Why Are We Here? • 2014 • episode "S1E2" • Human Universe

Category: Science

Brian Cox tackles the question that unites Earth's seven billion people - why are we here?

Make a donation

Buy a brother a hot coffee? Or a cold beer?

Hope you're finding these documentaries fascinating and eye-opening. It's just me, working hard behind the scenes to bring you this enriching content.

Running and maintaining a website like this takes time and resources. That's why I'm reaching out to you. If you appreciate what I do and would like to support my efforts, would you consider "buying me a coffee"?

Donation addresses

BTC: bc1q8ldskxh4x9qnddhcrgcun8rtvddeldm2a07r2v

ETH: 0x5CCAAA1afc5c5D814129d99277dDb5A979672116

With your donation through , you can show your appreciation and help me keep this project going. Every contribution, no matter how small, makes a significant impact. It goes directly towards covering server costs.

Human Universe • 2014 • 5 episodes •

Apeman - Spaceman

Apeman - Spaceman

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.

2014 • People

Place in Space and Time

Place in Space and Time

Brian reveals how - as our exploration of the cosmos has deepened - we have even been able to piece together how the universe itself began.

2014 • Astronomy

What is our Future?

What is our Future?

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.

2014 • Science

Why Are We Here?

Why Are We Here?

Brian Cox tackles the question that unites Earth's seven billion people - why are we here?

2014 • Science

Are We Alone

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.

2014 • Astronomy

You might also like

Are We Alone?

In this episode the task is to work out the likelihood of alien life in the universe.

Part 2 • Genius by Stephen Hawking • 2016 • Science

Leonardo: The Man who Saved Science

Leonardo: The Man who Saved Science

Leonardo da Vinci is well known for his inventions as well as his art. New evidence shows that many of his ideas were realized long before he sketched them out in his notebooks-some even 1,700 years before him! Of these “inventions” Leonardo never affirmed that his projects came from his original ideas. The film features drawings of his most famous ideas and inventions some of which trace their original creation to ancient Greece while others were a product of the scientific inventions of golden age of Islamic learning. This knowledge seemed to be lost in Europe during the Dark Ages until the Renaissance when Leonardo recovered it.

Secrets of the Dead • 2017 • Science

Missing Body

Professor Sue Black investigates a Christmas murder mystery to show how serious crimes are solved when there isn't a body. Sue is joined by an expert team including leading police specialists, forensic scientists and an award-winning dog. Assisting them, the audience help to unravel the mystery, using the latest forensic cameras, fingerprint techniques and DNA analysis. Remarkable soil analysis shows how a suspicious pair of muddy boots can be traced back to the most precise location. With insights into real serious crime investigations, Sue and her team draw on all their experience to solve the mysterious case.

S1E2 • Secrets of Forensic Science • 2022 • Science

Dolly: The Sheep that Changed the World

Dolly: The Sheep that Changed the World

Tells the story of the first mammal to be cloned and the impact this monumental scientific achievement in 1996 had on the world. Featuring previously unseen footage, the film reveals how a handful of the world's best genetic scientists worked in secret on a small Scottish farm to crack the holy grail of replicating life.

Horizon • 2021 • Science

Origins of Altruism

Origins of Altruism

How does altruism begin. Is it biological? Is it taught? Researchers are trying to understand the DNA of altruism by studying toddlers.

S1E5 • Stories of Impact • 2019 • Science

Dawn of Modern Genetics

Dawn of Modern Genetics

Interweaves the present-day story of the Rosens, a young family on an odyssey to find a cure for their four-year old daughter's rare genetic disease, with stories of the exciting discoveries of the early pioneers in genetics — Gregor Mendel, Thomas Hunt Morgan, Francis Crick and James Watson. This episode also tracks the dark period in human history when a little genetic knowledge was used to justify terrifying human experiments that culminated in the Holocaust.

S1E1 • The Gene: An Intimate History • 2020 • Science