Curious Cases
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Curious Cases
Hannah Fry and Dara Ó Briain tackle listeners' conundrums with the power of science!
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159 episodi
To Crab, or Not to Crab?
We can all picture a crab, but did you know that nature has reinvented those claw clicking, sideways scuttling crustaceans at least five separate time...
Coming soon... a brand new series of Curious Cases
Hannah Fry and Dara Ó Briain return to Curious Cases HQ for a brand-new series. And curios, there’s a lot to unpack! Coming soon to BBC Sounds.
Clever Crows
The term 'bird brain' might suggest our feathered friends are stupid, but Hannah and Dara learn it's completely untrue. They play hide and seek with a...
Memory Swap
Could you ever trade memories with someone else? Fancy downloading the experience of landing on the moon, winning an Oscar or performing at Glastonbur...
Clowns in Spacetime
Can you slow down time by hurtling through space at breakneck speed? Could listener Saskia’s friend - currently one year older - end up the same age a...
Colossal Creatures
How big can animals really get before they collapse under their own weight or run out of snacks? Could a 12-foot comedian survive their first punchlin...
Nano Sharks
Think of a shark and you'll probably conjure up images of Jaws, but it turns out their skin is also covered in tiny teeth. Hannah and Dara investigate...
Chuckle, Snigger and LOL
Why do we giggle, snort, and bust a gut laughing? Is it just humans being weird, does it serve some higher function or do other animals crack up too?...
Don't Bite Me!
Ever wondered why some people are mosquito magnets and other people barely get bitten? Hannah and Dara grapple with the question of whether these inse...
Aches and Rains
The team test the theory that you can use the weather to predict pain, separating science fact from fiction. It's an area with a huge amount of confli...
Furnishing with Fungi
From mouldy bread to athlete’s foot, fungi don’t exactly scream “home improvement.” But what if this misunderstood kingdom is the secret to the sustai...
Love Neurons
What happens in your brain when Cupid’s arrow strikes? As a teenager, Alison developed an intense crush on George Harrison from the Beatles. But, she...
Invisibility Quest
Hannah and Dara tackle a disarmingly simple question: is anything in the universe truly invisible? After ruling out mysterious Nordic spirits and ‘Dar...
Liar, Liar
For any of you who have ever told a porkie pie, don't worry, this week we hear why we all do it... and discover that deception is actually good for so...
The Diamond Throwdown
“Diamonds are nonsense!” Hannah boldly proclaimed in a previous episode. But listener Guy is a diamond enthusiast, and he and his diamond-loving pals...
Curious Cases is back!
Hannah Fry and Dara Ó Briain return to tackle listener's questions with the power of science!
13. The Fastest Fly
The buzz of a fly hovering just above your head has got to be one of the most irritating sounds around, but this week we try to work out just how fast...
12. Bored to Death
Anyone who has ever done a long car journey with kids will be familiar with the idea of being bored to death – but can this feeling really be fatal? <...
11. Freeze Me When I Die
When you die, would you want to be frozen so that one day you might be brought back to life? Listener Elspeth wants to know if that’s even possible. S...
10. Night Walkers
Wake up! It’s time for a dreamy new episode of Curious Cases all about the science of sleepwalking.
Listener Abigail has done some strange thin...
9. A lemon-powered spaceship
Fruit-powered batteries are the ultimate school science experiment, but they’re normally used to power a pocket calculator. This week’s listener wants...
8. Be More Athlete
Are you more of a rhino or a kitten? More like a tortoise or a hare? Listener Ivy wants to know what makes a good athlete and so Hannah and Dara tackl...
7. Invincible Moss Piglets
Listener Vivienne has heard that tardigrades - aka moss piglets - have special powers of survival. Radiation? Drought? Extreme cold? NO PROBLEM. Does...
6. The Shock Factor
If there’s one type of discharge you really want to avoid, it’s lightning, but what happens when it hits you?
We hear from lightning survivor Ke...
5. The Taste of Words
11 year old Esther visualises days of the week in a kind of 3D structure. It’s something called ‘synaesthesia’ and she wants to know why it happens -...
4. In the Groove
It’s sometimes said that timing is everything and this week the pair investigate the mystery of rhythm, discovering why some of us might be better at...
3. Mirror, Mirror
9 year old listener Koby sends Hannah and Dara on a mission to find the shiniest thing in the world. And so they enter a world of mirrors…
The...
2. The 5 Second Rule
Would you eat food that fell on the floor? That’s the question Hannah and Dara are getting their teeth into this week as they put the so-called ‘5 sec...
1. Space Bubbles
While chatting at the back of class, best mates Abi and Sofia got curious about bubbles. How do you make really giant ones? Could you even get one aro...
Introducing a brand new series of Curious Cases!
Curious Cases is returning! Superstar mathematician and broadcaster Hannah Fry teams up with legendary comedian and fellow science nerd Dara Ó Briain...
The Impossible Number
There is a bizarre number in maths referred to simply as ‘i’. It appears to break the rules of arithmetic - but turns out to be utterly essential for...
The Mind Numbing Medicine
This episode will render you oblivious, conked out and blissfully unaware. It’s about anaesthetics: those potent potions that send you into a deep, de...
The Resurrection Quest
‘Can we bring back extinct species?’ wonders listener Mikko Campbell. Well, Professor Fry is pretty excited by the prospect of woolly mammoths roamin...
The Puzzle of the Pyramids
The Great Pyramids of Giza are awesome feats of engineering and precision. So who built them - and how? Was it a mysteriously super-advanced civilizat...
The Magnetic Mystery
Magnets are inside loads of everyday electronic kit - speakers, motors, phones and more - but listener Lucas is mystified: what, he wonders, is a magn...
The Case of the Blind Mind's Eye
Close your eyes and think of a giraffe. Can you see it? I mean, *really* see it - in rich, vivid detail? If not - you aren’t alone!
We...
Silly Studies: The Pre-Series Teaser
The new series kicks off very soon! As a little aperitif, Hannah and Adam review some surprising studies published in scientific journals. Warning: co...
The Puzzle of the Plasma Doughnut
What do you get if you smash two hydrogen nuclei together? Helium and lots of energy. That’s no joke – it's nuclear fusion!
Nuclear fusion is...
The Riddle of Red-Eyes and Runny-Noses
Sneezes, wheezes, runny noses and red eyes - this episode is all about allergies.
An allergic reaction is when your immune system react...
The Problem of Infinite Pi(e)
Hungry for pi? Chow down on this!
Pi is the ratio between a circle’s diameter and its circumference. Sounds dull – but pi turns out to have ast...