Unexpected Elements Podcast
The news you know, the science you don’t. Unexpected Elements looks beyond everyday narratives to discover a goldmine of scientific stories and connections from around the globe. From Afronauts, to why we argue, to a deep dive on animal lifespans: see the world in a new way.
Episodes to download
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Animals at the Wuhan Market
Sat 25 Mar 2023
What does animal DNA from the Wuhan Market reveal about the start of the pandemic?
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Return of Cyclone Freddy
Sat 18 Mar 2023
Record-breaking Cyclone Freddy devastates Mozambique for the second time in one month.
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Human genome editing: Promise and Peril
Sat 11 Mar 2023
What are the benefits and limitations of gene editing?
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Drought worsens in East Africa
Sat 4 Mar 2023
Why the long rains in East Africa are forecast to fail again.
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Cyclone Freddy batters Madagascar
Sat 25 Feb 2023
Cyclone Freddy batters Madagascar and threatens Mozambique and South Africa.
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CRISPR & bioethics
Sat 18 Feb 2023
He Jiankui refuses to talk about his controversial genome editing of twin babies in 2018.
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Science on ice
Sat 4 Feb 2023
The different forms of frozen water from ice made in labs to Jupiter’s icy moons
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Bird flu (H5N1) outbreak in mink
Sat 28 Jan 2023
A review of the first mammal to mammal transmission of avian flu, observed in Spain
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One year on from the Tonga eruption
Sat 7 Jan 2023
We take a look at everything we’ve learnt since the Tonga volcano erupted a year ago.
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The James Webb Space Telescope - the first 6 months
Sat 31 Dec 2022
NASA's James Webb Telescope: science in the images
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Online harassment of Covid scientists
Sat 19 Nov 2022
Virologists studying Covid-19 have been subject to online threats.
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Neurons that restore walking in paralysed patients
Sat 12 Nov 2022
Neurons that restore walking in patients with spinal cord injuries have been identified.
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What peat can tell us about our future
Sat 5 Nov 2022
Peat can offer us early alarm bells to climate change tipping points.
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Seismic events on Mars
Sun 30 Oct 2022
New data from Nasa reveals information on Mars’ origin and evolution.
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The most powerful explosion ever recorded
Sat 22 Oct 2022
A celestial explosion has produced the brightest beam of light ever observed
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Inserting human neurons into the brains of rats
Sat 15 Oct 2022
Fusing the brain of a human with a rat could offer insight into neurological disorders
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Nobel Prize 2022: The science behind the winners
Sat 8 Oct 2022
We meet the winners behind this week’s Nobel Prize announcements
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The final moments of DART
Sat 1 Oct 2022
Reflections on NASA’s latest mission as it hits an asteroid 11 million km from earth
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Should we mine the deep sea?
Sat 24 Sep 2022
A new license for deep sea mining could change the way we harvest rare earth minerals.
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Science and the causes behind Pakistan’s floods
Sat 17 Sep 2022
A new report demonstrates the impact of global warming on flooding in Pakistan.
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The genetics of human intelligence
Sat 10 Sep 2022
A single gene mutation may have propelled a major leap in human brain development
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The China Heatwave and the New Normal
Sat 3 Sep 2022
The record-breaking heatwave in China and its connection to extreme weather elsewhere