Unexpected Elements Episodes Episode guide
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Meetings with intelligent worms
From worm blobs to mangoes - there’s more to meetings than you thought.
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All about cricket(s)
The science of spitting on cricket balls, particle accelerators and insect sounds
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Why we need to talk toilets
Nov 19 is UN World Toilet Day. Can the world sanitation crisis be tackled?
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Working 70 hours a week
If you work twice as long, do you get twice as much done?
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Scary science
Is fear good for you? In the week where many celebrated Halloween, we look at the science
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Fashion to dye for
As Lagos Fashion Week begins, we follow the trends into science
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Putting Madonna to the test
Do Madonna's lyrics stand up to scientific scrutiny?
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How bedbugs took over the world
Why is bedbugs' unconventional mode of reproduction so successful?
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Complete shutdown
How would it feel wake up several years later?
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How inflation affects the entire cosmos
The science behind news about inflation leads us to the first moments of the universe.
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Can technology read our mind?
The UN General Assembly has us examining how our brains process language
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Forgetful fish, telescopic worms and bad air days
As oceans take the heat for global warming, fish find it harder to learn their way.
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Zombies, cows and coups
The wasp that turns cockroaches into zombies and the science hiding behind coups
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Protecting the Moon
India's lunar landing has us looking at unexpected science around the moon
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The man who couldn’t lie
Why do we believe in conspiracy theories, and what’s going on in our brains when we lie?
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Corrupted thinking and cancerous co-option
Can scientific thinking detect political and corporate corruption?
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Some of our universe is missing
Could science help trace Yevgeny Prigozhin, and the missing gas in the cosmos?
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The World Cup and hallucinogenic bananas
The unexpected science of the World Cup and are banana skins hallucinogenic?
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Password1234#Invisibility&Moonshot
Why do teenagers share passwords so often?
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Barbie in Space
How Barbie is helping humans return to the moon, and is the colour pink actually real?
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Nato and the left-handed universe
Nato’s summit has us considering decision-making and the balance of the universe
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Unexpected elements on the sea bed
The team discover mysterious potato shaped nodules and hydroelectric power in your garden
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Predictions from the sky and murderous fish
Celebrations of Eid send us on a science-filled odyssey to the stars.
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Hayfever, paleobotany and snot palaces
Why does pollen make us sick, what it tells us about the past; and a look at snot palaces
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Wildfires and wild animals
Smog in North America leads us to conservationists using air pollution to track animals.
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Collapsing pensions and civilisations
French pension protests lead us to the lifespans of people, naked mole rats and societies
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Migrate ideas
The science behind migration, a wall of wind and the real life human labour supporting AI
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Signals, seaweed and space
The anniversary of the telegraph sparks an unexpected conversation about bioelectricity.
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Co-operation and cohesion
Social cohesion, cellular cohesion and glue. Science stories inspired by election news
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Coronation exploration
Why are rituals so important to humans - and why do they often involve precious objects?
