Bang Goes The Theory (2009) s01e05 Episode Script
Episode 5
1 Tonight on Bang Goes The Theory Jem goes into battle against the ultimate sound weapon.
Dallas finds out whether he's a man or a mouse.
l investigate the science behind fear, and, back in Bang HQ, the boys have cooked up a little thrill-seeking experiment.
137, 152! Hello and welcome to Bang Goes The Theory, the show that gets seriously hands on with the science that makes our world go round and people like him tick.
And the exciting news this week, of course ls? ls that it's a bank holiday next weekend and what could be more bank holiday-ish than rollercoasters, the ultimate 90-second buzz.
Or the ultimate 90-second barf.
l mean, come on, some people just don't like it, do they? Jem Jem! Knock it off.
Knock it off just one second.
- l've just got two more cuts to do.
- One minute, one minute.
The interesting thing about that is that adrenaline junkies can be born and not made.
- Ah! - So, l decided to put that to the test to see whether or not l've got the genes of a man or a mouse.
- l could have told you that.
- OK, you can go again.
So, this is where there's more funny and contorted faces per square metre than anywhere else in the country and this man over here has seen more than most, l'm guessing.
You're Brendan, aren't you? - Nice to meet you.
- Hi, Dallas.
l think it's nice to meet him, l'm not sure, to be honest.
Now, let me just get this right.
You actually measure thrill, like some kind of thrill barometer, by kind of observing people's reactions on rides like this.
That's my job.
(SOREAMlNG) l mean, how come some people are born to seek out thrill and others aren't? l mean, what is it - What is it - Why is this man sticking things to my face? All will be revealed.
(YELLlNG) People's desires, or not, to seek out new sensations is partly to do with evolution.
So, imagine it's aeons ago, we're all living in caves.
So, the higher the risks you take, the more likely you are to become a successful hunter and also, perhaps, more attractive to potential mates.
l like that.
l'm in that category.
- lt sounds like a good way to be.
- Yeah, l think so.
But the higher the risks you take the more likely you are to get eaten.
(SOREAMlNG) So, a variety of thrill-seeking tendencies have evolved in the human population.
So, are you a caveman or a cavemouse? The sensors on my fingers will tell Brendan how sweaty l get on the ride while the chest ones measure my heart rate.
There are also sensors stuck onto my face to monitor my expressions.
OK, so this is it.
Get ready.
'Time to find out how brave l am.
' Hmmdoesn't seem too bad so far.
Oh, God! No! Oh, God.
(THEY SOREAM) l don't want to do this! All the sensors are showing me your levels of fear and excitement on the ride.
l did say all will be revealed! So, did l come out on top as a strong hunter type? Uml'm afraid not.
So, the news isn't quite what l'd hoped for.
At the scariest bit of the ride, my fear levels shoot through the roof so, sadly, l'm not the thrill-seeking lady magnet l imagine myself to be.
The data doesn't lie.
l've been collecting all your values for your fear, your excitement and l've been able to come up with your very own thrill factor for the ride.
So And it's out of ten.
The lower the score, the higher a thrill-seeker you are.
ln fact, actually anything under five puts you squarely in the category of an adrenaline junkie.
So, what am l? l'm not going to like this answer am l, l suspect? You scored a whopping 7.
5.
Oh, that's rubbish.
Oh, that's really rubbish.
OK, so l'm officially a wimp.
But there is hope for me yet.
l want to transform myself into the brave Dallas of my dreams and, according to Brendan, my best shot is something called desensitisation.
So, Dallas, with desensitisation, it's best to build up slowly, so l'm going to put you on a ride that satisfies your current thirst for thrill, then we're going to build you up gradually.
You're going to be going on this.
l love it! Whoo! Woo-hoo! l really enjoyed that.
That was good.
That was much more my cup of tea.
Even better, l get a massage! lt's not so bad this desensitisation larkor so l thought, because l'm going on this next.
And this is what Brendan calls ''slowly building up''(!) Oh, my word! l don't like this at all.
Apparently, the idea of desensitisation is the more l'm exposed to thrill, the less sensitive l'll become to it.
Oan l get off now?.
No, no.
You have to stay on just one more time.
Aaaaargh! 'But if l'm pushed over a certain fear level too soon, the rides could reinforce my fears.
' Please make it stop! 'l definitely prefer the teacups.
' lt wasn't the fear, it was that my stomach was swapping places with oesophagus.
Well, l'm not entirely sure that you're desensitised, and it's only getting worse.
Aaargh! This is the most horrible one yet.
lt's all getting a bit more serious now and l'm going off desensitisation fast, but if done carefully over time, this kind of gradual exposure technique can help treat phobias and even car sickness.
Aaargh! For the love of God! 'Allegedly.
' Oh, l feel sick! To take my mind off the possibility of seeing my breakfast again, Brendan kindly lets me relax.
This should give me happy thoughts and stop me from associating the rides with negative feelings.
Ah, that's nice.
A touch of yoga and guess what? l'm going back on again.
Aaaargh! Ten rides down the line and l never want to see a rollercoaster again, but Brendan's got other ideas.
l think it's time we tested your new thrill factor and to make it fair, l'm going to put you back on the same ride as this morning.
- Really? - Afraid so.
The sensors are stuck firmly back on and it's time for the retest.
This is the moment l find out if l've turned from a mouse into a man.
l'm a broken man, Brendan, slash mouse.
- l'm sorry about that.
- That's all right.
l might have good news for you.
Please give me good news because l can't deal with any other kind.
lf you look at your facial expressions you can see that there's not much going on there.
lt's like watching paint dry.
Does that put me into the caveman realms of adrenaline seeking? Yeah, within a theme park setting.
Yes.
Now this morning your thrill factor was 7.
5 out of 10.
Now, remember, anything below five puts you in the thrill-seeker high- adrenaline junkie kind of category.
Your new thrill factor - is just one.
- Ooh! - One? - One! One! Now, l know that looked like l was just having a nice day at an amusement park, but we were in fact conducting some very serious scientific research, not to mention feeling a bit queasy.
Now, the reason that Jem is all wired up is because he is about to experience the future of thrill rides.
Are you ready for this? Yes, l think so.
Good.
Now then, this is where the science happens.
l can monitor all Jem's vital signs on this computer screen here and adjust the ride accordingly.
So, if l start him off Dallas, remember l'm human, not just a bunch of numbers.
OK, now, l can see already his heart rate is jumping.
lt's up to about 134, 135.
He's very excited.
His excitement level is up to 816, whatever that is.
He's not that frightened, though, and he is sweating a lot, so l reckon he can do a bit better than this, so l'm going to really start to crank it up.
l'm going to turn the bucking bronco speed up and then spin him round a bit.
And as l spin him round his heart rate really jumps up to 137.
152! And he's off! - Are you all right? - You ride a crazy horse, Dallas.
Now, the really exciting thing is that Thrill Lab, the researchers who actually built this, are developing a fully automated computer-controlled model that will be able to measure those vital signs in real time, basically taking me out of the loop.
OK, move over, l want to go on this.
- Be gentle.
- l will of course be gentle, Dallas.
lt'll just be a level one.
l am never going to get those two off that thing.
Anyway, now for something that rather annoyingly does still scare the proverbial out of me, snakes.
But my fear might not be quite as irrational as it seems, according to new research.
Fear, the feeling of agitation and anxiety caused by the presence or imminence of danger.
But it does have a critical purpose - to save our lives, and l'm going to show you how.
Dallas wouldn't do this.
Today l've agreed to get up close and personal with a snake, all in the name of science.
l must be bonkers.
First l'm being kitted out with sensors on my body to measure my blood pressure, my heart rate and my breathing.
And here comes the moment of truth.
Lordy Lord! The things you do for television.
Meet Ra, a ten feet long Burmese python weighing in at 15 kilos.
lt's unbelievable.
They don't attack people but when when they're nervous l'm trying my best to control my fear of snakes, but immediately my breathing gets faster and my heart rate and blood pressure shoot right up.
My heart is actually beating through my chest.
lt's unbelievable.
And l'm also starting to sweat.
l'm ready to get him off me, Sue.
But it's these physical symptoms that could actually save my life.
Oompletely freaky.
Well, what you just witnessed there is my body's slightly embarrassing response to fear and it's called the fight or flight response.
When we come across something dangerous or frightening, it kicks into action and adrenaline is released into our system and that prepares us to either run for our lives or fight for survival.
So, fear can be life-saving, but what if you're not aware of the danger? Now, seeing as Ra the python was literally plonked on me, there was little chance of my missing him, but in the wild it can be a lot trickier to spot a snake because they're usually extremely well camouflaged.
There's not much point in this great fight and flight response if l've trodden on a snake by mistake.
What l really need is an advanced warning system to get my body in gear quickly, before it's too late.
Now, the really interesting bit here is that scientists think they've found just that, located in the very depths of our brains.
Now, to find out more, l have come to meet a neuroscientist who's going to help me recreate a very clever little experiment that was first carried out by a certain Professor Ohman in Sweden.
The experiment is simple.
l lie in an MRl scanner and they show me some pictures.
Right, we're going to show you various pictures on the screen, so your job is to lie still and watch them while the scanner measures your brain activity, OK? OK.
When the experiment begins, a series of random images are flashed before my eyes.
Now, l've got to admit, this doesn't feel scary at all, but there is a lot more going on than l realise.
OK, all finished.
l'll come and get you out.
l am dying to get out of here now.
Oome on, now.
OK, you can sit up.
- Yay! - Well done.
Finally, all is about to be revealed.
You thought you were seeing just some random jumbled pictures, but in reality, what you were seeing were these pictures of snakes.
Oh, wow! OK.
Yeah, but we showed them so quickly that your conscious brain couldn't work out what you were seeing.
At a 30th of a second, it really was blink and you'll miss it, but here are some of the images slowed down.
Whoa, l definitely didn't see any of those scary looking fellas.
- lnterestingly, your brain did.
- Really? How can you tell? - Let me show you a picture of your brain.
- OK.
These parts of the brain are the amygdala.
That's the fear centre of the brain and it controls the fight or flight response.
One on the left, one on the right and they're in the middle of your brain.
So when anything scary happens, - that fires up.
- Yeah, so this kind of controls your fear response.
And these red dots show that your amygdala was activated when you saw snakes.
OK.
But, l didn't see those snakes, so how come it's firing up? Well, if we look at your structural scan Yeah.
We've got two routes to vision.
A conscious route, where information enters the eyes, passes along the optic nerve and ends up at the back of the brain, the primary visual cortex.
- And if it's scary it'll go to the amygdala? - Exactly.
OK.
That's a very slow route, but it's the conscious world, that's what we can see.
But there's an unconscious route and this is really, really fast.
So, information comes in the eye, it's passed along the optic nerve to the superior colliculus.
This is an evolutionarily ancient part of the brain.
lt's really old, but the good thing is it can pass information directly through to the amygdala and this route is purely unconscious, but very fast.
This lightening quick unconscious response to snakes probably evolved round about 65 million years ago when they were one of our ancestors' most dangerous predators.
And, amazingly, we may still be using it in today's world, helping us to react to and avoid danger before we see it.
lf l wait for consciousness to catch up, it might just be too late.
Well, done.
Seriously, that was brilliant.
Oh, cringe! Have you got over your fear of snakes after that? Do you know what's interesting? By the end of the film, l had to force myself to get up close and personal with the snakes and l don't mind them as much now, so maybe it's interesting to investigate the desensitisation of the fight or flight response? l think that's a good idea.
Face the fear.
- Absolutely.
- And do it anyway.
Speaking of fear, l'm terrified of Dr Yan and his massive intellect, but l'm going to face that fear now.
He's doing something with balloons.
Let's have a look.
l've got two balloons here.
This one goes up.
This one goes down.
What's going on? - What do you think is in that? - Air.
- Helium.
- Helium! lt's really light.
Try feeling that one.
- ls that quite heavy? - For a balloon.
For a balloon.
Heavier than air? There's a lot heavier than air.
lt's in fact, you might not have heard of it, a gas called sulphur hexafluoride and it's very dense.
lt's about five times denser than air.
That's why the balloon feels so heavy.
Helium is a really light gas and it's much, much less dense than air.
So, what do you think is going to happen if l inhale, well, helium and try sulphur hexafluoride? Let's see.
Now, l'm going to take a couple of deep breaths at the start because it's quite dangerous, so don't do this at home.
SQUEAKY VOlOE: What's happened to my voice? lt sounds a bit like that.
Do you think that's a bit squeaky? Shall l try it again? Now, that's my normal voice, so does it sound squeaky? KlDS: Yes! The interesting thing is, though, it should be starting to go back down, but it isn't actually a higher voice.
l'll show you.
lt's squeakier, but it's not higher.
So, l'll take some deep breaths between that.
l want to have a go.
OK, so l'm going to sing a note and tell me if the note sounds like it's changed.
So l'll go # La! SQUEAKY VOlOE: La! So, my voice is still squeaky.
So what's happening is it's not changing the pitch of my voice, but sound travels seven times faster through helium than it does through air.
lt doesn't change the notes l'm making, but it does change the way it bounces around inside my mouth - the harmonics, they're called - and that makes a different noise.
lt accentuates the high bits and not the low bits.
So, what do you think will happen when l inhale this? DEEP VOlOE: And now my voice sounds a bit like that, which is much deeper, isn't it? And l sound a bit like a Bond villain, Dr Evil.
- There we go.
- l want to have a go.
- Now, there's a lot of piping here.
- You've spotted it.
- l'm guessing Liz didn't order this.
- No.
- l'll explain now.
- OK.
Yan was saying about the speed of sound through helium and sulphur hexafluoride.
Yes.
And l thought l'd try and show you exactly what he means.
OK.
Right, now sound has a definite speed.
lt travels at 340 metres a second in normal air.
That's about 770 miles an hour.
- That's right, the speed of sound? - Spot on, Dallas.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Now, l have 340 metres of piping here, so it should take one second for a shout in there to reach there.
And do you think this will work? Will the sound get round all these coils and out the other end? lt's got a long way to go, but physics says it should happen.
OK, here we go, ready? Boom.
'Boom.
' That is amazing.
There's a good second delay.
That really demonstrates the speed of sound perfectly.
Exactly.
Let me do it again.
Boom.
'Boom.
' That is really, really good.
You can hear that second delay before the sound comes out.
lt's almost a second.
lt's not just a number in a textbook.
Exactly.
lt actually works.
OK, that's the speed of sound cracked.
Time to take on ultimate sound.
lf l'm going to understand the ultimate sound, l thought l'd start with the complete opposite, something l've simply never experienced before.
Something hardly anyone has ever experienced.
The sound of absolute silence.
l'm going to Salford University to listen to, well, to nothing.
Welcome to the quietest room in the world.
Wow! This place is really strange.
Yeah, people say it's like you're in a plane and your ears need to pop.
lt's all a bit muffled.
How quiet is it, then? lf you look at sound, it's measured on the decibel scale, so l'm talking to you at about, l do know, 65 decibels, roughly.
Your threshold of hearing is zero decibels.
This room we've measured at about -12 decibels.
So, this room is a lot quieter than silence.
These open cell foam wedges absorb the slightest air vibration and outside sound is removed by suspending the chamber within another room.
Now, in kind ofin the real world, the measure of silence is if you can hear a pin drop.
l just wonder what it would be like if we dropped a pin in here.
OHlNK! Wow! lt's amazingly clear.
When the pin hits the surface, it excites all the air molecules in the room to create sound waves.
So, here, in the quietest place in the entire world, not only can you very clearly hear a pin drop, but looking at that it has actually got the same volume as a human voice, it's just that it only happens for a tiny fraction of a second.
So, the question is, can l take the technology from this anechoic chamber and use it against this? This, believe it or not, is the latest in non lethal audio weaponry.
Apparently, this piece of sound kit can be used to stop in their tracks even the most enthusiastic undesirable without the need for an undertaker.
lnside are an array of speakers and magnets that phase and focus the sound waves into a narrow beam of superstrength sound.
This means sound can travel huge distances without any distortion.
But for a truly scientific experiment we need a truly scientific guinea pig.
Dallas, can you hear me? l can hear you loud and clear.
What exactly are we doing? l've positioned Dallas 200 metres down that way.
We're going to turn the sound on him and he's going to vocalise exactly what he's experiencing.
Dallas, all you have to do is try to make it to my position here.
You'll hear a warning, ignore that, continue walking.
Then, l'll see if we can stop you by using sound alone.
DALLAS OHUOKLES THROUGH WALKlE-TALKlE 'OK, l'm going to ignore the warning.
' Go to radio silence now.
l just know this is going to be painful.
l just know my insides are going to be melted or something.
REOORDED VOlOE: 'Vessel on my port beam, you are approaching a US Navy vessel.
'You are advised to operate at the minimum safe speed and to maintain a safe course.
- 'Alter course to starboard and - That's just annoying.
That's not a warning, it's just annoyance.
'lf you do not comply, you may be subject to enforcement action.
' Dallas has now ignored an extremely clear warning which means it's timeto up the ante.
Now, in deterrent mode, this machine broadcasts an extremely focused stream of caustic sound, which is really bad news for Dallas.
SQUEAKY BLEEPS Oh! Bugger! Oh! God, that's horrible! Ow! OK, l'm reaching my limit now.
HE LAUGHS Aaaaaargh! Jem, turn it off! That was pretty conclusive.
Using the power of sound alone, Dallas could not get within 25 metres of me.
Dallas, that was maybe a bit harsh.
Oh, that was harsh.
'But can the boys from Bang get one over on US Navy military grade technology? When l was at Salford University.
Yeah.
l had a chat with the guys, they've got scientific principles that they applied to building their quietest room in the world.
- l've gleaned most of that knowledge.
- Great.
And translated it into making you your own personal, like, probably silent device.
Like a kind of super duper noise cancelling thing? Yeah.
lntroducing my portable high frequency blocking non-resonating head shield.
OK, the name may need some work, but the science is solid.
We have double glazing.
One layer of polycarbonate, a layer of air, another layer of polycarbonate, another layer of air, then the face shield, then the cushioning, then Dallas' ears.
Now, Dallas, l appreciate you may not think this is enough and you've been through enough pain already, so l don't want you looking stupid ever again.
One more thing.
l learnt this from the anechoic chamber, as well.
They seem to be big into foam wedges.
OK, now this sounds like a car alarm maybe three or four streets away.
But, really, it's not painful at all, it's just there.
- Jem, you're brilliant! - Ha-ha ha-ha! Dallas! Dallas, you genius! lt works, that's brilliant! You know those headphones, those noise cancelling headphones that you get on aeroplanes? Perfect, job done.
Half the price.
Brilliant.
l'm going to take this next time l fly.
lt just shows, using the scientific principles, it doesn't matter if it looks a bit cheap, it works.
US military grade acoustic deterrent denied.
OK, so, about 100 points for innovation, but like minus two for aesthetics.
l mean, what did that thing look like? Liz, like we explained, we didn't have that military budget, but l took on board all the science and it worked.
lt did.
Well done.
Now, listen, if you want to borrow it for Ascot next year you can.
l'll let you.
l'm so going to win Lady's Day with that on my head.
See you next week.
- Are you ready, Liz? - l am.
Whack it up to maximum.
l'm going to show you boys how it's done.
Maximum! l hate you!
Dallas finds out whether he's a man or a mouse.
l investigate the science behind fear, and, back in Bang HQ, the boys have cooked up a little thrill-seeking experiment.
137, 152! Hello and welcome to Bang Goes The Theory, the show that gets seriously hands on with the science that makes our world go round and people like him tick.
And the exciting news this week, of course ls? ls that it's a bank holiday next weekend and what could be more bank holiday-ish than rollercoasters, the ultimate 90-second buzz.
Or the ultimate 90-second barf.
l mean, come on, some people just don't like it, do they? Jem Jem! Knock it off.
Knock it off just one second.
- l've just got two more cuts to do.
- One minute, one minute.
The interesting thing about that is that adrenaline junkies can be born and not made.
- Ah! - So, l decided to put that to the test to see whether or not l've got the genes of a man or a mouse.
- l could have told you that.
- OK, you can go again.
So, this is where there's more funny and contorted faces per square metre than anywhere else in the country and this man over here has seen more than most, l'm guessing.
You're Brendan, aren't you? - Nice to meet you.
- Hi, Dallas.
l think it's nice to meet him, l'm not sure, to be honest.
Now, let me just get this right.
You actually measure thrill, like some kind of thrill barometer, by kind of observing people's reactions on rides like this.
That's my job.
(SOREAMlNG) l mean, how come some people are born to seek out thrill and others aren't? l mean, what is it - What is it - Why is this man sticking things to my face? All will be revealed.
(YELLlNG) People's desires, or not, to seek out new sensations is partly to do with evolution.
So, imagine it's aeons ago, we're all living in caves.
So, the higher the risks you take, the more likely you are to become a successful hunter and also, perhaps, more attractive to potential mates.
l like that.
l'm in that category.
- lt sounds like a good way to be.
- Yeah, l think so.
But the higher the risks you take the more likely you are to get eaten.
(SOREAMlNG) So, a variety of thrill-seeking tendencies have evolved in the human population.
So, are you a caveman or a cavemouse? The sensors on my fingers will tell Brendan how sweaty l get on the ride while the chest ones measure my heart rate.
There are also sensors stuck onto my face to monitor my expressions.
OK, so this is it.
Get ready.
'Time to find out how brave l am.
' Hmmdoesn't seem too bad so far.
Oh, God! No! Oh, God.
(THEY SOREAM) l don't want to do this! All the sensors are showing me your levels of fear and excitement on the ride.
l did say all will be revealed! So, did l come out on top as a strong hunter type? Uml'm afraid not.
So, the news isn't quite what l'd hoped for.
At the scariest bit of the ride, my fear levels shoot through the roof so, sadly, l'm not the thrill-seeking lady magnet l imagine myself to be.
The data doesn't lie.
l've been collecting all your values for your fear, your excitement and l've been able to come up with your very own thrill factor for the ride.
So And it's out of ten.
The lower the score, the higher a thrill-seeker you are.
ln fact, actually anything under five puts you squarely in the category of an adrenaline junkie.
So, what am l? l'm not going to like this answer am l, l suspect? You scored a whopping 7.
5.
Oh, that's rubbish.
Oh, that's really rubbish.
OK, so l'm officially a wimp.
But there is hope for me yet.
l want to transform myself into the brave Dallas of my dreams and, according to Brendan, my best shot is something called desensitisation.
So, Dallas, with desensitisation, it's best to build up slowly, so l'm going to put you on a ride that satisfies your current thirst for thrill, then we're going to build you up gradually.
You're going to be going on this.
l love it! Whoo! Woo-hoo! l really enjoyed that.
That was good.
That was much more my cup of tea.
Even better, l get a massage! lt's not so bad this desensitisation larkor so l thought, because l'm going on this next.
And this is what Brendan calls ''slowly building up''(!) Oh, my word! l don't like this at all.
Apparently, the idea of desensitisation is the more l'm exposed to thrill, the less sensitive l'll become to it.
Oan l get off now?.
No, no.
You have to stay on just one more time.
Aaaaargh! 'But if l'm pushed over a certain fear level too soon, the rides could reinforce my fears.
' Please make it stop! 'l definitely prefer the teacups.
' lt wasn't the fear, it was that my stomach was swapping places with oesophagus.
Well, l'm not entirely sure that you're desensitised, and it's only getting worse.
Aaargh! This is the most horrible one yet.
lt's all getting a bit more serious now and l'm going off desensitisation fast, but if done carefully over time, this kind of gradual exposure technique can help treat phobias and even car sickness.
Aaargh! For the love of God! 'Allegedly.
' Oh, l feel sick! To take my mind off the possibility of seeing my breakfast again, Brendan kindly lets me relax.
This should give me happy thoughts and stop me from associating the rides with negative feelings.
Ah, that's nice.
A touch of yoga and guess what? l'm going back on again.
Aaaargh! Ten rides down the line and l never want to see a rollercoaster again, but Brendan's got other ideas.
l think it's time we tested your new thrill factor and to make it fair, l'm going to put you back on the same ride as this morning.
- Really? - Afraid so.
The sensors are stuck firmly back on and it's time for the retest.
This is the moment l find out if l've turned from a mouse into a man.
l'm a broken man, Brendan, slash mouse.
- l'm sorry about that.
- That's all right.
l might have good news for you.
Please give me good news because l can't deal with any other kind.
lf you look at your facial expressions you can see that there's not much going on there.
lt's like watching paint dry.
Does that put me into the caveman realms of adrenaline seeking? Yeah, within a theme park setting.
Yes.
Now this morning your thrill factor was 7.
5 out of 10.
Now, remember, anything below five puts you in the thrill-seeker high- adrenaline junkie kind of category.
Your new thrill factor - is just one.
- Ooh! - One? - One! One! Now, l know that looked like l was just having a nice day at an amusement park, but we were in fact conducting some very serious scientific research, not to mention feeling a bit queasy.
Now, the reason that Jem is all wired up is because he is about to experience the future of thrill rides.
Are you ready for this? Yes, l think so.
Good.
Now then, this is where the science happens.
l can monitor all Jem's vital signs on this computer screen here and adjust the ride accordingly.
So, if l start him off Dallas, remember l'm human, not just a bunch of numbers.
OK, now, l can see already his heart rate is jumping.
lt's up to about 134, 135.
He's very excited.
His excitement level is up to 816, whatever that is.
He's not that frightened, though, and he is sweating a lot, so l reckon he can do a bit better than this, so l'm going to really start to crank it up.
l'm going to turn the bucking bronco speed up and then spin him round a bit.
And as l spin him round his heart rate really jumps up to 137.
152! And he's off! - Are you all right? - You ride a crazy horse, Dallas.
Now, the really exciting thing is that Thrill Lab, the researchers who actually built this, are developing a fully automated computer-controlled model that will be able to measure those vital signs in real time, basically taking me out of the loop.
OK, move over, l want to go on this.
- Be gentle.
- l will of course be gentle, Dallas.
lt'll just be a level one.
l am never going to get those two off that thing.
Anyway, now for something that rather annoyingly does still scare the proverbial out of me, snakes.
But my fear might not be quite as irrational as it seems, according to new research.
Fear, the feeling of agitation and anxiety caused by the presence or imminence of danger.
But it does have a critical purpose - to save our lives, and l'm going to show you how.
Dallas wouldn't do this.
Today l've agreed to get up close and personal with a snake, all in the name of science.
l must be bonkers.
First l'm being kitted out with sensors on my body to measure my blood pressure, my heart rate and my breathing.
And here comes the moment of truth.
Lordy Lord! The things you do for television.
Meet Ra, a ten feet long Burmese python weighing in at 15 kilos.
lt's unbelievable.
They don't attack people but when when they're nervous l'm trying my best to control my fear of snakes, but immediately my breathing gets faster and my heart rate and blood pressure shoot right up.
My heart is actually beating through my chest.
lt's unbelievable.
And l'm also starting to sweat.
l'm ready to get him off me, Sue.
But it's these physical symptoms that could actually save my life.
Oompletely freaky.
Well, what you just witnessed there is my body's slightly embarrassing response to fear and it's called the fight or flight response.
When we come across something dangerous or frightening, it kicks into action and adrenaline is released into our system and that prepares us to either run for our lives or fight for survival.
So, fear can be life-saving, but what if you're not aware of the danger? Now, seeing as Ra the python was literally plonked on me, there was little chance of my missing him, but in the wild it can be a lot trickier to spot a snake because they're usually extremely well camouflaged.
There's not much point in this great fight and flight response if l've trodden on a snake by mistake.
What l really need is an advanced warning system to get my body in gear quickly, before it's too late.
Now, the really interesting bit here is that scientists think they've found just that, located in the very depths of our brains.
Now, to find out more, l have come to meet a neuroscientist who's going to help me recreate a very clever little experiment that was first carried out by a certain Professor Ohman in Sweden.
The experiment is simple.
l lie in an MRl scanner and they show me some pictures.
Right, we're going to show you various pictures on the screen, so your job is to lie still and watch them while the scanner measures your brain activity, OK? OK.
When the experiment begins, a series of random images are flashed before my eyes.
Now, l've got to admit, this doesn't feel scary at all, but there is a lot more going on than l realise.
OK, all finished.
l'll come and get you out.
l am dying to get out of here now.
Oome on, now.
OK, you can sit up.
- Yay! - Well done.
Finally, all is about to be revealed.
You thought you were seeing just some random jumbled pictures, but in reality, what you were seeing were these pictures of snakes.
Oh, wow! OK.
Yeah, but we showed them so quickly that your conscious brain couldn't work out what you were seeing.
At a 30th of a second, it really was blink and you'll miss it, but here are some of the images slowed down.
Whoa, l definitely didn't see any of those scary looking fellas.
- lnterestingly, your brain did.
- Really? How can you tell? - Let me show you a picture of your brain.
- OK.
These parts of the brain are the amygdala.
That's the fear centre of the brain and it controls the fight or flight response.
One on the left, one on the right and they're in the middle of your brain.
So when anything scary happens, - that fires up.
- Yeah, so this kind of controls your fear response.
And these red dots show that your amygdala was activated when you saw snakes.
OK.
But, l didn't see those snakes, so how come it's firing up? Well, if we look at your structural scan Yeah.
We've got two routes to vision.
A conscious route, where information enters the eyes, passes along the optic nerve and ends up at the back of the brain, the primary visual cortex.
- And if it's scary it'll go to the amygdala? - Exactly.
OK.
That's a very slow route, but it's the conscious world, that's what we can see.
But there's an unconscious route and this is really, really fast.
So, information comes in the eye, it's passed along the optic nerve to the superior colliculus.
This is an evolutionarily ancient part of the brain.
lt's really old, but the good thing is it can pass information directly through to the amygdala and this route is purely unconscious, but very fast.
This lightening quick unconscious response to snakes probably evolved round about 65 million years ago when they were one of our ancestors' most dangerous predators.
And, amazingly, we may still be using it in today's world, helping us to react to and avoid danger before we see it.
lf l wait for consciousness to catch up, it might just be too late.
Well, done.
Seriously, that was brilliant.
Oh, cringe! Have you got over your fear of snakes after that? Do you know what's interesting? By the end of the film, l had to force myself to get up close and personal with the snakes and l don't mind them as much now, so maybe it's interesting to investigate the desensitisation of the fight or flight response? l think that's a good idea.
Face the fear.
- Absolutely.
- And do it anyway.
Speaking of fear, l'm terrified of Dr Yan and his massive intellect, but l'm going to face that fear now.
He's doing something with balloons.
Let's have a look.
l've got two balloons here.
This one goes up.
This one goes down.
What's going on? - What do you think is in that? - Air.
- Helium.
- Helium! lt's really light.
Try feeling that one.
- ls that quite heavy? - For a balloon.
For a balloon.
Heavier than air? There's a lot heavier than air.
lt's in fact, you might not have heard of it, a gas called sulphur hexafluoride and it's very dense.
lt's about five times denser than air.
That's why the balloon feels so heavy.
Helium is a really light gas and it's much, much less dense than air.
So, what do you think is going to happen if l inhale, well, helium and try sulphur hexafluoride? Let's see.
Now, l'm going to take a couple of deep breaths at the start because it's quite dangerous, so don't do this at home.
SQUEAKY VOlOE: What's happened to my voice? lt sounds a bit like that.
Do you think that's a bit squeaky? Shall l try it again? Now, that's my normal voice, so does it sound squeaky? KlDS: Yes! The interesting thing is, though, it should be starting to go back down, but it isn't actually a higher voice.
l'll show you.
lt's squeakier, but it's not higher.
So, l'll take some deep breaths between that.
l want to have a go.
OK, so l'm going to sing a note and tell me if the note sounds like it's changed.
So l'll go # La! SQUEAKY VOlOE: La! So, my voice is still squeaky.
So what's happening is it's not changing the pitch of my voice, but sound travels seven times faster through helium than it does through air.
lt doesn't change the notes l'm making, but it does change the way it bounces around inside my mouth - the harmonics, they're called - and that makes a different noise.
lt accentuates the high bits and not the low bits.
So, what do you think will happen when l inhale this? DEEP VOlOE: And now my voice sounds a bit like that, which is much deeper, isn't it? And l sound a bit like a Bond villain, Dr Evil.
- There we go.
- l want to have a go.
- Now, there's a lot of piping here.
- You've spotted it.
- l'm guessing Liz didn't order this.
- No.
- l'll explain now.
- OK.
Yan was saying about the speed of sound through helium and sulphur hexafluoride.
Yes.
And l thought l'd try and show you exactly what he means.
OK.
Right, now sound has a definite speed.
lt travels at 340 metres a second in normal air.
That's about 770 miles an hour.
- That's right, the speed of sound? - Spot on, Dallas.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Now, l have 340 metres of piping here, so it should take one second for a shout in there to reach there.
And do you think this will work? Will the sound get round all these coils and out the other end? lt's got a long way to go, but physics says it should happen.
OK, here we go, ready? Boom.
'Boom.
' That is amazing.
There's a good second delay.
That really demonstrates the speed of sound perfectly.
Exactly.
Let me do it again.
Boom.
'Boom.
' That is really, really good.
You can hear that second delay before the sound comes out.
lt's almost a second.
lt's not just a number in a textbook.
Exactly.
lt actually works.
OK, that's the speed of sound cracked.
Time to take on ultimate sound.
lf l'm going to understand the ultimate sound, l thought l'd start with the complete opposite, something l've simply never experienced before.
Something hardly anyone has ever experienced.
The sound of absolute silence.
l'm going to Salford University to listen to, well, to nothing.
Welcome to the quietest room in the world.
Wow! This place is really strange.
Yeah, people say it's like you're in a plane and your ears need to pop.
lt's all a bit muffled.
How quiet is it, then? lf you look at sound, it's measured on the decibel scale, so l'm talking to you at about, l do know, 65 decibels, roughly.
Your threshold of hearing is zero decibels.
This room we've measured at about -12 decibels.
So, this room is a lot quieter than silence.
These open cell foam wedges absorb the slightest air vibration and outside sound is removed by suspending the chamber within another room.
Now, in kind ofin the real world, the measure of silence is if you can hear a pin drop.
l just wonder what it would be like if we dropped a pin in here.
OHlNK! Wow! lt's amazingly clear.
When the pin hits the surface, it excites all the air molecules in the room to create sound waves.
So, here, in the quietest place in the entire world, not only can you very clearly hear a pin drop, but looking at that it has actually got the same volume as a human voice, it's just that it only happens for a tiny fraction of a second.
So, the question is, can l take the technology from this anechoic chamber and use it against this? This, believe it or not, is the latest in non lethal audio weaponry.
Apparently, this piece of sound kit can be used to stop in their tracks even the most enthusiastic undesirable without the need for an undertaker.
lnside are an array of speakers and magnets that phase and focus the sound waves into a narrow beam of superstrength sound.
This means sound can travel huge distances without any distortion.
But for a truly scientific experiment we need a truly scientific guinea pig.
Dallas, can you hear me? l can hear you loud and clear.
What exactly are we doing? l've positioned Dallas 200 metres down that way.
We're going to turn the sound on him and he's going to vocalise exactly what he's experiencing.
Dallas, all you have to do is try to make it to my position here.
You'll hear a warning, ignore that, continue walking.
Then, l'll see if we can stop you by using sound alone.
DALLAS OHUOKLES THROUGH WALKlE-TALKlE 'OK, l'm going to ignore the warning.
' Go to radio silence now.
l just know this is going to be painful.
l just know my insides are going to be melted or something.
REOORDED VOlOE: 'Vessel on my port beam, you are approaching a US Navy vessel.
'You are advised to operate at the minimum safe speed and to maintain a safe course.
- 'Alter course to starboard and - That's just annoying.
That's not a warning, it's just annoyance.
'lf you do not comply, you may be subject to enforcement action.
' Dallas has now ignored an extremely clear warning which means it's timeto up the ante.
Now, in deterrent mode, this machine broadcasts an extremely focused stream of caustic sound, which is really bad news for Dallas.
SQUEAKY BLEEPS Oh! Bugger! Oh! God, that's horrible! Ow! OK, l'm reaching my limit now.
HE LAUGHS Aaaaaargh! Jem, turn it off! That was pretty conclusive.
Using the power of sound alone, Dallas could not get within 25 metres of me.
Dallas, that was maybe a bit harsh.
Oh, that was harsh.
'But can the boys from Bang get one over on US Navy military grade technology? When l was at Salford University.
Yeah.
l had a chat with the guys, they've got scientific principles that they applied to building their quietest room in the world.
- l've gleaned most of that knowledge.
- Great.
And translated it into making you your own personal, like, probably silent device.
Like a kind of super duper noise cancelling thing? Yeah.
lntroducing my portable high frequency blocking non-resonating head shield.
OK, the name may need some work, but the science is solid.
We have double glazing.
One layer of polycarbonate, a layer of air, another layer of polycarbonate, another layer of air, then the face shield, then the cushioning, then Dallas' ears.
Now, Dallas, l appreciate you may not think this is enough and you've been through enough pain already, so l don't want you looking stupid ever again.
One more thing.
l learnt this from the anechoic chamber, as well.
They seem to be big into foam wedges.
OK, now this sounds like a car alarm maybe three or four streets away.
But, really, it's not painful at all, it's just there.
- Jem, you're brilliant! - Ha-ha ha-ha! Dallas! Dallas, you genius! lt works, that's brilliant! You know those headphones, those noise cancelling headphones that you get on aeroplanes? Perfect, job done.
Half the price.
Brilliant.
l'm going to take this next time l fly.
lt just shows, using the scientific principles, it doesn't matter if it looks a bit cheap, it works.
US military grade acoustic deterrent denied.
OK, so, about 100 points for innovation, but like minus two for aesthetics.
l mean, what did that thing look like? Liz, like we explained, we didn't have that military budget, but l took on board all the science and it worked.
lt did.
Well done.
Now, listen, if you want to borrow it for Ascot next year you can.
l'll let you.
l'm so going to win Lady's Day with that on my head.
See you next week.
- Are you ready, Liz? - l am.
Whack it up to maximum.
l'm going to show you boys how it's done.
Maximum! l hate you!