Why does some music make us sad?

How music and emotion are intimately linked

• 35 mins

Is the ‘sunshine cure’ a real thing?

Does living somewhere sunny make us happier and healthier?

• 26 mins

Are dogs good for us?

Investigating whether our canine companions are good for our health and wellbeing

• 28 mins

What is the weight of the internet?

How do we go about trying to weigh the internet – what even counts as part of it?

• 35 mins

How do butterflies and moths fly?

Why do butterflies and moths fly so erratically, but land so precisely?

• 26 mins

What does a sustainable life look like?

What would it take for all eight billion of us to share the planet sustainably?

• 28 mins

Why do my children stress me out?

Caroline Steel investigates how we respond to stress.

• 27 mins

Why am I scared of bridges?

What makes a fear become a phobia, and where do they come from?

• 28 mins

Can we grow a conscious brain?

With advances in stem cell research, could we grow a human brain? And would we want to?

• 26 mins

What is consciousness?

It's easy to observe that we ourselves are conscious but how do you study this phenomenon?

• 36 mins

Can humans be part of healthy ecosystems?

We depend on ecosystems for our survival, so can we play a more sustainable role in them?

• 30 mins

Why are spices delicious?

CrowdScience listener Kristine wants to know why herbs and spices taste so good?

• 27 mins

Which is healthier, farmed or wild salmon?

This week on CrowdScience: which is healthier, farmed salmon or wild?

• 36 mins

Green Man Festival: Why are some animals so ugly?

Why are some animals cute – and some downright weird?

• 26 mins

How does food affect our mood?

What we eat impacts our microbiome. How does that impact our mental health?

• 27 mins

What will 1.5° of warming look like?

Listener Julian wants to know what to expect on the other side of this climate threshold.

• 39 mins

Why do we lie?

Almost all of us lie. But how did it become so engrained in human behaviour?

• 26 mins

What’s the difference between reading and listening to books?

Why our brains respond differently if we listen to books instead of reading them

• 27 mins

What is brainwashing?

Is it possible to control someone’s mind?

• 36 mins

Where does our fat go when we exercise?

What happens to the fat in our bodies when we exercise?

• 26 mins

Are seeds alive?

How come a seed can do nothing for months, or even years, before bursting into life?

• 27 mins

2023 Year-End Extravaganza, Part 1

It’s Part 1 of CrowdScience’s year-end extravaganza! Say hello to some familiar faces.

• 35 mins

2023 Year End Extravaganza, Part 2

Welcome to Part 2 of our year-end extravaganza, full of bonus content and stories

• 26 mins

Will electric cars help solve noise pollution?

Will electric cars solve noise pollution?

• 28 mins

Can planting trees solve the climate crisis?

Can we plant enough trees to soak up all the extra carbon we put into the atmosphere?

• 26 mins

Were humans ever semi-aquatic?

Was there a semi-aquatic period for humans as we’ve evolved?

• 26 mins

How should we measure cleverness?

The CrowdScience team are tested to the limit to see how brainy they are.

• 26 mins

Why do we daydream?

Meandering into your wandering mind, why can’t we stay present?

• 30 mins

When will the next earthquake hit?

Will we ever be able to predict earthquakes?

• 27 mins

What time was the first clock set to?

From sundials to atomic clocks via Big Ben, a quest into the history of timekeeping.

• 27 mins