Category: Retired

Click, click, click! The bat’s navigational skills could be life changing to people who are blind. Daniel Kish has mastered the art of echolocation and can navigate by tongue clicking. In this podcast, you can try too. With Patrick Aryee. www.bbcworldservice.com/30animals #30animals

Some brands aren’t cool no matter how hard they try. Others start out cool, but lose their cachet over time. Then there are the brands that somehow, surprisingly turn cool. Without really changing their products, LaCroix, Canada Goose, and Carhartt became the hottest things around. How did that happen?

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The QWERTY keyboard layout has stood the test of time, from the clattering of early typewriters to the virtual keyboard on the screen of any smart-phone. Myths abound as to why keys are laid out this way – and whether there are much better alternatives languishing in obscurity. Tim Harford explains how this is a debate about far more than touch-typing: whether the QWERTY keyboard prospers because it works, or as an immovable relic of a commercial scramble in the late 19th century, is a question that affects how we should deal with the huge digital companies that now dominate our online experiences. Producer: Ben Crighton Editor: Richard Vadon (Image: qwerty keyboard, Credit: Getty Images)

The last bonus episode of our new podcast. For more, search for 30 Animals That Made Us Smarter and subscribe. Or find it here: www.bbcworldservice.com/30animals This one is about a bird’s remarkable skull and the quest to protect aeroplane flight recorders. #30Animals

A bird’s remarkable skull and the quest to protect aeroplane flight data recorders from damage caused by high impacts. Woodpeckers can hammer repeatedly on trees without damaging their brain. Could this lead to new designs for black boxes and bicycle helmets? With Patrick Aryee. www.bbcworldservice.com/30animals #30animals

For decades, two men at Victoria's Secret have had immense power. One built the chain into a powerhouse. The other ran the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, handpicking the models called "angels." Then many started to question its standards of beauty. So what happens when the company won't change? PLUS: Why is there a company called Big Ass Fans?

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Della Reese deserves a showstopping biopic for the ages, packed with drama and triumph-- and maybe a fistfight or two-- but one has never been made. This week, Eric gives Brittany three reasons why the real life story of everyone’s favorite guardian angel deserves the silver screen treatment.

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When the HMS Victory sank in 1744, with it went an inventor named John Serson and a device he’d dreamed up. He called it the “whirling speculum”, but we now know the basic idea as a gyroscope. Serson thought it could help sailors to navigate when they couldn’t see the horizon. Nowadays gyroscopes are tiny and, as Tim Harford describes, they are used to guide everything from submarines to satellites, from rovers on Mars to the phone in your pocket. They are also integral to drones – a technology that some believe could transform how we do our shopping. But for that, they’ll need to work in all weathers. Image: A gyroscope (Credit: Getty Images)

Episode 3 of our new podcast: the story of the blood-sucking pest and a pain-free surgical needle. Scientists have been studying the mosquito’s mouthparts. Could the dreaded ‘prick’ of a needle soon be a thing of the past? With Patrick Aryee. Find it here: www.bbcworldservice.com/30animals #30Animals

The blood sucking pest and a pain free surgical needle. Scientists have been studying the mosquito’s mouthparts. Could the dreaded ‘prick’ of a needle soon be a thing of the past? With Patrick Aryee. #30Animals