5. One last lead

We humans have irreversibly altered our planet. We’ve changed the air we breathe, warmed our atmosphere and filled our oceans with plastics. But is there anywhere left on Earth that we haven’t affected? A place completely free of our influence – by any measure?

Presenter Caroline Steel and producer Florian Bohr conclude their search for the last places on Earth untouched by humans.

In this final episode, we venture beneath Antarctica’s vast ice sheet to explore secret lakes, seemingly sealed off from the world for millions of years. Dominic Hodgson, Director of Science at the British Antarctic Survey, reveals how these mysterious lakes can be spotted from space. Along the way, Caroline and Florian uncover the dramatic story of Russian scientists whose ambitious mission to drill into one of these lakes went wrong. And we hear from microbial ecologist Trista Vick-Majors as she looks back on the highlight of her career - trying to sample these icy waters. Did she find life – and will our final attempt to find No Man’s Land be successful?

With a huge thanks to all the people we spoke to who made this series possible:
Akshat Rathi - Senior Reporter, Bloomberg News
Alan Jamieson - Professor, University of Western Australia
Ben Garrod - Professor of Evolutionary Biology and Science Engagement, University of East Anglia
Dominic Hodgson - Interim Director of Science, British Antarctic Survey
Dusan Jelic - conservationist & CEO of BIOTA
Emma Marris - environmental writer & journalist
Erle Ellis - Professor of Geography and Environmental Systems, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
George Monbiot - journalist, writer & environmental activist
Graihagh Jackson - senior broadcast journalist & presenter, BBC
Hazel Barton - Professor of Geological Sciences, University of Alabama
Jan Zalasiewicz - Professor of Paleobiology, University of Leicester
Jeffrez Drazen - Professor of Oceanography, University of Hawaii, Manoa
Jill Mikucki - Professor of Microbiology, University of Tennesse, Knoxville
Justin Rowlatt - Climate Editor, BBC
Mads Christensen - Executive Director, Greenpeace International
Mark Subbarao - Scientific Visualisation lead, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Robert Ballard - Professor of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island
Sandra Diaz - Professor of Ecology, National University of Cordoba
Trista Vick-Majors - Assistant Professor in Biological Sciences, Michigan Tech
Verena Tunnicliffe - Professor Emeritus, University of Victoria

Presenter: Caroline Steel
Producer: Florian Bohr
Editor: Martin Smith
Production Co-ordinator: Stuart Laws