Claim OwnershipThe Infinite Monkey Cage
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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.
218 Episodes
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5Brian 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 JaniBBC Studios Audio Production
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 JaniBBC Studios Audio production
Brian Cox and Robin Ince investigate the science of baby making - don’t worry, all theory, no practice! They are joined by Professor Joyce Harper, Dr Ben Steventon and comedian Sara Pascoe to discuss how just two cells can turn into trillions, or in other words, how an embryo can turn into an embryologist.The embryo-building processes across species are remarkably similar, yet there is still so much we don’t know about the beginning of life. Our panel discuss these unknowns, the latest in fertility treatments and what new capabilities might be available to future parents. It seems that artificial wombs may not be science fiction for much longer and scientists are closing in on being able to make egg and sperm cells out of stem cells. So yes, Brian and Robin could one day have a baby! Producer: Melanie Brown
Executive Producer: Alexandra Feachem
Researcher: Olivia JaniBBC Studios Audio Production
Brian Cox and Robin Ince consider how different our understanding of the universe would be without the stars. They are joined by Maggie Aderin-Pocock, Roberto Trotta and comedian John Bishop who illuminate all that we have learnt from the stars and how different life would be without them.Every culture has looked up at the night sky, but why are we so drawn to the pin pricks of light in the sky above us all and how have they helped shape human civilisation? Roberto Trotta takes us back to the origins of astronomy, to women who he believes were the first astronomers, linking the orbital period of the moon with the length of the menstrual cycle. We continue the historical journey, through the astronomical greats, Galileo, Copernicus and Kepler, who all in part owe their scientific discoveries to the stars. Our panel marvel at how we, an infinitesimally small part of the universe, are able to look up at the stars and comprehend what is beyond and how this stargazing has profoundly shaped our sense of selves as well as underpinned science as we know it.Producer: Melanie Brown
Executive Producer: Alexandra Feachem
Researcher: Olivia JaniBBC Studios Audio production
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 JaniBBC Studios Audio production
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 JaniBBC Studios Audio production
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
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
Brian Cox and Robin Ince talk hot air as they explore the pivotal role of gasses in our lives. Joining them to add some CO2 to the mix is material scientist Mark Miodownik, chemist Lucy Carpenter and comedian Dave Gorman. They discuss how humans came to even understand it existed in the first place as well as how many of the innovations in modern society have been underpinned by this mostly invisible and odourless substance. We laud the humble (or is it noble?) gas and its key role in technological innovation - from using laughing gas in anaesthesia to the combustion engine and of course the most important of all, the power source behind squirty cream. Producer: Melanie Brown
Exec Producer: Alexandra Feachem
BBC Studios Audio production
Brian Cox and Robin Ince venture to the home place of exploration in Porto, Portugal at the Explorers Club as they discuss science at the extremes of exploration. Joining them is volcanologist Jess Phoenix, astronaut Mike Massimino, astrobiologist and oceanographer Britney Schmidt as well as adventurer and broadcaster Anneka Rice. They discuss breaking robots under the Antarctic ice shelf, chasing after narco-traffickers to retrieve a rock hammer and how viewing the earth from the vantage point of space can profoundly influence how you feel about humanity. Producer: Melanie Brown
Executive Producer: Alexandra Feachem
BBC Studios Audio Production
Brian Cox and Robin Ince are joined by adventurer and naturalist Steve Backshall, veterinarian Jess French, and comedian and former doctor Adam Kay, as they are put to the test by an audience of curious children at Cheltenham Science Festival. We find out who would win in a battle between a shark and a crocodile (the answer involves a tennis court), why dogs don’t sweat like humans, whether macrophages might help us overcome antibiotic resistance and if AI might one day enable us to understand and directly communicate with animals.Producer: Melanie Brown
Exec Producer: Alexandra Feachem
BBC Studios Audio Production
Brian Cox and Robin Ince go past jail, climb a ladder and build a civilisation as they explore the science behind our favourite board games. Joining them in the library (or was it the conservatory?) is mathematician Marcus du Sautoy, who discusses the global history of games as well as his tips for winning at Monopoly. Joining him is games designer and play researcher Dave Neale who explains how key games are to developing a theory of mind, alongside Jessica Fostekew, comedian and gaming enthusiast who admits to becoming a more ruthless gamer as time goes by.Producer: Melanie Brown
Exec Producer: Alexandra Feachem
BBC Studios Audio Production
Brian Cox and Robin Ince leaf through the latest tree science with Dame Judi Dench, Tony Kirkham and Tristan Gooley. Dame Judi Dench shares her great love for treekind and describes how over time she has come to create a small woodland in her garden and how meaningful that is for her. Tony Kirkham, former head of Kew Arboretum and Gardens, shares some of the amazing journeys he's been on to find unusual and rare trees around the world. Navigator Tristan Gooley has spent a lifetime learning how to read trees, he explains how nearly everything on a tree can provide clues into the environment around it and how elements like leaf shape and colour can help us to use trees as a compass to navigate our way.Producer: Melanie Brown
Exec Producer: Alexandra Feachem
BBC Studios Audio production
`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 SoundsProducer: Marijke Peters
Executive Producer: Alexandra FeachemEpisodes 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
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/3K3JzyFProducer: Marijke Peters
Executive Producer: Alexandra FeachemEpisodes 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
We know the universe is rapidly expanding but what happens if other galaxies disappear from view? That’s what Eric Idle wants to know as he ponders the future and what it holds in store. Solar scientist Lucie Green says this is not worth dwelling on because we’ll all be wiped out by an asteroid at some point anyway, which leads to a discussion about whether anywhere is still safe. Away from physics, Brian Cox and Robin Ince learn that one of the major contributors to global warming is the urinal cooling industry, which raises important questions about human stupidity. Should we let another species have a go? Chris Addison reckons dolphins might do a better job than we have but admits there are some major logistical issues.New episodes will be released on Wednesdays. If you’re in the UK, listen to the full series on BBC Sounds: bbc.in/3K3JzyFProducer: Marijke Peters
Executive Producer: Alexandra FeachemEpisodes featured:
Series 22: The end of the universe
Series 3: Apocalypse
Series 13: Climate Change
Series 19: The future of humanity
Series 15: The human story: How we got here and how we survived
Brian Cox and Robin Ince embrace failure in its many forms, with a frank look at the importance of making mistakes. They examine the flaws in Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution with the anthropologist Alice Roberts, as she tells them no idea is totally watertight. And sometimes scientific error even leads to important discoveries – just ask the heart patients who took a pill that did nothing for their medical condition but did boost their libido and which we now know as Viagra. But other failures in the field of medicine have had more serious consequences, and Dr Chris van Tulleken questions why we’re not better at drug development for the poorest parts of the world.New episodes will be released on Wednesdays. If you’re in the UK, listen to the full series on BBC Sounds: bbc.in/3K3JzyFProducer: Marijke Peters
Executive Producer: Alexandra FeachemEpisodes featured:
Series 15: Science’s Epic Fails
Series 11: Serendipity
Series 25: What Have We Learnt From Covid?
Robin Ince and Brian Cox ask why some people always seem to win as they investigate the science of gambling. They hear how playing monopoly is no way to make friends, but don’t worry, because psychologist Richard Wiseman claims that it’s never really good fun anyway. In fact, games are mainly a form of social bonding and studies show deception could even be essential to human behaviour, which may just explain why so many people cheat. So should we even bother playing them? Well, it just so happens that solving maths problems can help us in other areas of life, so the team tackle a conundrum involving a goat, a cabbage and very hungry wolf, before becoming side-tracked by a debate over why the three were ever on a trip together in the first place, let alone trying to cross a river.New episodes will be released on Wednesdays. If you’re in the UK, listen to the full series on BBC Sounds: bbc.in/3K3JzyFProducer: Marijke Peters
Executive Producer: Alexandra FeachemEpisodes featured:
Series 15: How to Beat the House and Win
Series 3: Randomness
Series 11: Deception
Robin Ince and Brian Cox tackle the thorny debate over whether science and religion can co-exist. But forget the tension between the church and the researchers – Eric Idle wants an answer to the important question of whether God is in gluten free communion bread? Katy Brand launches the inaugural theologian’s corner with a pair of Reverends, who explain that comedians and the clergy have a lot in common, including a tendency to like the sound of their own voices. As we learn more about how our universe works, will there even be a need for religious belief? Since some research suggests fundamentalists and zealots tend to be less intelligent, perhaps there’s a case to be made for some healthy scepticism.New episodes will be released on Wednesdays. If you’re in the UK, listen to the full series on BBC Sounds: bbc.in/3K3JzyFProducer: Marijke Peters
Executive Producer: Alexandra FeachemEpisodes featured:
Series 1: Science and Religion
Series 4: Is There Room for Mysticism in a Rational World?
The Infinite Monkey Cage 100
Series 21: Quantum Worlds
Series 10: Irrationality
Brian Cox and Robin Ince are on a mission to discover whether extra-terrestrials exist. But if there really is other life out there, what would it look like?Comedian Conan O’Brien is hoping for lizard-like creatures with superhuman strength, while Greg Proops imagines little green girls, like the ones in the Star Trek series he grew up with. Or possibly Ewoks. Either way, nobody can agree on the best way to communicate with them if we do ever make contact. Should we send them complicated equations so they realise how intelligent we are, and is playing Bach to aliens too much like showing off?New episodes will be released on Wednesdays. If you’re in the UK, listen to the full series on BBC Sounds: bbc.in/3K3JzyFProducer: Marijke Peters
Executive Producer: Alexandra FeachemEpisodes featured:
Series 1: Extraterrestrial Life
Series 25: Exploring Our Solar System
Series 12: San Francisco Special
Series 9: To Infinity and Beyond
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Fun show
17:00 - a quick and dirty route means something VERY different in Australia 😂
Yay! New series. About all the stuff I love. And featuring my UK Treasure Hunt counterpart - sorry Annie, but this blonde did it better down in sunny SA! ☺️ Looking forward to it!
"In our lifetime the world's population has quadrupled." I think he meant to say "in the last century"
🧢🧢🧢
Brilliant episode. So interesting and helpful for our very racially and nationally divided world today. They should teach this knowledge in school from 4yrs old and onwards.
This Wednesday child isn’t full of woe with the latest ep of Monkey Cage ready to go. Yay!
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oooooo card tricks on a podcast...
do you have to be so loud?
Thank goodness you guys are back. Need some intelligence in my GenZ/millennial soaked life. Fondest regards from a Jones!
the 3 possibilities seemed like black and white and gray fallacy
Casual racism again, against white scientists, from the female academic. Collectivising skin colour rather than the nationality or culture from which they come.
fairly wasn't considered good enough to be on the radio
both funand erotic😂
I just listened to the Before the Big Bang podcast. when we talk about multiverses why do we think that we are part of those universes? won't they just evolve in their own way? why would they be clones of our universe?
This is my happy place…
the fungus among us✨
butterfly murderer!
an early iteration of the strawberry debate