Episodes

The science suggests hafnium can't be used to create a gamma ray bomb, but that won't stop the U.S. government from trying.

Let us ensure we remember the lanthanide series before we leave it behind once and for all.

When Johann Bottger failed to turn lead into gold, porcelain made a pretty good consolation prize.

We'll go to the land of the ice and snow... and figure out exactly where that is, too.

Element 68 plays an important role in stitching together the World Wide Web -- for better or for worse.

Holmium: Equally beloved by theoretical physicists and Jedi Knights.

You spin me right round, baby, right round, like a windmill, baby, right round round round.

For more than one reason, element 65 makes the short list of "most annoying elements."

Like Luke Skywalker, today's tale takes a farmboy to greatness.

As element collectors, may we all one day be as fortunate as Frank Harold Spedding.

We hear all sorts of incredible stories on this podcast, but today we'll meet the most unbelievable character of all time: A friendly bureaucrat.

We've met mythological light-bearers before, but this one possesses a decidedly nobler spirit.

Decades of complex geopolitical chaos ultimately result in one afternoon's rather embarrassing hospital visit.

Sometimes, the most interesting aspect of an element has nothing to do with chemistry at all.

It's the most common flint you'll find, except it's not actually flint at all.

Let's uncover element 57, and find out why the "rare earths" are neither rare nor earths nor an empire.

When you really want to suck all the air out of a room, barium will help you out.

We'll trace the history of the most important caesium-based technology all the way back to its original roots: a stick.

Truly strange things start to happen when you breathe this rarefied air.

We'll pull in our elemental haul from the sea while Lady Jane Davy spits in the ocean.

Collecting elements can be risky business. Tellurium is one of those elements that poses a dire threat -- not to one's health, but to the element collector's reputation in polite society.

It's like an Everlasting Gobstopper, but Willy Wonka is a fratricidal German monk.

We've palled around with tin for thousands of years, but you should know that it's a fair-weather friend.

The story of indium is pretty straightforward, but its namesake is practically impossible to pin down.