Curious Cases: Space Mysteries with The Sky at Night

In this live Curious Cases episode, host Hannah Fry and Dara O’Brien explore space mysteries with Sky at Night presenters Maggie Aderin Pocock, George Dransfield and Chris Lintott. The panel tackles a cluster of questions on one theme space mysteries, mixing science, storytelling and humor. They explain how stars produce audible waves via astroseismology, listen to Titan’s atmosphere through the Cassini-Huygens data and hear a black hole signal, and discuss the edge of space and whether the cosmos is finite or infinite. The discussion also covers life beyond Earth, the concept of the observable universe, and how science blends data, theory and imagination to probe the vastness above us.

Introduction and live setting

This special Curious Cases episode takes place in the BBC Radio Theatre with a live audience. Host Hannah Fry and Dara O’Brien welcome three Sky at Night presenters: Maggie Aderin Pocock, George Dransfield and Chris Lintott. Rather than a single question, the show groups a range of space-related inquiries around a single theme space mysteries, and invites the panel to explain the science in accessible terms while sharing anecdotes and demonstrations.

Soundscapes from the stars

The discussion starts with a question about whether stars make sounds. The panel explains that stars do have sound waves that travel inside them and that we detect their presence indirectly through the wobble of brightness and spectral lines. The field of astroseismology is introduced as the tool to extract information about a star's size, composition and density. They also describe sonification the process of turning waves into audible representations, and present audio samples including a Titan entry sound from the Huygens probe.

"stars make sounds" - George Dransfield, astrophysicist

Cosmic symphonies and the universe as an instrument

Chris Lintott explains the oldest light the cosmic microwave background is the imprint of early universe sound waves and that we can interpret its spectrum as a cosmic instrument. The panel plays a portion of the primordial soundscape and discusses why the early universe contained many notes at once and how that generated the complex signal we measure today. The takeaway is that the universe itself behaved like an instrument, with a symphony encoded in the photons that fill space.

"So this is, this is the whole universe as an instrument" - Chris Lintott, astrophysicist

Edge of space, edge of knowledge, and the shape of the cosmos

The questions turn to the edge of space the observable universe versus the entire cosmos. The team explains the concept of the observable universe the region from which light has had time to reach us since the Big Bang and why the whole universe could be much larger or even infinite. They discuss cosmic curvature and exotic ideas toroidal/pancake-shaped universes while noting that current measurements show space is locally flat, which implies a vast or boundless cosmos beyond what we can see.

"If you cut the universe in two, the top half will look much like the bottom half" - Chris Lintott, astrophysicist

Speed of light, constants and science fiction

A listener asks what would happen if the speed of light changed. The panel explains that altering a fundamental constant would reshape the balance of forces within stars, alter the growth of cosmic structures and, in extreme cases, threaten the existence of familiar physics as we know it. They reference the Star Trek quip about speed of plot the idea that science must be plausible within a narrative, even as it invites imaginative exploration.

"the shuttles travel at the speed of plot" - Gene Roddenberry, Star Trek creator

Space life, planets and life detection

The final section tackles aliens and biosignatures. The panel considers Venus's upper atmosphere and the possibility of microbial life in extreme environments, and they discuss the idea of techno-signatures and the search for life on exoplanets. They emphasize that life could be very different from Earthly life and that the universe remains vast and largely unexplored, inviting us to reframe our expectations about life in the cosmos.

"We need to be very careful how we define life" - Maggie Aderin Pocock

Closing thoughts

The hosts reflect on the ongoing mysteries of space and celebrate the longevity of space science. They reiterate that solving every mystery may be impossible, but the inquiry itself fuels discovery and curiosity.