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BBC Radio 4

Professor Brian Cox and Robin Ince host a witty, irreverent look at the world through scientists’ eyes. Joined by a panel of scientists, experts and celebrity science enthusiasts they investigate life, the universe and everything in between on The Infinite Monkey Cage from the BBC. 

From the smallest building blocks of life to the furthest stars, the curious monkeys pull apart the latest science to reveal fascinating and often bizarre insights into the world around us and what lies beyond. Can trees talk to each other? Can science help you commit the perfect murder? What might aliens look like and the burning question of our time, are strawberries alive or dead? Join them as each episode they put a different scientific topic under the microscope, from aliens, black holes and hedgehogs, to bacteria, poison and the Big Bang.
 
With past guests including actors Dame Judi Dench and Sir Patrick Stewart, comedians Steve Martin and Conan O’Brien, astronaut Tim Peake, primatologist Jane Goodall and mathematician Hannah Fry, The Infinite Monkey Cage promises to make you laugh, enrich your knowledge and leave you with a deeper appreciation for the universe that we call home.
 
Whether you’re a seasoned scientist or someone who nodded off in physics class, listen in to learn all about funny, fascinating and sometimes ridiculous topics – with the occasional monkey business.

The Infinite Monkey Cage

Robin Ince and Brian Cox venture into the captivating and surprisingly mysterious realm of ice. Joining them on this cool adventure are former ice dancer Darren Harriott, glaciologist Liz Morris, polar explorer Felicity Aston and ice chemist Christoph Salzmann. 

From beautifully formed snowflakes to ice shelves in Antarctica, our guests discuss the fascinating science suspended in solid water and how much is still to be discovered. With the help of a gin and tonic they explore the properties of ice - like why it floats and how there are 20 phases of ice, three of which were accidentally discovered by our guest Christoph. Darren shares his respect and fear for ice having learnt to dance and ice-skate on it. Liz discusses how analysing deep ice can provide a window into our past climate whilst also helping us understand our present one and why penguins can be problematic. Polar explorer Felicity explains how being able to read the colours, shapes and sounds of the ice have helped to keep her alive as she's traversed the highly inhospitable (but also incredibly beautiful) polar regions. 

Producer: Melanie Brown
Exec Producer: Alexandra Feachem
Assistant Producer: Olivia Jani

Adventures on Ice - Darren Harriott, Liz Morris, Christoph Salzmann and Felicity Aston

Brian Cox and Robin Ince uncover the unexpected history of the body in the archives of the Royal Society with special guests Prof Helen King, Sir Mark Walport, Keith Moore and Ed Byrne. Together they dissect some of the most surprising and peculiar beliefs that have been held about the body over the last 500 years, from wandering-womb hypotheses to tobacco-enema resuscitations. They unearth how scientific discoveries have often originated from brave individuals, willing to volunteer their own bodies in the pursuit of science. Our panellist Sir Mark Walport has continued in this tradition of self-experimentation, and has with him x-rays of his own faeces for show and tell!

Producer: Melanie Brown
Executive Producer: Alexandra Feachem
Researcher: Olivia Jani

BBC Studios Audio Production

An Unexpected History of the Body

Brian Cox and Robin Ince dig into de-extinction asking, could we and should we resurrect creatures of the past? They are joined by geneticist Adam Rutherford, palaeontologist Susannah Maidment and comedian/virologist Ria Lina.

Extinction has played a significant role in shaping the life we see on Earth today. It is estimated around 95% of species to have ever existed are already extinct - but could any of these extinctions be reversed? Our panel explore the different methods being pursued in these resurrection quests, including back-breeding, cloning and genetic engineering. They take a close look at the case of the woolly mammoth and the suggestion they could be returned to the Arctic tundra. Some claim the mammoth is the key to ecosystem restoration, but our panel have some punchy opinions on whether this Jurassic Park fantasy is even ethical.

Producer: Melanie Brown
Executive Producer: Alexandra Feachem
Researcher: Olivia Jani

BBC Studios Audio Production

Is Extinction the End?

Brian Cox and Robin Ince expand their knowledge of elasticity with Olympian Bryony Page, comedian Jessica Fostekew & experts Dr Anna Ploszajski and Prof James Busfield from Queen Mary University of London. 

What makes stretchy things stretch? Together our panel journey through different applications of elastic materials and examine, at the molecular level, what happens when we stretch a material and crucially what causes it to return to its original shape. This is especially pertinent to our guest Olympic and British champion trampolinist Bryony Page who has capitalised on elasticity in her 24 year long career. We discover that the bounce of a trampoline mainly comes from the elasticity of steel and how dependent this is on temperature. Cold temperatures are not only treacherous for trampolines; we explore how the cold proved fatal to the elastic components of both the Titanic and the Challenger space shuttle.

Plus we hear how scientists sometimes just can’t beat nature; natural rubber and spiders silk are two such cases. Anna Ploszajski takes us through some of the more inventive techniques scientists have engineered to produced more of these natural materials, including genetically engineering goats to be milked for silk.

Producer: Melanie Brown
Exec Producer: Alexandra Feachem
Researcher: Olivia Jani

BBC Studios Audio production

Fantastic Elastic

Brian Cox and Robin Ince emerge from the hedge row waking up their guests from hibernation to discuss the fascinating lives of Britain’s favourite mammal, the hedgehog. They are joined by hedgehog experts Hugh Warwick and Sophie Lund Rasmussen (also know as Dr Hedgehog), and by broadcaster and poet Pam Ayres. Sophie Lund Rasmussen has crowd sourced 14 freezers worth of dead hedgehogs for her research and has brought one of her more unique samples with her, the penis of the oldest known hedgehog who reached a stupendous 16 years of age! Together our panel snuffle their way through the evolution of hedgehogs, their life cycle and how to stop them getting run over by robotic lawn mowers!

Producer: Melanie Brown
Executive Producer: Alexandra Feachem
Researcher: Olivia Jani

BBC Studios Audio production

Hedgehogs

Brian Cox and Robin Ince head to Bletchley Park with comedian Alan Davies, and cyber experts Victoria Baines and Richard Benham to decode cyberwarfare and discuss its future.

As computers have shrunk from the size of rooms to fitting in our jacket pockets, our cyber sleuths explore the changing nature of cyber-attacks and defence. They decipher the fancy jargon abounding in cyber land, from trojan horses to phishing scams and reveal how prolific these attacks are on nation states, businesses and the public. From digital army battalions to teenage freelance hackers, the cyber-villains are multiple and varied. Our panel discusses the aims of these malevolent forces; from extorting money and holding valuable commercial data hostage to influencing people’s electoral intent.

The panel explores how AI and quantum computing are supercharging cyberwarfare – but in good news, also cyber-defence. Alan Davies shares his susceptibility to being tricked online whilst our experts give some tips for staying safe online, and finally, Alan comes up with his surprising alter-ego hacking name.

Producer: Melanie Brown
Executive Producer: Alexandra Feachem
Researcher: Olivia Jani

BBC Studios Audio production

The Cyber Codebreakers

Are we alone in the universe? Brian Cox and Robin Ince venture to Glastonbury in the search for alien life and are joined in their galactic quest by comedian Russell Kane and astronomers Lisa Kaltenegger and Chris Lintott. They imagine the sorts of worlds that might best host alien life, how some of the biological and technological signatures of alien life might appear as well as how evolution might shape this life. They discuss some of the mysterious signatures that have appeared as well as how hard it is to really know what you're looking for and how objects like faulty microwaves have muddied the alien-finding waters.

Producer: Melanie Brown
Exec Producer: Alexandra Feachem
BBC Studios Audio production

Alien Life - Russell Kane, Lisa Kaltenegger and Chris Lintott

Brian Cox and Robin Ince raid the archives of the Royal Society to reveal an unexpected history of science with guests Rufus Hound, Tori Herridge, Matthew Cobb and Keith Moore. Together they explore some of the surprising and wackiest scientific endeavours undertaken by early members of the Royal Society from the discovery of sperm to testing the insect repelling properties of unicorn horn. They hear how a beautiful book on fish almost scuppered Newton's Principia Mathematica and why a guide to the fauna of Switzerland ended up including depictions of dragons.

Producer: Melanie Brown
Exec Producer: Alexandra Feachem
BBC Studios Audio production

An Unexpected History of Science - Rufus Hound, Matthew Cobb, Victoria Herridge and Keith Moore

`This week it's over to you the listeners, as we hear some of your favourite moments from The Infinite Monkey Cage. Comedian Claire Hooper hears about the mating rituals of spiders, which use several of their legs in this complex process. But she discovers the females of the species get their own back by eating the males once the deed is done. Comedian Noel Fielding explains how he made a plasticine figure of singer Joey Ramone, prompting Robin to wonder about the pitfalls of building a real-life Frankenstein. And writer Alan Moore tells Jonathan Ross how he used string theory as inspiration for a comic strip... about a virtuoso violinist.

New episodes are released weekly on Wednesdays. If you’re in the UK, listen to the full series on BBC Sounds

Producer: Marijke Peters
Executive Producer: Alexandra Feachem

Episodes Featured:
Series 26: Australia's Scariest Spiders
Series 14: 200 Years of Frankenstein
Series 2: Science Fiction, Science Fact
Series 22: Space Archaeology
Series 5: The Science of Sound

The Infinite Monkey's Guide To… Audience Favourites (Pt 2)

Brian Cox and Robin Ince shuffle through the archive to find the smallest things in the world of science, from a particle so tiny nobody has ever actually seen it, to the millions of microbes we’re all made up of. They ask the short-of-stature comedian Andy Hamilton how he’d feel about being three times bigger, which he admits could come in handy if he ever met a mammoth, leading to an unexpected discussion about a potential new TV gameshow format. Entomologist Erica McAlister is back to tell the team about her favourite fly, which can burrow into a human head to lay its eggs, and we learn about a project to make ants glow in the dark using nano-gold which went a little bit wrong.

New episodes will be released on Wednesdays. If you’re in the UK, listen to the full series on BBC Sounds: bbc.in/3K3JzyF

Producer: Marijke Peters
Executive Producer: Alexandra Feachem

Episodes featured:
Series 16: What particles remain to be discovered?
Series 19: Microbes: Secret rulers of the world?
Series 6: Does size matter?
Series 23: In praise of flies
Series 24: Astronauts

The Infinite Monkey's Guide To… Tiny Things

Professor Brian Cox and comedian Robin Ince return for a new series of the witty, irreverent science/comedy show. This week the Infinite Monkeys will be asking what don't we know, do we know what we don't know, does science know what it doesn't know, and are there some things that science will never be able to know? Joining them on stage for this brain twister and to discuss whether any of us actually know anything at all, are the comedian Paul Foot, biologist Professor Steve Jones and cosmologist and science writer Marcus Chown.

Producer: Alexandra Feachem.

What Don't We Know?

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