About this episode
News of an Australian library book finally finding its way home 150 years after it was borrowed has the Unexpected Elements team thinking about things that get forgotten, filed away or simply turn up much later than expected.
We start with the story of a meteorite from Mars that spent millions of years travelling through space before ending up in a university drawer. Then, we investigate why scientists believe California may be centuries overdue for a massive earthquake known as "The Big One".
Next, Martin Woodward from GitHub joins us to explain how millions of lines of computer code are being preserved deep beneath the Arctic in a vault designed to protect humanity's digital knowledge for generations to come.
Plus, we hear about the penguin vaccinators working to protect Australian wildlife from bird flu, discover if smells, tastes and touch can be measured, and explore the dying art of reading a book. All that, plus many more, unexpected elements.
Presenter: Marnie Chesterton Producers: Lucy Davies, Ella Hubber, Imy Harper and Robbie Wojciechowski
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