Italy – The Episodic Table of Elements

20. Calcium: Stone and Bone

September 10, 2018

6:00 am

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Biology, Cliffs of Dover, Concrete, Greece, Illumination, Indonesia, Italy, Michelangelo, Mythology, Pharmaceuticals, Rome, Sculpture, Shakespeare, Theater, Washington DC

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Stories of turning flesh to stone — and vice versa — are common in mythology. With calcium, we see how those same transitions can happen in the real world.

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14. Silicon: Tool Of All Trades

by trappleton

May 28, 2018

6:00 am

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Podcast

Artificial Intelligence, Astronomy, Atomic Bonding, Biology, Computers, Electronics, Galileo Galilei, Glass, Isaac Newton, Italy, Prehistory, Rome, Science Fiction

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From prehistoric times right through today, our hand-held tools have been made of silicon.

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4. Beryllium: The Modern Sisyphus

by trappleton

January 29, 2018

6:00 am

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Podcast

Enrico Fermi, Etymology, Italy, IUPAC, Labor, Los Alamos, Mineralogy, Nicolas-Louis Vauquelin, Nuclear Weapons, Pliny the Elder, Rome, United States

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As we try to dive deep into beryllium, we discover its irritating tendency to send us back to the beginning.

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