Are some people just lucky? Is there any scientific formula behind coincidences? Is randomness the norm? Brian and Robin team up with comedian Sophie Duker, mathematician Marcus Du Sautoy and statistician David Spiegelhalter to uncover the reality and the maths behind seemingly incredible coincidences. How many people do you need in a room to find two with the same birthday? What is the weirdest coincidence that the panel have ever encountered? Is there a mathematical formula to being lucky? How good are we at judging how likely something is to happen? The answer is not very, as Brian and Robin unluckily discover. New episodes released Wednesdays. If you're in the UK, listen to the newest episodes of The Infinite Monkey Cage first on BBC Sounds: bbc.in/3K3JzyF Executive Producer: Alexandra Feachem.
This was an impregnable fortress.
The only way you got out was in a wooden box.
The controversial maximum security prison, impossible to escape from.
One of the duties of a political prisoner is the escape the IRA inmates who found a way.
I'm Carlo Gabler, and I'll be navigating a path through the disturbing inside story.
Of the biggest jailbreak in british and irish history.
The narrative that they want is that this is a big achievement by then.
Escape from the maze.
Listen first on BBC Sounds.
BBC Sounds music radio podcasts.
Hello, I'm Robin Ince.
And I'm Brian Cox.
You're about to listen to the infinite Monkey cage.
Episodes will be released on Wednesdays, wherever you get your podcasts.
But if you're in the UK, the full series is available right now, first on BBC Sounds.
Hello, I'm Brian Cox.
And I'm Robin Ince.
And this is the Infinite Monkey cage.
Now, in a probabilistic universe, is there anything that we can truly be sure of?
Well, I'm just going to interrupt you there, because the statement that we live in a probabilistic universe is non trivial, I would say, because it contains assumptions about the foundations of quantum theory.