hat makes Naked Science: Deadliest Planets accessible to viewers of all ages is the earth-centric approach: every unusual phenomenon is presented through a comparison with a similar occurrence on our own planet. For instance, when the narrator describes the levels of cold on Mercury – 300 degrees Fahrenheit – he adds that this is twice as cold as the coldest recorded temperature on Earth. Some of these comparisons are quite comical, or outlandish. The pressure inside Jupiter’s core, for example, is equated to a thousand elephants standing on a stiletto heel.
The elephant-stiletto heel juxtaposition is characteristic of the show's vivid descriptions of the potential dangers future colonizers might face – it shocks us by confronting the extremely small with the extremely big. On a more serious, but according note, the program reveals that sun's radiation has the capacity to destroy DNA – a true clash of the microscopic with the astronomically large.
The program includes experiments that demonstrate the effects of extreme weather conditions. I particularly loved the one where two scientists submerge a rubber ball into liquid nitrogen: the ball becomes so frozen it shatters into little pieces upon hitting a hard surface. The benefit of showing real experiments is difficult to overstate – sometimes verbal and visual metaphors aren’t enough (or become tiresome), and a real, hands-on try-out is needed to convey a certain point.
