Why do we get déjà vu?

Discovery

BBC

Science, Technology

4.3 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 3 June 2019

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

4/6 Part 1: Déjà vu "Do we know what causes déjà vu?" asks Floyd Kitchen from Queenstown in New Zealand. Drs Rutherford and Fry investigate this familiar feeling by speaking to world-leading reseacher Chris Moulin from the University of Grenoble in France and memory expert Catherine Loveday from Westminster University. Plus, they find out why early investigations classed déjà vu as a type of paranormal phenomenon. For most of us, it's a fleetingly strange experience, but for some people it can become a serious problem. Lisa from Hulme in Manchester started experiencing déjà vu when she was 22 with episodes that could last all day. The origin of her déjà vu has been the key to helping psychologists investigate its cause. Part 2: Randomness "Is anything truly random, or is everything predetermined?" asks Darren Spalding from Market Harborough. Hannah and Adam go in search of random events, from dice throws to lava lamps. Can we predict the outcome of any event? "How do computers manage to pick random numbers?" asks Jim Rennie from Mackinaw in Illinois. Random numbers are vital for things like cyber security and banking. But true randomness is surprisingly hard to produce, as the team discover. Joining them for this case we have a random selection of experts: mathematician Colva Roney-Dougal, technology journalist Bill Thompson, Science Museum Curator Tilly Blyth and quantum physicist Jim AlKhalili. Presenters: Hannah Fry, Adam Rutherford Producer: Michelle Martin Main Image: A fan of the New York Yankees holds up a sign which reads "It's Deja Vu" at the Yankee Stadium, New York City 29 Oct 2009. Credit: Jed Jacobsohn / Getty Images

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're about to listen to a BBC podcast and trust me you'll get there in a moment but if you're a comedy fan
0:05.2	I'd really like to tell you a bit about what we do. I'm Julie Mackenzie and I commission comedy
0:10.1	podcast at the BBC. It's a bit of a dream job really. Comedy is a bit of a dream job really.
0:13.0	Comedy is a fantastic joyous thing to do because really you're making people laugh,
0:18.0	making people's days a bit better, helping them process, all manner of things.
0:22.0	But you know, I also know that comedy is really
0:24.3	subjective and everyone has different tastes. So we've got a huge range of comedy on offer from
0:29.8	satire to silly, shocking to soothing, profound to just general pratting about.
0:35.0	So if you fancy a laugh, find your next comedy at BBC Sounds.
0:40.0	Hello and welcome to the curious cases of Rutherford and Fry for Discovery on the BBC
0:45.1	the program where you send us in your questions, your queries to curious cases at BBC.co.
0:51.6	UK and we attempt to investigate them using the power of science.
0:56.0	And that's exactly what we're doing today.
0:57.6	We are answering two questions that were sent in by listeners.
1:00.8	Two questions that both, I mean it's a tenuous link, but they both involve
1:04.8	prediction. Yes looking into the future, two versions, one which is coming up in the
1:10.2	second half is does randomness exist is it actually possible for true
1:15.2	randomness to be predictable and is that useful if you're on a trip to Vegas?
1:19.8	But before that we're very very intriguing curious case all about deja vu.
1:27.0	Welcome to the curious cases of Rutherford and Fry, where we have yet another
1:36.7	mystery that we'll be attempting to solve using the power of science.
1:40.3	You know, this is all sounding strangely familiar.
	...

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