91Èȱ¬

The 91Èȱ¬ has affirmed its commitment to put science at the heart of the schedule with three new commissions for 91Èȱ¬ Two: The History Of Science (6 x 60-minutes), Seven Wonders Of The Solar System (5 x 60-minutes) and a new four-part 60-minute series, Professor Regan's Medicine Cabinet, Professor Regan's Diet Clinic, Professor Regan's Health Spa and Professor Regan's Nursery.

The History Of Science (working title) presented by Michael Mosley (The One Show, The History Of Surgery), to air in 2010, will reveal how science sought answers to the many fundamental questions about human existence.

Along the way, it looks at the great discoveries and shifts in science, from genetics to quantum physics, and shows how ideas and discoveries are linked to historical events and beliefs.

Michael charts the emergence of reason in place of superstition, and reveals how, even today, many people find science hard to grapple with. Along the way he tells poignant and powerful stories behind the quest for knowledge and recreates some iconic science experiments from the past.

Seven Wonders Of The Solar System is a new five-part series for 2010 presented by particle physicist, Professor Brian Cox.

From early childhood Professor Cox has been consumed by a fascination with space, sparked by the iconic Apollo 8 images of Earthrise over the lunar surface.

Today, across millions of kilometres of space, missions using extraordinary new technologies are sending back clear images of distant planets and their moons.

The series will look at modern day images from Saturn, along with more iconic images of the most distant planets – Neptune and Uranus – from the Voyager, which was launched in 1977.

The series will take viewers on a journey of discovery to see the Seven Wonders Of The Solar System. From the giant ice fountains of Enceladus to the liquid methane seas of Titan, storms twice the size of the Earth and the tortured moon of Io with its giant super-volcanoes, this is the Solar System as it has never been seen before.

Using information sent back from space, groundbreaking CGI will transform static into dramatic images.

A high-speed camera called The Phantom, which shoots 4,000 frames-per-second, will create minute detail, while revolutionary surface texturing software will create the most intricate 3D planetary fly-bys ever seen.

The series will have at its heart the latest scientific knowledge streamed back from the fleet of probes, rovers and space telescopes that have been focusing on the planets, their moons and the sun but will also explore the science behind the strange and wonderful sights glimpsed by the spacecraft.

Due to air this Spring, Professor Regan's Medicine Cabinet, Professor Regan's Diet Clinic, Professor Regan's Health Spa and Professor Regan's Nursery will go inside independent product evaluation laboratories to bring viewers the secret knowledge behind the marketing spin on products found in the medicine cabinet, diet clinic, health spa and nursery.

These industries have always used science to sell. The longer the word, the more scientific it sounds – anti-oxidant, pentopeptides, polyphenol, photo-pneumatic and free-radical busting are just some of the terms bandied around.

With a contacts book full of top scientists, real-life experiments and her own inimitable brand of interrogation, Professor Regan will get to the scientific truth behind the marketing gimmicks in this four-part series.

By using the latest high-tech equipment, and herself as a guinea pig, she will see if these products live up to the claims made by advertisers.

Backed up by rigorous scientific research and clinical trials, Professor Regan will give viewers her evaluation of products and treatments which meet her stringent standards at the end of each programme.

Notes to Editors

History Of Science is a 91Èȱ¬ Vision Production. Executive Produced by John Lynch.

Seven Wonders Of The Solar System is a 91Èȱ¬ Vision Production. Executive Produced by Andrew Cohen.

Professor Regan's Medicine Cabinet, Professor Regan's Diet Clinic, Professor Regan's Health Spa and Professor Regan's Nursery are 91Èȱ¬ Vision Productions. Executive Produced by Andrew Cohen.

Professor Brian Cox is a particle physicist, a Royal Society research fellow, and a professor at the University of Manchester. A member of the High Energy Physics group at the University of Manchester, he works on the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, CERN, near Geneva, Switzerland. He is best known to the public as the presenter of a number of science programmes for the 91Èȱ¬'s Horizon. He also had some fame in the early Nineties as keyboard player in the UK pop band D:Ream.

KS