42: The Answer to Almost Everything — Season 1, Episode 79: Are we going to disappear beneath the waves?

Episode synopsis

Let's be honest: when we think about rising sea levels, we initially think that the water rises the same way all over the world—like in a bathtub. And if we're talking about an annual rise of about 4 millimeters, it seems harmless at first. But it's not that simple. There is a global average, which we find, for example, in the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. But these reports also state that if we continue as we have been—and by that we mean the amount of greenhouse gas emissions released into the atmosphere—we could expect a sea level rise of up to one meter by the end of the century. This is no small matter when you consider that many coastal cities are only a few centimeters above sea level, and some are even below.

About 42: The Answer to Almost Everything

What would we be without mucus? Can we live on water? How much does life weigh? Finding out the answers is the aim of ARTE's new science show. In a nod to Douglas Adams's "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", where the figure 42 is the ultimate answer to all questions, 42 tries to provide the answers.

More episodes from Season 1

• E1Can we dig our way through the Earth?
• E2Could We Live on the Moon?
• E3Should we use lotteries instead of elections?
• E4How Much Does Life Weigh?
• E5Will we move onto the water?
• E6Can Algorithms Make Us Healthy?
• E7What if there were no mucus?
• E8How do we solve the nuclear waste puzzle?
• E9What if Fear Didn't Exist?
• E10What if the ice disappeared?
• E11Do We All hear the Same Thing?
• E12Are we too pessimistic?