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

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

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

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

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.

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 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 Bird Additional production Olivia Jani and Ben Hughes Series Producer Geraldine Fitzgerald Executive Producer Alexandra Feachem Commissioning Editor Rhian Roberts

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.

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 Production Producer Emily Bird Additional production Olivia Jani 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 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 Audio Producer: Emily Bird Additional production: Olivia Jani and Ben Hughes 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 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 Bird Additional production: Olivia Jani and Geraldine Fitzgerald Executive Producer: Alexandra Feachem

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.