Episodes

Cadmium will let you choose among a range of orange-ish hues, but it's some pretty awful news if you contract the "cadmium blues."

Silver is more than just a precious metal. It's also a reflection of ourselves.

Those people who've been involved with palladium's history seem to harbor a dubious predilection for stretching the truth.

For some people, rhodium's most important aspect is its high price. For others, it's absolutely priceless.

Element 44 is technically not named for Russia... but perhaps it should be.

It's only after we gave up searching for this element that we found it out in the universe.

Before we talk about one big gun, let's discuss 1,500 years of military technology.

We delve into elemental etymology today, and get to investigate a chemical phenomenon.

Today, we reach the last element on the periodic table -- but only alphabetically speaking.

Welcome to the sleepy Swedish town of Ytterby. I hope you like it, because we'll be spending an awful lot of time there later in the series.

Let's look past the bad reputation this element has to learn how it's an essential part of an idyllic childhood.

Rubidium is more explosive than the alkali metals above it on the table, but it's much more interesting when it's standing almost perfectly still.

Like argon, today's noble gas coincidentally features prominently in science fiction -- albeit in name only. But krypton also takes a place in the science factual story of international weights and measures.

Don't get too excited, because bromine is an element that brings the hammer down on both extreme emotions and extreme actions.

Throughout history, copying information has been arduous, messy, and even dangerous -- until one bored, depressed man figured out the secrets of selenium.

Considering how synonymous this episode's element is with "poison," it's shocking how eager people have historically been to ingest the stuff.

Silicon gets all the press, but germanium was the real trailblazer of the Information Age.

Meet one of the periodic table's lesser-known liquid metals -- and beware some dangerous competition from a few felonious element collectors.

Learn about some of Italy's most renowned chemists and how they inspired a most gruesome quest to conquer death.

We get lost in the woods with a couple of little guys in today's episode, and learn about a lesser-known American Civil War.

From religion to money to politics, nickel finds itself at the center of all kinds of awkward conversations.

Cobalt is a tricksy little element, which means the scientists who've dealt with it the most are some of the cleverest people to have ever walked the Earth.

Is iron a metal that's more valuable than gold, or are we forever trapped in its "hated shadow?"

From giant prehistoric sharks to clandestine Cold War projects, manganese is an element that has concealed a lot of secrets.