Episode description

Ahead of international Random Acts of Kindness Day, Marnie Chesterton and an invited panel look at some of the science behind nature’s better nature.

Are mother spiders in Africa behind the ultimate act of kindness? How are lightning and lava lamps involved in the quest for a truly random number? And the engineer trying to bring more compassion to the machines we use every day.

We also hear about the technology helping archaeologists discover lost worlds in South America, the maths that might benefit your love life, and Marnie receives her very own random act of kindness - a surprise trip to a lab to meet some of the most extraordinary creatures on the planet.

Presenter: Marnie Chesterton, with Andrada Fiscutean and Camilla Mota Producer: Dan Welsh, with Tom Bonnett, Katie Tomsett and Alex Mansfield