BBC News, 20:30, Fri 28 Aug

Weather World

"This new program presented by BBC Weather's Nick Miller reveals the
stories and science behind some of the year's wildest weather."

I say 'series' because it's offered with 'Record Series' option, but
isn't on at the same time next week.

On Fri, 28 Aug 2015 07:06:39 +0100, Brian Lawrence wrote:

BBC News, 20:30, Fri 28 Aug

Weather World

"This new program presented by BBC Weather's Nick Miller reveals the
stories and science behind some of the year's wildest weather."

I say 'series' because it's offered with 'Record Series' option, but
isn't on at the same time next week.

It doesn't have to be on at the same time each week for the Record Series option to work.
It can be on weekly, daily, or on different days and/or times in a week, and the signal
will still be sent for the recording to start.

On 28/08/2015 07:11, Malcolm Ogilvie wrote:
On Fri, 28 Aug 2015 07:06:39 +0100, Brian Lawrence wrote:

BBC News, 20:30, Fri 28 Aug

Weather World

"This new program presented by BBC Weather's Nick Miller reveals the
stories and science behind some of the year's wildest weather."

I say 'series' because it's offered with 'Record Series' option, but
isn't on at the same time next week.

It doesn't have to be on at the same time each week for the Record Series option to work.
It can be on weekly, daily, or on different days and/or times in a week, and the signal
will still be sent for the recording to start.

Yes, I'm sure most of us know that.

On Fri, 28 Aug 2015 07:56:37 +0100, Brian Lawrence wrote:

On 28/08/2015 07:11, Malcolm Ogilvie wrote:
On Fri, 28 Aug 2015 07:06:39 +0100, Brian Lawrence wrote:

BBC News, 20:30, Fri 28 Aug

Weather World

"This new program presented by BBC Weather's Nick Miller reveals the
stories and science behind some of the year's wildest weather."

I say 'series' because it's offered with 'Record Series' option, but
isn't on at the same time next week.

It doesn't have to be on at the same time each week for the Record Series option to work.
It can be on weekly, daily, or on different days and/or times in a week, and the signal
will still be sent for the recording to start.

Yes, I'm sure most of us know that.

OK. From your wording, you appeared not to. But thank you for telling me you did.

On 28/08/2015 11:59, Malcolm Ogilvie wrote:
On Fri, 28 Aug 2015 07:56:37 +0100, Brian Lawrence wrote:

On 28/08/2015 07:11, Malcolm Ogilvie wrote:
On Fri, 28 Aug 2015 07:06:39 +0100, Brian Lawrence wrote:

BBC News, 20:30, Fri 28 Aug

Weather World

"This new program presented by BBC Weather's Nick Miller reveals the
stories and science behind some of the year's wildest weather."

I say 'series' because it's offered with 'Record Series' option, but
isn't on at the same time next week.

It doesn't have to be on at the same time each week for the Record Series option to work.
It can be on weekly, daily, or on different days and/or times in a week, and the signal
will still be sent for the recording to start.

Yes, I'm sure most of us know that.

OK. From your wording, you appeared not to. But thank you for telling me you did.

Well I could have explained more/better but chose not too, but felt it
worth pointing out that it appears to be a series though not necessarily
a regular one. It remains to be seen when/if it appears again - or
indeed if it's worth watching.

In message , Brian Lawrence
writes
BBC News, 20:30, Fri 28 Aug

Weather World

"This new program presented by BBC Weather's Nick Miller reveals the
stories and science behind some of the year's wildest weather."

I say 'series' because it's offered with 'Record Series' option, but
isn't on at the same time next week.

Thanks for the heads up. I hope it's not a bad sign that "wildest" is in
the programme's title. ("Freak weather" is another worrying expression,
like "wildest" suggesting that there might be some hyping going on.)
--
John Hall
"Honest criticism is hard to take,
particularly from a relative, a friend,
an acquaintance, or a stranger." Franklin P Jones

On 28/08/2015 18:44, John Hall wrote:
In message , Brian Lawrence
writes
BBC News, 20:30, Fri 28 Aug

Weather World

"This new program presented by BBC Weather's Nick Miller reveals the
stories and science behind some of the year's wildest weather."

I say 'series' because it's offered with 'Record Series' option, but
isn't on at the same time next week.

Thanks for the heads up. I hope it's not a bad sign that "wildest" is in
the programme's title. ("Freak weather" is another worrying expression,
like "wildest" suggesting that there might be some hyping going on.)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Not linked to this but someone was saying BBC didn't try to educate and
dumbed everything down but I enjoyed the programme last night on BBC 3
about "quantum biology" which I thought was pitched in an interesting
and visual way but was still stretching.
Dave

In message , Dave Cornwell
writes
Not linked to this but someone was saying BBC didn't try to educate and
dumbed everything down but I enjoyed the programme last night on BBC 3
about "quantum biology" which I thought was pitched in an interesting
and visual way but was still stretching.
Dave

It's the second part of two. The first part, focusing on the physics
rather than biology, is also well worth watching. If you missed it, it's
probably still on iPlayer.

I reckon that Jim al-Khalili is currently the best science presenter on
TV.
--
John Hall
"Honest criticism is hard to take,
particularly from a relative, a friend,
an acquaintance, or a stranger." Franklin P Jones

"John Hall" wrote in message
.. .

It's the second part of two. The first part, focusing on the physics rather
than biology, is also well worth watching. If you missed it, it's probably
still on iPlayer.

It's OT I know but FWIW I thought that the second part was a disappointingly
poor programme. (I've seen it before and it's not improved second time
around.) It was trying to make a link between quantum effects and biology
but all it was really doing in practice (and with some fairly clumsy
demonstrations) was linking specific biological examples to what can be
understood and explained (at least up to a substantial point) by classical
chemistry/biochemistry.

For instance, anyone doing first-year chemistry at university (and maybe
even in schools these days for all I know) will learn about infra-red
spectra and how particular bond resonances are associated with specific
peaks in the spectrum. But quite how this might be related to quantum
effects in transduction mechanisms for smell was pretty much glossed over.
And the action of collagenases (and related metalloproteases) in
metamorphosis is understood in classical enzymology by eg proximity (and
other) effects lowering the activation energy for bond hydrolysis. The
operation of the photosynthetic complex is again understood to a large
degree at the classical level.

These are all fascinating biochemical processes in their own right, but
surely the point of the programme was to try to explain how quantum effects
can offer a deeper explanation of what is happening in these processes than
'classical' chemistry can (because at heart all of the examples used in the
programme are about the chemistry of individual bond
formation/cleavage/behaviour - the fact that the examples were in a
biological context is little more than coincidence and selection). The
programme seemed too scared to try to offer a deeper insight into how eg
tunnelling can offer a more satisfactory explanation of lowering activation
energy in chemical reactions - this was surely the crux of the programme,
but too scared to go there. So what was the point?

As it was, it just seemed to be a programme around the buzzword of 'quantum
biology' when it was really about quantum chemistry and even then stopping
short of a satisfying explanation. The only good use for a term like quantum
biology as far as I can see would be if it could start to offer a peephole
through to understanding eg consciousness.

JGD

On Friday, 28 August 2015 07:06:34 UTC+1, Brian Lawrence wrote:
BBC News, 20:30, Fri 28 Aug

Weather World

"This new program presented by BBC Weather's Nick Miller reveals the
stories and science behind some of the year's wildest weather."

I say 'series' because it's offered with 'Record Series' option, but
isn't on at the same time next week.

Just seen Sat. afternoon's episode-it's simply a dumbed down version of 'The World's worst weather'-high on histrionics, and low on explanations.
Right at the end we see a plane struck by lightning-as presumably dozens are every day. Nick Miller says "no-one was actually hurt". Even a simplistic mention of Faraday and his ice-bucket would have sufficed to explain why no-one ever is actually hurt.
One of the advantages of old age is that I remember first-hand the glory-glory days of BBC science programming-Horizon, Tomorrow's World, etc, in the '60s and '70s and realise that I can spend my time far more wisely than watching the present output. I won't be bothering with this series again.