Episode description

This week time is up for the UN to come up with rules about how to mine the ocean bed. We hear about the mysterious potato shaped objects on the sea floor that contain lots of valuable minerals that are essential for electronics like mobile phones.

Our team on three different continents compare how recycling of precious metals is going in their parts of world, and we hear why early Lithium batteries kept catching fire. We also speak to an expert on hydroelectric power who tells us how small scale hydro is a massively untapped resource, possibly even in your own back garden.

This week’s Under the Radar story is a personal tale of floods and landslides in the Himalayas, and what science tells us about the huge cloudburst that caused them.

Our search to discover The Coolest Science in the World continues with a fascinating look at sonification with a researcher who straddles science and music, and we dive into the fact that human use of underground water has redistributed the weight of the planet.

All that plus your emails and WhatsApps, the answer to a question about heavy metal and the wonderful laugh of a Nobel laureate.

Presented by Marnie Chesterton Produced by Alex Mansfield, with Ben Motley and Sophie Ormiston