Helium (He)

Bromine puts out fires - both in the home and in the heart. But despite its reputation as an anti-aphrodisiac, this chemical element's biggest use is in fire retardants, found in everything from your ...

17 Sep 201428min

Plutonium is one of a family of highly radioactive "synthetic" elements cooked up in nuclear reactors. But does it and its kin have any practical application besides the atom bomb? We travel to pluton...

11 Sep 201437min

Already responsible for the IT revolution, could silicon be about to pull off an energy revolution too? We hear from pioneer John Schaeffer about solar power's hippy roots, and Richard Swanson of Sun ...

18 Aug 201438min

Silicon is synonymous with the computer revolution. We travel to its eponymous birthplace - Silicon Valley in California - to ask chip pioneers Intel why this chemical element has supported a billion-...

31 Juli 201439min

Sulphur is in abundant supply thanks to its extraction from sour oil and gas, in order to prevent acid rain pollution. But does the world face a glut of this devilish chemical element, famed for its c...

30 Juli 201434min

Tungsten is one of the hardest, heaviest and highest melting metals, used in everything from bulbs to bullets, x-rays to drill bits. Justin Rowlatt hears from the perennial Professor Andrea Sella of U...

29 Juli 201434min

Traditionally used as a magic ingredient to produce tougher, more wear-resistant steels, vanadium has discovered a surprising new calling in life. Could this neglected metal, and the gigantic batterie...

28 Juli 201428min

Nitrogen is a crucial ingredient in fertilisers. And thanks to a pair of clever Germans, the Haber-Bosch process of fixing nitrogen from the air ensures that the planet's burgeoning population can sti...

27 Juli 201433min