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are you afraid of heights how about a
sting buy one of these what if we told
you that there are people out there who
seek out this stuff would you ever try
them well you know the saying never say
never
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this is Justin Schmidt yeah my name is
Justin Schmidt
he's an entomologist and I'm an
entomologist
I basically studied stinging insects
he's been stung by a lot of insects I've
probably been stung at least a thousand
times he reviews insect stings the way a
somali a review swine pure intense
brilliant pain like walking or flaming
charcoal with a three-inch nail embedded
in your heel which insect was that
that's the bullet ant this is his lab in
Tucson
this is his harvester ant this is his
vinegaroon this is a tarantula hawk
these are some more harvester ants in a
park near slab he is the creator of the
Schmidt pain scam the Schmidt pain scale
is basically a scale to rate the
painfulness of stinging insects on a
scale of 1 to 4 but one would be a sweat
B 2 would be something like a
yellowjacket was the 3 would be
something like a harvester ant and a 4
would be a parental hawk how bad is a 4
4 it's absolutely excruciating the
debilitating incapacitating just shut
you down just absolute sheer pain
there's just nothing you can really do
about that I don't think I'd want to be
stung by a whole bunch of different 4
thing I don't think I could endure that
for very long let's be clear Justin
Schmidt doesn't just go out and get
stung on purpose it's just that he's
dedicated his life to studying well my
passion is insects and stinging insects
in particular yeah I get stung with that
that's all just part of the passion you
know what that gives me data you know
sting helps me in understanding what the
insects doing and I get to be out in the
sunshine and out in the rain out in the
environment studying these magnificent
beautiful insects just just such a joy I
can't imagine anything I'd rather do
more what's the highest you've ever
thought that almost a mile when you
don't have a fear of heights it's not
really scary it's like being in the
craziest treehouse that you can possibly
imagine
that's Mike's in it he's a professional
rock climber and he's talking about
sleeping in a tent
they're called total edges that's
hanging off the side of a mountain he's
been climbing for over 30 years and his
favorite walls to climb are really
really high alpine big wall climbing is
the pursuit of scaling the biggest cliff
on planet Earth years they take a few
days to summit so he has to camp out
along the way so I want to know what
does it feel like to sleep in a
portaledge hanging off the side of a
mountain the one thing that's more or
less ever-present in the mountains is
wind it can be pretty violent you can
experience hurricane-force winds there's
also this thing that we call the Bronco
ride wind comes in hits a cliff and it
really has nowhere to go except for up
eventually it hits you and your latch
and it can lift the whole thing up so
you can be suspended and then of course
the ledge like slams into the wall
you're just thinking about surviving and
that wasn't the worst of it
the smell in the lattice is not it's not
nice you don't change your clothes you
don't bathe it's wicked scummy but
people love it they continue to climb
and explore through all of this
punishment because there's still that
one question left
how does it feel the way it makes you
feel is like a tiny speck of dust very
empowering it really is just like kind
of the most spectacular spot that you
could be on planet earth if you're a
cyclist you see the word really really
different if I go through a city and I
see a bench for me it's not a bench the
Samsun resting can I jump on it so the
world is an obstacle for me I always
sing this is too steep it's possible to
drop on this walk so it really changed
my perspective on everything
my neighbor's latesh odds I'm a
professional mountain unicyclist that
means I unicycle in the mountains
I started unicycling at the age of nine
first I own unicycle eight on the street
and over the years I got more and more
extreme and now I unicycle mostly in the
mountains I really like to go down big
mountains so I did the five thousand six
hundred meter mountain an Iowan a couple
of years ago and I want to go on even
higher mountains i unicycle on five
continents on many many places in the
world the biggest challenge on a
unicycle is to always stay balanced
technically the most important movement
are my legs
because I always have to pedal so my
legs are always moving then my right arm
I use to balance so I move it up and
down my left arm maintains a break if I
go down on hard terrain I'm not thinking
at all I'm just in the moment I'm 100%
focused just on the spot on the movement
because if I start to sink for sure I
would fall down I like it to stuff which
has not done by so many people and I
think it's a bigger challenge if you
don't have people you can copy and you
have to invent a sport a little bit by
yourself it's really a unique it's
really special than chasing that's a big
part why I like it so much
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every waterway in the United States is
supposed to be safe enough to swim in
every single day but of course they're
not I'm getting in to these contaminated
water raisin
someone's got to risk something if
people see that image they start to ask
themselves why is that guy in there that
starts a discussion that can lead to a
clean up
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my name is Christopher Swain and I've
swum over 3,000 miles in over 25
different contaminated waterways in
North America
I want to advocate for these waterways
and I can energize cleanups I learned to
swim as a kid I was the kid who didn't
want to get out of the water as I got
older and I think this is true for many
of us I started to become aware that
waters are contaminated with everything
from arsenic to zinc everything from
human waste to nuclear waste we saw our
waterways as dumpsters we saw them as
sewers legally speaking since 1972 when
the federal Clean Water Act passed all
navigable u.s. waterways have to be safe
for swimming and fishing and drinking if
they're a freshwater Creek dozens and
dozens of those waterways were in and
around New York City Newtown Creek is
the worst of those it is contaminated
with lots of things heavy metals toxic
chemicals raw sewage and one of the
largest ongoing oil spills in the
history of the United States so in some
way we stole this waterway from
ourselves what I'm saying is let's turn
that around
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when I decide to take on a waterway this
is my puncture-resistant dry suit I've
taken all these measures on all my swims
to protect my body to protect my health
I wear a cap I wear goggles I wear
earplugs I never put my head under even
so I've gotten sick lots of times
rashes skin infections ear infections
respiratory infections it's a hazard
that goes with the territory the reason
nobody has swum the length of Newtown
Creek in history is that at least in the
last hundred years it's been far too
disgusting no one in their right mind
would go in there
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it's like swimming through a dirty
diaper that's been garnished with oil
gasoline and trash every part of your
skin wants to crawl so why do I push on
and do it I'm doing this out of love
like I really do love the water and I
don't have a lot to work with I'm not a
wealthy person I'm not a scientist what
I've got is my body and my life to offer
I'm gonna keep going back in my dry suit
and my hazmat gear until these waterways
are clean and when they're clean I'm
gonna get into these clean waterways in
my bathing suit and enjoy them with my
fellow citizens
you
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