Distillations | Science History Institute

We continue to look back at some of our favorite episodes this week at Distillations. SHOW CLOCK 00:00 Opening Credits 00:31 Introduction 00:48 Element of the Week: Black Bile 02:12 A Conversation with Jackie Duffin 06:44 Chemistry in Your Cupboard: Pop Rocks 08:52 Closing Credits CREDITS Special thanks to Erin McLeary, Robert Hicks, and Chi Chan for researching this show. Additional credits avail...

Addicted to the Olympics? Take a break from too much video with 12 minutes of audio. On today's show, we investigate Olympic mysteries, from the flame of the torch to the composition of those so-called gold medals.   SHOW CLOCK 00:00 Opening Credits 00:31 Introduction 01:12 Element of the Week: Gold 03:13 Mystery Solved! The Olympic Torch 06:01 Citizen Air Quality Monitoring 10:43 Quote: Albert Ca...

This week we discuss the chemistry behind what we wear. Many modern fabrics include synthetic materials, and these synthetics would not be possible without chemistry. SHOW CLOCK 00:00 Opening Credits 00:31 Introduction 01:00 Element of the Week: Aluminum 03:20 Leather Tanning in India 08:18 Chemistry in Your Cupboard: Pantyhose 11:02 Robert’s Farewell 11:20 Quote: Mark Twain 11:33 Closing Credits...

We’re rather fond of chemistry here at Distillations, but even we have to admit that not everyone who’s interested in chemistry is inspired purely by a love of science. On today’s show we explore the uses of chemistry on either side of the law. SHOW CLOCK 00:00 Opening Credits 00:31 Introduction 01:08 Element of the Week: Arsenic 03:12 A Conversation with Jay Aronson 07:34 Review: Breaking Bad 10:...

The term molecular gastronomy can sound pretentious, but food writer Harold McGee describes it as “the science of deliciousness.” Learn more about the science of food (and deliciousness) in this week’s episode. SHOW CLOCK 00:00 Opening Credits 00:30 Introduction 01:14 Element of the Week: Bismuth 03:39 Mystery Solved! The Perfect Egg 06:28 Chemistry in the Kitchen: Making Mousse Without Dairy 11:0...

There’s an old stereotype that portrays science and religion as inevitably mired in conflict. On today’s show we look past the clichés—evolution and Galileo and all that—for some areas where the two have something constructive to say to each other. SHOW CLOCK 00:00 Opening Credits 00:32 Introduction 01:01 Element of the Week: Pneuma 03:00 A Conversation with Jackie Duffin 07:55 Mystery Solved! Zom...

What makes motherhood scientific? This week, we try to answer, with a look at motherhood, pregnancy, and science. SHOW CLOCK 00:00 Opening Credits 00:32 Introduction 01:06 Element of the Week: Curium 03:43 A Conversation with Janet Golden 07:55 Chemistry in Your Cupboard: Home Pregnancy Tests 11:07 Quote: Katharine Whitehorn 11:29 Closing Credits CREDITS Special thanks to Erin McLeary for research...

Chemistry has been part of the American experience ever since the settlers at Jamestown built a lab for blowing glass and assaying metal (you can learn more on our Jamestown episode). Today we celebrate the 4th of July with a tribute to American scientific and technological achievements—and we’ve thrown in some fireworks, just for fun. SHOW CLOCK 00:00 Opening Credits 00:31 Introduction 00:57 Elem...

Matter can neither be created nor destroyed. So when you take your garbage out to the curb every week, do you ever stop to think about where it’s going? In this week’s episode, Jori Lewis explores how New York City is trying to make it easier for residents to recycle their electronic waste. SHOW CLOCK 00:00 Opening Credits 00:31 Introduction 01:15 Element of the Week: Cadmium 03:25 Conversation wi...

Summer 2008 officially begins today, June 20, at 7:50 EDT (at least in the Northern Hemisphere). Here at Distillations, we’re celebrating with a show dedicated to poolside lounging. SHOW CLOCK 00:00 Opening Credits 00:31 Introduction 00:58 Element of the Week: Titanium 02:57 Chemistry in Your Cupboard: Chlorination 05:22 Mystery Solved! Why do we float? 07:42 Quote: Henry James 08:00 Closing Credi...

Illumination has been a quest of humans for centuries now—both in terms of the cerebral and the physical. In today’s episode we focus on the physical type of illumination. SHOW CLOCK 00:00 Opening Credits 00:32 Introduction 01:14 Element of the Week: Sodium 04:09 Chemistry of Bioluminescence 09:10 Mystery Solved: Glowing in the Dark 11:08 Quote: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 11:24 Closing Credits CRE...

Baseball, track, swimming, biking—is there any sport that hasn’t suffered a scandal in the past few years? It turns out that the obvious culprits—performance enhancing drugs—are just the tip of the iceberg for how chemistry can alter athletic competition. In today’s show we look at some of the chemistry going on both inside and outside athletes’ bodies. SHOW CLOCK 00:00 Opening Credits 00:31 Intro...

There are four fundamental qualities: time, length, mass, and temperature. All other units can be derived from them, but these four can’t be broken down any further. This week we focus on time—the measurement that orders our lives. SHOW CLOCK 00:00 Opening Credits 00:32 Introduction 01:30 Element of the Week: Ruthenium 03:59 Chemistry in Your Cupboard: Pressure Cooker 06:20 The Atomic Clock 10:37...

What do Isaac Newton, yeast, and Harold Urey have in common? They all come under the research microscope of Chemical Heritage Foundation fellows. SHOW CLOCK 00:00 Opening Credits 00:31 Introduction 01:04 Element of the Week: Calcium 02:57 Chemistry in Your Cupboard: Hops 05:44 A Visit to Dogfish Head Brewery 09:57 Quote: Ben Franklin 10:10 Closing Credits CREDITS Special thanks to Hilary Domush an...

Entropy is defined as the degree of disorder in a system, and according to the Second Law of Thermodynamics entropy is always increasing. Preservation is a way that humans are trying to beat entropy, and this week we look at why and how we preserve. SHOW CLOCK 00:00 Opening Credits 00:32 Introduction 01:08 Element of the Week: Argon 03:24 Conversation with Ronn Wade 07:29 Frozen Dead Guy Days 11:2...

Blogs, YouTube, Facebook, and wikis are just a few of so-called Web 2.0 technologies that are transforming the look and feel of science on the Web. SHOW CLOCK 00:00 Opening Credits 00:32 Introduction 01:04 Conversation with John Horrigan 05:00 Element of the Week 08:01 Science Education in the Era of No Child Left Behind 10:58 Quote: Mary Shelley 11:16 Closing Credits CREDITS Special thanks to Aud...

Sound is often thought to be a science of physics, but on today’s show we consider its chemistry. SHOW CLOCK 00:00 Opening Credits 00:31 Introduction 01:11 Element of the Week: Neodymium 03:03 Chemistry in Your Cupboard: Pop Rocks 05:43 Sonic Art: Experimental Musical Instruments 10:43 Quote: Ludiwg van Beethoven 11:08 Closing Credits CREDITS Special thanks to Chi Chan and Catherine Girardeau for...

Tuesday, April 22 was Earth Day. Amid all the hubbub about "going green," it's a fair question to ask how much power individual consumers have to reduce their environmental impact.   SHOW CLOCK 00:00 Opening Credits 00:32 Introduction 01:18 Element of the Week: Fluorine 02:48 REACH: A New Approach to Chemical Regulation 07:44 A Conversation with John Mullins, Sun and Earth 10:38 Quote: Francis Bac...

Semiconductors are at the heart of countless electronic devices. Although we often think of Silicon Valley as being built on computer chips, the companies that make the chips often depend upon materials and equipment manufacturers who build the component parts. On today's show we explore some of the unheralded companies that have made the Digital Revolution possible.   SHOW CLOCK 00:00 Opening Cre...

Jamestown celebrated its 400th anniversary last year. Many people may know that it was the first permanent English settlement in North America, but less commonly known is that Jamestown was also the birthplace of the American chemical enterprise.   SHOW CLOCK 00:00 Opening Credits 00:32 Introduction 01:16 Mystery Solved 04:00 Element of the Week: Strontium 06:24 Visiting Josh Simpson's Glassblowin...

Science has long been a component of warfare, and in this week’s episode we look at how it has played a part in both destruction and preservation during times of war. SHOW CLOCK 00:00 Opening Credits 00:32 Introduction 01:19 Conversation with Jeffrey Johnson 07:35 Element of the Week: Chlorine 09:35 Review of This Republic of Suffering 11:46 Quote: William Jennings Bryan 11:56 Closing Credits CRED...

In today's show we take a closer look at vitamins, the tiny substances that are vital to our health.   SHOW CLOCK 00:00 Opening Credits 00:31 Introduction 01:39 Mystery Solved: Rickets 04:35 Element of the Week: Iron 06:41 Making Vitaming C 10:18 Quotation: George Bernard Shaw 10:38 Closing Credits   CREDITS Special thanks to Jocelyn Ford and Anke Timmermann for researching this show. Additional c...

While chemistry often plays a silent role in art, such as synthetic additives in acrylic paints, both artists and scientists have consciously chosen to intersect the two.   SHOW CLOCK 00:00 Opening Credits 00:32 Introduction 01:09 Element of the Week: Neon 03:37 Commentary: Self-Grown Pictures 06:54 ChemArtists 10:51 Quote: Bo Malmstrom 11:04 Closing Credits   CREDITS Special thanks to Erin McLear...

Is science on the silver screen any less real than science in the lab? A crew from CHF attempts to answer this question with a visit to a new Star Wars exhibit at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia.   SHOW CLOCK 00:00 Opening Credits 00:32 Introduction 00:50 Element of the Week: Krypton 02:28 Commentary: Cartoons as Science? 06:15 Exhibit Review: Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination 11:1...

You've heard the hype—but what's nanotechnology really all about? Today's show is an investigation into the current reality and the future potential of nanotechnology.   SHOW CLOCK 00:00 Opening Credits 00:31 Introduction 01:32 Element of the Week: Carbon 03:08 Conversation with George Whitesides 07:51 Mystery Solved! Damascus Steel 10:49 Quote: Richard Smalley 11:08 Closing Credits   CREDITS Spec...