Adventures on Ice - Darren Harriot, Liz Morris, Christoph Salzmann and Felicity Aston

The Infinite Monkey Cage

BBC

Comedy, Science

4.7 • 9.4K Ratings

🗓️ 5 March 2025

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Robin Ince and Brian Cox venture into the captivating and surprisingly mysterious realm of ice. Joining them on this cool adventure is former ice dancer Darren Harriot, glaciologist Liz Morris, polar explorer Felicity Aton and ice chemist Christoph Salzmann.

From beautifully formed snowflakes to ice shelves in Antarctica our guests discuss the fascinating science suspended in solid water and how much is still to be discovered. With the help of a gin and tonic they explore the properties of ice - like why it floats and how there are 20 phases of ice, three of which were accidentally discovered by our guest Christoph. Darren shares his respect and fear for ice having learnt to dance and ice-skate on it. Liz discusses how analysing deep ice can provide a window into our past climate whilst also helping us understand our present one and why penguins can be problematic. Polar explorer Felicity explains how being able to read the colours, shapes and sounds of the ice have helped to keep her alive as she's traversed the highly inhospitable (but also incredibly beautiful) polar regions.

Producer: Melanie Brown Exec Producer: Alexandra Feachem Assistant Producer: Olivia Jani

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, you're about to listen to a BBC podcast, so I'd like to tell you where you'll find more just like it.
0:05.5	I'm Izzy Lee Poulton, an assistant commissioner for BBC Sounds, which means I'm involved in the whole podcast making process.
0:12.0	Whether that's developing fresh formats or facilitating eye-catching artwork, I helped project manage all the details that make our podcast stand out.
0:19.0	At the BBC, we've got access to storytellers and experts across a huge range of subjects.
0:24.6	It could be psychologists, comedians, celebrities or journalists.
0:28.6	No podcasts or day looks the same here.
0:31.6	So no matter what you like, check out BBC Sounds.
0:33.6	There's probably another podcast on there that you're absolutely love.
0:42.3	BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.
0:45.4	You're about to listen to The Infinite Monkey Cage.
0:49.2	Episodes will be released on Wednesdays wherever you get your podcasts from.
0:55.4	But if you're in the UK, the full series is available right now, first on BBC Sounds.
0:57.0	Hello, I'm Brian Cox.
0:58.3	And I'm Robin Ince.
1:00.0	And this is the Infinite Monkey Cage.
1:03.9	Now, Brian, as you can probably tell, is very much a natural ice skater.
1:07.3	Whereas I am so naturally clumsy.
1:10.3	I have so much entropy that just seems to be around me all the time.
1:12.4	Why is it that I slip over on ice a lot more than you do from like kind of the perspective of physics? I reckon it's
1:18.0	because your centre of mass is in the wrong place. Are you got to be fat? Redshifted. Redshifted.
1:25.0	All right then. Well, ice has of course, is that this is what we're going to talk about today.
1:29.7	Ice has played a major part in not merely science, but also science variety.
	...

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