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ALAN ALDA

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ALAN ALDA: I'm sort of amazed that I even could taste anything in the mild one, you know. I was really afraid when I came in here you'd say this is the mild one and I'd say, no that's water! ALAN ALDA: (Narration) Of course, the spice company didn't set up the heat-sensing panel just for my peace of mind. It's one of several ways they check the heat of all the peppers they buy, so that their customers don't get a nasty surprise once the pepper's ground into powder or flakes. Still, heartened that my tongue has survived years of hot pepper pummeling, I took it to a specialist. ALAN ALDA: So if I can taste this as extremely bitter I'm a…

ALAN ALDA: (Narration) And so now, with 19th century books on insects lining the walls of its home, the Flapper untiringly beats its wings amid a gentle blizzard of bubbles.

ALAN ALDA: (Narration) The place is the Los Alamos National Laboratory, built here in the Jemez Mountains of New Mexico over 50 years ago to develop and build the atom bomb.

ALAN ALDA: (Narration) The plan is to close the tunnel entrance as soon as an accident is detected.

ALAN ALDA: (Narration) Using smoke to see the airflow, Charlie confirmed the miniature tornado around the wing.

ALAN ALDA: (Narration) What you hear now are the blowfly's flight control muscles responding as it tries to steer toward the metronome, aided by its halteres, which are visible in slow-motion video.

ALAN ALDA: (Narration) And bumblebees, it turns out, aren't alone in defying the conventional laws of flight.