The Episodic Table of Elements

Many episodes have incorporated geology, but this one is more about geography. (And amateur nuclear science.)

Element 94 causes a bit of a crisis for our collections.

To the person who said, "the episodes are never too long," I'm terribly sorry.

Time for the most traditional holiday celebration: A science lesson.

America's worst radioactive accident isn't Three Mile Island, and the Nazi nuclear physicist wasn't assassinated by the famous baseball player.

Sometimes we need a quiet moment in order to step back and look at the bigger picture.

Sure, thorium could provide practically limitless clean energy, but then we couldn't build weapons of mass destruction.

We all know that radioactive rocks glow in the dark, except they actually don't, except for when they actually do.

Out of all the characters who encounter radium in this episode, the only one to emerge unscathed is the guy who comes face-to-face with Satan.

You don't have to have a degree to do science, but it helps.

You know something's amiss when you set off the radiation alarms while walking in to the nuclear power plant.

The story of astatine takes us to Alabama, Dacca, Romania, Vienna, and California, but definitely not Switzerland.

Sadly, it's no longer possible to purchase this lethally radioactive element for fifteen cents and a cereal boxtop.

The periodic table shows the natural patterns and trends among the elements. Bismuth does not abide.

We just can't seem to stop chasing the sweet, sweet taste of element 82.

In which we learn how reading mystery novels might very well save a life.

Even if you hate tuna, have flawless teeth, and only use digital thermometers, humans have historically not been shy about getting a mouthful of mercury.

All other metals step aside, because today we deal with the king of elements.

Sometimes, being set in stone isn't permanent enough.

Alvarez noticed a great disturbance in the rocks, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.

This entire episode serves as cautionary advice to anyone seeking to add osmium to their element collection.

Witness an incredible, unbreakable bond between two who couldn't be more alike. We'll also learn about a married couple.

All right, everybody settle down. Welcome to the weekly meeting of the National Association Of W Lovers.

Once more, the periodic table drags us to hell -- this time by way of ancient Greece.

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.

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.