Why can some people wiggle their ears?

Moment of Um

American Public Media

Kids & Family, Education For Kids

4.4 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 2 January 2024

⏱️ 5 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Do you know how to wiggle your ears? It might seem like one of those things that some people can do and other people just can’t, but neuroscientist Steve Hackley says he thinks anyone can learn – and he’s got your instructions! Plus, he tells us why it’s potentially an important skill.

If you’ve got a question for Moment of Um wiggling around in your brain, send it our way at BrainsOn.org/contact, and you might hear the answer on an upcoming episode.

Transcript

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0:00.0	From the brains behind brains on, this is the moment of um.
0:03.7	Answering those questions that make you go.
0:08.6	Um, um, um.
0:10.6	Um, um.
0:11.8	Um, um, um, uh, and uh, and uh, uh, uh, uh, that, uh, that's up, uh, The moment of um comes to you from a p. m. m. m. m. m. m. m. m. m. m. m. m. m. m. m. m. m. m. m. m. m. m. m. m. m. m. m. m. m. m. m. m. m. m. m. m. m. m. m. m. m. m. m. m. m. from a p.m. studios. I'm Molly Bloom.
0:35.0	There used to be a late night TV show that featured stupid human tricks.
0:39.5	Ask your grown-up about that one.
0:41.5	Where ordinary folks would do silly things like playing
0:44.0	a harmonica while doing a handstand or lighting matches with a yo-yo. I cannot do
0:49.4	anything as cool as that but I can wiggle my ears a little teeny bit.
0:54.0	Can you wiggle your ears?
0:55.2	It is tricky.
0:56.2	A listener named Kenzi wanted to know why some people can wiggle their ears
1:00.3	and some people can't.
1:01.7	I think it's possible that everyone can wiggle their ear.
1:05.0	It's not for sure.
1:07.0	But this might surprise you.
1:09.0	It's actually an important scientific question.
1:12.0	My name is Dr. Steve Hackley. I'm an associate
1:16.5	professor at the University of Missouri Columbia. I'm a neuroscientist. Scientists are trying to figure out if anyone can learn to wiggle their ears
1:28.0	and the reason they want to do this is they want to figure out how to teach paralyzed people,
1:34.5	people who cannot move their arm, cannot move their legs,
	...

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