CrowdScience

Latest Episodes:

Why do we get bored? Jul 21, 2023

Show notes

“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?

CrowdScience listener Brian started wondering this over a particularly uninspiring bowl of washing up and it’s ended with presenter Marnie Chesterton going on a blessedly un-boring tour through the science and psychology of tedium.

She finds out why some people are more affected than others, why boredom is the key to discovery and innovation and how we can all start improving our lives by embracing those mind-numbing moments.

(Photo: Bored kids on a park bench. Credit: Getty Images)

Presenter: Marnie Chesterton Producer: Samara Linton Production co-ordinator: Jonathan Harris Editor: Richard Collings

Contributors: Professor James Danckert, University of Waterloo, Canada Dr Elizabeth Weybright, Washington State University Dr Christian Chan, Hong Kong University Annie Runkel, University of Dundee

Why aren't we all ambidextrous? Jul 14, 2023

Show notes

Why are some people left-handed? Why are some people right-footed? Why do some write with their right and throw a ball with their left? What does this all have to do with our brains? Why is it hard for some people to tell left from right? And what about animals? Can they be left-flippered, or finned, or southpawed? That's what a few CrowdScience listeners want to know, and we've got an expert panel on left, right and everything in between to help answer your questions.

From genetics to culture, host Caroline Steel works to unpack what's known and what's still unknown about handedness.

David Carey from Bangor University helps Caroline better understand her own mixed-handedness through a series of simple tests and shares some insights into what role handedness (and footedness) plays in the world of sports. Neuropsychologist Marietta Papadatou-Pastou from National and Kapodistrian University of Athens helps break down the numbers on left v. right-handedness and its cultural influences. To better understand the genetics and evolution of handedness, we hear from Sebastian Ocklenburg from Medical School Hamburg, who has investigated the phenomenon in other species.

Throughout the show, Caroline tries to understand why handedness exists in the first place and why our species is so biased to the right. She tries to answer listener Barb’s question as to why ambidexterity isn’t more ubiquitous, and it leads to some brainy tangents. We also hear questions from listeners Scotia and Roland, and travel to India with BBC reporter Chhavi Sachdev to hear how cultural norms are not in favour of lefties.

Presenter: Caroline Steel Producer: Sam Baker Editor: Richard Collings Production co-ordinator: Jonathan Harris Studio engineers: Tim Heffer, Steve Greenwood

Featuring:

Marietta Papadatou-Pastou, Neuropsychologist and Assistant Professor, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Sebastian Ocklenburg, Professor for Research Methods, Medical School Hamburg David Carey, Reader in Neuropsychology, Bangor University

(Image: Close up of group of hands raised. Credit: JGI/Getty Images)

Why do we experience vertigo? Jul 07, 2023

Show notes

CrowdScience listener Ali wants to know why we experience vertigo.

Anand Jagatia finds out that it’s not just the giddy sensation we feel when we’re at the top of a mountain. Vertigo is also a physical illness that can be triggered by a range of disorders.

He talks to leading experts on balance to learn what causes the condition, discovers how virtual reality can help people with a phobia of being in high places and volunteers to be turned upside down to experience what it feels like to be treated for vertigo.

Contributors:

Peter Rea, consultant ENT surgeon, University Hospitals of Leicester, Honorary Professor of Balance Medicine, De Montfort University, Honorary Professor in Life Sciences, University of Leicester, UK Tammy Barker, clinical scientist, Balance Centre, Leicester Royal Infirmary, UK Rupal Rajani, broadcast journalist and member of Life on the Level Tara Donker, clinical psychologist, Freiburg University, Germany Andrew Hugill, composer, musicologist and deputy director, Institute for Digital Culture, University of Leicester, UK

Presenter: Anand Jagatia Producer: Jo Glanville Editor: Richard Collings Production co-ordinator: Jonathan Harris Sound design: Julian Wharton Studio manager: Bob Nettles

With thanks to Andrew Hugill for permission to include his composition Verdigrade, commissioned by The Space as part of ‘Culture in Quarantine’, BBC.

Image: CrowdScience presenter Anand Jagatia tries out a machine for diagnosing and treating vertigo at Leicester Royal Infirmary Credit: Peter Rea

Why do I crave unhealthy foods? Jun 30, 2023

Show notes

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 psychology, physiology, and even sociology.

BBC CrowdScience presenter Alex Lathbridge savours a mystery-meat crocket with the experts on a quest to discover the hidden sources and sauces of our food cravings.

Presenter: Alex Lathbridge Producer: Richard Walker Editor: Richard Collings

(Image: Stack of cheeseburgers and French fries. Credit: Dominic Lipinski/PA)

Human v machine Jun 23, 2023

Show notes

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 by daily meals. That is a lot of output for a fairly modest input. Listener Charlotte from the UK wants to know: how efficient are humans? How do they compare to cars, other animals and even to each other?

Presenter Marnie Chesterton pits her energetic self against everything from cars to rabbits to find out how she shapes up.

Marnie also explores whether humans are born equal when it comes to fuel efficiency. Does the energy from one banana get converted into the same amount of movement from person to person? Marnie gets on a treadmill to find out how efficient she really is. With contributors from Herman Pontzer, Duke University, Rhona Pearce, Loughborough University and Christian Gammelgaard Olesen from Wolturnus wheelchair manufacturing company.

Presenter: Marnie Chesterton Producer: Caroline Steel Editor: Richard Collings Production co-ordinator: Jonathan Harris

(Image: Illustration of an airplane, a red car and a female wheel chair user. Credits: Getty Images)

Why can’t I see images in my head? Jun 16, 2023

Show notes

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 finds out what mental images are for and whether scientists know why some people can’t create them.

Three per cent of the world’s population cannot see mental images like Eileen. And it is only recently been given a name – aphantasia.

Anand discovers why mental images are useful, why they are sometimes traumatic and how people who are blind or visually impaired can also create images of the world around them.

Contributors:

Emily Holmes, professor of clinical psychology, Uppsala University, Sweden Adam Zeman, professor of cognitive and behavioural psychology, Exeter University, UK Joel Pearson, professor of cognitive neuroscience, University of New South Wales, Australia Paul Gabias, associate professor, Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Canada Marijke Peters, Hannah Fisher and Jo Glanville, CrowdScience producers

Presenter: Anand Jagatia Producer: Jo Glanville Editor: Richard Collings Production co-ordinator: Jonathan Harris Sound: Jackie Margerum

Image credit: Andriy Onufriyenko | GETTY IMAGES | Creative #1397973635

Can Artificial Intelligence teach itself? Jun 09, 2023

Show notes

Welcome to the exciting new field of generative artificial intelligence - or generative AI. We’re not talking about robots or spaceships: instead these are image generators and chatbots that are already revolutionising the way people write, research and interact in the virtual world. Their capabilities are extraordinary. But before they can produce results they first need to be trained on vast amounts of data. And that’s what got CrowdScience listener Ian wondering. He says: “Before long, much of the material on the internet will have been written, or at least co-written, by AIs. What will happen when AIs are being trained on texts they have written themselves?”

To answer this question Anand Jagatia first meets artist and scientist Michelle Huang. Michelle recently embarked on a therapy project to try and connect with her own “inner child”. She took a decade’s worth of her diaries from her childhood and fed them into an AI to try and simulate a conversation between her and her younger self. Can a machine convincingly recreate the voice of a human being? You can be the judge!

Then, data scientist Briana Brownell joins Anand to explain a little about how ‘generative AI’ like this actually works. Together they open up the popular chatbot, ChatGPT, to put it to the test: but can it help Anand solve his personal conundrum? Now that we understand what AI is capable of we also need to know its limits. AI researcher Pablo Villalobos describes the process of training generative AI and where it gets its material from. The amount of data consumed in this way keeps going up and up, Pablo and his colleagues have been calculating exactly when that data is likely to run out. Pablo also discusses recent research exploring a unique effect that occurs if AI is repeatedly trained on its own material. Finally, Briana Brownell returns to cover a range of wider issues related to artificial intelligence and what effects it might have on our future.

Presenter: Anand Jagatia Producer: Phil Sansom Editor: Richard Collings

Is there a connection between memory and speech? Jun 02, 2023

Show notes

CrowdScience listener Nyankami, from Kenya, has a friend with dementia. Despite memory loss and no longer knowing his way around, his friend has no problem communicating. So what’s the connection between memory and language?

Caroline Steel discovers how dementia affects our speech. In most cases the illness does have an impact on our ability to speak but it can depend on many factors, including the type of dementia and even how many languages we speak.

She meets George Rook, diagnosed with vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s, who’s a passionate campaigner for people with dementia and talks to dementia nurse Helen Green, who explains how the illness can affect our behaviour.

She discovers that speaking more than one language can actually protect our brains from decline and finds out about cutting edge research that is helping people with dementia to improve their memory and capacity to speak.

Featuring: George Rook, Lived Experience Advisory Panel, Dementia UK Helen Green, Admiral Nurse, specialising in dementia Professor Alex Leff, Professor of Cognitive Neurology, Institute of Neurology, University College London Professor Guillaume Thierry, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience, Bangor University Professor Yan Jing Wu, Professor of Neurolinguistics, Ningbo University, China Dr Elizabeth Kuhn, Post-Doctoral Fellow, German Centre for Neurodegenerative Disease, Bonn

Image Credit: Emma Innocenti

Presenter: Caroline Steel Producer: Jo Glanville Editor: Richard Collings Production co-ordinator: Jonathan Harris Sound engineer: Jackie Margerum

Why is the sun at the centre? May 26, 2023

Show notes

It may seem like a simple question but could you explain why the earth revolves around the sun? That is what listener Josh from New York wants to know. For much of human history we thought everything revolved around us, literally. So how did humans come to the conclusion that we're not the centre of the universe? And how did the scientific process help us uncover the true order of things?

Looking through telescopes from the vantage point of Australia, host Caroline Steel speaks with astronomers and physicists about the bumpy scientific journey to arrive at this discovery that we now take for granted. Delving into Indigenous astronomy with researcher Peter Swanton, Caroline questions whether Western scientists were really the first ones to grasp this understanding of our solar system.

And at the Sydney Observatory, stellar astrophysicist Devika Kamath and Sydney Observatory host Nada Salama show Caroline some of the clues up in the sky that astronomers in the 1600s used to deduce that there was something wrong with earlier models of our solar system.

Rhett Allain from Southeastern Louisiana University helps break down the physics concepts at play when it comes to the motion of our planets and the sun.

Through her exploration of a seemingly simple question, Caroline asks some big questions as she looks up to the stars – about life, the universe, and the nature of science itself.

Producer: Sam Baker Presenter: Caroline Steel Editor: Richard Collings Production co-ordinator: Jonathan Harris

Featuring: Devika Kamath, Astrophysicist, Macquarie University Rhett Allain, Associate Professor, Southeastern Louisiana University Peter Swanton, Indigenous Research Associate, Australian National University

(Photo: Caroline and Devika, Sydney Observatory)

Can sea-swimming improve my health? May 19, 2023

Show notes

Anyone who has ever enjoyed a beach holiday will know there’s something special about being by the seaside. But does sea swimming actually have tangible health effects? This week’s listener Holly is a self-confessed water baby, and says her regular surf sessions on Sydney’s iconic Bondi beach make her feel happier and look younger. But could we get some of the benefits from the beach without getting our feet wet?

At the Plymouth Marine Lab, researchers have shown that the smell of the sea makes most people feel happier. They’re measuring sea spray aerosols containing natural compounds derived from algae, that dial down the inflammatory response in lung cancer cells. Other scientists in the region have investigated the use of virtual reality to simulate being by the coast, which is proven to reduce the experience of dental pain during treatment. Finally, we visit Teats Hill in Plymouth to find out how a waterside amphitheatre and an urban beach are helping residents feel safer and more connected to one another.

Producer: Marijke Peters Presenter: Marnie Chesterton

Editor: Richard Collings Production Coordinator: Jonathan Harris

Contributors:

Dr Frances Hopkins, Plymouth Marine Laboratory Dr Mike Moore, Plymouth Marine Laboratory Dr Mathew White, University of Vienna Dr Easkey Britton

Image credit: David Sacks | The Image Bank | Getty Images | 164241179

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