Curious Cases

• Good Vibrations?

  It turns out that the whole world wobbles. Everything has a natural frequency - the rate at which it moves when disturbed - be it a cup of tea, a building or a human organ.Even more incredibly, if an external force matches an object's natural frequency, it causes it to absorb that energy and vibrate with increasingly large waves; and that can have consequences, from helping a spider find its lunch to making a bridge collapse. On the trail of good and bad vibes and everything in between, Hannah and Dara investigate whether the famous 1940 collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in the USA was really down to resonance, explore examples of resonance in nature, and find out what this mysterious vibration can do to the human body: from the pressures of repetitive tractor-driving, to absorbing the reverberations of certain instruments...To submit your question to the Curious Cases team, please email: [email protected]: - Helen Czerski, Professor of Physics at University College London - Wanda Lewis, Emeritus Professor of Civil Engineering at Warwick University - Phillip Moxley, Senior Research Associate at the University of Southampton - Sana Bokhari, sound therapy practitionerProducers: Lucy Taylor & Emily Bird Executive Producer: Alexandra FeachemA BBC Studios Audio Production

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• 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 times? In recent years the internet has run wild with the idea that crabs are the ultimate life-form, and that even humans might one day end up with pincers too. But is there any truth behind the memes? Hannah and Dara scale the tangled tree of life and tackle taxonomy to figure out if ‘crab’ really is evolution’s favourite shape. Exploring coconut to spanner, ghost to hermit, soldier to spider they learn how to tell the ‘true’ crabs from the impostors.You can send your everyday mysteries for the team to investigate to: [email protected] Contributors Dr Joanna Wolfe – Evolutionary Biologist, Harvard University and UC Santa Barbara Professor Matthew Wills - Professor of Evolutionary Paleobiology, University of Bath Ned Suesat-Williams – Director of the Crab Museum, MargateProducer: Emily Bird Executive Producer: Sasha Feachem A BBC Studios Production

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• 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.

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• 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 raven called Bran, and hear how his behaviour changes depending on his mood. Corvid expert Nicola Clayton explains these creatures are actually cleverer than the average 8-year-old, and can learn how to choose specific tools for different scenarios. And neurobiologist Andreas Nieder tells them that while crows evolved totally different brains from humans - 300,000 years apart - they might just be capable of the same type of intelligence. Contributors: Bran the raven Lloyd Buck, bird handler Professor Nicky Clayton, University of Cambridge Professor Andreas Nieder, University of Tubingen Producer: Marijke Peters Executive Producer: Alexandra Feachem A BBC Studios Audio Production

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• 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 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 downright making stuff up.Discover how memory conformity makes us “see” things like spoons being bent by paranormal forces, how scientists can implant artificial memories in mice, and hear Al Hopwood’s hilariously vivid tales of things that definitely never happened. Chris even spills the secrets of how to deliberately plant false memories in others (don’t try this at home!).From rewiring trauma to curing phobias, the potential of memory manipulation is both exciting and unnervingly sci-fi. Prepare to question everything you think you remember.Contributors:Amy Milton - Professor of Behavioural Neuroscience at the University of Cambridge Chris French - Professor of Anomalistic Psychology at Goldsmiths University Al Hopwood - Artist, writer and curator Producer: Ilan Goodman Executive Producer: Alexandra Feachem A BBC Studios Audio Production

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