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The Curious Cases of Rutherford and Fry: Series 11-15

The Curious Cases of Rutherford and Fry: Series 11-15

BBC science sleuths solve everyday mysteries

Summary

Dr Adam Rutherford and Dr Hannah Fry solve more of your everyday mysteries in these five fantastic radio series

Inquisitive investigators Dr Adam Rutherford and Dr Hannah Fry are back to crack open another batch of baffling cases sent in by the great British public. Using the power of science, they find the surprising solutions to tricky questions such as 'Is anything really random'?, 'Why do we have hangovers?', 'Is hypnotism real?' and 'How do you make gold?'

As broadcast on BBC Radio, these 29 episodes encompass classic cosmic conundrums - including whether there is intelligent alien life out there, if infinity exists, and how wormholes could allow us to time-travel - as well as probing more down-to-earth human quirks like our differing pain thresholds, our attraction to 'bad' foods like chips and chocolate, and our varied regional accents. Plus, the duo embark on a cheery evolutionary thought experiment as they wonder what would happen if humanity became extinct...
Also included is a Valentine's episode about how love affects our brain, and a two-part Halloween special on why horror bewitches us so - and it's Rutherford and Fry squared when Stephen Fry joins the show to find out why he struggles to remember faces.

Among the many guest experts aiding the two Doctors in their investigations are quantum physicist Jim Al-Khalili, cosmologist Andrew Pontzen, 'The Angry Chef' Anthony Warner, stage hypnotist Ben Dali, psychologist Claudia Hammond, neuroscientist Sophie Scott, and Phil Plait, AKA The Bad Astronomer.

Presented by Drs Adam Rutherford and Hannah Fry
This collection contains the original episodes of The Curious Cases of Rutherford and Fry as they first appeared on BBC Radio 4 on 3-7 September 2018 (Series 11), 21 November-26 December 2018 (Series 12), 3 April-8 May 2019 (Series 13), 30 October-4 December 2019 (Series 14), 5 February-11 March 2020 (Series 15)
Producer: Michelle Martin

Series 11 featuring: Monica Grady, Seth Shostak, Matthew Cobb, Sara Rugheimer, Peter Weyand, Polly McGuigan, Steve Haake, Colva Roney-Dougal, Bill Thompson, Tilly Blyth, Jim Al-Khalili, Irene Tracey, Steve Pete
Series 12 featuring: Janina Ramirez, Mark Thomas, Marina Tyndall, Trevor Cox, Steven Strogatz, Eugenia Cheng, Sean Carroll, Andrew Pontzen, Mark Miodownik, Linda Bartoshuk, Anthony Warner, Sally Adams, Andrea Sella, Adam Rogers
Series 13 featuring: Ben Dali, Wendy Moore, Devin Terhune, Dawn Shaughnessy, Philip Ball, Jim Al-Khalili, Matt Chandler, Wayne Urquhart, Trevor Cox, Zoe Laughlin, Maggie Aderin-Pocock, Sara Russell, Brendan Owens, Neil Comins, Steve Brusatte, Julia Clarke, Al Nelson
Series 14 featuring: Mathias Clasen, Margee Kerr, Claudia Hammond, David Poeppel, Sophie Scott, Brad Duchaine, Frank Close, Andrew Pontzen, Andrew Blum, Helen Willetts, Steven Strogatz, Matthew Cobb, Kate Jones, Phil Plait
Series 15 featuring: Mark Miodownik, Lucie Green, Andrew Pontzen, Dr Helen Fisher, Claudia Hammond, Irene Tracey, Dr Nick Davis, Dr Giulia Poerio, Claire Jones, Jonathan Ball, Wendy Barclay, Carl Philpott. Richard Warren, Heather Massey, Kathryn Jeffs, Jim Al-Khalili, Jennifer Oullette

©2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

About the authors

Adam Rutherford

Adam Rutherford is an award-winning writer, broadcaster, and geneticist at University College London. His books include A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived, The Book of Humans, and the Sunday Times bestseller How to Argue with a Racist. He has written and presented numerous documentaries for BBC radio and television, including Inside Science and The Cell. Adam has also worked as a science advisor on many films, including the Oscar-winning Ex Machina (2015) and Annihilation (2018).
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Hannah Fry

Hannah Fry is currently Professor in the mathematics of cities from University College London. In January 2025 she will join Cambridge University as the first Professor for the Public Understanding of Mathematics. In January 2024, Hannah was appointed to be the new president of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications. Hannah is the author of The Mathematics of Love, The Indisputable Existence of Santa Claus and Hello World and regularly writes for The New Yorker. Her work has included using mathematical models to study patterns in human behaviour, and she has worked with governments, police forces, health analysts and supermarkets. Her TED talks have amassed millions of views and she has fronted television documentaries for the BBC, PBS and Bloomberg TV. She co-hosts the long-running science podcast, 'The Curious Cases of Rutherford & Fry' with the BBC and since 2020, she has been the host of the podcast created for the artificial intelligence company, DeepMind.
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