I didn’t know that!

CrowdScience

BBC

Science, Technology

4.8 • 985 Ratings

🗓️ 27 December 2024

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Did you know that flies fly in rectangles, fish hide by lighting themselves up and the moon is lifting the ground underneath your feet? Anand Jagatia quizzes members of the CrowdScience team on the moments from the past year that had them scratching their heads in amazement.

We hear Dr Erica McAlister’s attempts to calculate how many flies have ever existed, and about flies’ mating choreography, courtesy of Prof Jochen Zeil. We learn how to tell a mosquito’s sex thanks to Eggrey Aisha Kambewa and Dr Steve Gowelo.

Astronomer Dr Darren Baskill describes tides not of water but of land; Dr Edie Widder paints a vivid picture of a camouflaged creature of the deep; and we explore starfishes’ five-fold symmetry with Dr Imran Rahman.

Khimlal Gautam, Mountaineer and Chief Survey Officer for the Government of Nepal, tells us of the near-death experience he had when checking the height of Mount Everest.

And finally, axolotl expert Dr Elly Tanaka is astonished at the dedication of CrowdScience presenter Alex Lathbridge to the subject of her research.

Presenter: Anand Jagatia Producer: Ben Motley Editor: Cathy Edwards Production Co-ordinator: Ishmael Soriano Studio Managers: Donald MacDonald and Giles Aspen

(Photo: Lost in formulas Credit: Cimmerian via Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're about to listen to a BBC podcast, but this is about something else you might enjoy.
0:05.4	My name's Katie Lecky and I'm an assistant commissioner for on demand music on BBC Sounds.
0:10.8	The BBC has an incredible musical heritage and culture and as a music lover, I love being part of that.
0:17.5	With music on sounds, we offer collections and mixes for everything, from workouts to helping you nod off, boogie in your kitchen, or even just a moment of calm. And they're all put together by people who know their stuff. So if you want some expertly curated music in your life, check out BBC Sounds. These numbers are ridiculous. It is sort of incredible. That's incredible.
0:41.8	This is Crowd Science from the BBC World Service, the show that's sparked by your curiosity.
0:47.6	Week in, week out, our inbox is flooded with your questions about life, earth and the universe.
0:53.5	A sort of disembodied head crawling around on its lips.
0:57.1	So I need a magnifying glass and to look for a beard.
0:59.4	You have suffered for your science, I think.
1:01.7	We are constantly surprised and delighted by your endless ingenuity.
1:06.8	So many of the questions we get are things that we'd never even have thought to ask.
1:16.9	And every single crowd science has at least one moment that makes us go, wait, what?
1:27.6	I'm Anna Jagatia and for this program, I've asked a whole crowd science team to share some of their favorite moments from the past year that have had their jaws on the floor.
1:29.0	You see that thing beating?
1:30.0	I do indeed.
1:30.9	Wow.
1:31.5	Yeah, yeah.
1:32.2	Wow.
1:33.7	How cool is that?
1:35.8	That is unbelievable.
1:39.9	And to start us off, I'm joined by Caroline Steele.
1:40.4	Hi, Caroline.
	...

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