Making the Invisible Visible

The Infinite Monkey Cage

BBC

Comedy, Science

4.7 • 9.4K Ratings

🗓️ 13 February 2017

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Making the Invisible, Visible Brian Cox and Robin Ince are joined by comedian Katy Brand, Cosmologist Prof Carlos Frenk, and biologist Prof Matthew Cobb to discover how to make the seemingly invisible, visible. They look at how the history and development of the telescope and the microscope have allowed us to look at the impossibly big to the seemingly impossibly small, to gain insight into the history of our universe and the inner workings of the human body. They look at how radio and space telescopes have allowed us to look back in time and "see" the big bang, and understand the age and content of the early universe, and how space telescopes have thrown light on the mysterious substance known as dark matter. They also look at the way microscopes and new biological techniques have allowed us to understand the seemingly invisible processes going on inside our cells. They also ask what, if anything, will always remain invisible to us - are there some processes or concepts that are impossible for us to "see".

Producer: Alexandra Feachem.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is the BBC.
0:04.0	Hello, I'm Robin Hince.
0:05.0	And I'm Brian Cox.
0:06.0	And today's show is about making the invisible visible.
0:09.2	So basically, it's kind of about how physics has reached the point of being a made up science,
0:14.3	where it just comes up with ideas about the universe, which we can't see and we can't detect.
0:18.6	And then they say that just because they've made an equation about it,
0:21.7	it means that the whole universe is made of vibrating strings or that is dark energy.
0:25.5	Not right.
0:26.5	Well, that is though. It is not.
0:27.7	Dominantly, modern physics is basically, it's just made up, isn't it?
0:31.7	Because that's what I have to admit, when I watch your shows, I don't believe them.
0:35.5	It's not right.
0:37.1	Anyway, what is today's show about if it is not about just making up stuff
0:40.5	because we can't see it and new physicists have frankly...
0:42.9	You are a branch of philosophy, I think, now, aren't you?
0:45.6	Today's show is about how we can deepen our understanding of the natural world
0:49.8	without using visible light.
0:51.5	How can we speak with any authority about things we can't see?
0:55.0	How do we know there was a big bang?
0:56.8	How do we know about life on earth many billions of years ago?
1:00.4	How can we say with certainty that maggots can smell?
	...

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