The First FiveSome of Britain’s great scientists and inventors have literally created the modern world, from the invention of the steam engine, computers and the world-wide web, to the discovery of the theory of evolution and the atom.The first programme begins 350 years ago when a small group of friends, colleagues and rivals defied everything that was known about the world at that time.Ste
Dr Kevin Fong finds out how close scientists are to being able to mend your heart if it stops working. He meets some of the people who have undergone pioneering heart operations and the scientists who are pushing the limits of cardiac treatment. We meet a man who has had his heart replaced with an artificial one powered by a mechanical pump he carries around in a rucksack, and witness a scientist
Messengers In the last episode of Professor Brian Cox’s epic journey across the universe, he travels from the fossils of the Burgess Shale to the sands of the oldest desert in the world to show how light holds the key to our understanding of the whole universe, including our own deepest origins.To understand how light holds the key to the story of the universe, you first have to understand its p
Falling In the third episode, Professor Brian Cox takes on the story of the force that sculpts the entire universe – gravity.Gravity seems so familiar, and yet it is one of the strangest and most surprising forces in the universe. Starting with a zero gravity flight, Brian experiences the feeling of total weightlessness, and considers how much of an effect gravity has had on the world around us.
Stardust In the second stop in his exploration of the wonders of the universe, Professor Brian Cox goes in search of humanity’s very essence to answer the biggest questions of all: what are we? And where do we come from? This film is the story of matter – the stuff of which we are all made.Brian reveals how our origins are entwined with the life cycle of the stars. But he begins his journey here
DestinyHaving explored the wonders of the solar system, Professor Brian Cox steps boldly on to an even bigger stage – the universe.Who are we? Where do we come from? For thousands of years humanity has turned to religion and myth for answers to these enduring questions. But in this series, Brian presents a different set of answers – answers provided by science.In this episode, Brian seeks to
Dr Alice Roberts asks one of the great questions about our species: are we still evolving?There’s no doubt that we’re a product of millions of years of evolution.But thanks to modern technology and medicine, did we escape Darwin’s law of the survival of the fittest?Alice follows a trail of clues from ancient human bones, to studies of remarkable people living in the most inhospitable p
A fascinating look at the relationship between genius and autism, with particular focus on the phenomenon of savants; a small group of enigmatic talents with extraordinary mental abilities.Savants number less than 100 worldwide. Some can work out five-digit multiplication in their heads, or recite thousands of books by heart. Others can play a piano melody after hearing it only once. Over half
Documentary examining current ideas about very large numbers and infinity in regards to mathematics and the observable universe.By our third year, most of us will have learned to count. Once we know how, it seems as if there would be nothing to stop us counting forever.But, while infinity might seem like an perfectly innocent idea, keep counting and you enter a paradoxical world where nothing