Programme Details

Whenever anyone speculates about extraterrestrial life it is very likely that Fermi’s paradox will be mentioned. A rough version of it would go something like this -- If there a billions of planets in the universe capable of supporting life and millions of intelligent species out there, why have none of them visited earth? When the famous atomic scientist, Enrico Fermi, first posed this question in the 1940s it seemed the only logical answer was there was no such thing……today though this seems to be very far from an automatic assumption. In Night Waves this evening Philip Dodd talks to the paleobiologist, Simon Conway Morris, who believes there is almost certainly extraterrestrial life and who goes so far as to predict that it will be “eerily human”.

There’ll be an interview too with the son of the great American film maker, George Stevens, who made Shane and Giant among many other classics. George Stevens Junior will be talking about the film he made from footage shot by his father in the Second World War….colour sequences which have never been seen before and which many believe transformed his father’s approach to film.

Also in the programme there’ll be a tribute to the power and beauty of shadows by the artist Brad Lochore and the writer, Robert Irwin will be explaining why the great mosque of Cordova is the perfect example of an Islamic building.

That’s all in Night Waves with Philip Dodd here on BBC Radio 3 at 9.30pm



Presenter: Philip Dodd
Producer: Zahid Warley








Additional information:
1) Professor Simon Conway Morris is one of the contributors to the Channel 4 television series What we still don’t know. The second episode of this three part series will be broadcast on Sunday at *pm
.
2) George Stevens junior’s film – A Filmmaker’s journey is part of a DVD boxed set that will be released by Warner Brothers in January to mark the 100th anniversary of George Stevens’ senior’s birth. It also includes Giant, Woman of the Year and the documentary D-Day to Berlin.

3) Robert Irwin’s most recent book is The Alhambra – published by Profile.

4) Examples of the work of the artist Brad Lochore can be found at www.lochore.com