Can planes be made greener? | BBC Ideas
Making aviation green is a huge challenge. Flying is such a big part of our lives and we have to balance that with the fact that it contributes hugely to global warming. We’ve left it a long time. We’ve now got a very short window within which we need to get emissions from this sector […]
Should we all write in Chinese? | BBC Ideas
It is actually not a myth to say that writing unified the Chinese cultures. There are many many small groups of dialects in China, but we all use this one written system which are the characters. That makes things easier for people speaking different languages. How do they understand each other? by written language -which […]
Have you been fooled by forensics on TV? | BBC Ideas
Who doesn’t know to wear gloves? Even criminals wear gloves. Zoom and enhance images. That’s never going to happen. Please, if you make CSI-type programmes, stop doing it. I think, probably, a lot of what you think about what happens at a crime scene is determined by what you see on TV. And oh my, […]
How stories shape our minds | The science of storytelling | BBC Ideas
There’s a Native American proverb that says, “The one who tells the story rules the world.” Stories have the potential to be incredibly powerful. They’re able to change how we relate to each other, to change prejudice, so the potential for stories to persuade is staggering. I read this really, really good research paper about […]
Three ways to spot a conspiracy theory | BBC Ideas
Roswell… Bigfoot… Oh, that kind of thing. OK… Shape-shifting lizards. Interesting. Conspiracy theories do require a wild imaginative leap. I think we can explain it in scientific ways. So why do we believe some more ridiculous way. Yes and of course they spread much more readily now with the advent of social media. Who can […]
Should I change my name when I get married? And other surname dilemmas | BBC Ideas
My surname’s fab! Yeah, well it’s a big deal isn’t it? I think we always imagine that all the generations of women before us were perfectly happy to lose their maiden name and take their husband’s name. And I’m sure that’s not true. So, in Britain, patrilineal surnames go down through the male line, down […]
Should we count in 12s rather than 10s? | BBC Ideas
Base 10 is the way we write numbers. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10. And I assume we do it because we’ve got 10 fingers. Yeah, so I guess you would just go like well this has been useful. So let’s write that down. I just think that everyone should know, […]
Jante Law: The laws that really rule in Scandinavia | BBC Ideas
Jante Law right here. Janteloven is a set of rules, that supposedly dictates how you should behave. You’re not to think you’re anything special. You mustn’t think you’re good at anything. Thou shalt not think you are better than me. You’re not to think you can teach us anything. Everyone knows what it is, and […]
How limits can boost your creativity | BBC Ideas
Intro Newton came up with the theory of calculus in quarantine. But out of limitations comes creativity. Dr Seuss wrote using no more than 50 different words. Not in a house. Not with a mouse. Shakespeare wrote King Lear in quarantine. Necessity is the mother of invention. I love that. What are constraints It’s a […]
Iceland’s magical world of elves | BBC Ideas
It’s kind of unimaginable not believing in them. My grandmother had an elf friend in a rock. The elves come to me in my dreams. I’m convinced elves do exist. I’m professor of Folkloristics at the University of Iceland. One of the areas of research that I’ve been working on is so-called ‘elves’ or ‘álfar’, […]