Why Do We Do That?: Recent Episodes
BBC Radio 4
An anthropologist's guide to the modern world. Ella Al-Shamahi investigates the origins of everyday human habits and behaviour.
Ella Al-Shamahi explores evolutionary mysteries in More Play with Brenna Hassett.
BBC Studios AudioProducer: Olivia JaniAdditional Production: Emily BirdSeries Producer: Geraldine FitzgeraldExecutive Producer: Alexandra Feachem
Paleoanthropologist Ella Al-Shamahi asks why do humans play?
The Neanderthals are a species that was so close to us that we could reproduce with them, they had creativity, technology and they made art - handprints on cave walls and painted shells strung into necklaces. But it turns out the Neanderthals had shorter childhoods than us. Their children grew up quicker than their Homo sapiens counterparts.
We don’t know why Neanderthals went extinct. It is probably for a few reasons but is it possible that us having these longer childhoods, having more time to play, might have given us a creative edge. There are probably more important reasons for our survival over them but it is food for thought.
And we are still playing, anthropologist Brenna Hasset says play is part of learning how to be an adult so depending on where you grow up influences the type of games children play.
BBC Studios AudioProduced by Emily BirdAdditional production Olivia Jani and Ben HughesSeries Producer Geraldine Fitzgerald Executive Producer is Alexandra Feachem Commissioning Editor is Rhian Roberts
Ella Al-Shamahi explores evolutionary mysteries in More Bad Boys with Julia Stern.
BBC Studios AudioProducer: Olivia JaniAdditional Production: Emily BirdSeries Producer: Geraldine FitzgeraldExecutive Producer: Alexandra Feachem
Paleoanthropologist Ella Al-Shamahi looks at the evidence for what people want in a partner and how it changes as they get older. Psychologist Julia Stern from the University of Bremen shares the results of a study which recruited people from a singles night in a Berlin club and followed them for 13 years. Novelist Adele Parks explains why writing about bad boys is so much fun, and on the Bridget Jones scale of bad boys think more Hugh Grant and less Colin Firth.
Ella Al-Shamahi explores evolutionary mysteries in More Dancing with Bronwyn Tarr.
BBC Studios AudioProducer: Olivia JaniAdditional Production: Emily BirdSeries Producer: Geraldine FitzgeraldExecutive Producer: Alexandra Feachem
Dance seems like such a natural thing, a good beat comes on and you can’t help it, you might find yourself bobbing, even the rhythmically impaired might find themselves tapping their fingers along to the music and it starts early - one study has shown that babies as young as 5 months engage in rhythmic movements.Every culture on earth dances and yet look around at the rest of the animal kingdom… besides birds, can we say that other animals dance? Paleoanthropologist Ella Al-Shamahi asks why do we dance?
Ella Al-Shamahi explores evolutionary mysteries in More Pubs with Robin Dunbar.
BBC Studios AudioProducer: Olivia JaniAdditional Production: Emily BirdSeries Producer: Geraldine FitzgeraldExecutive Producer: Alexandra Feachem
Ella Al-Shamahi explores evolutionary mysteries in More Nature with Gregory Bratman.
BBC Studios AudioProducer: Olivia JaniAdditional Production: Emily BirdSeries Producer: Geraldine FitzgeraldExecutive Producer: Alexandra Feachem
Nature is charismatic, a good view can take our breath away and a walk in the woods can help de-stress our frazzled minds. But have we always been this way? Because after all, our early ancestors didn’t have cities to escape from. Is an affinity with the natural world around us, something we inherited? Ella Al-Shamahi asks psychologist Dr Gregory Bratman and Robin Muir Head of Maggie’s Cancer Care Centre Manchester what are the benefits of spending time in green spaces.
Ella Al-Shamahi explores evolutionary mysteries in More Blushing with Laith Al-Shawaf.
BBC Studios AudioProducer: Olivia JaniAdditional Production: Emily BirdSeries Producer: Geraldine FitzgeraldExecutive Producer: Alexandra Feachem
Paleoanthropologist Ella Al-Shamahi asks why we blush. Even Darwin was intrigued by blushing. He called it “the most peculiar and most human of all expression” but didn’t think it had a function. Dr Laith Al-Shawaf from the University of Colorado makes students do embarrassing things to understand why we blush and how blushing can make people like you more when you make a mistake.
Ella Al-Shamahi explores evolutionary mysteries in More Lies with Roman Stengelin.
BBC Studios AudioProducer: Olivia JaniAdditional Production: Emily BirdSeries Producer: Geraldine FitzgeraldExecutive Producer: Alexandra Feachem
Ella Al-Shamahi asks why do we lie?You might think that deception is a uniquely human characteristic, but does camouflage or mimicry in nature, where animals pretend to be another animal or the actual environment like the insects leaf-mimic katydids that walk around looking like a leaf. Does that count as lying? Or is it just us humans with our highly complex language that have the ability to tell a fib. Ella talks to Dr Roman Stengelin of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, who investigates children from very different cultures to discover when and how they develop this very human ability and professional poker player Liv Boeree to discover the art of bluffing.
BBC Studios Produced by Emily BirdAdditional production Olivia Jani and Ben HughesSeries Producer Geraldine Fitzgerald Executive Producer Alexandra Feachem Commissioning Editor Rhian Roberts
BONUS: Ella Al-Shamahi explores evolutionary mysteries in More Laughs with Sophie Scott.
BBC Studios AudioProducer: Olivia JaniAdditional Production: Emily BirdSeries Producer: Geraldine FitzgeraldExecutive Producer: Alexandra Feachem
Ella Al-Shamahi asks why do we laugh?
Some people might not have a sense of humour, you might even know someone who never laughs… but there isn’t a culture out there, say a tribe, where people just never laugh. It does appear to be universal but how universal and how primal?
Many mammals and the great apes ( chimpanzees, gorillas and bononbos) laugh. Orangutans diverged from the other great apes including us about 12 million years ago and because we all laugh that suggests our shared common ancestor laughed. So what is the purpose of laughing? Ella talks to Professor Sophie Scott from University College London and stand-up comic Ria Lina.
Ella Al-Shamahi asks why do we love dogs? Dogs evolved from wolves but why did they choose us humans to be their best friends?
They say dogs are a man’s best friend but all dogs, even chihuahuas are descended from wolves, the grey wolf, a majestic, fierce and incredibly dangerous species. How did this happen but more importantly, why did we start trusting wolves? And when did wolves turn into dogs?
Dogs have been a part of our story for a long time. They are depicted in cave and rock art and dogs are a part of our story because of how useful they are. From the mundane everyday hunting and guarding to the epic stories of life saving dogs . But how did we get here? Oxford Professor Greger Lawson studies ancient dog DNA and thinks the evolution from wolves into dogs began when we both realised we could help each other.
BONUS: Ella Al-Shamahi explores evolutionary mysteries in More Dogs with Greger Larson.
BBC Studios AudioProducer: Olivia JaniAdditional Production: Emily BirdSeries Producer: Geraldine FitzgeraldExecutive Producer: Alexandra Feachem
Ella Al-Shamahi explores evolutionary mysteries in More Grandmothers with Emily Emmott.
BBC Studios AudioProducer: Olivia JaniAdditional Production: Emily BirdSeries Producer: Geraldine FitzgeraldExecutive Producer: Alexandra Feachem
Grandmothers are a bit of a mystery, biologically speaking. If the biological purpose of life is to survive and have children, why are they so important even once they've stopped being able to reproduce?
Of course, as we all know, grandma's are the rock of most families, and it turns out, biologically also incredibly useful. Grandmothers are a logical necessity, your mother and father also had mothers so that equals two grandmas for you.
But the evolutionary role they play in many of our lives has been less easily explained until now. Why are they so helpful? Why do they stop having children of their own? Why do we have grandmothers?!
Ella speaks to anthropologist Dr Emily Emmott, and midwife, educator and grandmother Sheena Byrom OBE
BBC Studios Audio ProductionProducer Emily BirdAdditional production Olivia Jani Series Producer Geraldine Fitzgerald Executive Producer Alexandra Feachem
Ella Al-Shamahi explores evolutionary mysteries in More Football Fanatics with Martha Newson.
BBC Studios AudioProducer: Olivia JaniAdditional Production: Emily BirdSeries Producer: Geraldine FitzgeraldExecutive Producer: Alexandra Feachem
Ella Al-Shamahi is joined by Crystal Palace superfan Bobby and psychologist Martha Newson to find out why it's so devastating when our football team loses.
People who normally keep a stiff upper lip through life's ups and downs are distraught after a defeat. Is this a cultural response or something more primeval? Martha’s work shows that being beaten by another team deepens social bonds with fellow fans. From her results the fans of the least successful football clubs, including Crystal Palace, saw one another as kin and were willing to sacrifice themselves for each other.
BBC Studios AudioProducer: Emily BirdAdditional production: Olivia Jani and Ben HughesSeries Producer: Geraldine Fitzgerald Executive Producer: Alexandra Feachem
BONUS: Ella Al-Shamahi explores evolutionary mysteries in More Gossip with Nicole Hagen Hess.
BBC Studios AudioProducer: Olivia JaniAdditional Production: Emily BirdSeries Producer: Geraldine FitzgeraldExecutive Producer: Alexandra Feachem
It can be the source of drama that ruins reputations or simply keeps you entertained during your lunch break. But is gossip ingrained in our nature? Anthropologist Ella Al-Shamahi digs into our evolutionary history to uncover the truth behind this age-old human habit. Joining her are Kelsey McKinney from the Normal Gossip podcast and anthropologist Dr. Nicole Hagen Hess, as they unravel the origins of this sometimes controversial behaviour. Could gossip be the social glue that binds us together, or is it just another weapon in our ongoing competition for status?
BBC Studios Audio Producer: Emily BirdAdditional production: Olivia Jani and Geraldine Fitzgerald Executive Producer: Alexandra Feachem
Ella Al-Shamahi is back to once again investigate the origins of everyday human habits and behaviour.
Are you drawn to the endless news cycle? Do you keep going back for more? Do you feel a strange compulsion to absorb negative news that is weirdly soothing but makes you more stressed? These are signs you may be doomscrolling. But fear not, you’re not the only one. Stuart Soroka is a professor at UCLA who’s been looking at our draw towards negative information and found that people all over the world do it, regardless of culture. In 2020, our year of misery, the Oxford English Dictionary added doomscrolling and named it a word of the year. With the help of Stuart and Radio and TV presenter Clara Amfo, Ella gets to the bottom of whether we humans really are more biased towards negative information, and what we can do to resist it.
It’s a familiar problem with any shared household - there’s always someone who doesn’t do their fair share. Studies have shown that when people with different thresholds live together, the person with the lower tolerance for mess cleans up more, quickly leading to resentment and conflict. So why do some people clean up more than others? What needs to happen for everyone to pull their weight? Evolutionary science has some answers. Ella Al-Shamahi speak to Dr Nicola Raihiani, Professor of Evolution and Behaviour from University College London, to find out about free riders, cheaters and public goods, and how evolutionary scientists view cooperation challenges. Great British Bake Off star Michael Chakraverty shares his own anecdotes of untidy flatmates and failed attempts to enhance cooperation.
Make-up has a long history - from the surprising use of lipstick in ancient Greece to today's Tiktok trends - and though fashions may have changed, some things, like red lips, cheeks, and defined eyes, keep cropping up. So in this episode, Ella Al-Shamahi investigates if there is any biological basis to make-up? Joined by Journalist and BBC Radio 1 presenter Katie Thistleton, and psychologist Professor Richard Russell, Ella discovers fascinating research on how make-up can change the way we perceive faces and ponders on a slightly strange theory about make-up and orgasm.
You might think sitting is a recent technological advancement, but both squat and sit-down toilets have been around for millennia. Today Westerners have embraced the sit-down toilet, whereas billions in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and even parts of Europe use toilets that are designed specifically for squatting. But which is better for us - sitting or squatting? Ella Al-Shamahi speaks to gastroenterologist Dr Rohan Modi who has been investigating the best way to do your business, and gets personal with comedian Eshaan Akba.
Are you one with midnight, or up before sunrise? In this episode, Ella Al-Shamahi investigates when we naturally feel tired and awake, known as our chronotype. Our chronotype depends on our lifestyle, our environment, where we live, it is also influenced by our genes. In this episode, Ella Al-Shamahi uncovers fascinating research which suggests our chronotype can be traced back over 100,000 years ago, to when our early modern human ancestors interbred with Neanderthals. She speaks to geneticist Tony Capra how DNA from our Neanderthal ancestors may be influencing our present-day sleeping habits and shares her revelations with professional early riser and BBC Radio 1 Early Breakfast presenter Arielle Free.
The handshake has been threatened several times throughout history. It was even made illegal in Prescott Arizona due to the Spanish Flu — and yet we keep returning to it. In this episode, Ella Al-Shamahi delves into a possible biological explanation for why we handshake. Studies have shown that we bring our hands close to our face after a handshake, and then subconsciously take a sniff (inhalation through the nostrils doubles). The human body emits over 2000 volatile compounds that change depending on our mood, e.g. if we’re feeling scared, nervous or happy. So, do we handshake to literally sniff out the other person? Ella speaks to neuroscientist Dr Eva Mishor from Weizmann Institute of Science to hear about her fascinating studies involving hidden cameras, life-size mannequins, sweaty smells and why handshakes can help us make better decisions. Great British Bake Off star Michael Chakraverty recounts a particularly important handshake during bread week.
Procrastination is the thief of time – or so the old saying goes. Studies have shown that people who procrastinate have higher levels of stress and lower levels of well-being. So why do we do it? One theory is that focusing on the here-and-now was beneficial for our palaeolithic ancestors. Dr Caroline Schulter from Ruhr-Universität Bochum in Germany found that chronic procrastinators have a larger amygdala, a key area in the brain that processes and learns from emotions. Could it be a coping mechanism to deal with negative emotions? It doesn’t seem to bother comedian Eshaan Akbar, who believes procrastination is a good thing…
This episode is all about the iconic kiss. Is it as universal as we think? One study suggests that lip-to-lip romantic kissing - the snog, if you will - is only present in 46% of cultures around the world. So did we just recently learn to do it? Ella Al-Shamahi speaks to Journalist and Radio 1 Life Hacks Presenter Katie Thistleton to get deep into the strangeness of kissing. Speaking to Dr Rafael Wlodarski from Oxford University, they find out how kissing, or getting close to one another, has been shown to give away clues about your genetic information via smells - and why we find the smell of someone who is genetically compatible with us more attractive.
Ella Al-Shamahi is joined by psychologist Prof Laurence Steinberg and DJ / presenter Arielle Free to explore why we are drawn to do things that are bad for us. If our evolutionary purpose is to survive long enough to pass on genes, why do we knowingly put our lives at risk? Ella delves into a theory called costly signalling which may explain why we do risky things when there are others watching – is it just a way of showing off good genes? Dr Laurence Steinberg, Professor of Psychology at Temple University talks about dopamine sensitivity, brain imaging and our biological drive to take more risks during adolescence.
In this episode, Ella Al-Shamahi delves into the origins of a broken heart. Words or phrases that use ‘heart pain’ to describe emotional pain appear in many languages, suggesting it is present in many cultures. Studies show that looking at photos of ex-partners within six months of a break-up triggers the same areas of the brain as physical pain. And as odd as it sounds, just like with physical pain, painkillers can act on feelings of a broken heart. So why is it so painful? TV and Radio Presenter Clara Amfo comes on to talk about love, break-ups and heartbreak. Dr Freddy van der Veen, Associate Professor of Psychology at Erasmus University in Rotterdam reveals the very real signals that travel from our brain to our heart, which may have served an evolutionary purpose.
Ella Al-Shamahi introduces her new series, Why Do We Do That? An anthropologist's guide to the modern world.