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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27 episodes
weekly
Avg 49 min
English

Episodes 27

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Counted on this page — what you have heard stays on this device, so it is not something the list can be paged by.

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 21–27 of 27 episodes

Unexpected Elements

Episodes 27

The soaring price of condoms

Chernobyl: 40 years later

The ribbiting science of frogs

Is everyone accounted for?

Putting science on the map

A bumper edition

In the name of science