A Study in Spheres

Curious Cases

BBC

Science

4.8 • 4.1K Ratings

🗓️ 26 May 2016

⏱️ 16 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Today the team study the heavens, thanks to listener Brian Passineau who wonders 'why everything in space tends to be circular or spherical?'

Hannah gazes at Jupiter at The Royal Observatory, Greenwich with Public Astronomer, Dr Marek Kukula.

Science writer, Philip Ball, explains how the astronomical obsession with celestial spheres came to an untidy end.

And physicist Dr Helen Czerski helps Adam on his quest to find the perfect natural sphere.

If you have a scientific mystery for the team to investigate, please email: curiouscases@bbc.co.uk

Presenters: Hannah Fry, Adam Rutherford Producer: Michelle Martin.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Today we have the curious case of what is the step so called?
0:04.3	The sphere in I can't remember, was it called the sphere in space?
0:08.5	Michelle you didn't write it down.
0:10.7	A study in the sphere. Yes.
0:12.8	A foolish of us. Yeah we spend quite a lot of time trying to get sort of Sherlock Holmes theme.
0:16.8	And also I'm pretty sure that I came up with that title so the fact that then
0:20.6	forgot it is a bit silly. Yes. Did I come up with that title in the show?
0:24.5	Yes I did. Thank you. Thank you.
0:26.0	Great title. Great title.
0:27.1	Great. Great. Yeah.
0:27.7	Nice. It's memorable.
0:30.1	What happens in a study in spheres please?
0:31.9	It's all about why things seem to tend towards spherical shapes in space.
0:38.0	I do love our listeners questions. They do come in with the broadest range of esoteric topics.
0:45.3	It's really interesting questions and stuff that actually if it was just you and me and Michelle
0:48.8	in the room we'd never come up with interesting content like that.
0:51.7	No, but it is the type of thing that I imagine that we would actually sit in the pub and talk about.
0:56.5	Like me and you and Michelle and some of our other.
0:59.2	Drunken rambles.
1:00.1	Yeah and we'd be like say go on then what is this brown
1:02.4	dissing in the universe?
1:03.6	Yeah yeah you're right that's true that's true.
	...

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