Solar System

Last night watched three episodes of Prof Brian Cox's new TV series Solar System, with my daughter who was completely gripped. For those who are unaware, Cox is a British academic and former rock star who presents popular physics programmes in a style reminiscent of Sir David Attenborough. They mix actual footage of natural phenomena with CGI and are quite literally out of this world. Especially when he reminds us that our star system is just one of thousands in our small galaxy alone . .

Wonderful and terrifying at the same time. My daughter was gripping me tightly by the time we had finished, without really knowing why, and ended up spending the night in my bed . . one way of scaling things back to human dimensions 🙂

It's a BBC production, so viewers in other countries may be able to see it via their public broadcasting services. Try not to get Brian Cox the physicist mixed up with Brian Cox the actor, who first played the role of Hannibal Lecter 👍

JoyfulSilence · 46-50, M

I have been spending a lot of time over the past year watching science YouTubes. So interesting.

I cannot recall if I saw Cox's, but I remember him on regular TV.

I watch YouTube more now. Last year, I got a modern cable TV box that offers streaming of web apps (my old box did not). One app is YouTube.

It has ads which usually one can skip after a few seconds. But lately they have become longer and less skippable, so YouTube is morphing into normal cable TV. The downside is I cannot channel-surf during YouTube commercials while streaming it on my TV. So I mute and close my eyes and open them periodically to see how many seconds I have left before I can finally skip!

Picklebobble2 · 56-60, M

Cox has that unique ability to take complex physics subjects and 'translate' them for those of us who barely remember science aspects from our school days.

Although his posts on YouTube are often targeted by 'amateur armchair apologists' seeking to put everything down to 'divine design'.

The comparison with Attenborough is a good one.

There's another 'learned' orator who explains what's going on in the natural world, to those of us fascinated to watch.

SunshineGirl · 36-40, F

@Picklebobble2 My 14 yo already loves nature programmes and she consumed these as though they were nature documentaries without the flora and fauna. Some of Attenborough's earliest natural history episodes had a similar feel.

I already love science and grew up with Carl Sagan (who had a big influence on Cox). Even with infectious enthusiasm, this is not an easy sell by any means. I am still working on ideas for a truly "popular" maths series 😊