Unexpected Elements

Wildfires and wild animals


Listen Later

The show that brings you the science behind the news, with Marnie Chesterton and an inter-continental team.

This week we take the headlines of the wildfires in North America, pull out the science and run with it. We explore what’s actually in smoke-polluted air, looking at the part the El Nino weather system plays in starting fires, and discover why a surprising element of air pollution is helping conservation biologists to track animals.

We look at how tobacco is not just bad for your lungs – it’s bad for some of the farmers who grow it too. We get the Kenyan perspective on farmers trying to move away from tobacco production.

We continue our quest to find The Coolest Science in the World with a researcher who studies grasshoppers that are the noisiest on the planet, but might not actually be noisy enough.

And as Ukraine struggles with the devastation caused by the destruction of the Kherson dam, we look at dam building along the Mekong river and ask why a lack of flood water might be causing a problem.

All that, plus your emails and whatsapps, and a listener gets an unexpected answer to a question about whether we can send taste and smell over the airwaves.

Presented by: Marnie Chesterton

Produced by Alex Mansfield, with Ben Motley, Margaret Sessa-Hawkins & 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

336 ratings


More shows like Unexpected Elements

View all
Global News Podcast by BBC World Service

Global News Podcast

7,878 Listeners

More or Less by BBC Radio 4

More or Less

853 Listeners

Newshour by BBC World Service

Newshour

1,075 Listeners

In Our Time by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time

5,580 Listeners

The Documentary Podcast by BBC World Service

The Documentary Podcast

1,800 Listeners

In Our Time: Science by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time: Science

752 Listeners

6 Minute English by BBC Radio

6 Minute English

1,752 Listeners

Learning English Conversations by BBC Radio

Learning English Conversations

1,037 Listeners

The Infinite Monkey Cage by BBC Radio 4

The Infinite Monkey Cage

1,958 Listeners

The Naked Scientists Podcast by The Naked Scientists

The Naked Scientists Podcast

602 Listeners

Nature Podcast by Springer Nature Limited

Nature Podcast

753 Listeners

Health Check by BBC World Service

Health Check

93 Listeners

Discovery by BBC World Service

Discovery

961 Listeners

BBC Inside Science by BBC Radio 4

BBC Inside Science

411 Listeners

Science Weekly by The Guardian

Science Weekly

425 Listeners

Science Magazine Podcast by Science Magazine

Science Magazine Podcast

822 Listeners

Curious Cases by BBC Radio 4

Curious Cases

766 Listeners

The Life Scientific by BBC Radio 4

The Life Scientific

232 Listeners

Science In Action by BBC World Service

Science In Action

330 Listeners

CrowdScience by BBC World Service

CrowdScience

474 Listeners

You're Dead to Me by BBC Radio 4

You're Dead to Me

3,218 Listeners

The Missing Cryptoqueen by BBC Sounds

The Missing Cryptoqueen

1,026 Listeners

Americast by BBC News

Americast

791 Listeners

The World, the Universe and Us by New Scientist

The World, the Universe and Us

115 Listeners

The Bomb by BBC World Service

The Bomb

1,011 Listeners