Unexpected Elements

The Unexpected Elements team are science-maxxing, following the headline that “maxxing” has been named 2026’s word of the year by dictionary.com. Strap yourself in for tales of total commitment, including the longest running experiment, and the scientist who guarded it for 40 years but missed every single once-a decade magic moment. And we’ll be mini-maxing, with a tiny but mighty effort to build a molecule from the atom up.   We meet a neuroscientist and 8 times world memory champion who shares tricks of the trade, and how any of us can start memory-maxxing and building up a cognitive reserve. Plus, we’ll be tackling the newest reporting of a 3 Body problem, unpicking the advantages of being even-handed, and fibre-maxxing and protein-maxxing are so 2026 –  maybe it's time for moderation-maxxing. Presenter: Marnie Chesterton Producers: Dan Welsh with Ella Hubber, Robbie Wojciechowski, and Lucy Davies

This week, the Unexpected Elements team have been glued to a story about a $126 million fraud caused by fake US postage labels. That inspires a show filled with lies, cheats and deception. We meet the flower that catfishes its way to reproductive success by intimating a female fly and learn if humans are more or less honest when money is involved as part of an experiment that required 17,000 lost wallets.We meet Nicholas Eastaugh, the physicist turned art fraud investigator, who shares the tools of his trade and explains how science helped bust a notorious art forger and we hunt for the imposter in the world of science journalism, writing real articles for real money, albeit while trading off the reputations of established authors. Plus, we celebrate the retraction watch awards – CTLR Z gives recognition if you own your mistakes in science. Presenter: Marnie Chesterton Producers: Ella Hubber with Sophie Ormiston and Lucy Davies

A new bridge has just been opened between China and North Korea after a 12-year delay. And that got the Unexpected Elements team thinking about some bridge-related science. We start things off by finding out about the microscopic bridges connecting undersea bacteria. We then delve into bridge-editing, a next-generation gene-editing tool that could be better than CRISPR at altering DNA. Next up, mathematician Dr Kit Yates tells us about the Seven Bridges of Königsberg, a historic puzzle that launched a new type of maths. Also, suitcase malaria, how newborn babies identify their parents, and the creation of a new wildlife crossing. All that, plus many more Unexpected Elements.Presenter: Marnie Chesterton, with Andrada Fiscutean and Kai Kupferschmidt Producers: Alice Lipscombe-Southwell, with Dan Welsh, Lucy Davies and Robbie Wojciechowski

After a Chinese fitness influencer was caught hitching a lift on a bicycle during the Berlin Marathon, the Unexpected Elements team find themselves contemplating a range of scientific shortcuts. First up, we hear about how Earthlings may have been hitching a lift on the back of asteroids all the way to the clouds of Venus. Next, can you tell if someone drinks beer from an X-ray of their knee? Of course not! But we find out why AI thinks you can.We’re then joined by Chad Orzel, Professor of Physics at Union College and author of How to Teach Quantum Physics to Your Dog, who helps us explore why quantum physics might be the answer to the ultimate shortcut – teleportation.Also, how our brains create stories when we listen to music, why most people can’t digest seaweed, and the scientists who buried 2,000 pairs of underpants.All that, plus many more Unexpected Elements. Presenter: Marnie Chesterton with Leonie Joubert and Tristan Ahtone Producers: Lucy Davies with Dan Welsh, Alice Lipscombe-Southwell and Robbie Wojciechowski

Estonian athlete Jaan Roose recently completed a jaw-dropping slackline display, performing daredevil tricks 120 metres above the streets of central Seoul, South Korea.This exciting event by a world champion slackliner got the Unexpected Elements team thinking about risk-taking, acrobatics and skyscrapers. First up, we discover that there may be anatomical differences in the brains of people who engage in risky behaviour. Next, we find out more about the engineering that keeps skyscrapers stable. We then speak with Dr Lucia Jacobs, who spent years studying the acrobatic skills and cognition of the squirrels at the University of California, Berkeley.We also learn about the dances of the Maasai, why spiders don’t get stuck in their own webs, and how high an insect can fly. All that, plus many more Unexpected Elements. Presenter: Marnie Chesterton, with Andrada Fiscutean and Michael Kaloki Producers: Alice Lipscombe-Southwell, with Ella Hubber and Robbie Wojciechowski

This week’s news of an AI agent managing to hack into an Australian government website has the Unexpected Elements team exploring the sneaky science of infiltration.Marnie Chesterton is joined by science journalists Paul Adepoju and Andrada Fiscutean to discover how South African drongo birds have developed an ingenious technique to protect their nest from cuckoo eggs, and to hear about the unusual approach being developed to help get eyedrops past the body’s immune system so they can reach the retina.We’re also joined by Dr Bart Geert, Professor of Atmospheric Science at the University of Wyoming in the US, to explore the science of how to manipulate clouds to try to help produce more rain in drought-ridden areas.We also find out about how the tracking data that comes from tagging wild dogs in Zambia could help to ensure better approaches to their conservation in the future. We hear about your cases of pareidolia, and learn why aging leads to men going bald but also growing longer hair on other parts of the body. All that and more in this week’s Unexpected Elements. Presenter: Marnie Chesterton Producer: Dan Welsh with Alice Lipscombe-Southwell, Imy Harper and Robbie Wojciechowski

When a NATO fighter jet was sent to investigate what appeared to be a suspicious drone near Vilnius airport, the culprit turned out to be something rather less threatening: a flock of birds. Inspired by this case of mistaken identity, the Unexpected Elements team explores the science of getting things wrong. We discover why our brains are so eager to spot faces in everyday objects, from clouds to power sockets, and hear how this tendency may have evolved as a shortcut for detecting friends and foes. We also investigate the widespread issue of mislabelled cell lines that have found their way into thousands of scientific studies, raising questions about research reliability and reproducibility. Then we meet Alex Donovan from the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology at Cambridge University, who tells us the story of brain organoids, or "mini-brains", a field of research born from an apparent laboratory mistake that has gone on to transform neuroscience. Elsewhere, we hear how a WhatsApp message helped identify a devastating banana disease outbreak in Tanzania, ask whether anybody else in the world has exactly the same face as you, and explore how the venom of the Gila monster ended up inspiring drugs now used by millions of people around the world. All that plus more unexpected elements.Presenter: Marnie Chesterton Producer: Ella Hubber with Alice Lipscombe-Southwell and Robbie Wojciechowski

With the United Nations encouraging wider use of the Equal Earth map, a projection designed to better represent the true size of Earth's landmasses, the Unexpected Elements team have been thinking about distortion and the surprising new ways we can see the world and beyond. We discover that every city's subway system has its own unique microbial fingerprint, so distinctive that researchers can identify a location from a simple swab. Then we meet the black-capped chickadee, a tiny bird whose remarkable memory-map helps it keep track of thousands of hidden food stores.Astrophysicist Miguel Zumalacárregui joins us to explain gravitational lensing, the phenomenon that bends and distorts light as it travels through the Universe. We hear how these cosmic distortions help astronomers study distant galaxies, dark matter and even black holes.We also learn why Europe's mountain summits are becoming greener while still losing rare plants, ask why many continents seem to point downwards, and explore the story behind the online maps in our pockets.All that, plus many more Unexpected Elements.Presenter: Marnie Chesterton, with Andrada Fiscutean and Paul Adepoju Producers: Alice Lipscombe Southwell, with Ella Hubber and Debbie Kilbride

Roald Dahl Day is celebrated each year on 13 September. Dahl gave us much-loved children’s books like Matilda, The BFG and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which have captivated kids for generations.Dahl is also a controversial figure, and made anti-semitic remarks that his family have since apologised for. We explore the separation of art and artist, and go looking for the science hidden in Dahl’s fantastical stories.We find out about the scientists brewing up chocolate – not in a factory, but in a laboratory. And remember how the BFG sent ‘golden dreams’ into kids’ bedrooms? We hear how anaesthetists are ensuring that patients enjoy good dreams while sedated. And remember Bruce Bogtrotter, the much-loved side character in Matilda who famously scoffed a gigantic chocolate cake? Inspired by his story, we decided to chew over the science behind eating competitions with Professor James Smoliga from Tufts University School of Medicine.Presenter: Marnie Chesterton, Tristan Ahtone and Sandy Ong Producer: Alice Lipscombe-Southwell, Sophie Ormiston and Debbie Kilbride

The 80th birthday celebrations of the late, great Queen frontman Freddie Mercury have us marvelling at mercury at an elemental level: as a killer, a cure and more.First, we hear about how to make a telescope mirror out of a spinning bowl of liquid mercury. Then we hear about killer queens; it’s a gruesome tale of pheromone-induced ant warfare.Next, Freddie’s rare condition that caused him to have four extra incisors in his upper jaw leads us to discuss the secrets hidden within our teeth. We’re joined by archaeologist Carolyn Freiwald from the University of Mississippi, whose work on the teeth of ancient people tells us much about both their lives and our own.Also, the secret to getting rid of earworms, ancient civilisations hidden beneath the Amazon, and why you should never mess with dimethyl mercury.Presenter: Marnie Chesterton, Kai Kupferschmidt and Camilla Mota Producer: Lucy Davies, Alice Lipscombe-Southwell, Imy Harper and Debbie Kilbride