The Universe

In this episode, our experts cook up ten ways you could destroy the earth, including swallowing it with a microscopic black hole, blowing it up with anti-matter, hurling it into the Sun, and switching off gravity.

The Universe is full of explosions that both create and destroy. This is a countdown of 10 of the biggest, most powerful types of blasts to rock the cosmos.

Without the moon, the earth would be a very different and desolate place today: four hours of sunlight with pitch-black nights, steady 100mph winds spawning giant hurricanes lasting for months, and virtually no complex life forms, much less humans.

For most it is the deadly centerpiece of the film Star Wars. But in reality, real death stars are in the final stage of life before they explode into supernovae, and occassionally, the biggest blast in the universe: the gamma ray burst.

Dark Matter and Dark Energy make up 96 per cent of the Universe. Discovered only ten years ago, scientists are struggling to comprehend its unusual characteristics and answer the ultimate question; what is the fate of our Universe?

Ringed planets are breathtaking, lethal and a constant source of surprise. The stunning rings of Saturn have mesmerised countless scientists over the centuries.

Is space warp-drive technology possible? Discover the array of spacecraft being designed which could see man travel through the 'final frontier'.

On alien planets, they rain from the sky as scalding iron. They're so rare in the Universe, they almost don't exist, but these are the magical liquids of our Liquid Universe.

Season four highlights the interviews with experts who study in the fields of cosmology, astronomy, and astrophysics.

Warp speed, transporters, wormholes and lasers are all staples of science fiction books, movies, and TV shows. But the fantastic world of tomorrow is quickly becoming the futuristic world of today.

Star Clusters are the one-stop-shopping places for learning all about the nature and variety of stars in The Universe.

From ground-based lasers to telephone pole-sized rods hurtling from space at two miles per second, and the far out weapons of the distant future, it's time to "lock and load" for Space Wars.