Curious Cases
Episodes
A Frytful Scare Part 2
01 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Rutherford and Fry delve into the history of roller coasters in the second instalment of their investigation into why we enjoy being scared. Amelie Xe...
A Frytful Scare Part 1
25 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
It was a dark and stormy night around the time of Halloween. A secret message arrived addressed to Rutherford & Fry from a mysterious woman called...
Jurassic Squawk
03 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
"Is there is any way of knowing what noises, if any, dinosaurs would have made?" asks Freddie Quinn, aged 8 from Cambridge in New Zealand.From Jurassi...
The Lunar Land Pt2
26 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In the second installment of our double episode on the Moon we ask what life would be like if we had more than one Moon.From the tides to the seasons,...
The Lunar Land Pt 1
19 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
A double episode to mark the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11, and the first humans to walk on the Moon in 1969.Harley Day emailed [email protected]...
An Instrumental Case
12 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
“We play many musical instruments in our family. Lots of them produce the same pitch of notes, but the instruments all sound different. Why is this?...
The Periodic Problem
05 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
"Will the periodic table ever be complete?" asks Philip Craven on Twitter.In 2016 four new chemical elements were given the official stamp of approval...
The Mesmerist
29 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
“Is hypnosis real, and if so how does it work? Does it have any practical uses and which of Hannah and Adam is most susceptible?” This question ca...
The Horrible Hangover
21 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
"My name is Ava and I've never had a hangover," writes Ava Karuso. "I'm a 25 year-old Australian and I enjoy going out for drinks. However, the next d...
The Good Bad Food
14 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
“Why does bad food taste so good?” asks Alan Fouracre from Tauranga, New Zealand. "And by ‘bad’ food, I mean the things we are told to hold ba...
Two Infinities and Beyond - part 2
07 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In the second part of our eternal quest to investigate infinity, inspired by this question from father and son duo Sorley and Tom Watson from Edinburg...
Two Infinities and Beyond - part 1
30 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
“Is anything in the Universe truly infinite, or is infinity something that only exists in mathematics?” This momentous question came from father a...
The Stressful Scone
23 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
"How do accents start and where did they come from?” asks Sachin Bahal from Toronto in Canada.Hannah is schooled in speaking Geordie by top accent c...
The Viking Code
16 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
"Is it true all British people can trace their ancestry to Vikings and how do ancestry DNA tests work?" asks Chloe Mann from Worthing.Genetic ancestry...
A World of Pain
07 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
"Why do people experience pain differently when they go through the same event?" asks Claire Jenkins from Cwmbran in Wales.Professor of Pain Research,...
The Random Request
31 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Two random questions in this episode. "Is anything truly random, or is everything predetermined?" asks Darren Spalding from Market Harborough.Hannah a...
The Running Joke
24 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
"How fast can a human run and would we be faster as quadrapeds?" This question flew in via Twitter from historian Greg Jenner. Is there a limit to hum...
The Alien Enterprise Part 2
17 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Do alien civilisations exist? When will ET phone home?In the second part of our alien double bill, Hannah and Adam boldly go in search of intelligence...
The Alien Enterprise Part 1
10 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Mike Holcombe from Largs in Scotland asks, "How do we look for alien life and what are we expecting to find?"In the first of two episodes on the searc...
The Dawn Chorus
01 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
"Winter is finally over and the birds are all singing their hearts out at dawn. What's all the noise about? And why are some songs so elaborate?" asks...
The Lucky Number
25 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
"My boss insists that if you choose the same numbers in the lottery each time your probability of winning will increase. Is this true?" asks Vince Sco...
The Déjà Vu
18 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
"Do we know what causes déjà vu?" asks Floyd Kitchen from Queenstown in New Zealand. Drs Rutherford and Fry investigate this familiar feeling by spe...
The Human Instrument
11 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
"What happens to the human voice as we age? If I hear a voice on the radio, I can guess roughly how old they are. But singer's voices seem to stay rel...
The Fifth Dimension
04 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
"What is the fifth dimension?" asks Lena Komaier-Peeters from East Sussex.Proving the existence of extra dimensions, beyond our 3D universe, is one of...
The Cosmic Egg
02 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
"How do we measure the age of the Universe?" asks Simon Whitehead.A hundred years ago this wouldn't even have been considered a valid question, becaus...
The Atomic Blade
28 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
"What makes things sharp? Why are thinner knives sharper? What happens on the molecular level when you cut something?" All these questions came from J...
The Tiniest Dinosaur
23 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
"What is the tiniest dinosaur?" asks younger listener Ellie Cook, aged 11. Today's hunt takes us from the discovery of dinosaurs right up to the prese...
The Enigma of Sex, Part 2
16 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
The second instalment in our double bill on the science of sex, answering this question from Robert Turner, a Curio from Leeds: "Why do we only have t...
The Enigma of Sex, Part 1
09 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
"Why do we only have two sexes and are there any anomalies in the animal kingdom?" asks Robert Turner from Leeds. From reptilian virgin births to herm...
Goldfinger's Moon Laser
12 Jan 2018
Contributed by Lukas
"The other day I was watching the James Bond film Goldfinger. He boasts a laser powerful enough to project a spot on the Moon. Is this possible? If so...
The Curious Face Off
05 Jan 2018
Contributed by Lukas
"Are machines better than humans at identifying faces?" asks the excellently named Carl Vandal.Today's Face Off leads our intrepid detectives to inves...
The Cosmic Speed Limit
29 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
"We often read that the fastest thing in the Universe is the speed of light. Why do we have this limitation and can anything possibly be faster?" Ali ...
The Dreadful Vegetable
22 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
"Why don't children like vegetables?" asks Penny Young from Croydon, and every parent ever.This week Rutherford and Fry dig into the science of taste ...
The Baffled Bat
15 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
"Why don't thousands of bats in a cave get confused? How do they differentiate their own location echoes from those of other bats?" This puzzling prob...
Adventures in Dreamland
29 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
"Why do we dream and why do we repeat dreams?" asks Mila O'Dea, aged 9, from Panama.Hannah and Adam delve into the science of sleep. From a pioneering...
The Shocking Surprise
22 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Why do we get static shocks? Jose Chavez Mendez from Guatemala asks, "Some years ago, in the dry season, I used to be very susceptible to static elect...
The Sticky Song
15 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Why do songs get stuck in our heads? And what makes some tunes stickier than others? Drs Rutherford and Fry investigate 'earworms', those musical refr...
The Polar Opposite
08 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
No one knows why the Earth's magnetic North and South poles swap. But polar reversals have happened hundreds of times over the history of the Earth.So...
The Curious Cake-Off
01 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Can chemistry help us bake the perfect cake? Listener Helena McGinty aged 69 from Malaga in Spain asks, "'I have always used my mother's sponge cake r...
Kate Bush's Sonic Weapon
16 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
"It started while listening to the excellent Experiment IV by Kate Bush. The premise of the song is of a band who secretly work for the military to cr...
Itchy and Scratchy
15 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
"What is an itch and how does scratching stop it? Why does scratching some itches feel so good?!" asks Xander Tarver from Wisborough Green in West Sus...
The Burning Question
14 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
"What is fire? Is it a solid, liquid or a gas? Why is it hot and why can you see it in the dark?" asks Hannah Norton, aged 10.Dr Fry visits the Burn H...
The Dark Star
02 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
"What's inside a black hole and could we fly a spaceship inside?" asks Jorge Luis Alvarez from Mexico City.Some interstellar fieldwork is on the agend...
The Cat Who Came Back
19 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
"How on earth do cats find their way back to their previous home when they move house?" asks Vicky Cole from Nairobi in Kenya. Our enduring love for o...
A Code in Blood
15 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
"Why do we have different blood types?" asks Doug from Norfolk.The average adult human has around 30 trillion red blood cells, they make up a quarter ...
The Forgetful Child
10 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
"Why don't we remember the first few years of our lives?" asks David Foulger from Cheltenham.The team investigate the phenomenon of 'infant amnesia' a...
The Astronomical Balloon
10 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
"How far up can a helium balloon go? Could it go out to space?" asks Juliet Gok, aged 9.This calls for some fieldwork! Adam travels to the Meteorology...
The World That Turns
10 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
"Why does the Earth spin?" asks Joe Wills from Accra in Ghana. Hannah quizzes cosmologist Andrew Pontzen about the birth of the Solar System and why e...
The Broken Stool
10 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
"Science tells us that our body houses microbial organisms. Then how much our weight is really our weight? If I am overweight, is it because of my own...
The Lost Producer
02 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Why do some people have a terrible sense of direction? The team receive a mysterious message from an anonymous listener who constantly gets lost. Can ...
The Bad Moon Rising
02 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
'A teacher I work with swears that around the time of the full moon kids are rowdier in the classroom, and more marital disharmony in the community," ...
The Hunt for Nothing, Part 2
02 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In the last episode the team started investigating the following inquiry, sent in to [email protected]: 'Is there any such thing as nothing?'They...
The Hunt for Nothing, Part 1
02 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
"Is there any such thing as nothing?" This question from Bill Keck sparked so much head scratching that we have devoted two episodes to this curious q...
The Melodic Mystery
02 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
'Why is my mother tone deaf?' asks listener Simon, 'and can I do anything to ensure my son can at least carry a tune?'Hannah Fry has a singing lesson ...
The Strongest Substance
07 Oct 2016
Contributed by Lukas
"What is the strongest substance in the universe? Some people say it is spiderweb, because it is stronger than steel. Is it iron? Is it flint? Is it d...
The Space Pirate
05 Oct 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Listener Paul Don asks: "I'm wondering what's the feasibility of terraforming another planet i.e. Mars and if it's possible to do the same thing with ...
The Portly Problem
05 Oct 2016
Contributed by Lukas
"Why do we have middle aged spread?" asks Bart Janssen from New Zealand.From obese mice to big bottoms, the duo discovers what science can tell us abo...
The Sinister Hand Part 2
04 Oct 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In the previous episode the team started investigating the following enquiry, sent in to [email protected]: "What determines left or right handed...
The Sinister Hand Part 1
03 Oct 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Neal Shepperson asks, "What determines left or right handedness and why are us lefties in the minority?"When we started investigating this question it...
The Counting Horse
02 Jun 2016
Contributed by Lukas
"Can horses count?" asks retired primary school teacher, Lesley Marr.Our scientific sleuths consider the case of Clever Hans, with a spectacular re-en...
The Hairy Hominid
30 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Our science detectives answer the following perplexing problem, sent in by Hannah Monteith from Edinburgh in Scotland:"How does leg hair know it has b...
A Study in Spheres
26 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Today the team study the heavens, thanks to listener Brian Passineau who wonders 'why everything in space tends to be circular or spherical?'Hannah ga...
The Psychic Tear
26 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Listener Edith Calman challenges our scientific sleuths to investigate the following conundrum:'What is it about extreme pain, emotional shock or the ...
The Tea Leaf Mystery
26 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Today the team examine the chemistry of tea, in answer to the following question sent in by Fred Rickaby from North Carolina:"When we are preparing a ...
The Stellar Dustbin
18 Feb 2016
Contributed by Lukas
An unusual case today for science sleuths Hannah Fry and Adam Rutherford sent by Elisabeth Hill:'Can we shoot garbage into the sun?'The duo embark on ...
The Squeamish Swoon
11 Feb 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Science sleuths Hannah Fry and Adam Rutherford investigate the following question sent in by Philip Le Riche:'Why do some people faint at the sight of...
The Aural Voyeur
11 Feb 2016
Contributed by Lukas
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 s...
The Phantom Jam
11 Feb 2016
Contributed by Lukas
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 a...
The Scarlet Mark
11 Feb 2016
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...