The universe…
…has provided our planet
with all the ingredients needed for life to emerge…
…and flourish.
The energy flowing through us.
The daily rhythms we follow.
The elements we are made of.
But behind all these wonders…
…lies a mysterious force…
…that makes all of this possible.
Gravity.
It holds everything in place.
It builds every star…
…and shapes every planet.
And guides every life.
It's the ultimate force of attraction.
So profound, it will bring two young souls together…
in their search for the perfect mate.
In the Southern Ocean, over 2,000 kilometers from Antarctica…
…lies the windswept island of South Georgia.
Home to a colony
of half a million king penguins.
And it's a big day for two of them.
New parents.
For over 50 days…
they've been taking turns keeping their precious cargo safe…
…and warm.
And today, it's time to welcome their baby son into the world.
Little Rocky…
meet big world.
And on the other side of the island,
another little chick is stepping out.
A girl.
Paloma.
Rocky and Paloma don't know it yet, but they are destined for each other.
A force of attraction beyond their control
will bring them together.
This force not only hugs Rocky and Paloma firmly to the ground…
…it hugs our atmosphere to the planet.
It keeps Earth orbiting the Sun…
…the Sun rotating around the center of our galaxy…
…and galaxies dancing and swirling around each other
on the grandest of scales.
Gravity holds all the pieces of our universe together,
connecting everything…
…from the most distant star…
…to the tiniest penguin.
But Rocky and Paloma aren't thinking about their place in the cosmos…
…just their next meal.
It's taking all the efforts of their devoted parents…
to feed their insatiable appetites.
It's a thankless…
and never-ending task.
They're doing everything they can to fatten their chicks in time for winter.
Because as Rocky and Paloma have been growing bigger…
the days have been growing shorter.
Food is becoming scarce.
Their parents must leave the island…
and travel hundreds of kilometers out to sea…
to hunt for food…
leaving their precious chicks for months
to fend for themselves.
Paloma's cries go unanswered…
as the first, loneliest night sets in.
The darkest moment in a penguin chick's life.
But it's nothing compared to our universe's darkest moments…
because long before there was an Earth,
a Sun,
or stars…
there was no light at all.
The universe was just a dark, dense web of gas.
But here, gravity began to work its magic.
From this gravity came everything.
Parts of the web were pulled together…
into clumps of matter…
…that grew and grew…
until they got so big, they collapsed in on themselves…
…bursting into life…
…as the very first stars.
Gravity kept working,
sculpting the primordial web into more and more stars…
pulling them toward each other
and spinning them into vast galaxies.
From nothing,
gravity shaped an entire universe of possibility…
that still speckles our night sky.
But light from distant stars won't keep penguin chicks warm.
With their parents at sea,
Rocky and Paloma are losing weight,
becoming more and more vulnerable.
The chicks only refuge from the cold
is their fluffy down
and each other.
Their survival hinges on a precise, elegant dance
between one star
and one planet,
choreographed by gravity over four and a half billion years ago.
Out of the dust and gas left over from the formation of the Sun…
…gravity pulled bits and pieces of rubble together…
…molding them over time into a planet.
It was unrecognizable from the home we know now…
but it had all the potential for life…
bathed in the glow of our newborn Sun.
That same Sun, billions of years later, is now rising…
…signaling to Rocky and Paloma's parents,
it's time to return to South Georgia…
with their bellies full of fish.
As the sun warms the beaches,
the island is transformed into a haven once again.
But making it to shore was the easy part.
Rocky's parents now have to find their baby
amongst thousands of others.
Up the coast, Paloma's parents lock onto her special call…
…and quickly find her in the crowd.
And finally, Rocky's parents also hear
the unmistakable cry…
…of their little one.
His voice has a unique signature only his parents can identify.
It's a family reunion.
And two baby bellies
are full at last.
From the first stars to the birth of our galaxy,
Sun, and planet,
gravity set the stage for life.
But for Earth to become the home we know,
gravity would need to send a bit of chaos our way…
…so evolution could run riot.
Several months have passed.
Rocky's now doubled in size…
and is ready for love.
But he won't truly be an eligible bachelor…
until he's become fit and handsome.
First, a new outfit.
Trading in his childish, fluffy feathers…
for a shiny, waterproof coat…
he's ready for his first swim.
On the other end of the beach,
Paloma is ready to launch as well.
After only knowing dry land their whole lives,
it's an intimidating moment for both.
Rocky thinks he's swimming…
but Paloma actually is.
Rocky finally figures out he needs to be in the water.
These young birds will be gone for the next two years…
on their own separate journeys.
There are great riches awaiting them in the ocean…
thanks to gravity…
…and our nearest neighbor.
Not long after our planet formed…
it collided with another young world.
And out of the orbiting debris…
…gravity formed Earth's traveling companion…
the Moon.
The impact knocked the young Earth onto its side…
-…and threw it into turmoil…
lurching and spinning wildly.
But over billions of years,
the gravitational tug of the Moon tamed the Earth.
The Moon drifted away.
Earth's rotation slowed…
which transformed Earth's story.
Because slower spin meant longer days…
and, therefore, more hours of continuous sunshine
penetrated the oceans…
…creating the conditions for the first life to get a foothold.
The first step in an underwater labyrinth of life
that grew and grew…
…eventually filling the oceans with unimaginable wonders.
Wonders that today provide a rich ecosystem
for two very hungry penguins…
hundreds of kilometers apart
in the open ocean.
Paloma has reached the polar front…
where the Southern Ocean meets the warmer waters of the Atlantic,
Pacific, and Indian Oceans.
Here, nutrients are churned up from below,
supporting thousands of species…
including lantern fish, a favorite of the king penguin.
They live deep underwater.
But that's no problem for Paloma.
She's able to hunt 300 meters below the surface.
Penguins are uniquely adapted to dive and hunt at great depth.
But to understand how these remarkable adaptations came about,
you need to know what gravity had been up to 66 million years ago.
In the cold outer reaches of the solar system,
millions of chunks of ice and rock orbit the Sun.
Most of the time, these asteroids are no trouble.
But sometimes they are.
In the outer region of the asteroid belt,
one particular rock, ten kilometers across,
was warmed by the Sun over millennia.
And bit by bit,
the warming began to shift this asteroid, called Chicxulub, out of its orbit…
until gravity took hold…
pulling it in toward the Sun…
sending it on a collision course with Earth…
…at 72,000 kilometers an hour.
The impact triggered a superheated wave of plasma…
…causing wildfires and devastation across the planet…
blocking out the Sun.
Three-quarters of Earth's species were obliterated.
It was bad news for the dinosaurs…
but good news for the king penguin.
Smaller and lighter,
birds were able to survive the impact.
They took to the skies and diversified.
With large predators gone…
the oceans abounded with fish.
The penguin's ancestors became expert divers,
diving deeper
and staying down longer
until, ultimately, they lost the ability to fly altogether.
From soaring through the skies…
to soaring through the oceans.
Invaluable adaptations
that Rocky and Paloma have put to good use.
Fitter and stronger,
they are now ready to return to their home shores
in search of a mate.
But their homecoming is interrupted…
…by orcas,
the only whale known to eat penguins.
Paloma shifts into top gear.
It will be a race to the finish.
Orcas are fast.
But king penguins are built for speed.
Paloma is too quick for her pursuer.
But Rocky took cover in the kelp forests near the shore.
And the hungry orca isn't going anywhere.
Rocky sees his opening…
and bolts for the shore.
-He definitely knows how to swim now.
Two long years roaming the sea,
all for a chance to enter the great lottery.
The search for love.
Gravity shaped the Sun, Earth, and Moon…
creating a stable home for life on our planet
and steering evolution in new directions.
But the ballad of Rocky and Paloma needs one more part…
…created by gravity
in the fiery heart of the Sun.
Light.
Our star only shines because,
at its center, an intense battle is taking place.
Gravity pulls inward…
while intense pressure pushes back.
This gravitational war….
…causes atoms to collide and fuse…
…releasing tiny pockets of energy…
…in the form of photons…
…that not only shower the Earth with life-sustaining energy…
but also bathe it in light.
Light that contains its own hidden wonders.
Because within every sunbeam
is a rainbow.
Each photon has a unique wavelength
and interacts with the stuff our world is made of
in a different way.
Some wavelengths are absorbed.
Others are reflected.
How these light waves hit our eyes determines what colors we see.
And this ability to perceive color
plays a key role in the penguin dating game.
Years of feasting at sea have made Rocky fit and strong.
Traits he needs to display to attract a mate.
Pigments that he synthesized himself
color his feathers brilliant yellow…
perfect for showing off his own flair
and attracting the gaze of the one bird in this crowd…
-…who only has eyes for him.
Paloma.
Starlight reflects onto the retina at the back of Paloma's eye.
Here, millions of cone cells get to work
decoding every wavelength…
…which allows Paloma to distinguish one color from another.
In the blink of an eye,
these lovebirds are not only able to see their world
but also understand it
and find their soulmate.
The courting then turns to a carefully choreographed dance.
Each displaying their dazzling, yellow feathers…
for the other to admire.
Other suitors try their luck
but to no avail.
Because Rocky's yellow feathers…
aren't his only selling point.
By shaking his head…
he encodes a secret message…
in ultraviolet light.
His beak catches the Sun
and reflects its rays.
And thanks to an extra cone cell…
…Rocky and Paloma's eyes can see colors beyond our own.
These UV signals win Paloma over.
They're the perfect match.
Raising a penguin chick is a grueling task
that requires both parents to be in top form.
Impressive yellow feathers and a flashy beak
are proof of strength and ability,
essential characteristics when it comes to bringing up a family.
From all the thousands of other birds,
Rocky and Paloma…
have found each other.
From the first ripples in the cosmic web…
…to the birth of our Sun…
planet,
and Moon…
…the impacts that have written Earth's history…
…to the force that powers the Sun, painting our world in color…
gravity has had a hand in all of it…
guiding these two penguins to their special moment…
…on this special island…
where it's not long before something extra special
is delivered to Earth.
Rocky and Paloma are going to be parents themselves.
Ushering in a new life
and maybe even new romance…
with gravity, as ever, helping to lead the way.
All across the Earth,
life is dazzling in its variety.
It has taken 13.8 billion years
to reach this one precious moment
in time and space.
Every animal made from the stars…
synchronized with the planet,
and sustained by gifts from the cosmos
that only made it here by pure chance.
All held in its place
by the ultimate,
the original force of attraction.
The story of our universe
is the story of how life came to be here on this planet…
…we call home.
A story that is still being written.