Forces of Nature

Brian uncovers how the stunning diversity of shapes in the natural world are shadows of the rules that govern the universe. In Spain he shows how an attempt by hundreds of people to build the highest human tower reveals the force that shapes our planet.

Professor Brian Cox follows Earth's epic journey through space. He takes to the air in a top-secret fighter jet to race the spin of the planet and reverse the passage of the day. In Brazil, a monstrous wave that surges up the Amazon River provides an epic ride of a different kind - chased by a top surfer through the rainforest, this tidal wave marks Earth constant dance with the Moon.

Brian shows how Earth's basic ingredients, like the pure sulphur mined in the heart of a deadly volcano in Indonesia, have become the building blocks of life. Hidden deep in a cave in the Dominican Republic lies a magical world created by the same property of water that makes it essential to life.

Brian Cox travels to Iceland to witness the delicate splendour of a moonbow, the band of colours unleashed when moonbeams are cracked open by the spray of a waterfall. Brian visits the site of an enormous outpouring of lava to explain why hot things glow red, and how the different colours of light energy from the sun transform the plains of the Serengeti in Tanzania.