Why Do We Do That?

Ella Al-Shamahi explores evolutionary mysteries in More Play with Brenna Hassett.BBC Studios Audio Producer: Olivia Jani Additional Production: Emily Bird Series Producer: Geraldine Fitzgerald Executive Producer: Alexandra Feachem

Paleoanthropologist Ella Al-Shamahi asks why do humans play?The Neanderthals are a species that was so close to us that we could reproduce with them, they had creativity, technology and they made art - handprints on cave walls and painted shells strung into necklaces. But it turns out the Neanderthals had shorter childhoods than us. Their children grew up quicker than their Homo sapiens counterparts. We don’t know why Neanderthals went extinct. It is probably for a few reasons but is it possible that us having these longer childhoods, having more time to play, might have given us a creative edge. There are probably more important reasons for our survival over them but it is food for thought. And we are still playing, anthropologist Brenna Hasset says play is part of learning how to be an adult so depending on where you grow up influences the type of games children play.BBC Studios Audio Produced by Emily Bird Additional production Olivia Jani and Ben Hughes Series Producer Geraldine Fitzgerald Executive Producer is Alexandra Feachem Commissioning Editor is Rhian Roberts

Ella Al-Shamahi explores evolutionary mysteries in More Bad Boys with Julia Stern.BBC Studios Audio Producer: Olivia Jani Additional Production: Emily Bird Series Producer: Geraldine Fitzgerald Executive Producer: Alexandra Feachem

Paleoanthropologist Ella Al-Shamahi looks at the evidence for what people want in a partner and how it changes as they get older. Psychologist Julia Stern from the University of Bremen shares the results of a study which recruited people from a singles night in a Berlin club and followed them for 13 years. Novelist Adele Parks explains why writing about bad boys is so much fun, and on the Bridget Jones scale of bad boys think more Hugh Grant and less Colin Firth.

Ella Al-Shamahi explores evolutionary mysteries in More Dancing with Bronwyn Tarr.BBC Studios Audio Producer: Olivia Jani Additional Production: Emily Bird Series Producer: Geraldine Fitzgerald Executive Producer: Alexandra Feachem