Cumbrian Sky

I'm sure you've heard on the radio, or seen on the TV news, that a huge new piece of scientific kit is about to be turned on, and that it "has the potential to revolutionise our understanding of the universe" etc, etc. I'm talking, of course, about the Large Hadron Collider at CERN.

What is it? Well, as I understand it, basically it's a big underground laboratory where scientists will smash particles together to try and figure out what conditions were like in the early universe. Why bother? Because - as I understand it - that will tell us a lot about how the universe formed, what it formed out of, and...

I know... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.....

I have to be honest, I’ve usually been left absolutely stone cold and unmoved by the whole particle physics/cosmology thing. Any aspect of astronomy that is displayed on a blackboard has always been about as interesting to me as the latest episode of BIG BROTHER or MIDSUMMER MURDERS. I know I should be interested, that it's "all astronomy", but, well, I can't help it, it just seems - to me - boring compared to all the more visual things in astronomy. I love the pretty pictures of Mars taken by Spirit and Oppy, of Saturn and its rings and moons taken by Cassini, etc. I’m an amateur astronomer and Outreach educator who can show a field full of people the stars and constellations, or take a classroom on a breathtaking Powerpoint tour of the solar system... but dark matter, dark energy, and all these particles whizzing about… naaah, not bothered.

Until I heard this talk by Prof Brian Cox, which I was pointed to via a story on Phil Plait's Bad Astronomy blog. It's stunning, just stunning. And although yes, I do feel a little embarrassed admitting it, after listening to Brian's truly excellent talk I “get” for the first time why this is such a big deal.

(Who's Prof Brian Cox? Find out here...)

Give it a listen - and a watch - you won't be disappointed. Brian Cox is a superb speaker, one of the best science translators out there at the moment, and I am absolutely sure he is destined for huge, huge success on TV and in the media as an astronomy commentator and "expert" in the not too distant future. If there's a picture in your mind of an astrophysicist, Brian is the exact opposite. He looks like a rock star - in fact, he was once (kind of) a pop star, so that's not surprising. He's a sickeningly perfect combination of a brain the size of a planet and a gift for communication. He'll go a long way.

Anyway, if, like me, you didn't "get" astrophysics before, then this talk will open up, literally, a whole new universe of possibility and wonder for  you...

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