Science Britannia

Post Reply
User avatar
Xamonas Chegwé
Bouncer
Bouncer
Posts: 50939
Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2009 3:23 pm
About me: I have prehensile eyebrows.
I speak 9 languages fluently, one of which other people can also speak.
When backed into a corner, I fit perfectly - having a right-angled arse.
Location: Nottingham UK
Contact:
Contact Xamonas Chegwé

Science Britannia

Post by Xamonas Chegwé » Wed Sep 18, 2013 9:43 pm

The new Brian Cox series on BBC2. I wasn't expecting a great deal from this, to be honest. Charismatic and ever-viewable as Cox is, the science in his shows can be dumbed down in favour of pretty graphics and lots of shots of him staring in wonder into the sky! But read on...

If you are watching this purely for the science, you may well be disappointed. You will most likely learn nothing you didn't know already. BUT. If you watch it for the history and the enlivening of science fact with context, place and time, you will be delighted! Notable scenes were set in Watson & Crick's office, the pub where they celebrated discovering the structure of DNA, the secret installation in Wales where wartime research on enriching Uranium was carried out, the Royal Institution Lecture Theatre and the Hunter House Museum.

I was captivated particularly by the gruesome details about John Hunter's anatomical research (and the grave-robbing that allowed it) and the "resurrection" of George Forster by Giovanni Aldini. This was an example of the running theme in this first episode - the morality of science - drawing in animal experimentation, GM crops and CND among others. And while Brian was careful not to take sides, it was not too difficult to read his pro-science onion between the lines with regard to most issues.

I am looking forward to the rest of the series.

Well worth looking up on the iPlayer (or searching for an "alternative" viewing method (coughtorrentcough)) if you missed it. :tup:


Link to the series home-page on the BBC site.
A book is a version of the world. If you do not like it, ignore it; or offer your own version in return.
Salman Rushdie
You talk to God, you're religious. God talks to you, you're psychotic.
House MD
Who needs a meaning anyway, I'd settle anyday for a very fine view.
Sandy Denny
This is the wrong forum for bluffing :nono:
Paco
Yes, yes. But first I need to show you this venomous fish!
Calilasseia
I think we should do whatever Pawiz wants.
Twoflower
Bella squats momentarily then waddles on still peeing, like a horse
Millefleur
Top
PsychoSerenity
"I" Self-Perceive Recursively
Posts: 7824
Joined: Tue Feb 23, 2010 1:57 am
Contact:
Contact PsychoSerenity

Re: Science Britannia

Post by PsychoSerenity » Wed Sep 18, 2013 9:47 pm

Will be catching up with this on iPlayer. :tup:
[Disclaimer - if this is comes across like I think I know what I'm talking about, I want to make it clear that I don't. I'm just trying to get my thoughts down]
Top
User avatar
klr
(%gibber(who=klr, what=Leprageek);)
Posts: 32964
Joined: Wed Mar 04, 2009 1:25 pm
About me: The money was just resting in my account.
Location: Airstrip Two
Contact:
Contact klr

Re: Science Britannia

Post by klr » Wed Sep 18, 2013 9:49 pm

Oh bugger ... I missed it. :doh:

Or did I? It's on at 23:20. :woot:

For once, BBC Northern Ireland's wacky scheduling comes through.

Oh, and it's Science Britannica :nazi:
God has no place within these walls, just like facts have no place within organized religion. - Superintendent Chalmers

It's not up to us to choose which laws we want to obey. If it were, I'd kill everyone who looked at me cock-eyed! - Rex Banner

The Bluebird of Happiness long absent from his life, Ned is visited by the Chicken of Depression. - Gary Larson

:mob: :comp: :mob:
Top
User avatar
Xamonas Chegwé
Bouncer
Bouncer
Posts: 50939
Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2009 3:23 pm
About me: I have prehensile eyebrows.
I speak 9 languages fluently, one of which other people can also speak.
When backed into a corner, I fit perfectly - having a right-angled arse.
Location: Nottingham UK
Contact:
Contact Xamonas Chegwé

Re: Science Britannia

Post by Xamonas Chegwé » Wed Sep 18, 2013 9:57 pm

klr wrote:Oh, and it's Science Britannica :nazi:
:worried:

I can't live with this shame. I have burnt my National Institute of Grammar Pedants awards. I am going outside. I may be some time... :nono:
A book is a version of the world. If you do not like it, ignore it; or offer your own version in return.
Salman Rushdie
You talk to God, you're religious. God talks to you, you're psychotic.
House MD
Who needs a meaning anyway, I'd settle anyday for a very fine view.
Sandy Denny
This is the wrong forum for bluffing :nono:
Paco
Yes, yes. But first I need to show you this venomous fish!
Calilasseia
I think we should do whatever Pawiz wants.
Twoflower
Bella squats momentarily then waddles on still peeing, like a horse
Millefleur
Top
User avatar
JimC
The sentimental bloke
Posts: 74076
Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2009 7:58 am
About me: To be serious about gin requires years of dedicated research.
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Contact:
Contact JimC

Re: Science Britannia

Post by JimC » Wed Sep 18, 2013 10:12 pm

Rule Britannica, Britannica rules the waves
Nurse, where the fuck's my cardigan?
And my gin!
Top
User avatar
klr
(%gibber(who=klr, what=Leprageek);)
Posts: 32964
Joined: Wed Mar 04, 2009 1:25 pm
About me: The money was just resting in my account.
Location: Airstrip Two
Contact:
Contact klr

Re: Science Britannia

Post by klr » Wed Sep 18, 2013 10:25 pm

Watching it now. :smoke:
God has no place within these walls, just like facts have no place within organized religion. - Superintendent Chalmers

It's not up to us to choose which laws we want to obey. If it were, I'd kill everyone who looked at me cock-eyed! - Rex Banner

The Bluebird of Happiness long absent from his life, Ned is visited by the Chicken of Depression. - Gary Larson

:mob: :comp: :mob:
Top
User avatar
charlou
arseist
Posts: 32527
Joined: Thu Jun 28, 2012 2:36 am

Re: Science Britannia

Post by charlou » Wed Sep 18, 2013 11:36 pm

XC wrote:BUT. If you watch it for the history and the enlivening of science fact with context, place and time, you will be delighted!
Thanks for the heads up .. sounds good.
no fences
Top
User avatar
Clinton Huxley
19th century monkeybitch.
Posts: 23739
Joined: Mon Mar 02, 2009 4:34 pm
Contact:
Contact Clinton Huxley

Re: Science Britannia

Post by Clinton Huxley » Thu Sep 19, 2013 8:07 am

I enjoyed it. The interview with the old lady who, as a 19 year old lab tech had been recruited to work on a little project code-named Tube Alloys was moving. Good stuff. Also enjoyed the disdain in that scientists voice when he described how the Daily Mail had coined the term Frankenfoods

Sent from my KFTT using Tapatalk 2
"I grow old … I grow old …
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled"

AND MERRY XMAS TO ONE AND All!

Imagehttp://25kv.co.uk/date_counter.php?date ... 20counting!!![/img-sig]
Top
User avatar
Audley Strange
"I blame the victim"
Posts: 7485
Joined: Wed Jun 08, 2011 5:00 pm
Contact:
Contact Audley Strange

Re: Science Britannia

Post by Audley Strange » Thu Sep 19, 2013 8:13 am

"What started as a legitimate effort by the townspeople of Salem to identify, capture and kill those who did Satan's bidding quickly deteriorated into a witch hunt" Army Man
Top
User avatar
klr
(%gibber(who=klr, what=Leprageek);)
Posts: 32964
Joined: Wed Mar 04, 2009 1:25 pm
About me: The money was just resting in my account.
Location: Airstrip Two
Contact:
Contact klr

Re: Science Britannia

Post by klr » Thu Sep 19, 2013 11:17 am

Clinton Huxley wrote:I enjoyed it. The interview with the old lady who, as a 19 year old lab tech had been recruited to work on a little project code-named Tube Alloys was moving. Good stuff. Also enjoyed the disdain in that scientists voice when he described how the Daily Mail had coined the term Frankenfoods

Sent from my KFTT using Tapatalk 2
Yup, there's a code name I hadn't heard in a while. Guaranteed to make the Nazis go "meh, nothing to see there". :ninja:
God has no place within these walls, just like facts have no place within organized religion. - Superintendent Chalmers

It's not up to us to choose which laws we want to obey. If it were, I'd kill everyone who looked at me cock-eyed! - Rex Banner

The Bluebird of Happiness long absent from his life, Ned is visited by the Chicken of Depression. - Gary Larson

:mob: :comp: :mob:
Top
Post Reply

Return to “Stage & Screen”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests