The Planets episode 2 - The Two Sisters - Earth & Mars: early in the story of the planets, there was a beautiful water world, an oasis of hope in a sterile universe. But this was not Earth - this was the young Mars. Professor Brian Cox continues his tour of the solar system revealing that it was once home to not one, but two blue…
In this major landmark series, The Planets - The Terrestrial Planets episode 1, Professor Brian Cox tells the extraordinary life story of our solar system. For four and a half billion years each of the planets has been on an incredible journey, filled with astonishing spectacle and great drama. Using the data from our very latest explorations of the solar system combined with groundbreaking CGI this…
What on Earth is Wrong With Gravity? - particle physicist Dr Brian Cox believes that the answer to the meaning of the universe lies in gravity. Both Einstein and Newton believed that gravity was powered by God. On a road trip across the USA, Brian fires lasers at the moon in Texas and goes wild in the desert in Arizona. He encounters the bending…
Wonders of Life episode 5: as far as we know, there is only one place in the universe on which life has taken hold - earth - but for how much longer will this distinction remain? Astronomers are on the brink of finding other worlds the same size as earth and the same distance from their star. Professor Brian Cox considers what it is about our…
Wonders of Life episode 4: in this episode, Brian travels around Australia to explore the physics of the size of life. Beginning with the largest organisms on our planet, a forest of giant eucalyptus trees, he then takes to the seas to get up-close with an ocean giant - the great white shark. From the safety of a steel cage Brian explains how the distinctive streamlined…
The universe is almost entirely devoid of life. Earth, the planet we call home, seems to defy the laws of physics. It is teeming with life in all colours, shapes and sizes. No-one knows for sure how many different species are alive right now, our best guess is close to 8.7 million. In this film, Professor Brian Cox asks how, from a lifeless cosmos ruled by…
Wonders of Life episode 2 - Expanding Universe - Professor Brian Cox encounters the astonishing creatures that reveal how the senses evolved. Every animal on Earth experiences the world in a different way, using a unique suite of senses to detect its physical environment. Tracing the evolution of these mechanisms is a story that takes us through life's journey - from single-celled organisms to more complex,…
Wonders of Life episode 1 - What Is Life?: in this episode Brian Cox visits South East Asia's 'Ring of Fire'. In the world's most volcanic region he explores the thin line that separates the living from the dead and poses that most enduring of questions: what is life? The traditional answer is one that invokes the supernatural, as seen at the annual Day of the…