Talking Science Podcast
Where the Elements Come From – Cosmic Nucleosynthesis
There is a phrase that sounds like poetry but is in fact plain scientific truth: we are made of stardust. The iron in your blood, the calcium in your…
Articles
Chemistry & Technology
Radioactivity – The Unstable Heart of the Atom
The word radioactivity tends to conjure images of danger: warning symbols, protective suits, and disaster films. It is true that radioactivity demands…
Artificial Intelligence – How Machines Learn
A computer that can recognise a friend’s face in a photo, translate a menu in a foreign country, or hold a surprisingly natural conversation would…
Semiconductors – The Brains of Modern Technology
Somewhere inside the device you are reading this on sits a sliver of silicon smaller than a fingernail, and etched onto it are billions of switches…
Batteries – How We Store Energy
Reach into your pocket, glance at your wrist, or look at the car in your driveway, and chances are a battery is at work. These unassuming objects have…
Living in Space – What Zero-G Does to the Body
Imagine never feeling your own weight again. In orbit, astronauts float through their spacecraft, pushing off walls with a fingertip and sleeping…
Space Junk and the Kessler Problem
Look up on a clear night and space seems calm, endless, and empty. But the region just above our atmosphere has become surprisingly crowded. Circling…
Voyager – Humanity’s Farthest Messengers
Right now, further from home than anything humanity has ever built, two small spacecraft are drifting through the dark between the stars. They were…
How Rockets Actually Work
There are few sights more thrilling than a rocket launch. The ground trembles, a column of flame erupts, and a machine heavier than a hundred cars…
Renewable Energy – Sun, Wind and Water
Every second, the Sun pours more energy onto the Earth than all of humanity uses in a whole day. The wind that ruffles your hair and the river that…
Nuclear Power – Splitting the Atom
Deep inside a nuclear power station, something almost unbelievable is happening. Atoms too small to see are being split in two, and each tiny split…
Water – The Strangest Ordinary Molecule
You drank some this morning. You are mostly made of it. It falls from the sky, fills the oceans, and swirls down the drain without a second thought.…
Carbon – The Element That Makes Life Possible
Somewhere in your body right now, carbon atoms are doing the work of keeping you alive. They form the spine of your DNA, the walls of your cells, the…
Chemical Bonds – Why Atoms Stick Together
Pick up a glass of water. It stays a liquid, pouring and splashing, rather than drifting apart into an invisible fog. Grip a steel spoon and it keeps…
The Periodic Table – Order from Chaos
Hang around any science classroom long enough and you will see it: that colourful grid of boxes, each stamped with a letter or two and a number. The…