Marnie Chesterton

Sandy Ong in Singapore, top fact that you've taken from today.

Oh gosh, it has to be that sea cucumbers expel their internal organs.

Michael Kaloki in Kenya, same to you.

Thank you both so much for joining me for some juicy chat.

I'm Marnie Chasterton.

The producer was Sophie Ormiston with Lucy Davis, Alice Lipscomb-Southwell and Robbie Wojciechowski.

Join us next week for more Unexpected Elements.

Have you ever looked at a map of the world and wondered why some borders seem to have been drawn with a ruler and pencil rather than any natural boundary formed by rivers, mountains or centuries of conflict between groups?

In Africa, there's no getting around the fact that this is due to colonialism.

Specifically, a conference in Berlin over Christmas 1884 when European countries carved up the continent.

In 1913, an attempt was made to draw a better border between Sudan and Uganda, in a mission involving a British official from each country.

Captain Kelly from Sudan was keen to meet each ethnic group and draw a boundary that reflected their distribution.

Captain Tufnel from the Ugandan side was keen to go on leave.

They didn't get on.

The motley crew trekked most of the route, but personal differences and physical hardship meant the project was abandoned before the team reached the end of the border, which you can still see looks suspiciously like it was completed with a ruler.

I'm Marnie Chasterton from the BBC World Service.

This is Unexpected Elements.

This show is a science-based chat, and joining me for that chat, I have a panel of science journalists from around the world.

Specifically, from Nairobi, Kenya, we have Phyllis Muate.

Welcome, welcome.