Summary
On World Rat Day, we’re getting ratty! We look at the biology behind the eternal struggle between rats and rat poison, and we hear about rat-on-rat warfare and other forms of pest control.
We don’t play games when it comes to rats, but we know someone who does. Dr Michael Brecht from the Humboldt University of Berlin tells us how he played hide-and-seek with lab rats and what that tells us about the behaviour of play.
On the topic of ‘rat’ behaviour, we are joined by Dr Zach Berry from the University of Southern California to talk about the psychology behind ratting people out in the workplace, testing the loyalty and morals of the Unexpected Elements team.
And speaking of rats in the workplace… we hear a first-hand report on whether African giant pouched rats might just be better staff members than humans when it comes to detecting tuberculosis at APOPO labs.
All that, plus many more Unexpected Elements.
Presenter: Anand Jagatia, with Tristan Ahtone and Christine Yohannes Producer: Imaan Moin, with Debbie Kilbride, Alice Lipscombe-Southwell, Noa Dowling, Harrison Lewis and Sophie Ormiston. Studio Manager: Cath McGhee
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 with |
| 0:29.3 | our podcast, sidetrack. Obviously. Obviously. So if you like music, listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:39.0 | This week, I took my friends to a restaurant that I'd recently discovered |
| 0:43.1 | for Chinese hot pot, a delicious dining experience where you cook your own food in a bubbling |
| 0:48.6 | pot of soup. When we turned up though, I was a bit confused. The place looked kind of different |
| 0:53.6 | to how I remembered it, but the food was still tasty. On the way though, I was a bit confused. The place looked kind of different to how I |
| 0:54.1 | remembered it, but the food was still tasty. On the way home, I learned that the restaurant I'd |
| 0:59.9 | been raving about was actually a totally different establishment two doors down, and the place |
| 1:05.1 | we'd just eaten in was rated zero for food hygiene. I shudder to think what they might have had |
| 1:10.7 | scurrying around in their |
| 1:12.0 | kitchen. I'm Ann Ann Jagatier. From the on crowd science, its sister show on the World Service. |
| 1:40.0 | I am super excited to be swapping mics and be in the hot seat of our Cardiff studio today, |
| 1:45.5 | not least because while this is my first episode, it's actually the 100th episode of unexpected elements. |
| 1:52.0 | Woohoo! |
| 1:53.0 | Joining me for this centenary is a panel of brilliant journalists from around the world. |
| 1:57.7 | Dialing in from Lamu Kenya is Christine Johannes. |
| 2:00.8 | And on the line from Helsinki, from Lamu Kenya is Christine Johannes. Hujambo Anand. |
... |
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