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Sunflowers’ huge heads can weigh multiple kilograms, but the stalks holding them up are tall and skinny, and CrowdScience listener Frank’s curiosity was piqued by the gravity-defying sunflowers on his neighbour’s deck. He wants to know how on earth they stay up, not only when the weather is fine and still, but even more impressively, during strong winds. Could this feat of strength, flexibility and balance inspire the construction of tall buildings?

It's a question that takes presenter Anand Jagatia to a sunflower festival in England, to see how the sunflower’s long evolutionary lineage has honed its structure. And from tall flowers to tall buildings, we turn to structural engineers, asking how these concepts factor into the design of the world’s tallest skyscrapers. Do ideas drawn from sunflowers or other natural structures help buildings withstand wind, or even earthquakes?