Unexpected Elements Podcast
The news you know, the science you don鈥檛. 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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Extreme heat death risk in Latin America
Sat 2 Jul 2022
New study reveals risk of death as temperatures rise in Latin American cities
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Monster microbe
Sat 25 Jun 2022
Gigantic bacterium discovered in the Caribbean. It鈥檚 the size and shape of an eyelash.
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Thirty years after the Earth Summit
Sat 18 Jun 2022
Thirty years on, we ask what has the Earth Summit in Rio achieved?
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Should we worry about the latest Omicron subvariants?
Sat 4 Jun 2022
Two recent subtypes of the Omicron virus are much better at evading our immune defences.
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Heat death by volcano and other stories
Sat 28 May 2022
New insights into Tonga鈥檚 cataclysmic volcanic eruption revealed
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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鈥檚 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鈥檚 vast Mekong Delta is set to sink beneath the sea by the end of the century
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The Indian subcontinent鈥檚 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 鈥榤agic mushroom鈥� 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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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 鈥� 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 鈥� mild or monster?
Christmas Day 2021
Cases of the latest coronavirus variant are mild, so far 鈥� but that鈥檚 not the whole story
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Omicron鈥檚 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
