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CrowdScience

CrowdScience

BBC World Service

We take your questions about life, Earth and the universe to researchers hunting for answers at the frontiers of knowledge.

432 - Do animals have anxious habits like us?
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  • 432 - Do animals have anxious habits like us?

    Many of us have habits that calm us down in times of stress. Things we find deeply comforting, like sucking our thumb or biting our nails. We might not even be aware we’re doing them, but they play a fundamental role in helping us regulate our emotions.

    Our question this week comes from CrowdScience listener and nail-biter, Ash. He wants to know where these habits come from. And since his pet dog is also a nail-biter: do we share these traits with other animals?

    Recently, a video of a mouse cleaning up a man’s shed took the internet by storm. Was this a house-proud mouse, or was it the animal's way of making sense of a frenetic environment? An emerging field of scientists focusing on animal behaviour and emotions help us shed some light on such questions.

    Along the way we meet a dog training specialist, learn what a sniffari is, go for playtime with a thumb-sucking otter, and visit an OCD clinic. We’ll also be getting tips on how to give your pets the best home environment, and meet an animal enrichment officer in South Africa, who knows how to spot the signs of an unhelpful habit developing.

    Contributors: Karolina Westlund, Ethologist, Stockholm University and ILLIS Ben Terry, CBT Therapist, Priory Hospital North London Karin Pienaar, Animal Behaviourist, COAPE International Candice Ward, Animal Behaviourist, Johannesburg Zoo

    Jaak Panksepp clip: The science of emotions: Jaak Panksepp at TEDxRainier

    Producer: Robbie Wojciechowski Presenter: Alex Lathbridge Editor: Cathy Edwards Production co-ordinator: Connor Morgans Additional recording by Elna Schutz

    (Photo: Portrait of border collie puppy biting a curtain. Credit: Rawlstock/Getty Images)

    Fri, 22 Mar 2024
  • 431 - Is the BMI fatphobic?

    Crowd Science listener Maik wants to know what the BMI is and what his BMI score says about his body. He trains dogs for a living and wonders if, like different breeds of dog, we simply have different body types? Marnie Chesterton comes up with some answers, talking to doctors about how the BMI is used and misused in clinical practice, and looks at some alternative methods for measuring our body composition. She also sits down with philosopher Kate Manne to discuss the realities of living in a fat-phobic world. We hear from Tonga in the South Pacific, where high BMI scores have labelled the country highly obese. But this is not necessarily how Tongans see themselves. And Marnie finds out if the BMI will continue to be used across the world as an important health marker or whether it is destined for the scrap heap of medical history. Contributors: Professor Kate Manne Dr Francesco Rubino Dr Naveed Sattar Professor Brendon Noble Technician Leah Siegel Fononga Pulu Sela Latailakepa Presenter: Marnie Chesterton Producer: Richard Walker Editor: Cathy Edwards Production co-ordinator: Connor Morgans Studio manager: Emma Harth

    Fri, 15 Mar 2024
  • 430 - Do we all see the same colour?

    CrowdScience listener Gregory wants to know what affects the way we see the colours of the world. He was looking at a blue summer sky with a friend and they got to wondering whether they both see the same colour blue. So what does influence our vision of the colours that surround us? Could eye colour have anything to do with it? And can we ever really know if your blue sky is the same as mine?

    Caroline Steel comes up with some answers, talking to colour scientists about their research into the multiple factors that enable us to see in multi colours, from the intricate biology of our eye to the changing environment around us.

    She also investigates her own colour vision and solves a personal mystery, discovering why the world has always looked a slightly different colour from each eye.

    Contributors: Professor Jay Neitz, Department of Opthalmology, University of Washington, US Professor Hannah Smithson, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford Dr Juan Perea García, researcher, Department of Cognitive Psychology, University of Leiden Dr Lauren Welbourne, researcher, Department of Psychology, University of York Dr Adam Bibbey, lecturer in sport, Department of Sport, Oxford Brookes University

    Presenter: Caroline Steel Producer: Jo Glanville Editor: Cathy Edwards Production co-ordinator: Connor Morgans Studio manager: Jackie Margerum

    (Photo: LWA)

    Fri, 08 Mar 2024
  • 429 - How bad is our data for the planet?

    Storing your data in ‘the cloud’ might sound like an ethereal, intangible place, but it’s actually a physical location - a data centre. CrowdScience listener Art is worried about how much energy and water data centres are consuming. He’s from Ireland, where data centres are gobbling up almost 20% of the national electricity supply and that’s growing, fast.

    So how much energy and water are data centres using globally? And how can they become more sustainable? To answer Art’s question CrowdScience heads to chilly western Norway to visit a data centre hidden deep within a mountain, that’s said to be one of the most efficient in the world. And we hear how a data centre in South Africa is saving water and dealing with crippling power cuts by generating its own renewable energy.

    Do we just need to stream less TV and reduce our email inbox? With the help of carbon footprint expert Mike Berners-Lee, we crunch the numbers to find out.

    Featuring: Svein Atle Hagaseth, CEO of Green Mountain data centres in Norway Mike Berners-Lee, Professor at Lancaster University’s Environment Centre and consultant at Small World Consulting Thulani Ncube, Group Energy Lead at Africa Data Centres

    Presenter: Anand Jagatia Producer: Sophie Eastaugh Editor: Cathy Edwards Studio Manager: Donald MacDonald Production: Jonathan Harris & Connor Morgans Additional Recording by: Kobus van Niekerk

    Fri, 01 Mar 2024
  • 428 - Why do we have wisdom teeth?

    Why do humans have wisdom teeth if so many of them get removed soon after they appear?

    Wisdom teeth, the third molars in the back of our mouths, are so called because they normally appear in late teenage, early adulthood – the time in life we supposedly have learned some wisdom. But around 25% of people don’t develop all four. Of those that do emerge, it is not uncommon for them to appear at nasty angles, jutting into the tooth next door causing potentially dangerous infections and pain. Because of this, for decades many people have them surgically removed.

    Listener Khaleel was preparing to have his remaining wisdom teeth removed when he wrote to CrowdScience to ask about them. Given that they can seem to cause more harm than good, why has evolution resulted in these troublesome teeth? But many people have perfectly uneventful relationships with their wisdom teeth, so have we perhaps removed more than we needed to over the years?

    Anand Jagatia chews it over with the help of surgeons and dentists to try to extract the truth – why DO we have wisdom teeth?

    Featuring: Tanya M Smith, Professor in the Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution at Griffith University, Australia Patrick Magennis, Consultant Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeon at University Hospitals Aintree, Liverpool UK Verena Toedtling, Dentist and Specialist Oral Surgeon, UK

    Presented by Anand Jagatia Produced by Alex Mansfield

    Fri, 23 Feb 2024
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