Humans have an outsized impact on the planet: we’ve wreaked havoc on countless ecosystems and one study estimates only 3% of land on Earth remains untouched by our influence. CrowdScience listener Teri has witnessed the harmful effects of devel

Bullying Parrots and Glacial Cocktails

2 Dec 30th, 2022 31m 2s

Over the past 12 months, CrowdScience has travelled the world, from arctic glacierscapes to equatorial deserts, to answer listeners’ science queries. Sometimes, the team come across tales that don’t quite fit with the quest in hand, but still d

Am I a psychopath?

1 Jul 23rd, 2021 35m 42s

One CrowdScience listener finds herself unconcerned about much of the world’s problems, it leaves her wondering: am I a psychopath?Inspired by a previous episode on empathy, this listener asked is it true that psychopaths don’t empathise and wh

Could we turn poisonous plants into edible crops?

1 May 14th, 2021 27m 59s

There are over 400,000 species of plant on earth, they’re on every continent including Antarctica. But humans only regularly eat about 200 species globally, with the vast majority of our nutrition coming from just three species. Many of the fru

How many people have ever existed?

19 days ago 26m 28s

Today there are over eight billion people on Earth. That’s an awe-inspiring figure… but how does it compare to the vast numbers who came before us? Listener Alpha wants to know how many people have ever existed, so CrowdScience sets out to do a

2023 Year End Extravaganza, Part 2

1 Dec 29th, 2023 27m 54s

Welcome to Part 2 of our year-end extravaganza and the final episode of 2023! We’ve had a brilliant year hunting down the answers to your science questions - on everything from food and phobias to friction and flying - and in this episode pres

2023 Year-End Extravaganza, Part 1

Dec 22nd, 2023 37m 7s

Welcome to Part 1 of CrowdScience’s year-end extravaganza! It’s an extra-festive episode this week. For those who celebrate it, Christmas is the perfect time to pause and look back at the year just gone. Here on CrowdScience we’ve had a great 2

What’s the difference between reading and listening to books?

1 Nov 24th, 2023 27m 59s

CrowdScience listener Michael wants to know whether the brain responds differently if we listen to books instead of reading them. Do we retain information in the same way? And is there a difference between fiction and non-fiction? Anand Jagatia

How does food affect our mood?

1 Nov 3rd, 2023 27m 41s

“You are what you eat” is a well-known saying. But is it really true? That’s what we explore in this week’s CrowdScience thanks to a question from listener Claire from Australia. We each have trillions of tiny microbes and bacteria inside our

Green Man Festival: Why are some animals so ugly?

1 Oct 27th, 2023 26m 42s

Why are some animals cute, cuddly, adorable – and some are slimy, creepy and downright weird? This edition of Crowdscience, recorded in front of a live audience, comes to you directly from the world-famous Green Man Festival in Bannau Brycheini

Which is healthier, farmed or wild salmon?

1 Oct 20th, 2023 36m 36s

Salmon are one of the world’s most popular fish. And - in terms of the size of the industry - they’re also the world’s most valuable. They provide crucial proteins and fatty acids to many people’s diets. But like other species of fish, their pr

Why are spices delicious?

Oct 13th, 2023 27m 18s

CrowdScience listener Kristine from Wisconsin in the USA wants to know why herbs and spices taste so good to so many of us. She’s intrigued to know if there's evidence that herbs and spices can keep us healthy. Anand Jagatia visits the historic

What is consciousness?

1 Sep 29th, 2023 36m 56s

It's pretty obvious to each of us that we are conscious, as we go about our days and feel the experience of just ‘being ourselves'. But how do we know that someone else is conscious? It’s something we lose during dreamless sleep, under anaesth

Can we grow a conscious brain?

Sep 22nd, 2023 28m 30s

Philosophers have long pondered the concept of a brain in a jar, hooked up to a simulated world. Though this has largely remained a thought experiment, CrowdScience listener JP wants to know if it might become reality in the not-too-distant fut

Why do my children stress me out?

1 Sep 8th, 2023 29m 36s

CrowdScience listener Leo gets stressed when his young children start screaming at the same time in the middle of the night. He wants to know why we haven’t evolved to deal with the stress more effectively. The challenges of bringing up a famil

What does a sustainable life look like?

1 Sep 1st, 2023 31m 13s

Many of us are worried about the environment, but the aim of living in a truly sustainable way is hard to pin down. Do we all need to stop buying things? Is it down to governments to make the changes for us? Is there somewhere in the world pain

How do butterflies and moths fly?

1 Aug 25th, 2023 28m 16s

For hundreds of millions of years insects controlled the skies. Before birds, bats and pterodactyls, insects were the only creatures that had evolved the ability to fly: a miracle of physics and physiology requiring their bodies to act in coord

What is the weight of the internet?

1 Aug 18th, 2023 36m 12s

How do you think about the internet? What does the word conjuror up? Maybe a cloud? Or the flashing router in the corner of your front room? Or this magic power that connects over 5 billion people on all the continents of this planet? Most of u

Is the ‘sunshine cure’ a real thing?

1 Aug 4th, 2023 28m 18s

Imagine spending six months of every year living in total shade. That’s what life is like for residents of the Norwegian town of Rjukan, set so low in a valley that they see no direct sunshine at all from October to March. Marnie Chesterton he

Is the ‘sunshine cure’ a real thing?

1 Aug 4th, 2023 26m 29s

Why does some music make us sad?

1 Jul 28th, 2023 35m 21s

CrowdScience investigates the link between music and emotion to try and understand why certain songs can have such a profound impact on our mood.From breakup songs to upbeat holiday hits, many of us have made playlists that reflect how we feel,

Why do we get bored?

1 Jul 21st, 2023 27m 26s

“I’m bored!” We can all relate to the uncomfortable - and at times unbearable - feeling of boredom. But what is it? Why does it happen? And could this frustrating, thumb-twiddling experience actually serve some evolutionary purpose? CrowdScien

Why do I crave unhealthy foods?

1 Jun 30th, 2023 31m 59s

We all enjoy a deep-fried Mars bar with french fries from time to time, but why do we crave these unhealthy foods instead of healthy things like spinach or broccoli? And what is a food craving? The answers lie in a complex blend of our psycholo

Human v machine

Jun 23rd, 2023 28m 8s

Please note: This is a shorter version than the original podcast. A longer version is available here - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct3j6y.Humans can walk for miles, solve problems and form complex relationships using the energy provided

Why can’t I see images in my head?

1 Jun 16th, 2023 38m 26s

CrowdScience listener Eileen cannot see images in her head of her memories. She only discovered by chance that most other people can do this. She wants to know why she can’t see them and if it is something she can learn to do. Anand Jagatia fin