The Secrets of Quantum Physics - Season 1
Season 1
Episodes
Einstein's Nightmare
Professor Jim Al-Khalili traces the story of arguably the most important, accurate and yet perplexing scientific theory ever - quantum physics.
The story starts at the beginning of the 20th century with scientists trying to better understand how light bulbs work. This simple question led them deep into the hidden workings of matter, into the sub-atomic building blocks of the world around us. Here they discovered phenomena unlike any encountered before - a realm where things can be in many places at once, where chance and probability call the shots and where reality appears to only truly exist when we observe it.
Albert Einstein hated the idea that nature, at its most fundamental level, is governed by chance. Jim reveals how, in the 1930s, Einstein thought he'd found a fatal flaw in quantum physics because it implies that sub-atomic particles can communicate faster than light in defiance of the theory of relativity.
For thirty years his ideas were ignored. Then, in the 1960s, a brilliant scientist from Northern Ireland called John Bell showed there was a way to test if Einstein was right and quantum mechanics was actually mistaken. In a laboratory in Oxford, Jim repeats this critical experiment - does reality really exist or do we conjure it into existence by the act of observation?
Let There Be Life
Physicist Jim Al-Khalili routinely deals with the strangest subject in all of science - quantum physics, the astonishing and perplexing theory of sub-atomic particles. But now he's turning his attention to the world of nature. Can quantum mechanics explain the greatest mysteries in biology?
His first encounter is with the robin. This familiar little bird turns out to navigate using one of the most bizarre effects in physics - quantum entanglement, a process which seems to defy common sense. Even Albert Einstein himself could not believe it.
Jim finds that even the most personal of human experiences - our sense of smell - is touched by ethereal quantum vibrations. According to the latest experiments, it seems that our quantum noses are listening to smells. Jim then discovers that the most famous law of quantum physics - the uncertainty principle - is obeyed by plants and trees as they capture sunlight during the vital process of photosynthesis.
Finally, Jim asks if quantum physics might play a role in evolution. Could the strange laws of the sub-atomic world, which allow objects to tunnel through impassable barriers in defiance of common sense, effect the mechanism by which living species evolve?
Recently Updated Shows
The Real Housewives of Atlanta
An up-close and personal look at life in Hotlanta, The Real Housewives of Atlanta follows five glamorous southern belles as they balance motherhood, demanding careers and a fast-paced social calendar, and shows what life is like in the most exclusive areas of Atlanta. These driven and ambitious women prove that they're not just "housewives," but entrepreneurs, doting mothers and classy southern women. These ladies show the world what it takes to live large in some of the hottest zip codes in the south.
The Gilded Age
The American Gilded Age was a period of immense economic change, of huge fortunes made and lost, and the rise of disparity between old money and new.
Against this backdrop of change, the story begins in 1882 — introducing young Marian Brook, the orphaned daughter of a Union general, who moves into the New York City home of her thoroughly old money aunts Agnes van Rhijn and Ada Brook. Accompanied by Peggy Scott, an accomplished African-American woman, Marian inadvertently becomes enmeshed in a social war between one of her aunts, a scion of the old money set, and her stupendously rich neighbors, a ruthless railroad tycoon and his ambitious wife, George and Bertha Russell.
In this exciting new world that is on the brink of the modern age, will Marian follow the established rules of society, or forge her own path?
Bachelor in Paradise
Some of The Bachelor's biggest stars and villains are back. They all left The Bachelor or The Bachelorette with broken hearts, but now they know what it really takes to find love, and on Bachelor in Paradise they'll get a second chance to find their soul mates. Contestants will live together in an isolated romantic paradise in Mexico and explore new romantic relationships.
The 1% Club
The 1% Club is a unique, compelling and funny entertainment show that tests the nation's intelligence, based on a scientific survey. It's a chance to test how your brain works through a series of questions that all have a right answer but can also lead to a series of entertaining wrong answers along the way. Whether you're a contestant vying for the cash prize or a viewer playing with your friends and family on the app, answer enough questions correctly, and you could earn yourself a place in the 1% Club: an elite group of people who can honestly say they've outwitted 99% of the population.