Brian Cox - Solar System - BBC2

MR_Punk

MR_Punk

MR_Punk

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Cox is back with another series on BBC2 with another look at the Solar System. I watched the first episode and was a little underwhelmed to be honest. Its just seems like the BBC is rehashing the same old to fill their Science quota. I remember Cox's earlier programmes being really good. I have often rewatched his 2 "Wonders" series and the episode on Entropy and the heat death of the universe is bloody fantastically mind-blowing / grim.
 
Heisenberg said:
Anytime I see clips of Cox, I feel like he’s just making stuff up that’s impossible to prove/disprove. Saw one where he was talking about the Sun going supernova in several billions of years lol
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That wasn't as crazy as its sounds, I believe the current theory is our sun will end up as a white dwarf in a fair few billions years time but will go through a red giant phase first and get a bit big red and nasty.
 
Heisenberg said:
Anytime I see clips of Cox, I feel like he’s just making stuff up that’s impossible to prove/disprove. Saw one where he was talking about the Sun going supernova in several billions of years lol
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Seeing as it won’t do that, and he’s a physicist, I can guarantee he didn’t say that in the context off our own Sun which is far too small to go supernova.
 
Heisenberg said:
Anytime I see clips of Cox, I feel like he’s just making stuff up that’s impossible to prove/disprove. Saw one where he was talking about the Sun going supernova in several billions of years lol
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I still find it amazing that he was a member of D:ream who made the new labour theme song "things can only get better"

Surprised hes not done anything for netflix, might have been less dumbed down than BBC stuff
 
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Penfold101 said:
Seeing as it won’t do that, and he’s a physicist, I can guarantee he didn’t say that in the context off our own Sun which is far too small to go supernova.
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He has made what I consider some dubious claims or presented information dubiously/misleadingly at times, sometimes I think with good intentions or maybe pushed to do it by producers, etc. with an agenda, other times based on controversial but not necessarily wrong information - some of them I don't necessarily disagree with.
 
Rroff said:
He has made what I consider some dubious claims or presented information dubiously/misleadingly at times, sometimes I think with good intentions or maybe pushed to do it by producers, etc. with an agenda, other times based on controversial but not necessarily wrong information
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yeah i dont like watching him for this reason. He occasionally says something definitely wrong, but most of the other times are him latching on to the latest nonsense theory with zero evidence and presenting it as if it was true.
Its dumbed down sci (-fi) for the masses so its not really aimed at me.
 
I used to be a big fan of Prof Cox, but I have to agree with the OP, I was disappointed with the first episode of Solar System.
He was half way there on explaining those funky rock formations (giants causway type things), then decided to cut it short to talk about two hot rocks and their surface areas.
 
Rroff said:
Not so much in his programs but when he has been a guest on shows, etc.
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Ah fair enough, not seen enough of him on general TV to know.

Although his programmes are dumbed down for the masses, at least they are programmes about science, and i'd rather watch a hundred hours of dumbed down science over even an hour of the reality.. "lookit me.. lookit me.. " programmes.
 
Scientists make mistakes all the time, especially when they try to oversimplify concepts in order to convey some understanding to a TV audience/the general public. I'm pretty sure that if he was talking to his physics students, or at a physics conference where the audience had some understanding of quantum physics, he would have used precise language.

He would be the first to admit that what he was saying wasn't scientifically accurate, but rather a way of trying to convey the interconnectedness of all things. It's bizarre not to watch someone because they occasionally get things wrong, he says in interviews and podcasts all the time that science is not about being 'right' or 'wrong'.

I agree with others though, that this show is very light on substance and if you've seen his previous stuff, you'll feel a bit underwhelmed.
 
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aardvark said:
i remember in one of his lectures he completely misrepresented the Pauli Exclusion principle for electronic orbitals and stretched the definition to include every electron in the universe.
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Misrepresented? or simplified so an audience could understand.. and no i'm not saying he's never wrong, just don't beleive his intention is to mislead.

Ayahuasca said:
I agree with others though, that this show is very light on substance and if you've seen his previous stuff, you'll feel a bit underwhelmed.
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Yes agreed also, not sure this series needed to be made given the other "Wonders of the Solar System" that was done previously..

However as already said, would rather watch this than anything "reality" related..
 
SimonRigga said:
Misrepresented? or simplified so an audience could understand.. and no i'm not saying he's never wrong, just don't beleive his intention is to mislead.
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i disagree - he was 100% wrong. The Pauili Exclusion principle applies only to electrons in the same orbital - to say it applies to every electron in the universe and that no two electrons can have the same energy is nonsense. He was rightly called out by many scientists at the time.
 
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