Beyoncé, banjos and dancing chemistry
Unexpected Elements
BBC
4.4 • 567 Ratings
🗓️ 12 April 2024
⏱️ 50 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Beyonce's new album tops the charts with a reappraisal of who can do country music and the Unexpected Elements team has a hoedown. Panellist Christine Yohannes unearths new research that changes our understanding of the origins of cowboys. Chhavi Sachdev has a thing or two to teach Beyonce as she reveals why the banjo has it's characteristic twang and we meet a man with powerful chemistry - TikTok dance sensation Dr Andre Isaacs from the College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts tells presenter Marnie Chesterton how dancing in his lab helps explain click chemistry.
We also hear how new species could be given names that refer to the locations they're found in, we discuss whether mining is causing the Earth to shrink and, of course, eclipses make an appearance. We shed some light on how an eclipse over 100 years ago helped prove Einstein's theory of relativity.
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. Back in August in 1999 in Britain, folks were heading to the southern tip of the UK to watch a total solar eclipse. |
| 0:42.7 | Annoyingly, my family were on holiday in Ireland where even in the south, we knew we were only going to get a partial solar eclipse. |
| 0:51.3 | In the event, the weather was so cloudy and grey that we didn't even realise |
| 0:56.0 | it had happened until it was over. So this week, while many of my delighted friends in America, |
| 1:02.6 | Gorp, as their world turned briefly dark, I watched from the sidelines again. |
| 1:08.7 | Jealous not to be there, but somehow missing the eclipse by thousands of miles was much |
| 1:13.9 | easier than missing by a couple of hundred. |
| 1:16.8 | I'm Marnie Chesterton from the BBC World Service. |
| 1:19.6 | This is Unexpected Elements. |
| 1:32.8 | And totally eclipsing my heart this week is the unexpected elements global panel. |
| 1:36.6 | In Mumbai, India, we have journalist Chavi Satchev. Hello, Chavi. |
| 1:38.0 | Hello, Salam. |
| 1:43.5 | And currently in Mexico, we have global health journalist Christine Johannes. Welcome, Christine. |
| 1:45.7 | Salam, Salam, Marni, thank you. |
| 1:50.3 | Christine, Mexico was in the eclipse path, wasn't it? |
| 1:51.1 | Did you see anything? |
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