Chemistry
Our Changing World – Plasma jet technology
Dr, Taniela Lolohea of the Auckland University of Technology speaks about his research into low temperature plasma jet technology surface coatings. Audio
The promises and perils of chemistry research
Two stories about the promise and perils of chemistry research. From a team recreating Renaissance beauty recipes in the hopes of rediscovering a 'miracle ingredient', to a researcher investigating… Audio
Investigating the toxicity of synthetic cannabinoids
Toxicology PhD student Lucy Thomsen is looking at why certain synthetic cannabinoids are so dangerous. First created by scientists with the intent of making medicines, they have now been co-opted by… Audio
Our Changing World - Careful consistent chemistry
This New Zealand sea week Our Changing World finds out about one of the longest running ocean chemistry studies in the South Pacific Ocean. Audio
Futurama: Jumbonium
Good news, everyone! Dr Nate Davis, Associate Investigator and Senior Lecturer in Physical Chemistry at Victoria University of Wellington brings us the science - or lack of it - behind Jumbonium from… Audio
Honey fingerprints and plant powers
Claire learns about honey fingerprinting while Katy Gosset meets a scientist studying the anti-microbial properties of some native plants. Audio
Using chemistry to uncover the past
Chemical isotope analysis is a powerful technique - Dr. Charlotte King explains to Claire how she uses it to reconstruct past lives of forgotten people from the Otago gold rush. Audio
Our Changing World - Using chemistry to reconstruct past lives
Dr. Charlotte King explains her work using chemical isotopes to reconstruct past lives of forgotten people from the time of the Otago gold rush. Audio
Flubber: Fun or Frightening?
Flubber has been around since 1961 when the mad scientist Professor Brainard discovered the flying rubber. It got a re-vamp with Robin Williams in the late 90s, but how realistic is it? Audio
Calling Home: Peter Croot in Galway
Dunedinite Professor Peter Croot has seen a fair bit of both land and sea during his time as an internationally-respected chemical oceanographer, having lived and worked in the USA, Sweden, Germany… Audio, Gallery
Materials: Fact or Fiction - Corrodium
Bill Jia is a PhD student in a MacDiarmid Institute research lab at the University of Auckland studying Chemistry. He joins is to give us his scientific take on Corrodium from Ben 10. Audio
How fresh is the air we breathe?
New Zealanders make take it for granted that we live in a clean, green part of the world but just how fresh is the air we breathe? Many Kiwis would be surprised by what we're breathing in, says… Video, Audio
Photopharmacology 'lighting the way' for new treatments
Using light to activate or deactivate drugs, photopharmacology, is a relatively new area of medicinal chemistry, with a key advantage being the high degree of control over the time and place where… Audio
Sir Paul Nurse: What Is Life?
Nobel prize-winning geneticist Sir Paul Nurse's latest book, What Is Life?, explores the question of what we as humans share with all other living things on this planet. Audio
Materials: Fact of Fiction - Neutronium
Associate Professor in Physics at the Faculty of Science, University of Auckland, JJ Eldridge gives us her scientific take on Neutronium - a material widely written about in fiction - including Star… Audio
Using music as medicine
New research has revealed that music could be prescribed to help us focus, feel happier, relax and overcome sadness. Lyz Cooper is the founder of the British Academy of Sound Therapy and conducted the… Audio
The journalist who went undercover to infiltrate a white nationalist group
When Winnipeg Free Press writer Ryan Thorpe saw flyers recruiting for white nationalist group The Base, he had two choices: write a bog-standard reaction piece or take a more drastic approach and go… Audio
Zirconium - shape-shifting time capsule
Zirconium is a shape-shifting tough cookie, that is a tale of gemstones, medical implants and nuclear reactors, says Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 96 of Elemental. Audio
Zinc - more useful than you realise
Zinc is a very useful metal that turns up in everything from sunscreen to paint, & galvanised metals to cereals, as well as brass instruments, says Prof Allan Blackman in ep 95 of Elemental. Audio
Yttrium - here's that village Ytterby again
Yttrium is yet another element named after the village of Ytterby and is important in the development of high temperature superconductors, says Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 94 of Elemental. Audio