- Hi there, I'm Frank Graff.

Cool discoveries on a wildflower hike.

How virtual rehab heals an injury in the science of spiders.

Let's take a walk on Sci NC.

- Quality public television is made possible through the financial contributions of viewers like you who invite you to join them in supporting PBSNC.

- Sci NC is supported by a generous bequest gift from Dan Carrigan and the Gaia Earth Balance Endowment through the Gaston Community Foundation.

(upbeat music) ♪ - Hi again and welcome to Sci NC.

Most of us look at the trees and the blue skies when we're hiking, but producer Michelle Lotker shows us what we could miss if we forget to look down at our feet.

(upbeat music) - Oh wow.

There's a couple of beautiful blood roots.

That's probably a photo opportunity right there.

- Spring is the time for wildflowers and going on a guided nature hike is a great way to learn more about what's growing and blooming around you.

Today we're hiking with local plant expert and ecologist Milo Pyne near Penny's Bend along the Eno River in Durham, North Carolina.

- The most dangerous part of the hike is crossing the bridge and not getting run over.

- We're starting out on the Mountain-to-Sea Trail, but then diverging off trail in search of an elusive spring ephemeral.

I'll give you a hint.

It looks like a pair of pants.

- This is kind of where the good stuff starts.

- Oh, look at all this over here.

- Yeah, there's a lot of trout lily, trout lily and tooth wart.

This is a cut leaf tooth wart.

This is the common.

- Serrated edges.

- Yeah, yeah.

- But first, why are we looking here?

This area along the Eno River has some unique qualities, including the dirt and rock that we're hiking on.

- The river comes from west to east and basically hits a wall.

It hits a wall of diabase rock.

- Diabase is a type of rock that forms when molten lava is pushed into or intrudes into cracks and fissures below the earth's surface.

A horizontal layer of diabase rock was formed in this area around 225 million years ago.

Most of the other rock around this layer is sedimentary and is a lot softer.

- The older rock, the Triassic sediment, wore down and exposed the diabase.

- That diabase rock weathering away also creates different kinds of soil.

Soils from the diabase are more basic, less acidic.

So that creates an environment where plants can thrive that you don't see everywhere in the Piedmont.

- So we're used to all the red clay of the Piedmont and all the very acidic rocks and sandstones and granite and whatnot.

The rock on Penny's Bend is weathering out into soil that comes downstream and then forms these floodplain areas where the rich wildflowers are.

- And we're specifically going off trail to get to a unique spot called Willie Duke's Bluff.

- So this is where a guy named Willie Duke, who was the brother of the famous Washington Duke, the tobacco magnate, but Willie Duke was a preacher.

And he would come here and preach.

And they said he would go up on the bluff and just preach to the creatures of the forest and practice his elocution and preaching skills up on the bluff.

So it's called Willie Duke's Bluff.

- Along the way, we spotted a lot of spring ephemeral wildflowers.

Named that for the brief time they're above ground in the spring.

We saw spring beauties, bloodroot, a unique variety of trout lilies, heartleaf, which according to some is not a true spring ephemeral because some part of its plant is above ground year round.

And finally, the prize we've been searching for.

- There we are.

- Oh, there's more.

Oh, there's one more.

- Oh yeah, and over there, over there, we've got Dutchman's britches.

We found the Dutchman's britches population and they're starting to come into bloom.

So this is great.

And this is more of a plant of the mountains.

If you look at the range map, it's barely, it's only in one weird spot in South Carolina.

And it's here because of the unusual soils and the unusual habitat, where this is a really rich slope and nutrients come in from the river when it floods and they come down from the diabase rocks by gravity.

So it's, and we're right at the foot of the slope here, which is just the richest spot on the site.

- As a bonus, we also came across a patch of false rue anemone.

- There's only like a couple of places around here where it grows.

It's down on the flat river and then it's up here on the Eno.

- As we hiked, we came across a flower Milo was not excited to see.

- Ooh, ooh, ooh.

Yeah, that's actually the fig buttercup.

That's the bad one.

This is an exotic plant.

It's a very bad exotic and it loves to spread in flood plains from its little bubblets.

And people are going around right now and doing massive like eradication campaigns on it.

And if we're able to, we spray it because when you dig it, you run the risk of leaving a piece in the soil that then will get redistributed.

So we're gonna try to carefully excavate and get all of the propagules.

All right, get the bag, get the bag.

Let's tag it and bag it here.

All right, here we go.

Thank you.

- This plant is only above ground for a short time each spring.

And if you spot it, the best thing to do is record the sighting on the Plant ID app, iNaturalist, which we did, so that the experienced team working to track and eradicate it can take action.

Fortunately, we saw more native spring blooms than invasives, and someone spotted some Jack-in-the-Pulpits nearby.

- Really, wow.

Well, let's get a look at that.

That's gorgeous.

- Such a good find.

- The timing of spring wildflower blooms is variable each year, depending on when things warm up.

To make sure you don't miss it, look for guided spring hikes with experts near you.

- This has been quite the expedition.

- For some folks, dogs are more than just companions.

They are working dogs who help people get around.

As producer Evan Howell explains, it all starts at Duke University's Puppy Kindergarten.

(dog barking) - Good dog.

They're your best friend.

They love you always, and you've got that mutual trust going on.

In fact, you're pretty sure they can be trusted with anyone, but like the weather, it's all about ups and downs, and sometimes you can't predict what's gonna happen.

- We are kind of a pit stop on their journey.

- Welcome to the Puppy Kindergarten at the Duke Canine Cognition Center.

It's a school that helps dogs get a head start in learning how to become service dogs.

That's a broad term that includes therapy dogs, guide dogs, and dogs that work in emergency services.

- Because there are just so many jobs that dogs do right now, that technology cannot replace.

- Staff and volunteers are like athletic scouts.

They take a look at the athlete and decide where they might be a good fit on their team.

But they're also career counselors who talk to dogs and figure out just who might be able to help.

Because at around 10 weeks old when they enter, these dogs are just getting started.

The puppies here at Duke are from a non-profit called Canine Companions in California.

It breeds Labrador Retrievers and other mixes to become future service dogs.

(dog barking) Think of it as more of a K through 12 program before they take that big leap.

Because at 18 months when they graduate, they'll go to a service dog college at Canine Companions in Orlando, Florida.

- And that's when they learn to do things like, you know, load and unload a washing machine, you know, help people turn the lights on and off, open drawers, pick things up that they've dropped.

So that's the intensive period and it's just, it's so difficult to be a service dog.

(dog barking) - Difficult and expensive.

Training a service dog can cost as much as $50,000.

Canine Companions provides these dogs to people with disabilities for free.

- You're such a good girl.

- The training doesn't stop at the end of the day here.

As part of their training at Duke, they're paired up with mostly undergraduate students who take them back to their dorm rooms or homes and support what the dogs have been learning that day.

And this includes taking the dogs out in public, whether it's a wellness center on campus or say on a crowded bus, all to socialize them to foreign environments in their run up to graduation.

- Hey, what's this?

- But actually a lot of the training is what they are not allowed to do.

So no jumping, no chasing, no really rough play, you know, no eating human food, that kind of thing.

So we kind of just assist in the shaping of the puppies so they're really in good shape by the time they leave.

- Puppy, look.

- The puppy kindergarten's goal is to figure out how dogs develop, better said, the kind of personalities they have.

So first they need to get to know the puppies better.

- So we are working towards being able to take a puppy at 10 to 12 weeks, sort of like running through this series of cognitive games and temperament tests and then saying, you know what, you're gonna be a really good hearing dog or you're gonna be really good at odor detection.

You've got the drive, you've got the nose, like this is where you belong.

Or you've got a really sweet temperament and you're really patient but then also really attentive.

You're gonna be great with a kid with autism.

Okay.

- It's all about finding out if they like seeking help or if they like solving problems themselves.

Wood says the key is finding out how these dogs are wired.

- So assistance dogs are the ones who ask for a lot of help.

They make a lot of eye contact, they're always checking back with their handler.

But a military working dog, like a dog who needs to search and discover things like drugs or bombs, they're the ones who are really the self problem solver.

- They assess how a dog can learn how to follow commands, of course, like sit.

But here they look at a lot more things, like if their handler's face is covered, will they recognize their voice?

Or how do they maintain eye contact?

Do they prefer one stranger more than another?

- Oh my God, I want him to die.

- Wood says there are strategies to predict who a dog is.

She says her favorite test is called the impossible task.

- We put a treat in a container and the puppy learns how to kind of like nudge the lid out of the way and get it.

And after the puppy's done that for a couple of times, then we lock it.

And then we just kind of like see what the puppies do.

Puppy, look.

Okay.

So he's just learning right now that he can get the treat.

So this is the possible part of the impossible task.

And he's kind of like learning that he can solve the problem on his own, that there's a treat in the box.

And then if he just sort of like nuzzles around a little bit, he can get it.

So now we're gonna do something super mean.

We are going to close the box.

So what was possible now becomes impossible.

And then the test is not actually whether he can open the box or not, the test is what he does.

Like what strategy does he try to use to solve this impossible problem?

Are you ready for something really mean?

- Again, what they're looking for is a dog that can solve problems, which is a service dog's job number one.

- Okay.

Now he's just looking, figuring out he can't open it.

And so what's he gonna do?

Is he gonna try and solve the problem himself or is he gonna ask for help?

(dog panting) He's asking me for help.

He's like, "Hey you, with the impossible thumbs, "open this box for me."

- And if a dog looks for help because they can't figure it out, Wood says they may do well as an emotional support animal for a child or the elderly.

- These guys are all the amazing pets.

Although Maestro down here, he's actually the ambassador for a really fancy hotel in Arizona.

He meets and greets all the guests.

So, and then Odom I think-- - No, not all will get a job as a service dog.

In fact, only about half the students graduate.

But Wood says don't worry.

Those others get jobs as therapy dogs, hearing dogs, military dogs, and even household pets.

- So we wanna try and figure out really early on.

So then instead of being sort of like raised and trained to be a service dog, they can be raised and trained to be the dog that best fits the job that they are gonna do.

(upbeat music) - Physical therapy helps you get back on your feet after an injury.

Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are testing how virtual reality can take rehab to a whole new level.

(upbeat music) - I was 17 years old when I had my ACL reconstruction.

I was playing in a soccer game.

I was a defender and I knew I could get to the ball faster and their striker came at me.

She was a little irritated that I got to the ball first.

I had kicked it away.

I planted my foot and then she kicked right at my knee.

I'm Madison Davis.

I'm a senior majoring in exercise and sports science at UNC.

- The ACL is the anterior cruciate ligament.

So it's the primary stabilizing ligament in the knee.

So when we're thinking about high-functioning physically active people, not having their ACL can be problematic because they don't have the stability to do things like running and jumping and cutting.

I'm Shelby Baez.

I am an assistant professor in the Department of Exercise and Sports Science at UNC Chapel Hill.

So the current study is to examine how virtual reality mindfulness meditation can help patients after ACL reconstruction.

Specifically, we're wanting to see if it can help to decrease their fear, improve the way that they move via jump landing biomechanics, and then alter brain activity in females after ACL reconstruction.

Female athletes are at higher risk of sustaining primary, so initial ACL reconstructions, as well as secondary.

So either sustaining another ACL reconstruction to their same limb or to their other limb.

'Cause we see that patients who go back to sport who have fear after ACL reconstruction are 13 times more likely to have a second ACL reconstruction within 24 months of return to sport.

- So it takes a mental toll on you, like after you were at such a high level in your activity and your skill to not even be able to bend your knee or walk.

Once I was bedridden, I got really depressed because not only could I not do that activity, I also couldn't just get around.

I couldn't hang out with any of my friends 'cause I was just at home.

So it was just very isolating.

- Mental health is very important to the physical healing process.

The study design starts with patients coming to the lab.

So we measure their fear, their confidence, their self-reported function.

We also have them do some jump landing biomechanics, looking at the forces on the body.

And then after that assessment, we also have them complete a functional MRI.

We're asking patients to physically and mentally imagine themselves completing a sport-specific task, as well as activities that they'll be loving, that we show them while they're in the scanner.

We then have patients randomized into either a VR mindfulness meditation group or a VR sham group, plus an eight-week neuromuscular training rehabilitation.

- I've done a lot of ACL research studies, and obviously it's a very important thing to me.

It took a big toll on my life.

So I like to be able to kind of give people information so other people won't have to go through what I went through.

(gentle music) - Nothing changes a walk more than hitting a spider web.

Ah, ah, you know the feeling.

Researchers at UNC Charlotte help us appreciate the spider.

- How do you feel about spiders?

- I'm not a fan.

- If he's in the house, he's a goner.

- Don't like 'em on me, don't like 'em anywhere near me.

- Typically I climb up on like one of the chairs or couch, whatever's closest, and then I just wait for her to kill me.

- I think spiders are cool.

- What would you say your biggest fear is?

- Spiders.

(laughs) - Can we panic now?

(dramatic music) - Well, I can't talk about that personally.

My name is Dr.

Sarah Stellwagen.

I'm an assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences here at UNC Charlotte.

I think some of the most common misconceptions about spiders is that they lack diversity.

There are beautiful spiders, spiders with many colors, spiders that mimic all kinds of things in nature.

You would never even be able to find them unless you knew what you were looking for.

This is called Argyopi arantia.

They're one of our larger species.

Spiders are very important for our ecosystem.

They capture many, many insects during their lifespan.

They're providing free pest control for everyone.

So they're really wonderful creatures to have around.

I study spider silks, specifically spider glue.

We hope to find what gives these materials their properties.

So potentially one day we can mimic this stuff to use for clothing, ropes, or in the case of spider glues, maybe adhesives.

When we're testing silks and these glues in the laboratory, oftentimes we need to control the humidity and the temperature.

So we really needed a way to control those environmental variables.

It was suggested to me that Joel Dalton might be a good person to contact.

And so I was able to ask him if he would be interested in helping me try to figure this out.

- One of the most difficult things that we had to do was meet the weight requirement of the probe.

The entire probe could only weigh 25 milligrams.

It's like the weight of one of the crumbs left in the bottom of a potato chip bag.

Working on cutting edge projects and new ideas, things that people don't get to see in their day-to-day life, they may have never even heard of before.

That's what I like to do.

Having someone that's at UNC Charlotte working with me on this has been just such a wonderful thing to have at my fingertips.

I teach the biology of insects course.

And from that course, I have been able to find students that have been really wanting to engage with entomology research and arachnology research.

I've had several students that say, "I want to go into entomology now because I didn't realize that this was a thing that I could do."

It's just been a wonderful experience to be able to get to know these arachnids so well.

This small little creature can create something that strong and fascinating.

It's just really cool to me.

I really hope to change people's mind about spiders.

We grow up seeing other people be afraid of them.

We see it in cartoons and in media.

Spiders are oftentimes the villain in a lot of stories.

One reason that I love Halloween is because it almost gives the okay to not be afraid of them.

I would love to go from just Halloween being the time we can love spiders to all the time that we can love spiders.

- And let's continue our series of forest walks now with a new look at a fallen beech tree.

- It's like the death of a great beast.

- Very much.

And much as we can mourn the loss of this tree, I'm looking at this forest through the same eyes that I read a book.

Everything I see in this forest is a chapter.

And every tree I look at is a page.

One of the names for this is the writing tree because the bark is very thin.

And for many generations, people have carved their initials into the beech tree, which I don't recommend.

It's not good for the tree.

Hurts the tree.

Opens it up to problems.

- How could you even identify a tree when we're looking at this landscape of wintry, leafless trees that frankly look kind of dead?

- The American Beech holds its leaf in wintertime.

And so as you look through this deciduous forest, you see trees with brown leaves on them.

Those are all beech trees.

So this is a beech dominant forest where we're standing here, which is a different forest from just a short ways off where the hemlocks are.

Just more evidence of how biodiverse this little preserve is.

- There's an easy way to recognize the beech trees when we're looking around this wintry forest because they're the only ones with the leaves still on the tree.

- Also, it's a steady rain of dead leaf onto the ground, which keeps adding new material to the leaf litter that will eventually be digested and consumed by the very trees that produce the leaves.

- It's feeding itself.

- Correct.

- In this habitat.

- It's a flow of energy.

- What kinds of creatures would we find here in this habitat?

- Lots of insects.

Caterpillars, moth, and butterfly feed on the leaves in summertime.

Grasshoppers even, some crickets, tree crickets, beetles as well.

The leaves are very tasty to insects.

And then following them are songbirds, chickadee, titmouse, cardinal, blue jay, woodpeckers.

They'll forage in this tree because it's harboring all those spiders and insects, even in winter.

- So these are a really important tree in terms of being, I don't know if I'm using the right term, but an anchor tree in a habitat for different kinds of species.

- Anchor tree works for me.

That is, that's very true.

The beech tree is a banquet.

It's providing a table for a banquet serving up to squirrels, chipmunks, and songbirds.

(upbeat music) - You were saying, Andy, that beech trees are a really good indicator of high quality soil.

Why is that?

- It has everything to do with leaves in large part.

So you can see the forest floor here is covered in a nice layer of leaves breaking down over time.

And as they break down, they're releasing carbon and nutrients into the soil that's been developing for thousands of years at the rate of one inch of soil for every century.

- Wow.

- So if you dig down six inches in this material, you're digging back 600 years.

- So that explains why this would have been farmland in the mid 20th century.

- Hold on a second.

Let's stop and take a look at this real quick.

- Moss.

- It is, it's sheet moss.

And we've got an evergreen fern here, leaf litter, and a dead stump full of life, bacteria, fungus, beetles, ants, termites.

So that's another little living community breaking down, releasing sugars and starches into the soil.

And when that tree wrenched up, it exposed soil here and moss is a pioneer plant.

So the moss came in and got established.

It's kind of like a big bandage.

This is all healing over and becoming a new part of the forest, much like the reclining beech tree that we're going to see in just a moment.

- The dead one.

- Yes.

- It's an iconic beech tree.

It snapped off in a storm.

It's one that generations of people have enjoyed and the preserve staff know that from anecdotes from visitors.

Oh, I remember playing in this tree when I was a kid.

So it's an old tree that finally came to its end.

- So we're going to have a viewing.

- Correct.

- But Andy sees a bigger picture.

It's going to release its carbon to the soil.

It will decompose, returning sugars, starches, and carbohydrates to the ecosystem that is going to give rise and support the next generation of American beech.

So we can mourn the loss of this tree, knowing that it's giving to future trees.

- You also said it gives rise to other forms of life.

If we hiked down to that tree, which we won't do, we would hear things going on.

We would hear life, right?

- It's noisy.

- What's making the noise?

- A lot of insects.

The tree tissue is, it's a big loaf of bread, hard bread.

We couldn't chew it, but lots of other animals can, including larvae of various wood-boring beetles, termites, ants.

You can hear those animals working on the tree.

- It's becoming a different kind of habitat.

- Correct.

- Sounds like there are a lot of parallels between this tree community and a human community.

- Indeed.

(upbeat music) - And another note from nature.

As the beech tree feeds the next generation in death, its energy isn't lost, just transmuted.

- And I'm Frank Graff.

Thanks for watching.

(upbeat music) ♪ - Sci NC is supported by a generous bequest gift from Dan Carrigan and the Gaia Earth Balance Endowment through the Gaston Community Foundation.

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