Original version

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

CrowdScience

Documentaries

Factual: Science & Nature

Factual: Science & Nature: Science & Technology

Answering your questions about life, Earth and the universe

We take your questions about life, Earth and the universe to researchers hunting for answers at the frontiers of knowledge.

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service News Internet

BBC World Service East Asia

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

CrowdScience: How do you balance on a bicycle?

Discussion & Talk

GettyImages-57525647_crop.jpg

06/01/2023 GMT

How do you balance on a bicycle?

BBC World Service - CrowdScience, How do you balance on a bicycle?

What’s going on when we ride a bicycle, how do we stay upright? CrowdScience investigates

ow do we stay up when we ride a bicycle? Lots of us can do it without even thinking about it, but probably very few of us can say exactly HOW we do it. Well, CrowdScience listener Arif and his children Maryam and Mohammed from India want to understand what’s going on in our heads when go for a cycle, and how we learn to do it in the first place.

Presenter Marnie Chesterton is on the case, tracking down a neuroscientist studying how our brains and bodies work together to keep us balanced whether we’re walking or trying to ride a bicycle. She learns about the quirks of bicycle engineering from researchers in the Netherlands who are part of a lab entirely devoted to answering this question. In the process falling off of some unusual bicycles and uncovering the surprising truth that physics might not yet have a proper answer. And we peer deeper into our brains to find out why some memories last longer than others, whether some people can learn quicker than others and the best way to learn a new skill.

Presented by Marnie Chesterton and Produced by Emily Bird for the BBC World Service.

Featuring:
Kathleen Cullen, Johns Hopkins University, USA
Jason Moore, University of Technology Delft, The Netherlands
Lara Boyd, University of British Columbia, Canada
Rado Dukalski, University of Technology Delft, The Netherlands
Josie and Freesia, Pedal Power

[Image: Family riding bikes. Credit: Getty Images]

Accessibility links

Programme Index

CrowdScience

How do you balance on a bicycle?

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

About BBC World Service