First broadcast 7th September 2015.
Lee Mack
Simon Foster
Emily Grossman
Maggie Aderin-Pocock
John Sergeant
Dara O Briain
Alex Jones
Jonathan Ross
Michelle De Haan
Leon Lagnado
Lee Mack
Simon Foster
Emily Grossman
Maggie Aderin-Pocock
John Sergeant
Dara O Briain
Alex Jones
Jonathan Ross
Michelle De Haan
Leon Lagnado
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00This is a show where we reveal some of the most bizarre and brilliant facts you've ever
00:25heard.
00:26Each of tonight's guests have brought along their own favourite fact, which we will be
00:28putting to the test to decide who's his best.
00:31So before we hear the facts, let's see who's joining me tonight.
00:33Well a fact about my first guest is, he's fluent in the Irish language and only ever
00:37speaks to his father in Irish.
00:38It's also a fact that this annoys the hell out of his dad because his father's from Wolverhampton.
00:42Please welcome Dara O'Briain.
00:43And an interesting fact about my second guest is, she actually took her university finals
00:52whilst in Magaluf, where she was filming a television show at the time.
00:56And to this day, it's the only time anyone in Magaluf has been happy to get the results
01:00of a test.
01:01Please welcome Alex Jones.
01:02And a fact about my final guest is that as a child, he appeared in an advert for Rice
01:12Krispies.
01:13Of course, you're still just as likely to hear the sound of snap, crackle and pop in
01:16his home today, but that's more to do with the sound his hips make when he tries to get
01:19out of his armchair.
01:20Please welcome Jonathan Ross.
01:21Okay, let's get on with the show.
01:22All of tonight's guests have brought in a fact that they really love, but who's his
01:29best?
01:30It's time for round one, Fact Off.
01:31Alex, you're up first.
01:36What is your fact?
01:37All right.
01:38My fact is that babies prefer fat dads to buff dads.
01:43Oh, we should have said babes.
01:49You three may fall into this category.
01:50Whoa, whoa, whoa.
01:52Be very careful now, Alex.
01:53Absolutely, yeah.
01:54Hang on.
01:55Hang on.
01:56It's called the dad bod, and the dad bod is actually an okay place to be because it means
02:02that you haven't got a six-pack and you're not nuts about going to the gym, but you take
02:06care of yourself and you've got maybe a two-pack and a little bit of meat.
02:11No, it's bigger than that.
02:12What do you mean a little bit of meat?
02:15You mean we're well enough covered to protect our two-pack, but not so much that you would
02:19say, well, he's going to have a bypass any second now.
02:23Just well covered.
02:24Yeah.
02:25You're saying this is what some women find attractive because it shows you're not vain
02:27and you're not...
02:28Is that what you mean by the dad?
02:29Well, that's it, yeah.
02:30Yeah, but a baby isn't judging you by the same standards as a woman.
02:32But even as an adult, you know, who wants to hang on to skin and bones?
02:36Nobody.
02:37David Beckham?
02:38It's topical.
02:39Hey, listen.
02:40When a new, skinnier woman comes out, I'll change the joke.
02:41Well, the weird thing I find is that I can see that there may be something in this because,
02:54of course, yes, there's something very comforting about holding on to something softer.
02:59You know, we do prefer, I think, even though aesthetically we may be conditioned by the
03:02media to think that men think thinner women might be...
03:05But I think when you actually get the chance to touch a real one, and one day that will
03:08happen, when you get the chance, you know, a nice soft hip, a nice full of bosom, that's
03:14a nice feeling.
03:15But then babies, then, where's the kind of empirical study here?
03:18Like, have they been given a fat dad and then given a thin dad?
03:21Or has that dad been buff and then been less buff and then the kid's filled in a questionnaire?
03:25I mean, where do they get the idea that it's actually preferred as opposed to actually
03:30just quite enjoyed?
03:31Well, if you think about it, if you're a little bit chubbier, you may have a moob.
03:36Yes.
03:38Or even two.
03:39Or even two.
03:40If you're balanced.
03:41You may...
03:42The child may be fooled into thinking that it's going to get milk.
03:43I don't think there'd be anything more shattering as a father if you're holding your child and
03:49instead of going...
03:50I'll be honest, if the baby thinks it's going to get milk, it's more than a moob.
03:56Yes.
03:57Yeah.
03:58Well, I woke up after a heavy night out with Johnny Vegas once and I'd latched on accidentally.
04:03I was on the other teat, wasn't I?
04:04Do you remember?
04:05It was pure sweet Guinness.
04:07There were very famous test ones where they got baby monkeys and they gave them the option
04:12of either having a wire mesh model for a mother that would deliver milk or like a cotton terroline
04:18wrapped model instead and which of the two dolls the baby would sooner play with.
04:23And the babies would cling to the one that gave them comfort instead of the one that
04:26gave them milk.
04:27Yeah, of course.
04:28So you think it's based on the theory that a baby really is just looking for a seat?
04:33In the case of that, if the third option was just a pillow, the baby would go, great, that'd
04:37be even better.
04:38If I could just go for that until mum comes back.
04:40The funny thing is, is that chimpanzees were more attracted to me as a baby.
04:45How do you know that?
04:46Hang on, who's the baby?
04:47Are you the baby or the chimpanzee?
04:48Who's the baby?
04:49No, I'm the baby.
04:50You're the baby.
04:51When you're a baby...
04:52Right.
04:53So in the early 80s, when you could go to zoos and chimpanzees...
04:58You know, we can still go to zoos.
05:01In the early 1980s, when you could go to zoos...
05:04But in a zoo in South Wales, and I don't know whether anybody else has experienced this...
05:09It's hard to tell when you're in a zoo and when you're not in South Wales, but carry on.
05:13But the chimpanzees would have a tea party.
05:18Anybody else experience this?
05:19So you'd go and you'd watch them.
05:21Some must have seen it, but we're too PC to acknowledge it any longer.
05:24Yes.
05:25Or PG.
05:26Well, it happened.
05:27That was good.
05:28And they'd be in a dress and they'd be having tea on the blanket, and I was in my buggy
05:34and the mother chimpanzee came to get me out of the buggy and took me to the blanket to
05:38have tea with the rest of the chimpanzees.
05:39Whoa, whoa, whoa.
05:40Took you out of the pram?
05:41I'm presuming there was like a sheet of bulletproof glass and the monkey's up against it.
05:45The monkey...
05:46It was an open access.
05:47It was open access.
05:48Won't go through the crowd.
05:49Take what you want.
05:50Take a child.
05:51Bring it in.
05:52Did it physically pick you up?
05:53Yes.
05:54No, he just took me.
05:55I was like a little toddler, but Mum and Dad, instead of coming to rescue me, just
06:02took pictures.
06:03We've got loads of them.
06:06Is that how they still select one show presenters, though?
06:10They let chimps loose in the BBC2 and...
06:16How do you know?
06:18So you've heard what this lot think, but there's only one way to find out for sure.
06:20Let's take a look at our Big Fat Test.
06:23The glossy fashion magazines would like us to think the sight of a toned athletic torso
06:34is preferable to a chubbier, softer, male body.
06:38But can it be true that babies think the precise opposite?
06:42They prefer their dads to be fat.
06:46Research with babies seems to suggest that some of our attitudes to body size are culturally
06:51conditioned rather than built into our brains.
06:54Tests show that babies preferred less toned male bodies to more muscular ones when shown
06:59images of each.
07:01The results of the original study suggest that babies make the link between a softer,
07:05rounder male body and the body of their mothers, also typically larger and rounder following
07:10delivery and that this might have an impact on driving their preferences.
07:16For this experiment, we invited six families of mum, dad and baby to our studio.
07:22We gave the babies a break and started by taking pictures of the dads' faces.
07:30We then took photos of men with athletic torsos and men with rounder bodies.
07:39Using the pictures of the dads, we were able to transpose them onto the photographs of
07:44the bodies, creating a thin version of each of the dads and a fat version.
07:52We printed the photos and we were ready to test the babies.
07:56They sat on their mother's laps for three minutes in front of the two images, the thin
08:01version of their own dads on the left and the fat version on the right.
08:08We placed small cameras on top of the images to record the babies' stares.
08:14At each time and every time a baby stared at either image, we started a timer, giving
08:19us a stare time for the thin dad and the fat dad.
08:25Based on the original study, we expected the babies to show a preference for the fat version
08:31of their dad.
08:33Now for the moment of truth.
08:39Our first baby was immediately drawn to the fat dad.
08:45She also had a brief look at thin dad, but time and again was drawn back to fat dad.
08:51So there we are.
08:56Our second baby couldn't seem to make up her mind, but fat dad definitely provoked
09:02a laugh.
09:05And baby number three just couldn't take his eyes off the larger version of his dad.
09:16The babies kept on staring, but did they stare long enough at fat dad to prove the theory?
09:26Each baby had stared for a total of three minutes.
09:30Let's see who they preferred.
09:32The babies spent an average of seven seconds staring at the thin dads, and an incredible
09:3743 seconds staring at the fat dads.
09:42So dads everywhere, take note.
09:45If you want your baby to give you more attention, it might be worth putting on a few pounds.
09:51There you go.
09:54Can we run that experiment again and see where the mums were looking?
09:59I know, it's interesting. All the babies do that and all the mums go, oh, I remember that,
10:04and this is what I got ahead of me.
10:08Now thankfully every week we're joined by our resident experts who can tell us a little
10:10bit more about this fact.
10:11So please welcome specialist in cell biology and genetics Dr. Emily Grossman, rocket scientist
10:15Dr. Simon Foster, and expert in space and mechanical engineering Dr. Maggie Aderin-Pocock,
10:20otherwise known as The Verifiers.
10:26So at what age do babies stop having a preference for fat dads?
10:30It's about six to eight months, so unfortunately we kind of haven't got a carte blanche just
10:35to start eating whatever the hell we like and just getting really fat.
10:38It's quite worrying because actually it could be that chubby men are more like women so
10:42they see that as a kind of female form and babies like that.
10:45Another argument is that so many men are now overweight and obese that babies see that
10:50as the kind of familiar form, and it's not until they start kind of getting out and seeing
10:54other body types that they realise that there isn't kind of a standard form.
10:58So you're saying babies need to get out more?
11:00Well that was Alex's fact, but how good was it?
11:04That's down to our audience here tonight.
11:06So using your keypads on a scale of one to ten, how impressed were you?
11:09Please vote now.
11:16Okay so let's find out what the average rating was from our audience.
11:19Alex got a seven, that's a pretty good score.
11:23So we've heard Alex's favourite fact, but join us after the break when Jonathan will
11:29try and win us over with his.
11:41Welcome back to Duck, Quack, Stone, Echo, the show that puts extraordinary facts to
11:45the test.
11:46Still with me are Jonathan Ross, Alex Jones and Dara O'Briain.
11:49Before the break we saw Alex win seven points for her fact that babies prefer overweight dads.
11:56Jonathan, you're next.
11:57What fact have you gone for?
11:58It is both informative, exciting, unexpected and scientifically provable.
12:04This is a big builder.
12:05It is this, that you cannot taste anything, one of our five wonderful senses, one you
12:09rely on and you need and you crave, and let's face it, it makes life so much spicier and
12:13more fun, even if you were raised by monkeys, the need to taste anything is so fundamental.
12:19But if you have no saliva in your mouth, or more importantly on your tongue, you cannot
12:23taste anything.
12:24You need the lubricating effects of saliva, I don't know the full science of it, but it
12:28needs to be wet in there for you to be able to taste what goes in on top of it.
12:32I was always led to believe that different parts of your tongue contain different, so
12:35one's salt and one's bitter, is that a myth?
12:38That's all a myth, yeah.
12:39You've got taste receptors all over your tongue, they're called papillae, and they're scattered
12:42around your tongue, there isn't an area, like there's a picture with different regions.
12:46But they are on your tongue, aren't they?
12:47They're on your tongue, yeah.
12:48Can I just beg the question, why do we need saliva, if it's on your tongue, what is the
12:50saliva for?
12:51It's weird that you need an extra thing as well as them, it's like the agent that brings
12:54the two together.
12:56Even if you're tasting a wet food, if you're eating soup, for example, and you've no saliva,
13:00will the soup be tasteless?
13:01I don't know.
13:02Okay.
13:03Well, no, yes, yes, the answer, well that would be, with Jonathan's fat, yes, you would
13:07need saliva.
13:08Unless you have ordered saliva soup, in some restaurants if you annoy them, you don't have
13:13to order that, you just get it.
13:15Would that be a good thing, to occasionally just get them to spit in your soup, just in
13:18case you have a moment of silence?
13:19In fact, that's a good way of testing if they've spat in your soup.
13:21Dry your mouth, do that, and if you can taste it, they've spat in it.
13:23This has gone in a direction none of us anticipated.
13:25So, how dry does your tongue have to be, and how would you go about drying?
13:31I guess it has to be completely dry.
13:32It has to be as dry as it can be, it has to be devoid of spittle, saliva, whatever else
13:36you want to call it.
13:37Do you have a pet name for your spit?
13:39No, do you?
13:40Yeah, I call my Lucy Juicy.
13:42I say, let's get the Lucy Juicy going, and we'll go out for a cheeky Nendo's.
13:46Ha!
13:47Blap!
13:48Jonathan, you obviously believe this fact is true, so you will be able to prove it when
13:53we test it out.
13:54Wow, good.
13:55But before we do, let's see the science behind it.
13:58The human tongue contains thousands of taste buds.
14:02Each of these taste buds is a tiny chemical receptor, telling our brains how nice or horrible
14:08something tastes.
14:10But we can only taste food if we have saliva in our mouths.
14:15This is because the chemical receptors on our tongue need to have a liquid medium to
14:21detect the flavours of the chemicals in the food.
14:24So, if you have a dry tongue, you can't taste anything.
14:28So, Jonathan, to test your fact, we are going to see if having no saliva in your mouth really
14:34does affect our taste buds.
14:36Now, in front of you are three different foods, and we're going to see if you can guess
14:39what they are.
14:40So, please, will you take a seat?
14:41Sure, OK.
14:42Now, in order for you not to see or smell the food, please put on your blindfold.
14:46OK.
14:47And that nose plug.
14:48Oh, Mr. Gray, this room is so much redder than I expected.
14:52There's actually a bit of sick in my throat.
14:54Thank you.
14:55All right, that's enough.
14:56Right, OK.
14:57Now, next thing you need to do is drink this glass of saliva.
14:59I'm joking.
15:00No, we...
15:01Jonathan, we need to make sure you have a very dry mouth, so luckily, I've managed to
15:06obtain your internet history.
15:07I'm joking.
15:08We've actually got...
15:09That was a genuine bit of tension there, I thought.
15:14We've actually got this napkin to remove the saliva.
15:16OK.
15:17So, if you'd like to stick your tongue out, I'm actually going to dry your tongue.
15:19Now, once I've dried it, can you keep it out of your mouth?
15:22Shouldn't we have a safe word or something?
15:25Ah.
15:26OK.
15:27All right, don't keep your tongue out, keep your tongue out.
15:32OK, let's try the first food.
15:34Right, I'm going to put this on your tongue.
15:35Right, just put that down there.
15:36Right, here we go.
15:37I'm just going to whiz it on your tongue.
15:39That's it.
15:40Now, keep your tongue out.
15:41Do you know what that taste is?
15:43Ah.
15:44Ah.
15:45Go on, you can try and say it.
15:46Spit it out into the bucket, yeah.
15:47Is it butter?
15:48I can now reveal that was actually chocolate mousse.
15:49Oh, you know what?
15:50I can taste it now.
15:51Now there's saliva back in my mouth.
15:52OK.
15:53Next one.
15:54Let's have a look at the second one.
15:55OK.
15:56Here we go.
15:57Let's get that tongue out again.
15:58Oh, there we go.
15:59I'll use a different part of the cloth for you.
16:00Ah.
16:01Something like that.
16:02Right, there you go.
16:03Give it a good wipe.
16:04Are you feeling...
16:05This is quite enjoyable.
16:06You've got quite a nice tongue to touch, if you don't mind me saying.
16:07OK.
16:08It's quite thick, isn't it?
16:09Ah.
16:10I suppose it's had quite a lot of exercise.
16:11Right, here we go.
16:12Is it out?
16:13Are you dry?
16:14Are you feeling dry?
16:15Ah.
16:16OK, here we go.
16:17Give it a lick.
16:18Give it a lick.
16:19There you go.
16:20Keep it out.
16:21Ah.
16:22Keep it out your mouth.
16:23Ah.
16:24Ah.
16:25Ah.
16:26Ah.
16:27Ah.
16:28Keep it out your mouth.
16:29Ah.
16:30Keep it out your mouth.
16:31Keep it out your mouth.
16:32Ah.
16:33Ah.
16:34Do you want to have a guess?
16:35Oh, sorry, he's salivating.
16:36Sorry.
16:37Ah.
16:38Ah.
16:39Ah.
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18:24From my second day, I can taste it now.
18:25Adorable.
18:32Well, has it gone?
18:37Yeah, but genuinely, I couldn't...
18:39I could tell as they were, the things were on my tongue.
18:43After a couple of seconds, some of the...
18:44Not the flavor, but the sweetness or the sourness came through.
18:47So I could sense that the first thing was sweet.
18:49The last thing, the anchovies, I had no idea.
18:51That's a strong flavor.
18:52It felt like a feather or a leaf or and I thought maybe it was a bug from the audience's reaction
18:57But absolutely none of the flavor the entry part of you thinking what the hell is Lee rested on my time
19:00I would say I can say now with absolute region. I couldn't taste them. I couldn't taste them at all
19:04Okay, so we've tested Jonathan's fact
19:06But let's find out how impressive our audience thinks it is time for you to all give it a mark out of 10
19:10Please vote now
19:17So let's find out the average rating for your fact and where that puts you on the leaderboard
19:21Jonathan's in the lead with a nine. Wow. Wow. It was a good fact. It was a good fact
19:28I'll tell you didn't think it was a good fact. So didn't Justin McFarrow
19:31Would you like to tell us why you didn't like the fact I didn't think it was a very juicy information
19:37Please tell me you didn't give it a one for that one pump
19:44He's got more material it was a bit dry go on let's go for three come on
19:49Come on spit it out
19:50Now is that it?
19:52What about lily boot? That's not your real name lily boot. Where are you lily boots? Is that your real name?
19:57Yes, you gave it a 10. Why did we so impressed? Uh, I'm a chef. I guess I just find it interesting
20:02Did you already know that? No, I didn't will you be now trying that out in the kitchens?
20:07Will you go out to the restaurant and dab everyone's tongue?
20:10You could do that. If you know the food doesn't particularly taste nice that night
20:14Okay, last but not least our it's your turn tell us your fact, okay
20:18This is my fact and you react quicker to a bang than a flash
20:24You react quicker to a bang than a flash the noise bang
20:27Yeah, or to a noise a loud noise
20:29Yeah, then you do to the flash of love of the of the thing of whatever was the thing that's presuming presuming
20:35Of course, and that's one limit on that that it's relatively close to you. Yeah. Yeah, can this happen two miles away?
20:40Obviously see the light first. Yeah. Yeah, but if it's someone sounding within about a hundred feet of you then you will it's your ears
20:47It'll tell you this has happened quicker than you're and yet
20:49This is counterintuitive in it because we all assume that light traveling quicker and also the phrase, you know quick as a flash
20:53You don't say quick as a bang dear. I don't quit your bank, but I
20:59Can understand why you think about you know
21:01a lot of the things that we actually the reason why is back in the day when we were cave dwelling or where we
21:05Were like hunter-gatherers or whatever way back when?
21:07You were permanently on the lookout for danger you were permanently scared
21:10You were looking out for yourself and your tribe and there weren't many people going around wearing torches
21:15You know, you wouldn't like like a lion. No, but you wouldn't walk up to you and shine a light in your face
21:20No, but if you're here go you see what I mean?
21:27The most obvious example of this is the starting pistol in a race
21:31Nobody know when sprinters are sitting on the blocks. They don't sit looking at that. You just see the gun go off
21:37No, they listen for the gun to go back then
21:40Why is it traffic lights example that we use different colored lights while then?
21:44And then we know that's because and I'm taking a wild guess with the aim of traffic lights
21:49Isn't that you hammered the accelerator as fast as you can?
21:53It's not don't be stupid where I drive. There isn't a man with a flag who jumps up and let's go
21:58Let's go. Let's go. That's actually a good idea
22:00I like the sound one. It's better blind drivers would be able to
22:04Well, they had the noise you're right you're right it would make it safer for blind people who drive
22:10If not the rest of us, we want more blind drivers on the road
22:13Let's change the traffic light
22:15Driving has not been designed with the blind in mind. And I think that's that's good that we finally pointed out. Yeah
22:21We want softer cars and more sound based traffic signals
22:25Okay, you've heard what we think but join us after the break when we put this to the test
22:31You
22:40Welcome back to the flat stone echo the show that brings you brilliant and bizarre facts that you've probably never heard of before the break
22:46Dara told us that people react quicker to a bang than a flash. We need to know for sure. So we put it to the test
22:56Light travels nearly
22:58600,000 times faster than sound
23:02Seeing lightning before we hear thunder is a perfect example of this
23:08So, how can it be that we react quicker to sound?
23:13here's our expert a
23:15Visual or auditory stimulus has to be converted into an electrical signal to be transmitted to the brain and this is done by special
23:22receptor neurons
23:23The eyes use photoreceptors in the retina and the ears use hair cells in the ear canal
23:29But the hair cells convert pressure waves into electrical signals much faster than photoreceptors can convert light into an electrical signal
23:38Sound causes hair cells in your ears to wiggle which excites them directly
23:42But after a photon is absorbed in a photoreceptor, there's a chain of about six chemical reactions that need to occur
23:49So hair cells in your ears are fast, but photoreceptors in your retina are slow
23:55To test this theory we recruited five healthy young men and women
24:00To measure their reactions to the speed of sound and the speed of light
24:06Starting blocks connected to a computer will measure precisely when our volunteers feet leave the blocks
24:13Revealing how quickly they react to the flash or bang first the flash test
24:44It
24:47Took an average
24:49368 milliseconds for the runners to react to the flash and leave the blocks
24:56Next we test our volunteers reactions to a starting pistol
25:02If our theory is correct, then they'll react marginally quicker
25:13You
25:29The results are fascinating
25:32the average time difference between the pistol fire and the runners reaction is
25:37266 milliseconds
25:39102 milliseconds faster than the flash faster by 38%
25:46So there you have it proving conclusively that we react faster to a bang than a flash
25:58This must cause problems right because if you're a firework would be a good example if you're reacting to the bang which is often
26:04Heard after the flash. Yes, you've reacted a bit too late if you stood too close or something
26:08Yes, especially if a bang has been stuffed up your ass
26:13So we're verified do we always react quicker to things we hear than things we see
26:17Well firstly just to say that your idea about why this happens is absolutely true because as you said, it's about
26:23Jumping and having a sort of fight-or-flight response and evolutionarily
26:26It makes sense for us to react quicker to things that are more likely to be dangerous
26:30And it is more likely that something that makes a sudden loud sound like a lion roaring as you said is more likely to be
26:35Dangerous than a sudden flash and that's why we jump when we hear a noise
26:38And that's why if we go and see a scary movie if we watch it with our fingers in our ears
26:41It's actually a bit less scary
26:43It's just the image of someone watching a film in the cinema getting scared going. Oh, but you know, what?
26:48Am I the only one who's not doing that? But when you say behind the sofa? No stick a cushion in each ear
26:53It's weird when you said that because when I used to watch stuff with my my child my little boy in particular if there was something
26:58Scary on TV, he would always do that and I never quite knew why but he would always do that
27:02Well, it does work. It does work because it's less of a shock factor. You're less likely to jump
27:06So that was Dara's fact now our audience is gonna score it
27:09So using your keypads on a scale of 1 to 10, how amazing do you think that fact is?
27:18Okay, let's find out what Dara's average rating was from our audience
27:26Miserable five, you know, I'm just gonna wait in the car park and everyone these people
27:33Show them am I flashing as well?
27:36Jonathan is in the lead, but there's still plenty of time for Alex and Dara to catch up in the next round
27:40It's time for fact finder
27:44Not only do we ask our guests to bring the fact of the show
27:47We also ask our audience Alex Dara and Jonathan have each picked out the audience fact that they think is best Alex
27:53You're first whose fact have you picked Cheryl calendar Cheryl calendar. There she is. Hello Cheryl calendar. That is a great name
28:01What's your fact Cheryl calendar women have better peripheral vision than men and and how do you know this and
28:08You've got wing mirrors on those glasses
28:11It has something to do with men and women have different cells at the back of their eyes
28:17My wife's got much better peripheral vision than me. Definitely. She's a barn owl
28:24Why don't we test it well, why don't we put our fingers right level with our ears, right?
28:28I can't see my fingers now. If they're level with my ears. Can you see your own fingers? Yes, you can't you liar?
28:35My level my my ears are further back than yours
28:38My ears have always been further back than yours
28:42To the side I can't see my fingers Jonathan when they're getting cut look I can see when they're back when they're out there
28:47I can see them still see
28:49Come on, you can see your finger. Mine had gone or about here. Mine. This is the worst test we've ever done
28:56Anyway, this is what we think of Alex's chosen audience fat, but we can't test it properly because we really just heard it tonight
29:01So it's over to our verifiers. So what do you think about the fact Alex has chosen?
29:05This fact is actually
29:07true
29:12We have rods and cones which are the detectors in our eyes which are just the same as men's but we have more of them
29:19And these are more rods and cones means that we're less likely to be colorblind
29:24but we also have better this of a degree of vision is better in us than men and there's an evolutionary sort of a
29:31Trait behind this because in the old days when you saw men with a hunter-gatherers
29:35And they use of your tunnel vision to sort of seek out prey and sort of take it down
29:39Whereas we were sort of more looking after the kids at home and as we know having peripheral vision
29:45I've got a five-year-old and it really does help
29:47So we think that evolutionary this might be the case, but also it also explains why men can never seem to find anything
29:56What specifically you talking about Maggie
30:01Thank you, my love where are my car keys
30:06But because men have developed this tunnel vision it means that they can sort of look at one area at once
30:11But they just don't see the big picture
30:13Whereas us women we get the much broader view and so we can see the big picture
30:17That is a fair point and well done again
30:18It shows why when women are driving they're much better at seeing things around them, but perhaps can't see what's directly in front of them
30:31Your next Dara whose facts have you gone for my next life comes from Lynn Nottingham, where are you Lynn Nottingham?
30:37I'm here. What's your fat Lynn? My fact is that the brain is more active
30:42Sleeping then awake that can't be true because we're doing so many things in the daytime
30:47But you're often actively not doing anything the brain at night is doing its own thing
30:51I can see what you want because we definitely know that the brain resets itself at night
30:54It kind of clears out and kind of like, you know deals with issues and there's a lot of turmoil
30:58Is that yeah, but is there any more term? I'll sit in on your computer and work
31:02You can switch off during the day consciously
31:05But in the night your brain goes over everything that's happened in the day and looks forward
31:09And if you've eaten cheese just to throw that in it's even more active
31:13Yeah, have you ever woken up in the middle of night and eating cheese?
31:16No, but I sometimes eat it before going to bed that my sleep is more exciting. Is that really?
31:23That's one of the saddest things a woman has ever said to me my wife
31:27I'll genuinely get up in the middle of the night and eat a small Dormouse
31:31bar now, so
31:33Trying for our verifiers to give us their verdict. Yes. It's actually possibly true until the 50s
31:38It was thought that while we were sleeping our brains were kind of passive and dormant
31:41But there's actually been a lot of research done about what our brain gets up to when we're asleep and it's surprisingly active
31:46It lays down new memories that you've made during the day. It consolidates old ones
31:50It transfers short-term memories into our long-term memory
31:53It also carries out complex tasks like it can start to help you make decisions on
31:58Actions that you're going to carry out the next day
32:00it's also as you said it's got a kind of housekeeping function clears out some toxins from the day and
32:05Recent evidence has shown that we can actually carry on performing quite complex tasks while we're actually asleep
32:11This is a bit like when you say to something, you know, you could be late you say to your wife. Are you awake?
32:15And she goes no, I'm asleep
32:18That's a talkative bar now you're married
32:22Now finally Jonathan whose facts have you picked out I've chosen a fact which I think is a delightful fact
32:27I've chosen it carefully. I thought long and hard
32:29I think it's going to be the winner it is and has been brought in by Debbie Adlam Debbie. Well, Debbie Adlam
32:34How are you Debbie Debbie? Hi, what's your fact?
32:37It's basically that cats can also be allergic to humans in the same way that a human could be allergic to a cat
32:44And what are the symptoms do we know?
32:47Sneezing did you just made that up? I could tell by the way you said that
32:51What the cat what the humans do sneezing for they produce fur balls
32:56Funny eyes, I guess so you don't know what the symptoms necessary are, but they definitely can have symptoms being allergic to humans
33:02Yeah, very much like flu. Have you got cats? I've got one cat and easy allergic to you. No, she's thankfully she's not
33:09So well, if you don't know the symptoms, how do you know?
33:13Jonathan likes Debbie's fat, but is there anything in it? This is true. They have allergies just like that
33:18They can have hay fever. And so yeah, they sneeze and have itchy eyes and they're allergic to our skin and our hair
33:24But because we wash so much it doesn't come up that often
33:28But they can also particularly cats are allergic to detergents and soaps we use and on top of that
33:35Humans are particularly bad at giving cats asthma. I've given mine an inhaler, but he doesn't use it
33:43So we've heard the facts but how many points will our verifiers give them find out after the break
33:58So before the break each of our guests chose their favorite fact from the audience
34:02We found out whether each fact is true, but who will get the most points from our verifiers?
34:05Let's find out Alex remind us of your chosen fact
34:09Cheryl calendar gave us the fact and women have better peripheral vision than men was the fact. Okay verifiers
34:16What are we gonna give that school? So this is unexpected and true. So I'm gonna give it an eight
34:21And
34:26Lynn Nottingham told us that your brain is more active when you're asleep than when you're awake
34:30Verifiers. Well, it is pretty amazing how active our brain is when it's asleep, particularly when we're dreaming
34:36But all of the time really, but I don't know if it's more active than when we're waking. So I'll give it about seven
34:43Okay, and finally Jonathan which fact did you go for Debbie Adlam shared with us this fascinating fact that cats can be allergic to human
34:51Verifiers, so it's important that count has noticed. So we were very interested with this. We'll go give it an A
35:02So, let's put all that up onto the leaderboard and see how it's affected the scores
35:07Okay, Dara's in third place Alex in second, but Jonathan's William is 17 points
35:13Okay, there's still time for the rest of you to catch up we've heard all the guest facts and the audience have brought there
35:18So now it's my turn. It's max facts
35:21I
35:23Got some facts. All you have to do is guess what they are from a series of clues and you'll get points for each one
35:27You get right, right. Here we go. Here's the first one. It's this
35:32It's this and it is this
35:36I'm thinking maybe to do with the fact that no matter how big or small a ball is is still a ball
35:41And is it no matter how big or small the balls are they will fall at the same speed
35:47No, but I suspect that is true. That is true
35:49Is it a do with that when you hit the ball you need more energy obviously to move a larger ball than a smaller ball
35:53No, look, I'll tell you what I'll do. Should I just demonstrate this one? Go on. Okay
35:57Okay, my fact is individually none of these balls will bounce more than three feet
36:00But if you bounce them together one of them can bounce about 30 feet
36:04Oh, you mean so if you put them on top of each other?
36:06Yeah, I mean if you put them on top of each other, you can bounce more than three feet
36:0930 feet. Oh, you mean so if you put them on top of each other?
36:12So the transference of the energy we amplify it by one ball into another ball into the third ball that mr
36:17Jonathan Ross is the exact answer. Well, as you will see if I was to bounce this ball from this height
36:22There same with that one
36:25And finally the tennis ball. Okay, but if I
36:29These balls and put them this is why he gets the big money ladies gentlemen
36:34This takes skill. Tell you what, I wish Peter Crouch had been on this week. This would have saved a box
36:39All right, there we go
36:43Wow
36:47Well, you get a kid that
36:49That was a very exciting moment
36:53Now verifiers, can you explain why this happens?
36:55Well, this is all down to momentum and how you can transfer it from one object to another object like in a snooker break
37:01Well, you know when you might see a train carriage coming in and hitting another one one stops and the other one moves on
37:06So momentum is calculated from the mass of the object multiplied by the velocity so you've got the basketball there
37:12It's quite heavy so that I have lots of momentum
37:15That's in transfer when it hits the football to that and then when it finally transfers all of that to the tennis ball
37:22It's a bit like a chain reaction
37:23All that momentum is focused into one thing because it's so light you can't change its mass
37:28What you can do is change its velocity to go flying off a high velocity and goes a really large distance. I'll be honest
37:34I'm looking at some of the members of the audience and I think they're more impressed that KFC can supercharge a zinger for
37:38£1.50
37:42Okay, next one we have
37:44this oh
37:46It's Jonathan's tongue again. We have this Wow. Do we know what this might be?
37:50Well, it's a tongue in the dog bowl. So it's something to do with animals drinking water
37:54They lift water up to drink almost there. They're lifting that up to drink it
37:58How are they lifting that up to drink it with their tongue?
38:01Yes, we knew that already I've done I knew they weren't using a spoon as a spoon like a flick
38:05It was a complete opposite the opposite of a spoon upside down spoon. It's the opposite of curling it up
38:12Exactly what they're doing they're quite unique in that my fact is dogs drink water with the tongue curling backwards rather than forwards
38:18Oh, wow, look at that
38:20So it's actually the ladle up ladle is probably the right way to so what do how can you prove though?
38:25Because that might just be that one dog
38:28Do you think they took footage of one dog and went done right
38:32The harder way to do it though, isn't it?
38:34Well, it is much easier the other way what you think it would be easier
38:37But there's a reason why they can't do it the other way and verifies. Will you explain? Oh go on
38:42Well, firstly the reason that dogs have to do this in the first place is because they have what's called incomplete cheeks
38:46Which means they can open their mouths really wide, but they can't create suctions
38:50They can't suck like we would suck through a straw
38:52So instead they fold their tongue backwards as Dara said they have special tongue where the muscles act backwards to create a kind of
38:57Backwards ladle or a spoon, but they don't actually use it as a spoon
39:01That's what everyone used to think that it's been shown that what they do is they plunge their tongue into the water
39:06They rip the water up and the because of surface tension the water sticks to the underside of the folded down tongue
39:12And it gets pulled into the air with an acceleration
39:14that's five times the acceleration of gravity and then this column of water shoots up into the air stuck to the underneath of the tongue and
39:20Then the dog clamps its mouth down around it and drinks the water. I love how excited you got about that
39:27So incomplete cheeks means dogs can't create suction and trust me
39:31You don't want to know how the verifiers discovered that one wasn't wasn't that wasn't that your wife's pet name for you incomplete cheeks
39:40My next fact tonight is this it's this and
39:45It is this
39:47Does the car represent a full-size one or a small one?
39:51This represents a full-size car, this is a
39:55Keyful car and this is a brain and just so you know, you only need two of these to present Top Gear
40:03It's these two are there proper keys, that's all about I think this must be to do with like the brain the car
40:08We know cars all kind of technology. It's all getting more intelligent. It's thinking for us. You can get a free to container
40:13It's empty
40:13We all remember seeing Knight Rider when he had was it kit 2000 the head and the car that could be free
40:18I imagine that we're putting artificial intelligence into cars, which if anyone's seen Terminator knows that's a terrible idea. You're way off
40:28Look I'll give you a clue. What's this for?
40:31Starting it and locking it how far away do you reckon you could go with that?
40:34Oh quite quite quite far away just a bit some people can open their car with their brain
40:40Further away than when they use a doohickey. Do you know what you actually sort of right?
40:45My fact is if your remote-control car key is out of range, you can unlock your car using your brain
40:51What now as you'll see in a moment, okay, I just said that to be stupid
40:56I know well
40:56That's it's actually right and as you'll see in a moment two of us will need to leave the studio
41:01To demonstrate this and it genuine would help if we use the two of us with the largest brains
41:06So Jonathan and Alex if you don't mind waiting here for a bit
41:12I'm just gonna pop out over to you verifiers
41:16Well, this sounds like telepathy or magic
41:19But it's none of the above and as Lee and Dara take their super sized brains out of the studio
41:24I'll explain why this works. Well, let's take the human brain. The human brain is about 75% water
41:30So let's ignore the other 25% of the gubbins and let's just see our brain as a bag of water in our heads
41:37Now water is quite interesting because as we know it's different from air and this means it has a different refractive index
41:43A radio wave will travel faster through air than it will through water
41:46And this is very critical because it means that you could use your brain as a lens for radio waves
41:52So what they'll do is they'll drive off and they'll try the key form and the key form won't be able to work as it's too
41:57Far away the radio signals isn't reaching the car in enough intensity
42:00But then if Lee uses his brain as a lens and sends the radio waves through his brain
42:05It will actually come to a focus and hopefully open the car door. Let's see what happens
42:11Okay, we are currently stood over 50 meters from the studio Alex and Jonathan, can you hear me? Yes
42:18Okay. Now could you both get into the car for me and close the doors?
42:24Okay, now the first thing we need to do is test whether the car key still works from this distance
42:29So now I'll tell you what I was gonna do this
42:31But I've started to realize that it's not properly been tested and I have to at some point put this to my brain
42:35So Dara, I'm gonna ask you to test it. Thank you. Yeah
42:38Could you please first of all lock the car door to show that the the lock works three makes a difference two one press oh
42:46Okay, that works that works. Okay, great. Okay. You're feeling safe in there. We're locked inside. We feel very start pumping the gas into the car
42:55The key still works in this distance, but if you step back a few paces the key should go out of range
43:02Let's try here. Dara. Let's try this press this on three two one press
43:07That's not working now if our theory is correct if you put the key to your head
43:11Turn your head to one side so you can point the key in the direction of the car, right?
43:15Okay, Dara, here we go on three. Okay using my brain to my brain one press
43:25You can unlock a car with your brain and after that, let's see the final scores
43:31Congratulations Jonathan is the winner
43:33That's it for tonight's show a huge thank you to our verifiers and our special guest Dara O'Briain Jonathan Ross and Alex Jones
43:39I'll see you next time. Good night
43:46Dan and Lisa are moving but don't panic
43:48They're not going for Mount Pleasant makes a welcome return to Sky 1 the brand new series starts Friday at 9 or see it first
43:54on demand right now
44:03You