A power outage in Ecuador has us pondering the darkness of blackouts Read more
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Lights out
A power outage in Ecuador has us pondering the darkness of blackouts
Mushroom magic
Hallucinatory, deadly or lifesaving? Your one-stop guide to everything fungi
Political Jet Lag
Brace yourself for presidential fights and pointless flights
Marriage madness
Ceremonies, rings and sleep divorce
Breaking, climbing, and surfing
Could we surf on Titan, or dance like a physicist? Olympic levels of science chat.
Can I eat it?
The discovery of champagne in a shipwreck has us pondering preservation
Let them eat crab
Everything you need for a French royal banquet, with an unexpected twist, of course.
The only one
Olympians representing their countries alone got us thinking about being the only one
A sticky situation
Two astronauts are stuck on the ISS, which got us thinking about other sticky issues.
The world's worst tourist
Following anti-tourism protests in Spain, we're looking at the world's peskiest visitors
Thrillseekers
The high stakes of the Paralympics has us chasing a thrill!
Ngā Wai Hono i te Pō: The new Māori Kuini
The crowing of the new Māori Kuini (Queen) is cause for a scientific celebration
Shiny: Why we are dazzled by new sparkly things
Like magpies, we're obsessed with everything shiny. What is behind this attraction?
All things Oregon!
Join Marnie Chesterton and science journalists Chhavi Sachdev and Jes Burns, on their Ore
Science to make you smile
What better way to celebrate World Smile Day other than with scientific excellence
The world's longest treasure hunt
We dig for scientific gold in the form of seeds, aliens and cats
TV made me do it
Macron’s comments on Emily in Paris has us unpicking the power of television.
Mystery blobs
Blobs are appearing on beaches, so the team look at the science of gooey things.
The Swing of Things
So-called swing states inspire us to look into swing science.
Supermassive numbers
As Russia fines Google an unpayable sum of money, we look at some extremely large numbers
Are you not entertained?
Gladiator II is hitting the cinemas, so the Unexpected Elements team enters the arena.
Super Science
Geopolitical superpowers have Team Unexpected on the hunt for scientific superheroes.
Doing a deal
It's Black Friday! And Unexpected Elements are on a hunt for the best deals
Going home
A potential homecoming for Chagossians got us investigating the science of home.
Totally bananas
The Unexpected Elements team have gone bananas… for bananas!
The science of Santa
The Unexpected Elements team are unwrapping the science of Santa!
Festive trash talk
December is a month of waste, rubbish and trash talk
(Re)New Year
New year is giving Team Unexpected renewed chances to learn about regenerative science
Scientist spotlight
Humans outrunning horses, mountains made from plankton and much, much more.
Circles, circumferences and Covid
From ancient Earth measurements to viral cycles and the science of friendly limits
Keep it clean
A whole bathtub of science, from brains cleaning themselves to how space keeps sparkling