The Why Factor

Why don’t we understand how the female orgasm works? After years of scientific research, the male body is understood but when it comes to how women work, we are a long way behind. Why is there this gap in knowledge? It appears research has been hindered by the assumption that the female body works in the same way as the male body and that for women, arousal is all in the mind. There’s also a general attitude that studying sexual pleasure isn’t important and that female orgasms aren’t important to study as they serve no purpose for reproduction.Researchers are slowly correcting these assumptions and making surprising discoveries.We’ll take you behind the scenes to two orgasm labs to bring you the latest research on how orgasms work for women. We’ll also hear from Callista, who struggled with excruciating pain during sex for many years but was told the problem was all in her mind. Her journey to diagnosis shows how little is known, even amongst gynaecologists and doctors, about female sexual pleasure. Presenter: Aasmah Mir Producer: Phoebe Keane(Image: Woman's hand grasping a bed sheet. Credit: Shutterstock)

When we are surrounded by people why do we tend to shun them? Why do we refuse to make eye contact or say hello? And, why do tempers flare on busy city streets?More and more of the world’s population are moving to cities. As they swell in size our behaviour changes and not always for the better. It is a familiar scene, a busy metro carriage with people pushing and shoving but never saying hello or even making eye contact. Why do cities make us act this way? To find out we speak to social psychologist Dr Elle Boag about what is happening inside our heads. We ask Marten Sims of the organisation Happy City Lab if buildings can make us rude. We perform the Lost Tourist test to find out just how rude London is. Olivier Giraud tells us why Parisians never give up their seat to pregnant women on the metro. And, Manhattan manners expert, Thomas Farley defends the city and explains the reason we often have to act the way we do.(Photo: Man and woman arguing on street. Credit: Shutterstock)

Mike Williams asks why so many people are obsessed with discovering their family origins and also learns new things about his own ancestors along the way. Genealogy is a growing phenomenon driven by the digitisation of old paper records, websites offering to DNA test your saliva for $100 and TV shows like Who Do You Think You Are, which explore celebrities family histories.But what does spending hours, weeks and – in some cases – years trying to discover names or dates that might reveal the identity of someone related to us hundreds of years ago say about us? And, what are we really looking for?Mike talks to Else Churchill at the Society of Genealogists in London, Nathan Lents, professor of molecular biology at John Jay College in New York and Catherine Nash, professor of Human Geography at Queen Mary University of London.(Photo: Paper cut of family symbol under tree on old book. Credit: jannoon028/Shutterstock)

Imagine your home is so filled with stuff that moving around it is almost impossible. Every bit of space is piled high with books, pictures, DVDs and newspapers so you can’t even get into some rooms – not even the bathroom or kitchen. There’s nowhere to sit and no room for visitors. That’s what life is like for those with a hoarding disorder and their close family and friends. It’s a recognised mental illness, an uncontrollable desire to acquire and keep an excessive number of objects and it’s thought to affect between 2-6% of the UK and US population. So why do some people hoard? And why is it so difficult for them to get rid of some of the many thousands of items that clutter their home? Mike Williams meets Stephen whose apartment is so swamped with possessions that his young children can’t stay. He hears how the extreme hoarding habits of one American father led his teenage daughter to make a suicide bid. And, on a positive note, there are lessons for compulsive hoarders on how to resist the urge to acquire more things.Contributors: Bill Barry and Stephen, Tenants, Liverpool Housing Trust Randy Frost, Professor of Psychology at Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts Heather Mattuozzo, Founder, Clouds End Fabio Gygi, Anthropology lecturer at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London University Kimberly Rae Miller, author, ‘Coming Clean’, a memoirPresenter: Mike Williams Producer: Sally Abrahams(Photo: Lots of clutter in a front room. Credit: BBC Copyright - taken in contributor's house by presenter with contributor's permission)

Are you sexist, racist or ageist? Even if you think you are open-minded, the chances are, you will be judging people and situations without even realising. These hidden biases – which are different from conscious prejudice – lurk within our minds.Science clearly shows that almost all of us have at least one of these tendencies - an implicit preference for one race over another, for men over women, for young over old or vice versa. Our unconscious biases are influenced by our background, our personal experiences and the culture in which we live. And, they can affect the way we behave, the decisions we make - whether it is who we hire, who we promote or even – in the case of jurors – who we believe is guilty or not guilty. Mike Williams learns about an online assessment test that measures unconscious bias, explores the extent to which we can we limit these hidden biases, once we are aware of them. And, hears how one orchestra, in particular, has a solution to the problem – by asking prospective players to remove their shoes. Contributors: Mahzarin Banaji, Professor of Psychology, Havard University; Dr Pete Jones, Psychologist; Nick Logie, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment; Yassmin Abdel-Magied, mechanical engineer and founder, Mumtaza speakers bureau; Kayo Anosike, Music Director/Kayla Benjamin, Training Consultant; Margenett Moore-Roberts, Yahoo’s Global Head, Inclusive Diversity; Patrick Brayer, criminal defence attorney, St Louis, Missouri.(Photo: Man holding a baby whilst ironing and woman fixing car. Credit: Volkovslava & Wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock)

Can you believe your own eyes? Can you trust your own memory? Why is it that so many social scientists and so many in the police and the judiciary are so very concerned about eye-witness testimony. Mike Williams talks to an attorney at the Innocence Project in New York, a retired judge, a professor of psychology and a memory expert in an attempt to find out why we try – and often fail – to accurately recall a face or an event.(Photo: Black and White image of four men in a suspect line up. Credit: Shutterstock)

It has become quite a common thing but when you think of it, it is remarkable that we can take a part of one human (dead or alive) and insert it into another to cure them. Last year across the planet, an estimated 119,000 people received transplants but many more are still waiting. In the United States alone more than 120,000 are on the waiting list for an organ transplant. For many people, that life-saving operation will have to wait until someone else dies.Mike Williams talks to a surgeon in the United States, a doctor in Israel whose direct action led to an improvement in donation rates, a daughter who gave a kidney to her father and a man who altruistically donated a kidney 20 years after a family tragedy.(Photo: Man and daughter smilling. Credit: Nicholas Evans)

Why do we write farewell letters? Whether it is messages from the living to the dying or from the dead to the living, how can we find the words to say goodbye? A letter from a daughter to her dying father, a last letter from a soldier on the eve of battle, messages of love from a dying mother to her young daughter and a suicide note from a father to his teenage son. Mike Williams explores the comfort and pain of goodbye letters.Contributors: Susan Geer, Last Goodbye Letters; Joe Williams, The Enemy Within; Brendan McDonnell, Herman’s Hands; Laura Colclough; Julie Stokes, Founder, Winston’s Wish; Anthony Richards, Imperial War Museum. (Photo: Woman and child walking along woodland path. Credit: Shutterstock)(Clip credit: The Mummy Diaries (2007), Ricochet/Channel 4 TV)

Why do we feel so many different and intense emotions when someone close to us dies? Whether it is yearning, sadness, anger or even shame, Mike Williams explores why each person’s grief is unique. The pain of losing a loved one initially seems so unbearable, yet most bereaved people do eventually find a way to adjust to their changed life. So what happens when we grieve and why does grief sometimes get complicated?Mike talks to Bill Burnett, who is learning to live without his wife, Betty. She died in 2010 after 43 years’ marriage, yet Bill still talks to her photo and asks her advice. And, we hear from Rhonda O’Neill who lost her husband in a plane crash and then her young son to kidney disease two years later. She describes feeling tormented by the belief she could have done something more to save her son’s life. We also hear from eminent UK psychiatrist Dr Colin Murray Parkes, who describes what happened to one of his patients who buried his grief, and from Dr Katherine Shear, professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University and director of the Center for Complicated Grief. (Photo: A woman hugging a man. Credit: Vibe Images/Shutterstock)

Is it ever right to take a life? Mike Williams explores the ethical dilemmas of assisting death. In a few countries, terminally-ill people — suffering pain and distress — are allowed to get help from friends, family and physicians to bring their lives to an end. In many countries, it’s a crime. Helping someone to kill themselves is illegal in the UK but there are attempts to get the law revised. The rules are most liberal in Belgium where, recently, a 17 year old boy became the first minor to be granted help with dying. And, in the United States, California has become the fifth state to approve what they’ve called “physician assisted death”.Presenter: Mike Williams Producer: Ben Carter & Kara Digby(IMAGE: Woman touching elderly man's hand. Credit: Arman Zhenikeyev/Shutterstock)