Brian Cox and Robin Ince referee as Saturn and Jupiter square up to each other in a planetary face off. Representing team Saturn is space physicist Professor Michele Dougherty, and in the opposite corner is Dr Paul Abel on Team Jupiter. Katherine Parkinson judges this cosmic contest, casting the final vote to decide who will be awarded the coveted Kuiper Belt. It is not all about looks of course, but it is a significant factor in a first impression. Both Saturn and Jupiter score highly in this department, boasting magnificent icy rings and colourful stripes respectively. But what lies beneath ..read more

Robin Ince and Brian Cox venture into the captivating and surprisingly mysterious realm of ice. Joining them on this cool adventure is former ice dancer Darren Harriot, glaciologist Liz Morris, polar explorer Felicity Aton and ice chemist Christoph Salzmann. From beautifully formed snowflakes to ice shelves in Antarctica our guests discuss the fascinating science suspended in solid water and how much is still to be discovered. With the help of a gin and tonic they explore the properties of ice - like why it floats and how there are 20 phases of ice, three of which were accidentally discovered ..read more

Brian Cox and Robin Ince kindly open the door for each other as they step into understanding altruism asking why humans have evolved to help each. Joining them to explore the human tendency to be kind is evolutionary biologist Steve Jones, psychologist Matti Wilks and comedian Jo Brand. Starting with the animal kingdom we probe the biological underpinnings of why organisms might act to help others at an energetic cost to themselves and where this fits alongside the theory of evolution. We explore how the development of human societies has necessitated altruistic behaviours and how these manife ..read more

Brian Cox and Robin Ince slice deep into the lesser explored world beneath us. To join them on the journey from the crust to the core they are joined by seismologist Ana Ferreira, geologist Chris Jackson and comedian Phil Wang. School children learn about the makeup of the earth with an image depicting the earth's core, mantle and crust layered neatly on top of each other, but is this an oversimplification? Our experts reveal that the earths innards are less uniform than we might think and mysteries still abound, including the makeup of some continental sized blobs deep inside the earth. We le ..read more

Brian Cox and Robin Ince look ahead to the topics and guests you can enjoy in Series 32 of The Infinite Monkey Cage. Listen first on BBC Sounds from Wednesday 19 February, 2025 ..read more

Brian Cox and Robin Ince uncover the unexpected history of the body in the archives of the Royal Society with special guests Prof Helen King, Sir Mark Walport, Keith Moore and Ed Byrne. Together they dissect some of the most surprising and peculiar beliefs that have been held about the body over the last 500 years, from wandering-womb hypotheses to tobacco-enema resuscitations. They unearth how scientific discoveries have often originated from brave individuals, willing to volunteer their own bodies in the pursuit of science. Our panellist Sir Mark Walport has continued in this tradition of se ..read more

Brian Cox and Robin Ince dig into de-extinction asking, could we and should we resurrect creatures of the past? They are joined by geneticist Adam Rutherford, palaeontologist Susannah Maidment and comedian/virologist Ria Lina. Extinction has played a significant role in shaping the life we see on Earth today. It is estimated around 95% of species to have ever existed are already extinct - but could any of these extinctions be reversed? Our panel explore the different methods being pursued in these resurrection quests, including back-breeding, cloning and genetic engineering. They take a close ..read more

Brian Cox and Robin Ince expand their knowledge of elasticity with Olympian Bryony Page, comedian Jessica Fostekew & experts Dr Anna Ploszajski and Prof James Busfield from Queen Mary University of London. What makes stretchy things stretch? Together our panel journey through different applications of elastic materials and examine, at the molecular level, what happens when we stretch a material and crucially what causes it to return to its original shape. This is especially pertinent to our guest Olympic and British champion trampolinist Bryony Page who has capitalised on elasticity in her ..read more

Brian Cox and Robin Ince investigate the science of baby making - don’t worry, all theory no practice! They are joined by Professor Joyce Harper, Dr Ben Steventon and comedian Sara Pascoe to discuss how just two cells can turn into trillions, or in other words, how an embryo can turn into an embryologist. The embryo building processes across species are remarkably similar, yet there is still so much we don’t know about the beginning of life. Our panel discuss these unknowns, the latest in fertility treatments and what new capabilities might be available to future parents. It seems that artific ..read more

Brian Cox and Robin Ince examine their own diets and the diet fads of the past to ask what we should actually be eating. They are joined by Dr Chris van Tulleken, Professor Janet Cade and comedian Harry Hill to discuss the nutritional merits, or lack thereof, of everything from sausages to strawberries, and discover whether our obsession with low fat, low sugar or low carb diets have any scientific basis. They discuss our increased dependence on ultra-processed foods and what this means for our health, and whether eating one calorie of a chocolate bar is really the same as eating one calorie o ..read more