Unexpected Elements

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