'Why are we here? Where do we come from?' Two big questions asked by Professor Brian Cox as the opener to his new series, Wonders of the Universe. Yeah, we're all about the UNIVERSE this time. Hey, Solar System, fuck off! We're done with you, we're moving on to bigger things and you don't get much bigger than the entire Universe. And you don't get much sexier than Prof Cox. The opening shots of Wonders could (and should) be captured as still photographs and packaged as a calender. March: Prof Cox pensively gazing out over a glorious Arctic tundra landscape as if he is commander of the entire Universe. In aviators. Hot.
Seriously though, a bit of Cox perving (tee hee) is to be expected but it definitely shouldn't detract from his excellent presenting and professing. He manages to explain complicated scientific laws and theories, such as entropy (which I totally got, by the way. Ask me anything, go on), without patronising or overwhelming his audience. Although I am fundamentally a creature of art and literature, my skepticism and atheism mean that an understanding of science is the only way to add order to my universe. The concepts are so huge, they can at times be overwhelming so it's refreshing to have a balance in Prof Cox's no bullshit explanations.
The first programme is called 'Destiny' and unsurprisingly we look at where our universe is heading and how we know it will eventually fade away to nothing and I mean EVENTUALLY. Seriously, it's going to take aaaages. We begin in Peru, in the ruins of a temple built two and a half thousand years ago. The towers of the temple were built as 'an ancient solar calender' using the Sun's position to measure time. Already my mind is blown. That is completely AMAZING that such an ancient civilisation had an instrument with which to measure time. Prof Cox says he wants to build one in his garden. I've already drawn me up some blueprints.
Throughout the episode, Prof Cox uses often breath-taking locations to demonstrate the principles of time; a great Argentinian glacier illustrating the Arrow of Time; an abandoned mining town in the Namibian desert illustrating the laws of entropy; the Costa Rica coast by night to witness Sea Turtles nesting on the beaches, demonstrating that changes have happened around these creatures who have been around for ONE HUNDRED MILLION YEARS. Impressive. There are a lot of massive numbers like this, like properly massive, like we can't even imagine how massive, for instance, the death of the Universe is so far into the future, the number particles in the ENTIRE UNIVERSE doesn't come close to the number of years it will be until it dies, there were a lot of 'trillions' in there. Shit. AND life can and will only exist for the tiniest fraction of the life of the Universe. SHIT. So what's the point then, Prof Cox? 'We are the cosmos made conscious.' In other words we make the universe aware of its existence by exploring it. WE ARE AWESOME.
It seems the ultimate 'Destiny' of the Universe is to die, but don't get bummed out guys, Prof Cox says it'll be well ages till that happens and in the mean time we might as well have a look around.
It seems Prof Cox's science needs almost poetic language to really describe these big ideas. So we are presented with phrases such as 'deep time' and in reference to the end of the universe, 'Nothing happens and it keeps not happening forever.' This poetic language, together with the sumptuous imagery and no bullshit science, marries art with scientific fact making Wonders near perfect. And seeing Prof Cox striding around in various types of outdoor clothing, his indie hair streaked with distinguished grey blowing in the breeze and his handsome face turned toward the heavens, ain't bad either.
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