An eggciting episode
Unexpected Elements
BBC
4.4 • 566 Ratings
🗓️ 18 April 2025
⏱️ 50 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week is the Christian celebration of Easter, which sent the Unexpected Elements team scrambling for egg-related stories.
First up, we find out about the rise of a vegan egg substitute.
Next, we discover how to cook the perfect boiled egg, according to science.
We then turn our attention to climate change, and find out how it is affecting the breeding patterns and nesting behaviour of sea turtles.
Plus, we are joined by Dr Luis Welbanks, who tells us about a nearby exoplanet that reeks of rotten eggs.
Finally, we delve into the science behind IVF.
All that, plus many more Unexpected Elements. Presenter: Marnie Chesterton, with Chhavi Sachdev and Sandy Ong Producer: Alice Lipscombe-Southwell, with Debbie Kilbride, Robbie Wojciechowski and William Hornbrook
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | In 2019, we began investigating the disappearance of Dr. Ruzha Ignatva. |
| 0:08.0 | I believe we are a very special network. |
| 0:10.0 | A scammer who stole billions from investors around the world. |
| 0:15.0 | She's on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list. |
| 0:18.0 | And now, we have some unmissable updates. She has money and when you have |
| 0:23.0 | money you have power. Join me, Jamie Bartlett, as the hunt for the missing crypto queen continues. |
| 0:29.5 | Listen first on BBC Sounds. I recently went to a chocolate market, which was as glorious as that sounds, and I ended up buying these beautiful chocolate eggs, each of which contained a single truffle. |
| 0:47.0 | They were the same size as hens eggs and were packaged in the same classic cardboard carton as hens eggs. |
| 0:53.4 | They were, however, considerably more |
| 0:55.9 | expensive than hens eggs, even given the current hike in food prices. So maybe I should have been |
| 1:02.5 | more careful. But no, I put all my eggs in one basket, as the saying goes, and then I dropped |
| 1:10.1 | that basket. After some light cursing, |
| 1:13.8 | I remembered another crucial difference between chocolate and real eggs and spent the evening |
| 1:19.6 | gluing my precious gifts back together with melted chocolate. I'm Marnie Chesterton from the BBC |
| 1:26.1 | World Service. This is Unexpected Elements. |
| 1:43.2 | And I'm not alone. |
| 1:45.2 | Joining me today for a cracking science party are two science journalists. |
| 1:49.9 | I'm excited to welcome back our series regular Chavi Satchev in Mumbai, India. |
| 1:55.0 | Hello, Chabby. |
| 1:55.8 | Hello, namaskar. |
| 1:57.6 | And a new member of the Unexpected Elements team, Sandy Ong from Singapore. Hello. |
| 2:02.9 | Hey, morning. Nihal. |
... |
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