Wonders of Life

2013 • BBC America

4.8

62 reviews

Eligible

Season 1 episodes (5)

1 What Is Life?

1/27/13

Professor Brian Cox embarks upon an exploration of how a few fundamental laws gave birth to the most complex, diverse and unique feature of our universe; life. Professor Cox journeys to the volcanic landscapes of South-East Asia, seeking to understand how life first began and how that spark has endured to this day.

2 Expanding Universe

2/3/13

Professor Brian Cox travels across the US and encounters some astonishing creatures that reveal how the senses evolved. A unique retelling of our evolutionary history takes Brian through life's journey, from single-celled organisms to sentient beings.

3 Endless Forms Most Beautiful

2/10/13

Professor Brian Cox travels to the richly bio-diverse areas of Southern Africa and Madagascar and asks why is it that the Earth is so fertile and life is so diverse. The answer, he reveals, lies, in part in carbon. By following the stellar origins of carbon and the universality of the laws of nature, Brian contemplates whether there could be similar life elsewhere in the universe.

4 Size Matters

2/17/13

Professor Brian Cox travels to Australia, the big country down under, to explain how size determines the nature of life. Gravity and electromagnetism impact heavily on different types of life - from a single bacterium to a 110 meter tree - determining shape, movement and longevity.

5 Home

2/24/13

Professor Brian Cox considers what it is about our world that makes it a home for life and asks what ingredients were necessary to transform this once barren planet into the Earth we know today? He reveals that it was a rare chain of events combined with the power of life itself that have made Earth unique amongst the cosmos.

About this show

This beautiful and definitive series reveals how, 3.7 billion years ago, a few fundamental laws gave birth to the most complex, diverse and unique force in the universe - life. Light, gravity, time, matter and energy are the building blocks of everything, from the smallest microbe on Earth to the biggest galaxy. Today, there are thought to be as many as 100 million different species on Earth. Wonders of Life tells the story of the amazing diversity and adaptability of life through the laws that govern it. From the dance of chromosomes as cells divide to the spark of electricity that causes muscles to move, this series uncovers the secrets of life in the most unexpected locations and in the most stunning detail. Be astonished by the inventiveness of nature and discover the epic journey from the origin of life to our own existence.

Ratings and reviews

4.8

62 reviews

Paul Riches

October 11, 2015

His enthusiasm comes across, although his experience is quantum physics, his understanding of biology & chemistry is more than good enough to get you to understand and learn something that you didn't know before.

Glyn Williams

July 11, 2016

A big fan of Brian Cox,and this series makes a great addition to wonders of the universe and wonders of space serieses.

janice turnbull

May 18, 2014

Awesome!

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