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More from Curious Cases

1. 

   24 Oct 2025 · 29 min

   Just My Luck

   Are you a lucky person? Do the cards just fall well for you? Whether it's always finding a parking spot when you need one or chance encounters that change your life's trajectory for the better, some people seem to have more luck than others. Hannah and Dara explore the world of probability and psychology to figure out if some people are luckier than others, and if there's anything we can do to turn things around. You can send your everyday mysteries for the team to investigate to: curiouscases@bbc.co.uk Contributors David Spiegelhalter - Emeritus Professor of Statistics in the Centre for…

2. 

   17 Oct 2025 · 29 min

   Good Vibrations?

   It turns out that the whole world wobbles. Everything has a natural frequency - the rate at which it moves when disturbed - be it a cup of tea, a building or a human organ. Even more incredibly, if an external force matches an object's natural frequency, it causes it to absorb that energy and vibrate with increasingly large waves; and that can have consequences, from helping a spider find its lunch to making a bridge collapse. On the trail of good and bad vibes and everything in between, Hannah and Dara investigate whether the famous 1940 collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in the USA was…

3. 

   10 Oct 2025 · 29 min

   To Crab, or Not to Crab?

   We can all picture a crab, but did you know that nature has reinvented those claw clicking, sideways scuttling crustaceans at least five separate times? In recent years the internet has run wild with the idea that crabs are the ultimate life-form, and that even humans might one day end up with pincers too. But is there any truth behind the memes? Hannah and Dara scale the tangled tree of life and tackle taxonomy to figure out if ‘crab’ really is evolution’s favourite shape. Exploring coconut to spanner, ghost to hermit, soldier to spider they learn how to tell the ‘true’ crabs from the…

4. 

   4 Jul 2025 · 29 min

   Clever Crows

   The term 'bird brain' might suggest our feathered friends are stupid, but Hannah and Dara learn it's completely untrue. They play hide and seek with a raven called Bran, and hear how his behaviour changes depending on his mood. Corvid expert Nicola Clayton explains these creatures are actually cleverer than the average 8-year-old, and can learn how to choose specific tools for different scenarios. And neurobiologist Andreas Nieder tells them that while crows evolved totally different brains from humans - 300,000 years apart - they might just be capable of the same type of intelligence.…

5. 

   27 Jun 2025 · 30 min

   Memory Swap

   Could you ever trade memories with someone else? Fancy downloading the experience of landing on the moon, winning an Oscar or performing at Glastonbury? Listener Adam wants to know, and Hannah Fry and Dara Ó Briain are on the case. With expert insights from Professor Chris French and Professor Amy Milton, they dive into the mind’s tendency to blur the lines between reality and imagination - often embellishing, distorting, or downright making stuff up. Discover how memory conformity makes us “see” things like spoons being bent by paranormal forces, how scientists can implant artificial…

6. 

   20 Jun 2025 · 30 min

   Clowns in Spacetime

   Can you slow down time by hurtling through space at breakneck speed? Could listener Saskia’s friend - currently one year older - end up the same age as her if he went fast enough? It sounds bananas, but it’s all part of Einstein’s mind-warping theory of relativity. With expert copilots Professor Sean Carroll and Dr. Katie Clough, Hannah Fry and Dara Ó Briain embark on a cosmic roller coaster through space and time. They uncover why GPS satellites - whizzing around Earth at 14,000 km/h - need to account for time bending, why penthouse dwellers age faster than those on the ground floor, and,…

7. 

   29 Sep 2026 · 1 min

   Trailer

   Hannah Fry and Dara Ó Briain return for a new series, and a whole lot of new problems to solve!

8. 

   2 Jan 2026 · 29 min

   Frosty Fractals

   One winter morning, listener Jane opened her curtains to find her car roof covered in breathtaking, fern-like frost so intricate it looked like a William Morris print. But how does something as ordinary as ice create patterns so beautifully complex? Hannah and Dara explore this crunchy, slippery, delicately patterned branch of chemistry to uncover the rules and mysteries that govern the extra-ordinary world of ice. Why does ice come in so many shapes and sizes? And does all ice form at 0 degrees Celsius? Is every snowflake truly unique? We have questions a plenty for our eager chemists, who,…

9. 

   31 Dec 2025 · 28 min

   Mining for Gold (GOLD!)

   From pharaohs' tombs in Ancient Egypt and medieval currency, to priceless royal jewellery and Spandau Ballet songs - gold has been prized for millennia. But it's only really in the last century or so that we've started uncovering its usefulness in less decorative applications. Today, gold is used in masses of electricals; it's also revolutionised part of the manufacturing sector by stopping a dangerous reliance on mercury as a catalyst; and it's vital to space missions. Although there are also some more frivolous modern uses for gold, as Hannah and Dara discover. (Gold-leaf in your cocktail,…

10. 

    19 Dec 2025 · 28 min

    Phantom Pain

    What exactly is 'phantom pain' and how does it work? Hannah and Dara investigate a medical phenomenon that's been known about for centuries but is often misunderstood; and involves masses of unanswered questions. The condition 'phantom pain' is when someone gets a sensation of pain that feels like it's coming from a part of their body that's no longer there - so that could be an amputated limb, or perhaps something that has been removed, such as a tooth or an organ. It's thought to be caused by how the brain and body process pain and physical awareness, but there's still debate around what…

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