Do We Really Need the Moon? (BBC2)

[susanreads]

The answer given at the end of the programme is Yes, of course, but it's not just about the cycle of coral spawning and tides encouraging the first animals onto the land. Among other things I didn't know, it seems the moon's gravity stabilises the Earth's tilt, so the reliability of the seasons also depends on it.

Maggie Aderin-Pocock, who I've posted about before, now gets to present a whole programme. It's fairly full of gosh-wow enthusiasm (At school I struggled, because I'm dyslexic. But then I discovered science [...] today I build satellites. It's a mix of engineering and physics and I love it), and includes basic info about tides and seasons among the special effects and theories of the origin of life. One of her things is promoting Real Science to Young People, and although it was shown on BBC2 in the evening I guess the show was made for kids.

If so, one thing I noticed is particularly cool: when she interviews other experts so they can explain things Maggie presumably knows but the target audience doesn't, like people do on these documentaries, about half of them are women. They include marine biologist Dr. Anne Cohen and astrobiologist Dr. Lynn Rothschild. Showing women scientists at work ftw: probaby more effective than just telling girls they can do it too.