Totally bananas
Unexpected Elements
BBC
4.4 • 566 Ratings
🗓️ 13 December 2024
⏱️ 50 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week, a banana sold at auction for $6.2 million dollars. Well, not quite… it’s actually a piece of conceptual art and it’s WAY more than just a banana. There’s also some duct tape. In response to this most bananas of auctions, the Unexpected Elements team are going bananas for bananas! We investigate the science of slipping on a banana-skin. Is it just ‘cartoon physics’ or are they actually a slip-hazard? And did you know your breakfast banana might be… radioactive? Also, can Romanian ethical hackers succeed where the police have failed? We look at the computer sleuths tackling real life missing persons cases. We find the answer to why toads have evolved such dangerous skins, and yet more bananas, as we look at the pros and cons of the Ethiopian False Banana. Why hasn’t this hardy plant conquered the world? Presenter: Marnie Chesterton, with Andrada Fiscutean and Christine Yohannes Producers: Emily Knight, Alice Lipscombe-Southwell and William Hornbrook Sound engineer: Searle Whittney
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. |
| 0:33.8 | So last week I travelled to the heart of Belgium to investigate the science of non-alcoholic beer. |
| 0:41.3 | Yes, my job is the best. |
| 0:43.5 | My producer lives in Cologne in Germany, where they take their beer very seriously. |
| 0:48.3 | And she was telling me about Reinhitzgebacht, or the 500-year-old German beer purity laws, which state that |
| 0:57.3 | beer cannot contain anything except barley, hops and water. Yeast gets a free pass. Yet the funny |
| 1:05.1 | thing is, there's no end to the ways they mix the stuff in drinks. One acceptable cocktail is five parts German beer and one part |
| 1:14.3 | banana juice. I have never extracted a drop of juice from a banana. What am I doing wrong? I'm Marnie |
| 1:22.5 | Chesterton from the BBC World Service. This is unexpected elements. |
| 1:37.8 | And I'm joined as usual by a couple of global science reporters. |
| 1:41.1 | From Felderfing in Germany, it's Christine Johannes. |
| 1:41.8 | Hello. |
| 1:43.2 | Gooden tag, Marni. |
| 1:46.9 | And joining us from Romania is Andrade Fisgatan. |
| 1:47.7 | Hello, Andrada. |
| 1:49.5 | Bonamani, it's good to be back. |
... |
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