Building bridges
Show notes
A new bridge has just been opened between China and North Korea after a 12-year delay. And that got the Unexpected Elements team thinking about some bridge-related science.
We start things off by finding out about the microscopic bridges connecting undersea bacteria. We then delve into bridge-editing, a next-generation gene-editing tool that could be better than CRISPR at altering DNA.
Next up, mathematician Dr Kit Yates tells us about the Seven Bridges of Königsberg, a historic puzzle that launched a new type of maths.
Also, suitcase malaria, how newborn babies identify their parents, and the creation of a new wildlife crossing.
All that, plus many more Unexpected Elements.
Presenter: Marnie Chesterton, with Andrada Fiscutean and Kai Kupferschmidt Producers: Alice Lipscombe-Southwell, with Dan Welsh, Lucy Davies and Robbie Wojciechowski