Unexpected Elements - Building bridges

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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

Published on Friday, 23rd October 2026.

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