From our early days in Ethiopia, to the ancient city of Petra, Jordan, to the return of astronauts to Earth in Kazakhstan, Professor Brian Cox explores the role of brain size and the rise of civilization on our path from apeman to spaceman.

Brian Cox explores why the universe seems set up with the right laws of physics and chance events to create mankind. He reveals the very latest understanding of how the universe came to be this way, and offers a radical new answer to why we are here.

Brian Cox looks at what’s needed for civilization to evolve in the universe, from the need for a benign star and a habitable planet, to the conditions and time for life to spontaneously arise, and offers his provocative take on our apparent solitude.

Brian Cox explores our origins, place, and destiny, and shows how human curiosity has led us to understand our place in space and time—13.8 billion years from the start of the universe, on a tiny rock in a possibly infinite expanse of space.

Brian concludes the series by returning to the top of the world in Svalbard, where he gains access to our civilization's greatest treasure, locked away in a vault deep in the permafrost. Join him as he unlocks the secret to our long-term survival.