The launch of Taylor Swift’s much-anticipated 12th studio album, The Life of a Showgirl, has inspired this week’s episode of Unexpected Elements.
First up, we hear how a Brazilian songbird courts its mate as part of a boyband. We then find out about the microbes that dance to survive in their extreme habitat.
Next up, Professor Troy Magney, a forest ecophysiologist at the University of Montana, tells us about his TSWIFT machine and how it can assess the health of the planet’s forests.
Also in the programme, we find out why migratory birds trick weather data, how fish sing, and how hackers used SWIFT bank payments to nearly pull off a billion-dollar heist.
All that, plus many more Unexpected Elements.
Presenter: Marnie Chesterton, with Camilla Mota and Godfred Boafo
Producers: Imaan Moin and Alice Lipscombe-Southwell, with Robbie Wojciechowski and Lucy Davies
In Singapore, Christian discourses of sex and sexuality have materialised in the form of testimonials that detail the pain and suffering of homosexuality, and how Christianity has been a salve for the tribulations experienced by the storytellers. This book freshly engages with Michel Foucault's posthumous and final volume of The History of Sexuality by revitalising his work on biblical metanoia to understand it as a form of neo-homophobia. Drawing on Foucauldian critical theory and approaches in discourse studies, it shows how language is at the centre of this particular iteration of neo-homophobia, one that no longer finds value in overt expressions of hate and disdain for those with non-normative sexualities, but relies extensively on seemingly neutral calls for change and transformation in personal lives. Queer Correctives takes Singapore as a case study to examine neo-homophobic phenomena, but its themes of change and transformation embedded in discourse will be relevant for scholars interested in contemporary iterations of Foucault's concepts of discipline and technologies of the self. Together with interview data from religious sexual minorities in Singapore, it captures a burgeoning form of homophobic discursive practices that eludes mainstream criticism to harm through change and transformation.
About Vincent Pak:
Vincent Pak is Assistant Lecturer at The University of Hong Kong. His work is located in the fields of sociocultural linguistics and linguistic anthropology, where he’s interested in matters of gender, sexuality, and race. His monograph, Queer Correctives, considers the emergence of neo-homophobia in Singapore.
About Pavan Mano:
Pavan Mano is Lecturer in Global Cultures in the Department of Interdisciplinary Humanities at King's College London. He works at the intersections of critical & literary theory, politics and culture. His first monograph, Straight Nation (Manchester UP, 2025), interrogates postcolonial nationalism and the governance of sexuality in Singapore.
We’ll tell you where President Trump is promising to make permanent cuts during this government shutdown.
Also, we’re talking about a new notice telling Congress the U.S. is at war with drug cartels.
And the backlash over a new abortion pill that just got the FDA’s approval.
Plus: the latest records broken on Wall Street, the reason many conservatives are quitting Netflix, and the frenzy over Taylor Swift’s newest album that came out overnight.
Those stories and even more news to know in about 10 minutes!
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After Republicans refuse to negotiate with Democrats on extending Affordable Care Act subsidies, the government shuts down. Dan and Alex Wagner, Pod Save America's newest contributor, discuss what Democrats will need to do to hold the line; Project 2025 architect Russ Vought's attacks on blue states and federal employees; and the Democratic-Republican messaging fight that's devolved into an AI-fueled meme war. Then, the two break down Trump's threats — and Hegseth's grievances — at an unprecedented meeting of the military's top brass, Trump's new political demands for universities, and some much-needed good news about free speech, Fed Chair Lisa Cook, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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Researchers and companies are designing AI algorithms that can detect signs of breast cancer in mammograms before those signs are visible to the human eye. WSJ reporter Brianna Abbott joins to share how these advanced AI tools compare against current risk-detection methods. Plus, personal tech columnist Nicole Nguyen discusses some features from Google's Gemini and Amazon's Alexa+ that promise to make smart homes even smarter. Peter Champelli hosts.
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Two new history books make a strong case for why learning about the past is critical to understanding the world today. First, History Matters is a posthumous collection of writings by American historian David McCullough. In today’s episode, co-editor Dorie McCullough Lawson and historian Jon Meacham tell NPR’s Scott Simon about McCullough’s endless curiosity. Then, in Midnight on the Potomac, Scott Ellsworth explores little-known corners of Civil War history. In today’s episode, he speaks with Here & Now’s Sarah McCammon about long-held myths about the period.
In the North Sea — between the United Kingdom, Norway and Denmark — thousands of flies swarmed an oil rig. Engineer Craig Hannah noticed they’d stay still on the rig for hours, suddenly taking off all at once. He was seeing hoverflies. Often confused with bees, they’re unsung pollinators. And they migrate, often hundreds of miles – including, it seems, to the middle of the ocean.
Today on the show: The mystery of why these insects are landing in the open ocean. Plus, a surprising finding in the Amazon rainforest and the sounds of life in a coral reef.
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