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Every episode
The Infinite Monkey Cage
30 episodes
The North Pole Unwrapped - Russell Kane, Felicity Aston and Lloyd Peck
Dec 24, 2025 · 42 min
In this Christmas episode of The Infinite Monkey Cage, Brian Cox and Robin Ince head to the North Pole to explore the dazzling science behind the northern lights, the extreme adaptations that help animals - and even Santa Claus - survive the Arctic cold, and how the Earth’s magnetic field might just guide him home. Joining the monkeys are comedian Russell Kane, Arctic explorer Felicity Aston and Polar biologist Lloyd Peck, as they brave the chill to uncover the wonders of one of Earth’s most rem…
Monkey Business - Robin Dunbar, Dave Gorman and Jo Setchell
Dec 17, 2025 · 43 min
In perhaps the monkiest Infinite Monkey Cage episode there’s ever been, Brian Cox and Robin Ince attempt to uncover the secrets of love, lust and friendship in primates. Swinging by to offer a hand (or tail) are evolutionary psychologist Robin Dunbar, anthropologist Jo Setchell, and comedian Dave Gorman. Together the panel explores Dunbar’s number in monkeys – the idea that the number of friendships an individual can maintain correlates with brain size – with the very creator of the theory! They…
Head in the Clouds - Owain Wyn Evans, Gavin Pretor-Pinney, Amanda Maycock
Dec 10, 2025 · 42 min
Robin Ince and Brian Cox look up to the heavens as they try to ‘de-mistify’ the foggy science of clouds. They’re joined by Cloud Appreciation Society founder Gavin Pretor-Pinney, climate scientist Amanda Maycock, and former weather presenter and drummer Owain Wyn Evans, for a whirlwind tour of our too often-overlooked aerial realm. The panel explores how clouds form, why they take such extraordinary shapes, and how satellites and weather balloons help us keep track of them. They discover why low…
Fusion – Ria Lina, Yasmin Andrew and Howard Wilson
Dec 3, 2025 · 42 min
Robin Ince and Brian Cox get all fired up, overcome their natural repulsion and come together for this stellar episode on nuclear fusion. They’re joined by plasma physicist Yasmin Andrew, fusion scientist Howard Wilson and comedian Ria Lina to uncover the secrets of star-making here on our planet. Together the panel discovers how the sun fuses atoms to release energy and why misbehaving, jiggling plasma makes this tricky to recreate on Earth. They explore the competing technological approaches —…
What’s the deal with eels? – Lucy Porter, David Righton and Caroline Durif
Nov 26, 2025 · 42 min
Fishing rods at the ready, Brian Cox and Robin Ince attempt to reel in a creature that has baffled scientists since Aristotle: the eel. Wriggling in to help them uncover the mysteries of one of nature’s slimiest subjects are marine scientists David Righton and Caroline Durif, and comedian Lucy Porter. How do eels navigate such vast distances so deep under water? Why has no one ever seen them reproduce? And WHY would anyone eat them jellied with pie and mash?! The panel discovers that Spanish eel…
What’s the time? - Marcus Brigstocke, Leon Lobo, Louise Devoy
Nov 19, 2025 · 42 min
Robin Ince and Brian Cox wind up at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich – arguably the centre of time – to uncoil the mysteries of what time is and how on Earth (…and on moon) we keep track of it. Taking the time to join them are comedian Marcus Brigstocke, curator of the Royal Observatory Louise Devoy, and Head of the National Timing Centre Leon Lobo. From ancient Egyptian knuckle counting to sun dials, quartz oscillators and atomic clocks, the panel turns back time to discover how we measured a…
Mind-reading Computers – Phil Wang, Anne Vanhoestenberghe and Luke Bashford
Nov 12, 2025 · 43 min
For once, Brian Cox and Robin Ince are on the same wavelength – with thinking caps firmly on, they plug into the science of brain-computer interfaces. Helping them decode the tech are neuroscientist Luke Bashford, biomedical engineer Anne Vanhoestenberghe, and comedian Phil Wang. Together the panel switches on to the possibilities of using implanted and wearable devices to restore movement, speech, sight… or even to decode thoughts themselves. From the ethics of cognitive enhancement to the futu…
Illuminating Light - Jess Wade, Russell Foster and Bridget Christie
Aug 20, 2025 · 42 min
What is light? How has it shaped our understanding of the universe, our biology, and even our culture? In this illuminating episode Brian Cox and Robin Ince shine a spotlight on the fascinating science and history of light. From sun and circadian rhythms to the dazzling complexity of quantum, they explore how humans have understood and been influenced by light across time. Joining them to shed light on the subject are physicist Dr Jess Wade, Neuroscientist Professor Russell Foster and comedian B…
Moths v Butterflies - Katy Brand, Jane Hill and Chris Jiggins
Aug 13, 2025 · 42 min
What really separates a moth from a butterfly? Is it just a matter of day and night, or is there more to this fluttering feud than meets the eye? Professor Brian Cox and Robin Ince flap into the fabulous world of Lepidoptera with Professor Jane Hill, Professor Chris Jiggins, and comedian Katy Brand. Together, they chase colourful wings through science and storytelling, uncovering epic insect migrations, the secrets behind dazzling wing patterns, and most importantly, why Katy has a butterfly tat…
Technofossils - Sarah Gabbott, Mark Miodownik and Aurie Styla
Aug 6, 2025 · 42 min
Brian Cox and Robin Ince dig deep into the strata of an imagined human history to unearth the curious concept of technofossils. Joined by paleobiologist Sarah Gabbott, material scientist Mark Miodownik and comedian and tech enthusiast Aurie Styla the panel unearth how the everyday objects that we throw away today compare to fossils of the past. Together, the panel investigates how these modern artifacts could degrade over time to become the fossils of the future. From old smartphones buried in b…
The Mighty Spud - Sandy Knapp, Glenn Bryan and Susan Calman
Jul 30, 2025 · 43 min
Robin Ince and Brian Cox get out the ketchup and peel back the layers of one of the most versatile and beloved foods - potatoes. From the science of starch to the surprising role potatoes have played in history, we’re digging deep to uncover the truth behind the mighty spud. Chipping into the conversation are botanist Sandy Knapp, geneticist Glenn Bryan and potato passionate comedian Susan Calman. Susan is astonished to learn that the potatoes lining our supermarket shelves all belong to a singl…
How to Build the Perfect Athlete - Helen Glover, Hugh Dennis, Steve Haake and Emma Ross
Jul 23, 2025 · 42 min
Brian Cox and Robin Ince are limbering up for a high-performance episode all about what it takes to build the perfect athlete. Joining them on the track are physiologist Dr Emma Ross, sports engineer Professor Steve Haake, Olympic rowing legend Helen Glover, and comedian Hugh Dennis - who’s getting into gear and reliving his cycling adventures in the Pyrenees. From muscle power and mental grit to high-tech training tools, the team dives into the science of champions. Can we engineer the ultimate…
Should We Settle in Space? - Tim Peake, Kelly Weinersmith and Alan Davies
Jul 16, 2025 · 43 min
Brian Cox and Robin Ince blast off into a cosmic controversy as they ask, should humanity become an interplanetary species? At Harwell Campus, a space science innovation hub, they’re joined by astronaut Tim Peake, biologist and Royal Society prize winning author Kelly Weinersmith, and comedian Alan Davies to explore the science, ethics, and challenges of settling on Mars or on the Moon. Are we bold pioneers venturing into the unknown, or just reckless tenants abandoning Earth in search of a new…
201st Birthday Bonanza - Mel Giedroyc, Deborah Meaden and Nish Kumar
Jul 9, 2025 · 43 min
Get ready for a landmark episode of The Infinite Monkey Cage as we celebrate our 201st show! Brian Cox and Robin Ince invite a lively panel of celebrity guests to pose their burning scientific questions to a top-tier team of scientists. Mel Giedroyc is tunnelling into the world of engineering, asking how we build and operate trains under some of the world’s busiest cities? Mel has found a new best friend in, Isabel Coman, Director of Engineering at Transport for London, who is here to guide her…
Nature's Shapes - Dave Gorman, Sarah Hart and Thomas Woolley
Mar 26, 2025 · 42 min
Brian Cox and Robin Ince unpick the hidden codes behind the shapes we see in nature with mathematicians Sarah Hart & Thomas Woolley and comedian Dave Gorman. The panel marvel at how evolution so often beats mathematicians to finding the most elegant solutions, after all, it’s had millennia to experiment. How do trees achieve the optimal distribution of leaves and why are tortoise shells so geometrically exciting? Plus we learn why the cheetah got its spots, thanks to the work of Thomas Woolley’s…
The Sound of Music - Brian Eno, Sam Bennett and Trevor Cox
Mar 19, 2025 · 43 min
Brian Cox and Robin Ince explore the history of music recording, joined by acoustics professor Trevor Cox, music professor Sam Bennett and musician and producer Brian Eno. Together they guide us through the evolution of sound recording, a space in which technology hasn’t stood still since its advent in the mid-1800s. We hear the very first recognisable recording of a voice made with a brush making marks in soot and put a spotlight on the Fairlight CMI, a revolutionary digital synthesizer of the…
Saturn v Jupiter - Katherine Parkinson, Paul Abel and Michele Dougherty
Mar 12, 2025 · 42 min
Brian Cox and Robin Ince referee as Saturn and Jupiter square up to each other in a planetary face-off. Representing Team Saturn is space physicist Professor Michele Dougherty, and in the opposite corner is Dr Paul Abel on Team Jupiter. Katherine Parkinson judges this cosmic contest, casting the final vote to decide who will be awarded the coveted Kuiper Belt. It is not all about looks of course, but it is a significant factor in a first impression. Both Saturn and Jupiter score highly in this d…
Adventures on Ice - Darren Harriott, Liz Morris, Christoph Salzmann and Felicity Aston
Mar 5, 2025 · 43 min
Robin Ince and Brian Cox venture into the captivating and surprisingly mysterious realm of ice. Joining them on this cool adventure are former ice dancer Darren Harriott, glaciologist Liz Morris, polar explorer Felicity Aston and ice chemist Christoph Salzmann. From beautifully formed snowflakes to ice shelves in Antarctica, our guests discuss the fascinating science suspended in solid water and how much is still to be discovered. With the help of a gin and tonic they explore the properties of i…
How selfish are we really? - Jo Brand, Matti Wilks and Steve Jones
Feb 26, 2025 · 42 min
Brian Cox and Robin Ince kindly open the door for each other as they step into understanding altruism, asking why humans have evolved to help each other. Joining them to explore the human tendency to be kind is evolutionary biologist Steve Jones, psychologist Matti Wilks and comedian Jo Brand. Starting with the animal kingdom, we probe the biological underpinnings of why organisms might act to help others at an energetic cost to themselves and where this fits alongside the theory of evolution. W…
Journey to the Centre of the Earth - Phil Wang, Ana Ferreira and Chris Jackson
Feb 19, 2025 · 43 min
Brian Cox and Robin Ince slice deep into the lesser-explored world beneath us. To join them on the journey from the crust to the core they are joined by seismologist Ana Ferreira, geologist Chris Jackson and comedian Phil Wang. School children learn about the make-up of the Earth with an image depicting the Earth's core, mantle and crust layered neatly on top of each other, but is this an oversimplification? Our experts reveal that the Earth's innards are less uniform than we might think and mys…
An Unexpected History of the Body
Dec 25, 2024 · 42 min
Brian Cox and Robin Ince uncover the unexpected history of the body in the archives of the Royal Society with special guests Prof Helen King, Sir Mark Walport, Keith Moore and Ed Byrne. Together they dissect some of the most surprising and peculiar beliefs that have been held about the body over the last 500 years, from wandering-womb hypotheses to tobacco-enema resuscitations. They unearth how scientific discoveries have often originated from brave individuals, willing to volunteer their own bo…
Is Extinction the End?
Dec 18, 2024 · 42 min
Brian Cox and Robin Ince dig into de-extinction asking, could we and should we resurrect creatures of the past? They are joined by geneticist Adam Rutherford, palaeontologist Susannah Maidment and comedian/virologist Ria Lina. Extinction has played a significant role in shaping the life we see on Earth today. It is estimated around 95% of species to have ever existed are already extinct - but could any of these extinctions be reversed? Our panel explore the different methods being pursued in the…
Fantastic Elastic
Dec 11, 2024 · 43 min
Brian Cox and Robin Ince expand their knowledge of elasticity with Olympian Bryony Page, comedian Jessica Fostekew & experts Dr Anna Ploszajski and Prof James Busfield from Queen Mary University of London. What makes stretchy things stretch? Together our panel journey through different applications of elastic materials and examine, at the molecular level, what happens when we stretch a material and crucially what causes it to return to its original shape. This is especially pertinent to our gues…
The Science of Baby Making
Dec 4, 2024 · 42 min
Brian Cox and Robin Ince investigate the science of baby making - don’t worry, all theory, no practice! They are joined by Professor Joyce Harper, Dr Ben Steventon and comedian Sara Pascoe to discuss how just two cells can turn into trillions, or in other words, how an embryo can turn into an embryologist. The embryo-building processes across species are remarkably similar, yet there is still so much we don’t know about the beginning of life. Our panel discuss these unknowns, the latest in ferti…
Starless World
Nov 27, 2024 · 42 min
Brian Cox and Robin Ince consider how different our understanding of the universe would be without the stars. They are joined by Maggie Aderin-Pocock, Roberto Trotta and comedian John Bishop who illuminate all that we have learnt from the stars and how different life would be without them. Every culture has looked up at the night sky, but why are we so drawn to the pin pricks of light in the sky above us all and how have they helped shape human civilisation? Roberto Trotta takes us back to the o…
Hedgehogs
Nov 20, 2024 · 43 min
Brian Cox and Robin Ince emerge from the hedge row waking up their guests from hibernation to discuss the fascinating lives of Britain’s favourite mammal, the hedgehog. They are joined by hedgehog experts Hugh Warwick and Sophie Lund Rasmussen (also know as Dr Hedgehog), and by broadcaster and poet Pam Ayres. Sophie Lund Rasmussen has crowd sourced 14 freezers worth of dead hedgehogs for her research and has brought one of her more unique samples with her, the penis of the oldest known hedgehog…
The Cyber Codebreakers
Nov 13, 2024 · 43 min
Brian Cox and Robin Ince head to Bletchley Park with comedian Alan Davies, and cyber experts Victoria Baines and Richard Benham to decode cyberwarfare and discuss its future. As computers have shrunk from the size of rooms to fitting in our jacket pockets, our cyber sleuths explore the changing nature of cyber-attacks and defence. They decipher the fancy jargon abounding in cyber land, from trojan horses to phishing scams and reveal how prolific these attacks are on nation states, businesses and…
Alien Life - Russell Kane, Lisa Kaltenegger and Chris Lintott
Aug 21, 2024 · 42 min
Are we alone in the universe? Brian Cox and Robin Ince venture to Glastonbury in the search for alien life and are joined in their galactic quest by comedian Russell Kane and astronomers Lisa Kaltenegger and Chris Lintott. They imagine the sorts of worlds that might best host alien life, how some of the biological and technological signatures of alien life might appear as well as how evolution might shape this life. They discuss some of the mysterious signatures that have appeared as well as how…
An Unexpected History of Science - Rufus Hound, Matthew Cobb, Victoria Herridge and Keith Moore
Aug 14, 2024 · 43 min
Brian Cox and Robin Ince raid the archives of the Royal Society to reveal an unexpected history of science with guests Rufus Hound, Tori Herridge, Matthew Cobb and Keith Moore. Together they explore some of the surprising and wackiest scientific endeavours undertaken by early members of the Royal Society from the discovery of sperm to testing the insect repelling properties of unicorn horn. They hear how a beautiful book on fish almost scuppered Newton's Principia Mathematica and why a guide to…
What a Gas! - Dave Gorman, Mark Miodownik and Lucy Carpenter
Aug 7, 2024 · 43 min
Brian Cox and Robin Ince talk hot air as they explore the pivotal role of gasses in our lives. Joining them to add some CO2 to the mix is material scientist Mark Miodownik, chemist Lucy Carpenter and comedian Dave Gorman. They discuss how humans came to even understand it existed in the first place as well as how many of the innovations in modern society have been underpinned by this mostly invisible and odourless substance. We laud the humble (or is it noble?) gas and its key role in technologi…
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