The story of the groundbreaking scientific discovery that everything is made from atoms.
Jim Al-Khalili shows how investigation into the atom unravelled the mystery of creation.
How studying the atom forced us to rethink the nature of reality itself.
You exist. You shouldn’t. Stars and galaxies and planets exist. They shouldn’t. The nascent universe contained equal parts matter and antimatter that should have instantly obliterated each other, turning the Big Bang into the Big Fizzle. And yet, here we are: flesh, blood, stars, moons, sky. Why? Come join us as we dive deep down the rabbit hole of solving the mystery of the missing antimatter.
World Science Festival • 2018 • Physics
The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle states that you can never simultaneously know the exact position and the exact speed of an object.
What we touch. What we smell. What we feel. They’re all part of our reality. But what if life as we know it reflects only one side of the full story? Some of the world’s leading physicists think that this may be the case. They believe that our reality is a projection—sort of like a hologram—of laws and processes that exist on a thin surface surrounding us at the edge of the universe.
World Science Festival • 2014 • Physics
Deep underground in a vault beneath Paris lives the most important lump of metal in the world - Le Grand K. Created in the 19th century, it's the world's master kilogramme, the weight on which every other weight is based. But there is a problem with Le Grand K - it is losing weight. Professor Marcus du Sautoy explores the history of this strange object and the astonishing modern day race to replace it.
2/3 • Precision: The Measure of All Things • 2013 • Physics
Nuclear energy might be a failed experiment. In over sixty years the technology has not only failed to keep its promise of cheap, clean and safe energy, it also caused major catastrophes and enabled more nuclear weapons while the nuclear waste problem is still not solved.
3/3 • Nuclear Energy Explained • Physics
