Wonders Of The Universe

8:30pm – Tuesday, August 9 on ABC1

In the last episode of Professor Brian Cox’s epic journey across the universe, he travels from the fossils of the Burgess Shale to the sands of the oldest desert in the world to show how light holds the key to our understanding of the whole universe, including our own deepest origins.

With some of the world’s most fascinating fossils in hand, Brian considers how but for an apparently obscure moment in the evolutionary history of life, all the secrets of light may have remained hidden. Because, although the universe is bathed in light that carries extraordinary amounts of information about where we come from, it would have remained invisible without a crucial evolutionary development.

Brian holds in his hand a fossil of one of the very first creatures to have an eye. Only because of that evolutionary development can we now observe, capture and contemplate the incredible wonders of the universe that we inhabit.

8:30pm – Tuesday, August 2 on ABC1

In the third episode of this groundbreaking series, Professor Brian Cox takes on the story of the force that sculpts the entire universe – gravity.

Gravity seems so familiar, and yet it is one of the strangest and most surprising forces in the universe. Starting with a zero gravity flight, Brian experiences the feeling of total weightlessness, and considers how much of an effect gravity has had on the world around us.

But gravity also acts over much greater distances. It is the great orchestrator of the cosmos. It dictates our orbit around the sun, our relationship with the other planets in our solar system, and even the way in which our solar system orbits our galaxy.

Yet the paradox of gravity is that it is actually a relatively weak force. Brian takes a face distorting trip in a centrifuge to explain how it is that gravity achieves its great power, before looking at the role it plays in one of the most extraordinary phenomena in the universe – a neutron star. Although it is just a few kilometres across, it is so dense that its gravity is 100,000 million times as strong as on Earth.

Over the centuries our quest to understand gravity has allowed us to understand some of the true wonders of the Universe and Brian reveals that it is scientists’ continuing search for answers that inspires his own sense of wonder.

8:30pm – Tuesday, July 26 on ABC1

A four-part science series exploring some of the most profound questions we can ask about ourselves, the universe and the world in which we live.

In this series Professor Brian Cox steps boldly on to the big stage – the universe.

In episode one – Destiny – Brian seeks to understand the nature of time and its role in creating both the universe and ourselves. From an extraordinary calendar built into the landscape of Peru to the beaches of Cost Rica, Brian explores the cycles of time which define our experience of life on Earth. But the most epic cycles of life can’t begin to compare to the vast expanse of cosmic time.

Just as the Earth orbits the Sun, the Solar system orbits the entire Milky Way Galaxy in a cycle that takes a staggering 250 million years to complete.

Ultimately, Brian discovers that time is not characterised by repetition but by irreversible change. From the relentless march of a glacier, to the decay of an old mining town, the ravaging effects of time are all around us. The vast universe is subject to these same laws of change. The journey from birth to death will ultimately lead to the destruction not just of our planet, but also the entire universe, and with it the end of time itself.

Yet without this inevitable destruction, the universe would be without what is perhaps the greatest wonder of all; the brief moment in time in which life can exist.

Artscape, ABC, 10.05pm
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Dr. Chris finally has a wekend off and is off to catch up with his parents. But a call from his vet Dad finds him on a detour to see what a python has swallowed that may kill him.

Wonders of The Universe, ABC, 8.30pm
Destiny – Professor Brian Cox explores some of the most profound questions we can ask about ourselves, the universe and the planet. Cox seeks to understand the nature of time and its role in creating the universe and ourselves.

NCIS:Los Angeles, Ten, 9.30pm
In tonights season 2 final – Hetty’s sudden resignation prompts Callen and the NCIS team to investigate the reason why she would disappear in the hopes of tracking her down.

Winners and Losers, Seven, 9.15pm
Jenny struggles to keep her Mum’s health woes from her siblings while Bec is forced to spend a weekend with her mother at a health retreat.

Artscape, ABC, 10.05pm
Jedi’s and Juggalo’s – Your Census Guide. In preparation for the upcoming Australian census, John Safran scours the globe and hunts down people who blend spirituality with popular culture.

Bondi Vet, Ten, 8.00pm
Dr. Chris finally has a wekend off and is off to catch up with his parents. But a call from his vet Dad finds him on a detour to see what a python has swallowed that may kill him.

Wonders of The Universe, ABC, 8.30pm
Destiny – Professor Brian Cox explores some of the most profound questions we can ask about ourselves, the universe and the planet. Cox seeks to understand the nature of time and its role in creating the universe and ourselves.

NCIS:Los Angeles, Ten, 9.30pm
In tonights season 2 final – Hetty’s sudden resignation prompts Callen and the NCIS team to investigate the reason why she would disappear in the hopes of tracking her down.

Winners and Losers, Seven, 9.15pm
Jenny struggles to keep her Mum’s health woes from her siblings while Bec is forced to spend a weekend with her mother at a health retreat.