75. How did the Egyptians make pyramids & why did they wrap Mummies in bandages? Ft special guests Justin Pollard & Adam Rutherford. Who was the first Mummy in my family? Why can’t babies sweat?

Full Episode description

In this week’s show we answer four questions from Arthur, Scarlet, Coco and Beth with help from special guest expert Justin Pollard. 

Justin is a historian and writer. He writes questions for the TV show QI and is a historical consultant on TV shows such as Vikings and on films. He knows all about the Egyptians so he’s the perfect person to answer our first question about pyramids and mummies. 

Justin tells us about how the Egyptians thought your spirit would need your body in the afterlife and so carefully protected it with bandages, so that the owner spirit could bring it back to life in the next world and tells us all about pyramids and how they were really made. 

Adam Rutherford – who is an evolutionary biologist and a writer – has the answer to Beth’s question about who the first Mummy was in her family, he delves right back into the past to the beginning of humans and even further back than that to the beginning of life on earth! 

Molly answers the third question about why babies don’t sweat, we find out all about the two different types of sweat glands humans have and how we have to protect babies from getting too hot because they can’t sweat to cool themselves down. 

Finally we hear ALL your favourite ice cream flavours and announce a winner of Space Detectives! 

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Molly Oldfield studied History at Oxford before becoming a QI elf, writing and researching questions for the BBC quiz show for twelve years. She has written three books. They are The Secret Museum, a book about all the things that are in museums that rarely, if ever, go on display; Wonders of the World’s Museums filled with things you can see, and Natural Wonders of the World about all kinds of creatures and places on our beautiful planet we call home. 

This podcast will also be published as Everything Under the Sun – A Year of Curious Questions in September 2021 by Ladybird at Penguin Random House. 

Justin Pollard – https://www.unitedagents.co.uk/justin-pollard-0

Adam Rutherford – https://www.adamrutherford.com

With thanks to Ash Gardner, Audio Networks, Tyler Simmons Dale. 

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