How are shells made?
Where do shells come from? CrowdScience listener Tamsyn got in touch, a little embarrassed, confessing that she had managed to reach her twe...
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CrowdScience
We take your questions about life, Earth and the universe to researchers hunting for answers at the frontiers of knowledge.
Episodes
20 of 513 episodesDo plants know we're here?
CrowdScience listener Gurmeet in India wants to know if plants can sense that we're around. She started wondering about this at a wellness c...
How many dead people are on the internet?
CrowdScience listener Devin in Canada has just had a baby. Worried that all the good email addresses might be taken by the time his child ne...
Can my veggie sausages save the world?
CrowdScience listener Lisa, who is from South Africa but now lives in the UK, has been a vegetarian for many years. Sometimes though, she st...
Why do I love rollercoasters?
Your heart pounds, your chest tightens, your stomach drops and your legs feel weak and shaky. Your palms are sweating and a tingling rush sp...
How do electric fish make electricity?
Some fish can deliver electric shocks that are four times more powerful than the electricity in your plug sockets at home. Crowdscience list...
Why am I warm blooded?
CrowdScience listener Matt wants to know why he's warm blooded. He started thinking about this when he was watching some ants during the rec...
Why can't I concentrate?
Why is it hard to concentrate, and why does it feel like such hard work? The CrowdScience inbox is full of questions like that, so for this...
Why is TB still killing people?
Tuberculosis kills more than a million people every year. It’s the world’s leading cause of death from a single infectious agent. This is de...
Will I get hit by a meteor?
Stare up at the night sky, and if you’re lucky, you might see a shooting star. Some people might make a wish, but CrowdScience listener Scot...
Is anything truly random?
We’re delving into the CrowdScience archive to give you another chance to hear an award-winning show from 2025. CrowdScience listener Dorit...
Are there diseases in space?
Space missions are searching for evidence of extra-terrestrial life. CrowdScience listener George in Kenya wants to know what could be up th...
What are these strange rocks?
CrowdScience listener Liana from Canada got in touch to ask about some very specific rocks she’d seen on an island in Indonesia – jagged, ru...
How did plants evolve to attract insects?
Many plants need pollen from another plant of the same species in order to reproduce, but they don’t have legs so they can’t simply walk aro...
Do animals care about the past?
“What separates humans from animals, is an interest in the past”. That’s a 900-year-old quote from a textbook that Nigerian listener Taiwo c...
How does Bluetooth work?
CrowdScience listener Rachel uses Bluetooth headphones on her cycle to work, seamlessly playing music from her phone without using wires. Bu...
Why does paper fold so well?
CrowdScience listener Haruka has been making origami cranes out of paper since she was a child. Creating one out of a cloth napkin, however,...
Do plants have personalities?
CrowdScience listener George is showing Alex Lathbridge around a small, dark, and extremely hot shed, just outside the city of Accra in Ghan...
What's the deal with tongues?
Why is there such a variety of tongues in the animal kingdom? CrowdScience listener Dale has observed that his dog’s tongue is different fro...
Why am I an introvert?
CrowdScience listener Daniel in Accra, Ghana is an introvert. Or at least, he thinks he is. And he’s worried that his preference for quiet s...