Pliny the Elder – The Episodic Table of Elements

51. Antimony: Can You Return An Inheritance?

December 16, 2019

6:00 am

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Alchemy, Basilius Valentinus, China, Dioscorides, Egypt, Etymology, Jons Jacob Berzelius, Medicine, Mozart, Murder, Numismatics, Paracelsus, Pliny the Elder, Poisons, William J. Robinson

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

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47. Silver: Our Own Image

October 14, 2019

6:00 am

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Atomic Energy Commission, Glass, Johann Heinrich Schulze, Justus von Liebig, Kenneth Nichols, Kodak, Leslie Groves, Medicine, Nuclear Weapons, Oak Ridge National Labs, Photography, Pliny the Elder, Psychology, South America

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

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9. Fluorine: Tyger Tyger, Burning Bright

March 19, 2018

6:00 am

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Andre-Marie Ampere, Astronomy, Atomic Structure, Carl Wilhelm Scheele, Dmitri Mendeleev, Edmund Fremy, Etymology, Fritz Haber, George Gore, Georgius Agricola, Gilbert Lewis, Henri Moissan, Humphry Davy, Ions, Isaac Newton, Jerome Nickles, Knox Brothers, Mineralogy, Multiple Discovery, NASA, Nobel Prizes, Oxidation, Paulin Louyet, Pharmaceuticals, Pliny the Elder, Poisons, Pollution, Radioactivity

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Just try to tally the body count behind the periodic table’s most reactive element, and learn why you should drink it.

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4. Beryllium: The Modern Sisyphus

January 29, 2018

6:00 am

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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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