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Join world-leading scientists as they delve into the incredible stories behind 16 elements, including the dark and controversial history of gold; how a solar eclipse in 1868 led to the discovery of the periodic table's most notorious escape artist, helium; the role of iron in the rise and fall of human civilisations; why you might find iodine in British milk, but not necessarily anywhere else in the world; and how a discovery in boiled urine led to the trade union movement and a chemical weapon. 
 
Far from being confined to a laboratory, In Their Element weaves chemistry back into our everyday lives. 
From the incredible power of lithium to our use and abuse of lead, to why carbon is the backbone of life, but silicone is the world's crucial building block. We learn why fluorine is called 'the tiger of chemistry', how sodium might be the key to a new generation of painkillers, that mercury is integral to hundreds of years of scientific discoveries, and the extraordinary story of how the health impact of phosphorus on a group of Irish girls changed politics forever. 
 
In Their Element is a fascinating introduction to both the history of chemistry and a debate about the way we use raw materials in the modern world. 
 
1 Mercury 
2 Oxygen 
3 Lithium 
4 Carbon 
5 Silicon 
6 Lead 
7 Phosphorus 
8 Iodine 
9 Fluorine 
10 Iron 
11 Sodium 
12 Silver 
13 Aluminium 
14 Gold 
15 Helium 
16 Strontium

In Their Element: How Chemistry Made the Modern World

A BBC Radio 4 Programme

George Johnson

George Johnson tells the stories of ten beautiful experiments which changed the world. From Galileo singing to mark time as he measured the pull of gravity and Newton carefully inserting a needle behind his own eye, to Joule packing a thermometer on his honeymoon to take the temperature of waterfalls and Michelson recovering from a dark depression to discover that light moves at the same speed in every direction - these ten dedicated men employed diamonds, dogs, frogs and even their own bodies as they worked to discover the laws of nature and of the universe.

The Ten Most Beautiful Experiments

Chandler Burr

In the tradition of Susan Orlean's The Orchid Thief and James Gleick's Genius, The Emperor of Scent tells the story of Luca Turin, an utterly unusual, stubborn scientist, his otherworldly gift for perfume, his brilliant, quixotic theory of how we smell, and his struggle to set before the world the secret of the most enigmatic of our senses.

The Emperor Of Scent

Hugh Aldersey-Williams

Everything in the universe is made of them, including you. 
 
Like you, the elements have personalities, attitudes, talents, shortcomings, stories rich with meaning. 
 
Here you'll meet iron that rains from the heavens and noble gases that light the way to vice. You'll learn how lead can tell your future while zinc may one day line your coffin. You'll discover what connects the bones in your body with the Whitehouse in Washington, the glow of a streetlamp with the salt on your dinner table. 
 
Unlocking their astonishing secrets and colourful pasts, Periodic Tales is a voyage of wonder and discovery, showing that their stories are our stories, and their lives are inextricable from our own.

Periodic Tales

The Curious Lives of the Elements

Richard Dawkins

Dave McKean

What are things made of? 
What is the sun? 
Why is there night and day, winter and summer? 
Why do bad things happen? 
Are we alone? 
 
Throughout history people all over the world have invented stories to answer profound questions such as these. Have you heard the tale of how the sun hatched out of an emu's egg? Or what about the great catfish that carries the world on its back? Has anyone ever told you that earthquakes are caused by a sneezing giant? These fantastical myths are fun - but what is the real answer to such questions? 
 
The Magic of Reality, with its explanations of space, time, evolution and more, will inspire and amaze readers of all ages - young adults, adults, children, octogenarians. Teaming up with the renowned illustrator Dave McKean, Richard Dawkins answers all these questions and many more. In stunning words and pictures this book presents the real story of the world around us, taking us on an enthralling journey through scientific reality, and showing that it has an awe-inspiring beauty and thrilling magic which far exceed those of the ancient myths. 
 
We encounter rainbows, our genetic ancestors, tsunamis, shooting stars, plants, animals, and an intriguing cast of characters in this extraordinary scientific voyage of discovery. Richard Dawkins and Dave McKean have created a dazzling celebration of our planet that will entertain and inform for years to come.

The Magic of Reality

How we know what's really true

Mark Miodownik

A series of glasses of transparent liquids is in front of you: but which will quench your thirst and which will kill you? And why? Why does one liquid make us drunk, and another power a jumbo jet? 
 
From the bestselling author of Stuff Matters comes a fascinating tour of the world of these surprising or sinister substances - the droplets, heartbeats and ocean waves we encounter day-to-day. Structured around a plane journey which sees encounters with water, wine, and oil, among others, Miodownik shows that liquids are agents of death and destruction as well as substances of wonder and fascination. Just as in Stuff Matters his unique brand of scientific storytelling brings them and their mysterious properties alive in a captivating new way.

Liquid

The Delightful and Dangerous Substances That Flow Through Our Lives

Sam Kean

Why did Gandhi hate iodine (I, 53)? Why did the Japanese kill Godzilla with missiles made of cadmium (Cd, 48)? How did radium (Ra, 88) nearly ruin Marie Curie's reputation? And why did tellurium (Te, 52) lead to the most bizarre gold rush in history? 
 
The periodic table is one of our crowning scientific achievements, but it's also a treasure trove of passion, adventure, betrayal and obsession. The fascinating tales in The Disappearing Spoon follow carbon, neon, silicon, gold and every single element on the table as they play out their parts in human history, finance, mythology, conflict, the arts, medicine and the lives of the (frequently) mad scientists who discovered them. 
 
Why did a little lithium (Li, 3) help cure poet Robert Lowell of his madness? And how did gallium (Ga, 31) become the go-to element for laboratory pranksters? The Disappearing Spoon has the answers, fusing science with the classic lore of invention, investigation, discovery and alchemy, from the big bang through to the end of time.

The Disappearing Spoon...and other true tales from the Periodic Table

Peter Brannen

All life is made from CO2 . It was there at earth’s birth, and throughout evolution. It has kept our planet habitable for hundreds of millions of years. It has given us all the splendours of the world we know today. And yet it also holds the potential for life's destruction. 
 
In this gripping adventure through eras and places, award-winning science journalist Peter Brannen tells the story of the world’s most important molecule. We travel from the beginning of time all the way up to our present reality, witnessing the staggering journey that CO2 has undertaken. 
 
As we watch its movements through the rocks, the air, the oceans and living beings over four billion years, we come to see more clearly what it means for us to be churning through ancient life – in the form of fossil fuels – as we power our industrial world. We are, Brannen shows, performing an unprecedented experiment on our planet. If we are to avoid its catastrophic consequences, we must all begin to deepen our understanding of this curious substance, which has given us everything from the very first life forms on earth to the business titans reshaping our planet today.

The Story of CO2 Is the Story of Everything

Why are most gases invisible, odourless and tasteless? Why do some poison us and others make us laugh? And why do some power our engines while others make drinks fizzy? In It's a Gas, Mark Miodownik masterfully reveals an invisible world through his unique brand of scientific storytelling. 
 
Taking us back to that exhilarating – and often dangerous – moment when scientists tried to work out exactly what they had discovered, Miodownik shows that gases are the formative substances of our modern world, each with its own weird and wonderful personality. 
We see how seventeenth-century laughing gas parties led to the first use of anaesthetics in surgery, how the invention of the air valve in musical instruments gave us bicycles, cars and trainers, and how gases made us masters of the sea (by huge steamships) and skies (via extremely flammable balloons). This delight of a book reveals the immense importance of gases to modern civilisation.

It's a Gas

The Magnificent and Elusive Elements that Expand Our World

Tim Coulson

How did everything start? 
 
And how did we come to exist? 
 
In one book Oxford Professor Tim Coulson seeks to simply explain what science tells us about the history of the universe from the Big Bang to the existence of humanity, and whether our existence was always inevitable or if we are just incredibly lucky. 
 
Coulson's engaging and accessible storytelling will enthral even the most reluctant of readers with its exploration of what thousands of years of study has told us about who we are, where we came from and what happens next.

A Little History of Everything

From the Big Bang to You

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