Genius by Stephen Hawking

The volunteers must organize a special race mimicking the movement of galaxies in space. They must arrange the "galaxies" in order to start the race, but they don’t all start form the same point. They are surprised to see that some of the galaxies walk and some run very fast. This demonstrates that the galaxies furthest away from Earth are also the ones traveling the fastest.

Have we actively chosen the outcomes of our lives or have they been pre-determined? The volunteers are joined by their doppelgangers to help them demonstrate that the realms of possible realities is vast.

The volunteers need to think like scientists to make the perfect cocktail. They are presented with a cocktail glass on a pedestal and they must use a pendulum to complete the cocktail with an single olive without touching the glass.

The volunteers gather in front of the castle and one places EEG equipment on his head. His brain signals can be seen projected onto the side of the castle. The EEG specialist explains how they change when a decision is made and how they can complete the Libet Experiment. What do they see when they press the red button and what will it tell them about the brain when they make a decision?

The volunteers enter a dining room to see floating plates of food in front of them. The plates are floating above the table with no means of support that can be seen. Can they work out why and how the plates of food are magically floating?

Join Professor Hawking as he challenges three ordinary people to work out the likelihood of alien life out there in the universe. See why the team has their minds blown in a way they were never expecting.

In each of six episodes, renowned scientist Stephen Hawking presents three ordinary people with a series of physical and mental challenges to show them how to think like a genius. Premieres May 18 9/8c.

Stephen Hawking explains that he believes that we’ll encounter aliens in our lifetime and that the mathematics predicts it. He sends the three volunteers to see one of the largest radio telescopes in the world. It can be used to listen for signs of life in the universe.

Using an equalizer and megaphone alone, the volunteers must work out how to simulate a message from deep space. With the loud static blasting through the speakers, they must work out how isolate only the channel which is broadcasting the message from intelligent life.

The volunteers are given a spoon of sand with 50,000 grains. Each grain of sand represents a single star. They try to guess how many stars there are in the galaxy and then use the spoon of sand to create a pile of stars with their estimate. How big will the pile of sand be and how close will it be to the actual number of stars in our galaxy?

The volunteers arrive at a "magical parking lot" and are surprised by a DeLorean. They work out how to use the car to demonstrate their time traveling journey, back to the past and forward again to the future. Will they spot their mistake in their prediction of what they will see from the DeLorean?

The volunteers arrive on Arizona University campus to find a wooden trunk and eight clocks. They set up the black hole challenge. They notice that the clocks closest to the black sphere run slower than those further away. They realize that the inflatable is their black hole, and they must work out how they can use it to travel forward in time.