Human Universe • 2014 • 5 episodes • 4h:52m
Professor Brian Cox explores the most precious, most wonderful thing in the universe, us.
Beginning in Ethiopia, Professor Brian Cox discovers how the universe played a key role in our ascent from apeman to spaceman by driving the expansion of our brains. But big brains alone did not get us to space.
S1E1 • 2014 • People
Brian Cox tackles the question that unites Earth's seven billion people - why are we here?
S1E2 • 2014 • Science
Brian Cox explores the ingredients needed for an intelligent civilisation to evolve in the universe - the need for a benign star, for a habitable planet, for life to spontaneously arise on such a planet and the time required for intelligent life to evolve and build a civilisation. Brian weighs the evidence and arrives at his own provocative answer to the puzzle of our apparent solitude.
S1E3 • 2014 • Astronomy
Brian reveals how - as our exploration of the cosmos has deepened - we have even been able to piece together how the universe itself began.
S1E4 • 2014 • Astronomy
In a powerful conclusion, Brian pieces together this story of creation that started with what Einstein called the 'happiest thought of his life' - the moment that he realised that gravity was far stranger than anyone had imagined. In an incredible experiment inside the largest vacuum chamber, Brian reveals how Einstein formulated a new theory of gravity, which ultimately took us back to the big bang. And how in doing so, we humans found our true place in space and time.
S1E5 • 2014 • Science