Mysteries of Science

We’re back in the archives for a Halloween special, and this one comes with a warning: don’t listen on a full moon. Dan, Ciaran and Stevie each pick a favourite Halloween monster and hold it up to the light. Wicked’s Laura Pick and Professor Marion Gibson of the University of Exeter trace the witch back to the trials of the 1560s, when around 500 people in England alone, almost all of them women, were put to death for what often turned out to be knowing a great deal about plants. National Trust archaeologist Nancy Grace describes the mummified cats and witch bottles still turning up in old chimneys, hidden there to keep witches out. Storyteller Lari Don explains that werewolf stories are far older than Hollywood’s silver bullets, and that drinking rainwater from a wolf’s paw print will turn you just as surely. Author Alex Foulkes reveals why the earliest vampires were almost always rich men in castles, and which perfectly natural changes to a body after death convinced people the dead had come back. Three monsters, one common thread: science nobody had worked out yet.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dun dun... Dun dun... Dun dun dun dun dun... Michael and Jenny dip their toes into a the water and go searching for sharks. Scary and sinister or seriously misunderstood?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Weather systems can be weird and wonderful. In this episode of Mysteries of Science, Michael and Stevie float among the clouds in an effort to understand more. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sutton Hoo is one of Europe's most amazing discoveries. This ancient burial site once held a ship packed with treasure – but no body. Who was buried there? And why have ghostly visions of helmeted warriors been reported on the site? With the help of expert archaeologists, Dan and Stevie explore the story.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’re diving into one of the greatest mysteries of all time – The Loch Ness Monster. From ancient legends to modern scientific investigations, we explore the history, sightings, and possible explanations for Nessie. Could she be a prehistoric creature, a giant eel, or just a trick of the imagination? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Michael and Stevie become interplanetary detectives as they investigate the solar system's hottest and most deadly murder mystery. Venus is often referred to as Earth's twin because the two planets are so similar. But if that's the case, then why is Venus is so inhospitable to life? We take a trip into space and find out what killed Venus... See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.