Physicist and philosopher Sean Carrol talks to Naked Astronomy's Ben McAllister about the nature of time. Is it something truly fundamental to our Universe, or simply an illusion? Along the way they chat about space, relativity, the various ways to travel through time, and how that all relates to the emergence of life in the Universe.... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Physicist and science populariser Paul Davies talks to Naked Astronomy's Ben McAllister about some of the toughest questions cosmologist are grappling with: how did the Universe begin and how will it end, what provoked the Big Bang, and are we part of a "Multiverse"? The duo also take in Dark Matter, extraterrestrial beings, consciousness, free will and whether it exists, and the origins of life itself... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This month, Naked Astronomy goes in search of the civilisations with which we might share this Universe. Andrew Siemion, Director of Berkeley SETI Research Center, joins Ben McAllister and Adam Murphy to discuss how likely it is that we are not alone, how we are probing the distant reaches of space for intelligent life, what might thwart us and what's been found so far... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This month on Naked Astronomy, we're seeking the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything. We're looking at the "God Equation", an equation that could describe everything we know in physics. What would it look like, and what would it mean? Adam Murphy and Ben McAllister were joined by physicist Michio Kaku, author of the God Equation, to discuss how this kind of equation would come about, and the kind of science that might be needed to explain it... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This month on Naked Astronomy we're setting our sights on the Sun. How do storms form on the Sun? How can they wreak havoc here on Earth? And what can we do to predict them? To find out, Ben McAllister and Adam Murphy are joined by University College London solar physicist Stephanie Yardley... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This month on Naked Astronomy, we're waxing lyrical about aliens. What might they look like? Can we apply the principles of biology to other worlds? To do that, Ben McAllister and Adam Murphy were joined by Arik Kershenbaum to chat about alien evolution... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This month on Naked Astronomy, we're mulling over Mars. We'll be chatting about the question of liquid water on the surface of Mars. Is it there at all? And if it is, how do we find it? And to do that, Ben McAllister and Adam Murphy were joined by Lujendra Ojha from Rutgers University to chat about why Mars fascinates us... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This month we're diving into dark matter, that unknown stuff that makes up a quarter of the Universe. Where is it, what is it, and how do we know it's even there? To find out, Adam Murphy and Ben McAllister speak to Alan Duffy from Swinburne University, who works in the newly-minted Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Dark Matter Particle Physics, which is also where Ben works! Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This month on Naked Astronomy, we're taking a closer look at the largest telescope ever to be built, the Square Kilometre Array. The SKA spans continents, with some of it in South Africa, and some of it in Australia, but how does that work? And also, what is the SKA going to show us about our universe. To find out, Ben McAllister and Adam Murphy spoke with Phil Diamond, the Director General for the SKA project...Ben - You're probably familiar with the concept of a telescope - humans have been making them for at least hundreds of years, and using them to learn about the Universe beyond our... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

In this episode of Naked Astronomy we're taking a look at all the ways that the universe could come to a close. From the dramatic to the slow and ponderous, we're chatting about how space will evolve. Ben McAllister and Adam Murphy are joined by theoretical cosmologist Katie Mack, from North Carolina state University, and author of The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking) to talk about our ultimate fate... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

On the tenth anniversary of Naked Astronomy, Dark Matter physicist Ben McAllister delivers our State of the Universe Address and asks "what's changed" in astronomy over the decade since we launched this programme. World leaders explain the impacts of the first photographs of a black hole, the Nobel prize for the detection of exoplanets, the new insights arising from the study of the cosmic microwave background radiation, and the revolution in physics that was the first detection of gravitational waves... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This time, we're journeying to the Ruby Red Planet, Mars. Elon Musk thinks he'll have people there by 2024; NASA will be following closely behind with a touchdown expected in the 2030s. That means that in our lifetime, we will become an interplanetary species. But what will it be like for those brave individuals? Graihagh Jackson investigates... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

As we enter the darkest depths of winter, the days get shorter and the nights get longer. Or at least that's how it's supposed to be. But since the invention of the light bulb, we've long been working towards the end of night. But does this matter? Graihagh Jackson investigates... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Most astrophysicists would agree that it's highly likely that there's life beyond Earth. But then why haven't we found any? This month on Naked Astronomy, Graihagh Jackson tackles one of the fundamental questions of mankind with Neil deGrasse Tyson, Jim Al-Khalili and Dallas Campbell. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Gaia launched back in 2013 and has been mapping the Milky Way ever since. In fact, it aims to give us the most detailed survey of our galaxy, ever. But is that all its set to do? Graihagh Jackson explores why scientists are going gaga over Gaia... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Fellow Naked Scientist Connie Orbach won a meteorite and so Graihagh Jackson made it her mission to find out as much as possible about this hunk of space rock, including how she might go about finding one of her own... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

NASA's Juno probe has reached Jupiter after a five year battle through our solar system and is orbiting the gas giant. But now it's completed this death-defying stunt, what now? This month on Naked Astronomy, Graihagh Jackson is colluding with the king of the planets to find out what it's really all about... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

It's nearly been 5 decades since Neil Armstrong took one small step for mankind... But will we return again? As things heat up, Graihagh Jackson brings together the cosmically curious to unpick our the drivers behind the marathon to the moon Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This month, Graihagh Jackson is getting all starry eyed over our Sun. Where did it come from? Where is it going? And what it's taught us about the universe? Plus, the mission that's taking us the closer to the Sun than we've ever been before... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

On 9 May, Mercury will be seen as a black dot silhouetted against the Sun and this rare event enabled astronomers of the 17th century to work out how vast the universe was. But this transit isn't just phenomenally important historically: it has huge implications in our search for extraterrestrial life, as Graihagh Jackson finds out... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists