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the program. Hello since ancient times philosophers and physicists have tried to discover

simple underlying principles that control the universe.

In the 6th century, B.C. Thales declared, everything is water.

Aristotle believed all of creation was forged from four elements, Earth, Fire and Water.

Newton more successfully laid down the law of universal gravitation, and as we speak, contemporary

scientists are struggling to complete the task of string theory, the quest to find a single

overarching equation that underpins all physics and can perhaps explain the organization of

everything in existence.

But are the laws of physics really facts of life? Is what is true in physics?

True in all areas of existence? Is it even true in other areas of physics?

With me is Mark Buchanan, author of a new book called Ubiquity, which claims to identify universal

principles that could underlie everything from an avalanche to a world war to a crash in the

stock exchange to a forest fire.

We're also joined by the physicist Professor Frank Close, author of Lucifer's legacy,

...