How does Bluetooth work?

How does Bluetooth work?

Author: BBC World Service June 19, 2026 Duration: 26:30

CrowdScience listener Rachel uses Bluetooth headphones on her cycle to work, seamlessly playing music from her phone without using wires. But how does this technology send information through the air?

To find out, Rachel and presenter Caroline Steel travel to Cambridge in the UK to meet telecommunications expert William Webb. He explains what Bluetooth signals actually are – and demonstrates why their properties are linked to the invention of leaky microwave ovens.

Caroline speaks to Jaap Haartsen, the inventor of Bluetooth, who reveals the hidden meaning of its logo, and what the name has to do with an ancient Viking king.

And she learns how a new flavour of “low energy” Bluetooth is having an unexpected application: helping ecologists like Damien Farine understand animal behaviour. Which leads her to an old tobacco barn in Switzerland, to meet researcher Bettina Almasi and her team – along with some very cute baby barn owls.

Presenter: Caroline Steel

Producer: Anand Jagatia

Editors: Ben Motley & Ilan Goodman

(Photo:Composite photo collage of hands hold phone device internet antenna connection technology bluetooth - stock photo- Credit: Deagreez via Getty Images)


Curiosity drives discovery, and CrowdScience from the BBC World Service is built entirely on that principle. Each episode begins not with a scripted lesson, but with a question sent in by a listener from anywhere in the world. These aren't simple queries with easy answers; they are the wonderfully complex, often quirky puzzles about everyday phenomena and cosmic mysteries that make us all stop and wonder. What does silence sound like? Could we ever photosynthesize like plants? How does a crowd's mood physically spread? The team then embarks on a genuine investigative journey, tracking down the specialists at the very edge of our understanding-neuroscientists, ecologists, physicists, and engineers-to piece together credible, compelling answers. Listening to this podcast feels like having a direct line to the labs and field sites where knowledge is being created. The conversations are deep yet accessible, transforming abstract concepts into relatable stories. It’s a collective exploration where listener curiosity sets the agenda, making each episode a unique and democratic look at the machinery of our world and beyond. You become part of a global community pondering life, Earth, and the universe, one thoughtful question at a time.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

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