Mar 15, 2017

Epic Battles

Every day, every moment, an epic battle is raging across the globe. This hour, we take a look at borders accidentally drawn and warring microcosms, from ants to phytoplankton to tic tac toe. 

First, we travel the globe in search of tic-tac-toe. Then, a strange twist of legal taxonomy causes a dispute over whether X-MEN action figures are toys or dolls and sparks a court case about what it means to be human. Next, we end up on a suburban sidewalk in southern California, where Jad and Robert witness the carnage of a gruesome turf war. Though the tiny warriors doing battle clock in at just a fraction of an inch, they have evolved a surprising, successful, and rather unsettling strategy of ironclad loyalty, absolute intolerance, and brutal violence.

Lastly, an arms race involving trillions of sea creatures--and why their struggle is vital to our survival.

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