The BEST episodes of Dara O Briain's Science Club
Every episode of Dara O Briain's Science Club ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Dara O Briain's Science Club!
Combining lively and in-depth studio discussion with exploratory films and on-the-spot reports, Dara O'Briain's Science Club takes a single subject each week and examines it from lots of different and unexpected angles, from sex to extinction, Einstein to space exploration and brain chemistry to music. It brings some of the world's foremost thinkers together to share their ideas on everything, from how to avoid asteroid impact to whether or not we are still evolving.
#1 - Brain
Season 1 - Episode 5 - Aired 12/4/2012
In the fifth episode of this six part science series, Dara O Briain and his crack team of experts take a weird and wonderful look at the brain.
#2 - Space
Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired 11/27/2012
The comedian and his team of experts investigate outer space, with Josh Widdicombe finding out the challenges Nasa faces to reach its goal of sending astronauts to Mars
#3 - Reproduction
Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 11/6/2012
This first episode in a new six-part science series presented by Dara O Briain takes a look at the weird and wonderful world of reproduction and inheritance.
#4 - Adventures in Time
Season 2 - Episode 2 - Aired 8/1/2013
Dara O Briain and the team go on a journey through time to discover what it is and how to get more of it.
#5 - Invisible Worlds
Season 2 - Episode 6 - Aired 8/29/2013
Dara and the team shine a light on some of the mysterious and usually hidden worlds surrounding us. Science journalist Alok Jha discovers he is playing host to an entire ecosystem of microbes and amazing new research suggests this is responsible not just for his health but for his mood and mental well-being too. Dr Helen Czerski investigates an amazing new technique developed to combat deadly killer viruses. Professor Mark Miodownik takes a plunge into the miniscule nano-world to see what tricks we can steal from nature as he makes the world's toughest high-performance material. In the studio, it is man versus machine as Dara pits his talents against a computer to identify whether a whisky is fake, whilst Mark reveals some gravity defying liquids.
#6 - Mindbending
Season 2 - Episode 1 - Aired 7/25/2013
A computer that can read your thoughts, a NASA theory that the Earth's weather is being influenced by a mysterious force, and how illusions and machines can be used to manipulate the mind.
#7 - Albert Einstein
Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 11/13/2012
In the second episode of this six-part science series, Dara O Briain and his team of experts take us on a mind-altering journey around theoretical physics, with a look at the father of modern physics himself, Albert Einstein. Dara finds out if you can measure the speed of light using cheese on toast, and oceanographer Helen Czerski hunts down Albert Einstein's elusive gravitational waves - which have been mystifying scientists for years. Materials scientist Mark Miodownik takes a fridge apart, guest Marcus Brigstocke attempts to get to grips with dark energy, and some of the biggest brains in science are brought to bear on the eternal problem of tangled headphone wires.
#8 - DIY Science
Season 2 - Episode 3 - Aired 8/8/2013
Science Club explores how powerful, affordable technology is ushering in a new era of DIY science that everyone can get involved in. Science journalist Alok Jha is in California to see how citizen science is being used to save lives in the early detection of earthquakes. Dr Helen Czerski goes to Brazil and discovers an ingenious innovation - in an attempt to eradicate a killer disease, mosquitoes have been modified to self-destruct. In the studio, Dara and Professor Mark Miodownik get to grips with an inflatable crash helmet, a beat box made from vegetables and capture lightning in a box. And the team delve into tech hacking to see how stripping down and re-using technology promises to change our world.
#9 - Future Fantastic
Season 2 - Episode 4 - Aired 8/15/2013
Dara and the team attempt to discover what the future holds in the next five, ten and even 50 years. Science journalist Alok Jha travels to America to meet the latest generation of humanoid robots including one that has mastered that most human of attributes - a sense of touch. The team also investigate the most revolutionary brain-imaging techniques that promise to unlock the mysteries of our minds. Professor Mark Miodownik meets some pioneering engineers who plan to mine the moon, while in the studio Dara and Mark attempt some very low temperature experiments as they explore cryonics, the practice of freezing yourself after death. And no self-respecting science show about the future would be complete without checking out the fashions of tomorrow.
#10 - Extinction
Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 11/20/2012
The comedian and his team of experts take a weird and wonderful look at life, death and extinction. Comedian Mark Steel learns how to deflect an incoming asteroid, neuroscientist Tali Sharot attends the first-ever taste test of beef grown solely in the lab and materials scientist Mark Miodownik takes a shotgun apart. Journalist Alok Jha asks whether pandas should be allowed to die out, as he examines if there are other species it would make more sense to invest effort in saving, and oceanographer Helen Czerski reports on the possibility of bringing extinct species back from the dead.
#11 - Size Matters
Season 2 - Episode 5 - Aired 8/22/2013
Dara and the team probe the miniscule and the enormous to reveal why size matters and how discoveries at either end of the scale are changing the way we view the universe. Professor Mark Miodownik discovers an astonishingly effective lo-tech weapon in the battle against nefarious hospital superbugs. Science journalist Alok Jha visits a premature baby unit in Canada to see how Big Data can save tiny lives. Dr Helen Czerski goes a mile underground in South Dakota to join the hunt for our missing universe and the team visits the New York Stock Exchange to find out how much a millisecond is worth in hard cash. In the studio, Dara investigates the explosive effects of size and Mark swallows a miniature camera to reveal his internal organs.
#12 - Music
Season 1 - Episode 6 - Aired 12/30/2012
In this last (and later than originally scheduled) episode of Science Club, Dara is joined by special guest, James May as the team take a look at the world of music and sound.