Unexpected Elements

BBC World Service

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.

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31 episodes
weekly
Avg 49 min
English

Episodes 31

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May 29 · 49 min
Celebrating science on Africa Day
From continental shifts to sky mountain, we explore the science across Africa
May 22 · 49 min
Unexpected enhancements
From cocaine salmon to peptides we look at performance enhancement
May 15 · 49 min
Hantavirus outbreak and what’s in a name
An outbreak of hantavirus has us looking at the unexpected science around the disease.
May 8 · 49 min
One hundred years of Sir David Attenborough
Sir David turns 100, but what’s the science behind achieving this significant birthday?
May 1 · 49 min
The soaring price of condoms
The strait of Hormuz blockade raises condom costs, and we explore the science of safe sex
April 24 · 49 min
Chernobyl: 40 years later
Forty years after the Chernobyl disaster, we look at radiation science.
April 17 · 49 min
The ribbiting science of frogs
A visa being revoked over frog embryos has us diving into all things amphibian
April 10 · 49 min
Is everyone accounted for?
India undertaking the world’s largest ever census has us exploring population science.
April 3 · 49 min
Putting science on the map
China’s undersea mapping project has us scanning the deep for map-tastic science.
March 27 · 49 min
A bumper edition
Colliding Japanese pedestrians has us exploring some bumpy science.
March 20 · 56 min
In the name of science
Katy Perry vs Katie Perry, a trademark war has us exploring the science of names

Showing 21–31 of 31 episodes