Zombies, cows and coups
Unexpected Elements
BBC
4.4 • 567 Ratings
🗓️ 7 September 2023
⏱️ 54 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Following recent coups in Niger and Gabon, and with seven African coups in the last three years, some political commentators are suggesting that there might be an epidemic of coups. But are coups really contagious, and what does the political science say?
Caroline Steel and the Unexpected Elements team across three different continents go on a quest to find the science lurking behind the news.
We find out what trees in Chile can tell us about coups and we meet the wasp that performs a coup on a poor unsuspecting cockroach, turning it into a zombie and eating it alive.
There’s light relief in the form of cows listening to classical music, the answer to a listener question about carbon capture and reflections on efforts to rid the world of plastic bags.
All that plus your emails, whatsapps, and more fruit chat than you can shake a banana skin at.
Presented by Caroline Steel
Produced by Ben Motley, with Margaret Sessa Hawkins and Sophie Ormiston
Transcript
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| 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. |
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| 0:21.7 | She has money and when you have money, you have power. |
| 0:24.6 | Join me, Jamie Bartlett, as the hunt for the missing crypto queen continues. |
| 0:29.5 | Listen first on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:32.0 | When you meet someone online, can you trust they are who they say they are? |
| 0:36.7 | I keep thinking so much about you. |
| 0:39.1 | She's so stunning. |
| 0:40.3 | It's all well planned. |
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| 0:48.8 | exploring the world of online romance scams. |
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| 0:53.2 | Find it wherever you found this podcast. |
| 0:58.4 | So this week here in the UK, it's the end of summer and wasps are lurking around picnics |
| 1:03.8 | up and down the country. Last weekend, my lunch was targeted. I remained calm, so calm that a wasp decided to land on my lip. |
| 1:13.8 | In an attempt to avoid a sting, I didn't move a muscle. I didn't want the wasp to feel threatened, |
| 1:19.2 | but I overdid it. The wasp felt so safe that it moved across my lip and into my mouth. |
| 1:26.5 | I sat frozen, mouth open, willing the wasp to make a |
| 1:30.7 | speedy exit, but instead a friend came to join it. After a minute or so of silent sweating, |
... |
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