Crime – The Episodic Table of Elements

49. Indium: The Spectre Of Isaac

November 11, 2019

6:00 am

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Alchemy, Color, Crime, East India Company, England, Etymology, Ferdinand Reich, Hieronymus Richter, Illumination, Imperialism, India, Isaac Newton, Numismatics, Optics, Perception, Spectroscopy, Television, William Chaloner

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

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33. Arsenic: It’s Not Easy Being Green

March 11, 2019

6:00 am

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Adenosine Triphosphate, Agatha Christie, Aqua Tofana, Botox, Carl Wilhelm Scheele, Crime, Giulia Tofana, Italy, Literature, Napoleon, Paracelsus, Pharmaceuticals, Poisons, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

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Considering how synonymous this episode’s element is with “poison,” it’s astounding how eager people have historically been to ingest the stuff.

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31. Gallium: The Wet Bandits

February 11, 2019

6:00 am

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Crime, Dmitri Mendeleev, Electronics, Etymology, France, Lasers, Neutrinos, Paul-Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran, Russia, Wetting

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

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