Listen free for 30 days
-
Cosmic Impact
- Understanding the Threat to Earth from Asteroids and Comets
- Narrated by: Christopher Weeks
- Series: Hot Science Series
- Length: 4 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Science & Engineering, Science
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Listen with a free trial
Buy Now for £14.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Destination Mars
- The Story of our Quest to Conquer the Red Planet
- By: Andrew May
- Narrated by: Kris Dyer
- Length: 5 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mars is back. Suddenly everyone - from Elon Musk to Ridley Scott to Donald Trump - is talking about going to the Red Planet. When the Apollo astronauts walked on the Moon in 1969, many people imagined Mars would be next. However NASA’s Viking 1, which landed in 1976, was just a robot. The much-anticipated crewed mission failed to materialise, defeated by a combination of technological and political challenges.
-
Astrobiology
- The Search for Life Elsewhere in the Universe
- By: Andrew May
- Narrated by: Kris Dyer
- Length: 5 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The possibility of life elsewhere in the cosmos is one of the most profound subjects that human beings can ponder. Astrophysicist Andrew May gives an expert overview of our current state of knowledge, looking at how life started on Earth, the tell-tale ‘signatures’ it produces and how such signatures might be detected elsewhere in the solar system or on the many ‘exoplanets’ now being discovered by the Kepler and TESS missions.
-
The Contact Paradox
- Challenging our Assumptions in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence
- By: Keith Cooper
- Narrated by: Matthew Waterson
- Length: 11 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1974 a message was beamed towards the stars by the giant Arecibo telescope in Puerto Rico, a brief blast of radio waves designed to alert extraterrestrial civilizations to our existence. Of course, we don't know if such civilizations really exist. But for the past six decades a small cadre of researchers have been on a quest to find out, as part of SETI, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.
-
The Crowd and the Cosmos
- Adventures in the Zooniverse
- By: Chris Lintott
- Narrated by: Chris Lintott
- Length: 6 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The world of science has been transformed. Where once astronomers sat at the controls of giant telescopes in remote locations, praying for clear skies, now they have no need to budge from their desks, as data arrives in their inbox. And what they receive is overwhelming; projects now being built provide more data in a few nights than in the whole of humanities' history of observing the universe.
-
-
A super book
- By Joye C. on 15-11-19
-
Outbreaks and Epidemics
- Battling Infection from Measles to Coronavirus
- By: Meera Senthilingam
- Narrated by: Deirdra Whelan
- Length: 5 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For centuries mankind has waged war against the infections that, left untreated, would have the power to wipe out communities, or even entire populations. Yet for all our advanced scientific knowledge, only one human disease - smallpox - has ever been eradicated globally. In recent years, outbreaks of Ebola and Zika have provided vivid examples of how difficult it is to contain an infection once it strikes and the panic that a rapidly spreading epidemic can ignite.
-
Fire in the Sky
- Cosmic Collisions, Killer Asteroids, and the Race to Defend Earth
- By: Gordon L. Dillow
- Narrated by: Edward Bauer
- Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This “accessible and always entertaining” (Booklist) combination of history, pop science, and in-depth reporting offers a fascinating account of the asteroids that hit Earth long ago and those streaming toward us now, as well as how prepared we are against asteroid-caused catastrophe.
-
-
Informative and entertaining
- By Cryptochimp on 30-06-20
-
Destination Mars
- The Story of our Quest to Conquer the Red Planet
- By: Andrew May
- Narrated by: Kris Dyer
- Length: 5 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mars is back. Suddenly everyone - from Elon Musk to Ridley Scott to Donald Trump - is talking about going to the Red Planet. When the Apollo astronauts walked on the Moon in 1969, many people imagined Mars would be next. However NASA’s Viking 1, which landed in 1976, was just a robot. The much-anticipated crewed mission failed to materialise, defeated by a combination of technological and political challenges.
-
Astrobiology
- The Search for Life Elsewhere in the Universe
- By: Andrew May
- Narrated by: Kris Dyer
- Length: 5 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The possibility of life elsewhere in the cosmos is one of the most profound subjects that human beings can ponder. Astrophysicist Andrew May gives an expert overview of our current state of knowledge, looking at how life started on Earth, the tell-tale ‘signatures’ it produces and how such signatures might be detected elsewhere in the solar system or on the many ‘exoplanets’ now being discovered by the Kepler and TESS missions.
-
The Contact Paradox
- Challenging our Assumptions in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence
- By: Keith Cooper
- Narrated by: Matthew Waterson
- Length: 11 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1974 a message was beamed towards the stars by the giant Arecibo telescope in Puerto Rico, a brief blast of radio waves designed to alert extraterrestrial civilizations to our existence. Of course, we don't know if such civilizations really exist. But for the past six decades a small cadre of researchers have been on a quest to find out, as part of SETI, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.
-
The Crowd and the Cosmos
- Adventures in the Zooniverse
- By: Chris Lintott
- Narrated by: Chris Lintott
- Length: 6 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The world of science has been transformed. Where once astronomers sat at the controls of giant telescopes in remote locations, praying for clear skies, now they have no need to budge from their desks, as data arrives in their inbox. And what they receive is overwhelming; projects now being built provide more data in a few nights than in the whole of humanities' history of observing the universe.
-
-
A super book
- By Joye C. on 15-11-19
-
Outbreaks and Epidemics
- Battling Infection from Measles to Coronavirus
- By: Meera Senthilingam
- Narrated by: Deirdra Whelan
- Length: 5 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For centuries mankind has waged war against the infections that, left untreated, would have the power to wipe out communities, or even entire populations. Yet for all our advanced scientific knowledge, only one human disease - smallpox - has ever been eradicated globally. In recent years, outbreaks of Ebola and Zika have provided vivid examples of how difficult it is to contain an infection once it strikes and the panic that a rapidly spreading epidemic can ignite.
-
Fire in the Sky
- Cosmic Collisions, Killer Asteroids, and the Race to Defend Earth
- By: Gordon L. Dillow
- Narrated by: Edward Bauer
- Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This “accessible and always entertaining” (Booklist) combination of history, pop science, and in-depth reporting offers a fascinating account of the asteroids that hit Earth long ago and those streaming toward us now, as well as how prepared we are against asteroid-caused catastrophe.
-
-
Informative and entertaining
- By Cryptochimp on 30-06-20
-
Astronomy: Explore the Truth About Universe, Galaxies, Dark Matter and the History of Astronomy
- By: Dinah Brannon
- Narrated by: Mark Rossman
- Length: 2 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Have you ever wondered how we came into being? Have you ever looked in the sky and marveled at the stars? This introduction to space gives you a foundation to explore whatever sparks your interest within this magnificent universe of ours. All this and more is available in this astronomy book. This book on astronomy is a perfect introduction to finding the truth out about wormholes, black holes, and the planets that surround us. Have you ever wondered what is out there? What about if there are more planets out there that we don't know about?
-
-
Explore universe!!
- By neymar on 02-12-18
-
New Scientist: The Origin of (Almost) Everything
- From the Big Bang to Belly-Button Fluff
- By: New Scientist, Graham Lawton, Stephen Hawking
- Narrated by: David Thorpe
- Length: 7 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A journey through life, the universe and everything. From what actually happened in the big bang to the accidental discovery of Post-it notes, science is packed with surprising discoveries. Did you know, for instance, that if you were to get too close to a black hole it would suck you up like a noodle (it's called spaghettification), why your keyboard is laid out in QWERTY (it's not to make it easier to type) or whether the invention of the wheel was less important to civilisation than the bag (think about it)? New Scientist does.
-
-
Coffee table science reading
- By Mr J R Milnes on 02-11-18
-
Mysteries of the Universe
- Answerable and Unanswerable Questions
- By: Peter Altman
- Narrated by: Nosherwan Jehangir
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Does alien life exist? Is time travel possible? How did the universe begin, and how will it end? Is the future predetermined? These are just some of the fascinating questions posed in this book, which stretches across physics, the life sciences and cosmology. Each chapter considers a separate question and ends with either an answer or, if there is insufficient evidence, a ‘best guess’ answer.
-
One of Ten Billion Earths
- How We Learn About Our Planet's past and Future from Distant Exoplanets
- By: Karel Schrijver
- Narrated by: Steve Menasche
- Length: 14 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This audiobook explores how the discoveries within the Solar System and of exoplanets far beyond it come together to help us understand the habitability of Earth, and how these findings guide the search for exoplanets that could support life. The author highlights how, within two decades of the discovery of the first planets outside the Solar System in the 1990s, scientists concluded that planets are so common that most stars are orbited by them. The lives of exoplanets and their stars are inextricably interwoven.
-
Catching Stardust
- Comets, Asteroids and the Birth of the Solar System
- By: Natalie Starkey
- Narrated by: Alison Campbell
- Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Icy, rocky, sometimes dusty, always mysterious – comets and asteroids are among the Solar System's very oldest inhabitants, formed within a swirling cloud of gas and dust in the area of space that eventually hosted the Sun and its planets. Locked within each of these extra-terrestrial objects is the 4.6-billion-year wisdom of Solar System events, and by studying them at close quarters using spacecraft we can coerce them into revealing their closely-guarded secrets. This offers us the chance to answer some fundamental questions about our planet and its inhabitants.
-
When the Earth Had Two Moons
- Cannibal Planets, Icy Giants, Dirty Comets, Dreadful Orbits, and the Origins of the Night Sky
- By: Erik Asphaug
- Narrated by: Adam Verner
- Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1959, the Soviet probe Luna 3 took the first photos of the far side of the Moon. Even in their poor resolution, the images stunned scientists: The far side is an enormous mountainous expanse, not the vast lava plains seen from Earth. Subsequent missions have confirmed this in much greater detail. How could this be, and what might it tell us about our own place in the universe? As it turns out, quite a lot. When the Earth Had Two Moons is an astonishing exploration of planet formation and the origins of life by one of the world’s most innovative planetary geologists.
-
On Tyranny and On Ukraine
- Lessons from Russia's War on Ukraine
- By: Timothy Snyder
- Narrated by: Timothy Snyder
- Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this exclusive audiobook edition, which includes eight hours of new content, Timothy Snyder combines the original On Tyranny (2017)—20 lessons on how history can instruct our response to the rise of tyranny around the world today—with 20 new lessons that answer the questions everyone is asking about Russia's war on Ukraine. With forays into history, he clarifies the causes of the Russian invasion and the meaning of Ukrainian resistance, and explains the war's connections to threats to democracy around the world.
-
-
New Thinking about the war in Ukraine
- By W J Smith-Bowers on 22-05-22
-
Something Deeply Hidden
- Quantum Worlds and the Emergence of Spacetime
- By: Sean Carroll
- Narrated by: Sean Carroll
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sean Carroll, theoretical physicist and one of this world’s most celebrated writers on science, rewrites the history of 20th-century physics. Already hailed as a masterpiece, Something Deeply Hidden shows for the first time that facing up to the essential puzzle of quantum mechanics utterly transforms how we think about space and time. His reconciling of quantum mechanics with Einstein’s theory of relativity changes, well, everything. Most physicists haven’t even recognized the uncomfortable truth: Physics has been in crisis since 1927.
-
-
Super position of all relevant texts.
- By Anonymous User on 15-10-19
-
Why Does E=MC2 and Why Should We Care
- By: Brian Cox, Jeff Forshaw
- Narrated by: Jeff Forshaw
- Length: 7 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In one of the most exciting and accessible explanations of The Theory of Relativity in recent years, Professors Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw go on a journey to the frontier of 21st century science to consider the real meaning behind the iconic sequence of symbols that make up Einstein's most famous equation, exploring the principles of physics through everyday life.
-
-
Easier than I thought
- By Mr. S. Hyams on 30-05-11
-
Black Hole Survival Guide
- By: Janna Levin
- Narrated by: Janna Levin
- Length: 2 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Black holes are the most extraordinary phenomenon in the universe, but they are a riddle that confounds our intuitions. Anything that enters them can never escape and yet they contain nothing at all. They are bigger on the inside than the outside suggests. They are dark on the outside but not on the inside. They invert time into space and space into time.
-
-
Not my bag
- By Alec Sharples on 18-05-21
-
Meteorite
- The Stones from Outer Space That Made Our World
- By: Tim Gregory
- Narrated by: Tim Gregory
- Length: 8 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sky at Night presenter Dr Tim Gregory takes us on a journey through the very earliest days of our Solar System to the spectacular meteorite falls that produced 'fiery rain' in 1792, to the pre-solar grains (literally stardust) that were blown in from other solar systems and are the oldest solid objects ever discovered on earth. Meteorites reveal a story much bigger than ourselves or our planet. As Tim says, 'It is an epic beyond compare.'
-
-
FANTASTIC! Loved this book.
- By Amazon Customer on 18-04-21
-
Three Roads to Quantum Gravity
- By: Lee Smolin
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 8 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Three Roads to Quantum Gravity, Lee Smolin provides an accessible overview of the attempts to build a final "theory of everything." He explains in simple terms what scientists are talking about when they say the world is made from exotic entities such as loops, strings, and black holes and tells the fascinating stories behind these discoveries: the rivalries, epiphanies, and intrigues he witnessed firsthand.
Summary
As end-of-the-world scenarios go, an apocalyptic collision with an asteroid or comet is the new kid on the block, gaining respectability only in the last decade of the 20th century with the realisation that the dinosaurs had been wiped out by just such an impact. Now the science community is making up for lost time, with worldwide efforts to track the thousands of potentially hazardous near-Earth objects and plans for high-tech hardware that could deflect an incoming object from a collision course - a procedure depicted, with little regard for scientific accuracy, in several Hollywood movies.
Astrophysicist and science writer Andrew May disentangles fact from fiction in this fast-moving and entertaining account, covering the nature and history of comets and asteroids, the reason why some orbits are more hazardous than others, the devastating local and global effects that an impact event would produce, and - more optimistically - the way future space missions could avert a catastrophe.