Curious Cases

Could you ever trade memories with someone else? Fancy downloading the experience of landing on the moon, winning an Oscar or performing at Glastonbury? Listener Adam wants to know, and Hannah Fry and Dara Ó Briain are on the case.

With expert insights from Professor Chris French and Professor Amy Milton, they dive into the mind’s tendency to blur the lines between reality and imagination - often embellishing, distorting, or downrig...

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 as her if he went fast enough? It sounds bananas, but it’s all part of Einstein’s mind-warping theory of relativity.

With expert copilots Professor Sean Carroll and Dr. Katie Clough, Hannah Fry and Dara Ó Briain embark on a cosmic roller coaster through space and time. They uncover why ...

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 punchline without snapping in half? Listener Andrew sends Hannah and Dara on a deep dive into the science of supersized species.

With evolutionary biologists Ben Garrod and Tori Herridge as their guides, they explore the quirky rules of scaling: why giant bones need air pockets, how pressure s...

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 the incredible properties of these so-called dermal denticles, to find out whether they could be replicated at a nanoscale to increase vehicle speeds. They learn that while sharks might look like they have beautifully sleek surfaces, up close their skin is covered in something extre...

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? And, okay, Dara is a comedian, but has he ever really made anyone laugh, like properly?

With help from Professor Greg Bryant and Professor Sophie Scott, they dive into the science of LOLs, exploring how laughter bonds us, eases stress, and even spices up flirting. They uncover the dif...

Ever wondered why some people are mosquito magnets and other people barely get bitten? Hannah and Dara grapple with the question of whether these insects are evil or genius, discovering how they’re experts at finding blood when they’re hungry, even using a specially designed syringe to suck it out. But when Professor Leslie Vosshall tells them some people are more than 100 times likely to be attacked than others, the pair start won...

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 conflicting research, but one man who has investigated this is Professor Will Dixon, who explains that low pressure could be causing people's joints to ache more. Dara and Hannah are intrigued to hear our genes may also be responding to changes in temperature and hear how we might be pre-pr...

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 sustainable materials of the future?

Listener Alexis - definitely not a gnome - wants to know how much of our homes we could build with fungi. Professor Katie Field describes how the mushroom is the just tip of the iceberg - it’s the network of thread-like filaments called mycelium where fun...

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 wants to know, why do we develop these feelings for pop stars we’ve never actually met? And what potent swirl of neurochemistry drives those fierce emotions?

With neuroscientist Dr. Dean Burnett and evolutionary anthropologist Dr. Anna Machin as their guides, Hannah and Dara investigat...

Hannah and Dara tackle a disarmingly simple question: is anything in the universe truly invisible? After ruling out mysterious Nordic spirits and ‘Dara’s ire’, our curious duo start to track down the invisible waves all around them. Including, it turns out, some which are emanating from their VERY OWN FACES! An infrared camera reveals Hannah’s nose as a particular hotspot.

Turning their gaze to bigger things, they wonder: what does ...

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 social bonding. From the red squirrels who cry wolf to scare off the competition, to kids who look you in the eye as they tell bare faced lies, this is a behaviour that occurs across all species. And one man who's particularly good at it is Traitors contestant Paul Gorton who reveals he...

“Diamonds are nonsense!” Hannah boldly proclaimed in a previous episode. But listener Guy is a diamond enthusiast, and he and his diamond-loving pals were NOT OKAY WITH THIS. He demanded we re-open the case, and here we are...

SO in this glittering showdown, Dara is on a quest to flip Hannah’s perspective from “meh” to “marvelous.” And for Hannah, some uncomfortable facts soon emerge. It turns out that diamonds are much more than ju...

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 they could be flying. Could a claim horseflies reach speeds of up to 90 mph possibly be true, and Dara wants to know if this is what makes them so difficult to swat?

Entomologist Erica McAlister is better known as the ‘fly lady’ and speaks up in defence of these tiny creatures, explai...

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?

Hannah and Dara hear about a club where members count roundabouts and collect milk bottle tops, but boredom expert Wijnand van Tilburg explains these dull-sounding hobbies might actually have mental health benefits. He explains that science and comedy are stereotypically both seen as e...

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. So Hannah and Dara embark on a quest to explore the chiling science of ‘cryobiology’: preserving living things at really low temperatures.

It turns out there are already thousands of people alive who were once suspended in antifreeze and stored in liquid nitrogen - when they were just a...

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 things in her sleep, from taking all the pictures off the wall, to searching for Turkish language courses. And she wants to know: WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?

It turns out Abigail is not alone. Hannah and Dara hear weird and wonderful stories of extreme sleepwalkers - from the lady who went on midnight...

Fruit-powered batteries are the ultimate school science experiment, but they’re normally used to power a pocket calculator. This week’s listener wants to know if they could do more, and sends the team on a quest to discover whether they could used to send a rocket into space?

Professor Saiful Islam is the Guinness World Record holder for the highest voltage from a fruit-based battery, but disappoints the team when he reveals they pr...

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 tackle the science of sport.

Our curious duo get to grips with the rigours of training tailored for endurance events vs those based on more explosive bursts of activity. They consider the contribution of genetics, fast vs slow twitch muscle fibres, the unique advantage of Michael Phelps's ...