logo
episode-header-image
Aug 2020
43m 36s

Does Time Exist?

Bbc Radio 4
About this episode

Brian Cox and Robin Ince are joined by actor and writer Mark Gatiss, theoretical physicists Carlo Rovelli and Fay Dowker to ask timely questions about time. Is time real, does it exist in the fundamental laws of physics, and if it doesn't, why do we experience the sensation of time passing? They look at the idea of the block universe, where our future is as real as our past, which worryingly leads to Robin's favourite question about free will...is that an illusion too? A timely look at the question of time and hopefully just in time...

Producer: Alexandra Feachem

Up next
Dec 2025
The North Pole Unwrapped - Russell Kane, Felicity Aston and Lloyd Peck
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 magne ... Show More
42m 22s
Dec 2025
Monkey Business - Robin Dunbar, Dave Gorman and Jo Setchell
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, ... Show More
42m 30s
Dec 2025
Head in the Clouds - Owain Wyn Evans, Gavin Pretor-Pinney, Amanda Maycock
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 whi ... Show More
42m 24s
Recommended Episodes
Mar 2023
Is time an illusion?
Without a sense of time, leading us from cradle to grave, our lives would make little sense. But on the most fundamental level, physicists aren't sure whether the sort of time we experience exists at all. We talk to three experts and find out if time could potentially be moving b ... Show More
43m 36s
Dec 2024
Cosmic Queries: Time-Keeping
<p>What is time? Is it infinite? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comedian Chuck Nice answer questions all about time. Does time even exist? </p><p><i>(Originally Aired March 3, 2013)</i></p><p>NOTE: StarTalk+ Patrons can listen to this entire episode commercial-free here: <br /><a href=" ... Show More
34m 58s
Dec 2022
Past, Present, Future: Time Travel with Brian Greene
<p>What type of time travel is in <i>A Christmas Carol</i>? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comedian Chuck Nice answer fan questions on time travel, paradoxes, and wormholes with theoretical physicist, Brian Greene. Did Ebenezer Scrooge get pulled through a wormhole? </p><p>NOTE: StarTal ... Show More
54m 34s
Dec 2024
Past, Present, Future: Time Travel with Brian Greene
<p>What type of time travel is in “<i>A Christmas Carol”</i>? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comedian Chuck Nice answer fan questions on time travel, paradoxes, and wormholes with theoretical physicist, Brian Greene. Did Ebenezer Scrooge get pulled through a wormhole?  </p><p><i>(Origin ... Show More
52m 9s
Dec 2023
Our Burning Questions – Age of the Universe & More
<p>What is the greatest scientific breakthrough? Neil deGrasse Tyson answers co-hosts Chuck Nice and Gary O’Reilly’s burning questions they have been saving all year about the age of the universe, the double slit experiment, and the nature of time. Is time even real? </p><p>NOTE: ... Show More
47m 55s
Aug 2023
Cosmic Queries – The Experience of Time with Charles Liu
<p>Is our experience of time a result of our perpetual movement? Neil deGrasse Tyson and co-hosts Chuck Nice and Gary O’Reilly explore spacetime, metaphysics, the Brachistochrone problem and more with astrophysicist Charles Liu.</p><p>NOTE: StarTalk+ Patrons can listen to this en ... Show More
47m 43s
Mar 2014
Cosmic Queries: Time Travel
<p>In this Cosmic Queries episode, Neil deGrasse Tyson gets all wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey as he answers fan questions about time travel with Colin Jost, Saturday Night Live’s new Weekend Update anchor. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, Credit: aussiegall from Sydney, Australi ... Show More
36m 42s
Jun 2025
Clowns in Spacetime
Can you slow down time by hurtling through space at breakneck speed? Could listener Saskia’s friend - currently one year older - end up the same age as her if he went fast enough? It sounds bananas, but it’s all part of Einstein’s mind-warping theory of relativity.With expert cop ... Show More
29m 57s
Jan 2024
Cosmic Queries – A Ripple in Spacetime with Charles Liu
<p>What if time had multiple dimensions? Neil deGrasse Tyson and co-hosts Chuck Nice and Gary O’Reilly answer grab-bag questions about Hawking Radiation, the speed of light, and how rare black holes are with astrophysicist Charles Liu. </p><p>NOTE: StarTalk+ Patrons can listen to ... Show More
53m 27s
Jun 2023
Cosmic Queries – The Fabric of Spacetime
<p>Is it time to rethink string theory? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comedian Chuck Nice explore a mix of questions about the fundamental properties of the universe, particles, the speed of light and more!</p><p>NOTE: StarTalk+ Patrons can listen to this entire episode commercial-free ... Show More
48m 32s