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Unexpected Elements

Unexpected enhancements

22 May 2026

Transcription

Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?

0.031 - 25.748 Unknown

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. Ekstra rauhallisessa rentoutuessaan Lassi totesi, että hänen tarjousvainonsa oli pettämätön. Tartu sinäkin junantuomiin etuihin ja korota kesän junalippusi ekstraluokkiin nyt tarjoushintaan. Kampanja on voimassa 24. toukokuuta asti. VR. Yhteisellä matkalla.

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26.086 - 54.74 Unknown

Saanko häiritä? No johan te häiritsette? Kiitos ja anteeksi. No saatte. Mikä seuraavista on helpoin kotiaskare? Räystäiden tyhjennys, lakanoiden viikkaus vai ruokakaupassa käynti? Mä veikkaan, että ruokakaupassa käynti. Oikein veikattu. No kuten tapanani on. Se on hyvä tapa. Helpatimme ruokakaupassa käyntiä. S-kaupat. Suomen suosituin ruoan verkkokauppa. Tilaa sovelluksella tai osoitteessa s-kaupat.fi.

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56.427 - 86.363 Marnie Chesterton

This week I've been reading a very entertaining book by Mary Roach called Replaceable You. It's a whistle-stop tour through our attempts to enhance our bodies, usually because a bit of it has failed. Roach points to a pattern throughout history where first off the replacement is a separate thing, like a wig. Then comes complex ways of attaching that wig, then comes hair transplants and genetic tweaks to stop baldness are currently in the pipeline.

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86.363 - 108.233 Marnie Chesterton

Joten yksityinen, integroitu ja lopulta saa elämään itsenäisen version. Ja nämä tehtävät tehtävät ovat mielenkiintoisia. Aloitettavasti suurimmat tieteelliset tehtävät kasvavat tehtävät ja tekevät taas implanteja, joita on tehty, ja tekevät tehtävät ja tekevät tehtävät ja tekevät tehtävät.

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108.233 - 135.267 Marnie Chesterton

Yes, before false teeth. If you had bad teeth and money, you could get a gadget like several pairs of scissors glued together that would pre-chew your food for you. A gentle reminder that millions of years of evolution have already designed some great implements for your mouth and all you need to do is clean them regularly. I'm Marni Chasterton from the BBC World Service. This is Unexpected Elements.

148.649 - 171.127 Marnie Chesterton

So welcome to this science forum slash tea party where a couple of science journalists from different countries sit around a theoretical round table and chat. So let's meet them. Katie Silver from, I don't know Katie, Mexico, Australia, Singapore. You're currently kind of geographically just around the corner from me in North England, right?

171.228 - 184.559 Marnie Chesterton

That's right. Hi, Marni. And I know we normally try and say hello with a local greeting, which AI tells me is, you're right. That's my North England attempt at a local greeting. You're right. You can probably do it better than I can.

185.386 - 204.033 Marnie Chesterton

And in Bucharest, Romania, it's Andrada Fiskatan. Hello, hello. Hi Mani, happy to be here. This is a science show that takes its inspiration from events in the news. And what we do is we take a headline that appeals to our scientific sensibilities and we use that as our touch paper to explain.

204.033 - 225.532 Marnie Chesterton

Explode a load of vaguely related science facts into your ears and we'll all bring stories, we'll hear from listeners, we might chuck in some choice archive audio and we're definitely going to have a well-informed guest dropping by for a chat. But what is the news that's going to start all of this off? Well, take a listen to this.

Chapter 2: What happens to salmon when exposed to cocaine?

1330.203 - 1355.633 David Petrino

illicitly in these behaviors. And it's also, paradoxically, it's going to help us to identify when people in the other settings are behaving in a way that is breaking the rules. Because once we actually start to understand how these substances concretely affect physiology, it's going to usher in a whole new generation of drug testing for mainstream athletes who claim not to be taking these substances.

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1355.633 - 1378.33 David Petrino

I think the job of Enhanced is to make sure that the messaging is sensible and responsible as opposed to just like, hey, these substances are great, everyone go out and take them. No, that's not the messaging. But the opportunity to learn how to use these substances safely and effectively, I think, is a good opportunity and will have positive implications for medicine.

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1383.545 - 1405.28 Marnie Chesterton

Thank you to Professor David Petrino. So, the first ever enhanced games taking place in Las Vegas this week has us musing on stories of doping. Whether that's monitoring how it's done at the games, the trend that means folk are injecting peptides on social media, or the scientists dosing salmon with cocaine.

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1407.153 - 1425.091 Marnie Chesterton

Still to come on unexpected elements. How to enhance your health if you'd rather visit a gallery than a gym? And why do some countries have spicy food? Is it latitudinal, cultural or biological? And can you use radio waves to improve your sense of smell? That's all coming up.

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1435.267 - 1452.412 Unknown

Omalle paikalle istuessaan Jenni oli melko varma, että hän oli tehnyt koko vaunon parhaan lippudeelin. Tartu sinäkin junantuomiin etuihin ja nappaa tarjoushintaiset junaliput kesäkohteisiin nyt. Kampanja on voimassa 24. toukokuuta asti.

1452.614 - 1475.193 Unknown

VR. Yhteisellä matkalla. Ekstra rauhallisessa rentoutuessaan Lassi totesi, että hänen tarjousvainunsa oli pettämätön. Tartu sinäkin junan tuomiin etuihin ja korota kesän junalippusi ekstraluokkiin nyt tarjoushintaan. Kampanja on voimassa 24. toukokuuta asti. VR. Yhteisellä matkalla.

1482.449 - 1508.707 Marnie Chesterton

This is Unexpected Elements from the BBC World Service, the show that takes its lead from events in the news. For the main part, this week, that's the story of the inaugural Enhanced Games, informally called the Doping Olympics taking place in the States. But we also like to make room for the occasional science story that wouldn't otherwise hit the headlines. Think of it like a show and tell for an underreported story.

1508.707 - 1537.073 Andrada Fiscutean

And this week it's going to be brought to us by Andrada. And Andrada, there are completely arbitrary non-useful points up for grabs. If you can tie it to the theme. So speaking of enhanced games, Marni, I think I have something and I definitely claim those meaningless bonus points. My sense of smell is not that developed. So I've always wondered what it would be like to be a super smeller, if there's such a word.

1537.073 - 1556.851 Andrada Fiscutean

It turns out my dream might actually be possible. What if I told you that scientists have found a way to enhance our sense of smell at least for a while? No injections, no surgery, just by pointing something at our forehead for five minutes.

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