Maxxed out

The Unexpected Elements team are science-maxxing, following the headline that “maxxing” has been named 2026’s word of the year by dictionary.com.

Strap yourself in for tales of total commitment, including the longest running experiment, and the scientist who guarded it for 40 years but missed every single once-a decade magic moment. And we’ll be mini-maxing, with a tiny but mighty effort to build a molecule from the atom up.

We meet a neuroscientist and 8 times world memory champion who shares tricks of the trade, and how any of us can start memory-maxxing and building up a cognitive reserve.

Plus, we’ll be tackling the newest reporting of a 3 Body problem, unpicking the advantages of being even-handed, and fibre-maxxing and protein-maxxing are so 2026 – maybe it's time for moderation-maxxing.

Presenter: Marnie Chesterton

Producers: Dan Welsh with Ella Hubber, Robbie Wojciechowski, and Lucy Davies