O tomto podcastu
We take your questions about life, Earth and the universe to researchers hunting for answers at the frontiers of knowledge.
Epizody
Nejnovějších 50 z 518 epizod
- Ten years of CrowdScience · 31 minIn November 2016 the BBC World Service launched a brand new show in which listeners would send in their science questions, and a team of fearless presenters would find answers…
- Are right-handed people more creative? · 26 minCrowdScience listener Nyok, in South Sudan, is right-handed and has always felt very creative. He's also noticed that left-handed people seem to be more logical. He's wondering…
- How do insects hear? · 28 minCrowdScience listener Lauren from Belgium has near-complete hearing loss in one ear, because all the sensory hair cells in her inner ear have died. This got her thinking about…
- Why don't we lay eggs? · 29 minSome animals lay eggs, and their young hatch out of them. Other animals give birth to live young. But which strategy is best? That’s the question that’s been bothering…
- Are we really in charge? · 26 minHave you ever found yourself doing something – perhaps getting a glass of water, eating a snack, or even sitting on the toilet – without remembering making the decision to do it?…
- How are shells made? · 26 minWhere do shells come from? CrowdScience listener Tamsyn got in touch, a little embarrassed, confessing that she had managed to reach her twenties without realising that shells…
- Do plants know we're here? · 26 minCrowdScience listener Gurmeet in India wants to know if plants can sense that we're around. She started wondering about this at a wellness centre where she was encouraged to hug…
- How many dead people are on the internet? · 34 minCrowdScience listener Devin in Canada has just had a baby. Worried that all the good email addresses might be taken by the time his child needs one, he has already set up an…
- Can my veggie sausages save the world? · 26 minCrowdScience listener Lisa, who is from South Africa but now lives in the UK, has been a vegetarian for many years. Sometimes though, she still finds herself craving meats – like…
- Why do I love rollercoasters? · 29 minYour heart pounds, your chest tightens, your stomach drops and your legs feel weak and shaky. Your palms are sweating and a tingling rush spreads through your arms and fingertips…
- How do electric fish make electricity? · 26 minSome fish can deliver electric shocks with four times the voltage of the electricity in your plug sockets at home . Crowdscience listener Mouhammed in Cameroon was stunned by…
- Why am I warm blooded? · 26 minCrowdScience listener Matt wants to know why he's warm blooded. He started thinking about this when he was watching some ants during the recent heatwave in Europe and wondered…
- Why can't I concentrate? · 26 minWhy is it hard to concentrate, and why does it feel like such hard work? The CrowdScience inbox is full of questions like that, so for this show we’re concentrating on…
- Why is TB still killing people? · 26 minTuberculosis kills more than a million people every year. It’s the world’s leading cause of death from a single infectious agent. This is despite the fact that we've had a cure…
- Will I get hit by a meteor? · 37 minStare up at the night sky, and if you’re lucky, you might see a shooting star. Some people might make a wish, but CrowdScience listener Scott in California in the USA, thinks…
- Is anything truly random? · 27 minWe’re delving into the CrowdScience archive to give you another chance to hear an award-winning show from 2025. CrowdScience listener Dorit has a problem. She wants the tiles in…
- Are there diseases in space? · 26 minSpace missions are searching for evidence of extra-terrestrial life. CrowdScience listener George in Kenya wants to know what could be up there, and if there’s a risk it could…
- What are these strange rocks? · 26 minCrowdScience listener Liana from Canada got in touch to ask about some very specific rocks she’d seen on an island in Indonesia – jagged, rugged and a very strange shape…
- How did plants evolve to attract insects? · 26 minMany plants need pollen from another plant of the same species in order to reproduce, but they don’t have legs so they can’t simply walk around looking for a mate. As a result…
- Do animals care about the past? · 26 min“What separates humans from animals, is an interest in the past”. That’s a 900-year-old quote from a textbook that Nigerian listener Taiwo came across, and he wrote to…
- How does Bluetooth work? · 27 minCrowdScience listener Rachel uses Bluetooth headphones on her cycle to work, seamlessly playing music from her phone without using wires. But how does this technology send…
- Why does paper fold so well? · 26 minCrowdScience listener Haruka has been making origami cranes out of paper since she was a child. Creating one out of a cloth napkin, however, was a next-level challenge. It gave…
- Do plants have personalities? · 29 minCrowdScience listener George is showing Alex Lathbridge around a small, dark, and extremely hot shed, just outside the city of Accra in Ghana. Inside are row after row of…
- What's the deal with tongues? · 26 minWhy is there such a variety of tongues in the animal kingdom? CrowdScience listener Dale has observed that his dog’s tongue is different from his and so is his cat’s. He’d like…
- Why am I an introvert? · 26 minCrowdScience listener Daniel in Accra, Ghana is an introvert. Or at least, he thinks he is. And he’s worried that his preference for quiet spaces and lower social interaction…
- Why do we itch? · 26 minWhy do we feel itchy? So many listeners have emailed in with questions about itchiness, and presenter Anand Jagatia on the case. We explore why we itch, the different types of…
- How come sea levels are rising faster in some places than others? · 31 minAs our oceans warm due to climate change, sea levels are rising. It ought to be straightforward – as water gets warmer, it increases in volume. All the world’s oceans are…
- Why can't I recognise faces? · 26 minCrowdScience listener Jeroen finds it hard to remember people's faces - and he wants to know why. He wonders if it's to do with getting older and if there’s any way of improving…
- Do animals hold funerals? · 26 minCrowdScience listeners Dougie and Molly have been wondering what happens to animals when they die, and whether there are animals that hold rituals to mark the passing of one of…
- Why does salt taste so good? · 26 minSalt can be found in almost every kitchen in the world. But how did this seemingly simple ingredient become the world's favourite flavour enhancer? This week, Crowdscience sets…
- When will the next super-volcano erupt? · 29 minIs the world sitting on a ticking time bomb? CrowdScience listener Christel recently watched a documentary about a volcanic eruption in 536 AD that left her native Sweden under a…
- Will rabbits become super predators? · 26 minListener Bart in Australia sees invasive species in his area almost every day – rabbits, foxes, and cats. They were transplanted to Australia from Europe more than 100 years ago…
- Could AI present CrowdScience? · 26 minCrowdScience listener Po wants to know whether AI could one day replace all human jobs. And while he requests that CrowdScience continues to be hosted by people, it made…
- Can I unlock my car using my head? · 26 minCrowdScience listener Doug has been experimenting with holding his wireless garage key to his chin. Why? Because he's testing a strange trick of physics. The range of a key can…
- Can I really manifest the future? · 26 minCrowdScience listener Kassy in India wants to know if there’s any science to support the practice of ‘manifesting’ – the idea that you can make your wishes come true just by…
- What keeps the universe in balance? · 31 minCrowdScience listener Ndanusa in Ghana, is gazing up at the stars, and wondering. Big philosophical questions, like… what keeps our universe in balance? From our perspective here…
- How can we save the Great Barrier Reef? · 26 minAustralia’s Great Barrier Reef is one of the richest and most complex natural ecosystems on earth, and it’s home to over 600 species of coral – marine animals that are most…
- Why don't more animals have opposable thumbs? · 26 minOn a recent kayaking trip, CrowdScience listener Lanier sliced through his right thumb, putting it out of action for a while. This made life difficult, as he couldn’t button his…
- Can we cancel light waves? · 26 minNoise cancelling headphones filter out sound waves that we don’t want to hear. Listener Ahmed in Libya loves wearing his and, as he was listening to them, he had a thought…
- Do multiple choice questions make us biased? · 29 minCrowdScience listener Griffith in Ghana, isn’t JUST a CrowdScience listener. He’s also a listener to our sister show on the World Service, Unexpected Elements. But he’s noticed…
- Why do I tan more in the US? · 26 minCrowdScience listener Namrata and presenter Chhavi Sachdev have something in common. They both get more tanned in the summer in the United States than back home in India. Namrata…
- Do fish know what they look like? · 26 minThere’s something fishy going on in the Czech Republic, where CrowdScience listener Ian lives. He keeps tropical fish, and he’s noticed that when he adds new ones to his tank…
- Why do I find silence unbearable? · 26 minIs silence blood-curdling or blissful? CrowdScience listener Ziqi finds it intolerable and thinks that there’s a good reason for it – silence is so rare in nature that it could…
- How do cicadas know what season it is? · 26 minCrowdscience listener Ryosuke grew up in Japan, and spent his childhood summers catching cicadas in the park. For people in Japan, the sound of their chirping signals the first…
- Did I inherit my laugh? · 26 minCrowdScience listener Limbikani in Zambia is always being told he has his Dad’s laugh, so he set us the challenge of trying to find out whether a laugh can be passed down in our…
- The CrowdScience quiz of the year · 36 minIn 2025, the crack team of intrepid presenters here on CrowdScience have been on some incredible adventures. They’ve wondered whether water is wet, and gone a hunt for a missing…
- How do we adapt to the cold? · 26 minWhen some people are wandering around in shorts and a t-shirt, others are wrapped up in warm coats and jumpers. How come our responses to cold weather are so different? People…
- Can you play the guitar underwater? · 26 minSmashing up guitars is a classic rock star activity, but how about drowning them? Seven-year-old listener Cornelius asked CrowdScience to find out what happens if you play a…
- Can we turn deserts green? · 33 minCan we turn the world’s deserts green? CrowdScience listener Youcef is captivated by the idea of bringing water back to Earth’s driest landscapes. With sea levels rising and huge…
- How big is a rainbow? · 29 minWhen listener Sakura’s husband came home from his morning walk in Cambridgeshire, UK, he told her about a massive rainbow he’d seen. But when he showed her a picture, she didn’t…
