Forces of Nature with Brian Cox
Professor Brian Cox combines some of the most spectacular sights on Earth with our deepest understanding of the universe to reveal how the planet's beauty is created by just a handful of forces.
Genre: Documentary
Cast:Brian Cox , Thomas M. Iliffe , Doug Allan , Erlendur Bogason
S1.E1 ∙ The Universe in a Snowflake
Professor Cox tries to explain how the fundamental forces of nature, especially gravity, shape realty into the tiniest details, even what seems as random as the endless variation among snowflakes. He also shows with Catalonia's traditional human pyramids and the hexagonal basic shape of bee hives -to store honey which is perilously harvested in the Himalayas- how geometry vitally distributes forces.
S1.E2 ∙ Somewhere in SpaceTime
Brian Cox considers the rotations and gravitation of earth and moon, whose (inter)actions dictate tides, tropical storms and floods. Cosmic clashes shaped the celestial bodies and tilted the earth, crucial for the seasons. He also ponders on the relativity of time, which can be considered an illusion as a component of Einstein's space-time continuum.
S1.E3 ∙ The Moth and the Flame
Brian Cox considers the natural earthly elements, many of which have a vital role for forms of life. In Indonesia and Tanzania he shows sulfur and iron mining. Priordial however is water, the combination of hydrogen and oxygen. In Iceland Brian show the power of hydro-thermal processes, active in both planet and living bodies.
S1.E4 ∙ The Pale Blue Dot
n this final episode Professor Brian Cox travels to Iceland, where the delicate splendour of a moonbow reveals the colours that paint our world, and he visits a volcano to explain why the sun shines. By exploring how sunlight transforms the plains of the Serengeti, drives the annual migration of humpback whales to the Caribbean and paints the moon red during a lunar eclipse, Brian reveals the colour signature of our life-supporting planet.
