Global Leadership and Wildlife Preservation in the Amazon

Headlines that Canadian uranium deposits could make it a nuclear superpower has the Unexpected Elements team musing on all manner of superpowers.

Tardigrades are an obvious candidate – boil them, freeze them, irradiate them in space, these adorable creatures are almost indestructible. We also meet Dr Deep Sea, Joseph Dituri, from the University of South Florida, who lived under water for 100 days and swears by it as a boost for our health.

As the leader of the free world goes on an Amazon jungle tour, we talk tiny frogs, giant frogs and radiation tolerant frogs.

We also hear how cancer survivors may have a secret superpower and how we’ve co-opted plants superpowers for medicines.

Presenter: Marnie Chesterton, with Camilla Mota and Affelia Wibisono Producers: Imaan Moin, Harrison Lewis and Dan Welsh Sound engineer: Gavin Wong