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Brian Cox and Alice Roberts on the Incredible Unlikeliness of Human Existence

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Who are we? Why are we here? Are we alone in the universe? How did we become the creatures that we are? How might we further evolve?

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Who are we? Why are we here? Are we alone in the universe? How did we become the creatures that we are? How might we further evolve?

These are some of the big questions that Brian Cox and Alice Roberts tackled when they came to the Intelligence Squared stage in December. Brian Cox is the rockstar who became a scientist, and is now a rockstar scientist. He is known to millions as the presenter of the BBC Wonders series in which he unravels the complexities of the universe with calm clarity and an infectious sense of wonder. Alice Roberts is a no less talented science story-teller. A doctor, anatomist, osteoarchaeologist and writer, she has enthralled television audiences with BBC series such as The Incredible Human Journey.

In this wide-ranging conversation Cox and Roberts discussed the origins of the universe, life and humanity – and you. You’re the product of what seems to be an extremely unlikely chain of events. Our universe was born with just the right laws for galaxies to form, with at least one planet capable of producing and sustaining life. The origin of muliticellular life on this planet was essentially an accident; the mammals were lucky to outlive the dinosaurs; a handful of two-legged apes survived, against the odds, on the plains of Africa… and then there’s the unlikeliness of your mother meeting your father and that particular sperm fusing with that particular egg. The chance of you being here at all is tiny. How can physics and biology help us to make sense of all that unlikeliness? How did chance and accident combine to create us?

Featuring

  • Brian Cox

    Particle physicist and broadcaster

  • Alice Roberts

    Anatomist, anthropologist and broadcaster

Speakers are subject to change.

Speakers

Featuring

Brian Cox

Particle physicist and broadcaster

Particle physicist and professor at the University of Manchester, and researcher on one of the most ambitious experiments on Earth, the ATLAS experiment on the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland. He is the presenter of the popular BBC Wonders series, as well as BBC2’s Stargazing Live with Dara O’Briain and Radio 4’s The Infinite Monkey Cage with Robin Ince. In the 1990s he was the keyboard player for the pop band D:Ream. His latest book is Human Universe.

Alice Roberts

Anatomist, anthropologist and broadcaster

Anatomist and anthropologist, television presenter, author and Professor of Public Engagement with Science at the University of Birmingham. She has presented Coast, Horizon and several series about human evolution – including The Incredible Human Journey, Origins of Us and Prehistoric Autopsy – on BBC2. She has also presented Inside Science on Radio 4, and writes a regular science column for The Observer. Her books include Evolution: The Human Story, The Incredible Human Journey and The Complete Human Body. Her latest book is The Incredible Unlikeliness of Being: Evolution and the Making of Us.