To access this episode early and ad-free, subscribe to BBC Podcast Premium on Apple Podcasts. The episode will be available for free with adverts on 28th November. 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 star-gazing 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 Jani BBC Studios Audio production
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Hello, I'm Brian Cox.
I'm Robin Ince, and this is the Infinite Monkey Cage.
Today, we ask a big question.
What if there existed a universe that was without Patrick Moore or indeed Brian Cox?
What if there was a cosmos without the sky at night?
Because there was no sky at night, just an inky blackness.
The experience of standing alone on a clear night and looking at the stars, of dreaming of worlds beyond our own, worlds beyond imagination, is not only a powerful emotional experience, but also a powerful intellectual one.
The attempt to understand the motion of those points of light in the dark was key to the development of modern science.
And it is something, something we talked about a lot when we were on tour.