The Cosmic Shed

We gathered in At Bristol's wonderful planetarium to watch and discuss The Day the Earth Stood Still (Klaatu, not Keanu). We were raising money for Age UK for this, our third live Cosmic Shed recording.

Andrew, Maddy, Ti and Steve were delighted to be joined by Professors Francesca Stavrakopoulou and Bruce Hood.

As we've discussed SETI and life in the universe quite a bit recently, we thought we'd look at Supernatural Belief this time...following on from our Ghostbusters episode. A revelation about R2D2, Moses and a fair bit about Jesus followed.

show notes

Francesca mentions animals appearing to have rituals attached to an "afterlife" belief. As it happens, the BBC's Emma Napper was in the audience (and in the shed the next day) and has filmed an elephant funeral which you can see here.

 

 Andrew didn't mention this in the episode but had this song in his head for most of the evening...particularly when Professor Francesca was speaking.

Steve mentions Stop Killer Robots, Deep Mind and Tay, the racist, sexist, misogynist AI who only has humanity to blame.

Francesca mentions Ex Machina which we also loved

We gathered in At Bristol's wonderful planetarium to watch and discuss The Day the Earth Stood Still(Klaatu, not Keanu). We were raising money for Age UK for this, our third live Cosmic Shed recording.

Andrew, Maddy, Ti and Steve were delighted to be joined by Professors Francesca Stavrakopoulou and Bruce Hood.

As we've discussed SETI and life in the universe quite a bit recently, we thought we'd look at Supernatural Belief this time...following on from our Ghostbusters episode. A revelation about R2D2, Moses and a fair bit about Jesus followed.

show notes

Francesca mentions animals appearing to have rituals attached to an "afterlife" belief. As it happens, the BBC's Emma Napper was in the audience (and in the shed the next day) and has filmed an elephant funeral which you can see here.

 

 

Andrew didn't mention this in the episode but had this song in his head for most of the evening...particularly when Professor Francesca was speaking.

Steve mentions Stop Killer Robots, Deep Mind and Tay, the racist, sexist, misogynist AI who only has humanity to blame.

Francesca mentions Ex Machina which we also loved

On a cold, frosty night in December a skeptical ghosthunter, a physics expert and a science communicator who believes in ghosts gathered in a crumbling garden shed somewhere in surburban Bristol where they found Andrew keen to chat to them about all things ghostly.

Andrew was delighted to be joined by Hayley Stevens, a paranormal investigator, Harriet Croome, a science communicator and Tushna Commissariat of the Institute of Physics to discuss the 2016 reboot of Ghostbusters....but mainly just ghosts.

Will we end the night joining Harriet in her belief in ghosts? Will Harriet be swung by the weight of evidence against them? There's only one way to find out. An ESP monitor...

Ti appears and Ben pops in for a poem.

So much fun. Thanks everyone.

show notes

Hayley Stevens hosts the Spooktator Podcast

Hayley also mentions and recommends Richard Wiseman's Paranormality book and Michael Shermer's Why people believe weird things.

Andrew and Tushna also feature on the December episode of the Physics World podcast, recorded in the Cosmic Shed.The Day the Earth Stood Still - The Cosmic Shed Live in the Planetarium is on December 13th. Get your tickets here.

On a cold, frosty night in December a skeptical ghosthunter, a physics expert and a science communicator who believes in ghosts gathered in a crumbling garden shed somewhere in surburban Bristol where they found Andrew keen to chat to them about all things ghostly.

Andrew was delighted to be joined by Hayley Stevens, a paranormal investigator, Harriet Croome, a science communicator and Tushna Commissariat of the Institute of Physics to discuss the 2016 reboot of Ghostbusters....but mainly just ghosts.

Will we end the night joining Harriet in her belief in ghosts? Will Harriet be swung by the weight of evidence against them? There's only one way to find out. An ESP monitor...

Ti appears and Ben pops in for a poem.

So much fun. Thanks everyone.

show notes

Hayley Stevens hosts the Spooktator Podcast

Hayley also mentions and recommends Richard Wiseman's Paranormality book and Michael Shermer's Why people believe weird things.

Andrew and Tushna also feature on the December episode of the Physics World podcast, recorded in the Cosmic Shed.

The Day the Earth Stood Still - The Cosmic Shed Live in the Planetarium is on December 13th. Get your tickets here.

 

Arrival and the Ted Chiang short story The Story of Your Life join forces for this episode of the Cosmic Shed.Just as the story in both film and book focus on Louise Banks (Amy Adams), a linguistics expert who has her worldview changed by experiencing the language and culture of an alien race, we're joined by Professor Dan Everett, a linguistics expert who has his worldview changed by experiencing the language and culture of an alien tribe. You can read Dan's book "Don't Sleep, There are Snakes" for the whole story.

We're also delighted to be joined by SETI astronomer Seth Shostak to discuss life in the universe and much more...including what makes him throw up all night long.

Joining Andrew, Steve and Ti in the shed is Antony Poveda of I'm a Scientist Get Me Out Of Here.

In the episode, Ti mentions the QA podcast which we highly recommend and Andrew mentions these episodes of the Reasonable Doubts podcast on Determinism and Free Will. Again, we highly recommend them and all other episodes of the Reasonable Doubts podcast but don't wish to waste any more of our lives worrying if we have free will or not.

Ti has an event coming up called Cancel The Trumpocalypse where you can join him in a pub in Bristol to watch 24 hours of monster movies to raise money for charity.Antony mentions his event when you get to meet a real Artificial Intelligence and we all do our best to say how much we love both the film and the short story...which we erroneously call a "book" throughout.

Arrival and the Ted Chiang short story The Story of Your Life join forces for this episode of the Cosmic Shed.

Just as the story in both film and book focus on Louise Banks (Amy Adams), a linguistics expert who has her worldview changed by experiencing the language and culture of an alien race, we're joined by Professor Dan Everett, a linguistics expert who has his worldview changed by experiencing the language and culture of an alien tribe. You can read Dan's book "Don't Sleep, There are Snakes" for the whole story.

We're also delighted to be joined by SETI astronomer Seth Shostak to discuss life in the universe and much more...including what makes him throw up all night long.

Joining Andrew, Steve and Ti in the shed is Antony Poveda of I'm a Scientist Get Me Out Of Here.

In the episode, Ti mentions the Q&A podcast which we highly recommend and

Andrew catches up with Laurie Goode, a stormtrooper in the original Star Wars film.Laurie claims to be the stormtrooper who banged his head. If you don't know what that means, you can see the clip here.

Laurie also appeared in many other wonderful films and shows including The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and Doctor Who.

Laurie in Doctor WhoAndrew and Laurie were chatting after a screening of Elstree 1976 a documentary film which features Laurie and other extras and actors from the original Star Wars film.

Andrew catches up with Laurie Goode, a stormtrooper in the original Star Wars film.

Laurie claims to be the stormtrooper who banged his head. If you don't know what that means, you can see the clip here.

Laurie also appeared in many other wonderful films and shows including The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and Doctor Who.

Laurie in Doctor Who

Andrew and Laurie were chatting after a screening of Elstree 1976 a documentary film which features Laurie and other extras and actors from the original Star Wars film.

Matin Durrani and Liz Kalaugher join Andrew in the Cosmic Shed to talk about the way animals use Physics and their new book Furry Logic - The Physics of Animal Life

We hear about turtles using the magnetic field to navigate the world and find their way back to the very beach they were born on, why an octopus will change its colour in the dark depths of the oceans and how a grown man can never have seen Star Wars...No, seriously!

show notes

Get your copy of Furry Logic - The Physics of Animal Life here

Illustrations by Aaron John Gregory

Matin Durrani and Liz Kalaugher join Andrew in the Cosmic Shed to talk about the way animals use Physics and their new bookFurry Logic - The Physics of Animal Life

We hear about turtles using the magnetic field to navigate the world and find their way back to the very beach they were born on, why an octopus will change its colour in the dark depths of the oceans and how a grown man can never have seen Star Wars...No, seriously!

show notes

Get your copy of Furry Logic - The Physics of Animal Life here

Illustrations by Aaron John Gregory