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Unexpected Elements

BBC

Science

4.4 • 566 Ratings

🗓️ 15 November 2024

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

It’s been 24 years since the release of Ridley Scott’s Gladiator, which left audiences captivated by the story of Maximus the gladiator, played by Russell Crowe. Now, Gladiator II is hitting the cinemas, so this week we enter the arena to take a look at some gladiatorial science.

We hear about an angry little fish that fights off its rivals in mouth-to-mouth combat, we discover how humans have looked to nature to design better armour, and we find out about the perfume that Julius Caesar would have worn.

We also speak to Dr Chris Nowinski, a former WWE professional wrestler who's now a pioneering neuroscientist. He’s leading some research into how to prevent concussions in sport, and is co-founder of The Concussion Legacy Foundation.

That, plus many more Unexpected Elements.

Presenter: Marnie Chesterton, with Christine Yohannes and Chhavi Sachdev Producers: Alice Lipscombe-Southwell, Dan Welsh and Imaan Moin Sound engineer: Dyfan Rose

Transcript

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0:00.0	Oh, hello. You have chosen a BBC podcast, but before you listen to it, we thought you might
0:04.7	like our podcast too. You might. You might. It is called Sightracked with me, Nick Grimshaw.
0:09.2	And me, Annie Mack. And we talk about the week in music. All the news, all the cultural
0:14.0	happenings in the UK and beyond. And great guests. And it's on BBC Sounds. Yes, where you can
0:19.7	also enjoy lots of playlists, music mixes and
0:22.6	live radio. Everything from my six music breakfast show to Radio 3 Unwind. But obviously start
0:29.2	with our podcast sidetrack. Obviously. Obviously. So if you like music, listen on BBC Sounds.
0:37.5	Last weekend, I took my small niece to this immersive theatre event
0:42.5	to see her favourite storybook bear.
0:45.7	She was delighted.
0:47.6	She was equally delighted by other London experiences that were far cheaper,
0:53.4	like the electronic gates that allow commuters
0:56.2	out of the underground system. The fact that they just opened without even a person to push
1:02.6	them drew a wow from this three-year-old's delighted face. She's not wrong either. I suspect if you
1:10.7	resurrected scientific genius Isaac Newton and let him watch people leaving public transport, he'd be similarly impressed by these magic self-opening gates. Sometimes it takes a child to remind you how remarkable modern life is. I'm also reminded that to impress my niece,
1:30.0	I don't need to spend big money.
1:32.4	We can just go stare at some public transport infrastructure.
1:36.2	I'm Marnie Chasterton from the BBC World Service.
1:38.9	This is Unexpected Elements.
1:55.0	Music expected elements. And this week I'm delighted to be joined by two excellent journalists, separated by international boundaries, but united by a determination to find science within news headlines.
2:07.0	Hello to Christine Johannes from Felderfing, Germany.
2:10.5	Good and tag Marni. How are you?
	...

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