Planetary Wobble

Could you survive an eternal winter? Or is endless summer sun a more appealing prospect? Lots of us are grateful for the seasonal changes that shape the world around us, but this week Hannah and Dara are asking what life would look like without the axial tilt that brings each hemisphere closer and further away from the sun as the seasons change each year. Listener Andrew from Melbourne wants to know what would happen if the planet stood perfectly upright, no lean, no tilt, no seasons. But what else could happen? Is Earth’s 23-degree slant the cosmic fluke that made life possible?
To find out, Hannah and explore how losing the tilt reshapes climate, ecosystems, evolution and maybe even the fate of the dinosaurs.

You can send your everyday mysteries for the team to investigate to: [email protected]
Contributors
Dr Robin Smith - Climate modelling researcher at the University of Reading
Professor Rebecca Kilner - Evolutionary Biologist and Head of the Department of Zoology at Cambridge
Professor Amaury Triaud - Professor of Exoplanetology at the University of Birmingham
Aidan McGivern - Meteorologist and Senior weather presenter at the MET Office

Producer: Emily Bird
Executive Producer: Sasha Feachem
A BBC Studios Production