This week we’re looking back at some of our favorite Distillations episodes. First, we return to one of our first shows with the element of the week. Audra Wolfe explains the standards that make precise measurement possible. Next we visit CHF’s kitchen as Erin McLeary and Integral Molecular’s Joe Rucker try their hand at making mauvine, originally featured on our color show. Finally we revisit our nanotechnology show with a medieval application of carbon nanotubes. Jen Dionisio tells us about Damascus steel in Mystery Solved! Element of the Week: Platinum.

Listen now (streaming file)
Download (11.5 MB MP3 file)

Show Clock

00:00 Opening Credits
00:32 Introduction
00:50 Element of the Week: Platinum
03:03 Making Mauvine
08:30 Mystery Solved! Damascus Steel
11:17 Closing Credits

Credits

Thank you to Hilary Domush and Chi Chan who researched the shows we featured this week.

Our theme music is composed by Dave Kaufman. Additional music from the PodSafe Music Network.

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. Document preservation is important for historical items like the Constitution. We learn that argon is an inert gas much less reactive than oxygen and is used by places like the Library of Congress to display important documents safely. Also this week we interview Ronn Wade, director of the Maryland State Anatomy Board. Wade tells us about plastination, a modern-day mummy, as well as securing and preserving cadavers for medical students. And producer Eric Mack visits Nederland, Colorado, for Frozen Dead Guy Days where cryogenics and cryonics are discussed very seriously. Arguably Nederland’s most famous resident is the Frozen Dead Guy, Bredo Morstel. Element of the Week: Argon.

Listen now (streaming file)
Download (11.8 MB MP3 file)

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
11:28     Quote: Neil Rollinson
11:44     Closing Credits

Resources and References

An article about using argon to preserve documents.
More about Waldseemüller’s 1507 map.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology Cryogenics Web site.
The Cryonics Institute Web site.
All about the plastination process.

Credits

This show was researched by Audra Wolfe.

Our theme music is composed by Dave Kaufman. Additional music was provided by the Podsafe Music Network. The music for the Element of the Week is “Shambhala,” by r.domain. Under the show ID is “Cafe Turc,” by Sara Alexander. The music for the quotation is “Shimdiggy,” by Romashka.

This week’s image is of Martin Waldseemüller’s 1507 map, which was preserved in argon gas in December 2007, courtesy of the Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division.

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. Today we learn why the settlers of Jamestown purposely packed copper waste products to bring to the New World with them. Also explore a centuries-old murder mystery and how strontium can help solve it. Finally, producer Amy Mayer takes us into the modern-day glassblowing studio of Josh Simpson—the art of which has not changed much since the first settlers at Jamestown set up their own glassblowing works. Element of the Week: Strontium.

Listen now (streaming file)
Download (10.5 MB MP3 file)

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 Glassblowing Studio
10:13     Quote: Captain John Smith
10:23     Closing Credits

Resources and References

On JR, the mystery man: the Jamestown Rediscovery Web site.
On strontium: this helpful entry on Wikipedia.
For more about Josh Simpson’s work, visit his Web site.

Credits

Special thanks to Robert Hicks for researching the show.

Our theme music is composed by Dave Kaufman. Additional music was provided by Jon Sayles. The music underneath the monologue is “Fly not so fast my dear,” by John Wilbye. The music for the Mystery Solved segment is “My Lady Carey’s Dompe,” by Anonymous. The music for the Element of the Week is “You that wont to my pipes sound,” by Thomas Morley. Underneath the quote of the week is “The Witches’ Dance,” by Anonymous.

The image at the top of the page, of Josh Simpson working in his studio, is courtesy of Lewis Legbreaker. Both images of Simpson’s platters are courtesy of Tommy Olof Elder.

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. In an interview with CHF’s Chi Chan, Harvard University chemist George Whitesides explains how nanofabrication works, what it has to do with chemistry, and what new developments we should expect to see in the next five years. In our Mystery Solved! segment, Jennifer Dionisio uncovers the tiny secret behind the legendary sharpness of Damascus steel. The Element of the Week: Carbon.

Listen now (streaming file)
Download (11.4 MB MP3 file)

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

Resources and References

Nano basics: National Nanotechnology Initiative.
For more on nanoresearch at Harvard: The Center for Nanoscale Systems.
On Damascus steel: Reibold, M., A. A. Levin, W. Kochmann, N. Pätzke, and D. C. Meyer, “Materials: Carbon Nanotubes in an Ancient Damascus Sabre,” Nature 444 (2006): 286. 
And just for fun, an odd nanoachievement: The darkest thing ever made.

Credits

Special thanks to Chi Chan for researching the show.

Our theme music is composed by Dave Kaufman. Additional music was provided from the Podsafe Music Network. The music for the transition out of the Element of the Week is Sand Swallows Earth, by Spring Clock Wonder. We used Ozone Chamber (Chemical Mix), by Fledglyng, under the show ID. The music at the beginning of Mystery Solved is Keblah—Architectural Mix, by Riad Abdel-Gawad. The music for the quotation is La Circiuma de la Drum, by Romashka.

This week’s image of nanocrystals is copyright Felice Frankel. You can see more like it in her book, written with George Whitesides, On the Surface of Things: Images of the Extraordinary in Science (Harvard University Press, 2008). (Purchase on amazon.com.)