Why Do We Do That?

Ella Al-Shamahi explores evolutionary mysteries in More Play with Brenna Hassett. BBC Studios Audio Producer: Olivia Jani Additional Production: Emily Bird Series Producer: Geraldine Fitzgerald Executive 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 counterpa...

Ella Al-Shamahi explores evolutionary mysteries in More Bad Boys with Julia Stern. BBC Studios Audio Producer: Olivia Jani Additional Production: Emily Bird Series Producer: Geraldine Fitzgerald Executive 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...

Ella Al-Shamahi explores evolutionary mysteries in More Dancing with Bronwyn Tarr. BBC Studios Audio Producer: Olivia Jani Additional Production: Emily Bird Series Producer: Geraldine Fitzgerald Executive 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…...

Ella Al-Shamahi explores evolutionary mysteries in More Pubs with Robin Dunbar. BBC Studios Audio Producer: Olivia Jani Additional Production: Emily Bird Series Producer: Geraldine Fitzgerald Executive Producer: Alexandra Feachem

Humans have evolved to drink alcohol, or at least to be able to metabolise it. And we share this ability with our closest living relatives, the chimpanzees and gorillas, who are also able to convert alcohol into sugar. It gave our ancestors an advantage because we could eat rotting fruit from the forest floor and convert the alcohol into sugars, providing a source of nutrients that not all species...

Ella Al-Shamahi explores evolutionary mysteries in More Nature with Gregory Bratman. BBC Studios Audio Producer: Olivia Jani Additional Production: Emily Bird Series Producer: Geraldine Fitzgerald Executive 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...

Ella Al-Shamahi explores evolutionary mysteries in More Blushing with Laith Al-Shawaf. BBC Studios Audio Producer: Olivia Jani Additional Production: Emily Bird Series Producer: Geraldine Fitzgerald Executive 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 Audio Producer: Olivia Jani Additional Production: Emily Bird Series Producer: Geraldine Fitzgerald Executive 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 tel...

BONUS: Ella Al-Shamahi explores evolutionary mysteries in More Laughs with Sophie Scott. BBC Studios Audio Producer: Olivia Jani Additional Production: Emily Bird Series Producer: Geraldine Fitzgerald Executive 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 i...

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...

BONUS: Ella Al-Shamahi explores evolutionary mysteries in More Dogs with Greger Larson. BBC Studios Audio Producer: Olivia Jani Additional Production: Emily Bird Series Producer: Geraldine Fitzgerald Executive Producer: Alexandra Feachem

Ella Al-Shamahi explores evolutionary mysteries in More Grandmothers with Emily Emmott. BBC Studios Audio Producer: Olivia Jani Additional Production: Emily Bird Series Producer: Geraldine Fitzgerald Executive 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 mot...

Ella Al-Shamahi explores evolutionary mysteries in More Football Fanatics with Martha Newson. BBC Studios Audio Producer: Olivia Jani Additional Production: Emily Bird Series Producer: Geraldine Fitzgerald Executive 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 fello...

BONUS: Ella Al-Shamahi explores evolutionary mysteries in More Gossip with Nicole Hagen Hess. BBC Studios Audio Producer: Olivia Jani Additional Production: Emily Bird Series Producer: Geraldine Fitzgerald Executive 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 origin...

Ella Al-Shamahi is back to once again investigate the origins of everyday human habits and behaviour.