFERENT FROM ONES THAT MIGHT BE INSIDE YOUR WATCH, AND SOME OF THE MEMBERS OF MY GROUP ARE INVOLVED IN DESIGNING THESE, DEVELOPING THEM, TESTING THEM, TRAVELING TO THE CERN LABORATORY AND BUILDING THE EXPERIMENTS.

WE ARE COLLABORATING WITH 3,000 PEOPLE FROM ALL OVER THE PLANET, FROM DOZENS OF OTHER COUNTRIES. IT'S A TRULY INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION. >> IT JUST AMAZES ME. IT SOUNDS LIKE IT TAKES A VILLAGE OF SCIENTISTS FROM WHEREVER TO REALLY DISCOVER SOMETHING NEW AND COOL LIKE THIS. >> WELL, IT'S A VERY NICE OPPORTUNITY TO INVOLVE UNM STUDENTS, UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS AS WELL AS GRADUATE STUDENTS, IN ACTUALLY DESIGNING AND CHARACTERIZING DEVICES WHICH WILL THEN BE USED TO TAKE THIS DATA IN THIS WORLDWIDE EFFORT. ONE OF THE THINGS THAT WE HAVE TO STUDY WHEN WE DEVELOP THE SILICON TECHNOLOGIES IS HOW WELL THEY CAN WITHSTAND THE RADIATION WHICH IS NATURALLY PRODUCED AT THE CORE OF THE ATLAS DETECTOR, RIGHT WHERE THE COLLISIONS OCCUR. SO BEFORE WE INSTALL THEM IN ATLAS, WE HAVE TO UNDERSTAND THEIR RESPONSE TO EXTENSIVE RADIATION. AND IT TURNS OUT THAT SANDIA

AND LOS ALAMOS ARE EXCELLENT PLACES TO DO CONTROLLED EXPOSURES OF DETECTORS. >> WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT THAT. >> SO WE HAVE DEVELOPED SOME COLLABORATIONS WITH SCIENTISTS AT SANDIA AND LOS ALAMOS, AND THIS GIVES OUR STUDENTS AN OPPORTUNITY TO DO EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES RIGHT HERE IN NEW MEXICO, NOT ONLY IN OUR LABORATORY BUT ALSO IN COLLABORATION UP AT THE LABS. >> SO TELL US, IF YOU WILL, WHAT'S IT LIKE ON A DAILY BASIS COMMUNICATING WITH CERN? >> WE'RE IN NEAR CONSTANT COMMUNICATION WITH OUR COLLEAGUES AT CERN VIA THE INTERNET. WE HAVE AUDIO AND VIDEO MEETINGS ALMOST AROUND THE CLOCK. >> WE'VE GOT YOUR GRAPH UP HERE OF THE TRIGGER. COULD YOU PLEASE TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOUR RESULTS FROM THIS WEEK? >> THE COLLABORATION INCLUDES INSTITUTES THAT SPAN THE GLOBE. WE NEED TO BE ABLE TO WAKE UP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT AND CONNECT TO A MEETING TO TALK ABOUT

SCIENCE. >> IS THIS MEANT TO BE LONG-TERM? WHEN CAN WE ACTUALLY EXPECT TO SEE SOMETHING WITH THE HIGGS BOSON? >> SO, WE BEGAN DESIGNING THIS EXPERIMENT IN 1995. THE EXPERIMENT BEGAN TO TAKE DATA IN 2009. THE DATA THAT WERE ACTUALLY USED FOR DISCOVERY OF THIS HIGGS-LIKE PARTICLE WERE TAKEN IN 2010 THROUGH 2012. SO NOW WE HAVE AN INDICATION THAT THIS PARTICLE EXISTS. BUT TO CHECK WHETHER IT IS PREDICTED BY THE HIGGS MODEL REQUIRES UNDERSTANDING MANY OF ITS PROPERTIES, AND HUNDREDS AND THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE RIGHT NOW ARE ACTUALLY STUDYING THE DATA IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND WHETHER IT HAS THE SO-CALLED SPIN, OR MASS PROPERTIES THAT ONE WOULD EXPECT. THE COLLIDER WILL CONTINUE TO RUN THROUGH THIS COMING FEBRUARY 2013, AND THEN IT WILL SHUT DOWN FOR SOME

SHORT PERIOD OF TIME, ABOUT A YEAR, AND AFTER THAT IT WILL COME BACK ONLINE AT A HIGHER ENERGY AND WITH A HIGHER RATE OF COLLISIONS SO THAT WE CAN TAKE THE DATA EVEN MORE EFFICIENTLY. WE'RE SEARCHING FOR MANY PROCESSES THAT ARE SO-CALLED >> WITH THIS COLLIDER, THE HIGGS BOSON? >> THAT'S RIGHT. SO THE HIGGS BOSON IS VERY INTERESTING, AND I'M REALLY EXCITED TO HAVE BEEN IN SOME WAY, A SMALL WAY, A PART OF IT. BUT THAT'S NOT ALL THERE IS. SO THE COLLIDER WILL CONTINUE TO TAKE DATA TWENTY YEARS, AND WE HOPE TO HAVE MANY MORE DISCOVERIES. SOME OF THEM MIGHT BE EVEN MORE INTERESTING THAN HIGGS. >> WHAT DO YOU THINK THE FUTURE HOLDS NOW? >> SOME PEOPLE FEEL THAT PERHAPS THIS PARTICLE THAT HAS BEEN DISCOVERED OPENS THE DOOR TO NEW QUESTIONS THAT ARE BEYOND THE STANDARD MODEL. PERHAPS THE PRECISE MASS OF

THIS PARTICLE IS ACTUALLY INCONSISTENT WITH OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE STANDARD MODEL, AND MAYBE WE WILL NEED TO REVISIT THE WHOLE MODEL. AND THERE ARE OTHER QUESTIONS THAT PHYSICISTS ARE ALREADY VERY INTERESTED IN. FOR EXAMPLE, THERE IS THE QUESTION OF THE SO-CALLED MATTER-ANTIMATTER ASYMMETRY IN THE UNIVERSE. THE QUESTION OF, WHY IS THERE ONLY MATTER -- OUR BODIES ARE MADE OF MATTER, EVERYTHING AROUND US IS MADE OF MATTER -- AND THERE APPEARS TO BE ALMOST NO ANTIMATTER IN THE UNIVERSE. THE FUNDAMENTAL LAWS OF PHYSICS, QUANTUM FIELD THEORY, PREDICT THAT THERE SHOULD BE AN EQUAL AMOUNT OF MATTER AND ANTIMATTER. WHEN WE COLLIDE THE PARTICLES AT THE LARGE HADRON COLLIDER, AN EQUAL AMOUNT OF MATTER AND ANTIMATTER ARE PRODUCED. >> INTERESTING. >> SO ONE WOULD THINK THAT AT THE DAWN OF THIS THERE MUST HAVE BEEN AN EQUAL AMOUNT OF MATTER AND

ANTIMATTER, AND ALL OF THE ANTIMATTER SEEMS TO HAVE DISAPPEARED. WHERE DID IT GO? IT'S A BIG PUZZLE. WHY IS THERE THE SO-CALLED ASYMMETRY? WE'RE ACTUALLY INTERESTED IN STUDYING SYSTEMS THAT ARE BOUND STATES OF HEAVY QUARKS. THOSE CAN BE USED TO UNDERSTAND THE STRONG FORCE. THERE ARE FOUR FUNDAMENTAL FORCES IN NATURE, AND THE STRONG FORCE IS THE FORCE THAT BINDS THE NUCLEUS TOGETHER. IT HOLDS THE PROTONS AND THE NEUTRONS IN THE NUCLEUS. HEAVY QUARKS ARE INTERESTING BECAUSE THEY DON'T APPEAR IN OUR DAILY LIFE. WHAT WE FIND IN OUR DAILY LIFE, WHAT OUR BODIES ARE MADE OF, WHAT OUR HOUSES ARE MADE OF, ARE PROTONS AND NEUTRONS, WHICH ARE MADE OF LIGHT QUARKS. THE HEAVY QUARKS WE ONLY FIND IN PARTICLE COLLIDER EXPERIMENTS OR IN COSMIC

RAYS. THEY VERY RARELY MANIFEST THEMSELVES IN DAILY LIFE. BUT IT TURNS OUT THAT THEY MIGHT ACTUALLY HOLD THE KEYS TO THE ANSWER OF THE QUESTION: WHY IS THERE MATTER, BUT NO ANTIMATTER PRESENT IN OUR UNIVERSE TODAY? >> WELL, THANK YOU SO MUCH, SALLY, FOR JOINING US. REALLY INTERESTING STUFF THAT YOU'RE INVOLVED IN WITH YOUR STUDENTS. >> THANK YOU. DR. VICTOR POLYAK, A RESEARCH SCIENTIST, AS WELL AS DR. YEMANE ASMEROM, A PROFESSOR AT THE EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCES DEPARTMENT AT UNM. SO, LET ME UNDERSTAND THIS CORRECTLY. I GUESS THERE'S SOME NEW EVIDENCE AS TO WHAT, OR WHO KILLED THE WOOLLY MAMMOTH? USING CAVE FORMATIONS, MOSTLY STALAGMITES. BY DOING THIS, WE CAN RECONSTRUCT VERY ACCURATE AND HIGH RESOLUTION RECORDS.

THAT THE TRANSITION REPRESENTED VERY FAST DRYING OF THE SOUTHWEST. IT'S ALSO A PERIOD WHEN MEGAFAUNA IN NORTH AMERICA WENT EXTINCT. WE CAN SEE THAT CLIMATE STARTED DRYING ABOUT 14 AND A HALF THOUSAND YEARS AGO, AND THIS DRYING CONTINUED FOR AT LEAST 1500 YEARS. WE INTERPRET THAT THIS DRYING PERIOD WAS LARGELY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE EXTINCTION OF THESE LARGE MAMMALS. >> THAT'S RIGHT HERE IN NEW MEXICO THIS COULD BE DERIVED. >> THAT CAME FROM FORT MEXICO. FOR THIS TYPE OF RESEARCH, USING STABLE ISOTOPES, WE PREFER TO HAVE SAMPLES THAT WERE COLLECTED FAR INTO A CAVE, WHERE THE RELATIVE HUMIDITY STAYS STABLE AT ABOUT 100% ALL THE TIME. AND THIS PARTICULAR CAVE IS THE THIRD LONGEST CAVE IN NEW MEXICO, AND IT'S GROWING.

WE COLLECTED OUR SAMPLES FROM AN AREA THAT'S ABOUT ONE MILE INTO THE CAVE. >> DR. ASMEROM, DO YOU CONCUR WITH THIS? BROAD CONTEXT, THE FASCINATION WITH MEGAFAUNA ITSELF IS VERY INTERESTING, BUT IT'S ALSO AT THE TIME THAT HUMANS ESSENTIALLY STARTED TO OCCUPY THE CONTINENT. SO IT HAS, YOU KNOW, VERY BROAD IMPLICATIONS FOR THE CLIMATE DYNAMICS AND THE EVOLUTION OF HUMAN CULTURE, AND THEN ALSO, OF COURSE, THE FAUNA ITSELF. THIS MEGAFAUNA BASICALLY BECAME EXTINCT AT ABOUT THE SAME TIME THAT HUMANS WERE ESSENTIALLY ARRIVING ON THE CONTINENT, AND THE QUESTION HAS ALWAYS BEEN: DID HUMAN KILLING DO IT, OR WAS IT CLIMATE? AND THEN RECENTLY, WAS IT SOME ASTEROID THAT IMPACTED THE EARTH AT THE BEGINNING OF THE YOUNGER DRIERS? >> SO WHICH IS IT? OR IS IT A COMBINATION? >> WELL, AGAIN, THE BIG ISSUE IS THAT WHEN PEOPLE ARE TALKING ABOUT CLIMATE, THERE WAS NOT REALLY A WELL-DOCUMENTED CLIMATE HISTORY. SO IT WAS ALL IN THE ABSENCE OF A VERY WELL-DOCUMENTED

CLIMATE HISTORY. >> NOW WE HAVE IT. >> NOW WE HAVE IT, PRECISELY, BECAUSE WE HAVE THESE ARCHIVES THAT WE CAN PRECISELY DATE, YOU KNOW, WITH UNCERTAINTIES, IN THE RANGE OF LESS THAN A HUNDRED YEARS. >> THAT'S AMAZING, LESS THAN A HUNDRED YEARS. >> THAT'S RIGHT. SO WE CAN DATE THAT FOR THE FIRST TIME, YOU KNOW. WE DON'T HAVE ANY OTHER ARCHIVE THAT WE CAN DATE THAT WELL IN CONTINENTS FOR THAT TIME. >> REALLY? >> YES. SO I THINK WE WOULD LIKE TO ARGUE THAT, IN FACT, CLIMATE WAS THE MAIN FACTOR FOR THE DEMISE OF THE MEGAFAUNA. BUT I THINK IMPORTANTLY, ALSO, IN THAT IS THE CONTEXT IN WHICH THIS WAS OCCURRING. AS I SAID, HUMANS WERE JUST ARRIVING ON THE CONTINENT. THEIR LIFESTYLE WAS INITIALLY BASED ON HUNTING BIG MEGAFAUNA. CLIMATE, IN A SENSE, DETERIORATED RADICALLY IN A WAY THAT IT HADN'T DONE. WE HAVE LOOKED AT INDICATIONS FOR THE LAST 50,000 YEARS, AND THERE HADN'T BEEN A DROUGHT THIS BIG, THIS SUSTAINED RIGHT WHEN THEY'RE GETTING ESTABLISHED. >> THAT HAD TO BE

CHALLENGING JUST FOR THEM. >> ABSOLUTELY. IN FACT, AFTER THAT THEY NEVER TRULY RECOVERED THEIR WAY OF LIFE. THEY WENT INTO THIS SUBSISTENCE, BASICALLY, OF GATHERER AND HUNTER FOR ALMOST 10 OR 11,000 YEARS, UNTIL ABOUT 3,000 YEARS AGO WHEN CLIMATE RECOVERED AGAIN, AGRICULTURE WAS INTRODUCED. AND SO THIS WAS A VERY, VERY, VERY DRAMATIC EVENT. IT'S ALMOST KIND OF EERILY LIKE, I THINK, SOME OF THE ISSUES WE ARE FACING; IN THIS CASE, OF OUR OWN MAKING. >> AND THE FACT THAT THIS COULD BE DETERMINED THROUGH THE STALAGMITES. >> WE USE THESE VERY SHORT LITTLE ISOTOPES OF URANIUM, THE ELEMENT URANIUM, THROUGH A SERIES OF THE SHORT LITTLE ISOTOPES TO BECOME WET. NOW BECAUSE OF THE TECHNOLOGY, WE HAVE THIS NEW MACHINE, FOR EXAMPLE, THAT ALLOW US TO BASICALLY MEASURE A FEW MILLIGRAMS OF THIS STUFF. YOU SEPARATE THE ELEMENT OF INTEREST; IN THIS CASE, THE ELEMENT URANIUM AND THE ELEMENT THORIUM. AND THEN YOU PUT IT INTO THE COUPLED PLASMA MASS SPECTROMETER.

IT IONIZES THE SAMPLES. YOU HAVE A TEMPERATURE OF 8000 KELVIN, WHICH IS HOTTER IN SOME WAYS THAN THE SURFACE TEMPERATURE OF THE SUN, AND THEN IT GIVES YOU THESE IONS. YOU GET A VERY WELL RESOLVED ISOTOPE FIX OF EACH ELEMENT OF INTEREST. >> ONE OF THE CHALLENGES, BY INVOKING PALEOCLIMATE AS THE CAUSE OF EXTINCTION, HAS HAPPEN IN THE PREVIOUS INTERGLACIAL PERIOD, OR THE INTERGLACIAL PERIOD BEFORE THAT? ABOUT EVERY HUNDRED THOUSAND YEARS, WE HAVE A GLACIAL PERIOD, AND THEN WE HAVE A GLACIAL/INTERGLACIAL TRANSITION, LIKE WE'VE SEEN FOURTEEN AND A HALF THOUSAND YEARS AGO. SO INVOKING PALEOCLIMATE HAS ALWAYS RUN UP AGAINST THAT PROBLEM: WHY DIDN'T THEY GO EXTINCT DURING THIS PREVIOUS GLACIAL AND INTERGLACIAL. WE THINK THAT THIS LAST GLACIAL PERIOD WAS MORE INTENSE THAN PREVIOUS GLACIALS, AND THAT ON TOP

OF, YOU KNOW, A VERY RAPID GLACIAL/INTERGLACIAL TRANSITION MAY HAVE BEEN TOO MUCH FOR A LOT OF THE LARGER FAUNA TO RESPOND TO. >> AND PART OF THE SORT OF CLIMATE DISCUSSION IN THE PAST, FOR EXAMPLE, IS PEOPLE OUT, WAS IT TOO COLD? SO SOME OF THE LITERATURE WAS SAYING, IT WAS THE COLD WEATHER THAT KILLED THEM. AND THERE WERE OTHERS THAT SUGGESTED THE DROUGHT. IN FACT, I THINK IT'S THE DOUBLE PUNCH, BASICALLY. IN A SENSE, YOU HAVE A VERY SEVERE GLACIAL THAT'S RESTRICTED THE RANGE IN A PARTICULAR AREA, AND THEN AT ABOUT 14,500 YEARS AGO, BASICALLY, YOU HAVE THE MOST SEVERE DROUGHT. IT'S JUST AMAZING. I MEAN, WE SEE THESE THINGS JUST RAPIDLY RISING, AND THEN SUSTAINED FOR ANOTHER 1500 YEARS. >> AND YOU ACTUALLY HAVE A SAMPLE OF THIS STALAGMITE? >> YES, THIS IS A SAMPLE FROM FORT STANTON CAVE. BEEN SLICED DOWN THE CENTER. HERE IS WHAT THE EXTERIOR LOOKS LIKE.

IT'S BEEN CUT IN HALF, SO THAT WE CAN SEE ALL THE GROWTH LAYERS. >> LIKE A TREE, THE RINGS. >> LIKE A TREE, AND IT GROWS UPRIGHT LIKE THIS, AND A WATER DROPLET COMES FROM ABOVE, HITS THE TOP OF IT AND DEPOSITS A TINY BIT OF CALCIUM CARBONATE. THIS LAYER OF CALCITE WAS PRECIPITATED ABOUT 160,000 YEARS AGO. AND THEN AS YOU GO UP, YOU KNOW, YOU GO UP 159,000, 158,000, UP TO 130,000 YEARS AGO WHERE THIS PARTICULAR GLACIAL ENDED AND THE CLIMATE DRIED, AND THAT'S REPRESENTED BY THIS GROWTH HIATUS. THE IMPACT THEORY OF EXTINCTION OF THESE MEGAFAUNA CALL FOR THE EXTINCTION TO HAPPEN RIGHT AT THE BEGINNING OF THE YOUNGER DRIEST PERIOD, 13,000 YEARS AGO. OUR CARBON AND URANIUM ISOTOPE RECORDS DO NOT SEE THIS IMPACT.

WE DON'T SEE DRASTIC CLIMATE CHANGE AT THAT TIME. WE JUST SEE A CONTINUAL RISING OF CARBON THROUGH IT AND UP INTO THE HALOCLINE. >> HOW DOES IT IMPACT WHAT WE'RE EXPERIENCING TODAY CLIMATE-WISE? >> THE FACT THAT WE HAVE A VERY COMFORTABLE SORT OF AIR CONDITIONED, SO TO SPEAK, PLANET IS BECAUSE WE HAVE GREENHOUSE GASES. NOW IF, IN FACT, THE GREENHOUSE GASES LEAD TO THIS WARMING, WHICH WE LIKE, ADDING MORE GREENHOUSE GASES WILL ALSO INCREASE THE WARMING. THAT'S JUST SIMPLY ELEMENTARY; RIGHT? WHAT WE DON'T UNDERSTAND, AND I THINK THIS IS THE LEGITIMATE POINT, IS THAT TO VERY PROVINCIAL, YOU HAVE TO BE ABLE TO START TO UNDERSTAND HOW THIS GLOBAL, AND CLIMATE CHANGE IN GENERAL, IS GOING TO IMPACT DIFFERENT REGIONS, OBVIOUSLY, WHETHER IT'S OUR PREDECESSORS, THE ANCESTORIAL AMERICANS, AND THEN SUBSEQUENTLY ALL THE WAY TO THE MODERN. IN FACT, IT'S INTIMATELY, INTIMATELY RELATED TO CHANGES OF CLIMATE. THE KIND OF CLIMATE CHANGE

WE'VE LOOKED AT, FOR EXAMPLE, DURING THIS PERIOD IS DRAMATIC. WE HAVEN'T SEEN ANYTHING LIKE THAT. BUT EVEN LESS DRAMATIC CLIMATE CHANGE, FOR EXAMPLE, DURING THE MEDIEVAL WARM PERIOD AND THE ICE AGE CREATED HAVOC IN THIS REGION. SO I THINK, IN A BROAD SENSE, WHAT WE'RE DOING IS PART OF THIS GREAT EFFORT TO, IN A SENSE, LOOK AT CLIMATE DYNAMICS. >> WHAT KILLED THE WOOLLY MAMMOTH? >> WE THINK ONE OF THEM WAS IMPORTANTLY, NOT THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTORS, WAS THE DOUBLE PUNCH OF CLIMATE FROM A VERY WET REGIONALLY RESTRICTED SETTING AS A RESULT OF THE GLACIAL PERIOD, AND THEN IMMEDIATELY FACED WITH THIS EXTRAORDINARY DROUGHT, UNPRECEDENTED FOR THE LAST 50,000 YEARS THAT WE HAVE LOOKED AT IN DETAIL, SUSTAINED OVER LONG PERIODS OF TIME. IN TERMS OF LOOKING AT TIMING OF EXTINCTION AND TIMING OF CLIMATE CHANGE, THE COINCIDENCE IS JUST TOO IMPORTANT, OR TOO --

>> YOU CAN'T IGNORE IT. >> YOU CAN'T IGNORE IT. >> THANK YOU BOTH. I THINK IT'S A FASCINATING SUBJECT TO DELVE INTO, AND CERTAINLY ONE THAT HAS GREAT RELEVANCE TO LIVING IN NEW MEXICO. >> ABSOLUTELY. >> THANK YOU. GONE FARTHEST IN OUR STUDIES ARE THOSE WHICH ARE ALREADY APPROVED DRUGS THAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR NEW APPLICATIONS AND INDICATIONS. >> THE WAY THAT WE DISCOVER NEW MOLECULES IS THROUGH TO STUDY THE INTERACTIONS OF CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS. THOSE COMPOUNDS CAN BE USED DISCOVERY. FOR EXAMPLE, WE FOUND THAT NONSTEROIDAL

ANTI-INFLAMMATORY DRUGS HAVE POTENTIAL OF BEING ACTIVE IN OVARIAN CANCER. INTO HUMAN BEINGS IS VERY HIGH, AND SO TEAMWORK IS MULTI-DISCIPLINARY AND REQUIRES LARGE NUMBERS OF IT INVOLVES COLLABORATIONS WITH CHEMISTS WHO CAN LOOK AT MOLECULES AND TELL US THE POTENTIAL BENEFITS AND LIABILITIES OF THOSE MOLECULES WHEN THEY GO INTO ORGANISMS. SO THOSE MOLECULES THAT HAVE BEEN CREATED FOR THE PROCESS OF DRUG DISCOVERY, THEY HAVE TO BE EVALUATED EXTENSIVELY, POTENTIALLY EVEN CHANGED IN COMPOSITION IN ORDER FOR THEM ULTIMATELY TO BE USEFUL

IN HUMAN BEINGS.