6. The Shock Factor

Curious Cases

BBC

Technology, Science

4.8 • 4.1K Ratings

🗓️ 16 November 2024

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

If there’s one type of discharge you really want to avoid, it’s lightning, but what happens when it hits you?

We hear from lightning survivor Kerry Evans, and discover that the best place to shelter – if you ever find yourself in a similarly charged storm – is in a car, or low to the ground. And why this is never a good time to take a selfie.

Dr Dan Mitchard from Cardiff University’s excitingly-named Lightning Lab explains why there's no lightning at the poles, and the presenters lament that polar bears and penguins are missing out.

We all know about the gods of lightning, but the mysticism doesn't stop there. Above cloud level there are many other types of unusually-named phenomena, reaching to the edge of space, including sprites, trolls and even pixies.

And Professor Karen Aplin reveals that lightning has even been discovered on other planets, in a science story that could affect our plans to colonise Mars.

Contributors:

Dr Daniel Mitchard, Lightning Laboratory, Cardiff University Professor Karen Aplin, University of Bristol

Producer: Marijke Peters Executive Producer: Alexandra Feachem A BBC Studios Audio Production

Transcript

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0:00.0	You are about to listen to a BBC podcast and I'd like to tell you a bit about what goes into making one.
0:06.5	I'm Sadata Sese, an assistant commissioner of podcasts for BBC Sounds.
0:11.2	I pull a lot of levers to support a diverse range of podcasts on all sorts of subjects,
0:16.0	relationships, identity, comedy, even one that mixes poetry, music and inner city life.
0:22.4	So one day I'll be helping host develop their ideas, the next fact-checking, a feature,
0:28.3	and the next looking at how a podcast connects with its audience, and maybe that's you.
0:33.6	So if you like this podcast, check out some others on BBC Sounds.
0:39.5	BBC Sounds, music, radio podcasts.
0:46.0	I'm Hannah Frye.
0:47.3	And I'm Dara O'Brien.
0:48.5	And this is Curious Cases.
0:50.2	The show will we take your quirkiest questions?
0:52.2	Your crunchiest conundrums.
0:53.6	And then we solve them.
0:54.6	With the power of science.
0:56.2	I mean, do we always solve them?
0:57.2	I mean, the hit rate's pretty low.
0:59.2	But it is with science.
1:00.8	It is with science.
1:05.4	There are words, Hannah, in science that sometimes means something wonderful, sometimes seeing something terrible.
1:12.3	And there are shows I'd like to do about those words sometimes,
1:14.4	but not about the other meaning of the words.
	...

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