Unexpected Elements

Password1234#Invisibility&Moonshot


Listen Later

As Netflix cracks down on password sharing around the world - something it once encouraged - we wondered why people like to share passwords to other things, such as phones, email accounts and logins.

Passwords and encryption exist as ways of protecting us from hostile agents in most aspects of life. But timing is everything. Nature has been doing it for years of course. But climate change is upsetting some of the ecological match-ups of locks and keys, migration and feeding that have evolved over the millennia. We hear how the shifting patterns of weather and food availability is affecting cuckoos in Europe and India.

Another aspect of natural subterfuge is camouflage. Whilst physicists have been trying to make optical invisibility cloaks from ingenious new "metamaterials", Marc Holderied and team have been looking at how certain moths have used metamaterial properties in the structure of their wings to effectively hide from bats. They are acoustically invisible. Could similar materials be manufactured to make, for example, sound-proof wallpaper?

Also, we hear how India's Chandrayaan-3 moon mission - due to land on 23 August this year - is exciting millions of people.

Presenter: Marnie Chesterton

Producer: Alex Mansfield, with Margaret Sessa-Hawkins, Ben Motley and Sophie Ormiston

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Unexpected ElementsBy BBC World Service

  • 4.5
  • 4.5
  • 4.5
  • 4.5
  • 4.5

4.5

333 ratings


More shows like Unexpected Elements

View all
Global News Podcast by BBC World Service

Global News Podcast

7,731 Listeners

More or Less by BBC Radio 4

More or Less

882 Listeners

Newshour by BBC World Service

Newshour

1,038 Listeners

In Our Time by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time

5,500 Listeners

The Documentary Podcast by BBC World Service

The Documentary Podcast

1,815 Listeners

6 Minute English by BBC Radio

6 Minute English

1,820 Listeners

Learning English Conversations by BBC Radio

Learning English Conversations

1,072 Listeners

The Infinite Monkey Cage by BBC Radio 4

The Infinite Monkey Cage

1,936 Listeners

The Naked Scientists Podcast by The Naked Scientists

The Naked Scientists Podcast

612 Listeners

Nature Podcast by Springer Nature Limited

Nature Podcast

763 Listeners

Ask the Naked Scientists by Dr Chris Smith

Ask the Naked Scientists

78 Listeners

Discovery by BBC World Service

Discovery

961 Listeners

BBC Inside Science by BBC Radio 4

BBC Inside Science

436 Listeners

Science Weekly by The Guardian

Science Weekly

417 Listeners

Science Magazine Podcast by Science Magazine

Science Magazine Podcast

825 Listeners

Curious Cases by BBC Radio 4

Curious Cases

832 Listeners

The Inquiry by BBC World Service

The Inquiry

736 Listeners

The Life Scientific by BBC Radio 4

The Life Scientific

249 Listeners

Science In Action by BBC World Service

Science In Action

353 Listeners

CrowdScience by BBC World Service

CrowdScience

479 Listeners

You're Dead to Me by BBC Radio 4

You're Dead to Me

3,175 Listeners

Americast by BBC News

Americast

756 Listeners

The world, the universe and us by New Scientist

The world, the universe and us

111 Listeners

Cyber Hack by BBC World Service

Cyber Hack

1,633 Listeners