The Fourth Dimension
CrowdScience
BBC
4.8 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 10 December 2016
⏱️ 31 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
How would a fourth dimensional being appear to humans?
"It would look just weird" is one way to answer the question 'How would a fourth dimensional being appear to humans?' But it's more complicated than that - theoretical cosmologist Andrew Pontzen describes how objects are viewed from one dimension to another, and how it might affect parking spaces.
Also on the programme: our panel of experts discuss bubble experiments, a theory that the Black Death was a virus, space elevators, algae as a biomass fuel, what affects the speed of digestion in our gut, a short definition of dark energy and the question is it true our DNA has alien properties?
With Helen Czerski, department of mechanical engineering, University College London; virologist Jonathan Ball, University of Nottingham; and cosmologist Andrew Pontzen, University College London.
Do you have a question we can turn into a programme? Email us at crowdscience@bbc.co.uk.
(Image: Stripes and points of light, one guess what a 4th dimension might look like, Credit: Thinkstock)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello there. |
| 0:02.0 | Congratulations on downloading Crowd Science from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:06.0 | You are clearly a person with sophisticated tastes and great judgment. |
| 0:10.0 | Your reward will be a treat for your ears and intellect as crowd science brings a panel of experts to unpick your questions. |
| 0:18.0 | We're covering everything from fantastical physics to aliens in our DNA. |
| 0:23.7 | Don't worry, I'm not talking about extraterrestrials, |
| 0:26.6 | but there are some surprising things in our genome, |
| 0:29.8 | which are sort of human, I suppose, because they're part of our DNA but they're also not |
| 0:35.6 | confused stay listening and all will become clear enjoy Enjoy. I'm Marnie Chesterton. Normally in the show we take a listener question and explore the world to find the answers. |
| 0:58.0 | And each week we get a great response from you, Lott so thanks for that. |
| 1:02.0 | But reading your emails and Facebook comments it seems |
| 1:04.3 | that every answer we give throws up yet more questions. So today we've got a |
| 1:09.2 | whole bunch of those queries about all sorts of things from Black Death to Dark Energy, elevators in space to |
| 1:16.1 | viruses in everything. So to help us get through all of this, we've brought the experts |
| 1:21.3 | to us. There are three in the studio with me now, so gang, from each of you |
| 1:25.8 | I'd like name, title, and the best place you've ever been in the world in the name of science. |
| 1:32.1 | I'm Dr Helen Chersky, I'm a... been in the world in the name of science. |
| 1:32.7 | I'm Dr Helenski. |
| 1:34.2 | I'm a lecturer in the Department of Mechanical Engineering |
| 1:37.1 | at University College London. |
| 1:38.8 | And the best place in the world I have ever been for science |
| 1:41.3 | is probably South Georgia, which is a very small |
... |
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