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Is Hypnosis a Real Thing?
Can science explain what’s going on when someone is hypnotised?
What Shapes Our Musical Taste?
Why does one person’s heavenly music sound like boring noise to another?
Will We Run Out of Groundwater?
Will we run out of groundwater and what will happen if we do?
Do Plants Talk about Sex?
Plants do communicate, but what are they talking about? Sex seems a likely answer
Where Do All Our Vegetables Come From?
Have you ever seen a Brussels sprout growing in the wild? Neither has listener Pogo.
Why do Humans have Different Coloured Skin?
Anand Jagatia looks at the science behind why we have different skin colours
How Do Magnets Work?
What’s going on in a magnetic field?
Why Does History Repeat Itself?
Why do we often ignore our parents’ advice?
How Do You Stop a Hedgehog Invasion?
Getting rid of an invader that people think is cute poses all sorts of prickly problems…
Can We Trap Light in a Box?
What is light and can we trap it in a box? Marnie Chesterton investigates.
Could Humans Live in Underwater Cities?
Could oceanic cities become a reality and how might they be built?
Is there life on Mars?
Could Mars be a planet where life existed? Marnie Chesterton explains
Why Do Some Animals Change Sex?
In the animal kingdom, switching sex is more common than you might think
Why Do Drivers Zone Out?
How can your brain handle driving at 70mph while your mind is busy wandering?
Is Vaping Bad for your Health?
E-cigarettes are becoming increasingly popular but just how safe are they?
What’s The Point of Laughter?
All of us laugh, and it may seem obvious why we do, but what does the science say?
Does Asking Questions Improve Your Memory?
Crowd Science reaches its 100th episode
Can We Prevent Hurricanes?
Hurricanes – could science hold any solutions to these devastating events?
What Makes Us Superstitious?
How rational people can hold irrational beliefs and why ‘luck’ may be a state of mind
What are the Limits of Human Endurance?
CrowdScience joins a 246km running race in search of the secrets of human endurance
Could Bionic Eyes Help Me See Again?
CrowdScience takes a look at life with artificial vision
How Do We Deal with Nuclear Waste?
CrowdScience travels deep underground to visit one final resting place for nuclear waste.
Can We Make an Artificial Womb?
Exploring what we would need to make a baby outside the body
Which Language is Most Efficient?
Marnie Chesterton attempts to apply science and evidence to the art of speech
Do You Smell What I Smell?
Anand Jagatia sets out to discover why we can’t all agree when we follow our noses
Is Soil The Secret to Slowing Climate Change?
CrowdScience goes digging to find out how soil could help keep CO2 out of the air
Why do Women Live Longer than Men?
Marnie Chesterton examines how men and women age differently
Is There a Logic to Romantic Love?
Can science explain why romantic rejection hurts?
How Much Energy Can I Burn by Thinking?
Could we lose weight just by exercising our brain?
What is the future of space travel?
CrowdScience goes interstellar to examine the future of space travel
How Bird-Like Were Dinosaurs?
Birds are dinosaurs, but did their extinct relatives move, look, or sing like they do?
Can Volcanoes Power the World?
Eruptions cause chaos and destruction, but could they also be an energy source?
Why Can’t I Remember My Accident?
CrowdScience goes hunting for lost memories
Why Do We Bury Our Dead?
The practice of burial stretches back deep into prehistory, but how did it evolve?
Is Recycling All Our Waste at Home Possible?
Could we recycle all of our unwanted household materials ourselves?
Could a ‘zombie’ virus kill us all?
Might ancient ice from the Antarctic depths contain deadly viruses?
Where was the last place humans made home?
Our species started in Africa, but what was the last habitable landmass we reached?
Does brain size matter?
Why have a big brain if a small one would do?
What do clouds feel like?
We turn our gaze skywards to tackle three questions about what’s going on above us
Why am I shy?
Is shyness written in our genes, or more to do with our upbringing?
When will an African visit Mars?
We head to South Africa’s biggest science festival for a debate before a live audience
Why do we like some animals and hate others?
What makes us fawn over a puppy, but run away from rats?
Which milk is best for me and the planet?
Is switching from dairy milk to plant-based milks a healthier choice?
What are dreams for?
Do we actually need to dream? Is there an evolutionary reason for it?
Why do we find things beautiful?
Humans seem programmed to appreciate beauty – but why?
Will we ever know what the universe is made of?
CrowdScience finds out if there’s a limit to what physicists at CERN can discover
Could viruses help fight super-bugs?
CrowdScience travels to Georgia in search of solutions to antibiotic resistance
Did cooking make us human?
When did we switch from eating our food raw, to heating it?
How does a single cell become me?
How do trillions of individual cells work together to build bodies?
Could dark matter harbour dark life?
Marnie Chesterton answers Indian listener Gautam’s question about dark life
Bonus: 13 Minutes to the Moon
Introducing the new podcast about how humans reached the moon. Theme music by Hans Zimmer
Could our household microbes help or harm us?
We revisit our episode on dust to decide what we should do with our invisible housemates
How are we evolving?
How are we changing genetically to adapt to modern lifestyles and our environment
Can singing improve our health?
Could this much-loved musical pastime improve our mental and physical strength?
Are there new ways to beat depression?
We investigate how science is uncovering new ways to help beat long-term depression
What’s the best way to breathe?
Can certain breathing techniques improve your exercise performance?
Can we prevent traffic jams?
Should our cities cater less for cars and what are the alternatives?
Why do some people eat soil?
What drives the body to crave something that isn’t real food?
Who were the first farmers?
The story of how our ancestors tamed plants and animals
Where’s my time machine?
When will sci fi’s favourite technologies become reality?
Why do we pull faces when we concentrate?
We tackle the science of scowling, gesturing, and counting
How many fossils are there?
Have we already found the last T. rex? Or are there many more to be discovered?
Can I predict the future?
There are ordinary people among us who are exceptionally good at predicting the future
Global infertility: Could The Handmaid’s Tale become reality?
What could cause mass infertility? Marnie Chesterton investigates
How can I motivate myself?
We put science to the test to try and find out how can we best motivate ourselves
Do we need more space stations?
Would more satellites and space stations help us get further into the solar system?
Are extroverts really happier?
We probe the links between happiness, personality and culture
Can my migraines be cured?
What’s happening in my brain when I get a migraine? CrowdScience investigates
Could I learn to think like Sherlock Holmes?
What does science have to say about the famous fictional detective?
Is a vegan diet better for your health?
Many people follow a plant based diet, but is a vegan diet really better for your health?
Do green spaces make us healthier?
Is there more to living alongside greenery?
How can I live a longer life?
What is the secret to living healthily into very old age?
Is maths real?
Is maths a tool created by humans? Or is it reality itself?
Will my salmon swim home?
Could we repopulate salmon rivers?
Can my stutter be cured?
Most of us take speaking for granted, but for Breeda it has been a lifelong struggle
Why do I get sleepy?
We ask what happens in our body and brain when tiredness takes over
Can a machine read my mind?
How machine learning is enabling minds to start melding with machines
Should I stop eating palm oil?
Is palm oil environmental foe or poverty-fighting crop? Graihagh Jackson investigates
Could humans hibernate during interstellar travel?
Hibernation could allow people to travel long distances in space. How realistic is it?
Would humans exist if dinosaurs were still alive?
We explore an alternative reality where dinosaurs still roam the earth
