Can I unlock my car using my head?
CrowdScience
BBC
4.8 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 20 March 2026
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
CrowdScience listener Doug has been experimenting with holding his wireless garage key to his chin. Why? Because he's testing a strange trick of physics. The range of a key can apparently double when held against your head rather just being held in your hand. Could this really be true, and if so why? Presenter Caroline Steel goes on a wavy journey of self-experimentation with antennas. She follows the story of Doug as he wanders the streets of Calgary in Alberta, Canada testing the key on his head from different distances and even testing it on his dog Maura’s head. To understand the physics behind all this, Caroline meets Dr Lina Mohjazi, Lecturer of Autonomous Systems and Connectivity at the University of Glasgow and Guy Vandenbosch, Professor of Electromagnetic Radiation at KU Leuven University in Leuven, Belgium. Presenter: Caroline Steel Producer: Tom Bonnett Editor: Ben Motley
(Photo: Hand holding a car key remote in front of a red car - stock photo Credit: vadishzainer via Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:07.2 | Savings, credit cards, car finance, reclaiming, insurance, investing, power of attorney, decision, |
| 0:12.2 | indecision, analysis, paralysis. |
| 0:15.4 | Don't panic. |
| 0:16.4 | The Martin Lewis podcast is twice weekly, helping you navigate our complex consumer world. |
| 0:21.2 | I'll walk you through a big money saving topic step by step. |
| 0:24.5 | Then in question time, you set the agenda and ask whatever's on your mind. |
| 0:28.6 | Would you rather be locked in an empty shopping centre with a thousand snakes or just one gorilla? |
| 0:33.6 | Within reason. |
| 0:34.2 | The Martin Lewis podcast, listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:40.4 | Hello, we are going to do an experiment for crowd science today. We're going to go on a walk with my dog, Mora. |
| 0:48.6 | Come here, Mora. Sit. That's a good girl. |
| 0:53.6 | Mora is a championship Wheaton Terrier. |
| 0:56.5 | She will do just about anything for a treat, so she's a very willing participant in this experiment. |
| 1:04.0 | This is Crowd Science from the BBC World Service, the show that answers your science questions. |
| 1:10.1 | I'm Caroline Steele, and the owner of today's very obedient terrier is listener Doug. |
| 1:16.4 | I'm Doug Brown, and I'm calling from Calgary, Alberta, Canada. |
| 1:21.2 | Doug emailed into crowd science because he has a question about some strange behavior from |
| 1:26.4 | wireless keys, keys that open something like a car |
| 1:29.7 | or garage from a distance, or as Doug likes to call them, fobs. |
| 1:34.4 | My question for crowd science is that I recently heard that holding a car fob to your chin |
| 1:40.1 | will extend its operational range. And I was just wondering what the physics was that was going on with this. |
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