Unexpected Elements

After 41 Indian miners were happily rescued last week, Unexpected Elements takes a look at how our futures might lie below the surface. As climate change suggests more of our infrastructures need to be buried safely, and even living spaces could be cooler down there, we discuss future technologies for digging tunnels more safely and cleanly. But tunnelling and boring could go back a long way - mor...

This week on the show that brings you the science behind the news, inspired by COP28, we’re talking about meetings. Honestly, it’s way more interesting than it sounds. Come to hear about blackworm blobs – a wormy meeting that only happens in stressful situations - and how scientists are taking inspiration from it to design robots. Stay for the stories from nature where species are missing crucial...

The cricket world cup has us looking at the science of spitting on cricket balls, particle accelerators, and insect sound engineers. Also on the program, how AI is breaking into e-commerce, why do we get in the middle of the night, and is a fat flightless parrot the world's greatest bird?

To mark UN World Toilet Day on 19 Nov, Alex Lathbridge discusses all things toilet related with Andrada Fiscutean and Tristan Ahtone, as they attempt to lift the lid on our collective taboo of discussing sanitary matters. In 2020, 3.6 billion people – nearly half the global population – lacked access to safely managed sanitation. Diseases such as cholera, typhoid, dysentery, and diarrhoea can spre...

This week on the show with the science behind the news, we’re looking at a story that has sparked a debate in India about a 70-hour work week. In an interview, the billionaire NR Narayana Murthy said that young people should be ready to work 70 hours a week to help the country's development, suggesting that unless productivity improved, India would not be able to compete with other countries. But...

In the week where many celebrated Halloween we are wondering about that tingle down your spine, the dryness in your mouth, the racing pulse - might it actually be good for you? We also look into a special frequency of sound, just below our human hearing range, that might cause rational people to start feeling spooky. And we explore Cryptids and the zoology of creatures that don’t really exist. Plu...

Lagos Fashion Week makes some unexpected connections to vegan wool, 1920s car marketing, and Right to Repair legislation. If we consider our obsession with the clothes we wear to be some result of sexual selection, do any other animals evolve their self-expression with such frequency? Dr Ellen Garland of St Andrew’s University tells how male humpback whales change their song with surprisingly infe...

According to the pop icon Madonna, music makes the people come together. But can we prove that using science? As Madonna embarks on her greatest hits world tour, the Unexpected Elements team on three continents take some of those hits and examine the science behind them. Like a Virgin take us on an excursion into parthenogenesis, and the Komodo Dragons that can reproduce without the inconvenience...

How did bedbugs become a global concern? We examine why their unconventional reproduction methods are so successful, how bedbugs and humans even crossed paths in the first place and what public health has to do with nation building. Also on the show, we look at why there's no human version of dog food, how conspiracy theories take hold, and the legal wranglings over an old Canadian oil pipeline.

How would it feel wake up years later? After the US narrowly avoided a government shutdown, we look at how complicated systems - such as living things - can just press pause. Could humans ever hibernate like bears and squirrels? Or even like simpler animals that can be revived after 46,000 years. Also, which way does antimatter fall under gravity? And how might IVF save a functionally extinct spec...

This week on the show that brings you the science behind the news, there are lots of stories about inflation in economies across the world. When inflation happens your money doesn’t go as far, so what does psychology say about how much money you really need to make you happy? We humans aren’t the only ones experiencing inflation either, trees are suffering from it too. We find out what happens whe...

How does our brain process language? We speak to an expert who is using technology to turn narrative thoughts into text. Also on the show, what is happening in our brains when we switch languages? And what are the positives and perils of technology and translation? Also on the show, we look at internet connectivity in incredibly remote areas, whether carbon capture is realistic, and we continue to...

In a week where global heat records have melted, we find out how that can make fish life-threateningly stupid. We also dive a little deeper to find the part of the ocean where a little heat proves life-enhancing. And we bring you boring science… no, not in that way. Find out what tree rings can tell us about ancient civilizations and past climates. Also, a new Japanese mission aims to park nice an...

Following recent coups in Niger and Gabon, and with seven African coups in the last three years, some political commentators are suggesting that there might be an epidemic of coups. But are coups really contagious, and what does the political science say? Caroline Steel and the Unexpected Elements team across three different continents go on a quest to find the science lurking behind the news. We...

India's successful moon landing has the Unexpected Elements team engaging in some serious lunacy. We look at where the moon even came from, how it helps us navigate, and whether it has a cultural and ecological heritage. Also on the show, is Dr. TikTok leading to a raft of self-diagnoses, should we be eating banana peels and worms, and we go back to the moon to see if it has any effect on our slee...

This week, we start off by digging into conspiracy theories. What’s behind their enduring allure? And have they always been around? Marnie and the panel investigate. Many conspiracy theories are based off of misinformation… but what’s actually going on in our brains when we lie? We look into the case of the man who was physically unable of spreading tall tales. Sometimes, the truth is there, but i...

The conversation this week starts off on corruption. There are allegations of political or corporate malfeasance in the news regularly throughout the world. But can science bring anything to the investigators? We look at some efforts to bring empirical rigour to the fight. But corruption of sorts is also a big thing in our online lives. Algorithms can deliver duff results, maybe because they are p...

This week on the show that looks for the science behind the news, Marnie Chesterton investigates mystery after mystery. Where is Yevegeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner Group, and could science help to trace him? Which animals would do best at a game of hide and seek? And we hear about the time when half the stuff in the universe went missing, and how cosmologists found it again. We continue...

The World Cup has us looking at why women get more ACL injuries, how to avoid cracking under pressure, and why some animals play dead. Also on the program we consider the pros and cons of Artificial Intelligence in Africa, whether the continent is turning to nuclear power, and if banana skins are hallucinogenic.

As Netflix cracks down on password sharing around the world - something it once encouraged - we wondered why people like to share passwords to other things, such as phones, email accounts and logins. Passwords and encryption exist as ways of protecting us from hostile agents in most aspects of life. But timing is everything. Nature has been doing it for years of course. But climate change is upset...

Unexpected Elements looks for the science behind the news, and this week the news is glittery and pink with the release of the Barbie movie. The movie has very pink aesthetic, so we get philosophical about the colour pink – does it actually exist and if so, how come it isn’t in the rainbow? We also discover how this iconic doll has performed some actual valuable science, helping cryogenic research...

As Nato meets, we look at what science says about consensus decision-making, whether the universe is left-handed, and what chemistry can tell us about our ancient past. Also, we examine windfarms potentially blocking reindeer herding, our quest for the coolest science in the world continues with Beth the bee queen, and Caroline contemplates the long road that got us to a malaria vaccine.

This week time is up for the UN to come up with rules about how to mine the ocean bed. We hear about the mysterious potato shaped objects on the sea floor that contain lots of valuable minerals that are essential for electronics like mobile phones. Our team on three different continents compare how recycling of precious metals is going in their parts of world, and we hear why early Lithium batteri...

Muslims around the world are celebrating Eid, but how to pick a date for your festivities? The Islamic calendar says look to the moon, but haven’t we always chosen to order life on earth by using the planets, moons and stars? We hear about the Mayans who tracked Venus and the astronomer who proved that comets weren’t bad omens. Having looked at the outsourcing of decisions to the sky, we wonder wh...

A look at some unexpected elements of congestion: Why does pollen make so many of us wheezy, and sneezy? What can it tell us about the distant past? Plus, we take a look at what we can learn from the construction and engineering behind aquatic snot palaces. Plus your enemy’s enemy can be your friend – hear about the tiny viruses that invade certain bacteria. Speaking of bacteria, we look at the la...