Beschikbare afleveringen

• Can we cancel light waves?

  Noise cancelling headphones filter out sound waves that we don’t want to hear. Listener Ahmed in Libya loves wearing his and, as he was listening to them, he had a thought: ‘Could we cancel out light waves in a similar way to how noise...

  13 feb 2026 1588 sec.

• Do multiple choice questions make us biased?

  CrowdScience listener Griffith in Ghana, isn’t JUST a CrowdScience listener. He’s also a listener to our sister show on the World Service, Unexpected Elements. But he’s noticed something funny. In the weekly Unexpected Elements...

  6 feb 2026 1741 sec.

• Why do I tan more in the US?

  CrowdScience listener Namrata and presenter Chhavi Sachdev have something in common. They both get more tanned in the summer in the United States than back home in India. Namrata wants to know why she came back from her run in Boston...

  30 jan 2026 1588 sec.

• Do fish know what they look like?

  There’s something fishy going on in the Czech Republic, where CrowdScience listener Ian lives. He keeps tropical fish, and he’s noticed that when he adds new ones to his tank, they swim with others of the same breed. He wants to know...

  23 jan 2026 1588 sec.

• Why do I find silence unbearable?

  Is silence blood-curdling or blissful? CrowdScience listener Ziqi finds it intolerable and thinks that there’s a good reason for it – silence is so rare in nature that it could be a signal for danger. Presenter Marnie Chesterton is...

  16 jan 2026 1587 sec.

• How do cicadas know what season it is?

  Crowdscience listener Ryosuke grew up in Japan, and spent his childhood summers catching cicadas in the park. For people in Japan, the sound of their chirping signals the first true summer day. But until they emerge, these enigmatic...

  9 jan 2026 1589 sec.

• Did I inherit my laugh?

  CrowdScience listener Limbikani in Zambia is always being told he has his Dad’s laugh, so he set us the challenge of trying to find out whether a laugh can be passed down in our genes or if it’s something we learn from our environment....

  5 jan 2026 1588 sec.

• The CrowdScience quiz of the year

  In 2025, the crack team of intrepid presenters here on CrowdScience have been on some incredible adventures. They’ve wondered whether water is wet, and gone a hunt for a missing tangerine. They’ve wondered why animals swallow rocks,...

  26 dec 2025 2157 sec.

• How do we adapt to the cold?

  When some people are wandering around in shorts and a t-shirt, others are wrapped up in warm coats and jumpers. How come our responses to cold weather are so different? People have been living in cold environments for thousands of...

  19 dec 2025 1589 sec.

• Can you play the guitar underwater?

  Smashing up guitars is a classic rock star activity, but how about drowning them? Seven-year-old listener Cornelius asked CrowdScience to find out what happens if you play a guitar underwater. Could this be the next avant-garde music...

  12 dec 2025 1589 sec.

• Can we turn deserts green?

  Can we turn the world’s deserts green? CrowdScience listener Youcef is captivated by the idea of bringing water back to Earth’s driest landscapes. With sea levels rising and huge stretches of land drying out each year, he wonders...

  5 dec 2025 1984 sec.

• How big is a rainbow?

  When listener Sakura’s husband came home from his morning walk in Cambridgeshire, UK, he told her about a massive rainbow he’d seen. But when he showed her a picture, she didn’t think it was particularly large. So how big is a rainbow...

  28 nov 2025 1743 sec.