Putting science on the map
Unexpected Elements
BBC
4.4 • 565 Ratings
🗓️ 3 April 2026
⏱️ 50 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
China’s ambitious underwater mapping operation takes us on a voyage into the depths of ocean and map science.
We look at what a network of underwater microphones can tell us about underwater geography, noisy ships, and whale conversations, and how it took nearly 300 researchers working together to map 140 000 neurons in a fruit fly’s brain.
Then, we are joined by biogeochemist and author Karen Lloyd, who tells us about the long-lived microbes living deep in the crust below the sea floor, how they survive for 100 000 years, and what their mysterious existence tells us about life and evolution.
And forget sunken treasures – we will talk about the valuable, potato-sized mineral nodules that grow on the sea floor, and the pros, cons and current legality of mining them. Plus – how dolphins can help us track down abandoned undersea explosives.
All that and even more unexpected elements.
Presenter: Marnie Chesterton, with Katie Silver and Tristan Ahtone Producers: Ella Hubber, with Lucy Davies and Georgia Christie
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, music, radio podcasts. |
| 0:07.3 | Their company's success helped build a nation. |
| 0:10.9 | The company is such a big part of Korea's economy. |
| 0:13.5 | But who are the family behind one of the world's tech giants? |
| 0:17.2 | They often say, look, we built the nation. |
| 0:19.5 | And without us, South Korea as it exists today, |
| 0:22.6 | would simply not be here. Inheritance, Samsung explores the real-life dramas of the Lee family |
| 0:28.3 | and their company. They are the equivalent of royalty. Listen first on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:44.4 | Back in 2019, the company DreamWorks launched a film Abominable about some children and a Yeti they're trying to save. Surprisingly, for a kids cartoon, it ended up banned in several |
| 0:51.4 | countries. And it's all thanks to an invisible border. In one brief |
| 0:56.8 | scene in the animation, there's a map of Asia seen in the background, and over the South China |
| 1:01.7 | sea is a nine dash line. Those dashes mark China's claim to several island groups in the sea, |
| 1:09.7 | and it's a claim that many of its neighbours dispute. |
| 1:13.5 | Now, why the map was included in the film when it wasn't a crucial plot point, it doesn't really |
| 1:19.1 | matter for the outcome, which was that the film ended up being banned in Vietnam, Malaysia and the |
| 1:26.1 | Philippines, and some movie executives faced a costly reminder of the power of a map. |
| 1:33.2 | I'm Marnie Chasterton from the BBC World Service. |
| 1:36.0 | This is Unexpected Elements. And this is not a show I do alone. |
| 1:54.4 | I have with me an international panel of science journalists. |
| 1:58.5 | So in Helsinki Finland, we have editor-at-large for Grist magazine Tristan Artone. Welcome, Tristan. |
| 2:04.3 | And de And de, D'Ande-Babon, good to be here again. And in Mexico City, getting up horribly early to be with us. |
| 2:10.4 | Welcome back to science and health journalist Katie Silver. |
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