The Brian Cox thing last night on Beeb 2

[Tiplodocus]

Or is it Bryan...

Anyway, I came in about 3/4 of the way through so didn't catch the name of the show that was on last night but I liked it.

I'm a fan of his style anyway and he nicely worked his way through entropy to the inevitable heat death of the universe in a way I could relate to (except the numbers, obviously) and vaguely understand. 

Being as much about personal philosophy and belief as the actual physics of the stars, reminded me of the old Carl Sagan COSMOS thing from back in the 70s/80s. (I wonder how that has aged) and made it a lot less dry.

But yeah, more for this old Sauropod please.

[radiator]

Brian Cox is great - he was scientific advisor on the Danny Boyle film Sunshine - and to a certain extent the lead character is based on him!

I don't normally listen to DVD commentaries, but Cox's one on Sunshine is well worth a listen.

[SmallBlueThing]

'Wonders of the Universe', it was. And yet again mr cox showed that the big concepts are understandable by even amateur-science thickos such as me. As long as the theories and facts are softly spoken through an encouraging smile and accompanied by what our lady friends would no doubt call 'obvious come to bed eyes'.
But cox is fantastic; he finally explained Logopolis, thirty years after the fact, and coalesced all the vague mutterings i'd heard about the heat death of the universed into something i could get to grips with. Brilliant show, and i'll be watching avidly next week.
SBT

[Dunk!]

I watched it with a female friend who then turned to me at the end and said "Brilliant, so there's no fuckin point then"

I grinned and went to say something witty and urbane only to discover she was genuinely upset at some of the ideas/theories/facts* put forward in the programme.

Weird.

You're bothered by the fact that the universe can only sustain life for about another 35 billion years?

Really?

*thought I'd cover all bases incase so as not to offend anyone.

[doggettX]

You're bothered by the fact that the universe can only sustain life for about another 35 billion years?

Really?

Well, she might have made plans ?
There's nothing more annoying than planning something ahead of time only to discover the universe is going to end.

[Buddy]

It's a great programme... but worring about the universe ending in X billion years is a bit pointless.. Humanity (if you can call it that) will be done in loooooong before that.

It's all gonna end... make the most of it while you're here.

[Steve Green]

Missed the first half... hello iplayer...

Loved it, and was dead jealous of the Namibian ghost town...

[Mikey]

It was indeed top stuff. Now, I'm used to thinking of Deep Time in terms of the Earth, but when you talk of that there yooniverse it's just too far beyond my comprehension.

I was talking about it with me Mrs this morning and it's amazing that so much of what ol' Coxy was saying has been so recently (in human terms) discovered, proven or observed. Inspirational stuff - I might even dust off the old reflector!

Bravo BBC! More! [/Points of View]

Loved it, and was dead jealous of the Namibian ghost town...

Yeah, it was amazing looking wasn't it?

M.

[Dandontdare]

Missed that, but he popped up again last night on the Sky at Night's special 700th episode (longest running TV series ever) which was cool. All these young scientists (plus Brian May and Jon Culshaw) treating Sir Patrick like some genial but barking mad great-uncle. Brilliant.

[TordelBack]

I'm not a fan of Brian Cox (it's some sort of hideous jealousy on my part, or maybe it's just that haircut), but he does present some terrific programmes.  Last night's was particularly interesting, when what initially seemed like rambling repetitive remarks padded with ludicrous amounts of globetrotting suddenly coalesced into a crisp explanation of entropy and its ultimate implications.  Very memorable, and not a little clever in the construction of the argument, and its poetic delivery.  

Oh, and Sky at Night never fails to entrance.  May Patrick Moore prove to be the first true immortal.  

[Kerrin]

I thoroughly enjoyed it. If I have one criticism of the otherwise magnificent Prof.Cox, it is that his delivery is at some times rather pleading. The explanation of the subject is first class.

Oh, and Sky at Night never fails to entrance.  May Patrick Moore prove to be the first true immortal. 

That would throw up physics questions of a very different nature. If indeed the monacled one did prove to be impervious to death's embrace, would the waistband of his trousers continue to ascend at the same rate as it has thus far? At some point this wool/polyester monolith would extend to such a degree that it may threaten to pierce the very skein of the Universe. If one is in agreement with the 'Holographic Theory', then one might assume that this would disturb the information stored on the surface of the Universe, from which reality is projected, and, in scientific terms, really fuck things up. Alternatively, by it's very nature the Universe may only actually be defined as that which contains the hypothetical trousers, and the wool/polyester based fuckupage may never occur.

It's a worry.

[Tiplodocus]

Poetic indeed.

It hadn't dawned on me before that we are the Universe made conscious.

Beautiful stuff.

[Definitely Not Mister Pops]

He's a witch I tells ye, tryna bamboozle ye all with his hoodoo voodoo.

But seriously, if ye want to find out more about theories on the end of the universe, I'd recommend a book by the name of The Last Three Minutes by popular science writer Paul Davies. Although maybe not as poetic as the esteemed Dr.Cox, he goes into massive speculations that border on science-fiction

[James Stacey]

I didn't see it but I do have some albums by the band 'Dare' he used to be in. I believe he also played keyboard for D'ream on 'Things can only get better'

srsly

[satchmo]

It's on BBC2 right now!