<description>&lt;p&gt;Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the tantalising idea that there are shortcuts between distant galaxies, somewhere out there in the universe. The idea emerged in the context of Einstein's theories and the challenge has been not so much to prove their unlikely existence as to show why they ought to be impossible. The universe would have to folded back on itself in places, and there would have to be something to make the wormholes and then to keep them open. But is there anywhere in the vast universe like that? Could there be holes that we or more advanced civilisations might travel through, from one galaxy to another and, if not, why not? &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;With &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Toby Wiseman
Professor of Theoretical Physics at Imperial College London&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Katy Clough 
Senior Lecturer in Mathematics at Queen Mary, University of London&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;And &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Andrew Pontzen 
Professor of Cosmology at Durham University&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Producer: Simon Tillotson&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Reading list:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Jim Al-Khalili, Black Holes, Wormholes and Time Machines (Taylor &amp;amp; Francis, 1999)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Andrew Pontzen, The Universe in a Box: Simulations and the Quest to Code the Cosmos (Riverhead Books, 2023)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Claudia de Rham, The Beauty of Falling: A Life in Pursuit of Gravity (Princeton University Press, 2024)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Carl Sagan, Contact (Simon and Schuster, 1985)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Kip Thorne, Black Holes &amp;amp; Time Warps: Einstein's Outrageous Legacy (W. W. Norton &amp;amp; Company, 1994)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Kip Thorne, Science of Interstellar (W. W. Norton &amp;amp; Company, 2014)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Matt Visser, Lorentzian Wormholes: From Einstein to Hawking (American Institute of Physics Melville, NY, 1996)
 &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In Our Time is a BBC Studios Audio Production&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Melvyn Bragg and guests test the idea that there are shortcuts between distant galaxies.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the tantalising idea that there are shortcuts between distant galaxies, somewhere out there in the universe. The idea emerged in the context of Einstein's theories and the challenge has been not so much to prove their unlikely existence as to show why they ought to be impossible. The universe would have to folded back on itself in places, and there would have to be something to make the wormholes and then to keep them open. But is there anywhere in the vast universe like that? Could there be holes that we or more advanced civilisations might travel through, from one galaxy to another and, if not, why not? With Toby Wiseman
Professor of Theoretical Physics at Imperial College LondonKaty Clough 
Senior Lecturer in Mathematics at Queen Mary, University of LondonAnd Andrew Pontzen 
Professor of Cosmology at Durham UniversityProducer: Simon TillotsonReading list:Jim Al-Khalili, Black Holes, Wormholes and Time Machines (Taylor &amp; Francis, 1999)Andrew Pontzen, The Universe in a Box: Simulations and the Quest to Code the Cosmos (Riverhead Books, 2023)Claudia de Rham, The Beauty of Falling: A Life in Pursuit of Gravity (Princeton University Press, 2024)Carl Sagan, Contact (Simon and Schuster, 1985)Kip Thorne, Black Holes &amp; Time Warps: Einstein's Outrageous Legacy (W. W. Norton &amp; Company, 1994)Kip Thorne, Science of Interstellar (W. W. Norton &amp; Company, 2014)Matt Visser, Lorentzian Wormholes: From Einstein to Hawking (American Institute of Physics Melville, NY, 1996)
 In Our Time is a BBC Studios Audio Production

Wormholes

<description>&lt;p&gt;Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the most abundant lifeform on Earth: the viruses that 'eat' bacteria. Early in the 20th century, scientists noticed that something in their Petri dishes was making bacteria disappear and they called these bacteriophages, things that eat bacteria. From studying these phages, it soon became clear that they offered countless real or potential benefits for understanding our world, from the tracking of diseases to helping unlock the secrets of DNA to treatments for long term bacterial infections. With further research, they could be an answer to the growing problem of antibiotic resistance.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;With &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Martha Clokie
Director for the Centre for Phage Research and Professor of Microbiology at the University of Leicester&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;James Ebdon
Professor of Environmental Microbiology at the University of Brighton&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;And &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Claas Kirchhelle
Historian and Chargé de Recherche at the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research’s CERMES3 Unit in Paris.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Producer: Simon Tillotson&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In Our Time is a BBC Studios Audio Production&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Reading list: &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;James Ebdon, ‘Tackling sources of contamination in water: The age of phage’ (Microbiologist, Society for Applied Microbiology, Vol 20.1, 2022) &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Thomas Häusler, Viruses vs. Superbugs: A Solution to the Antibiotics Crisis? (Palgrave Macmillan, 2006)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Tom Ireland, The Good Virus: The Untold Story of Phages: The Mysterious Microbes that Rule Our World, Shape Our Health and Can Save Our Future (Hodder Press, 2024)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Claas Kirchhelle and Charlotte Kirchhelle, ‘Northern Normal–Laboratory Networks, Microbial Culture Collections, and Taxonomies of Power (1939-2000)’ (SocArXiv Papers, 2024) &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Dmitriy Myelnikov, ‘An alternative cure: the adoption and survival of bacteriophage therapy in the USSR, 1922–1955’ (Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences 73, no. 4, 2018)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Forest Rohwer, Merry Youle, Heather Maughan and Nao Hisakawa, Life in our Phage World: A Centennial Field Guide to Earth’s most Diverse Inhabitants (Wholon, 2014)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Steffanie Strathdee and Thomas Patterson (2019) The Perfect Predator: A Scientist’s Race to Save Her Husband from a Deadly Superbug: A Memoir (Hachette Books, 2020)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;William C. Summers, Félix d`Herelle and the Origins of Molecular Biology (Yale University Press, 1999)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;William C. Summers, The American Phage Group: Founders of Molecular Biology (University Press, 2023)&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss how viruses can help us track and cure bacterial illnesses

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the most abundant lifeform on Earth: the viruses that 'eat' bacteria. Early in the 20th century, scientists noticed that something in their Petri dishes was making bacteria disappear and they called these bacteriophages, things that eat bacteria. From studying these phages, it soon became clear that they offered countless real or potential benefits for understanding our world, from the tracking of diseases to helping unlock the secrets of DNA to treatments for long term bacterial infections. With further research, they could be an answer to the growing problem of antibiotic resistance.With Martha Clokie
Director for the Centre for Phage Research and Professor of Microbiology at the University of LeicesterJames Ebdon
Professor of Environmental Microbiology at the University of BrightonAnd Claas Kirchhelle
Historian and Chargé de Recherche at the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research’s CERMES3 Unit in Paris.Producer: Simon TillotsonIn Our Time is a BBC Studios Audio ProductionReading list: James Ebdon, ‘Tackling sources of contamination in water: The age of phage’ (Microbiologist, Society for Applied Microbiology, Vol 20.1, 2022) Thomas Häusler, Viruses vs. Superbugs: A Solution to the Antibiotics Crisis? (Palgrave Macmillan, 2006)Tom Ireland, The Good Virus: The Untold Story of Phages: The Mysterious Microbes that Rule Our World, Shape Our Health and Can Save Our Future (Hodder Press, 2024)Claas Kirchhelle and Charlotte Kirchhelle, ‘Northern Normal–Laboratory Networks, Microbial Culture Collections, and Taxonomies of Power (1939-2000)’ (SocArXiv Papers, 2024) Dmitriy Myelnikov, ‘An alternative cure: the adoption and survival of bacteriophage therapy in the USSR, 1922–1955’ (Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences 73, no. 4, 2018)Forest Rohwer, Merry Youle, Heather Maughan and Nao Hisakawa, Life in our Phage World: A Centennial Field Guide to Earth’s most Diverse Inhabitants (Wholon, 2014)Steffanie Strathdee and Thomas Patterson (2019) The Perfect Predator: A Scientist’s Race to Save Her Husband from a Deadly Superbug: A Memoir (Hachette Books, 2020)William C. Summers, Félix d`Herelle and the Origins of Molecular Biology (Yale University Press, 1999)William C. Summers, The American Phage Group: Founders of Molecular Biology (University Press, 2023)

Bacteriophages

<description>&lt;p&gt;Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the planet which is closest to our Sun. We see it as an evening or a morning star, close to where the Sun has just set or is about to rise, and observations of Mercury helped Copernicus understand that Earth and the other planets orbit the Sun, so displacing Earth from the centre of our system. In the 20th century, further observations of Mercury helped Einstein prove his general theory of relativity. For the last 50 years we have been sending missions there to reveal something of Mercury's secrets and how those relate to the wider universe, and he latest, BepiColombo, is out there in space now. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;With&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Emma Bunce
Professor of Planetary Plasma Physics and Director of the Institute for Space at the University of Leicester&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;David Rothery
Professor of Planetary Geosciences at the Open University&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;And &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Carolin Crawford
Emeritus Fellow of Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge, and Emeritus Member of the Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Producer: Simon Tillotson
In Our Time is a BBC Studios Audio production&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Reading list: &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Emma Bunce, ‘All (X-ray) eyes on Mercury’ (Astronomy &amp;amp; Geophysics, Volume 64, Issue 4, August 2023) &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Emma Bunce et al, ‘The BepiColombo Mercury Imaging X-Ray Spectrometer: Science Goals, Instrument Performance and Operations’ (Space Science Reviews: SpringerLink, volume 216, article number 126, Nov 2020)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;David A. Rothery, Planet Mercury: From Pale Pink Dot to Dynamic World (Springer, 2014)&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the planet closest to our Sun.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the planet which is closest to our Sun. We see it as an evening or a morning star, close to where the Sun has just set or is about to rise, and observations of Mercury helped Copernicus understand that Earth and the other planets orbit the Sun, so displacing Earth from the centre of our system. In the 20th century, further observations of Mercury helped Einstein prove his general theory of relativity. For the last 50 years we have been sending missions there to reveal something of Mercury's secrets and how those relate to the wider universe, and he latest, BepiColombo, is out there in space now. WithEmma Bunce
Professor of Planetary Plasma Physics and Director of the Institute for Space at the University of LeicesterDavid Rothery
Professor of Planetary Geosciences at the Open UniversityAnd Carolin Crawford
Emeritus Fellow of Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge, and Emeritus Member of the Institute of Astronomy, CambridgeProducer: Simon Tillotson
In Our Time is a BBC Studios Audio productionReading list: Emma Bunce, ‘All (X-ray) eyes on Mercury’ (Astronomy &amp; Geophysics, Volume 64, Issue 4, August 2023) Emma Bunce et al, ‘The BepiColombo Mercury Imaging X-Ray Spectrometer: Science Goals, Instrument Performance and Operations’ (Space Science Reviews: SpringerLink, volume 216, article number 126, Nov 2020)David A. Rothery, Planet Mercury: From Pale Pink Dot to Dynamic World (Springer, 2014)

Mercury

<description>&lt;p&gt;Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Serbian-American inventor Nikola Tesla (1856-1943) and his role in the development of electrical systems towards the end of the nineteenth century. He made his name in New York in the contest over which current should flow into homes and factories in America. Some such as Edison backed direct current or DC while others such as Westinghouse backed alternating current or AC and Nikola Tesla’s invention of a motor that worked on AC swung it for the alternating system that went on to power the modern age. He ensured his reputation and ideas burnt brightly for the next decades, making him synonymous with the lone, genius inventor of the new science fiction. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;With &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Simon Schaffer
Emeritus Fellow of Darwin College, University of Cambridge&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Jill Jonnes
Historian and author of “Empires of Light: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse and the Race to Electrify the World”&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;And &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Iwan Morus
Professor of History at Aberystwyth University&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Producer: Simon Tillotson&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Reading list: &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;W. Bernard Carlson, Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age (Princeton University Press, 2013)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Margaret Cheney and Robert Uth, Tesla: Master of Lightning (Barnes &amp;amp; Noble Books, 1999) &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Thomas P. Hughes, Networks of Power: Electrification in Western Society, 1880-1930 (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1983)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Carolyn Marvin, When Old Technologies Were New (Open University Press, 1988)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Iwan Rhys Morus, Nikola Tesla and the Electrical Future (Icon Books, 2019)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Iwan Rhys Morus, How The Victorians Took Us To The Moon (Icon, 2022)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;David E. Nye, Electrifying America: Social Meanings of a New Technology (MIT Press, 1991)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;John J. O’Neill, Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla (first published 1944; Cosimo Classics, 2006)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Marc J. Seifer, Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, Biography of a Genius (first published 1996; Citadel Press, 2016)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Nikola Tesla, My Inventions: The Autobiography of Nikola Tesla (first published 1919; Martino Fine Books, 2011)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Nikola Tesla, My Inventions and other Writings (Penguin, 2012)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In Our Time is a BBC Studios Audio production&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the celebrated Serbian-American inventor.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Serbian-American inventor Nikola Tesla (1856-1943) and his role in the development of electrical systems towards the end of the nineteenth century. He made his name in New York in the contest over which current should flow into homes and factories in America. Some such as Edison backed direct current or DC while others such as Westinghouse backed alternating current or AC and Nikola Tesla’s invention of a motor that worked on AC swung it for the alternating system that went on to power the modern age. He ensured his reputation and ideas burnt brightly for the next decades, making him synonymous with the lone, genius inventor of the new science fiction. With Simon Schaffer
Emeritus Fellow of Darwin College, University of CambridgeJill Jonnes
Historian and author of “Empires of Light: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse and the Race to Electrify the World”And Iwan Morus
Professor of History at Aberystwyth UniversityProducer: Simon TillotsonReading list: W. Bernard Carlson, Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age (Princeton University Press, 2013)Margaret Cheney and Robert Uth, Tesla: Master of Lightning (Barnes &amp; Noble Books, 1999) Thomas P. Hughes, Networks of Power: Electrification in Western Society, 1880-1930 (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1983)Carolyn Marvin, When Old Technologies Were New (Open University Press, 1988)Iwan Rhys Morus, Nikola Tesla and the Electrical Future (Icon Books, 2019)Iwan Rhys Morus, How The Victorians Took Us To The Moon (Icon, 2022)David E. Nye, Electrifying America: Social Meanings of a New Technology (MIT Press, 1991)John J. O’Neill, Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla (first published 1944; Cosimo Classics, 2006)Marc J. Seifer, Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, Biography of a Genius (first published 1996; Citadel Press, 2016)Nikola Tesla, My Inventions: The Autobiography of Nikola Tesla (first published 1919; Martino Fine Books, 2011)Nikola Tesla, My Inventions and other Writings (Penguin, 2012)In Our Time is a BBC Studios Audio production

Nikola Tesla

<description>&lt;p&gt;Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the German physicist who, at the age of 23 and while still a student, effectively created quantum mechanics for which he later won the Nobel Prize. Werner Heisenberg made this breakthrough in a paper in 1925 when, rather than starting with an idea of where atomic particles were at any one time, he worked backwards from what he observed of atoms and their particles and the light they emitted, doing away with the idea of their continuous orbit of the nucleus and replacing this with equations. This was momentous and from this flowed what’s known as his Uncertainty Principle, the idea that, for example, you can accurately measure the position of an atomic particle or its momentum, but not both.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;With &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Fay Dowker
Professor of Theoretical Physics at Imperial College London&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Harry Cliff
Research Fellow in Particle Physics at the University of Cambridge&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;And &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Frank Close
Professor Emeritus of Theoretical Physics and Fellow Emeritus at Exeter College at the University of Oxford&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Producer: Simon Tillotson&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Reading list:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Philip Ball, Beyond Weird: Why Everything You Thought You Knew about Quantum Physics Is Different (Vintage, 2018)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;John Bell, ‘Against 'measurement'’ (Physics World, Vol 3, No 8, 1990)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Mara Beller, Quantum Dialogue: The Making of a Revolution (University of Chicago Press, 2001)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;David C. Cassidy, Beyond Uncertainty: Heisenberg, Quantum Physics, And The Bomb (Bellevue Literary Press, 2010) &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Werner Heisenberg, Physics and Philosophy (first published 1958; Penguin Classics, 2000)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Carlo Rovelli, Helgoland: The Strange and Beautiful Story of Quantum Physics (Penguin, 2022)&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Heisenberg's key role at the outset of quantum mechanics

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the German physicist who, at the age of 23 and while still a student, effectively created quantum mechanics for which he later won the Nobel Prize. Werner Heisenberg made this breakthrough in a paper in 1925 when, rather than starting with an idea of where atomic particles were at any one time, he worked backwards from what he observed of atoms and their particles and the light they emitted, doing away with the idea of their continuous orbit of the nucleus and replacing this with equations. This was momentous and from this flowed what’s known as his Uncertainty Principle, the idea that, for example, you can accurately measure the position of an atomic particle or its momentum, but not both.With Fay Dowker
Professor of Theoretical Physics at Imperial College LondonHarry Cliff
Research Fellow in Particle Physics at the University of CambridgeAnd Frank Close
Professor Emeritus of Theoretical Physics and Fellow Emeritus at Exeter College at the University of OxfordProducer: Simon TillotsonReading list:Philip Ball, Beyond Weird: Why Everything You Thought You Knew about Quantum Physics Is Different (Vintage, 2018)John Bell, ‘Against 'measurement'’ (Physics World, Vol 3, No 8, 1990)Mara Beller, Quantum Dialogue: The Making of a Revolution (University of Chicago Press, 2001)David C. Cassidy, Beyond Uncertainty: Heisenberg, Quantum Physics, And The Bomb (Bellevue Literary Press, 2010) Werner Heisenberg, Physics and Philosophy (first published 1958; Penguin Classics, 2000)Carlo Rovelli, Helgoland: The Strange and Beautiful Story of Quantum Physics (Penguin, 2022)

Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle

Scientific principles, theory, and the role of key figures in the advancement of science.

In Our Time: Science

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