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BBC Radio 4

Hannah Fry and Dara Ó Briain tackle listeners' conundrums with the power of science!

The Curious Cases of Rutherford & Fry

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 produce very little power. He used 3,000 of them and only managed a measly 2 Watts. Given that spaceships are famously difficult to get off the ground, it seems a lemon battery might just fail the acid test. 

Author Randall Munroe is undeterred and suggests alternative ways to get energy from citrus, including burying them to make oil. Then the team discuss the pros and cons of switching to a lemon-based diet. 

For battery expert Paul Shearing, all this raises a serious question, about how we will power the planes of the future. He suggests solar power could play a part in short-haul flights and discusses some of the exciting battery materials being tested today.

Contributors:

Randall Munroe, author
Professor Paul Shearing, Oxford University
Professor Saiful Islam, Oxford University 

Producer: Marijke Peters
Executive Producer: Alexandra Feachem
A BBC Studios Audio Production

9. A lemon-powered spaceship

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 motorbike excursions, to the artist who does all his best work while asleep. They delve into the neuroscience to find out how you can remain in deep sleep while walking, talking or even peeing in your mum's shopping basket. They learn about some cutting edge research where the participants were sleep deprived and then half-woken with scary sounds, and they zero in on the key triggers, from a boozy night out to a squeaky bed.

Contributors
Professor Russell Foster: University of Oxford.
Professor Guy Leschziner: King’s College London and Guys’ and St Thomas’ hospital 
Lee Hadwin: the sleep artist
Professor Francesca Siclari: The Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience

Producer: Ilan Goodman
Executive Producer: Alexandra Feachem
A BBC Studios Audio Production

10. Night Walkers

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 small clump of cells! There’s even a frog which can turn into a ‘frogsicle’ for months on end. But re-animating full size humans is a challenge no one has solved…yet. Will some miraculous nanotechnology of a distant future solve the problem? 

Contributors:

Professor João Pedro de Magalhães: University of Birmingham 
Hayley Campbell: Author and broadcaster
Professor Joyce Harper: UCL 
Dr Hanane Hadj-Moussa: The Babraham Institute, Cambridge 
Garrett Smyth: Cryonics UK

Producer: Ilan Goodman
Executive Producer: Alexandra Feachem
A BBC Studios Audio Production

11. Freeze Me When I Die

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 exciting subjects but warns them their chat about Venn diagrams might tip the balance the other way. 

Mind-wandering specialist Mike Esterman reveals why we're rubbish at staying on task when there are more rewarding things to do, and sets the pair a challenge to play a computer game that distracts them with pictures of cute babies and fluffy animals.

Contributors:

Dr Wijnand van Tilburg: University of Essex
Dr Mike Esterman: Boston Attention and Learning Lab

Producer: Marijke Peters
Executive Producer: Alexandra Feachem
A BBC Studios Audio Production

12. Bored to Death

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, explaining there are 7,000 known species in the UK alone. Which makes it all the more shocking there are several that don’t have wings.

For Professor Graham Taylor the question of speed comes down to a simple calculation, and the team try to work out whether a horsefly beats its wings fast enough relative to its size to travel so rapidly. He explains horseflies aren't clever, but scientists are interested in their simple brains and are studying them to use as models for drones and mini robots.

Contributors:

Dr Erica McAlister, Natural History Museum
Professor Graham Taylor, Oxford University 

Producer: Marijke Peters
Executive Producer: Alexandra Feachem
A BBC Studios Audio Production

13. The Fastest Fly

Hannah Fry and Dara Ó Briain return to tackle listener's questions with the power of science!

Curious Cases is back!

“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 just overpriced bling. They're the secret ingredient in all sorts of high-tech gadgets with a whole arsenal of little-known superpowers.

Enter electrochemist Julie Macpherson, who blows Hannah’s mind by showing how diamonds can slice through ice like butter, thanks to their unmatched ability to conduct heat. Not impressed yet? Physicist Mark Newton makes a diamond glow in the dark, using nothing but his phone flashlight. 

And that’s just to start! These ultra-robust gems can scrub nasty chemicals from water, serve as supercharged electrodes, and even reveal deep-earth secrets locked away for billions of years. 

By the end of this episode, will Hannah finally admit diamonds are forever cool? 

Contributors:

Charlie Bexfield - Gemmologist and diamond specialist
Julie MacPherson - Professor of Chemistry at the University of Warwick
Mark Newton - Professor of Physics at the University of Warwick
Grahame Pearson - Professor of Earth Sciences from the University of Alberta

Producer: Ilan Goodman
Executive Producer: Sasha Feachem
A BBC Studios Audio Production

The Diamond Throwdown

Drs Adam Rutherford and Hannah Fry are on hand to solve everyday mysteries sent in by listeners. For the last few weeks they've been collecting cases to investigate using the power of science - from why people shout on their mobile phones to what causes traffic jams. 

In the first episode, called 'The Scarlet Mark', they get to the root of the following conundrum, posed by Sheena Cruickshank in Manchester: 

'My eldest son is ginger but I am blonde and my husband brunette so we are constantly asked where the red came from. Further, people do say the "ginger gene" is dying out, but how good is that maths or is it just anecdotal?' 

Our science sleuths set out to discover what makes gingers ginger with a tale of fancy mice, Tudor queens and ginger beards. 

Featuring historian and author Kate Williams and Jonathan Rees from the University of Edinburgh, one of the team who discovered the ginger gene. 

If you have any scientific cases for the team to investigate please email: curiouscases@bbc.co.uk 

Presenters: Hannah Fry & Adam Rutherford 
Producer: Michelle Martin.

The Scarlet Mark

Drs Rutherford and Fry set out to discover what makes traffic jam. Adam ventures on to the M25 in search of a tailback, and Hannah looks at projects around the world that have attempted to solve the scourge of the traffic jam.

Featuring Neal Harwood from the Transport Research Laboratory and BBC technology reporter, Jane Wakefield. And Masdar City man.

If you have any scientific cases for the team to investigate please email: curiouscases@bbc.co.uk

Presenters: Hannah Fry & Adam Rutherford
Producer: Michelle Martin.

The Phantom Jam

Drs Rutherford and Fry tackle a vexing case sent in by Daniel Sarano from New Jersey, who asks why people shout on their mobile phones in public.

Our science sleuths find the answer by delving into the inner workings of telephony with a tale of engineering rivalry, Victorian etiquette and early otolaryngology.

Featuring acoustic technologist Nick Zakarov and historian Greg Jenner, author of 'A Million Years in a Day: A Curious History of Daily Life.'

If you have any scientific cases for the team to investigate please email: curiouscases@bbc.co.uk

Presenters: Hannah Fry & Adam Rutherford
Producer: Michelle Martin.

Curious Cases is back!

Lyt når som helst, hvor som helst

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