Brian Cox

Brian Cox is back in town, with a different show to his last visit. He was here about 18 months ago with his Scientific Phenomena show. This time he was focussing specifically on space and the universe. We sacrificed a night at pub quiz to go and see him.

For a quick dinner beforehand, we decided on Bin 44. Mindful of our previous mishap when dining out before a show at the TSB, we booked a table and rocked up at 6:15. This caused a bit of kerfuffle as they were fully booked, and someone had walked in and just sat down at a table, without waiting to be seated, so the staff had to evict them from our table. Bin 44 is more pub grub than fine dining, so we had a burger and pizza. The pizza was enormous so Nicola could only finish half of it (the burger was pretty substantial too) so maybe we’ll just share one next time we go there.

Then it was across the road, and taking our place up on a side gallery in the TSB Arena. Brian came on to huge applause, thanked us for coming out on a cold, windy Wellington night, and said how delighted he was that on such a night 2,500 people are prepared to come out and listen to someone talk about science-y stuff. He then launched into a quick explanation of relativity, time and events, drew some charts, and explained how time can be different for different people. It was quite science-y. From this, he moved into a discussion about black holes and what they look like. To illustrate this he drew on his experience with the people who made the black hole model used in the film Interstellar, and how it was based on real, actual science, not just fancy special effects (although they used some of those as well). He then showed us the famous picture taken a couple of months ago of a black hole, and demonstrated that it looked pretty much as predicted by the model used in the film. 

Black hole from Interstellar

Black hole from reality

Not only that, but that the basis of the model was Einstein’s theory of relativity, showing how this 100-year-old theory was still the basis for astrophysics today. We had a picture of the universe from 380,000 years after the Big Bang, and why it looked like it did, all the way through the formation of planets and the conditions necessary for life to form. He went through some recent discoveries and theories about planets within our solar system that might support life, and once again mentioned the ice fountains of Enceladus.

This all sound like heavy going. How about some light relief? Of course, his old mucker and co-presenter of Infinite Monkey Cage, Robin Ince,  was there alongside him, to provide some comedy and break up the evening a bit. Also to give Brian a rest, as he spoke non-stop for nearly an hour in the first half. Robin amused us with some talk of dressing like a scientist, and how he is mistaken for Brian’s dad (they’re the same age). He also had several requests for his cardigan supplier.

As at the previous talk we went to, he opened up the second half to questions from the audience, and also digressed into philosophy. Once again an enjoyable evening.

Brian Cox

Brian Cox, famous telly scientist and presenter, has been touring with his talk on astrophysics and related subjects for the last year and a half. This spring, he brought it to New Zealand.

Tor had organised the tickets, and after a careful inspection and confirmation that the venue was indeed the TSB Arena, we decided on Shed 5 as a mutually satisfactory dinner venue. We rocked up early at 5:45, in time to have a cocktail before the usual fine seafood fare on offer. I had a crab and lobster tian followed by groper, and Nicola had bruschettas with salmon and tuna, followed by seafood risotto. We didn’t have time to hang around for a dessert as they’d been a bit tardy in bringing out the mains, so we then crossed over the square to join the queue to enter the venue.

Brian Cox came on stage, and introduced his subject. He’s a polished performer, clearly used to public speaking, and gave a clear introduction to his talk, before getting into the meat of it. In this he was assisted by his co-presenter of The Infinite Monkey Cage, Robin Ince, who provided some comic relief in between the serious bits. Robin Ince, you’ll remember, was the presenter of Cosmic Shambles which we saw earlier this year. Get us with the science-y stuff!

The talk ranged from Einstein’s theory of relativity, and how it is the basis of modern cosmology, to recent discoveries about planets and moons in our solar system, including the Ice Fountains of Enceladus (sounds very sci-fi), which houses conditions found in the early development of Earth around the time that life began here. Other subjects included the fate of the sun in the far future, the Crab nebula, and the length of time it will take for the universe to finally suffer heat death (don’t worry, it’s a long way off). After the break, he took questions from the audience, which had been submitted by twitter or the old-fashioned way, on pieces of card. These ranged from “What’s your favourite planet?” (this one) to “How far will the James Webb telescope be able to see into the past?” (all the way).

All fascinating stuff, and with digressions into philosophy and the nature of science – such as how he has to modify this talk as the science has changed since he started. He manages to explain complex scientific concepts without dumbing it down or patronising the audience. And he didn't mention D-ream once. A very enjoyable evening!

Cosmic Shambles

Cosmic Shambles is the name that Robin Ince gives to his show, currently touring Australia and New Zealand, in which he gathers together scientists, comedians, and musicians, both local and imported, and puts on a collection of stories and demonstrations. Each performer gets a slot of around 15 minutes, and other than that, it’s anything goes, really.

We met up in Courtenay Place at the Bangalore Polo Club for some dinner beforehand. The food was fairly standard pub grub, washed down with a beer or cocktail.

The show started at 7:00pm, as there’s quite a lot to get through. At the beginning there’s a short film starring the puppets of Brian Cox and Robin Ince discussing science things. Brian Cox is far too famous and busy doing television in the UK to come on tour, so this was a substitute for that. Brian and Robin go way back, though, having presented The Infinite Monkey Cage since 2009. The rest of the cast were:   

Robin Ince (puppet)

Brian Cox (puppet)

Robin Ince – comedian/mc

Josie Long – comedian

Helen Czerski – bubble scientist

Lucie Green – solar scientist 

Matt Parker – mathematician

Nation – music

Michelle Dickinson – nanotechnologist

Siouxsie Wiles – microbiologist

James Nokise – comedian

Shaun Hendy – physicist

Matt Stellingwerf – comedian

Jon Toogood – music

After an introduction from Robin, he introduced the first live guest, Josie Long, who undertook the first experiment of the night. This was based around “what do ghosts eat? Spook-etti”, a joke from a Christmas cracker. This involved opening two tins of spaghetti, leaving one for the ghost, and Robin Ince eating the other (cold, natch), whilst leaving the third unopened as a control. This proved absolutely nothing, but was much funnier than described here.

After that, each act came on individually, and did their bit. Matt Parker, a mad Australian mathematician, demonstrated how to calculate pi with pies in several different ways, and also explained how pi, and indeed pie, gets into everything. The main event was using a pi-endulum to calculate pi with a little help from an audience member.

Siouxsie Wiles gave a convincing, and quite frightening, demonstration of how we’re all going to die, as antibiotics fail to overcome bacteria. The end is nigh. You heard it here secondhand.

At the end of the first half, local band Nation gave us some tunes. They seemed to be channelling the Eighties in a Go West, Love And Money style…all they needed was a sax to complete the picture.

The second half included a very interesting discussion of bubbles from Helen Czerki, including how penguins use them to avoid leopard seals and get out of the water. Nanotechnologist Michelle Dickinson gave a live demonstration of the effect of cold on various materials, and how this led to the space shuttle Challenger exploding 73 seconds after launching, in 1986. Using liquid nitrogen to cool down metals, and showing scant regard for elf-and-safety along the way, she showed how the metal reacted at low temperatures.

The final musical interlude of the evening was Jon Toogood, singer from Shihad, (world famous in New Zealand since ages ago) who gave us an acoustic set to finish with. Robin Ince then wrapped up the show and we all staggered out into the night.