Dark Matters: Twisted But True (2011) s02e05 Episode Script

Noble: This is your one and only warning.
Your screen will soon be filled with dramatized stories of scientific research that some people may find controversial or disturbing.
Viewer discretion is advised.
Ask yourself, does progress always come at a price? Are some experiments too risky or just wrong? A little curiosity can't hurt anyone Can it? Scientific knowledge cannot be unlearned.
It has a power of its own.
No matter how or why it is obtained, good or evil intentions do not always result in good and evil outcomes as you'll see in these three stories of experimentation andunforeseen consequences.
I'll introduce you to a doctor on a mission to save a seriously hardened junkie.
[ Monitor beeping .]
And you'll meet a Hollywood sweetheart whose groundbreaking invention proved it wasn't just her looks that could kill.
But now Take two simple chemicals.
Add one brilliant chemist.
Result -- a compound that saves millions of lives.
Now put the same man in a war, and he will use the exact same science to produce death instead of life.
What is the link between genius and genocide? Brilliant chemist Dr.
Fritz Haber is about to meet a scientist who will change his life forever.
[ Clears throat .]
Herr Haber.
Herr Haber.
Clara Immerwahr, the first German woman ever to gain a doctorate in chemistry.
Clara.
What are you doing here? You may call me Dr.
Clara.
It was worth every single day.
[ Chuckles .]
The brilliant scientist is Haber's perfect woman.
Well, I do hope you still like to waltz.
Who was she? Oh, we met at dance class, just out of school.
Noble: When Fritz and Clara marry, it is the union of two chemists in the vanguard of a scientific revolution.
Kaku: Around 1900, there was this explosion of research in chemistry, and at the very forefront of that revolution were German chemists.
German chemists not only pioneered the theory, but they also pioneered the industrial application of chemistry.
Suddenly new fabrics, new materials, new kinds of products were entering the marketplace on an industrial scale, a scale never seen before in human history.
Noble: Fritz Haber develops a new chemical process that transforms agriculture, allowing farmers to add nutrients to soil that will make crops grow bigger, faster, and in more places.
He does it using the most abundant gas in the atmosphere, nitrogen.
Kaku: Chemists knew that nitrogen was important for the creation of fertilizer.
But here's the irony -- there's nitrogen all around us.
We breathe in nitrogen.
But how do you take nitrogen from the air? Fritz.
Noble: But Clara cannot join his great effort to feed the world.
Hermann won't stop coughing.
Fritz.
She's had to give up her beloved chemistry to look after their newborn son.
12 degrees centigrade under 200 atmospheres.
Come home, please.
I'm exhausted.
I can't.
This will change everything.
Germany will find a way to feed the world.
What Haber figured out was a way, using temperature and pressure, of splitting apart the nitrogen atoms in the atmosphere and making them bind with something else.
In this case, hydrogen.
Nitrogen and hydrogen together form ammonia, which is incredibly useful in agricultural production.
Germany will have invented a way to feed the world.
And your son? [ Sighs .]
Think how proud he will be of his father.
Now, come, Clara.
You are a scientist.
I was once.
Well, then, let me make the science for you.
[ Smooches .]
Noble: Using Fritz Haber's new chemical process, German factories produce vast quantities of ammonia fertilizer.
The Habers receive Fritz and Clara have become very wealthy.
Clara: It's beautiful.
I love it.
But in 1914, World War I begins.
What's the matter? Einstein has come out against this war.
Pacifist fool! Science will win this war.
Where is his love for the Fatherland? Oh, Fritz.
I am going to volunteer.
Noble: Haber takes control of wartime chemical development for the German Empire and supplies vast amounts of ammonia to its army.
Silbey: Ammonia's not just useful for fertilizers.
It's also the basis for quite a few explosives.
Before the Haber process, the source for that was things like bird guano, which had to be imported to Germany.
In World War I, the British Navy blockaded the Germans and prevented them from getting access to this.
But with the Haber process, the Germans could fix as much nitrogen as they needed, and all those factories pumping out ammonia could pump it out to make explosives just as well as fertilizer.
Without Haber, it's quite likely that the war would have ended in a couple of months, as the Germans ran out of both food and explosives.
Noble: With Germany's supply of explosives assured, Haber turns his mind to new ways of killing with chemistry.
So, this is your new home.
Clara.
Birthplace of chemical warfare.
A term you have just created? Mm.
My new plan -- to release chlorine gas onto the battlefield.
It will force men from the trenches, break the impasse, speed up the war.
What characterized World War I is trench warfare, with two lines of armies eyeball to eyeball, dug into trenches.
And here comes chlorine gas, heavier than air, ideally suited to seep right into the lungs of those people in the trenches.
It enters your lungs, causes blistering of your lung tissue, causes enormous amounts of liquids to come out, and as a consequence, you literally drown in your own fluids.
A horrible way to die.
You plan to gas soldiers to death? Mm.
Blind them, burn them, suffocate them -- damage the enemy war effort in any way we can.
Is this what science is for? Is this the right path for you -- for Germany? Well, I am sure I do not need to worry about your allegiance to the Fatherland.
[ Gunfire .]
Northwesterly.
It's time.
[ Speaking German .]
Problems? No.
Just the prattlings of my wife.
Open the valves.
[ Whistle blows .]
Noble: Fritz Haber releases chlorine gas against the enemy.
Within minutes, it will kill hundreds.
Within hours, it injures thousands.
Chlorine is just his first chemical weapon.
It will not be his last.
Noble: Fritz Haber's first chlorine gas attack kills 350 enemy soldiers.
German Emperor Wilhelm II makes Haber a Captain in the army.
Well, what a wonderful evening.
A shame you could not join in with the celebrations.
I apologize if I cannot celebrate the agonizing deaths of hundreds of men.
How many times must we discuss this? In peacetime, a scientist works for all mankind.
But in war, he works for his country.
You have shown the world how to kill with chemistry.
Now everyone knows its power.
You have invented a new kind of death.
Clara what if this gas was used on our own people -- on our child? Answer me! You have betrayed me, perverted science! Be quiet! [ Sighs .]
I wrote to you asking you to stop.
Now I am begging you, Fritz.
[ Crying .]
Please, stop.
Then you leave me no choice.
[ Gun cocks .]
[ Gunshot .]
[ Body thuds .]
"You leave me no choice.
" Noble: Just hours after his wife kills herself, Haber leaves for the eastern front to supervise a release of chlorine gas against the Russians.
[ Whistle blows .]
Fritz: I hear in my heart the words the poor woman said.
And I suffer.
[ Gunfire .]
[ Gas hissing .]
Clara: [ Echoing .]
You leave me no choice.
You leave me no choice.
Silbey: Haber was the head of quite a massive German chemical warfare effort.
It wasn't just chlorine.
Haber invented nerve agents, which paralyze people.
He even worked on a chemical agent that would penetrate the gas mask of a wearer, make them throw up, and thus force them to rip it off and be vulnerable to the other gases.
The Germans had committed major resources to the effort, and Haber was the one who led the way.
Noble: Haber's chemical weapons kill thousands.
But his efforts are not enough to save his Fatherland from defeat.
[ Whistle blows .]
In 1918, the victors come seeking revenge.
Haber was put on a list of potential war criminals, but nothing ever came of it.
The British and French had had their own chemical warfare efforts, and if they prosecuted Haber, they were gonna ask some very uncomfortable questions about their own people.
Noble: Haber doesn't merely evade justice.
He's recognized as a hero of science and awarded the 1918 Nobel prize for synthesizing ammonia.
when Hitler comes to power, Haber is Germany's most celebrated chemist.
[ Clock ticking .]
Haber.
That is a Jewish name, no? I am a Christian.
I converted 30 years ago.
You cannot sack me.
Noble: Haber was born a Jew, but the Nazis value his chemistry enough to turn a blind eye.
Converted.
How charming.
His colleagues aren't so lucky.
If you wish to maintain your favored status, you will sign, please, this document terminating the employment of the following people -- Berger, Goldberger Clara: Is this what science is for? Ledermann Is this the right path for you Liebovich for Germany? Lissa, Morowitz You leave me no choice.
Solomon, Weinberger.
You leave me no choice.
Sign.
Noble: Fritz Haber had loved his country more than his family -- enough to convert his life-giving science into a terrifying new form of warfare.
You leave me no choice.
But Germany has turned against him.
Haber flees his homeland and never returns.
A doctor meets a most unusual patient, a drug addict who is a human statue.
With each new frozen junkie, the medical mystery deepens.
[ Monitor beeping .]
What curse caused this? And is the cure too controversial to try? How far should a doctor go to help his fellow man? Should he use fetal tissue implants or animals as organ donors? Some cures for disease can be controversial.
And then there are patients who bring illness on themselves.
Should a doctor risk his morality to save them? Should a doctor sin to save sinners? [ Indistinct conversations .]
[ Telephone ringing .]
William Langston is a busy man, head of neurology at the Santa Clara Medical Center.
He battles with a heavy case load and a young family.
Honey, I am leaving right now.
Hey, Bill, I got something you should see.
Five -- give me five minutes.
What? You should see it for yourself.
Come on.
[ Monitor beeping .]
That's George Carillo.
Mm.
Morning, George.
Can you hear me? Noble: George Carillo is a junkie who steals to support his habit.
Quite a story here.
Admitted to the E.
R.
from the courthouse.
Petty thief, huh? Been here two weeks.
Still no diagnosis.
No.
Excuse me.
Well, George, let's see if we can find out what's wrong with you.
Waxy flexibility.
Britt: Some of George's symptoms are psychiatric, while others neurological.
So, the waxy flexibility, for example, is a common symptom of catatonic schizophrenia.
But George also had Myerson's sign, which is a neurological condition.
Also, he had eyelid apraxia, which has no known neurological cause.
It's extremely rare.
So, this combination of symptoms had Langston stumped.
Are you with us, George? Noble: George Carillo -- a human statue.
Do you like tennis? Did you see the Connors-McEnroe game a couple weeks back? Sorry.
As soon as I can.
I just got to find out.
I'm so-- I'm sorry, honey.
Noble: Langston spends the following week trying to diagnose George, hunting for a mind trapped inside this rigid body.
Can you write? "3-6-6-3-7-6.
" You did watch the tennis.
You understand.
George, listen.
I want you to tell me how you feel.
Noble: It takes George half an hour to write three sentences.
"Heroin".
Heroin did this to you? "Juanita".
Who's Juanita? Your girlfriend? Where is she? Nurse! I need some help here.
And call the press.
Noble: Langston believes the heroin that George took was contaminated with something that locked him into a catatonic state.
Anyone who has used heroin in the last month and experienced profound slowing of all motor function, a frozen state, should seek medical help immediately.
Noble: Langston eventually finds five others who injected the same batch of heroin.
All are frozen like George.
This illegal narcotic must have been unusually powerful poison.
In 1976, a college student found a report from the 1940s about a new type of painkiller -- peridine, or MPPP.
It was what's known as a designer drug, a chemical substitute for heroin.
And it's what George thought he took.
But the batch was poorly made, and instead of making MPPP, he made MPTP, which has no opioid effects, and it was injecting that substance that froze the addicts.
Langston: Hey, George.
I brought you a visitor.
Noble: George's girlfriend, Juanita, is one of the victims.
Langston is stumped until, by chance, he sees something which jogs his brain.
Man: Loss of facial expression and cogwheel rigidity are typical symptoms.
Cogwheel George, I need you to get up.
Cogwheel rigidity.
Well, what do you know? Britt: When he sees George's symptoms, and some of the other men, as well, what he notices is what we call cogwheel rigidity -- ratchety movement, fits and starts.
Symptoms like that are associated with Parkinson's.
Hey, Craig.
Morning, George.
We're gonna give something new a whirl.
L-dopa.
Um, that's for Parkinson's.
Exactly.
I've got a hunch it might work.
Noble: Parkinson's patients develop cogwheel rigidity after decades of slow decline.
But with George and Juanita, it took only a few hours for bad drugs to re-create the worst symptoms of the disease.
Good luck.
Stay by his side.
Let me know if anything changes.
Treating the addicts as if they have Parkinson's is a complete shot in the dark, but Langston's out of options.
It's the only chance they have.
Noble: Dr.
William Langston has treated his frozen patient with L-dopa, a Parkinson's drug.
Craig, do you mind? I'm just trying to catch up with my -- I'll call you back.
Morning, Doc.
You're walking.
You can talk.
This is incredible! [ Chuckles .]
Thank you.
Britt: Now, the fact that L-dopa, which is a Parkinson's drug, worked indicated to Langston that there was something about the drug they were taking, the MPTP, which must have had an effect on the area of the brain called the substantia nigra.
Now, in Parkinson's disease, cells in the substantia nigra die, which eventually results in a complete shutdown of the motor system.
Noble: L-dopa stops the Parkinson's-like symptoms, but the relief is short-lived.
They're crawling all over me! [ Stammering .]
You got to help me, Doc.
George, listen to me.
Listen to me, George.
There are no spiders here, okay? You're hallucinating.
The huge doses of L-dopa cause terrible side effects.
Langston: Now, listen, okay? We will try altering the dose.
We will sort things out.
Here, try this.
[ Grunting .]
Nurse, a little help in here! Noble: The patients alternate between the awful side effects and a frozen state.
Some with mobility return to drug-taking and crime, giving a new meaning to the phrase "hardened criminal.
" Man: 7-Lincoln-40, what is your position? I think I might have found the other perp.
Are you in position to make an arrest, 7-Lincoln-40? That's affirmative, dispatch.
You're never gonna believe this one.
You hear the The Silvey brothers are in jail? I did.
Cops said it was the easiest arrest they ever made.
[ Chuckling .]
Just pick him up and put him in the car.
[ Grunts .]
You know, there have been some major research breakthroughs.
Noble: Langston is looking for a long-term solution to George's condition.
He learns about an experimental treatment in Sweden which failed to work on older Parkinson's sufferers, but might help his younger patients.
Britt: The reason why the treatment didn't take is because they were dealing with the elderly patients who were all suffering from a degenerative disease, Parkinson's, and that this degenerative disease essentially destroyed the transplant.
So, they hoped that with perhaps the young, frozen addicts, they'd have a better chance of success.
So, you're looking for young people without degenerative effective Parkinson's? Exactly.
George.
There's someone I'd like you to meet.
Noble: George must travel to Sweden to have the surgery because it requires fetal tissue.
The problem with using fetal tissue is that it comes from aborted fetuses.
You can't get around that.
And in the United States, there was a moratorium on the use of fetal tissue.
Noble: Doctors believed that the rapid onset of George's symptoms may make his brain receptive to the treatment.
Well? It's good.
Great.
We're in.
He's gonna operate on you first and then Juanita next year.
We're gonna have to go to Sweden, but I'll look after you.
It's gonna be fine.
[ Monitor beeping .]
Noble: Swedish surgeons begin a five-hour procedure implanting fetal cells into George's brain.
If all goes well, the new cells will take over for the brain cells damaged by the poisonous drug.
Come on, George.
You can do it.
Noble: For Dr.
Langston, it's the culmination of seven years' hard work.
George carillo, the frozen addict Do you need some help with that? No.
is released from his nightmare.
So, what do you think? Well, I look pretty good, but you look incredible.
It's taken a while, but I feel good, Doc.
That's great.
That's fantastic.
It's for you.
To say thanks.
You know, people will be thanking you, George, for years to come -- truly.
[ Cellphone rings .]
Noble: The implications of George's recovery are huge.
His illness shared so many similarities with Parkinson's that his treatment might one day lead to a cure.
I'm leaving right now.
Our next tale begins when a star of the silver screen consults a Hollywood breast expert to boost her chest and career.
They're a formidable pair who'll design a device that could guide the American Navy to victory if they can only get taken seriously.
We envy beautiful people, idolize them in magazines and movies.
As for their minds -- who cares? A stunning woman could have the brain of Einstein and not be able to prove it.
This is the story of one movie star whose sex appeal rendered her genius invisible and cost lives during World War II.
Austrian film star Hedy Lamarr has just been signed to MGM, the most successful studio in Hollywood.
Hi.
I'm Hedy.
Hedy Lamarr.
And pretty as a picture, toots.
A technicolor three-strip picture, from the look of your equipment.
What? Uh, sure.
Whatever you say, doll.
The studio boss wants a word.
Rude, obnoxious, and doesn't know how a camera works.
I take it that was the director.
Perkowitz: Hedy Lamarr was well-known.
She worked with Judy Garland, with Clark Gable, major names of the time.
The studio called her "the most beautiful woman in the world," and if you look at her face, you might agree that that was true.
Noble: Hedy is famous for appearing nude in an Austrian film, and the studio wants to cast her as a temptress.
But they're concerned that her bust isn't up to it.
There's one man in Hollywood who might be able to help her.
Operator, do you have a listing for George Antheil? Noble: George Antheil is an expert in female hormones.
She hopes he will be able to boost her in all the right areas.
No, no.
Just give me his address.
Lovely.
[ Piano music playing .]
Be a gent and turn down that dreadful racket.
[ Music stops .]
Well, what do you make of them, hmm? Too small? Uhyourbreasts are thymocentric -- the anterior pituitary variety.
Cut to the chase, George.
Can you make them bigger? Yes.
Y-yes.
[ Piano notes play .]
Uh, yes.
Uh Uh, at least, I hope so.
I-I will need to see them again -- uh, in daylight.
Boob jobs as we now know them didn't happen in force until the 1950s, but people had been experimenting ever since 1895, implanting all kinds of things -- foamy sponge, ivory.
But George Antheil was involved in a new, cutting-edge science, and thought he could do anything, including establish the availability of a woman simply by studying the shape and size of her glands, which of course was nonsense.
Noble: Hedy and George become good friends, and talk soon moves away from Hedy's bosom.
Thank you.
George, I'm bored talking about my chest when there are -- excuse the pun -- but bigger things going on.
Europe's at war, and I have an idea to help the Allies win.
Guided torpedoes.
Hmm? More interesting than my breasts, no? The problem with torpedoes at this time was that when you fired them, they went in a straight line.
The trick was to aim the torpedo ahead of the ship and lead the torpedo into the ship so the two would come together.
But that was a really tricky thing to do, especially when you're half underwater, when there are other ships around who are trying to attack you.
And so the result was that torpedoes very rarely hit ships at this time.
And a beautiful film actress knows what exactly about torpedo guidance systems? Ah, because I'm beautiful, I must be stupid, too.
Do I talk stupid, George? Hey, hey, hey.
You're right, okay? I just can't see the connection between, you know, the way you look and an idea as ugly as a torpedo.
But you didn't know Fritz.
Fritz? Fritz the Fascist.
Four years married to that worm.
Noble: Hedy had fled Austria to escape her abusive husband Wine! weapons tycoon Friedrich Mandl.
But her time with him was not a total waste.
Lamarr: For just once my looks helped.
Excellent.
Excellent.
It never occurred to him I might actually understand what they were talking about.
Noble: Hedy overheard discussions about the idea of a radio-controlled torpedo.
[ Laughs .]
Lamarr: He's going to regret that because when America enters the war, and it will, you and I will give it the tools to blow Fritz and his Nazi friends out of the water.
But that won't work, Hedy.
The enemy will just jam the torpedoes' radio-control system.
Yes, that's what Fritz thought, too.
Damn schmuck.
To jam it, they need to find the right frequency first.
With me? Well, what if we keep changing the frequency faster than they can find it? Silbey: Hedy's big idea was to change frequencies rapidly for the guidance system.
As long as you kept hopping between frequencies, even if the enemy could figure out how you were guiding the torpedo, they couldn't catch up quickly enough to jam it, and you could guide the torpedo home onto its target.
I want to present it to the Inventors Council.
Hedy Lamarr and the Inventors Council.
I bet no one's expecting those two names in the same sentence.
Noble: America is just a year away from Pearl Harbor and World War II.
This is it, George.
They will take me seriously, won't they? They'd be fools not to.
Hedy's invention could be game-changing True enough.
But then -- and no offense -- they are men.
if everyone can just learn to ignore her beauty.
[ Sighs .]
Antheil: Hedy! This is it, Hedy.
Noble: Hedy Lamarr and George Antheil finally get a response from the National Inventors Council to their idea for a torpedo guidance system.
Oh, George! Calm down, Hedy.
He's asked us to revise the idea -- get a patent.
We haven't won the war yet.
But we will, George.
We will.
You bet on it.
We just need to figure out how to lock the transmitter and receiver together.
Come on.
Kaku: And the problem is you have to synchronize the radio transmission from your submarine, let's say, with the radio receiver on the torpedo so when one changed frequency, the other would have to change frequency at exactly the same rate.
And this was before computers.
This was before the high technology of today.
I am trying to make a movie here, pal.
Lamarr: Just one more minute.
George, how many hops per second do you figure? Just ask her out for dinner like a normal guy.
She's a movie star, not a rocket scientist.
You've no idea, buddy.
Don't worry, George.
I've got this.
It is hardly rocket science.
Noble: The solution comes from George's musical past.
Silbey: In the 1920s, George had been writing very avante-garde and modernist music on what was then the most advanced technology of the day, the player piano -- a regular piano that played automatically by using a strip of paper with holes cut in it.
And as each hole progressed across it, a note would play.
[ Piano playing .]
Ta-da! The player piano.
With perforated paper.
We've cracked it! [ Laughs .]
Oh! Silbey: Hedy and George's big idea was to use the technology from the player piano, the paper with the holes cut in it, as a way of shifting between frequencies on the torpedo and the ship.
They would take two pieces of paper with the same pattern cut into each one of them.
One would go with the torpedo, and one would go with the ship.
And as they each moved through the piece of paper, they would know which frequency to shift to so that the other side couldn't pick up which frequency they were on and jam it.
Yes, I'm holding for Mr.
Bullitt.
George Antheil.
Yes, the one with Hedy Lamarr.
Noble: After submitting their patent, they hear nothing.
George decides to lobby his Navy contacts.
Uh, something's come up.
I'll get back to you.
The press gets wind of Hedy's idea.
"Her invention, held secret by the government, "is considered of great potential value in the national defense program.
" Hedy, this is fantastic! Oh, please! If it really was so secret and valuable, they'd hardly be talking to the papers about it, would they? So, either it came up by accident, or they're just not interested and all they can see is a pin-up girl for inventors.
I'm telling you, George, I curse this pretty face.
Take it easy, Hedy.
We'll get the patent through any day now.
Then they'll see.
Noble: In fact, it takes over a year for them to get a response, by which time America is at war.
The Navy's unguided torpedoes do not cover themselves in glory.
Silbey: They would run too deep.
They would circle.
They would not detonate when they actually hit the ship.
Hedy Lamarr's invention could have avoided this and could have saved the lives of a lot of American sailors who were dying because of the defects in American torpedoes.
[ gasps .]
George! You frightened me.
Noble: America has been at war for nine months by the time Hedy and George hear back.
We got the patent? Well, the Inventors Council can go to hell.
The Navy are sure to go for it now we've got this.
My contact said to call this evening.
This evening? This evening.
Oh, I'm selling my assets for War Bonds.
I want you to tell me everything they say, hmm? Everything.
While Hedy uses her lovable looks to sell War Bonds, George tries to sell her brilliant brains to the Navy.
[ Telephone rings .]
Antheil: Hedy.
I'm all out of kisses.
Give me some good news.
The brains lose.
You have got to be kidding me! How could they not jump at this? Our boys are dying out there.
They said it was unworkable.
Too bulky -- like we were suggesting putting a whole piano inside a torpedo.
The whole mechanism could fit inside a dollar watch.
If only you'd been there.
[ Scoffs .]
They thought it was a stupid idea the minute they saw me.
[ Sighs .]
Forget it, George.
I'm tired.
Sure, Hedy.
Get some beauty sleep -- not that you need it.
[ Sighs .]
George, my face is just an accident of biology.
God, if you don't get that Noble: Hedy Lamarr's torpedo system is never taken up by the military.
They could really have used it.
Silbey: The U.
S.
fired almost Only 214 enemy warships were sunk, and it took the lives of 11,000 American sailors in the Pacific theater to sink those warships.
A decent guidance system really could have helped with that and might have pushed the American war effort much further forward.
Noble: After the war, Hedy and George's invention has applications far beyond just guiding torpedoes.
Believe it or not, Hedy and George's invention underpin a large part of our modern life.
Their invention, which came to be known as code division multiple access, or CDMA, is the way that cellphones communicate with their networks when you make a phone call.
So, every time you call someone, you are relying on a technology invented by a Hollywood star who never got the credit she deserved.
Mm? George.
George.
I have a new idea.
Magnetic-sensing antiaircraft shells.
[ Chuckles .]
Always so glamorous, Hedy Lamarr.
How do you do it? Hmm, glamour.
Any girl can do it.
You just stand still and look stupid.
Noble: Hedy never gives up inventing.
But only after her death in 2000 does the world finally recognize her brilliant mind.