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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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
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Surprises from a Martian Lake Bed
Sat 27 Aug 2022
The latest analysis of Nasa’s perseverance discoveries confounds scientists’ expectations
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Icelandic volcano erupts again
Sat 13 Aug 2022
Science in the heat of Iceland's new volcanic eruption
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Synthetic mouse embryos with brains and hearts
Sat 6 Aug 2022
Researchers make synthetic mouse embryos with brains and beating hearts from stem cells
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The first galaxies at the universe's dawn
Sat 30 Jul 2022
James Webb Space Telescope expands our view of the universe ever deeper back in time
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Heat waves in the Northern Hemisphere
Sat 23 Jul 2022
Heat waves in the Northern Hemisphere - how and why more frequent and more extreme?
