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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Death in the rainforest
Sat 21 May 2022
Climate change may have doubled the death rate of rainforest trees over the last 50 years
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Portrait of the monster black hole at our galaxy’s heart
Sat 14 May 2022
Astronomers image the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way galaxy
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Mekong Delta will sink beneath the sea by 2100
Sat 7 May 2022
Vietnam’s vast Mekong Delta is set to sink beneath the sea by the end of the century
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The Indian subcontinent’s record-breaking heatwave
Sat 30 Apr 2022
The Indian subcontinent is roasting in a prolonged heatwave. Is climate change to blame?
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Climate techno-fix would worsen global malaria burden
Sat 23 Apr 2022
Climate techno-fix would worsen global malaria burden
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How ‘magic mushroom’ chemical treats depression
Sat 16 Apr 2022
Brain scanning study reveals how psilocybin can help people with severe depression
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Tsunami detective in Tonga
Sat 9 Apr 2022
What really happened in the cataclysmic eruption of the volcano Hunga Tonga in January?
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Radioactive Red Forest
Sat 2 Apr 2022
Are Russian troops in forests around Chernobyl receiving a dangerous dose of radiation?
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Why are Covid19 cases rising in Hong Kong?
Sun 13 Mar 2022
The territory is experiencing a rapid increase in infections and deaths
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Covid -19 origins
Sun 6 Mar 2022
New analysis shows where inside the Wuhan market the virus first showed itself.
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Reforming the 'China Initiative'
Sun 27 Feb 2022
US scheme accused of persecuting scientists is to be refocused
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Bone repair from Covid-19 vaccine technology
Sun 20 Feb 2022
Messenger RNA used in vaccines against Covid-19 has been used to encourage bone healing
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Identifying a more infectious HIV variant
Sun 6 Feb 2022
A new form of HIV has been uncovered in the Netherlands.
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Tonga eruption – how it happened
Sun 23 Jan 2022
Why a small volcanic eruption had a global impact
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Have we got it wrong on Omicron?
Sun 16 Jan 2022
It seems to be no more viable than the earlier delta variant
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CORBEVAX – A vaccine for the world?
Sat 8 Jan 2022
Could a cheap and conventional vaccine for Coivd19 end the pandemic?
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2021 the year of variants
New Year's Day 2022
The year began with Alpha and ends with Omicron, what have we learnt?
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Omicron – mild or monster?
Christmas Day 2021
Cases of the latest coronavirus variant are mild, so far – but that’s not the whole story
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Omicron’s rapid replication rate
Sun 19 Dec 2021
Omicron replicates seventy times faster than earlier variants.
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Can the weather trigger a volcano?
Sun 12 Dec 2021
The eruption of Semeru in Java was linked to heavy rain
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Omicron, racism and trust
Sun 5 Dec 2021
How the global political response to the new variant is hampering science in Africa
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Deliberately doomed dart
Sun 28 Nov 2021
The sacrificial space mission designed to protect the Earth from asteroid impact.
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The end for coal power?
Sat 20 Nov 2021
The fossil fuel is on target to be replaced with renewables in both India and China.
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Bambi got Covid
Sat 13 Nov 2021
Why the discovery of Covid 19 in white-tail deer has implications for climate policy
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Jet fuel from thin air
Sat 6 Nov 2021
A solar powered solution to emissions creates aviation fuel by extracting gases from air
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Can we still avoid climate catastrophe?
Sat 30 Oct 2021
The UNEP Emissions Gap Report reveals we need to do more to reach our climate goals.
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Red blood cells’ surprising immune function
Sat 23 Oct 2021
New research reveals red blood cells form part of the body’s immune defence.