Creating Life
The Infinite Monkey Cage
BBC
4.7 • 9.4K Ratings
🗓️ 17 December 2012
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Brian Cox and Robin Ince are joined on stage by guests Ed Byrne, Adam Rutherford and Philip Ball to talk about science's quest to create life. From the medieval alchemists' recipe for creating an homunculus through to IVF, cloning and the current cutting edge science working on creating artificial DNA, the quest to create life is an age-old one, but with modern scientific techniques now a reality. Viewed by many as deeply suspicious, even heretical, creation of life is one of the key ideas that generates distrust in science, but is this fair and are we really entering a brave new world where life is no longer in nature's hands.
Producer: Alexandra Feachem Presenters: Brian Cox and Robin Ince.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | This is a download from the BBC. |
| 0:02.1 | To find out more, visit bbc.co.uk-radio4. |
| 0:07.9 | Hello, on my right, a man famous for his catchphrase. |
| 0:10.8 | Eh, isn't that nebula lovely? |
| 0:13.1 | It's the George Formby of Particle Physics, |
| 0:15.5 | perhaps you've best known for the song, |
| 0:17.1 | with me a little bit of new graphene along the LHCI role. |
| 0:20.6 | It may be one atom thick layers of carbon atoms |
| 0:22.7 | arranged in two-dimensional hexagons, |
| 0:24.1 | but they never complain. |
| 0:25.5 | It's nice to have a simple method of isolating carbon atoms |
| 0:28.3 | every now and again. |
| 0:29.6 | It's Professor Brian Cox. |
| 0:31.2 | CHEERING AND APPLAUSE |
| 0:36.9 | And on my left, a man who thinks that very niche reference |
| 0:40.0 | to an old George Formby song from 1940s |
| 0:42.1 | will be understood by anyone in the audience. |
| 0:44.6 | It is Robinance. |
| 0:45.6 | It was a delightful graphene-based parody |
| 0:48.4 | of the popular hit Little Sticker, Blackpool Rock, |
| 0:50.9 | but without as many Freudian connotations as the original had. |
| 0:54.4 | Er, it may be sticky, but they never come. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.