Luzia Among Specimens Likely Lost in Brazil Museum Fire | SciShow News
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- Опубликовано: 12 сен 2024
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Luzia, the oldest human fossil in the Western hemisphere, was lost to the Brazil National Museum fire, but around same time, three new species of ancient primates were discovered in San Diego Natural History Museum.
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The loss of everything in that museum should be a call to all museums everywhere to digitize their entire collections, scanning everything possible in every way possible and sharing the digital copies with every other museum, and museums which may lack the funding should be assisted by those with plenty. So that a tragedy like this doesn't rob humanity of even more of its treasures.
Yes, but for things like DNA extraction, you need the physical specimen.
@@khango6006 well you save what you can, even if it isn't everything, it's better than nothing
Not only digitize their collections, but store in projects like Memory of Mankind or Arch Mission Foundation.
As much as most Museums would love to do this, they don't have the money, time, and in accordance with those, manpower. Digitization is expensive and time consuming. Most museums are just trying to keep up with their backlog of accessions and figuring out where their objects actually are in storage. And unfortunately no museum has plenty of funding. Most extra funding museums get (other than their budget that goes to preservation, keeping the lights on, and paying their employees) has stipulations on it, such as what it can be used for. And with a culture that's less interested in cultural institutions, museums aren't getting a lot of funding to begin with.
The question is why would such a vital museum full of irreplaceable artifacts not be equipped with even basic fire detection and suppression to preserve those artifacts from extensive damage or at least minimize the impact of such a fire to only a very small fraction of a collection.
As a Brazilian and a biologist that worked with some samples from the Nacional Museum, I was just devastated. I still am. But the worst is to know that we didn't lose it to some natural disaster or to some terrorist group like ISIS. We lost It to pure negligence from our goverment, that drasticaly cut the funds for the museum. It's a shame to all of us.😢
I'm sorry for your loss. I think most of us are pretty bereft. Hope that much can be recovered at least at some level.😯
I still cant believe that a fire like THAT would just "accidentally" appear itself... I believe someone was behind this fire. Has to be. How else to explain that the greatest Brazillian museum has practically zero fire protection or other protective measures that would prevent certain types of damage to its content? I just refuse to believe that such important information stored in a large public building is so massively unprotected, from anything.
Perhaps if the govt hadn't put Football/Soccer, & Olympic games before Science & research, the Nacional Museum would've had the necessary fire prevention & detection system installed! These systems are more than just sprinklers because it's also essential to extinguish any flames without causing water-damage to the exhibits/specimens!
I am from Brazil too and trust me, the museum was with a lot of electrical problems :( and it is really sad that by now people just seems to be forgetting it... that place was incredible, a lot of important things of Brazilian history happened there... too sad I will never see it with all the shine it should have, alongside a lot of Brazilians that have never stepped on the national museum
Hmm I guess. Its just so surreal to me, the idea that something so important as that museum to be so unprotected. You almost cannot believe that the real cause is lack of maintanance and installation of preventive measures. You kinda take it for granted that something like that SURELY has protection, because it makes sense. On one hand, I really hope it is as everyone here in the comment section is suggesting and not a very smart terrorist attack. On the other.... Well lets just say its like picking the lesser evil. Both are *terrible*
as a Brazilian: Brazilian government doesn't care for science, and that's really sad for those who take science seriously and know it's importance here in this country. The fire that took away the National Museum was a mixture of incompetence and negligence (not of those who worked there, they did everything they could, but with really low funds coming from the union, there's little one can do). The case was minimized by our own Minister of Culture, which clearly doesn't even realize the gravity of what happened.
These are dark days for brazilians AND people worldwide.
Millions were given to UFRJ for mantaining the museum with emphasis on fire prevention, but misteriously the money disappeared...
It's not the Union's fault entirely.
A terrible tragedy. A loss for the world, Brazil and Science. Hopefully there are salvageable artifacts that could lessen the blow to History and Science.
Abc Abc You're right, I misinterpreted the news, what actually happened was that they refused a donation of about 80M USD back in the 90's, a donation that was meant to fund maintenance and fire prevention.
I apologize for the misunderstanding.
Same source also says that last year the museum had received 643k which although isn't "millions" it's way more than 64k (and before 2017 it used to receive 1.3M a year)
@@guigs4467 and we shouldn't forget the UFRJ's Dean prefered to direct resources to a radio station (which nobody listens to) instead of sending resources to the museum, of course it doesn't have nothing about propaganda for his political party
You will be missed Luzia. I always feel such sorrow when thinking about the lost wisdom when the library of Alexandria burned down.
Thinking of that library can make me cry at any given time. Also the six lost wonders of the world. I would have love to be able to see the colossus of Rhodas or the Hanging Gardens :(
Or the House of Wisdom in Baghdad. Damn Mongol nogoodniks.
Also, Mayan and Aztec knowledge by Spanish conquerors
Yeah, I feel you. If you think about the things that are lost to us, it can be difficult.
And palmyra :(
This is also an acute reminder on how importand it is to describe, catalogue and digitalise everything we can, so that information on a single specimen can be stored in as many places as possible, reducing the damage in the event of a catastrophic event like the one in Brasil.
Most things that este at the museum had a "backup". But the computers were all at the museum too. So they got burned as well
then i just hope that at least some of the data was used in research or teaching, meaning that it could still be on someones pc or in some digital library somewhere.
Hopefully
Probably just the fragment that the many students who were trainee on the museum, together with the PhD students
What if the digital copies are destroyed too..
I'm from Brazil and just today my teacher was talking about this - he knows many people who worked at the museum, and they had been reporting for years that it severely lacked maintenance. Everyone knew it was underfunded. This was a flaw of the Brazilian government, and it's a wonder it didn't happen sooner. Had this been in any other country, it wouldn't have happened.
Never thought I'd see a video so sad in this channel. And about my country. :(
Felipe Rigon
Minhas condolências. É uma perda terrível.
Same here...
Now museum, now you don't.
Seriously, though, this is horrible news. What an important loss :(
It's quite sad
HOLD UP THAT WAS HILARIOUS
It wouldn't be the 1st. That's why they no longer have scientifically significant information and this includes cosmological, in the same place. See, now Sci this proves guys aren't just knowing such things to snag wenches
By the By .. that's Master Amphibian
My country’s government is actual garbage, the money invested in that museum is less than what some deputies earn. There were artifacts from all over the world in the building, and not even a sprinkler installed
The main problem of the fire in the National Museum of Brazil is actually an economical problem. It was not an accident because the director of the museum had been asking for money much before the fire. Since 2014 the museum was about to be closed, because it was running on the lowest budget possible and the director was asking for money to prevent fires from happening.
This month, the government finally released around 5 million dollars to prevent fire in the museum, sadly it was too late.
Brazil is facing a huge economic crises and this is just the beginning, the second largest museum in Brazil is facing the same problems.
But the worst of all, the president of CAPES (the main organization of science budget in Brazil) released a notification saying that they only have money until august (2019) and after that, 200 thousand students (master's degree and Ph.D.) may lose their research money.
R.I.P. Brazil' science.
Please like this comment so that Scishow team can see and maybe help to inform these sad news from Brazil.
This is a crisis of political will, not only an economic crisis.
Indeed. If it is an economic crises, it is a political crises too. There's just no way one happening without the other.
The fire of the Brazil's National Museum is the result of years and years of criminal neglicence and revolting corrupton in Brazil's goverment.
In the same weak, 4 other historical/cultural places burn around the country, including a outrage of fire in the library of the biggest university, USP (University of São Paulo) and UFRJ (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro). And the population didn't nearly realized how serius this is (some of us even complained about the "waste" of resources in "old museus" and "useless research").
We brazilians are living in times were culture and science is treated like waste of resources. And this is, by far, the saddest part abaut all of these.
Has a brazilian, I apologize. This is a shame for the whole nation, and a lost for mankind.
Se desculpar do quê? Foi você quem tacou fogo lá?
Não sei o quanto a mídia tem explorado esse ângulo, mas também - estamos em ano de eleição, tome tento XD
Ah, e filho, se a população não tem capacidade de reconhecer a importância do fato, é porque não tem educação; a solução é bala brbrshueshue
I don't need the translation. Portuguese!!
em um sistema corrupto bala em individuos não resolveria bosta nenhuma, muito provavelmente pioraria a situaçao.
+shrapnel Por isso mesmo: se o sistema e/ou a lógica não se resolvem com bala, o negócio é meter bala até meter bala voltar a resolver coisa alguma. Não aprendeu nada assistindo Rambo, gori?
mais violencia é uma opção até que a bala penetre o nosso cú. em um piscar de anus todo rambo vira pacifista, vegan, pansexual, crossfiter.
We really need to start putting these priceless science findings into digital copies and put samples of these things in a different location.
The museum isnt just exposure :/ it is there that students and researchs analyse the pieces
@Nobody Knows
No, like in a secure vault that would be harder to burn down in a secret location so we don't lose these artifacts.
Only a complete moron would suggest moving a sample of an artifact to another museum.
@Nobody Knows lol no like a science lab vault. Small samples for later testing.
While digitizing would be great for increased accessibility and guaranteeing records there it is extremely difficult for the sheer number of artifacts in museums. We need to start working on digitizing collections NOW
A different location, yes. A museum, yes. A museum not in a third-world country.
I feel like the burning of the museum was two weeks ago, and I don't think people talk about it enough. I don't know if people don't understand these things and therefore don't care (like the general attitudes towards science). But as person who is both passionate about insects and Egyptology my brain cannot fathom what we have lost and it makes even less sense how easy we forget about tragedies like these.
here on brazil people realy cared abouth but they stoped because nothing whould change
Não falam? Você não tem assistido jornal, não?
ruclips.net/video/ZMIGihWIZR0/видео.html
I've worked in many museum collections around the country. You guys don't even know how much is behind closed doors. What a tragedy.
Alex Hern I've had the opportunity to tour in the back of a museum before and it was incredible. I got to see Thomas Jefferson's personal fossil collection as well as so many other cool things. It really is fascinating to see how much is behind closed doors.
Thanks for sharing our voices and our grief.
Greetings from a Brazilian scientist
So Brazil's 200-year-old National Museum had no fire suppression systems...at all?
Update: After some research, it's clear that this preventable event was caused by a total breakdown in the fabric of Brazil from top to bottom. The World Bank wanted to purchase the Museum to protect it but was told no because "Federal University of Rio de Janeiro would have to give up ownership" I've attached excerpts below for those who would like to read more about it...very sad.
“I think people just had the idea that, well it can be done someday, what’s the urgency?” says Andrew Nevins, a linguist affiliated with the National Museum. “The idea of digitizing as an urgent priority wasn’t in the air...Instead there was lots of funding and sources for going into the field and finding the last speakers right now of [a given language].” That’s obviously important work, but without a plan for how to safely back up and keep those records, much of it is now lost."
"First responders fighting the fire were hindered by a lack of water. Rio's fire chief claimed that two nearby fire hydrants had insufficient water, leaving firefighters to resort to pumping water from a nearby lake."
Yes! They are at some years asking for help, but the government only start tho planning to give the money after Octuber elections. Here it is very usual and is not the first museum to be destroyed in this decade.
As a Brazilian I wanna thank you guys for the kind approach in such horrible moment. I was worried about watch this video and become more sad about this case.
Really like this show
I'm actually impressed by how well Hank pronounces Luzia's name...
Didn't I hear the fire was not suppressed due to not updating the suppression system because of government bureaucracy?
Grand Theft Avocado given all the comments crapping on the Brazilian government I’d say that’s a safe bet.
nearly that, even brazilians dont know exactly
The lack of fire supression system is due the missapropriation of money. A corrupt goverment that dont care about science is our biggest enemy. As a brazilian, that makes me really sad.
Btw, fire trucks were not loaded because the person who first reported it described ir as a small fire. Human error also involved.
Kind of. The sistem needed a update for decades. But they governement only agre on given them to the governement some months ago. And the m the burocracy slowed that down until the flames burned.
So yea burocracy have a share of fault. But i am prety sure that if the resurces have been givem decades ago when the musean first asked. They would have come in time.
My deepest condolences to the Brazilian people!
And to the rest of the world.
There were some brave heroes (staff, students and volunteer citzens) who unbelievably enter the fire to try to save the most objects (mainly biological specimens) they could; these guys regard science as high as their own lives. Such a shame our politicians do not go near close to this consideration and care...
Yeah, imagine that...
Been tracking the updates on this. There are a LOT of parallels with other museums here in the U.S. We need to make sure that security and safety procedures are up to date and receiving appropriate funding (along with the rest of the museum) to ensure things like this don't happen to other repositories of priceless treasures.
Check your local museum! If they look underfunded, donate! Even a dollar or two from each member of the local community each month can contribute to the important work being done by field experts behind the scenes in each location.
All I can say is: Sorry humanity we've lost a lot of knowledge forever.
As a Brazilian I fell shamed to be part of it.
Some Brazilian governants said on their social media: "We are going to rebuild the museum"
They are gonna raise some money to rebuild it, like if it would bring back all the 20,000,000+ items that were lost...
Some journals warned over than 10 years that it could happen but they did nothing, nobody did nothing.
I didn't have the opportunity to visit that place, future generations won't have the opportunity to visit that place
And even if they rebuild it unfortunately all that knowledge is now lost.
There were some species that have never been studied, they were waiting to be analyzed, they were unique and now they are all lost.
I fell hopeless living in a place where people don't care about their history and knowledge.
I'd like an episode about museum emergency plans. How do museums try to prevent the loss of artifacts during an emergency like this? Maybe a good episode for BrainScoop too
The more I learn about that museum, the more depressing it seems. What a huge loss to the human community.
Yeah same
So all that money and rare artifacts aren't worth a sprinkler system?
Not according to Brazilian government.
Let us not oversimplify this thing. Water sprinklers on top of millenia-old artefacts is not going to save them. Instead, look at it this way: the problem is not the fire-fighting itself that is the problem, it is the prevention of fires themselves that was the problem.
@@moscanaveia ok so sure maybe sprinkler systems are a little archaic but closing a room and flooding it with co2 or something that pulls the air out of the room...hell aircraft hangers use a foam to do that..while it may damage something it's better than a total loss either way...millions of dollars and irreplaceable items up in smoke sounds a lot like the library of Alexandria
It didn't have the funding, you have to understand that government here doesn't care about science or education for that matter. The systems to prevent fires were neglected many times.
@@bluester7177 but the scientist who lost it do ..if it was in such an unsafe environment why keep it there ? If it's something that irreplaceable it's irresponsible to leave it in a position like that politics aside..I do understand your position though...
Man, Dude that was heavy. Thanks for ending it on a bit of a positive note. Yes we need to cherish our heritage. Very painful video. I think I need some chocolate or icecream, maybe just curl up in a ball in the corner for awhile.😯😢
The gutting of the national museum was a result of utter negligence. The current president has risen to power by means of a legislative coup; after that, the congress (mostly influenced by personal rather than public interest) passed laws that limited the budget appointed to fundamental areas of the public administration.
E a pergunta é: qual a novidade?
N simplifique as coisas assim João, a pec do teto n foi a causa de tudo isso, o museu ta negligenciado a anos
The museum was underfunded for years, this isn't a new thing.
In Brazil we scientists have very little voice and the government doesn't want to invest in science and education because they will not get reelected from this (when people think and question everything, politicians lose their power). So that's the result: a museum is destroyed.
Another one of the most disappointing losses here is when Hank said that some of the records that burned,are of extinct languages.
Now,the chances of reconstructing these languages is much,much smaller.
It's kinds of counter intuitive for museums to stay open but, maybe every item (possible) should be meticulously 3d scanned and open to the public to see in a website or in a VR museum, just so it's not all lost forever.
that was impossible because the museum had been completely stripped of it's funding.
I meant going forward, as a general rule everywhere.
it was in brazil
Also a good point, the pieces in museums could be replicas, it's not like anyone's going to be playing with them up close.
But i imagine it's also part of a museum's "pride" put the original on display.
The museum isnt just for exposition. Most of the pirces WERE replicas, but all the museums are the research center, where doctor and students prepare their thesis and study every piece of it.
Btw, we lost pieces that weren't even cataloged yet, most of it primitive insect species that we will never know nothing, not even the species
I know it's macabre and wrong, but news like this, when something happens in the world where cultural or scientific treasures get lost forever, it hits me harder than news of people dying....
I think it's because we know people die; everyone will die one day, but knowledge and art are supposed to be eternal :(
No, you're right - it _is_ wrong; but, on the long run, it doesn't matter, so...
I know what you mean. I happened to be watching the launch when Challenger blew up, and I'm a little ashamed to admit that my first thought was "Oh, that beautiful machine!!" My second thought was that the seven people on board it were probably still alive, and that they had a very long way to fall, and not a thing to do about it except wait for the sudden deceleration.
Woah, I never thought of that! I just checked it and apparently you're right. The cockpit was still intact...
What a gruesome way to go...
Alexander
Just think about it - it was designed and built to withstand the rigors of launch and reentry, and engineers ALWAYS add safety factors in.
As an brazilian all i can say is sorry, sorry for how our goverment acts towards science, it's a freaking shame the way that things are here, and it's a shame the cronical lack of attention that science gets here
Your government might be asshats but you aren't
Your country is a joke
at futbal. Seriously, why can't Neymar stop diving?
@@sebastianelytron8450 we asked it first and still don't have a anwser, his nickname for long time was "cai cai", that literally translates to "fall fall" because of how much he dives, and trust me, it was worse 6 years ago
At least Neymar is somehow learning how to act.
Our science in other hand is falling way more harder than Neymar
And our country really sucks, to be honest. (Of course, not the natural, just our society)
Museums around the world need to form an alliance and pool money to make sure they all have fire suppression technology and fire proof storage vaults.
Basically the same could be said of the arXiv - but I guess we'll have to wait till Cornell Library burns before anyone cares
What?! The Library of Alexandria wasn't enough, so we have to wait for another library/museum to burn down or suffer from a natural disaster before we can do something?
@@Shaden0040 We should also wait till the whole of mankind burns before we git gud, brah
I've had the idea of creating a new nation not bound by geography, where everyone pays a yearly fee to be members, sort of like tax. Then we have elections and vote on what the tax money will get spent on. It could be a Science nation, dedicated to research and bettering the world.
I guess it would lead to existing countries no longer feeling any pressure to spend money on research though. On the other hand perhaps research could be freed from the chains of capitalism.
But meh, seems like it would just birth more corruption. I wonder if we'll ever grow up.
I don't understand how it's possible to have the only recording of anything in 2018.
This is regarding the comment that they lost the only recording of languages no longer spoken.
Oh No! This just shows that no artifact is safe and we need to learn as much as we can about things on this Earth before they are gone! Thank You for this update!
Especially the entire planet before we make it uninhabitable for most life.
It just shows just of a what 3rd world Brazil still is
This isn't true...most federal museums in richer countries have fire suppression systems and fire proof vaults. Brazil didn't even have working hydrants outside!
@@DeeDeeCatMom its speculation and we will never know for sure. But I bet luzia really wouldn't be offended if we got anything about her wrong especially after 11 thousand years.
Before they're gone!!!! I love it. So Cosmic. Let's see if you're as smart as I Think you are.
This is like the Library of Alexandria where a lot of knowledge may have been learned if it hadn't been burnt down.
While I’m happy that this important topic was covered here, I, as a Brazilian, am a bit pissed that nothing was mentioned about the reasons that lead to this fire.
Brazilian government has been neglecting science for a very long time. This museum, as long as most other public spaces for knowledge (like universities) are being DRAMATICALLY underfunded. To give you guys a sense of how bad this were, the staff were paying for basic supply like toilet paper with their own salary.
No one talks about this. This video would have been a great opportunity to raise some awareness (both nationally and internationally) about this issue.
1/3 of the world's pterosaurs were lost too!
That's horrible! Like just a third of all that we've ever found?
Yeah
Oh my god what!?!?! Really?
Yes! The loss is really inmesurable. A few exemples (amidst 20 million items) are important brazilian historical documents, rare and unique south american and egyptian mummies, Pompeii's tapestries and a bizantine jeweled cup. Even the building has a imense importance, as it housed Brazil's royal family and was a architetural wonder. The cause? Politician's total lack of responsability, apitude and knowledge. Most of them really don't care.
@@Blue-mf4sl that's horrible! Did they have any terra preta or pottery from Brazil's ancient Amazonian civilization? That would really be awful if that was lost!
I feel sick. I can't even finish the video.
That's so sad! Half of history of Brazil, was fired!
Very sad news in Brazil (solidarity my Brazilian comrades ✊🏽✊🏼✊🏾✊🏿), but amazing news about the primates. The fact is we know sooo much less about pre-history than we know for certain, this wasn’t the first time we’ve had to reevaluate theories, and this will only continue into the future. Oh to have time machine, and be able to go back and study the biodiversity of the many epochs of history... 🙏🏼✌🏼
I want to tell you guys something. I work in boa constrictors and it's a hobby of mine and I absolutely love it. I do a lot of research and documentation on both constricting mutations and phenotypes and localities and there are several animals in the reptile exotic community that have come at a Brazil. And if you go and research genetics and phenotypes in Brazil and exotic animals, there's something very very special and interesting about Brazil, especially with so many leucistic mutations
Fund your local museum!
As a museum worker, the loss of the Brazil Museum is a heart-rending warning and galvanizing reminder of why I do what I do and how important so many "just in case" measures actually are. It doesn't matter that the place has survived centuries; disasters can always happen, and we need to save all that we can through preparation, prevention, and planning.
ruclips.net/video/ZMIGihWIZR0/видео.html
Thank you for this video SciShow. It's great to see other countries acknowledging our events, even if they are sad and due to ignorance
This is why regular inspections, risk management and safety audits are important :( sadly a lot of institutions and governments don't want to pay for it. This is so heartbreaking :(
Jus a small corection. Luiza was discovered decades before 1975, i dont remenber the year now. But only in 1975 the realize how important she is.
Good news, about 80% of the pieces were found and they expect to recover more.
Goodbye Luzia, it's a shame we had to Luzia!
Sebastian Elytron too soon
About 11000 years too soon
Sebastian Elytron
I agree with Genessa. How dare you make a joke at a time like this? You are a terrible person, for shame! Wait, actually I made a joke about it too. never mind, carry on.
Master Therion lol yes.
Man this one wasn't even funny
Absolutely putrid
Reminiscent of the library of Alexandria, however, thankfully not on the same scale in terms of importance to humanity as a whole, but still heartbreaking.
As a brazilian, I just wan to say sorry :(
Not accepted. Seriously though, why do people say such things? You shouldn't apologize on behalf of a family member or loved one, much less a government or institution!
As a Brazilian as well, it's a shame for all of us. Realmente acho bem difícil recebermos desculpas :'(
That is so sad. Such precious artifacts gone :(
At the Denver Museum Of Nature and Science we have a super sensitive smoke alarm, like broken glass can set it off sometimes. And when the alarm goes off these huge doors slam closed in every exhibit and in collections. This is so if the building catches fire it can be contained and no spread throughout the building
Over sixty years of neglect from every govern authority make this happen. I'm very ashamed for being Brazilian these days.
I recommend reading/listening to "The Feather Thief". It relates to the grave loss of knowledge from the fire in Brazil. It's a true story, and to me, more exasperating, because it wasn't an accident that caused precious specimens to be lost.
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I'm still not over this. I cried when saw this on my local news.
Nice mention of mention of authenticity after your brief interview/collab with Lindsey Ellis! (Not trying to be antagonizing I just found that interesting that it seemed to stay on your mind!)
Oh boy so much misunderstanding in the comments. People here who don't know basic science...
- museums are not only the exhibits. They basically harbor science labs too.
- people have been digitalizing everything they can since forever, but its a job without end, and the more important info sometimes can't be digitalized (many times we don't even know yet if there's a new info from a future technique that demands the real thing, like the dna example). The originals ALWAYS are more important.
- every museum harbor lots of dry stuff and lots of alcohol to conserve the squishy stuff, so fire is always a danger
- BUT every museum should have fire-containment systems. MOST museums around the world have them. Here, BRAZIL IS AT FAULT (my country). We've known for decades that the national museum was in need of reforms, and it didn't even had a fire-containment system whatsoever. Many had written about this, but our gov never cared.
Things we lost, to the flames
Things we'll never see again
All that we have amassed
Sits before us, shattered into ash.
These are the things, the things we lost
The things we lost in the fire, fire, fire
Seriously, though, this is devastating.
Moral of the story: don't trust barbarians with relics.
The ""fun" fact is that only a meteorite survived the fire
because well... it's a meteor.
and some people here think the museum was intentionally set on fire because of political reasons.
I say terrorist attack, funded by someone very smart and manipulative, also rich...
Is very hard to it be created by a terrorist attack. The careless from the government in science and tech is more destructive than that.
I'm glad there was some good news in here, I was getting ready to cry as the loss list went on...
All of you are mourning the loss of these artifacts and specimens, but consider this: if we don't stop Climate Change all of our discoveries will mean nothing. Our current "museum" is on fire and we all have an opportunity to put it out.
Good point. What does the past even mean if there is no future, right?
Indeed a tragic loss.
But as you said luckily no one was hurt or killed.
As Brazilian I'm sad and ashamed.
When I met Luzia two years ago I felt like facing a celebrity!
And that museum was a beautiful and pleasant place to be.
As a Brazilian and young science and history enthousiast, I am absolutely speechless and baffled by these news. Not just the government, as some of my compatriots say, but us as Brazilians were neglecting our museums and heritage. 'Why would I go to the museum, there's only old stuff in there' is the expected response when you invite someone to any museum. The National Museum is not the only neglected Brazilian museum, nor the only one to recently go up in flames saddeningly enough, as many museums neither receive the adequate funding, be it from the government or from the citizenry in other case. I myself come from the state of Ceará, and all the way in the south of that state there is an absolute treasure mine of fossils upon fossils (with a pterosaur even being named after my state) and what happens to those fossils each and every day they're found? They're crushed and blasted to be made into concrete. Think about that for a moment.
I'm sorry, but I have to repeat that I am absolutely appalled and broken by this entire situation.
Stories like this one just makes me angry and sad at all the knowledge that has been lost. I honestly couldn't finish watching the video, because it just made me feel down.
This is so sad. I have no words. Such important markers destroyed.
As a Brazilian this brought tears to my eyes. It's a consequence of decades of poor public administration and low investments on culture. And heartbreaking for the whole of humanity.
I'm a brazillian and this was the most godlike awful news of the year, if don't the most awful of the decade. My country is just ashes of nothingness when the subject is science. Most people here don't give a damn about the museum, which was caused by years of negligence from our government. It was shamefull to be brazillian this week, more than it was ever before
Wow, what a crushing blow to science and to mankind in general so many artifacts lost, so much we could've learned from them
lesson 1. don't let brazil hold on to precious human artifacts.
Such a shame to lose such important things, I really hope there are copies especially of the language samples. What I find more distressing is I haven't seen any news coverage of this. Admittedly I don't watch or read a lot of news but this seems like it should have been front page news for such a loss to science and culture.
It took me forever to seek out news about this fire because it breaks my heart so much. Damn.
I am a Brazilian and I cried that day. I'm about to cry now
I'm Brazilian and work with conservation of museum collections. This was one of the most devastading new of 2018...
Very heartbreaking loss... I'm at least glad there are other finds that confirm that the america's were populated from the north and south.
I lost everything in a wildfire. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust!
I am constantly shock by the individuals and institutions that are in denial and not at all prepared for catastrophic loss. Basics, like backed up data, dispersal of samples, redundant protections.
BTW, don’t feel protected if you have a fireproof safe....they are fire rated for a reason...if your inferno exceeds the time limit, you will find nothing but ashes and terribly damaged contents....even diamonds are discolored!
Truly tragic loss of world artifacts.😢
More a tar ball I should think
Thank you for this video.
This took the wind right out of my sails. I WISH some rich guy who cared about science (like someone who's so rich they can't spend it all) would start funding museums. Give them all sprinkler systems, fire retardant displays, catalogue information, etc. This is devastating. There's no excuse for letting such vital pieces of history be destroyed.
Very sad news, thanks for the excellent coverage.
Perhaps we shouldn’t keep too many important artefacts in one place in the future.
One of a kind.Get it?
It doesn't help that they had NO FIRE SUPPRESSION systems in place. It's heartbreaking.
20 million items. Talk about putting all eggs in one basket. 20 million eggs in this case.
What a loss. What a horrible loss.
It does make me wonder if there isn't a better system or better incentive to encourage the scientific study of all the boxes stuffed away in museums that hasn't been rediscovered for decades and decades.
If science could get back to those treasure troves and study them, the world would be such a better place.
History, destroyed in a fire this is a tragedy.
I'm brazilian and I'm slowly changing from being proud of being born in this country to being ashamed of it...
This tragic loss reminded me the fire that destroyed the Library of Alexandria, which I now learned was a myth. The library did contain a huge amount of written information, and it is no longer around, but it was not a single event, a single fire that destroyed it. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destruction_of_the_Library_of_Alexandria
I absolutely adore you guys for these videos, thank you so much
This makes me cry.
I know this will hurt brazillians a lot, but perhaps science should opt out of Brazil. That would also severily slow down any technological advancements and in the end lead to financial losses too great for the government to ignore. It'll hurt the everyday brazillian, but it might be required to make a change away from corruption...
Except that this is maybe EXACTLY what the politicians want? You think they would care? If that were to happen then they would have even more reason to spout more nonsense and how the world is against them, completely circumventing the real problem in the first place. Thats what politicians do, manipulate you.
I'm a Brazilian, and I Agree with you, my country don't care about Science or technology development, we burn billions of dollars with ours Politicians, but almost anithing in science institutions like our Nacional Museum....
The government won't care. It'll help them. The more poor and uneducated the general population is, the more control they have and the more they can keep to themselves.
It's the main reason this happened in the first place: funding a museum that the general population is too uneducated to care about won't bring in votes, so why do it?
What people here need education. It's not like they don't care about science or culture, they aren't taught about any of it at all. Most people here have no idea how big the loss actually was.
@@Ganara426, Rahvi >> look up the French revolution and explain how the government would be able maintain control over the uneducated. Furthermore, how did educations come to exist if no one at any given time throughout history, haven't taught themselves how to do what they want to do.
Thanks a lot Brazil, for your negligence.
Yer welcome
Good Job Brazil!!!
I'm not even a scientist and I felt a punch to the gut knowing how much ancient history is lost to the blaze :"C
Sad to hear in the comments about all the negligence by the Brazilian government. Our national museum in New Zealand, called Te Papa, has state of the art technology to make it nigh on indestructible to fire and particularly earthquakes, which are common in Wellington, and has over 800,000 items already digitised in its online collection. It's free to visit if you're ever here in NZ, and you can check out some engravings of Brazilian plants in the online catalogue here: collections.tepapa.govt.nz/topic/5511
Maybe we shouldn't take all our most irreplaceable, important artifacts and put them under one roof.
This is so devastating is hard to watch. :'(