Star Stuff

• outerspace.wav -- What would you think if I told you that you, me, everyone came from outer space? (56k)

 
• allaliens.wav -- We're all aliens. (12k)

 
• smallcorner.wav -- We live in a small corner of the universe. (31k)

 
• astonishing.wav -- It's an astonishing planet -- the only place we know of in the whole universe where conditions are right for life. (82k)

 
• ourplanet.wav -- Our planet is alive. (23k)

 
• lifeonearth.wav -- Life on earth shouldn't even exist. (25k)

 
• wherecomefrom.wav -- So where did it all come from -- me, you, the planet we live on -- even our sun? It's a puzzle, because at the beginning, none of it was here. (100k)

 
• letmeshow.wav -- Let me show you what I mean. (14k)

 
• moment.wav -- This is the moment it all started: The Big Bang. (33k)

 
• amazing.wav -- Amazing but true. (15k)

 
• lastmoments.wav -- Let me take you back to the very last few moments of a star's life. (39k)

 
• witness.wav -- You are about to witness one of the most violent and wondrous events in the cosmos. (57k)

 
• wholeevent.wav -- The whole event is over in a thousandth of a second. (31k)

 
• breathtaking.wav -- One of the most breathtaking sights in the universe. (31k)

 
• ingredients.wav -- It was in a place like this that our solar system was born. All the ingredients needed for the creation of everything are in here; it just takes a little time for them to come together. (145k)

 
• hitchedaride.wav -- Life could well have started in a far-flung region of the universe and hitched a ride here on the back of a comet. (146k)

• wondering.wav -- We've all grown up wondering if we're alone in the universe, or if one day we might come face to face with an alien. (90k)

 
• lifeonearth1.wav -- This is life on Earth. (23k)

 
• lifeonearth2.wav -- This is life on Earth-- from the ordinary to the utterly bizarre. (138k)

 
• findout.wav -- If intelligent life could evolve here on Earth, then why not elsewhere? We're the first generation alive that might actually find out. (92k)

 
• question.wav -- So how long before we find the answer to the question we all really want answered:  Is there anybody out there? (68k)

 
• lookatstars.wav -- Look at the stars. (25k)

 
• howvast.wav -- And when you leave our galaxy behind, you begin to realize just how vast the universe is. (66k)

 
• numbers.wav -- It's all a question of numbers. (16k)

 
• howmanystars.wav -- It's hard to comprehend just how many stars there are. (42k)

 
• everygrain.wav -- Well, think about this:  For every grain of sand on our entire planet, there are a million stars out there in space. (95k)

 
• whereiseverybody.wav -- So where is everybody else? (16k)

 
• seti.wav -- It's called SETI-- the Search for Extra-Terrestial Intelligence-- and they're still doing it today. (68k)

 
• notbad.wav -- Not bad! (8k)

 
• hopeless.wav -- At first glance, their task seems hopeless. (32k)

 
• findingplanet.wav -- Finding a planet around another star is the equivalent of detecting a single grain of sand on the Moon. (64k)

 
• trick.wav -- There's a trick to it. (9k)

 
• seeotherworlds.wav -- One day, we'll be able to look out into space and see other worlds like ours. (62k)

 
• astonishingprospect.wav -- It is an astonishing prospect. (20k)

 
• arewealone.wav -- Are we alone, the only intelligent creatures in a universe teeming with simpler life forms? (63k)

 
• hardtobelieve.wav -- It's hard to believe. (12k)

 
• morequestions.wav -- That just begs more questions. (20k)

 
• contactedus.wav -- Why haven't they contacted us? (19k)

 
• noise.wav -- We've been making a lot of noise. (16k)

 
• earthhistory.wav -- <radio broadcasts in background> Planet Earth's history is being broadcast to the universe, so if extraterrestials exist, then they should already know that we're here. (174k)

 
• radio.wav -- Our radio broadcasts have been powerful enough to travel out into space for five decades, <President Kennedy's inauguration broadcast> but in all that time, they've only reached a handful of the closest stars. To most of space, our planet appears completely silent. (177k)

 
• happensnext.wav -- What happens next? (14k)

 
• sheersize.wav -- It's the sheer size of the galaxy-- that's the problem. (32k)

 
• intelligentbeings.wav -- Intelligent beings from another world, what would they be like? Almost certainly like nothing we've ever imagined. (134k)

 
• speculate.wav -- For now we can only speculate. (23k)

 
• oneday.wav -- One day, we may actually find out. (35k)

• takeawalk.wav -- Take a walk on planet Earth. It's a wonderful place. (56k)

 
• forgranted.wav -- It's easy to take all this for granted. You shouldn't. (40k)

 
• survival.wav -- This is the story of humanity's survival, against all the odds, in a lethal universe. (60k)

 
• gambler.wav -- If you're a gambler, then this is the planet to live on, because just by being here, we're all taking a risk. And the odds are stacked against us. (116k)

 
• lucky.wav -- Do you feel lucky? (11k)

 
• winners.wav -- You may not realize it, but we are all winners. (24k)

 
• threaten.wav -- What could threaten a globe ten thousand miles across, or six billion people? (57k)

 
• allbegins.wav -- This is where it all begins. (21k)

 
• simpleanswer.wav -- There's a simple answer to that. (15k)

 
• notappealing.wav -- It's not an appealing thought. (17k)

 
• wipealllife.wav -- There are things out there which could wipe all life from the face of the planet. (46k)

 
• ourlives.wav -- While we get on with our lives, the world is hurtling around our galaxy at a hundred and forty miles a second. (63k)

 
• winlose.wav -- Some you win, some you lose. (24k)

 
• ride.wav -- We may not realize it, but we're on the ride of our lives. (43k)

 
• veryreal.wav -- It's very real. (11k)

 
• happenagain.wav -- It's going to happen again. (13k)

 
• coincidence.wav -- Coincidence? (9k)

 
• dinosaurs.wav -- This is what happened to the dinosaurs, sixty five million years ago. (50k)

 
• howmuchtime.wav -- How much time have we got? (16k)

 
• itoldyou.wav -- I told you we were lucky. (13k)

 
• luckdinosaurs.wav -- Sooner or later our luck will run out, just as it did for the dinosaurs. (38k)

 
• whatonearth.wav -- The question is:  What on earth are we going to do about it? (35k)

 
• military.wav -- The American military are on alert. (26k)

 
• detectingthreat.wav -- Detecting a threat is not enough. The point is to do something about it. (58k)

• meetmonster.wav -- Meet the monster. (18k)

 
• pebble.wav -- On this scale, our Earth would be no bigger than a pebble. (39k)

 
• justlook.wav -- Just look what it can do. (15k)

 
• blackhole.wav -- A black hole is gravity gone mad-- nothing can ever escape. (50k)

 
• stillthere.wav -- Every black hole that was ever created is still out there. (29k)

 
• traildestruction.wav -- Like most predators, they leave a trail of destruction. (34k)

 
• seenimpossible.wav -- Far out in space, he had seen the impossible. (32k)

 
• whathesaw.wav -- What he saw was disturbing. (24k)

 
• fragileplanet.wav -- Could our own fragile planet ever encounter one of these invisible monsters? (48k)

 
• meetablackhole.wav -- If we do ever meet a black hole, it would tear our world to shreds. (39k)

 
• darksecret.wav -- And our galaxy still has one last dark secret. (35k)

 
• solarsystemheart.wav -- It's heading straight for the heart of the solar system-- our sun. (41k)

• humanitysurvive.wav -- If humanity is to survive, we'll have to leave the Earth before it's too late. (56k)

 
• wellhaveto.wav -- We'll have to cross the vastness of the universe, manipulate the very fabric of space, to travel the cosmos seeking out new homes in amazing places. (109k)

 
• sundie.wav -- One day our sun will die, and when it does, we'll go with it. (41k)

 
• timetothink.wav -- It's time to think about the future. (19k)

 
• newplaces.wav -- If human beings are to have a long-term future, we must leave our planet behind and search for new places to live. One day, our homes will be out there-- somewhere in space. (142k)

 
• special.wav -- What is it that makes our planet so special? (27k)

 
• planetdie.wav -- Our planet will die. (18k)

 
• impossible.wav -- In the far future, life on Earth will become impossible. (41k)

 
• change.wav -- Clearly, something's going to have to change. (26k)

 
• strangetwist.wav -- It's a strange twist. (16k)

 
• boldplan.wav -- It's a bold and astonishing plan. (22k)

 
• changeourselves.wav -- If we're going to survive on these alien worlds, it won't be the planets we'll have to change; we may have to change ourselves. (107k)

 
• waitandsee.wav -- We'll have to wait and see. (16k)

 
• oncehome.wav -- The place we once called home now melts and is engulfed. (53k)

 
• sevenbillion.wav -- Seven billion years from now the Earth will be gone. (43k)

 
• earthdeath.wav -- Can we really survive the death of planet Earth? (34k)

 
• slowprocess.wav -- It's a slow process, takes millions of years. (26k)

 
• onlyhome.wav -- In the end, the only home we'll have left is space itself. (49k)

 
• whatwonders.wav -- What wonders are waiting for our children? (28k)

 
• ultimatefuture.wav -- The ultimate future of humanity is to go where no one has gone before. (52k)

• firststeps.wav -- It's less than fifty years since we took our first steps out into space. (41k)

 
• strangeworld.wav -- It's a strange and unfamiliar world. (26k)

 
• edgeofspace.wav -- We stand on the edge of space. (23k)

 
• setfoot.wav -- In 1969, we set foot on the moon. (40k)

 
• firsttimeever.wav -- The first time ever we looked back at our home from the surface of another world. (61k)

 
• walkedthere.wav -- It's amazing to think that people have actually walked up there. (29k)

 
• troubleis.wav -- The trouble is, it may have been a giant leap for us, but in the vastness of space, it really was just one small step. (72k)

 
• allover.wav -- After that, it's all over. (26k)

 
• itworks.wav -- Incredibly, it works. (16k)

 
• finalfrontier.wav -- This is the final frontier. (32k)

 
• shortcut.wav -- The answer could be to take a shortcut. (22k)

 
• wormholes.wav -- In theory wormholes would take you from one side of the universe to the other in literally no time at all. (84k)

 
• ourchildren.wav -- Our children, or our children's children, will reach for the stars. (37k)

 
• remember.wav -- Remember that space is stranger and more beautiful than we can begin to imagine. (57k)

 
• ourfuture.wav -- And above all, remember this:  Out there in space is our future. (82k)