In today’s world, technology is seemingly ubiquitous. Chemistry plays a role in many technologies and may be obvious in some products, but is quite invisible in others. This week we learn about the discovery of liquid crystal and how it is used for many different electronic displays—from digital watches to computer screens. We also explore the role of chemistry in the Manhattan Project, and how hydrogenation impacts our daily lives. We take a visit to the BASF Catalysts R&D lab in Ohio to find out how hydrogenation is used in the production of margarine and why margarine became so common in kitchens. Element of the Week: Uranium.

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Show Clock

00:00     Opening Credits
00:32     Introduction
01:39     Element of the Week: Uranium
04:13     Mystery Solved: Liquid Crystal Displays
06:51     Hydrogenation
10:59     Quote: Karl Compton
11:19     Closing Credits

Resources and References

On uranium: Pap A. Ndiaye, translated by Elborg Forster, Nylon and Bombs: DuPont and the March of Modern America (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007).
On liquid crystals: The Nobel Prize web site.
On LCDs: How Stuff Works, and this helpful entry from Wikipedia.
Quotation: Karl Taylor Compton, A Scientist Speaks (Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 1955).

Credits

This show was researched by Victoria Indivero and Jody Roberts. Catherine Girardeau produced the segment on hydrogenation.

Our theme music is composed by Dave Kaufman. Additional music was provided from the Podsafe Music Network. The music for both the intro and outro to the Element of the Week is Cellophane, by nano.US. The music for the show ID is Cold War Special Ops, by The New Digital Sound. The music for the quotation is Two Mazurkas, by The Four Bags.

This week’s image is of a liquid crystal display grid, from the Science Photo Library. Photo by Andrew Syred.

From antibiotics to chemotherapy, modern pharmaceuticals have transformed the experience of illness in the 20th century. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw (left), the founder and chairman of Biocon, Ltd., joins us for a discussion of how the global business of pharmaceuticals is changing the culture of science in India. But while modern “wonder drugs” have saved countless lives, they have a left a more complicated legacy well beyond the doctor’s office. A commentary by David Caruso, program manager for biomedical sciences and technologies at CHF’s Center for Contemporary History and Policy, explores the far-reaching effects of pharmaceuticals in social, economic, and political history. Element of the Week: Sulfur.

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Show Clock

00:00     Opening Credits
00:31     Introduction
01:14     Element of the Week: Sulfur
02:44     A Conversation with Kiran Mazumdar Shaw
07:50     The Complicated Legacy of Modern Pharmaceuticals
10:44     Quote: Hans Zinsser
11:00     Closing Credits

Resources and References

On American drug regulation: The Food and Drug Administration
On the rise of the modern pharmaceutical industry: Jeremy A. Greene, Prescribing by Numbers: Drugs and the Definition of Disease (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006).
Quote: Hans Zinsser, Rats, Lice, and History (1934), p. 13.

Credits

Special thanks to David Caruso for researching the show.

Our theme music is composed by Dave Kaufman. Additional music was provided from the Podsafe Music Network. The music for intro to the Element of the Week is China Town, by Maestross. At the end of the Element of the Week the music is Raindrop Rhapsody, by Option42. The music for the show ID is Indian SciFi, by Joshua Dranoel. The music for the quotation is Fading, by Al Stravinsky. The interview with Kiran Mazumdar Shaw was produced by Jean Parker.

This week’s image is of Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, courtesy of Biocon.

Color literally fills our world, and it plays a dominant role in how we perceive our surroundings. Scientists have been fascinated with the question of what color is ever since Isaac Newton discovered that white light contains the entire color spectrum. Our show on color explains not only how color is produced, but also looks at how scientists use color to investigate the natural world. Join CHF’s Erin McLeary and Integral Molecular’s Joe Rucker as they whip up a batch of mauvine, the first synthetic dye, in CHF’s catering kitchen. (You can see their results in the glove pictured above.) In this week’s Chemistry in Your Cupboard, learn how you can make your own pH meter with a common vegetable. Element of the Week: Chromium.

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Show Clock

00:00    Opening Credits
00:32     Introduction
01:09     Element of the Week: Chromium
02:54     Chemistry in Your Cupboard
05:12     Making Mauvine
10:47     Quote: Claude Monet
11:06     Closing Credits

Resources and References

On chromium: Web Elements Perioidic Table and this helpful Wikipedia entry
For a good explanation of the red cabbage phenomenon: a lecture demonstration from the University of Minnesota
On mauvine: Simon Garfield, “One Man and His Color: Reflections on Mauve’s 150th Birthday,” Chemical Heritage 24, no. 3 (Fall 2006), 8–10, 35.
On color in general: Philip Ball, Bright Earth: Art and the Invention of Color (New York, 2001).
Quotation: Claude Monet, as quoted J. Claretie, La Vie á Paris, 1881 (Paris, 1881), p. 26.

Credits

Special thanks to Hilary Domush for researching the show.

Our theme music is composed by Dave Kaufman. Additional music was provided from the Podsafe Music Network. The music for introduction to the Element of the Week is Sage Hill Theme, by Intelect. At the end of the Element of the Week the music is Boom Boom Beckett’s In a Sentimental Mood. The music at the end of Chemistry in Your Cupboard is Dog Day Afternoon, by Freddie Wong. Both the intro and the outro for mauvine segment is Rio Colorado, by Moth to a Candle.

This week’s photo was taken by Gregory Tobias.

Please note: In today’s episode we have included more mature content than a typical show. 

A Valentine for our listeners, this show is dedicated to the chemistry of love. In today’s show, we explain why passion has always been associated with fire and how the stars can influence your love life. We will also look at the long history of aphrodisiacs, from Spanish fly to chilies to chocolate — but in a different way than one might expect. The Element of the Week: Fire.

And, as promised in the episode, special love recipes for you and your Valentine. Can you figure out which one we don’t recommend trying at home?

The Wolf
“…on the tail of this animal there is a tiny patch of hair which is a love-charm; if the wolf fears that it may be captured, it tears the hair out with its teeth; the charm has no power unless the the hair is taken from the wolf while it is still alive.”
From the Aberdeen Bestiary (a manuscript on animals), written in England around 1200. Aberdeen University Library MS 24, f. 17r.

The Grand Duke of Tuscany’s famous jasmine chocolate
• 4.5 kg ground and roasted cocoa beans
• fresh jasmine flowers
• 3.6 kg dry white sugar
• 85 g “perfect” vanilla pods
• 115 to 170 g “perfect” cinnamon
• 2.5 g grey amber

Place alternate layers of jasmine with layers of ground chocolate in a box, and leave to rest for 24h. Then mix together and add more alternate layers of jasmine and cocoa and proceed in the same way. Repeat the operation 10 to 12 times so that the cocoa really absorbs the scent of the jasmine. Then add the other ingredients and grind this mixture on a warm metate stone. If the metate is too hot, the aroma may evaporate.
From The Chocolate Museum.

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Show Clock

00:00    Opening Credits
00:32    Introduction
00:54    Element of the Week: Fire
02:45    Mystery Solved: Aphrodisiacs
05:46    Precise as Pastry
10:03    Quote: Robert Burton
10:31    Closing Credits

Resources and References

On fire: The Ancient Greek Esoteric Doctrine of the Elements, from John Opsopaus
On love and chemistry: Jen Muehlbauer, “The Chemistry of Love”
On Spanish fly: Poisonous Plants and Animals article from ThinkQuest
On pheromones: An informative entry on Wikipedia

Credits

Special thanks to Anke Timmermann for researching the show.

Our theme music is composed by Dave Kaufman. Additional music was provided from the Podsafe Music Network, Andrew Chalfen, and The Bobs. The music for introduction to the Element of the Week is Fire, by Cyclops. At the end of the Element of the Week the music is Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire, arranged and performed by The Bobs. The music for both the intro and the outro for the Mystery Solved segment is Super Size My Love, by Lima Charlie. The music for the quotation is Incidental Music 9, by Andrew Chalfen.

This week’s image appears in Giambattista della Porta’s De distillatione, book 9 (1608). Image courtesy of the Roy G. Neville Historical Chemical Library at CHF. Photo by Douglas A. Lockard.