I’m an engineer because I love the
creative outlet that it provides me it
allows me to use my mind to invent new
things that can be applied to help
conserve animals and historic places in
the world quarry discuss key is in
Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula exploring
massive underground sinkholes known as
cenotes these naturally occurring wells
were sacred sites for the ancient Maya
civilization who lived in this region
more than 1,200 years ago quarry
develops technologies that allow him to
explore Earth’s most challenging
environments today he’s plunging deep
below the surface it was amazing I
thought that this cave diving would just
be a big dark hole where you couldn’t
see anything and that I’d feel
claustrophobic
but one of the technologies that we
brought with was something invented here
at National Geographic in the remote
imaging lab called the Sun sphere
the Sun sphere is this immensely bright
light in a glass sphere turning it on
lit up the inside of this flooded cave
as if the Sun just suddenly rose inside
the cave
it was the most beautiful thing I’ve
ever seen this cenote was a regular site
of Maya human sacrifice but today Cory
and his team are looking for another
type of skeleton
a preserved skull of an ancient ice age
bear using state-of-the-art 3d imagery
they take a three-dimensional digital
capture of the skull without damaging or
removing it from the site one of the
best parts about this project is that
this is hard work and it’s not just the
work of one or two people but we have
this great team with us we had people
doing ground-penetrating radar
we were using sonar to explore
underwater in the cenotes so it’s not
like we’re coming and just getting one
3d scan we’re actually able to get this
huge multidisciplinary cross-section
understanding of these places that were
working in using new tools and
technology Coria is able to collect more
information about the ancient Maya than
previously possible like using this
laser scanner that fires over 20,000
laser pulses per second
digitally preserving ancient temples
with ultra precise 3d models
[Music]
for important details hidden behind
walls he uses a special
ground-penetrating radar or a small
flexible camera that pits through cracks
and holes these problems haven’t been
solved in the past for some of these
applications because no one’s thought of
a way to do them so that requires really
challenging yourself to not just think
the way that you do every day but just
to step back brainstorm even if some of
the ideas are crazy and totally
impossible they might have some valuable
component to them Corey doesn’t only use
cameras in this cenote he’s using
soundwaves
mapping the landscape with sonar
technology to make it more accessible to
divers and archaeologists I bring the
philosophy to my work that we all have
our own special skills mine is
engineering and that we can take these
skills and help make a difference in the
world
if it was easy someone else would do it
korie’s technology has been used in a
variety of fields from archeology to
paleontology to architectural
restoration by giving people a different
way to look at things it helps them
connect and care about the places and
animals in the world that we need to
conserve
[Music]
