THE pop star professor involved in one of the biggest scientific experiments in history is to give an insight into the origins of the universe at Manchester University.

Prof Brian Cox, former keyboard player with chart-toppers D:Ream and professor at Manchester University's school of physics and astronomy, is part of the Big Bang project at the CERN scientific research centre in Geneva.

Through the Large Hadron Collider, Prof Cox and other scientists hope to recreate conditions in the universe less than a billionth of a second after the Big Bang and hope to uncover some of its unsolved mysteries.

Prof Cox, from Oldham, will give a talk as part of the Roscoe Penny Lecture series, named after Henry Enfield Roscoe, who in 1866 began a series of lectures to bring science to a wider audience.

Prof Cox, 40, (pictured below) said: "I'm quite a believer that science should be part of culture as well as being useful in its own right."

Audiences are nothing new to the former keyboard player who had a number one hit with Things Can Only Get Better in 1994. The song was later taken up as a New Labour anthem and Prof Cox played at the famous Labour Party victory celebration at the Royal Albert Hall.

For booking details for Dr Cox's lecture, contact 0161 275 3275.