Brian Cox considers what it is about our world that makes it a home for life.
Professor Brian Cox journeys to South-East Asia to understand how life first began.
Prof Brian Cox visits the USA retelling evolutionary history and the origin of the senses.
In this film Brian asks how a lifeless cosmos can produce a planet of such varied biology.
In this episode, Brian travels round Australia to explore the physics of the size of life.
The Okavango Delta is one of the world's largest inland deltas - and supports a variety of life as rich as any you will see in Africa. Yet this lush wetland of islands and lagoons lies in the middle of the vast, featureless Kalahari Desert. This is the story of how it happens. Following groups of wildlife, including hippos, baboons, catfish, kingfishers, leopards, warthogs and elephants, the film reveals how the yearly flood transforms the landscape and impacts their lives. But more surprisingly, it reveals how, with the help of termites and hippos, the flood actually creates this extraordinary delta in the first place.
3/3 • Earth's Greatest Spectacles • 2016 • Nature
Just off the southern coast of Africa, beneath the warm waters of the Indian Ocean, lies a safe zone created by a unique confluence of geography and climate: a sanctuary with a vibrant concentration of dazzling aquatic life. Embark on an underwater adventure into a marine wilderness stronghold.
2/4 • Coastal Africa • 2016 • Nature
In this film Brian asks how a lifeless cosmos can produce a planet of such varied biology.
3/5 • Wonders of Life • Nature
As the waters of the Amazon and its tributaries reach their lowest, torrential rain begins to beat down with brutal force. In a few months’ time, the forest will be submerged under almost thirty meters of water: enough to swallow up a ten-storey building! The youngest animals are dealing with the deluge for the first time in their lives. We follow them all: the sloth, terribly vulnerable; the opossum, the only marsupial outside Oceania; the harpy eagle, one of the greatest in the world; the shy, solitary armadillo; the squirrel monkey, a treetop acrobat… and many other inhabitants of a gleaming, transfigured world shown in this way for the first time. This documentary tells their tale: a story of competition and dangers, unease and courage; a story that will inspire every viewer and remain engraved in their memory for a long, long time...
2016 • Nature
How do polar predators face the challenges of hunting in the most seasonal place on Earth?
Sophie looks at one skill in particular that seems to give humans an advantage over all other animals - our superior talent for language. She explores what language really is, and how close other animals come to having it. She considers the world of primates and the theory that some apes may communicate through sign language, and reveals how, even in the womb, humans start to practise making the mouth movements needed for speech. But language isn't just a power to combine words. Professor Scott explores how we convey information through the tone of voice, our accents and the pace and pitch of our speech. But in a world when we regularly talk to computers, she also shows why scientists need to develop machines that can understand the subtleties of our speech. Finally, she looks at language in this digital age and explores the role that emojis play.
3/3 • Royal Institution Christmas Lectures: The Language of Life • 2017 • Nature
