CrowdScience

How should we measure cleverness?


Listen Later

Presenter Marnie Chesterton and the team pit their wits against a multitude of mind-bending puzzles from an old TV gameshow - all in the name of answering a question from Antonia in Cyprus: how do we work out how clever someone is? Is IQ the best measure of cleverness? Why do we put such weight on academic performance? And where does emotional intelligence fit into it all?

In the search for answers Marnie and the team are locked in rooms to battle mental, physical, mystery and skill-based challenges, all against the clock.

Unpicking their efforts in the studio are a global team of cleverness researchers: Dr Stuart Ritchie from Kings College London, Prof Sophie von Stumm from York University and Dr Alex Burgoyne from Georgia Institute of Technology in the US.

They are challenged to face the toughest questions in their field: Why do men and women tend to perform differently in these tests? Is our smartness in our genes? And what about the Flynn Effect – where IQs appear to have risen, decade after decade, around the world.

Producer/presenter: Marnie Chesterton

Editor: Richard Collings
Production co-ordinator: Jonathan Harris

(Photo Man doing puzzle. Credit: Getty Images)

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

CrowdScienceBy BBC World Service

  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7

4.7

434 ratings


More shows like CrowdScience

View all
Global News Podcast by BBC World Service

Global News Podcast

7,747 Listeners

More or Less by BBC Radio 4

More or Less

892 Listeners

Newshour by BBC World Service

Newshour

1,066 Listeners

In Our Time by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time

5,475 Listeners

The Documentary Podcast by BBC World Service

The Documentary Podcast

1,816 Listeners

6 Minute English by BBC Radio

6 Minute English

1,782 Listeners

Learning English Conversations by BBC Radio

Learning English Conversations

1,041 Listeners

The Infinite Monkey Cage by BBC Radio 4

The Infinite Monkey Cage

2,079 Listeners

The Naked Scientists Podcast by The Naked Scientists

The Naked Scientists Podcast

607 Listeners

Health Check by BBC World Service

Health Check

89 Listeners

The Food Chain by BBC World Service

The Food Chain

344 Listeners

Discovery by BBC World Service

Discovery

976 Listeners

BBC Inside Science by BBC Radio 4

BBC Inside Science

405 Listeners

Science Weekly by The Guardian

Science Weekly

427 Listeners

Curious Cases by BBC Radio 4

Curious Cases

823 Listeners

The Inquiry by BBC World Service

The Inquiry

736 Listeners

The Life Scientific by BBC Radio 4

The Life Scientific

232 Listeners

Science In Action by BBC World Service

Science In Action

333 Listeners

Unexpected Elements by BBC World Service

Unexpected Elements

358 Listeners

People Fixing the World by BBC World Service

People Fixing the World

244 Listeners

You're Dead to Me by BBC Radio 4

You're Dead to Me

3,220 Listeners

Americast by BBC News

Americast

744 Listeners

The world, the universe and us by New Scientist

The world, the universe and us

114 Listeners

The Bomb by BBC World Service

The Bomb

1,041 Listeners