Exeter scientist helps expose the secret life of snails

The research found some startling results about the life of snails — with the study showing helix aspersa, commonly found in UK gardens, can find their way back to their favourite spot from about 30 metres if moved.

Judges at the British Science Festival this week picked the project as the outright winner of the competition run by BBC Radio 4’s Material World programme.
 
Dr Hodgson said some of the results from the snail research were startling.

He said: “I am amazed… I thought there was no way that these creatures would show a homing instinct in the way that homing pigeons do for example. And yet they do.

“This opens up some interesting new research opportunities that I’d like to follow up. They either have some clever mechanism that helps them get home or it's entirely possible that snails are just moving around the landscape and when they stumble across a place they come from they just stop.”

It’s hoped the research will help gardeners control snails, which can wreak havoc on plants and vegetables.

Many gardeners opt for the humane solution of moving snails away from their prized plants, but it’s now clear they have to be moved a long way before the technique works.
 
Ms Brooks said: “I would say on the evidence that it would be safe to take your snails away beyond 100m or further and put them somewhere nice with some food and you can be almost certain that they won't come back.”

The research on snails began after Ms Brooks suggested the study as part of the ‘So You Want To Be A Scientist’ feature on BBC Radio 4’s Material World programme.
 
Her question was one of four picked to become a full-blown science research project from more than a thousand entries. Dr Hodgson from the University of Exeter was drafted in to be her mentor through the evidence gathering process.

Their studies included asking the public to conduct their own research through the great snail swap, with people all over the country taking part.

The four finalists in the BBC competition then presented their evidence at the British Science Festival this week, and Ms Brooks project was picked by judges as the winner — making her this year’s BBC Amateur Scientist of the Year.

Dr Hodgson added: “This has been a great exercise in citizen science. Not only was I able to train an amateur scientist in the tasks of hypothesis testing, data collection and analysis, we also revealed an extraordinary truth about snail behaviour, and engaged children and grown-ups all over the world.

“The story got coverage on BBC Spotlight, BBC National News, ABC Radio Adelaide, and CBC Radio Canada, as well as over the rest of the world. Ruth is over the moon and so am I.”