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BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

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The Human Zoo

Factual: Science & Nature

Series 4

Exploring the foibles, quirks and behaviour of that most fascinating of species - us

The Human Zoo explores the foibles, quirks and behaviour of that most fascinating of species - us

The Human Zoo: Series 2

The Human Zoo: Series 2: Episode 1

Episode 1

Series 2

BBC Radio 4 - The Human Zoo, Series 2, Episode 1

Michael Blastland invites us to discover the way we think, behave and make decisions.

Michael Blastland invites us to discover the way we think, behave and make decisions, and to explore how far we are led by reason, emotion or instinct.

The Human Zoo is a place to learn about the one subject that never fails to fascinate - ourselves. Are people led by the head or by the heart? How rational are we? How do we perceive the world and what lies behind the quirks of human behaviour?

Michael Blastland presents a curious blend of intriguing experiments, with Nick Chater, Professor of Behavioural Science at Warwick University, on hand as guide and experimenter in chief.

Our thoughts, John Milton said, are a kingdom of infinite space and they might take us anywhere -whether our subject is writ large, like the behaviours of public figures or the contradictions of politics, or located in the minutiae of everyday life. We can show how what happens on the big stage is our own behaviour writ large - like the old Linda Smith joke about the Iraq-war coalition's failure to find chemical weapons: "I'm the same with the scissors".


Producer: Toby Murcott
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Michael Blastland presents the series that explores the foibles, quirks and behaviour of that most fascinating of species - us

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The Human Zoo

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Episode 1

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