Unexpected Elements is all about finding surprising stories and nuggets of science in everyday news. Each week we start by taking a news story that’s floating around and use that as a launchpad for three other science stories that become increasingly unexpected.
This week, the team squints at the recent lavish ceremony and ritual of the British King’s coronation and asks: What does it all mean? Why is ritual so important to us humans, and why does it always seem to involve precious objects?
That’s where we start - but in this show, our global panel of science journalists can take us to all sorts of places. We’ll be touring the ocean floors with the scientist who wants to map all of them, soaring in the skies of India to discover why one of the country’s biggest birds might be in trouble, and we’re even going off planet to find out about an asteroid with enough gold in it to build a nice shiny house out of the stuff – for every human on Earth.
It is probably this year’s most important election—and for the first time in a long time, the country’s strongman leader has a plausible adversary. Our correspondent heads along to the Hollywood writers’ strike, finding an age-old conflict centred on the technologies that shape the film-and-television industry. And the books to read to become a better home bartender.
And for full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, try a free 30-day digital subscription by going to www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer
George Novik's life is his work, so it's strange for him to think of life outside of his startup. But outside of tech, his hobbies include swimming, surfing, and computer games. He loves to surf at the United Emirate States. He is uncertain of the wave sizes there, as the variance is high.
A few years ago, George was hired to build a marketplace for his friends company. Fast forward, he and his team are on a mission to simplify software production, and provide access to vetted, no code developers.
You may have noticed that your local chain big box or drugstore has locked certain items behind plexiglass, requiring you to hail an employee to grab things like deodorant or laundry detergent. Companies say know this is annoying, but that it's necessary to prevent theft. So does it actually work? How big of a problem is retail theft anyway? Reporter Katherine Monahan went shopping for the answer.
This story was reported by Katherine Monahan. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Amanda Font, and Christopher Beale. Additional support from Cesar Saldana, Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Jasmine Garnett, Carly Severn, Jenny Pritchett and Holly Kernan.
In which German university students create a new status symbol when they add swordplay to their drinking society meetings, and John's closet skeletons are all bar fights. Certificate #36857.
Since 1 out of 3 couples registered for wedding gifts on Bed Bath & Beyond, Etsy is jumping into BB&B’s bankruptcy void. We crunched the numbers on the electric truck company Rivian: It’s only got 2 years of cash left in the tank. And Google just unveiled its first ever foldable phone… but it costs more than a computer… and they won’t call it a phone.
$ETSY $RIVN $GOOG
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On July 16, 1945, at 5:29 am, 35 miles southwest of Socorro, New Mexico, the world’s first nuclear bomb was detonated.
This was the culmination of the Manhattan Project, one of the largest and most expensive programs in world history.
Yet, just before the event, the scientists and engineers who worked on the project weren’t entirely sure it would work and, if it did, just what the results would be.
Learn more about the Trinity Test, the world’s first atomic bomb detonation, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
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